Drop!! ～A Tale of the Fragrance Princess～

Volume 06, Act 60: Determination Intensify Part 2

Translator: Blushy

Editor: delishnoodles

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Cordelia, who had been living hectically, received evening party invitations from her regulars and from women who she met from Nirupama, and was gradually showing up to them.

One day, Hazel came into the store.

Cordelia guided her to the small room at the back of the store. Different from the workshop and warehouse, this room was used for business discussions and to entertain special guests.

“I heard, Cordelia-sama. People are calling you the 『Queen of Flowers』these days.”

“Those rumours… I’m not happy with them to be honest.”

“Oh, but everyone is calling you that with pure respect.”

“I’m also very grateful for that, but…”

The end of that sentence was “I want them to take it a little easy on me.”

The evening parties where the young and older women interacted became a great place for her to advertise her commodity, and Cordelia was surrounded by a lot of women each time, to the point that she couldn’t move. And she began being called what Hazel had just said earlier, 『Queen of Flowers』.

They had probably given her this title because of the essential oils and the plant magic that her Pameradia House was famous for, but it was an exaggeration. If possible, she wanted a cuter nickname.

“Next time, I’ll have to go and see how the 『Queen of Flowers』is doing.”

“Please don’t make fun of me anymore.”

Of course, she was happy that they appreciated her and were interested in her products. Even more so if they love the products.

“But I thought it was strange when I saw the women in the shop. There are a lot of women who use various kinds of balms and perfumes, but the fragrances don’t seem to mix together very much.”

“That’s because of magic.”

If the different fragrances mixed together, then people could choke from the smell. Therefore, Cordelia cast magic on the cosmetics in the store.

For example, she cast magic on the ingredients that would become the base of the cosmetics so that it would pull back the scent and not drift too far away if there were other scents nearby. Each base repelled other fragrances in the air like a magnet. At the same time, she also cast magic that regulated the concentration so that the fragrance wouldn’t suddenly become stronger for the consumer. If the scent suddenly became stronger, then it might agitate the consumer’s throat and nose.

(It wasn’t easy to come up with the magic for this, but I’m really glad that there’s magic in this world.)

Cordelia was grateful from the bottom of her heart for being born into a house where she could use such magic. It was fun to think about the combinations of things she could do because of her previous life magic and what she couldn’t do if she didn’t have magic in this world, even more so when things went well.

(However, I want to also talk about the interests of the ladies who I don’t know… I wonder if I can do this when things settle down a bit more.)

It was possible for her to take a peek at the lady’s interests from the questions that were asked, but she had already made most of those products. If she wanted to make something new, then she would have to talk to the ladies more.

“By the way, Cordelia-sama. How is the search for your fated partner?”

“Uoah, fated, you say?”

“Oh my, are you upset?”

Hazel looked at her in amusement because of her immediate reply, and Cordelia lightly coughed.

She had certainly gone to evening parties with that intention in mind, but it wasn’t going well. Since people started calling her the 『Queen of Flowers』, it wasn’t easy for her to find the time to talk to men. Sometimes men would come to talk to her when the women gave her a break, but most of the time, they came to talk about business.

(Well, it might be possible for us to get close with the arrangements afterwards…)

Cordelia appreciated receiving information about business, and they might be useful to Elvis. The situation wasn’t bad when she thought of it like that, but those discussions were far away from one of her original goals which was searching for a marriage partner.

However, Cordelia wasn’t in a rush yet. Fortunately, the age for marriage in this world was wide.

(I’m going to spend the rest of my life with them, so my partner isn’t someone who I can decide in a rush.)

Of course, she was actively increasing the number of places where she could meet such a person, but even if she met them, she didn’t know how their feelings would be reciprocated afterwards.

“I’m taking my time to think about it.”

Some men have offered her individual business deals. She might find out something if she talked to them through that.

“Cordelia-sama… I understand how you feel.”

“Huh? Th-thank you very much…”

Even though I hadn’t said anything, did my feelings get across to her?

Cordelia tilted her head in wonder and Hazel strongly gripped her fist.

“Because, how the hell was Shelley-sama’s head made?! I’ve heard a lot of ridiculous things! It’s natural that you wouldn’t be able to concentrate if someone like that is around!”

Hazel shouted in anger, and Cordelia understood that there was a difference in what she was thinking and what Hazel was thinking. Cordelia smiled dryly since she felt like she could feel the burning smoke ooze out from Hazel.

“Well… The real harm hasn’t gotten that big yet.”

“Just because it isn’t big, she’s still putting it out there! What the hell are those guys who are attending to her thinking?! I can’t believe she did something rude to you!”

“Please calm down, Hazel-sama.”

Cordelia had attended five evening parties since she went to the Gunnell’s evening party.

It wasn’t necessary to express that one was attending an evening party since it wasn’t a dinner party, so Cordelia didn’t tell the host that she was attending unless she was close to them, and she didn’t tell others that she was attending either. By all rights, it was impossible for someone to know in advance that she would be attending an evening party, but Cordelia has encountered Shelley twice so far.

Hazel wasn’t with Cordelia both times, but she must have heard rumours about Shelley.

(It’s possible to think of it as a coincidence since I only encountered her two times out of five. However, it was a different story if I think that the evening parties she chose were from hosts who didn’t get along with the Clydereine House.)

The hosts also welcomed Cordelia since they knew about the interactions between her and Shelley, but the moment they saw Shelley, they would have an indescribable expression on their faces. When she saw that, she guessed that they hadn’t invited Shelley and that she had been brought there by someone.

(If she were told this in her dreams, then that’s a dangerous ability.)

Cordelia had greatly miscalculated because she expected that all of Shelley’s dreams were wrong when it came to dreams about herself.

However, Cordelia didn’t suffer from any big disadvantages even though it was a little unpleasant. Rather, Cordelia raised her reputation as a calm lady since she forgot and forgave every time Shelley threw verbal abuse at her and acted improper as a lady from a noted House.

(Even if I don’t count the thing that happened at the Viscount Gunnel’s evening party, she would step on the hem of my dress and not apologise, or run straight into me, so her friends were probably distancing themselves from her as well.)

Shelley’s friends felt that she threw tantrums because of her paranoia, and burst out in anger, then they would start avoiding her to get away from that. It would be very unpleasant for a normal lady if there were thought to have the same emotions as Shelley.

Maybe because that had happened, the ladies who had close relations to the Clydereine House have started to approach Cordelia and there was no trace of them contacting Shelley again afterwards. They had probably given up on her. But there were still people beside her because of her 『Dream Power』.

“Cordelia-sama, you should get angry when you need to be. Otherwise, she will think that you won’t get angry no matter what she does.”

“Thank you for your concern. But, do you think she would listen to what I say?”

“That’s… well, it seems like it would be difficult for her to do so.”

Hazel hadn’t thought of that and put her hand on her temple.

“Besides, if Shelley-sama goes into a frenzy, then she might do something unexpected. Why don’t we wait a little longer?”

“Argh, rather than too calm, you’re too laid back, Cordelia-sama… But if she tears your dress, then I don’t care what you want, I’ll punish her.”

“I don’t think she would do that…”

If Shelley were to reach that level of violence, then Cordelia would avoid her or resist her, but she didn’t think that would happen. Shelley couldn’t do that without bringing a dangerous weapon with her.

Until now, Shelley stepping on the hem of Cordelia’s dress and bumping into her were events in the game. These were events that happened after the『Heroine』meet『Cordelia』, and had actually happened.

However, Cordelia didn’t know when Shelley would appear. She didn’t think the game went into that much detail about the 『Heroine』, but even if it did, Cordelia wouldn’t have known since she was a light gamer.

“However, Shelley-sama doesn’t act very strange outside of places where she meets me, and I don’t hear any weird rumours about her either… It’s very strange that she gets like that in front of me.”

Even at the Viscount’s evening party, Cordelia felt like Shelley was trying to force the events of her dream, and her actions against Cordelia were her overdoing things. Stepping on her dress and running into her were things that wouldn’t have happened had Shelley not forcefully done so. Cordelia knew that there was an event in the game where Shelley stepped on her dress, but she didn’t know that there was an event where Shelley ran into her. If she had to guess, then there was an event where the Heroine pulled the accessories in Cordelia’s hair, but that wasn’t a body slam, and that event didn’t collide with the event where she stepped on Cordelia’s dress.

However, it could have happened on routes that Cordelia hadn’t played, and it was also possible that these events had nothing to do with the game and were things that had happened in Shelley’s dreams. Either way, Cordelia wasn’t short-tempered enough to go against Shelley’s malicious actions.

(In the first place, the 『Heroine』hadn’t perfected her manners yet when she showed up in high society because she was taking things easy at the Cylderine House. That’s why she angered『Cordelia』… I wonder if Shelley is trying to re-enact the scenes between the『Heroine』and『Cordelia』from the game since she acts normally in front of everyone except me.)

Shelley behaved like a proper noble without any problems except for when she was in front of Cordelia so she may have taken her mannerism classes more seriously than the 『Heroine』. It was astonishing, and if she had done that for Sylvester, then it was something to admire. However, her absolute attachment to her dreams which made her efforts go to waste couldn’t simply be removed.

(Even so, some young ladies were rethinking their relationship with her.)

If that’s the case, then it isn’t all that bad to leave Shelley-sama alone. I was only harmed slightly, and most of that harm was actually returned to her. Shelley-sama’s reputation will fall if I leave her alone, and if this were to reach Earl Clydereine’s ears, then he might do something about it.

She thought as Hazel raged next to her.

“I’m sure she just wants to show other people that she has the upper hand.”

Of course, Hazel probably wouldn’t believe that Shelley’s actions were based on her dreams.

“… If she acts that way towards me because of some kind of belief, then she might be happy that she has met someone whom she reacts that strongly towards.”

“Cordelia…?”

“But the current situation isn’t something to be praised.”

“That’s true. Most people are soft-hearted.”

Then, Hazel sighed. Cordelia knew that Hazel was really worried about her and felt apologetic.

(Honestly, it’s still fine as long as Shelley’s reputation goes down, but it’s not good if people think I’m some kind of trouble.)

She didn’t know when Shelley would stop attacking her and needed to find a way to avoid her.

“Then, let’s go refresh ourselves!”

“Excuse me?”

“My relatives are the Harshi House. The evening party is a place for my aunt and uncle to meet people they know, but aunt always said that she wanted to talk to you. Won’t you come for me as well?”

Cordelia blinked her eyes in surprise when she heard that name.

She had greeted Earl Harshi and his family during her coming of age ceremony, but it was also a name that Nirupama had a strong rivalry with when Cordelia was twelve. By the way, she remembered Nirupama smiling widely when she said that name.

“I would love to if I’m invited.”

“Thank you very much. Oh yes, I’ll invite Kaylie-sama as well. Let’s go have fun!”

“Yes. But, Kaylie-sama doesn’t like evening parties very much…”

“There will be times when she needs to go to them from now on. It’s a small party, and it’s a good event for her to get used to them! I’m sure it’ll be fun.”

Hazel had already decided that Kaylie would be attending. Cordelia confusingly remembered Kaylie and felt that she wouldn’t be able to refuse, not because Kaylie lost to Hazel’s assertiveness, but because she knew that she would need to get used to attending evening parties.