At dinner time, Vivian introduced Airi and Megis.
Only, Airi didn’t seem to have any real interest in Megis. Even when Megis tried to speak to her, she didn’t really respond. It was like she felt that relationship will form between them, or rather that she didn’t want to form any kind of relationship with him. Her attitude was indifferent, or even cold, so Megis had no real way to do anything.
However, even so, Megis didn’t push at all.
As the head of the adventurer’s guild and one of the hands of the royal family, Megis had good judgment. He could thus easily notice Airi’s abnormality.
Or rather, given how Airi’s appearance obviously didn’t match her tone and actions, it was pretty obvious from the start that she’s no ordinary little girl.
To use Shien’s words, it’d be something like “my Airi’s got class”.
She is that way in front of strangers at least.
Thanks to that, not only did Megis didn’t get offended at Airi’s attitude at all, he instead ended up acting just like Vivian, where he didn’t treat Airi like a child at all. He thus not only acted with full courtesy, he even invited Airi to stay on his own initiative.
Those actions did end up giving Airi quite a good impression of Megis, so she ended up treating him much warmer. Later on, she would even speak a few wors with Megis, making it obvious that she had at least started to recognize him.
After dinner though, a matter that’s neither small nor large happened.
“Let’s go into the baths together, Airi.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Lumia and Melika thus invited Airi.
“Bath?” Airi frowned though in a show of apparent dislike and spoke straightforwardly, “No need. I don’t take baths with others. I also dislike bathing.”
Airi rejected them in a very clear manor. She didn’t even hesitate for a second.
“Eh?” Lumia seemed to not have expected such a clear refusal, so she didn’t know how to react for a moment, “W-why though?”
“Yeah.” Melika was surprised too, “It’s fun to bath together though, Airi.”
Those two girls seemed to have been completely conquered by Airi’s cuteness. They didn’t want to leave her behind even for bathing.
Of course, Shien, who was left to the side, really wanted to say one thing.
“Since it’s so fun to bath together, then why am I never invited?”
Truly, such preferential treatment is lamentable.
Unfortunately, while Shien might be able to think those words, there’s no way he’d dare to actually say it out loud in front of the girls.
The reason for that is simple. He didn’t want to get hit.
“Well, it’s fine. I still have Diere after all.”
Shien looked over at Diere and is slightly comforted.
Diere was simply sitting there and drinking her tea with unusual calmness. She seemed to have no intention of joining the girls, and they didn’t invite Diere either. It was because Diere had never accepted such invitation before.
As for the reason for that. Of course, it’s because she’s been doing that with a certain wolf.
Thankfully, Diere was the quiet type from the start, so when she rejected Lumia and Melika’s invitation, she basically didn’t bother to explain it either. Thus, the matter didnt’ get exposed. If not for that, Shien felt like he may very well get hit anyways.
Airi, who had no idea about any of that, showed a difficult expression for the first time under Lumia and Melika’s insistence.
“I really do dislike bathing with other people.”
Airi spoke out her objections from deep within her heart.
It was to the point where even Shien and Vivian got curious.
“Why might that be, lady Airi?” Vivian tentatively asked, “Did we offend you somehow?”
Vivian seemed to believe that Airi didn’t want to bath together with people who were so much lower than her in status.
“Oh. No.” Airi frowned deeply. She obviously didn’t want to be taken as some arrogant being who lorded her status over others, so she could only speak the truth, “However, every time I bath together with my older sisters, they’d all stare at me the whole time. Then, they’d end up overreacting afterwards. I don’ really like that kind of situation.”
Everyone was confused.
Why would they stare at Airi when they go into the baths?
Is it because she’s just too cute?
Everyone, including Shien, thought that.
Seeing that, Airi seemed to not want to explain more. She just let out a resigned sigh and then spoke.
“Fine. Just this once.”
With that, Airi jumped down from her seat.
“Where’s the baths?”
Lumia and Melika showed their joy in response to her words.
“Over there.”
“Let’s go together, Airi.”
Thus, Lumia and Melika moved next to Airi and happily led her toward the direction of the baths.
Shien, Vivian, and Diere watch the three of them leave but didn’t think much of it. Instead, they just started chatting at the dinner table.
As for Megis, he left for his study some time ago, claiming that he has urgent work.
Only Shien, Vivian, and Diere were left in the dining room, chatting about nothing.