I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival - Chapter 14

TL: gaeulriri

Editor: Daed

The cafe, which charged an exorbitant price for a cup of tea, could be described as a meeting place for wealthy nobles to spend their money and time.”

Not to mention that this famous canal café was built in the center of a metropolitan area.

I and Claudia followed the waitress into the building.

This place looked more like a fancy banquet hall than a cafe, since it was built with the wealthy nobles in mind.

There was a stage in the middle of the open hall. The arrangement of the open hall enabled everyone from the first floor to the second floor to watch the performance.

This also meant that everyone on the first and second floors could see our arrival at the entrance as clear as could be.

The flower of the society, who had been the subject of the recent profuse rumors and had disappeared without any news for several months, suddenly came into sight without any warning.

A hush fell over the room and I could feel the piercing gazes of the nobles like arrows shot in our direction.

We were guided to the best seats in the cafe.

“Shall we order everything that they offer on the menu? You can do what you wanted to do before.”

Claudia gave me the menu board that the waiter had handed over to her.

I rubbed my eyes for a moment as I looked through the menu.

I was already aware that this place was going to be expensive. However, the price of each dish had more zeros behind it than I expected.

‘Wow, even nobles would drink with shaking hands.’

Did they sprinkle gold powder on everything?

…..Coffee with gold powder was really there. This one even had more zeros.

“So, shall we order everything that’s on the menu?”

“Oh, no, wait. Let me think for a moment……”

Just at that very moment.

At first, the nobles had been stunned into silence at our arrival. However, as soon as they came to their senses and realized the current situation, they began to gossip loudly.

I didn’t want to hear it, but their voices were loud enough to reach my ears.

“Oh my God. The rumors were true! She ignored all those eligible bachelors and chose someone like that ……”

“Is she a lady? She looks like a maid.”

“It’s amazing that someone like her could capture Lady Chamberlain’s heart.”

“She looks like a…. meringue.”

What on earth did it mean? A meringue?

“Oh, didn’t you know? Viscount Amber’s daughter is very famous. She is best known for how much she’s not worth in the wedding market.”

“……..?”

Who were you to attack me with such a brutal truth…..

“There’s nothing outstanding about her, and all her family has is debt. Well, what else can she do? She has to change her goal to capture Lady Chamberlain’s heart.”

The Lady next to him covered her mouth with a fan, kicking and laughing.

“Why ‘nothing outstanding’? There’s a great thing called ‘living an honorable life’. I can’t believe she decided to take advantage of other poeple’s kindness.”

“She wasn’t like that before, but what else can she do with that considerable amount of debt?”

They even called me a meringue. Sigh, at least it was better than being regarded as air or a ghost.

I tried to stay calm without giving any reaction to all the accusations that rained down on me. Well, I tried not to swear, because their words weren’t so wrong either.

“Lady Chamberlain also should’ve acted like a lady. No matter how much she liked her friends, how could she say such nonsense in front of those men?”

“She said she didn’t belong to anyone, didn’t she? It’s been well-known for a while.”

“I would be in seventh heaven if those men asked me to be theirs even just for one day.”

But, I was taken aback at the words that followed.

“She became so arrogant because she was proposed to by the men who hold the highest positions in the empire. I envy her.”

What did they mean? Who did they say became arrogant?

I knew better than anyone how much Claudia struggled alone in this cruel world.

Enough, I couldn’t take this anymore.

I stood up from my seat while touching the table.

Then Claudia, who must have heard everything as well, squeezed my hand.

In fact, this environment would be very familiar to her, as someone who had always captured the attention and gazes of the people around her.

But on that day, a conjecture formed in my mind.

Maybe Claudia was not unperceptive at all. Maybe, she was only pretending not to see and not to hear. I wondered if she had formed the habit of pretending not to notice.

Maybe she was so exhausted with everything, so she decided to live with her ears closed.

“It’s noisy here.”

Claudia told the waitress who she had called over.

The waitress pondered for a moment with a blank expression and unconsciously wondered, ‘Why is it loud?’. Then her face turned red like a boiled octopus.

“I want to have a good time with my companion.”

“I’m sorry, Lady. I will find you another seat.”

The waiteress bowed down and apologized, but suddenly Claudia continued.

“Can I reserve the whole cafe for a day?”

“…..What? I think that would be difficult because there are people who have already made a reservation at this cafe in advance.”

“Then I’ll buy this whole cafe. How much do you need?”

At that moment, the nobles shut their mouths.

They exchanged looks in amazement.

It seemed that they forgot about the Chamberlain family’s wealth.

I couldn’t even imagine that she could shut their mouths this way.

That was the real Claudia’s style.

After hearing Claudia’s words, the nobles seemed to say ‘Did I hear that right? She’s going to buy the most popular cafe in the metropolitan area?’

Claudia, who made the nobles feel like beggars, looked as harmless as ever.

I decided to call this ‘Claudia’s Miracle’ from now on.

***

Of course, Claudia wasn’t really going to buy the cafe. Even if she actually tried to, I would stop her.

She huffily took my hand and led us out of the cafe.

“Rin couldn’t even do what Rin really wanted to do.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll replace it with a clothes store.”

“Clothes store? Are you going to buy the whole store?”

“You can buy anything that you see.”

After all, what I wanted was to waste money. It didn’t really matter whether it was food or clothes.

Claudia burst into tinkling laughter at my words. It was so beautiful that even the people who passed by smiled spontaneously.

“Ah, you are so cute.”

Claudia, a sweet girl who had the wealth to buy everything.

She pinched my cheek cutely and said,

“We still have to eat something. Because that place was too noisy, let’s go to a place with a private room.”

Oh, was this how celebrities felt? It felt like I indirectly became an ordinary person who had befriended a top star.

“Hey, at least we ate lunch. Umm…then please buy me that.”

I requested, pointing to the cotton candy that a street vendor was selling.

Claudia looked at me with a unpleasant expression, as if asking ‘That’s it? Is that enough?’. But eventually, we bought a light blue cotton candy and a yellow cotton candy.

Claudia took the light blue one and handed me the yellow one.

“Light blue…..”

It probably wasn’t the case, but because it was light blue coloured, it felt like cotton candy would taste like soda. I made a sad expression because I didn’t get it.

Then, Claudia looked at me with an affectionate gaze. She tore off a piece of the cotton candy and shoved it into my mouth.

“Rin, you have to try it too! Aaaaa-”

I opened my mouth reflexively. A cloud-like piece of cotton candy slipped into my mouth. It tasted just like sugar.

But since we were doing this, didn’t it feel like a real date?

It was a really peaceful time.

Summer was approaching, but the fragrant flowers were in full bloom and the bright sunlight shone like a crown over Claudia’s head.

Ouch, it was dazzling.

“Oh, my lady. Are you a person or an angel? Or are you….. a fairy?”

Suddenly, a man with an expression that seemed struck by Claudia’s beauty, approached us.

It was written all across his face that he was a moron.

Uncle, you reeked of alcohol.

“I thought I was blinded by your beauty.”

At first glance, wasn’t it crazy to talk like that to Claudia who had ‘I’m a noble’ written on her face?

I complained like so, but if it happened in a romance fantasy novel, it would be a different story.

The heroine was affronted by a drunkard man, and suddenly a prince appeared to save her.

‘Such a classic trope.’

Had I ever mentioned that Irene was an extra who was fated to die?

Unfortunately, that moron could be said to be in the same situation as me.

That moron approached Claudia with a sleazy grin.

“Even your scared expression is so cute.”

What! Claudia was scared? Thinking back, there was such a line in the original story!

I turned to calm Claudia, who I thought would be trembling.

But she only looked at that moron with a cold gaze, as if there was something inhuman in front of her.

Where the hell was the ‘scared expression’? Was there something wrong with his eyesight?

“Do you have any business with us?”

Claudia hid me behind her back as if she was trying to protect me from the moron. She had a very hostile expression on her face.

In this unexpected situation, I stiffened for a while and gave a blank expression.

‘Huh?’

…..Wait, our positions were reserved! My presence here shouldn’t even be comparable to Claudia’s to that moron!

Claudia should have been in a position of the protected, not my protector.

Perhaps Claudia’s affection for me had blinded her eyes; she totally misunderstood this situation.

The moron laughed at Claudia’s words.

“I wasn’t talking to that little girl, but to you, my lady. Let’s take a closer look at your beautiful face.”

“My beautiful face is not for you to see.”

Claudia shot him down without hesitation.

I and the moron were amazed at Claudia’s instant reply.

“……What?”

“There is only one person in the world who is allowed to look at my beautiful face. So you better take your eyes off of me.”

“……”

“……”

The moron and I both froze and stared blankly at Claudia.