When Saito yelled, the two finally came back to their senses. Then, Guiche embraced Saito's shoulders.
“H, hey, you. Where did you buy that outfit?”
“What do you plan to do by asking?”
Guiche said with an embarrassed smile
“Th-there is a person I want to give the outfit to as a present.”
“The Princess?”
“Idiot! Too much! That's too much! Her Majesty the Princess is now Her Majesty the Queen! Aah, she has gone to a high place where I cannot reach... It was better when she was a princess, but now as the queen...”
What high place? You never had a chance since the beginning. Saito thought, but he decided to stay silent and listen.
“There, I finally remembered. That person who was always beside me, constantly looking at me with her lovely eyes... That beautiful blond hair. That sweet, perfume-like smile...”
Ah, his ex-girlfriend. Saito realized.
“Monmon?”
“Not Monmon! It's Montmorency!”
“I see. You want to be close to her again. You know, you really don't have any integrity.”
“I don't want to be told by you. Now then, tell me. Where is that outfit sold?”
“Hmph. Like you could ever understand art.”
Saito spat out. He didn't want someone like Guiche dishonoring his birthplace's memories.
“It can't be helped. I will not only report today's events, but also ask Louise as well.”
Those were most certainly magic words.
“I still have two more. Use them as you please.”
It pulled out Saito's maximum concession instantly.
“But still, just what is that outfit? I think I've seen that somewhere before... Don't sailors wear these clothes? For, hmm, a girl to wear it and give off such charms! How mysterious.”
Folding his arms together, Saito puffed up his chest with pride.
“Of course. It has the charming magic from my birthplace cast on it.”
Now then, on the night of that day.
Montmorency, prideful of her long, curly golden hair and vivid blue eyes, was mixing a potion in her room at the dormitory. Leaning her tall body on a chair, she was engrossed in mixing a secret potion inside a pot with a wooden pestle.
Montmorency the “Fragrance”, a mage of the “water” element, had a hobby of magical medicine... potion making. And just like her second name suggested, her specialty was perfume making. The perfumes she made were known for the uniquely lovely fragrance they emit, and she was extremely popular with the ladies and town girls.
Today, Montmorency was zealously creating a certain potion.
It was not just any potion. What a thing, how wrong that it was a forbidden potion. By the country's proclamation, it was an item forbidden to be created or used.
Montmorency sold the perfumes she made in the town and slowly saved up money. And then, today, this day, she used the money she saved up and obtained the recipe for the forbidden potion, as well as the high priced secret medicine needed for the mixing, at a dark magic store. Hobbies win over moral. Getting fed up over making normal potions, Montmorency felt like creating something forbidden despite knowing that an enormous fine would be imposed on her if she was discovered.
Along with the mashed up fragrant wood, dragon sulfur, and mandragora, at last, to pour in the essential secret medicine... the liquid that she had paid a large amount of money to obtain, she grabbed the small bottle beside her.
Just a small quantity... For just this little amount of liquid stored in the perfume bottle, Montmorency used up pretty much all of the money she had saved up. 700 in écu gold coins. An amount of money a commoner could use to live five to six years.
When she tilted the small bottle to the pot, being careful not to spill anything...
Someone knocked on the door, causing Montmorency to leap up.
“Wh-who is it... At a time like this...”
She placed the ingredients and utensils that were on the desk inside the drawer. After that, she headed towards the door while combing her hair upwards.
“Who is it?”
“It's me! Guiche! Your eternal servant! Open this door for me!”
Whoーisーan eternal servant, Montmorency muttered. She knew about his unfaithful nature quite well. When they walked together in the town, he would get distracted and look restlessly around at the beautiful women. When they drank wine at a bar, he would make advances at the waitresses whenever she left her seat for a bit. Finally, he would forget about a date promise and go pick flowers for a girl somewhere else. It was quite annoying to hear him say 'eternal'.
Montmorency spoke in an irritated voice.
“Why did you come here? I already broke up with you.”
“I don't think like that at all. But if you think that way, then it is my fault... After all, see, I love beautiful things. In other words, I am a servant to beauty... Like you already know, art, that's right, art! I'm too weak against beautiful things...”
You love art? For someone with bad tastes, you sure can say things. She thought. The color of the shirt he wore for dates was gingira violet, and she got a headache the time he came wearing a red and green scarf.
“But I've made sure that I will no longer accept any art except you. After all, you seem to be the most art-like. Um, like your blond hair.”
Are you an idiot?
“Go away. I am busy.”
When Montmorency said that coldly, silence fell for a while. After that, Guiche breaking down and crying could be heard in the corridor.
“I understand... Being told like that, I can only perish on this spot. If I'm hated by you, who I love, so badly, then there is no worth at all in life.”
“Do what you want.”
Men like Guiche couldn't die just because they get rejected. Montmorency kept up her indifferent attitude.
“Now then, I want to, at least... on the door of the room you live in, I will carve proof that I have lived... that I have loved you.”
“Wh-what are you doing?! Stop that!”
The sound of something hard could be heard scratching on the door.
“The man who sacrificed himself for love, Guiche de Gramont. Destroyed by eternal love, he dies here... There.”
“Not 'there'! Geez!”
Montmorency opened the door. Guiche was standing there with a full smile on his face.
“Montmorency! I love you! I really love you! I love you! I love you!”
And then, he embraced her tightly. Montmorency was enthralled for a moment. Anyways, Guiche continuously said “I love you”. It was because of his lack of vocabulary, but no matter how many times he said that, she didn't feel bad.
Then, Guiche handed the bundle he was holding to Montmorency.
“...What is this?”
“Open it up. It is a present for you.”
Montmorency opened up the bundle. It was the sailor uniform. Saito had asked Siesta to remake the uniform to fit Montmorency's body, Guiche always memorized the sizes of the girls he got along with.
“What a strange outfit...”
Montmorency raised her eyebrows.
“How about you wear it? It will definitely fit you. Your purity will be amplified manyfold. Come on. Hurry. What, I'm facing in another direction.”
Facing backwards, Guiche started to bite his nails restlessly. Seeing the inevitable, Montmorency took off her shirt and put on the outer garment.
“I'm done.”
Turning around, Guiche's face brightened energetically.
“Aah, Montmorency~... You really are pure... My cute Montmorency~...”
While muttering that, Guiche tried to kiss her. Right away, Montmorency obstructed him.
“Monmon...”
Guiche's face distorted sadly.
“Don't misunderstand. I opened the door to my room, but I didn't open this door. I haven't decided to make up with you yet. Also, who are you calling Monmon?”