I’m Done Being Your Best Friend

“What? Did I say something wrong? Commoners just need to be quiet.
Don’t try to meddle with the nobles’ conversation.”

Wasn’t it too blatant? Her tone was classy, ​​but Daisy was outspokenly demeaning him.

No matter how much class and dignity she had, they all turned nothing but mud now.

Daisy’s family might be strong, but it was no match for Logan’s.

He wasn’t a Duke for no reason! The influence of Harrison Duchy, which started as one of the first founding contributors, was rooted throughout the kingdom, even if the Duke himself was in hiding.

Logan stared at Daisy with his face hardened.
And as Daisy frowned at his gaze, the man opened his mouth.

“If you consider yourself a noble, then you’d better be acting like one.”

“Excuse me?”

“It doesn’t seem like the behavior of a nobleman to barge at someone else’s table arbitrarily.”

“Ha…! What do you know!”

Those words seemed to have deeply hurt Daisy’s pride.
Daisy’s jaw trembled in anger.

Daisy was still dissatisfied with Logan for maintaining an upright attitude toward her.
And it seemed to have reached its peak at that moment.

But he was not wrong.
I told Daisy firmly.

“Daisy.
Apologise to Logan.”

“What?!”

“There’s nothing wrong with what Logan said.
Apologise for being rude to Logan.”

“Sienna, why are you like this? This person is a commoner.
Are there any nobles who apologise to commoners? I am the one who deserves an apology!”

Daisy reacted as if she had heard an absurd remark.
It must be because I, the young lady of a Marquis household, sided with Logan, a commoner.

Daisy looked at our solemn faces alternately and smiled fishily.
It looked like she was secretly scheming something.
It was far from her usual pretentious smile.
With that, she said.

“There must be a reason you’re doing this to me when you’re supposed to rebuke Logan.
What is your relationship?”

“What are you talking about?”

The smile on Daisy’s face disappeared in a wink.
She said softly, lowering her voice so that no one else could hear her but us. 

“It’s suspicious.
You seem to value this man, who you first met in the Marquisate, more than me, your only friend.
Am I wrong? If not, choose here.
Is it him or me?”

I was dumbstruck.
Choose between the two?! If so, did she think that I would naturally choose her? I answered with a smirk.

“I choose Logan.”

“What?!”

“Didn’t you tell me to choose between you two? And there were some errors in your words.
I hate to break this to you, but you are not my only friend.
It may have been in the past, but not now.” 

“Sienna! How could you…”

Daisy shouted my name, looking genuinely shocked.
She seemed to be very infuriated.
She exhaled heavily.

It looked like she had nothing else to say.

Logan must have thought so too, as he got up briefly after.

“Let’s go.”

He then led me out of the tea house.
Daisy was an uninvited guest, so I couldn’t care less.

As I came out, I could see lady Watson and lady Thurman waiting for Daisy in front of the tea house.

Of course Daisy couldn’t have come alone.
I formally greeted them and moved on.
We weren’t really close friends in the first place.

We left and headed towards a park.

“Why don’t we go for a walk?”

It was Logan’s suggestion.
I didn’t turn down Logan because I also needed time to cool off.

“I’m sorry.
Because of me…”

“No, it’s not.”

I intended to apologise to him.
It was Daisy who should really apologise, but I thought I would do it instead since she was too stuck-up and stubborn.

Logan looked me in the eyes and said.

“Miss Sienna did nothing wrong.
So you don’t have to be sorry.”

“But…”

“It’s fine.”

He said calmly.
His calm voice stopped me from saying any further.
So that’s what I did.
I stopped talking.

Seeing me keep quiet, he nodded slowly, seemingly pleased.
As if everything was okay as it was.
I somehow felt comforted.

We settled down in some place and I sat still next to him for a long while.

***

A month has passed since then.
Soon, winter came.

Even in winter, the weather in the Kingdom of Beland was not very cold.
Still, everyone changed into thick fur clothes and greeted the winter.

I was still going to the library with Logan these days.
It was at Logan’s request.

“If you go to Dolof, you will find a haunted well.
You should go there on your next trip.”

“No, not fascinating enough yet.”

“Is it because of the ghost? Is there any difference compared to magic? The best thing would be the dragon’s footprints in the Empire, but… because it’s in a foreign country, it will be a bit difficult, won’t it?”

What did he say back then again? Ah, after taking a long pause with a troubled look, he said.

“Yes.
And I haven’t found a destination I like yet.
I’m sorry, but would you mind looking for more with me?”

How could I refuse a request that earnest? Since I had nothing to do, I gladly accepted his request.

“It’s not the right season to travel yet.
So we can look for other places and you can set off  in spring.”

So that’s why I was still going to the library with him.

There was nothing bad about it.
Because I really like to read.
It wasn’t a field I preferred in particular, but reading those books was surprisingly interesting.

But today, I encountered someone unexpected.
I met Logan at the front gate of the Royal Library and was walking through its garden…

“Lady Coventry?”

“Oh my, lady Nelson!”

I met Heidi.

Perhaps she was also walking through the garden on the way out of borrowing books, since she was holding two books in her hands.
Heidi greeted me delightedly.

“Oh my, I didn’t expect to see you in a place like this.
If you had come a little later, we could have met in the reading room.”

“I don’t think so.
I use the third reading room.”

The Royal Library consisted of a total of three reading rooms.
The first and second reading rooms were for the nobles, and the third was for commoners.
The smallest place was the third room, where we went to.
It was a place where only a few commoners who were literate came.

Heidi greeted me and then shifted her gaze to Logan.

“This person is….?”

“Oh, his name is Logan.
He is a traveler.”

“Ah, I see.
But…”

Heidi suddenly tilted her head.

I could not understand why Heidi reacted like that.
Did she happen to know Logan? Did he perhaps get caught?

I looked at Heidi nervously as if I had been caught myself.
Logan was aware of her presence, but not as concerned as he had been last time with Daisy.