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A bright smile appeared on Princess Anastasia’s face.

Inside the tent that was my temporary residence, some additional guests were visiting me.

Princess Anastasia, Alice, Alyssa, and Mio joined the afternoon tea party in my tent.

After experiencing Princess Anastasia’s selfishness and greed, who was not satisfied with kissing my lips nonstop, I needed to warn her not to be too excessive in her worldly greed.

Princess Anastasia made good use of her free time before Mio returned to my tent, carrying a trolley filled with hot tea and winter snacks for tea party.

The fragrant tea with the aroma of flowers immediately filled my tent.

Besides the warm tea, several simple chocolate snacks from the Yurification Shop filled the tray in front of my eyes.

"What strange snacks, this is the first time I’ve seen them," said Princess Anastasia as she watched Mio arrange the chocolate snacks according to the fair portion size.

"Onee-sama, may I eat chocolate more than seven times today?" Alice asked as she looked at her portion of chocolate snacks which amounted to three.

Apart from chocolate snacks, there are several pastry snacks combined with pre-warmed jam and cream. Even for plain bread that has no taste, just dipping the bread in warm tea provides the right amount of enjoyment.

"Alice, if you eat chocolate more than seven times, then you have to be prepared to get some punishment from Mama because your chocolate addiction is difficult to control and Lily-nee... please don’t give Alice chocolates beyond the amount specified by Mio!" said Alyssa who warned Mio and me about the amount of chocolate for Alice.

The chocolate snacks from the Yurification Shop taste delicious and have strange shapes. For example, cookies that contain chocolate granules on top, because of their delicious texture and delicious chocolate taste, Alice once became an excessive chocolate addict, making her body fat for a while.

The pleasure of the chocolate snack was paid off by Alice’s excessive weight gain and I still remember the strict diet my mother went through to make Alice’s body healthy again with a normal weight.

"I already understand, Alyssa-sama. Following Marchioness Amagi’s instructions to limit excessive snacks that can cause weight gain," Mio replied by giving me a plate filled with snacks.

Pamm...

Pammm...

Mio gave me a cup of warm tea along with warmed jam.

I then took a spoon and put a spoonful of jam into the warm tea.

With slow movements and enjoying the warm jam mixed with the tea, I could taste the fresh tea leaves mixed with the sweet jam in my mouth.

"Mmpphh... this is delicious. It’s a shame that I can only enjoy this at the afternoon tea party so that I don’t overdo it in eating these delicious snacks," I said while enjoying every sip of warm jam that filled my mouth. The texture of the jam made from fruits burst in my mouth and gave me an explosive sweet taste in my mouth.

This simple afternoon tea party in winter would be the last time it was held before all the Maids and Butlers of the Marquess Rommel family worked together to clean the main mansion of Marquess Rommel.

Alice enjoyed a slice of bread covered in chocolate on top. One bite of the bread made Alice look like a cat enjoying her lunch quietly.

Alyssa quietly enjoyed a snack of cookies sprinkled with small chocolates on top. Every crunch of the cookies made Alyssa’s mouth dry and immediately sip her sweet warm tea.

Princess Anastasia who still didn’t understand about the snacks served by Mio just looked between me and my twin stepsister. She seemed to be looking for information about the etiquette for eating snacks that looked foreign in front of her eyes.

Princess Anastasia seemed to understand the etiquette of eating the snacks given by Mio. By taking a handful of spoons and adjusting her eating position, Princess Anastasia immediately took a few slices of bread covered in chocolate on top. The melted chocolate that was still warm displayed thin smoke from the warmth after being heated.

The spoon containing the pieces of bread covered in chocolate immediately entered Princess Anastasia’s mouth.

"Hmm!! This is delicious!" shouted Princess Anastasia when enjoying the first bite of one of the foods from the Yurification Shop.

"I didn’t know that Marquess Rommel had such a skilled chef. If I had known, I would have visited Marquess Rommel’s residence every day!" Princess Anastasia continued to shout.

"With all due respect, Princess Anastasia. If you visit our residence every day, then our family’s position as a neutral noble will return to a noble family that supports the royal family," said Alyssa, interrupting Princess Anastasia.

"Eehh… isn’t that fine? I just need to use the excuse of monitoring the neutral noble family so as not to cause suspicious underground movements like the noble family that is an opponent of the royal family," with her calm attitude, Princess Anastasia gave Alyssa resistance.

Without my interference in their conversation, I could see sparks between their gazes.

"We will be busy restoring our main mansion to be habitable again, Princess Anastasia. Your presence will disrupt our already busy activities after returning from the family vacation," replied Alyssa while sipping a cup of her warm tea.

"Don’t worry, I can bring some Maids and Butlers who work for me personally to help you. Surely you need the help of many people to clean the main mansion that looks like an ancient building," with Princess Anastasia’s extraordinary composure, she managed to withstand the harsh rejection uttered by Alyssa along with other reasons that needed other considerations.

"As one of the subjects who serve the Aurora Kingdom, it would be considered impolite for us to borrow the help of people related to Princess Anastasia. We would be ashamed to borrow help for such a trivial matter, Princess Anastasia. Marquess Rommel’s maids and butlers are more than enough to clean our main mansion," Alyssa replied with a logical reason that made Princess Anastasia click her tongue a little.

The battle of words seemed very balanced before Alyssa issued an ultimatum that left Princess Anastasia unable to move.

"To be honest, Princess Anastasia’s sudden presence has troubled Marquess Rommel and Earl Timoti. Princess Anastasia also ignored the summons from the Royal Palace and made the work that requires your special attention pile up, right?"

"I advise Princess Anastasia to return and take care of your piled-up work before something goes wrong in the Royal Palace."

"If even a small mistake occurs, Princess Anastasia will be taken by force. For example, like the grain storage building that exploded because of a spark that came from who knows where."

Swiippp...

Poooppp...

Saying that sentence, Alyssa took out a teleportation magic formation and a fireball magic formation.

When the fireball from the fireball spell passed through the teleportation magic formation, it disappeared and moved to the next teleportation magic formation.

I could tell Alyssa’s mindset when she made a threat like this.

With her extraordinary magical abilities, Princess Anastasia had no choice but to follow Alyssa’s advice after seeing the implied threat from the magic formation show in front her eyes.

"I understand my obligations as one of the Princesses of the Aurora Kingdom."

Princess Anastasia maintained her composure well, even after seeing the threat from Alyssa who did not welcome her well, she still remained calm like a graceful and dignified Princess.

"Then, I will take some of my duties to this place. Just like Marquess Rommel did in running his business and arranging his territory from a distance," replied Princess Anastasia with a gentle smile and her undaunted resistance in the face of Alyssa’s threats.

Princess Anastasia and Alyssa smiled at each other.

In my eyes, the threats and evasions that were made were completely on different levels of conversation.

Alice, Mio, and I who heard it were speechless.

Their verbal war and cleverness in finding a loophole for an excuse were truly beyond doubt.

It was like watching two cats fighting each other over a nap box.

Princess Anastasia looked like a cat that had been trained to calm down when stressed but had other plans not to be far from the box that would become her nap place.

Alyssa looked like a cat that had occupied her nap box and was trying to ward off other intruders who tried to enter the area of ??the nap box.

The two cats fighting each other with their tails raised in peace crossed my mind.

I went back to enjoying my snacks and warm tea.

"Onee-sama, it seems like I see a fight that is hard to avoid," whispered Alice who leaned in close to whisper near my ear.

"Lily-sama, will it be okay about Alyssa-sama fighting with Princess Anastasia like that?" this time Mio whispered to me.

For some reason, Alice and Mio seemed to be throwing this problem at me in hopes of solving a problem that occurred just from verbal exchanges.

"Haaa…" I took a short breath that contained my heavy burden to solve this problem.

"Princess Anastasia… I understand about you wanting to help me. But we already have enough people. Ciel and Sia will come with their followers to help us restore the main mansion of the Marquess Rommel family," I said to stop the war of words between Princess Anastasia and Alyssa.

Princess Anastasia fell silent after hearing my words with dark eyes that did not emit any light.

"Ciel?"

"Sia?"

"Sounds like a woman’s name…"

I could see the movement of Princess Anastasia’s murmured lips with her body trembling violently.