The Reincarnated Count's Daughter Is the Strongest as She Is Loved by the Spirits, Though She Is Only Wishing for Regular Romance!

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Author Notes: 

I wrote this from Irene's perspective to introduce Diadora's friends.

It ended up being long, so this is a two-part series.

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Before going out, I always feel a bit down watching the maids style my hair and do my makeup. Most of the girls with red hair in the capital have wavy, voluminous hair that looks gorgeous even when left loose. But my hair is straight and flat, which makes it look shabby. My face is plain, and my red eyes stand out too much. I envy Suzanna's beautiful silver hair.

She is a marquess' daughter, so her status is different from mine. She's famous for her beauty, with large blue eyes that have a gentle expression. Even though she's the same age as me, nine years old, she looks so mature and is very popular. Her straightforward personality makes her reliable, and I'm relieved she'll be going to the academy with me next year.

It's just unfortunate that our dorms will be different. Since my family only has a ranch, we don't have our own dormitory in the academy. The difference in rank among nobles is significant. Especially between earls and marquises, margraves, and dukes.

Dukes are relatives of the royal family, while marquises and margraves are allowed to have military power. Furthermore, marquises, margraves, and dukes have the right to request titles from His Majesty and have extensive territories, some of which they entrust to other nobles.

But the Corquette Margrave family currently doesn't have any children close in age to the prince, and there are no children of higher nobility in their territory, only viscounts. This means their children can't attend the exclusive classes or salons frequented by the prince and other high-ranking nobles. That's why the family, which has work-related ties with the Larna Earl family, has asked us to have their children stay in our dormitory.

Suzanna, as a marquess' daughter, has her own dormitory and has invited me, but my father is close to the Corquette Margrave, so it's unlikely.

Speaking of which, wasn't Deril-sama from the Larna family the boy who was sticking close to Diadora-sama the other day? If he finds out I'm acquainted with her, it could be noisy and troublesome. At that time, the Corquette Margrave had asked me to become friends with Diadora-sama, so I tried to talk to her at the meal before meeting Hisui-sama, but there were too many boys around her.

When I was disappointed, I received an invitation, and my father was overjoyed.

Our mansion has extensive grounds, and looking out the window, I see a green carpet with cows and horses grazing here and there. The fact that a letter of invitation came from Diadora-sama of the Berisario family, who has a higher status than the ducal families, seemed like a mistake. But after Eldred-sama's harsh words yesterday, my tension disappeared, and I was able to talk to everyone normally.

The only topic that might interest the fairy princess is that I have three spirit beasts. Unfortunately, I don't have a fire spirit, but I've raised the others properly. Since our land has more cows than people, I think there must be many spirits. Spirits are supposed to live where there is plenty of nature. Our surroundings are nothing but nature.

It's my first time going to the royal palace, and after getting tired and going to bed early, it seems there was a difficult discussion late into the night. My father, who went out with the Corquette Margrave until late, came to wake me up early this morning, looking pale, and told me to go to the Fairy Company's capital branch immediately. I had to get ready to leave right away, and my mother and I hurriedly prepared. Not only that, but I was also invited to the prince's birthday tea party. Why would a rural noble like us be invited to the prince's tea party?

"All done. Now, we must hurry. Your mother is waiting."

"Am I really invited?"

I'm the only one from an earl's family. All the other guests are daughters of marquises or higher.

"Irene, the time for using the royal palace's teleportation circle is fixed, so we must move quickly."

Our mansion is old and proud of its teleportation circle. But I've never seen it used this many times in one day.

"Are we taking that much luggage?"

"Famous shops from the capital and people from the Fairy Company are coming to make adjustments. There's no way we can get dresses ready in time for the tea party the day after tomorrow."

Isn't there an option not to go to the tea party? What am I getting involved in?

The teleportation circle took us to the smallest teleportation room in the royal palace. It doesn't matter the size; apparently, this room is reserved by the Berisario Margrave for a few hours. Renting out one of the only three teleportation rooms in the palace is so impressive, I can't even comprehend it.

"Is this the Regan Countess and her daughter?"

The man who approached us in the waiting room was a tall, blue-haired youth with glasses.

"Please forgive the sudden approach. I am Nick Spencer from the Fairy Company, here under Diadora-sama's instructions to escort you."

The Fairy Company was established by the Berisario family. Its spirit car alone generates enormous profits, and it's famous for its new underwear that replaces corsets. Furthermore, the company has opened a café in the capital where you can enjoy sweets unavailable elsewhere with Berisario tea. Today, we are invited to the capital branch of the Fairy Company, which has a café attached.

Given that he's allowed in this place, he must be a noble. Most of the company's clients are nobles, so they must have noble employees to handle them. He subtly took the maid's luggage and walked smartly ahead.

"It's about ten minutes to the branch by spirit car."

"Yes."

"Nick, wait a moment."

In the crowded hallway, someone called out, and Spencer-sama stopped and turned around.

"Elton-sama, thank you for your continued support."

Approaching quickly was Andrew Crown Prince's aide, whom we met at yesterday's celebration. With nearly silver hair like Berisario's, probably because their territories are next to each other, his dark green eyes and elite status as the crown prince's aide didn't give off that impression. With earth and water spirits floating around him, he had a soft, charming aura with dimples when he smiled. Even though he's older, I couldn't help but find him cute.

"Could you hand this to Chris?"

"Understood."

"Thank you. Regan Countess and Irene-sama, you are heading to the Fairy Company, right? Sorry to interrupt."

How does he know?

Was he at last night's meeting as well?

"Not at all. Are you finished with your task?"

"Yes. The spirit car is swift, so please be careful."

After exchanging a few words with my mother, he looked at me.

Oh, he's not just cute. There's a sharp gleam in his eyes.

I bowed silently and started to walk past him when he called my name.

"Irene-sama."

I stopped and turned, and he was right next to me. Wow. He's tall. He's about the same age as the crown prince, so he shouldn't be much older than me, but he looks very mature.

"You're attending the dinner party, right?"

"Yes, I am."

I'll be attending Eldred-sama's tea party during the day, so the dinner party will start in the evening, and we'll stay overnight. I'm looking forward to visiting the castle.

"My sister Erda will be there too, so please take care of her. I've heard there are only three earls' children attending."

"I'm relieved to hear there are other earls' children. I'm looking forward to meeting her."

When he talks about his sister, his face softens.

Everyone has different faces they show to the world, but I wonder how people see me.

"Have you been to Berisario before?"

"This will be my first time."

"It's a wonderful place. The view of the town and sea from the castle is stunning."

"The sea?! I forgot about that. This will be my first time seeing the sea."

Suddenly, I'm excited. Yes, I get to see the sea.

"I'm glad. Enjoy your time."

He found my reaction to the sea amusing, smiling and showing his dimples again. I wish I had a wonderful older brother like him.

"Irene."

Lost in thought, I snapped back to reality when my mother called. Spencer-sama and my mother had gone ahead, waiting for me.

Embarrassed, I blushed and hurried to catch up, noticing my mother seemed pleased.

"This way, please."

The spirit car was quite large, bearing the Berisario and Fairy Company emblems on the side.

Escorted by Spencer-sama, the interior of the spirit car was spacious and comfortable, almost like being in a room.

"Elton-sama is a wonderful person."

"Indeed. Completely different from your brother."

My brother, who is two years older, is obsessed with cows. He and my father often discuss how changing their feed alters the milk's flavor. When he saw Diadora-sama at Corquette Margrave's place, he thought she was cute but nothing special, which made my parents worry he might never fall in love or even prefer men. But when he learned Diadora-sama helped develop the cheesecake with our milk, he became excited about promoting our dairy products.

"Why is he so obsessed with cows? Of course, if they like our milk, our profits will soar, but..."

"He can't promote our milk in front of the other young ladies."

"You're right. But that's not the point. I was talking about Elton-sama."

Elton-sama? Did my mother also think his dimples were charming?

Oh?

"Mother, we're already outside the castle."

"What? When did we start moving?"

The spirit car moves so smoothly. Before I knew it, we had left

 the castle and were driving through the city. Although spirit cars are becoming more common, they still attract attention.

"This is the capital branch? It's so luxurious."

I thought stores would have entrances right off the street, but it's different here. The capital is unique.

Entering through a gate, we reached a central space with a fountain where carriages can line up in front of the store. There's also a pathway for pedestrians.

"It's crowded."

Ignoring the line of waiting carriages, our spirit car moved to the side of the building, where there was another space for parking, and an elegant door opened as people came out.

"Rex, there's luggage. Please handle it."

"Got it. Bring them directly inside. The fittings have already started."

As the spirit car turned to the side path, guests peeked around the building's corner. Spencer-sama graciously helped us out of the car, giving me a slight sense of superiority. But more than that, I felt nervous to the point my hands were shaking.

"Please be careful. Everything will be fine. The others are already here."

Noticing my shaking, Spencer-sama reassured me gently. But waiting inside are duchesses and Diadora-sama, the fairy princess. This feels surreal for someone like me, who usually spends time watching cows.

"This way, please."

"Is this really a branch?"

I muttered, and Spencer-sama stifled a laugh.

"It's more luxurious than the main branch. The main branch has a summer resort design with white, blue, and orange colors."

"Oh, I see. Do you usually work there, Spencer-sama?"

"No, our headquarters is in a separate annex built inside the castle. We handle transactions, planning, and product development there, and it's three times the size of this place."

If it's three times this size, it's larger than our mansion. Could Berisario's castle be as vast as the royal palace?

"This is the guest-only area."

Through the heavy door lay a world more luxurious than my home. The high ceiling depicted a starry sky, and small magic lamps illuminated it from above. The floor was covered with intricately patterned carpets.

"Welcome, everyone!"

At the end of the corridor, with her beautiful hair down, stood Diadora-sama, arms open wide.