Chapter 28: Wisdom and Strategist and Council of Love

"I propose the method of dropping something."

"...Huh?"

Mia blinked a few times, baffled by the sudden proposition. While she scratched her head, wondering what possessed Anne to make such a strange remark, her interlocutor continued, wagging her finger in that way teachers did when preaching to children.

"You see, Princess Mia, people need a reason to get to know each other."

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

What Anne said was true. Starting a conversation with a complete stranger out of the blue was difficult. A great deal of courage was required to do so. For Mia, who was particularly chicken-hearted, it was an extremely tall order. Complicating matters was the fact that it was a dance party, for which boys were normally the ones who did the asking. Among noble circles, it was widely accepted that girls were asked to dances, and their efforts should be focused on making themselves sufficiently appealing to attract such requests. Should a girl ever take the initiative and ask a boy, she might quickly find herself the victim of much gossip about her shameless and uncouth behavior. Therefore, in order for Mia to be asked to the dance, she needed to first stage a scenario in which she and her target would naturally engage each other in conversation. That would allow them to become acquainted with each other, making it easier for the crucial request to occur.

Of course, they could remain completely unacquainted and he still might ask her to the dance. The possibility certainly existed in theory, especially considering there were boys who preferred to remain free agents until the day of the party, when they'd go around asking whomever struck their fancy. However, this was not applicable to Mia — no one would dare approach the Princess of the Empire on a whim. In addition, her change of heart was only a very recent event. Though some people in the Empire had begun to refer to her as "Saint" and "The Wisdom," only neighboring kingdoms with well-established intelligence networks would know anything about this. To most of her classmates, her reputation remained unchanged, and considering she was known to be a selfish, arrogant princess who flaunted her power in the worst ways, people probably weren't lining up to be her dance partner. Therefore, she needed to make use of what limited time she had left to convince people that she wasn't a terrifying egomaniac.

...Easier said than done.

"And that's where dropping something comes in. Imagine this. The gentleman you're interested in is right in front of you. You're walking past him and, all of a sudden, something just... slips out of your hand and falls to the ground. What do you think would happen then?"

"Ah-hah. You're right. If it looked like I accidentally dropped something right in front of him, he would have no choice but to pick it up."

"Exactly. And in the process of saying thank you, you just casually mention the dance and ask him if he has a partner. If not..."

"Hm. So the idea is to create an opportunity for conversation that will naturally lead him to ask me to the dance... How terribly clever," said Mia, deeply impressed by the tactical brilliance on display.

She had no idea her confidante was capable of devising a scheme of such meticulous detail. All sorts of descriptors she'd never before associated with Anne began to flash across her mind: dependable, master strategist, should be in charge of all the Empire's armies...

"If he happens to be a little on the dense side, then you can ask him to the dance, but phrase it as an expression of gratitude for his courteousness."

While it was generally taboo for the girl to do the asking, framing the request as a form of thanks should shield her from being seen as shameless. Offering someone a gift for no apparent reason would be seen as cheap ingratiation, but doing so as repayment for a previous favor carried no such scorn. In fact, in the latter case, not doing so would be deemed impolite.

"Also, you can subtly draw attention to your feminine charms through the thing you drop. I recommend a nice little handkerchief, for example. It shows you have good taste."

"Amazing, Anne. You are absolutely amazing..."

Before she knew it, Mia was applauding Anne's proposal. The more she heard, the more she came to appreciate the masterful perfection of Operation Handkerchief Drop. What she didn't realize, of course, was that the entire operation was lifted step-by-step out of a story Anne's sister had written. And how could she? After all, the story that Anne drew from was much older than the one Mia was reading. It was one of Elise's earliest from back when she'd first started writing stories, filled to the brim with dreamy situations that reflected the fancies of a young girl for whom romance yet remained solely within the realm of imagination...

For Mia and Anne — two romantic amateurs who couldn't tell the difference between fiction and reality — nothing seemed particularly off about this.

"All right. Let's do this," said Mia. Slowly, she rose with a great sense of purpose as she prepared to carry out their masterful plan to drop a handkerchief.