Chapter 27
“Qifeng, you’re making this way too hard for me! This is my first time wearing high heels—!”
The heels she recommended were a full eight centimeters. Is she trying to make me walk on stilts?
“Is it really your first time?” Lian Qi hummed, a small smile playing on her lips. “I thought you’d have secretly worn them when you were a kid.”
“What are you talking about!”
I thought to myself: Back then, I believed I was a girl. Even if I was curious about high heels and wanted to wear them, that would have been normal, right? It’s only… now that I know I’m a boy that I feel ashamed.
“Could it be that Lian Qi used to wear them secretly?” I retorted.
“…I did not.”
The way she denied it so quickly made me feel like she was just covering something up.
I cleared my throat lightly. I shot a look at Qifeng, and she immediately understood. “Are you sure you want to change? This pair is five centimeters. Any shorter and you won’t get the right ‘feel,’ you know.”
“That’s more like it.”
I took the five-centimeter heels, secretly sighing in relief. For my first time, I have to act within my capabilities. Higher isn’t always better; what’s most important is that they suit me.
I sat down, preparing to take off my shoes, when I suddenly felt something was… off? I looked up and found both of them staring intently at me.
“D-Don’t watch me change my shoes…!”
“You even feel shame from people watching you change shoes? You’re hopeless,” Lian Qi said with a sigh.
…I was too ashamed to answer. It’s really embarrassing when people see your feet while you’re changing shoes, okay? Am I the only person in the world who feels this way?
Anyway, I put on the high heels.
I just haven’t stood up yet. Just having them on my feet, the subtle feeling of the thin heels scraping the floor…
This way… I’m a “girl” from head to toe, right? This feeling, a mix of shame and excitement, is truly… I just can’t stop.
What do I do? I’m a little scared to stand up. If only Lian Qi could use that phone she brought from her dimension to take a picture of the full effect… She’s secretly taken so many shameful photos of me, but this one time, she doesn’t take it out. Did she not bring it with her?
Lian Qi and Qifeng were both watching me. I couldn’t show them how nervous I was. I… stood up, trying on high heels for the first time.
“Do you need me to help you?” Qifeng asked, concerned.
I stood up, wobbly. In that instant, I felt: Wow! My field of vision is so wide~! I smiled shyly at Qifeng. “I’m taller than you now.”
“Hey~ After putting on high heels, your legs look so beautiful, Fei’er,” Qifeng smiled at me.
“Really…?”
Being told that by Qifeng made my face feel a little hot. Me, a boy, wearing high heels, and even being praised for having nice legs… this sense of “immorality” is truly indescribable.
“Not bad. Next time, I want to buy a 10-centimeter pair for you to wear at home,” Lian Qi said.
“Ten centimeters!? W-What do you want to do?” I asked, my face red.
“To enhance the ‘fun,’ of course.”
”…” I glared at her, too ashamed to reply.
“Are you two not wearing any?” I asked.
“Nope. Watching you suffer alone is enough,” Lian Qi said.
“What’s that supposed to mean—!!!”
Afterward, as I tried to walk in high heels for the first time, I deeply understood what a wise choice opting for five centimeters had been. Because… if five centimeters was this hard to walk in, wouldn’t eight be impossible?
And Lian Qi even said she wanted to buy me 10-centimeter heels… she’s so full of malice!
On the way to the banquet hall, I was completely unaccustomed to walking in high heels and was left behind by them.
By the way, why is this hallway so long? I didn’t think it was this long just now. Is it because I can’t take proper steps?
“Fei’er, why don’t I help you walk?” Qifeng asked, doubling back for me.
“N-No, it’s fine…”
I gave an awkward laugh, nearly resorting to walking by holding the wall.
“Want me to… carry you?”
“Even less!”
I glared at her, helpless.
“Shouldn’t you go and set up your magic right now?”
“Oh, right! We’re here to protect people, not to attend a banquet.” Qifeng looked as if she had just had a revelation.
“Go on, quick. I’ll find you right after.”
“Mhm. Then… I’ll leave Fei’er in your care!” Qifeng winked at Lian Qi, then slipped through the banquet hall door and disappeared.
…
“…I thought I could handle them. I didn’t expect…” I couldn’t go on. Uwaah! So ashamed!
I saw her sigh, as if she was hopeless against me.
“Forget it. How about I go back to the wardrobe and get you a pair of low-heeled shoes?”
“N-No, don’t bother…”
“Then you want me to ‘princess carry’ you to the banquet?” Lian Qi smiled slyly.
I felt a sudden chill and gave a weak laugh. “On second thought, you’d better go get the shoes.”
“I knew you’d choose that.” She gave me a deep smile.
Watching Lian Qi’s back as she left, I couldn’t help but wonder… why is she suddenly being so nice to me? She’s even going back to get shoes for me? In the past… she would have just ‘princess carried’ me without my consent, or even shoulder-carried me, just to make me feel ashamed.
Ashamed… the sight of me leaning against the wall, one high-heeled shoe off, would also be pretty embarrassing if anyone saw… Anyway, the banquet hall door is right in front of me. Maybe I should just go in and find a place to sit down?
I put the high heel back on and, enduring the difficulty, walked the remaining distance.
When I entered the spacious banquet hall, the party seemed to have just begun, but it was already packed with so many nobles and famous figures. They were all dressed in gorgeous attire, gathered in twos and threes, chatting happily. A maid carrying exquisite small snacks passed by in front of me. Just then, the violin waltz “Night in Turin” began to play in the hall.
I wonder where that silly girl Qifeng ran off to. I couldn’t find her for a moment. Just then, a man in a tailcoat, holding a cigar in his hand, stopped in front of me and stared in astonishment.
“Your… Holiness!?”
Eh? Eh? Eh??? How did he recognize me at a glance?
“I never imagined you would also be attending Princess Liluo’s birthday banquet.”
“N-No, no. You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
I gave a weak smile and quickly fled.
I don’t even know him, but he knows me. This is so awkward. What’s going on? Why did no one recognize me when I was wearing a magic academy uniform, but the moment I put on a formal dress, I’m immediately recognized?
I specifically found a chair in a corner and sat down to avoid being recognized by more people. Originally, I just thought that wearing a flowing long dress and high heels and enduring the gazes of the guests would be too shameful for me as a boy. Now it seems it’s not just “shameful,” but also “frightening”— these people could identify me as the Saintess any minute!
At that moment, a small figure appeared in front of me.
In the light… it had no shadow.
I looked up—at her face. It was Liluo.
Liluo tilted her head, studied me for a moment, and asked in a childish voice, “Big sister, you’re the Saintess, aren’t you?”