For now, it looked like Gold Ship wasn't a major problem.
Which meant what remained was the information war.
Chiya went out to scout training grounds. Shirayuki stayed behind to draw up plans and observe the uma musume on the practice field.
Sitting at the office desk, Shirayuki twirled her pen between her fingers. Orfevre's growth was faster than she had expected. In that case, they could shift their focus to other areas.
Just as Shirayuki was revising the training plan, the door opened, and a golden figure stepped inside.
"Empress…?"
The moment Orfevre saw Shirayuki, she froze.
"Orfevre, you came by? Did you need something?"
"I'm looking for Trainer. Where did he go?"
"To inspect the grounds. He left early this morning."
Shirayuki's gaze landed on the small box in Orfevre's hand.
"And that is…?"
Orfevre's eyes flickered with obvious nerves.
"This is… a token of appreciation I prepared for my retainer, since I saw how hard Trainer has been working."
"For me?"
"Not you. For Trainer," Orfevre snapped, displeased.
Shirayuki scratched her cheek awkwardly.
Orfevre sat down on the sofa and stared at Shirayuki, who was occupying Chiya's seat.
"What are you doing there?"
"Chiya asked me to help organize the training schedule so he can use it when he comes back."
Orfevre clicked her tongue under her breath.
Seeing another woman sitting in her man's seat irritated her a little. But considering Shirayuki and Chiya's relationship, Orfevre decided to tolerate it this once.
After all, who knew? One day, Shirayuki might become her sister-in-law.
"When will Trainer be back?"
"Afternoon, or maybe tonight. He'll return once he finishes recording the conditions of the west-side grounds."
"Oh?"
Orfevre crossed her legs.
"Shirayuki."
"Hm?"
That was the first time Orfevre had called her by name after all this time. Before this, it had always been "Empress."
"What is it?"
"What does Trainer like?"
Shirayuki blinked twice.
"…Huh?"
"I asked what Trainer likes. As Trainer's younger sister, you should know, shouldn't you?"
"I'm not his sister…" Shirayuki muttered.
Then she folded her arms and thought for a moment.
"What kind of thing do you mean specifically? Food? Clothing style? Or maybe…"
"Tell me everything."
"Why are you suddenly asking about Chiya?"
"As my retainer, I wish to know what he likes. Is there a problem with that?"
"No…"
Shirayuki said, "Give me a moment. Let me think."
The question had come so suddenly that it left her a bit dazed. After a while, she said, "Trainer likes things that are fairly sweet and fairly spicy."
"Sweet and spicy…? How can someone like both?"
"Because he's a pretty divided person."
"I see." Orfevre nodded, half understanding and half not.
"What about clothes? What kind of clothes does Chiya like girls wearing?"
That was getting a little personal, wasn't it?
Wait, had Orfevre started gossiping too? Gossip-loving Orfevre. The sheer impact of that combination was honestly something else.
Still, getting to see another side of her made Shirayuki kind of happy. She took out a mirror, glanced at herself, and said, "For clothes, he likes ones that flatter the figure. It doesn't need to be any particular style. As long as it suits the uma musume's aura, that's enough."
"Oh…"
Orfevre silently committed it to memory. Then she frowned at Shirayuki, who had suddenly started checking herself in the mirror.
What was she doing?
"What about socks?" Orfevre ignored it and continued asking.
"Socks, huh…"
Shirayuki slipped off her shoes, then ran her hand over her smooth calves and soft feet.
"Something that fits the shape of the foot. Nothing too flashy. Simple white or black is best."
"Trainer has rather plain tastes."
"Mm. I think solid-colored socks bring out the beauty of a girl's feet better."
"You know quite a lot about this."
"A little."
So the Empress paid quite a bit of attention to her personal image.
Solid-colored socks. A close fit around the foot.
Orfevre memorized that too.
After asking a few more questions about Fujiwara Chiya, Orfevre left the office in high spirits. She now had a small grasp of Trainer's preferences.
This would surely prove useful one day.
Once Orfevre was gone, Shirayuki stretched her waist, hugged one of her legs, and let her fingertips glide along the flawless curve of her skin.
Why did I get carried away and start telling Orfevre about my own preferences?
Actually, it wasn't that complicated.
All anyone had to do was glance her way to understand.
She herself was Chiya's greatest preference.
And yet Shirayuki had still gone on and on. Part of it was the gossip-loving heart of a girl at work, but more than that, Shirayuki wanted to tell someone how she felt.
The person Chiya loved most was her.
Keeping that relationship bottled up all the time was suffocating.
Shirayuki stretched in the chair, picked up the jacket hanging over it, and held it against her chest. After breathing in the scent around the collar for a while, she lightly wiped her leg, then returned to work.
By evening, Fujiwara Chiya, who had nearly gotten himself lost to death in the outskirts of Paris, finally returned to Tracen.
In total, he had found four grounds suitable for uma musume training. Some of them even had hoofprints on the surface, clearly left behind by other uma musume.
These places were probably hidden training spots chosen by trainers for their runners. Somewhere their uma musume could train in peace while also preventing anyone from secretly analyzing their data before a race.
Heh. You sneaky bastards. I finally caught you.
Before the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he would camp out at these spots and study those uma musume inside and out. He'd strip their strategies bare, down to the last stitch.
Then those trainers' hidden tactics would have nowhere left to hide.
Fujiwara Chiya would be able to suppress them in advance.
Still, Paris was huge. Finding every single place was basically impossible. Chiya could only do as much as he could.
Today had absolutely worn him out.
Once he got back, he was definitely going to relax.
Before bed, he'd use that jacket…
"Hello, Trainer."
During dinner, Fujiwara Chiya ran into Treve. She carried her tray over and sat down beside him.
"Just finished training?"
"Mm." She bit into her noodles.
"Oh, right, Trainer. Did you know Shirayuki has been going out every night lately?"
The bread lodged itself in Chiya's throat. He coughed several times.
"I've heard something like that."
"What exactly has Shirayuki been doing? She's been staying out all night, night after night."
Treve twirled her fork.
"She says she has something to do, but she won't say what…"
With a loud clank, Treve drove her fork into her steak.
The force behind it made it look like she was trying to skewer a person, and it startled Chiya badly enough that his shoulders jumped.
"Trainer, do you think Shirayuki might be secretly meeting someone?"
"Impossible. Shirayuki would never sneak off to meet someone else. That much, I can guarantee."
"Does Trainer know the details?"
"I'm not too sure either…"
Treve looked at Fujiwara Chiya.
After a long pause, she smiled.
"I see. Shirayuki really is naughty, isn't she? Not even telling Trainer about something like this."
"True. I'll scold her later."
After finishing dinner in a state of constant terror, Fujiwara Chiya returned to his room.
Just as he was about to call Shirayuki over, there was a knock at the door.
He opened it.
Standing there was Orfevre, dressed in a brown one-piece dress and wrapped in white thigh-high socks.
"Pardon the intrusion."
She brushed back her hair and walked into the room.