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Some time after Rae’s duel with Manaria, Rae and Claire were talking about what happened. At one point, Claire lost her temper and said she hates peasants. Rae responded by saying she would quit her job as Claire’s servant. Claire was more upset by this than Rae had expected.
“Why are you upset?” Rae asked. “You don’t even like me. Wait, don’t tell me this is a tsundere thing, and you’ve only now decided you like me. That would be pretty dumb, wouldn’t it?”
Claire sighed. “I guess you could call it a tsundere thing, but that might be too generous. I think my character is just really inconsistent. It’s not just this scene. It’s been all over the place almost since the beginning. There was one time in Chapter 1 that I almost wanted to hug you, and then in Chapter 2, I tried to make you leave the academy. We were getting along relatively well at the festival, and it was almost like I wanted to be friends, but then I refused when you wanted to hug or hold hands, and I said something suggesting that our time being friendly was over. We had a nice, touching scene at the end of Chapter 3, but then I went back to hating you at the beginning of this chapter. And then there’s this scene, where I once again told you I hate you, and when you decided to quit, I acted like my best friend had betrayed me, even though I never agreed to be your friend in the first place.”
“To be fair, that time you almost wanted to hug me was from ‘She’s So Cheeky for a Commoner,’ not the main story,” Rae pointed out. “But yeah, it seems like the plot kind of screwed you over.”
“Well, at least that should be over after this chapter. I think I’m going to become a much more consistent character.”
“Oh yeah, you’re going to be a tsundere for real. It’s going to be great.”
“…I’m not sure I like how excited you just got.” Claire smiled. “Well, whatever. Yeah, should be fun.”