Chapter 1. The fiancé is back
***
Marquis Valdir turned red at my question and raised his voice.
“Lady, you think I’m proposing to attribute the Lady’s credit to the entire Ministry of Foreign Affairs for my authority and gain?”
Is it not? It looks that way to me though.
“I’m doing this purely for the sake of the Empire! Not a bit of personal greed!”
“So am I.”
“…so are you?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t understand Marquis Valdir’s mind at all, but I pretended to understand and said with a smile.
“I also want to attribute this to everyone for the sake of the Empire, but if it is found out that this is not true, all the aftermath will go to you, Marquis.”
“…all the aftermath will go to me?”
“Yes. There are bound to be people like me who don’t notice your sincerity and think you’re stealing the ball.”
Marquis Valdir didn’t say anything as to whether it might be true that he might get stabbed.
Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have sold out his conscience completely.
“That’s why I thought it would be better to just tell the truth from the beginning.”
“…in summary, it’s okay if others don’t find out about it, right?”
“At that time, there were many eyes in the conference room, starting with the diplomatic envoy of the Natsha Kingdom. Are you confident it won’t be found out for the rest of your life?”
Marquis Valdir shut his mouth after giving off a nuance that he would do what he wanted. He couldn’t seem to be confident about that.
Marquis Valdir’s expression was still bad. Well, if things didn’t go his way, it couldn’t have felt good.
Whatever Marquis Valdir felt, it had nothing to do with me.
…no, he could go around cursing me behind my back, right?
I was skeptical because there were similar records before.
If Marquis Valdir did that, my image among the nobles would be worse. That would be a big hindrance to me becoming a baron in the future, and it would interfere with my work.
I can’t let that happen.
I didn’t know anything else, but I had to prevent it from interfering with my work.
If that happened, not only it wouldn’t end my problem, but it would also affect Kalian and Baron Delrond, so I had to prevent it unconditionally.
But how?
I can’t say I’m accepting his offer now.
…ah!
Right. I can use that method.
Thinking of a good trick, I said.
“But if they did find out, as the Marquis said, it wouldn’t be good for the honor of the Empire and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Marquis Valdir looked at me strangely. He also looked suspicious.
“Of course, I don’t want that either, so I would like to make a suggestion to you.”
“Suggestion?”
“Yes. It’s not that the Marquis and the members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs couldn’t do anything during the diplomatic meeting this time, it’s that you didn’t.”
It might sound like a pun, but there’s a huge difference between ‘couldn’t do anything’ and ‘didn’t’.
‘Couldn’t do anything’ meant that they didn’t have the ability, but ‘didn’t’ meant that they didn’t do it for some reason even though they had the ability.
“The reason was to help me fully realize my ability. I think that would be enough. It turns out, I actually did.”
“That, that’s right!”
Perhaps he liked my explanation, Marquis Valdir smiled brightly and immediately responded.
“It’s, it’s a matter of course!”
What a matter of course? Ridiculous.
Not only did they come up with silly plans and have a meeting without me, but they also turned me into a liar.
He seemed to have completely forgotten that he didn’t even want me to attend the meeting.
“Okay, that’ll do. There will be no problem then.”
“I’m glad your concern has been resolved. Can I get going now?”
“Of course. Have a good night, Lady Thebesa.”
Seeing him smile and saying that friendly goodbye, he seemed to be in a better mood.
It would end here, right? I didn’t want other nobles to praise me. I just wanted them to not gossip behind my back.
That was enough.
“Have a good night, Marquis.”
I politely said goodbye to Marquis Valdir, left the room, and headed to my room.
Sir Hiltine followed me silently.
When I arrived in front of my room, I turned to Sir Hiltine.
“I’m going to rest in my room now, so Sir, too, can go back to your room and rest.”
I knew that even if I said this, he would only nod and not go right away. He would stay in front of my door even after I entered. Even if I told him not to do it and just rest, he hardly listened.
Still, I was hoping while saying that, but Sir Hiltine looked at me without a nod unlike usual.
“Do you have anything to say to me?”
“…nothing.”
No, it looked like he had.
“Go in and rest. I’m going to rest too.”
“Are you really going to rest?”
Sir Hiltine didn’t answer but kept his mouth shut.
He won’t, right?
Should I think that it was better not to tell obvious lies?
It made me uncomfortable to see that he would be guarding my room all night again.
“After a while, go back to your room and rest.”
Sir Hiltine nodded silently.
He seemed to do that, but contrary to his answer, he kept standing in front of my door all night.
*****
In a country located on the eastern continent, there’s a saying that if you remember to be patient three times, you will avoid even murder.
Ver was acutely aware of how wrong those words were.
The culprit was, of course, Kalian. To get into more detail, there’s a problem with his order to find a house for Leila a while ago.
Ver had presented a decent mansion five times so far, but Kalian rejected it every time.
He gave various reasons for why the mansions were rejected, such as it was downtown, far from the Imperial Palace, making it inconvenient for Leila to go to work, or being close to the Duke of Williot.
And this was already the sixth time.
Ver looked at Kalian, who was reading the document, hoping that this time it would pass safely.
Finally, after reading the document, Kalian nodded satisfactorily.
“It’s good.”
“Really?”
When Kalian gave a positive answer, Ver’s face, which had been tearful, became bright in an instant. It was like the face of a person who had gone to heaven.
Kalian glanced sideways at Ver, and then put the document down on the desk.
“But there’s a problem.”
“Right! I have worked so hard to prepare… Yes? Problem?”
Ver’s face, which had been thrown back to hell from heaven in an instant, crumpled badly.
Ver sighed deeply, putting his hand on his forehead, and then asked Kalian.
“What is the problem again this time?”
“It’s too small.”
Kalian answered as if he was asking what was so obvious.
“It’s a house granted by an emperor who is only a name, how can you give her such a small and shabby house?”
What? Such a b*llsh*t…
Ver had an absurd expression on his face.
He must have forgotten that he had given Leila a smaller house.
This house has just the right size. Because Leila doesn’t have a family with her, she’s the only one!
“Are the conditions I make too difficult?”
“No. Not too difficult, but almost impossible.”
“Impossible? It looks simple to me though.”
Ver kept his mouth shut as he tried to argue where the heck was the simple part.
He was well aware through long experience that he was the lose one. And that he also couldn’t give up.
It was more difficult to find a house that met Kalian’s conditions than to get a star in the sky. No, he wondered if there was one.
Far from the Duke of Williot and close to the imperial palace, it had to be not downtown but not in the suburbs either.
Was that all? Security must be good, there must be no troublesome neighbors, and where on earth was such a reasonably large place…
“…there’s one.”
Ver, who thought of one place for a moment, briefly exclaimed.
Kalian said as he held out the document he had put down on the desk toward Ver.
“If there’s a place that comes to mind, fill this out.”
“I don’t think I need to fill that out. Because it’s a place Your Majesty knows well.”
“A place I know well? Where is it?”
Ver grinned and pointed his index finger at the floor.
“Here.”
Kalian’s eyebrow rose slightly when he heard he was talking about the Imperial Palace.
Ver continued with a grin.
“The Imperial Palace is the perfect place that meets all the conditions Your Majesty has put forward. So just bring Sir Thebesa into the Palace.”
The Imperial Palace was the residence of the imperial family. Occasionally, some distinguished guests stayed, but that was literally a brief stay. It was nonsense for a person who was not of the Imperial family to live in the Imperial Palace.
The reason he said this even though he knew it well was purely because he was annoyed. He was just saying that because Kalian asked so many impossible things.
“Let’s do that.”
“…yes?”
As Kalian quickly accepted it, Ver was bewildered and blinked his eyes wide.
Kalian smiled brightly and said again.
“From now on, Leila will be staying in the Imperial Palace.”
“…you are kidding, right?”
There’s no way Kalian didn’t know that only the imperial family could live in the Imperial Palace.
If so, he must be simply playing along with his prank, but looking at his expression, it seemed that it wasn’t the case again.
No way… is he serious?
Ver shouted, asking Kalian back.
“Are you really going to bring Sir Thebesa into the Imperial Palace?!”
“You say so, no?”
No, I meant it as a joke…
“I also think it’s better to do that.”
Ver, lost for words, shut his mouth.
Ver thought seriously about how to solve this situation.
Kalian, on the other hand, was very happy that the matter had been resolved and read the other documents that Ver had brought.