Joseph shrugged when he looked at him suspiciously. “I won’t be able to tell you anything even if you stare at me like that. I haven’t heard anything.”
“…That’s what you said about my engagement.”
“Is that so? Well, it is clear then that I have always served you with a sincere heart.”
“This damn…”
Kaon thought that his aide was probably so skilled that he wouldn’t starve even if he was thrown into the wilderness, then shook his head and went ahead and knocked.
“Leo, it’s me.”
“Come on in.”
Leonida took her eyes off the papers. She’d left for the Asciutto estate in the northwest two months ago and had only just returned late last night.
“Did you lose weight?”
“Well…”
“You probably did.”
Asciutto, much like Ferdinand, was a land inhabited by demons. However, their situation was much better in the sense that the territory was much smaller and that Count Asciutto’s son belonged to the Magic Tower.
Soon after Leonida rose to the position of head of the household, she took over the diplomatic roles that her father had. Her journey must have been exhausting, for her to lose so much weight so as to leave a sharper impression than usual.
Kaon began worriedly, “Get some rest first, we can talk—”
“We don’t have time,” she replied quickly. “A court banquet will be held soon, and you have to go too, so get ready.”
“Is it that time of the year again?”
“Yes.”
The royal family held a grand banquet every year when the warmth of spring was in full swing. Unlike regular court banquets, this was a large event where all prominent nobles were required to participate.
Leonida held out the invitation, the royal seal gleaming faintly. “I also heard that Princess Audrey is coming back too.”
“Princess Audrey?”
The current king had a son, and also a daughter whom he cherished dearly.
According to a certain anecdote, he had been very opposed to letting her, who was not yet an adult, study abroad as she had wanted, but eventually relented when she completely abandoned eating and drinking and instead locked herself in her room.
It had been two years since then, and now it was already time for her to return.
Kaon suddenly felt that the flow of time was truly merciless.
“It’s going to be a mess.”
At the same time, he was annoyed just thinking about how noisy the banquet would be. An environment where people looked at each other, trying to gauge intentions, did not suit him at all.
“This year, the young lady must attend too.”
Kaon barely managed to stifle an expression of disbelief. “…Alessia too?”
“I know you’re already engaged, but if you don’t take her, it’ll seem even more strange.”
“That’s… Yes, that’s right,” he reluctantly agreed.
As it was the banquet that most nobles attended, it was the best opportunity to show off. In addition, as both Ferdinand and Ingelos rejected the king’s propositions by instead cooperating, they had to attend and pretend to be friendly with each other.
“Is everything going well with her?”
“Hm? Oh, oh yes. Everything is going well.” Kaon forced a smile.
A lot had happened in the two months that his sister was gone. So many dizzying developments, so many new things that he learned that he didn’t need to.
But he couldn’t tell Leonida any of that. He was uneasy that he was tricking his sister, but that was the best option as nothing would be solved nor changed if he revealed the truth.
Leonida nodded. “She seems to have adapted better than I thought she would. She’s going out for inspections daily.”
“Yeah, she even got sick and collapsed.” Kaon frowned at the memory.
Even after that day, she worked diligently. How absurd was it that she had even begged Maurice to help her train because she was lacking in physical strength? Seeing her run around the estate like that gave him an indescribable feeling, somehow.
“Well, there are two years left.”
“What? Oh, right, yes.”
Kaon, whose concentration had been interrupted by the mental image of a little girl frantically moving around, jolted in surprise before realizing that she was talking about the time left until he married Alessia.
‘It’s been half a year already?’
He’d been through so many things that he felt that it had already been years since he’d gotten engaged, but he also felt that time had flown by too quickly.
Kaon wondered if the two years would pass in a blink of an eye.
Would Alessia still be with him then? Or would she return to Ingelos and end their relationship.
No matter how hard she was working, she was still not a real mage, so it was logical to hope for the latter, but considering her family…
He gulped down a suffocated breath.
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