After finishing my talk with the Crown Prince, I spent the rest of the morning in my palace office to finish the paperwork related to Anheim. Although technically I just needed to sign the documents, I still read each of them carefully.
As someone who ordered the inspection of the governor of the Zeavert family’s territory, there was no way I could do my own job as the governor half-assedly.
“Your Excellency, Viscount Wackenroder asks to meet you.”
“Okay. Please guide the viscount to the reception room.”
One unexpected thing about today was the fact there were many nobles who wanted to meet me. Some condescendingly said stuff like ‘I will handle your debt!’ probably just to harass me, but some wanted to meet me purely because they wanted to form a good relationship with me. Therefore, I couldn’t turn down all the meeting requests.
When I was still a deputy count, these kinds of things were probably handled by Father and now I realized what a blessing it was to be a deputy count.
There was also one person that blatantly said, ‘I will pay back your debt but in exchange, you will have to marry my daughter’ and I politely declined.
I spent the rest of my morning doing my paperwork and meeting with several nobles, then I immediately returned to the Zeavert mansion in the afternoon since it would be a pain in the neck if people started to ask me for lunch together. Although I was an official Viscount, I didn’t have my own territory and I also didn’t have an official position in the royal court, so other than my duty as the Anheim governor, I was pretty free.
When I returned to the Zeavert mansion, I checked things that I had arranged before. Since most important jobs had already finished, I gave holiday to Neurath, Schunzel, and Frenssen, so I had to arrange new escorts for me to replace Neurath and Schunzel.
The people who worked in the Count house weren’t so little to the point that the mansion would become empty just because I gave those three a holiday, but since the outing this time was pretty sudden, I consulted Norbert about the arrangement of the escorts. I also took the lady knight that had helped me before as one of the escorts.
The main purpose of the outing this time was to shop for Lily’s dress, but it was also to appeal to other nobles that I didn’t lock myself in the mansion to run away from my debt. That was why we went out to the shop rather than calling a designer to the mansion.
This outing also served as a proper holiday for Lily. From what I heard, she had been working diligently without taking any proper leaves, so this outing was a perfect chance for her to relax.
I also heard she saved most of her earnings as a maid. The only things she spent money on recently was the necessary material to create the handkerchief she gave to me before. The count house also prepared the necessary material for her study so she didn’t need to spend money on those. I really hoped she would spend more money for herself.
In addition, this outing was also a chance for Lily to sightsee the capital, although we would be accompanied by escorts. I hope she didn’t feel uncomfortable by that fact.
“Okay. This is fine. Please make the arrangements.” (Welner)
After I finished the arrangements for the outing, I decided to take a rest. The hero party would depart in the afternoon. I left Lily with Mazell, so they could have some family moments.
I also planned to have a light lunch later. Spending a long time in the military made me prefer simple meals over luxurious meals.
“Good afternoon, Viscount.” (Elrich)
“Elrich-dono. Good afternoon.” (Welner)
As I was walking relaxedly in the corridor, I met Elrich. After that, we exchanged some small talk. I also thanked him for his help regarding the church, but Elrich replied with polite words with his usual smile. As always, this guy was handsome.
“We plan to depart in the afternoon. Thank you so much for letting us stay here, Viscount.” (Elrich)
“There is no need to be polite, Elrich-dono. All of you are my friends.” (Welner)
Once again I reflexively returned to polite speech with Elrich. He just had this kind of aura that made me do that every time. Well, it didn’t trouble me, so I guess it was fine.
“Will you go shopping this afternoon, Viscount?” (Elrich)
“Yes. But well… I am a bit unsure on how to handle all of… the sudden information…” (Welner)
Feli frankly told me before about how Lily liked me and that… made me feel confused. It wasn’t like I dislike Lily, but still…
“I believe there is no need for you to think about it too much.” (Elrich)
“Really?” (Welner)
I mean, I had no intention to overthink it, but… As I was thinking like that, Elrich suddenly said a pretty surprising thing.
“You both have a quite similar situation, after all.” (Elrich)
“Pardon?” (Welner)
“Miss Lily seems to treat you not as a viscount but as one individual, as Welner. How about you, Viscount?” (Elrich)
Ah… that’s right. Just as a lot of people see me as a Count’s heir, most people would see Lily as the hero’s sister. The church’s recent movement, the incident with the Witthoft family, and even the action of the country were all caused by the fact that Lily was the hero’s sister. In other words, many people saw Lily… as a tool to get closer to her brother the hero Mazell.
Then… What about me? I knew that she was Mazell’s sister, but at least I didn’t think of her as someone I could use to gain power. Like Elrich said, we were in a quite similar position. I too had many people who offered me an engagement based on nothing but my position as a Count’s heir. My situation might be worse than Lily since I also had troublesome duties as a noble, though.
“A relationship due to having a similar position…is that…actually a good thing?” (Welner)
“I would say yes.” (Elrich)
“I…will take upon your words, then.” (Welner)
I let out a bitter smile. I understood Elrich’s words. But…I turned my eyes away from Elrich’s gaze that saw me like a benevolent elder who was talking to a youngster.
“For now…I will properly face her feelings.” (Welner)
“A right decision, Viscount.” (Elrich)
Let’s just stop thinking about this and enjoy my outing with Lily today.
Still, in a different sense than with Father and the Crown Prince, I got a feeling that I would never win against Elrich.
