“Hi?”
“Ah, hello?”
It was Seraphinrie.
&
She had appeared in front of our mansion right now, riding in such a luxurious carriage no less.
“What brings you here...?”
“For now...”
Seraphinrie paused for a moment.
The girl who always shot back with such confidence had, for some reason, paused for a beat.
“Could you let me... greet them first?”
When she sent her gaze behind her, Father, Mother, and Risel, who were standing there, came into view.
All three wore blank expressions no less stunned than mine.
Seraphinrie stepped down from the carriage.
Her red dress shone vividly in the sunlight, and her steps were as confident as ever.
But the moment Seraphinrie stopped before Father and Mother, for a very brief moment, her fingertips awkwardly came together before loosening again.
And then she took a small breath.
“I am Seraphinrie de Harmont. Father. Mother.”
“O-oh, I see. Welcome. I am Drevan Signel.”
“I-I welcome you too. I am Ellasia Signel.”
Seraphinrie gave a light smile.
And with a single gesture, luggage carriers descended one after another from behind the carriage.
It wasn’t just one or two.
A full ten of them.
As they began unloading boxes and bundles with both hands full, our family—and even I—were rendered speechless for a moment.
“I was taught that coming empty-handed is not good manners. Furthermore, coming with merely a single box is likewise unacceptable.”
Somehow, it felt like she was taking aim at someone.
“We prepared in haste, so I cannot say for certain whether only the essentials were packed, but...”
Seraphinrie lowered her voice slightly at the end.
“I would be grateful if you would accept this as a small token of my sincerity. Father. Mother.”
For a small token, the scale was not small at all.
Each box looked to be worth more than an average household’s monthly living expenses.
Father and Mother could only nod with blank faces.
“Excuse me.”
Seraphinrie glanced my way, then shifted her gaze back to my parents.
“As I have only stopped by for a brief moment... might I spend a little time with Reyon?”
“Y-yes. Please do.”
“Thank you.”
Having finished her greetings, Seraphinrie immediately looked at me.
And spoke curtly.
“Ahem. Get in.”
I turned around.
Father and Mother were looking at me with awkward faces, and Risel was staring at me with an irritating expression for some reason.
I got into the carriage anyway.
The interior was incomparably spacious compared to our carriage.
It was large enough to comfortably seat at least eight people, and the interior decorations were lavish to the point of excess.
The moment I sat down, the carriage began to move slowly.
It left the mansion and began circling slowly along the road outside the territory.
Seraphinrie looked out the window once, then directed her gaze toward the carriage door.
“We’ll circle around a bit and then go back.”
When I made a puzzled expression, she immediately added.
“If our carriage keeps standing there, they will feel burdened.”
It sounded like something thrown out casually, but it showed that she had given it some thought.
“But may I ask the reason you came so suddenly?”
Seraphinrie looked straight at me.
“Aileen came and went a short while ago, didn’t she?”
“Y-yes, she did?”
Seraphinrie’s eyes changed very slightly.
“Why did Aileen come?”
“Well...”
I pondered my words for a moment.
Thinking about how much I should say, I decided to just tell her.
Since she probably already knew enough anyway.
“I sold the rice cultivation method to Lady Aileen. She visited this time to share some new developments as well.”
“Ah~ so Aileen came directly to see that? That busy girl?”
Why?
Why do I feel like I’m being scolded?
“Anyway, I was truly surprised to hear that you cultivated rice.”
She unfolded her arms, then needlessly touched the end of her sleeve again.
“As expected... you were an amazing man.”
...?
The person who had always been so confident strangely couldn’t meet my eyes properly.
“Uh, um, I was lucky.”
“And modest on top of that.”
And she looked at me and smiled slightly.
Then she swiftly turned her gaze out the window for no reason.
“As expected, I like you.”
“Huh?”
“Ah, I mean.”
Seraphinrie immediately raised her head.
Her expression was proud again as usual, but
the tips of her ears seemed to have turned slightly red.
“I meant, I like your way of doing things.”
Didn’t she say something different just now?
Every word and action was strangely flustering.
She was so different from the Seraphinrie I knew.
***
In the end, a territorial war broke out.
This event gave countless nobles a great shock.
The problem was that this shock did not move everyone in the same direction.
Some shrank back,
some aimed for the opening,
and some used that opening as a pretext to begin preparing for a bigger move.
“Ha... it really happened.”
At Father’s low murmur, I quietly nodded.
“Father. We should be fine for the moment. But if we start expanding our territory and gathering soldiers as we are now, we’ll certainly face checks.”
“But they won’t be able to attack right away.”
Father was already reading the next move.
“Thanks not only to Lady Aileen but also to Lady Seraphinrie this time, it won’t be easy for them, at least for now. We’re fortunate thanks to our two daughters-in-law.”
“Father, what do you mean daughters-in-law!”
Father grinned and tapped my shoulder.
“Anyway, if Belmardian pushes Serana’s armor, money will flow sufficiently. And even if the surrounding nobles press us, with a territory war having broken out, we can claim we are preparing for self-defense, so our justification stands.”
As expected, he wasn’t the head of the house for nothing.
“But we must still be careful. Right now, we are a coveted fruit. Before long, they will move to find out about our relationship with Belmardian and House de Harmont.”
The moment they realize it’s nothing special,
they will start a territorial war by any means necessary and try to dominate us so that they, too, can cultivate rice.
On top of that, Belmardian had announced a rice monopoly, and the fact that we were already growing rice had spread to the surrounding nobles.
The harvest season was now approaching as well.
And a few days passed.
“Reyon.”
Father was in his office, frowning deeply.
“The Lin family is coming. As expected.”
“But they had a long-standing friendship with you, Father. Would they really seek a pretext?”
“Hmph. It was friendship in name only; the bastard always looked down on me.”
Father clicked his tongue.
“The loyalty of nobles is ultimately no better than insects dividing prey.”
Their movements felt so blatant that it left an even worse taste in my mouth.
“We’re not the same as we used to be.”
Still,
only now did it truly feel like the territory was growing.
While talking with Father in the office, a soldier rushed in and delivered the news that the Lin family had arrived.
I rose from my seat together with Father, crossed the hallway, and headed toward the mansion entrance.
The Lin family was only the beginning.
So there was no need to be nervous about a mere Lin family.
Bring it on!
But.
We were bewildered by the sight of Roderick Lin the moment we turned the corner.
“W-well... hahaha. Have you been well?”
Huh?
Roderick Lin was smiling with an awkward face and even waving his hand.
It was an expression and behavior I could never have imagined from him.
At that unexpected attitude, we nearly stopped in our tracks.
“Uh... w-well, I’ve been well. Yes. I’m surprised you came so suddenly. Please, come in.”
“Haha. Thank you. I was worried I might be turned away at the door, you know. Hahaha!”
Seeing Mother come out after, Roderick greeted her even more warmly, and even his wife, Pilter Lin, went a step further and grasped Mother’s hand.
“Oh my, what happened in the meantime? Why has your skin become so good? You look ten years younger~”
Why are they acting like this?
Flustered, I turned my gaze to Cedric and Marsha.
Cedric quickly turned his head the moment he met my eyes,
and Marsha’s eyes were shaking too.
And she cautiously approached me.
“For a moment... let’s talk alone.”
I walked with her to the back of the mansion like that.
“Why did you suddenly come?”
“You heard about the territorial war... right?”
“Yes. So you came to find a pretext to start a territorial war against us?”
Marsha bit her lip tightly at my words and glared at me.
Why does she look so hurt?
“You’re too much. Really.”
Marsha shot back in a low voice.
“We’ve known each other since we were children. No matter how nastily I acted, no matter how our father and mother behaved... we’re not bad enough to start a territorial war against you and your family.”
Tears eventually flowed.
“Right. Sorry for saying that.”
But.
What did you say just now?
Oppa?
“Forget it! It’s annoying.”
Marsha wiped her tears, took a breath, and opened her mouth again.
“Sigh. Father and Mother are going crazy right now.”
“Why?”
“They keep telling me to seduce you and get married.”
*Cough.*
I was so startled that I nearly choked for real.
“W-what is that supposed to mean?”
“They say Lady Aileen came all the way here herself? And even Lady Seraphinrie.”
Marsha’s gaze swept across my face.
“What happened? Do you really... have something going on with those two?”
“Lady Aileen came because of the rice.”
“Rice? Don’t tell me... the farming you were doing was rice?”
I nodded at the surprised Marsha.
“I can’t tell you the details, and as for Lady Seraphinrie... I helped her with something. It was quite a big deal to her.”
Marsha was even more surprised.
“How did all these things suddenly happen?”
“Who knows.”
I smirked.
“Luck tends to come suddenly at some point. Fortunately, I managed to grab hold of it.”
Hearing that, Marsha’s expression changed for a moment.
And she looked at the ground and clasped her hands together.
“I... missed that luck.”
“What?”
“Ah, nothing.”
After a brief pause, Marsha spoke again.
“Those two... they like you, don’t they?”
“Come on. No way. There’s no way people like them would like me.”
I cut in immediately.
“Right?”
Marsha smiled brightly.
“You’re right, but... you accept it so naturally that it somehow makes me choke up.”
She eventually burst into laughter.
“Ah, haha. Sorry.”
Then she composed her expression again and asked cautiously.
“Hey. Back in the day... we still got along well, didn’t we?”
I thought for a moment, then spoke flatly.
“Every time we ate, you’d say you didn’t want it and make me eat all the spicy food. You dragged me to the river saying you wanted to catch fish and pushed me in. You put bugs on my shoulders to prank me. Well, it was fun.”
“...”
Marsha eventually hung her head low again.
“I don’t hold any bad feelings toward you in those memories.”
I spoke honestly.
“I liked you back then. So all of that was fine. As long as you could smile.”
Was it an unexpected line?
Marsha’s pupils shook, and soon tears formed.
“Can I... make it up?”
What’s with her again?
Still, her eyes looking at me with tears welling up were cute.
I scratched my head and spoke a bit seriously.
“That’s up to you, not something you should ask me.”
Marsha’s eyes slowly fixed on me.
“My choice is mine, and your actions should come from your heart too. Trying to change while watching my reactions is meaningless.”
Marsha’s eyes, which had been blankly looking at me, changed strangely.
“...It really is you.”
“You only just realized?”
“Tch.”
Marsha returned to her usual expression, wiping away tears slightly.
“Ah, right. There’s actually a real reason I came.”
“What is it?”
“Father is probably telling Uncle Drevan right now. I’ll tell you on the way.”