“Lovely.”
“What is?”
“The view today.”
Then I shifted my gaze from the sunset to her.
“Especially so.”
Eileen looked slightly startled, then a smile slowly spread across her face.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I’d like to keep it in my eyes for a very long time.”
Eileen tilted her head slightly to the side and said,
“Me too.”
&
Only three days had passed,
and I was already on the verge of being completely drained.
I had gone to far too many parties.
I had expected to draw a certain amount of attention,
but I received more than I’d thought.
People were curious about the territorial war, yes,
but what they were most interested in, as expected,
was rice.
The rice we had distributed.
And the fact that if they signed a contract with House Signal, even if the quality was slightly inferior to Belmardian’s rice,
they could bring it in at a far more affordable price.
That was the cause of all this attention.
Also,
the attention wasn’t exactly pleasant, since all sorts of lesser nobles who couldn’t easily approach Belmardian came rushing in droves.
Still, if there was one fortunate thing,
it was that once I entered a party with a certain level of class, the fervor didn’t last long.
Even so, compared to a year ago, people approached me first to talk to an incomparable degree.
“Whew.”
I finally slipped out from among the crowd and took a glass of wine from a passing waiter.
Not far away, I could see Eileen surrounded by people, smiling.
No matter whom she spoke with, she seemed natural,
and no matter whom she looked at, her smile never faltered.
Then, suddenly,
she turned her gaze toward me.
And.
She winked.
I flinched for an instant,
then ended up smiling awkwardly.
Good grief, look at that composure.
Even in this situation, she has the presence of mind to tease me.
Just continuing to smile wouldn’t have been easy,
yet Eileen did it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That smile was natural,
and beautiful.
As I was taking a sip of wine,
footsteps stopped beside me.
“Hello?”
It was Serafinlie.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you at a party.”
“True. How is it?”
A dress with vivid colors and a strong impression.
One wrong move and her face might have been swallowed by the dress,
but Serafinlie wore it as if it were only natural.
I looked at the dress, then at her, and smiled.
“It’s beautiful. Truly.”
At my words, Serafinlie’s confident eyes widened for an instant, and then she suddenly spun around.
“I-I know. Still... thank you.”
Was she confident,
or easily embarrassed?
She was a person I simply couldn’t figure out.
“I’ve seen you, so I should go now.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m a little busy right now.”
She was also straightforward.
And yet, seeing her feel embarrassed even as she said such things made her rather cute.
“Oh, right. Thank you so much for connecting me to the Lovehouse Guild. It really helped a great deal.”
“It’s fine. That was you using the card I gave you, so there’s no need to thank me. If anything, I’m grateful for the help I received back then.”
Serafinlie looked at me and smiled, and I answered with a smile of my own.
“The territorial war.”
At the words she suddenly uttered, I tilted my head.
“I was standing by.”
“Yes?”
“If things became truly dangerous.”
Her expression cooled.
“I was going to erase the Hallsen territory.”
That was not the face of someone joking.
“If I’d known that, I would have charged at Viscount Hallsen even harder during the fight.”
“Pfft.”
Serafinlie covered her mouth with her fan and laughed.
I laughed as well and took a sip of the wine I was holding.
At that moment, I saw a man beyond her.
He was handsome.
Extremely so.
To the point that he wouldn’t lose out at all even compared to Ian Lucevalt.
That was because their styles were entirely different.
If Ian Lucevalt was the type to push forward with confidence and masculinity,
that man was tall, but his body was slender,
and for some reason he looked sickly.
His ash-gray hair made that impression even stronger.
But his eyes were different.
A violet like melted amethyst.
On top of that, an overly gentle smile,
and even a decadent beauty that came from his frail impression.
“Depiros Gremory.”
Serafinlie naturally followed my gaze and looked that way as she spoke.
“He’s the viscount who’s been the hottest topic recently.”
“Ah.”
“His father died early, so he became the head of his house at a young age. But he’s exceptionally sharp. He’s also growing his territory quickly.”
Depiros Gremory.
I remembered at least hearing his name in my previous life.
I had never seen him in person,
but just as the rumors said, his appearance stood out from the start.
The reason people gathered around him wasn’t simply his face,
because whether men or women, not one of them seemed able to easily leave his side.
“Recently, there’s a merchant company whose funding suddenly opened up. Even though it didn’t go through our house. Everyone says it’s thanks to Depiros. And with a face like that, well, that says it all.”
“He’s handsome.”
“He’s not my type.”
I turned my gaze to Serafinlie.
This time, Serafinlie did not avoid my eyes.
As if she wanted to say something,
she stared straight at me.
And just as she was about to say something,
someone’s words cut in between us.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
It was Eileen.
“I’m so hungry I’m going to eat something. Let’s eat together.”
“What, why are you cutting in?”
“Oh my, you were here? Sorry, I didn’t notice.”
Serafinlie’s eyebrow trembled.
Then she soon laughed as if it were absurd.
“You didn’t see me? That can’t be. I have more presence than you do, don’t I?”
“Are you talking about looks? Even so, I’m more than you—”
At that moment.
Serafinlie thrust her chest forward.
Eileen’s eyes wavered for the briefest instant.
Indeed.
At least in that regard, Serafinlie had more presence.
“So that’s how you want to play it?”
“You started it first, didn’t you?”
I stared blankly at the two of them.
The two people who had been the stars of this party until just a moment ago
were fighting in an incredibly childish manner.
“Eileen. Serafinlie.”
When I called them, both of them turned to look at me in surprise at the same time.
“When you’re hungry, you get sensitive. So let’s eat something, even if it’s just a little.”
Eileen and Serafinlie looked at me with strange faces.
With expressions that meant the same thing.
“Alright.”
“Mm...”
And so I tried to serve food for the two of them.
“Hello?”
A low, soft, beautiful voice.
When I turned my head, the man who had been drawing attention until just a moment ago was standing there.
Depiros Gremory.
Eileen and Serafinlie equipped their social smiles in an instant.
Very quickly,
and far too naturally.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Head of House Depiros Gremory.”
“A pleasure, Head of House Depiros Gremory.”
I, too, looked at him, bowed my head lightly, and said,
“My name is Rayon Signal. It is an honor to meet you, Head of House Depiros Gremory.”
Depiros looked at me with a smile on his lips,
then soon shifted his gaze toward Eileen and Serafinlie.
“I am Depiros Gremory. Since you know my name, the honor is mine.”
His voice,
his actions.
Everything was incredibly gentle, yet restrained.
He truly gave the impression of being a noble among nobles.
“I had often heard of the beauty of you two, but I did not know it would be to this extent.”
At those words, the two of them smiled.
“I was also curious after hearing about you, my lord. It seems the talk of you being a new star of high society was no lie.”
“I have also heard the rumor that you saved a merchant company with your wisdom. As a house close to the merchant world, I’m curious about the method.”
Depiros laughed very lightly.
Then he looked at Eileen first.
“Haha. I am merely a brief shooting star, unable to shine continuously like the two of you.”
Then he looked at Serafinlie and said,
“A merchant company... As it happens, there was something I wanted to tell you, Lady Serafinlie.”
Serafinlie responded with a puzzled expression.
“I heard there has recently been a minor setback in trade.”
Serafinlie’s brow narrowed.
“It’s nothing serious. It’s only a small mistake that occurred because we handle such an enormous merchant network.”
“Have you perhaps heard of the Infinite Carriage Merchant Company?”
“Infinite Carriage? Hmm... Seeing as I don’t remember the name, it doesn’t seem to be a large merchant company.”
Depiros let out a small sigh.
“In truth, one merchant company I helped had also been troubled because of that company. It felt similar, so I wondered if that might be the case. It wasn’t an especially big problem, but it seemed familiar somehow, so please just check it once.”
Serafinlie gauged the time by the sun rising through the window, then offered her farewell first.
“Thank you. I apologize, but I think I must take my leave first. I only came briefly.”
Then she looked at me and Eileen first.
“Eileen, I’ll see you next time. Rayon, I’ll contact you.”
Then she bowed her head again toward Depiros.
“I’ll check it, and if it’s true, I won’t forget this favor.”
“I hope it proves helpful.”
Serafinlie quickly left.
Seeing Serafinlie go, Depiros naturally changed the subject.
His gaze turned to Eileen.
“Is Lord Valterk well?”
“Yes. He is doing well.”
“I met him once, long ago.”
Eileen answered with a very gentle smile.
“Is that so?”
“He likely does not remember me. But I still remember it vividly.”
Depiros’s amethyst eyes briefly turned toward the air.
“The sight of him giving a speech before His Majesty with such dignity. At the time, I thought: Ah, I too want to become a noble like that.”
Eileen’s expression shifted into slight surprise.
Watching those moment-by-moment changes in expression from the side was still fascinating.
Because even though it was acting, it was so very natural.
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
Depiros’s eyes were filled with admiration, without falsehood.
“In particular, the moment he spoke of noblesse oblige left a deep impression on me. The most proper form a noble can show as a noble. Since then, I too have lived while holding onto those words for a long time.”
Eileen’s expression brightened just a little more.
In fact, when she thought of her father first,
that was the very scene that came to her mind.
Depiros did not stop there.
“And the policy of readjusting taxes according to the scale of land was also impressive.”
“You know about that as well?”
Eileen covered her mouth in surprise.
“Of course. It was pushed back because of opposition from the nobles, but I believe it was a very good direction. However.”
He paused for a beat before speaking.
“Just because a policy is good does not mean it immediately produces good results.”
Eileen’s expression became one of genuine curiosity.
“In what way?”
“A method that places a greater burden on nobles sounds righteous when heard. But in reality, it may give rise to opposition in another direction.”
Depiros continued without the slightest hesitation in opposing Valterk’s policy.
“Those who are suppressed always look for another outlet. If they cannot block it head-on, they press down on those beneath them.”
“In other words, you’re saying that if nobles are pressured, commoners will suffer more.”
“In the short term, that is entirely possible.”
Eileen smiled faintly.
“Then it sounds as if you’re saying we should do nothing.”
“No.”
Depiros, if anything, smiled even more gently.
“We should act. However, rather than considering the nobles’ opposition a glorious wound, one must first calculate where that opposition will escape to.”
Eileen was silent for a moment.
Then she slowly nodded.
“That is true.”
Beginning with that one sentence, the conversation deepened further.
From noble tax policy, to territorial management.
From territorial management, to territorial wars.
From territorial wars, to the overall structure of the kingdom.
The two of them spoke faster and faster, and at the same time, more deeply.
“If no restrictions are placed on territorial wars, blood will flow again in the end.”
“Then would restrictions alone be enough?”
“No. The foundation is a structure that makes territorial wars unprofitable.”
“The question would be who creates that structure.”
“In the end, the royal family.”
The conversation between the two had, at some point, gone beyond a debate and become a scene unto itself.
People gathered around them one by one.
Some were amazed,
some joined in,
and some merely stared blankly.
I was the same.
Depiros Gremory was not simply intelligent.
Even when he was refuted, he did not waver.
Rather, he accepted that refutation and pushed it in a better direction.
Even when the other party was rude, he did not take offense.
He acknowledged what needed to be acknowledged,
twisted what needed to be twisted,
and knew how to step back when necessary.
Above all.
His conversation with Eileen matched too well.
The two of them flowed on like water, as if they had made a promise,
exchanging the same thoughts one line at a time.
Their looks,
their atmosphere,
the texture of their words.
They suited each other far too well.
At the sight, the people watching nearby whispered among themselves.
“Don’t they really... look like such a well-matched pair?”
“I know. Just look at those faces. Oh my.”
The young ladies nearby looked at the two of them as if they were watching a scene from a novel.
And whispers like that,
as always, spread in an instant.
Some jumped to the conclusion that the two were dating,
and some had already begun making up stories between them as they pleased.
Rumors of this sort were common in high society.
Even so.
This time, strangely, their impact was great.
Because,
the two of them fit together far too naturally within the same frame.
After that, at other parties as well,
the two of them encountered each other again and again.
And each time, they exchanged even more words.