“That will be difficult, Miss Anne.”
“Ahhh!”
I screamed, holding my head.
The person I came to see was Lord Grunwald.
This was Grunwald Castle.
Lord Grunwald looked at me with a troubled expression, but shook his head firmly.
“Can you do it without even pretending to think about it?”
“But, madam, no, Miss Anne.
I have been given something myself, and I wish to help Miss Enya with all my heart; but we….”
“We what?”
“We are not central aristocrats.”
I shrugged.
I fell back into my seat.
True, true, true.
There was no mistake in what Lord Grunwald said.
The Grunwalds were a family that had lived here for generations and kept the peace without interfering with the political circles of the centre.
Why does this matter?
This means they don't have the authority to do what I want.
I know, but I was here once.
I can't go back to my house!
I hit my forehead on the table and muttered.
“Do you know anyone?”
"no."
no one.
I emptied my mind.
I have to think about it.
Is there any other last name I could ask, besides Grunwald.
'Arkez Schultz is a possibility, but it's a long shot.'
It's either Grunwald or Schultz.
However, Marquis Schultz, who Cassion belongs to, is the owner of the Magic Tower, which defeats the purpose.
If we're not careful, it can seem like the Schultz family has a monopoly on everything.
This would give the old aristocracy an excuse to bite the Emperor.
A family that lives quietly, but completely stands by the emperor and has great power.
Like this family.
Family..
'Only the Lockhart family'
I felt a surge of pride for my family, but at the same time, I felt terrible.
Am I going home like this?
This wasn't part of my escape plan.
There was only one way to end this without telling the Lockhart family.
That was one thing
'Should I stop altogether?'
The emperor is smart.
Even if I didn't have to intervene, the empire would function fine on its own.
And so am I.
'What I care about is not what is best for the empire, but rather not meeting the Emperor.'
Although of course this is also very important.
But my return to my family means that the Emperor and I will have a wedding.
“…….”
As soon as the future passed through my head, I made up my mind.
'Surrender!'
I left that job cleanly.
At home, I lay on the sofa in the parlor.
“Things not going well?”
Dale had approached me then, handed me ice-cold herbal tea, and then stopped.
"my wife……."
He handed me the cup with a shy smile.
He seemed to muster up the courage to call me like that.
I drank the tea that Dale prepared for me in no time.
“I see you had trouble convincing Lord Grunwald.”
“He said he couldn't, so I guess I'll have to give up, you know.”
Dale nodded wordlessly.
He seemed to think it was an excessive request.
“…….”
“…….”
“……What do you want to say?”
Dale stared at me, his eyes full of questions, then opened his mouth.
“Was Duke Lockhart too harsh on Enya, in any way?”
Dale asked about my father.
“He might have been like that sometimes, but he wasn't a scary man.”
"Understood."
Dale nodded.
“Is this what you were wondering?”
“I wanted to know how Enya grew up.
She seems to find the Lockhart family a burden to her.”
Dale looked secretly curious.
He stared at me again.
“Can I ask you another question?”
“Or two.”
Dale grinned and opened his mouth.
“I don’t think the Duke will force Enya to marry, so I wonder why Enya doesn’t want to borrow the Duke’s hand at all?”
Dale had a point.
“Partly because Duke Lockhart is as loyal to the Emperor as he is to his family, and partly because I don’t know what he would do in a matter involving the Emperor.”
Dale's eyes widened at my answer.
He smiled, looking happy and sad at the same time.
“Then it's about marrying the Emperor in the end.”
"This is correct."
“Then, if the Emperor cancels the marriage proposal, all of Enya’s problems will be solved.”
"exactly!"
I jumped up from a semi-recumbent position.
As soon as I thought about the Emperor canceling the proposal, I felt as if all my worries in the world had disappeared.
If only, please, please, please!
I clasped my hands together and nodded with my hands desperately.
Dale stared at me with a frown on his face as if he had a lot on his mind.
“Okay, then.”
"What?
Why?"
He sighed and looked like he was about to say something, then turned his head away.
“I don't think Enya should not trust me so much.”
Dale's expression seemed somehow dark.
“If you have a problem I can help you with, I will listen to you, I said so myself.”
“It's not a problem Enya can solve now.”
Dale smiled faintly, but the corners of his eyes quickly returned to their normal color.
Dale lowered his head slightly, looking somewhat shaken.
"Are you well?"
I patted him on the shoulder as he looked down dejectedly.
Hold my hand.
“…..?”
“You better not keep getting my hopes up, Enya.”
" What?"
“…….”
Dale's eyes softened.
“What does Enya think about marriage?”
Dale let out a small sigh and looked at me.
What is marriage?
"Marriage is.
It's something I vaguely thought about as a child watching my mom and dad."
“So you don't hate marriage?”
"not quite."
I searched my memory eagerly.
“I was just hoping to meet someone like my parents, because they met at a hunting festival.”
Every spring, the empire held a hunting festival.
Any noble could participate, but there was an age limit.
From 19 to 40 years old, which is the age of majority.
Young nobles, mostly nobles between the ages of 19 and 25, formed the bulk of the participants.
The contestant who hunted the most terrifying game or killed the most animals was crowned the winner of the year, and of course the prizes were huge.
A prize of eight million krops and a jeweled shield.
A laurel wreath from the Emperor himself, and a closing party for the winner.
But there was something more special.
“The winner can ask any woman out on a date, and this is where my parents got their first date.”
That was the first time my father, then a Marquis, and my mother, then a Baroness, met.
“My mother said she never expected him to ask her out of the blue, and she thought it was some old noble playing a joke on her, but he had been in love with her for a long time, and this was his chance.”
“I'm amazed.”
Dale looked at me a little surprised, his eyes narrowing.
“I didn't realize Duke Lockhart had a romantic side.”
“Ahaha, I didn’t know, so you don’t know either, Dale!”
She laughed, hitting Dale on the shoulder.
I asked Dale one day, as he seemed to secretly know a lot about our family.
“My father hasn't held a sword in a long time, but I was relieved to know that Dale liked it.”
“…….”
“Well, he works for the Emperor now, so he doesn’t carry a sword anymore…… No, he has been in the imperial service for a long time, and at that time he was a sword-wielding commander himself, so Dale must have admired him then, right?”
It suddenly dawned on me.
“Then why have I never met the Emperor?”