🐈🐈🐈
PA said we should act like normal, but that was never going to happen.
Ma’d been cleaning the house for days and cooking and preparing all sorts of things. And we’d helped Ma out by tidying up, wearing neat clothes, and arranging our hair more neatly than usual.
“I wonder if the duke’s daughter will really show up.”
“Oh, help. I don’t feel like making small talk.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to it!”
Then Pa came in and whacked us all lightly around the heads. “I told you! Stop fretting about it! Now look, let’s go to the fields. Help me out a little.”
“Oh, but we’re wearing our newest clothes.”
“We’re just going to pick some fresh fruits for Lady Seren. You won’t get that dirty.”
“Roger.”
“Oh, all right then.”
“Sure, why not?”
We four men left the house together, split up to the adjacent fields and orchards, and harvested the ripest vegetables and fruits. We didn’t need many, so it was quick work.
Just as I looked up, though, I saw something unbelievable.
“Is… is that…”
“Huh?”
“Over there! In the sky! Look at the sky!!!”
It was small, like a bean. But it was approaching with great speed. While I was still exclaiming, it grew close enough to make out what it was.
“It’s Viol…!”
“And in front of him is… Is that Lady Seren?!”
“Wow, she’s really flying!”
A beautiful woman, her skirts fluttering in the wind, was flying this way, chatting away to our older brother with a big smile. Somebody, please, make it make sense.
“Ma! Viol’s here!” Michel yelled into the house, and Ma rushed out. Pa and Bart also gathered in front of the house, back from the orchard.
Then Viol descended softly and landed right in front of us.
“I’m home. Lady Seren, are you okay?”
“Oh, yes.”
Well. This was a surprise.
Viol casually got off the cart first and grabbed the girl’s hand. She landed on the ground and bowed her head to our family.
“Um, um… It’s a pleasure to meet you!” she greeted.
Woah! C-Cute!!!
Her cheeks were a little red, and she looked nervous, which somehow made her look even cuter.
A noble lady? Blushing and stammering before the likes of us? Was this real?
On closer inspection, she had pure white skin that looked so soft that it made me think she’d never worked in the fields in her life. She looked like an aristocrat, but my first impression of her was more that she looked friendly and sweet. She didn’t give off unapproachable vibes at all.
“This is Lady Seren, whom I’ve already told you about,” Viol introduced her. “She’s no longer the daughter of a duke. Around the Mage Tower, she’s just called Seren or Miss Seren. So you don’t need to stand on ceremony around her.”
Wait, though, even High Mages command a certain respect, don’t they?!
I wanted to sass my big bro, but I held back in front of Miss Seren. Viol’s a genius—or so people say—so he easily passed the exam to become a High Mage. But even now, I don’t think he understands what other people think of High Mages.
“Thank you very much. Feel free to call me just Seren.”
Seeing how the young lady bowed her head so politely once more put Ma at ease. Her stiff expression melted a little.
“Well, may I call you Miss Seren, like the other High Mages do?”
“Yes! Please do.”
Looking at Ma’s happy smile, I felt like I understood now what Viol had been saying. This young lady was unpretentious.
Ma seemed to feel the same way. She was smiling. “We can’t stand around in the yard chatting. Please come on in.”
“Oh, thank you!”
The two women went quickly into the house. We men looked at each other and laughed before following them. Ma had decided Miss Seren was the type of girl she could get along with.
In the house, Miss Seren’s voice trilled.
“Goodness! This looks delicious!”
“I just whipped up a little something with our freshly picked vegetables and fruits, and I thought we could talk over a cup of tea.”
“How delightful!”
The table was crammed with Ma’s famous apple pie, a carrot cake, and a peach compote. Maybe Ma went a little overboard.
“The scent is wonderful. I’ve never smelled such fragrant fruits,” Miss Seren said.
“Ah, ours are cultivated and picked at peak ripeness, so they taste and smell better than ordinary fruits.”
“Cultivation… Yes, Lord Viol told me about that. I had no idea the difference was so great. It’s an appetizing scent.”
“I’m so glad to have a girl in the house!” Ma exclaimed. “It’s worth the extra effort to see such a lovely smile.”
“So Lord Viol loves desserts because of his mother’s baking!” Miss Seren noted.
“I don’t know about that. When Viol was a child, I wasn’t able to bake so often, and it wasn’t until Pa’s cultivation started paying off that we harvested such good fruits so reliably.”
“Enough chattering! Why don’t we sit down first?” Pa smiled wryly, interrupting the women’s talk.
Right. None of us had even had a chance to speak yet.
“That’s right. Miss Seren, would you like to sit next to Viol? I’ll make you a cup of the special tea I picked in our field.”
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to it.”
After that, the conversation was surprisingly harmonious.
You wouldn’t think a duke’s daughter and a farming family would be able to get along, but we got on like a house on fire. She listened to everything we had to say with great interest. Perhaps the lives of the common people are fascinating to nobles. Or she was being polite since we were Viol’s family. I wasn’t sure where the truth lay, but it was great to talk and have her listen with those sparkling eyes.
She was intelligent, too, able to keep up with Pa’s and Bart’s talk of crop cultivation. And she didn’t just listen passively to Michel talk about school or what I had to say about the shop I worked in but responded and asked insightful questions.
We’d heard rumors that the prince’s ex-fiancée was smart. They were clearly true. I wondered why such a beautiful, kind, smart person would want to marry my older brother.
“I’m really glad to see that you’re such a splendid young woman, Miss Seren. But if I might ask, what is it exactly about our Viol that would make a girl like you want to marry him?” Ma asked.
Miss Seren, who had been laughing happily, turned bright red. “Ah, um, well…”
“Oh, sorry! It was indelicate of me to ask that.” Seeing her face, Ma apologized. “I apologize. If you truly want to be with our Viol, and if we can all get along as well as we do today, that’s enough for me. I’m sorry.”
As for me, I already knew from the look on her face that Seren was really in love with my big brother. And if she started getting gooey about it, I’d probably expire from embarrassment.
“S-Sorry, it was just so sudden, um…” Even so, Miss Seren opened her mouth, clearly about to somehow put it into words. Then suddenly, a horse whinnied outside.
“Huh?”
“What was that?”
“It sounded like a horse… neighing?”
“I also heard the sound of a carriage. Perhaps the duke and duchess have arrived.” Viol dropped the biggest bomb of the day on us, and we could only sit there confused.
“The duke?! Here?!!!” Pa exploded.
“Yes. I was expecting them around this time,” Viol said.
“Viol! You didn’t tell us!!!” Pa shouted.
“Huh? You didn’t?” Miss Seren looked back and forth between Viol and Pa. She probably thought we knew about her family coming. This was my brother’s fault.
“I didn’t tell you because I thought that telling you would only make you all more nervous,” Viol said simply.
“Are you stupid or something?!” I yelped involuntarily. But it seems I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“What were you thinking, idiot son?!” Ma yelled.
“If I knew both families were meeting today, we could have done extra preparation! As it stands, I have prepared nothing!!!” Pa shouted.
“But His Grace said today was just a brief visit to say hello, so there shouldn’t be a big problem,” Viol shrugged.
“It’s a huge problem! Huge!!!” After slamming his fist against the table, Pa got up and dashed to the front hallway.
We all got up and stared at the entrance while trembling. I never imagined that a duke would come to our house.
But where was he?
Pa went to greet them, certainly, but he hadn’t come back.
Pa must have gone outside.
What’s up? Was there a problem? I got worried and went outside, but to my surprise, Pa and the duke were talking seriously about something while pointing at the vegetables in the field in front of the house.
…Why vegetables?
The duke’s clothes gave the impression of an aristocrat, but he was deeply tanned, and when he smiled, his white teeth showed. He was a noble, but he wasn’t like most nobles at all.
The demure person next to him looked like a duchess, and behind her stood a girl who looked like a princess. Both had the same shining blonde hair and beauty. Bart came out behind me, and his jaw dropped when he saw the two ladies.
I felt like my face was on fire, just making eye contact. They seemed so unapproachable. I thought, Yep, those are noble ladies, all right.
“Dear! Never mind the vegetables! It’s hardly the time!”
The duke (I’m assuming?) was scolded by his wife.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that those are cultivated crops and look like they could be used for trade.”
“Talk about that later.”
Watching, I realized something.
Nobles and commoners aren’t so different. The duke was as henpecked as Pa was.
No doubt Miss Seren was eccentric since she wanted to marry my brother, but the duke (I’m guessing?) was also weird.
I was relieved seeing the duke (probably?) getting scolded by his wife. Our social statuses might have been different, but I had an inkling we’d be able to get along somehow.
Our lively family-to-family meeting was just beginning.