“All right. Come in.” Albert welcomed Johan into his office and ordered everyone else to leave. “So, what is it you wish to discuss?”
“The veracity of the rumor I keep hearing.”
“Rumor?” Albert looked puzzled, unsure of what his friend was referring to.
“Yes.” Johan grinned. “The one about Sei and Lord Drewes. Do you want to know?”
Albert suddenly understood. His smile disappeared and he heaved a great sigh as he shot Johan a somewhat exasperated look—not because of the rumor itself but because of his friend. Johan often teased him about his relationship with Sei, and he was sure Johan had come to tease him yet again because of all this.
And here I came because I was worried about him, thought Johan. Although Albert’s attitude was fairly unexpected, Johan knew he was getting a side eye because of how he usually behaved around his friend. Thus he didn’t voice his inner thoughts and instead only responded with a wry smile. “Not that there’s much to say, in the end.”
“Really?”
“Indeed. Sei told me what happened. The gossip is blown out of proportion.”
Counter to Johan’s fears, Albert appeared unbothered by all this talk. It made Johan feel a bit foolish, having come here all worked up as he had, and he relaxed, the tension easing from his shoulders. Then he began to regale Albert with the tale Sei had relayed to him of her experience at the theater.
“In the end, they wound up completely ignoring the performance in favor of discussing the Light spell.”
“I see. I’m surprised Sei talked that much about magic.”
“Well, she was with Lord Drewes. She was probably focusing on the arcane as a matter of courtesy.”
“Oh yes, that’s quite possible.”
Johan told Albert the whole story in order, from how Yuri had invited Sei to the play, to how they had accidentally become so fixated on their conversation, to how Sei had been depressed after she got home because she couldn’t remotely remember the contents of the play.
Just as the rumors said, Sei and Yuri had talked a great deal. To an onlooker, they had probably looked like they were discussing something private. However, Johan clarified that no matter how you sliced it, the conversation had been that of two researchers.
Johan couldn’t speak for Yuri, but at the very least he knew Sei had no feelings for the grand magus. He could tell as much from the expression she had worn while describing the experience.
After Johan finished, Albert, who had made out like he wasn’t bothered, laughed quietly with something like relief. However, in the next instant, his expression grew somewhat miffed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that it’s surprising that Sei went to the theater.”
“I was surprised as well. I assumed she didn’t care for such aristocratic venues.”
“Me too. If I had known she might be interested, I would have invited her.”
“What? You wanted to be the first to take her to a play?”
“Yes. You got a problem with that?” Albert remained unperturbed by the teasing and glared defiantly, which made Johan burst out laughing.
Once Johan recovered himself, his expression grew serious as he laid out his theory regarding the situation. “This was likely Marquis Drewes’s idea. The grand magus was no doubt only following orders.”
“I believe so as well. I’m sure the marquis is trying to remove all obstacles by spreading rumors about Grand Magus Drewes’s relationship with Sei in order to have him claim the title of her fiancé.”
“You thought so too?”
“I did. There’s been some talk of how he’s trying to take a stand against House Hawke by claiming not only the seat of grand magus but the Saint as well.”
“I see. That does sound like the sort of thing the marquis would do, considering his hunger for power.”
Johan and Albert were of the same mind. Marquis Drewes had ordered Yuri to invite Sei to the theater in order to further his ambition to declare Yuri her fiancé.
Albert’s older brother Josef, the Minister of Military Affairs, shared this theory about the marquis’s motives. Johan could easily imagine how Josef had come to this conclusion, given the way high society viewed the marquis.
In any case, since the subject of Sei’s engagement had been brought up, Johan decided this would be a good opportunity to voice something that had been on his mind of late. “Say, I know I might be poking my nose into something I shouldn’t, but now might be the time for you to make your move.”
As the Saint, Sei held a very high position in the Kingdom of Salutania. She was also held in high regard by the domain lords for slaying their monsters and devising recipes that featured the specialties for which their regions were known. The skincare products sold by her company were exceedingly popular with not only the nobility but well-off commoners, and she was doing very well for herself as far as profits went. Furthermore, her herb research—her main occupation—had led to the concoction of a miraculous potion called a panacea that could heal any status abnormality. On top of all that, there was talk of how the royal family would award her land rights in the form of her own personal research institute.
Some of that was classified information, but the publicly available information alone had led a multitude of people to pursue some kind of relationship with Sei, and that number was only growing. There were many ways to establish a relationship with the Saint, but the best one would be to win her hand in marriage. Therefore, even though Sei could only marry individuals who ranked as high as a count or greater, many people had put their name forward to be considered a potential match for Sei.
Naturally, people from the inner marquisdoms—families of higher rank than Albert’s borderlands family—had also named themselves as potential matches, and they beat Albert’s claim by lineage and assets alone.
Yet Albert still stood above the rest because Sei’s feelings played a significant role in the crown’s decision. If anything, if her feelings were to change, Albert would immediately lose his superior position. Many sought just that sort of opportunity, and Johan feared someone might take them by surprise. This was why he was finally encouraging Albert to secure his place by her side.
Both Johan and Albert knew that Sei was a late bloomer when it came to romance. As such, Johan had merely watched over their relationship while poking fun at them as they slowly grew closer. However, Johan wasn’t the only one who felt that the time limit was fast approaching—Albert did as well.
“I suppose you might be right,” Albert agreed, his eyes cast down and a humble look on his face.