The meeting itself went off without a hitch. I had already met Albert’s parents in their domain, and I’d met his eldest brother, the minister of military services, and his lady wife at a party. I was also well acquainted with his other older brother, Lord Smarty Glasses, as he was the magus of the Royal Magi Assembly, which I worked with all the time.
It was kind of odd seeing both Albert and Lord Smarty Glasses dressed up like gentlemen, but they were still entirely themselves.
Also, since I knew everyone already, we got straight to a lovely luncheon. As we ate, we discussed all kinds of things, like Albert’s recent expeditions as knight commander, what life was like in the world I’d come from, and recent goings-on with the rest of the family.
I did get the feeling that Albert’s mother, father, and eldest brother and his wife were smiling a bit awkwardly while I described my life back in Japan, but that was probably just my imagination.
I absolutely loved listening to Albert’s mother talk about him and his brothers. The boys positively squirmed as she told her tales—with the oldest wearing a crooked smile, Lord Smarty Glasses furrowing his brow, and Albert looking faintly embarrassed. I hesitated for a moment, but I totally joined the minister of military services’ wife as we begged Lady Hawke for more stories.
Before I knew it, we had finished dessert.
“Time certainly flies in such pleasant company,” Lady Hawke said.
“So true,” my future sister-in-law enthused. “Please forgive me—once I started asking you for stories about my husband, I couldn’t resist.”
“Why, the pleasure was all mine. You’re my darling daughter now, after all.” Lady Hawke then turned to me and inclined her head. “However, there is something I must discuss with you. Would you mind joining me in the parlor?”
What was this now? And here I’d thought we’d accomplished all our goals. What else could there be? But if she said something needed doing, I wasn’t going to argue.
I agreed to accompany Lady Hawke, and she smiled and encouraged everyone to join us as we headed into the other room.
Once everyone was settled with plenty of tea and cookies on hand, Lady Hawke said, “Now, let’s discuss how things shall proceed from here.”
“How things shall proceed?” I echoed, having no idea what she might be referring to.
Lady Hawke didn’t even frown at my bewilderment. “First and foremost, we must see to the formalities of your betrothal, yes?”
“Oh, yes. His Majesty mentioned that to me the other day.”
“Ah, Albert explained that the king would act as your guardian in this matter.”
“That’s right. I heard that you and he would be the ones sorting it out.”
“I see, I see. I shall be sure to contact him posthaste to discuss the details.”
As I had just explained, the king was handling all formalities regarding my betrothal in his capacity as my guardian. Though I had declined his offer to accompany me today, he had insisted on taking care of other relevant obligations. This included my dowry, as well as other things that noble families traditionally arranged when their daughters become engaged.
I tried to pay for my own dowry at first, since I was so grateful for everything else he’d done for me, but His Majesty refused.
I had been informed that I was owed a great reward for, among other things, creating the panacea, purging all the kingdom’s monsters, and various other contributions to Salutania, and since I had refused a title and land, the king had been striving to figure out another way to repay me. Thus, he strongly urged me to accept this proposal as his way to make good on his debt to me, and despite my reservations, I felt compelled to agree.
Well, it’s just a dowry. Not a title or land or anything. Just money. It’s not something I feel ill-equipped to handle, so it should be okay.
“In that case, I shall leave the handling of these things to you. However, we also need to host an announcement party.”
By that, I was fairly certain she meant announcing the engagement itself. The king had described these parties when we discussed the terms of his guardianship in this matter. I was pretty sure I remembered him asking if we wanted to make the announcement during a ball they would be hosting at the palace—a celebration for the final elimination of the miasma.
Albert had been present for this conversation as well, so I figured I ought to double check with him. He was sitting right next to me, so I turned to him and said, “Lord Hawke.”
As one, the men shifted their focus onto me. I flinched, taken aback for a moment, but I swiftly realized what was going on. In short, all of the men in this room were “Lord Hawke.”
What should I do? The knight commander is the one I’m trying to talk to…
The eldest Hawke brother, the minister of military services, was the first to notice my troubled look, and he offered me a way forward: “Why, Lady Takanashi.”
“Y-yes?”
“We’re all about to be family. Please, do me the honor of calling me Josef.”
Josef. Lord Josef.
I nodded, agreeing to the cheerful suggestion of the minister of military services—a.k.a. Lord Josef.
His wife, who was sitting right next to him, immediately piped up with sparkles in her eyes, “In that case, please, call me Elfriede!”
“Thank you! Likewise, I would very much like it if you all called me Sei,” I responded with a smile.
A lovely smile spread across Elfriede’s face in turn. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, of course!”
After them came Lady Hawke, chiming in with a positively dazzling voice, “My, what a loving family we’re becoming! Please, I must insist that from now on, you refer to me as Mother.”
“And call me Father.”
Mother and Father… Yeah. Now that I think about how my life’s about to change, those aren’t unreasonable requests. I’m a bit shy about doing it, though.
The two of them beamed at me. When I nodded and agreed that I would do so, someone quipped, “Now, that’s not fair.”
I turned to the speaker, Josef, who gazed back at me serenely. “If you’re going to call my parents such things, then I’d much rather you call me ‘Brother.’”
“But wouldn’t she have to call me the same thing?” Erhart asked.
“True. Very well, call me Elder Brother Josef.”
“And likewise, call me Elder Brother Er.”
Whoa, hold on just a moment there, guys! That wasn’t the kind of thing that the minister of military services and the magus of the Royal Magi Assembly should say with completely straight faces, right? What in the world had gotten into those two?!
They continued their discussion as I watched with an awkward smile on my face. Josef turned to look at me with a much more relaxed smile than mine.
Huh? Wait, were they just bantering? Was Lord Josef actually more of a joker than his appearance let on?
I was beginning to feel fidgety about this unexpected turn of events when Josef swiveled his attention to Albert instead. Since they had grown up together, Albert must have known what Josef wanted without him even needing to speak, and he frowned even more deeply than he already had been. Whatever it was that Josef was trying to communicate, it seemed that Albert didn’t care for it.
How much time passed in that next stretch? It felt like forever, but I was sure it was only just a moment before Albert cleared his throat and gathered his resolve to say to me, “And you should call me Al.”
“Al,” I slowly repeated—and then, for some reason, was overcome with embarrassment. I mean, all I had done was say his name!
Albert’s lips curled into a smile that grew in direct proportion to the heat in my cheeks.
It took a few seconds before I realized that everyone else was looking at this interaction with true warmth—at which point I started internally screaming.