Lady Opera continued to sip on her hot chocolate as she looked at the mess all over my room. “Ah yes, your honeymoon is soon, is it not?” she asked.
“Yes, it is.”
“Be sure to enjoy it.” Lady Opera was also glad that our trip hadn’t been canceled. Apparently, the royal lady wasn’t allowed to travel. “I have never gone outside of the capital. I am what you might call a ‘sheltered princess.’”
“I had no idea...”
Just as our conversation petered out, I came up with an idea and blurted it out without thinking. “If you don’t mind, would you like to come with us on our trip?”
“You mean, accompany you and my brother on your honeymoon?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Lady Opera must’ve found it to be quite the unexpected proposition, as her eyes opened wide in surprise. “Unthinkable! How could you invite your own sister-in-law on your honeymoon?!”
“Oh, but weren’t honeymoons formerly spent with each other’s family?”
In the distant past, a honeymoon was a chance for family members who couldn’t attend the wedding ceremony proper to see the couple. Family members showing up on a honeymoon was nothing unusual.
“I don’t think it’s too far-fetched for you to follow old traditions. We could take you to Diamant, where some of your relatives are,” I argued.
“B-But would you not find having your in-laws around to be an annoyance?”
“Not at all! I’m sure it would be more fun having you around. Madeleine and Parfeil would certainly enjoy it, and I know Van would too.”
“W-Would you really...?!”
Lady Opera’s cheeks were slightly red. She must have been really happy to be invited. I found it to be very cute.
“Then I shall be accompanying you on your honeymoon!” she declared, raising her fist in the air with great enthusiasm. She then sat down and softly added, “If my brother lets me...”
I could only laugh at her small addendum.
That night, after Van had finished his work, I told him about Lady Opera joining us on our honeymoon. The white squirrels joined me in making my case to him.
“Sure, I have no problems with that. I’m certain Opera would appreciate a change of scenery as well,” Van said.
“Oh, thank you.”
Lady Opera would still need to prepare for the trip, so it was best to let her know as soon as possible. I asked Parfeil to inform her at once.
“Are you sure you want to have an in-law around during our trip?” Van asked.
Upon hearing that, I couldn’t help but giggle.
“What’s so funny?”
“Lady Opera asked me the exact same question. I just thought it was funny that you two siblings are so alike, even in the things you say,” I said.
“You say that like we’re alike in other ways.”
“You are. More than you might expect.”
Van furrowed his brow, apparently unconvinced that he and his sister were two peas in a pod.
“All I’m saying is that I get along with Lady Opera because she’s so similar to you.”
“O-Oh, I see. Opera isn’t the type to make friends with others easily, so...I’m relieved that you two are getting along.”
It seemed that Van had been worrying about my relationship with Lady Opera. He’d even been wondering if he should intervene to help us get along better.
“The married men among my subordinates were telling me not to interfere with relationships between women, so I decided to just observe you two for a while. I did not expect you two to get along so well,” Van shared.
“Perhaps we’re friendly because we both love you.”
“Ah, you’re right!” Van exclaimed with confidence, but right after that... “I’m so relieved,” he muttered under his breath. He and Lady Opera really were quite alike.
“I’m looking forward to our honeymoon,” I said.
“Me too.”
We started talking about what to do on our trip. Van had a pure and innocent smile on his face as we did, just like he had during his academy days.
“Since there’s a lot of snow there, we should play in it!” I suggested.
“How do we do that?”
“My, don’t you know?” The snow at the Forêt Noire country house estate would often pile up higher than it did in the capital. During winter, my brother and I would often play in the snow. “We would make snowballs and throw them at each other, dig holes in piles of snow and make houses out of them, and make snow golems by piling one gigantic snowball on top of another.”
“I see. I didn’t know there were so many ways to play in the snow.”
“There are. It’s going to be a lot of fun fooling around with everyone.”
“I’m starting to get excited.”
“Right?”
I laughed at Van saying that he didn’t want to get hit by Parfeil’s snowballs. The thought of the pinnacle of all dragonkin being scared of the petite Parfeil’s attacks was hilarious.
“I could definitely see Parfeil unleashing a crazy snowball,” I said.
“She packs a lot of power in that small body of hers,” Van replied.
I nodded in full agreement.
As we were talking about playing in the snow, I began to feel sleepy. I’d had a lot of fun today. I ended up falling asleep while telling Van about my day.
Before leaving on our trip, we met with the knights who were to act as our body doubles. Madeleine wasn’t there yet, so Lady Opera came to meet them in her stead.
The three burly knights arrived, all wearing dresses. They were all men. One of them wore rabbit ears that swayed left and right as he walked. While I had no idea who was going to play whom, the one who would be Parfeil’s double was clear as day. If they had to go this far, they might as well have worn wigs and makeup too, though that wouldn’t have helped make their disguises more convincing.
The knights all looked like they were middle-aged. They must have been veterans within the order. All three had furrows between their brows and stoic expressions on their faces.
The white squirrels were terrified by the knights’ presence. They squeaked and scurried away to hide behind the curtains. If only I could’ve followed their lead, I would’ve, but these knights were cross-dressing for my sake. I couldn’t just avert my eyes.
Van began to introduce the three knights. “From right to left, this is Sir Chouquette Salée, Sir Saint-Honoré, and Sir Potiron. All of them are highly skilled, and they’ll be able to repel anyone trying to attack them.”
The three of them were to stay behind and continue investigating the incident. Parfeil and Lady Opera stared at me. They must have been telling me to give the knights some words of encouragement. I braced myself and picked my words carefully.
“Um... This must be a challenge for you all, but I hope you all do your duty well.”
The knights all turned to me with sparkling eyes. The gazes they gave me communicated their sense of duty and loyalty. Were they inspired by my words because I was the Dragon Duchess consort? I had no idea.
In any case, I had fulfilled my obligation. I let out a sigh of relief.
“Next, I’ll show you how they’ll look once the illusion spell is cast,” Van said. He gave orders to an attendant I didn’t recognize. Apparently, she was a mage knight disguised as one of the attendants. She traced a magic circle in the air and activated it. A magic circle then appeared before the three knights and made a sound before dispersing. Immediately, the knights transformed from burly, cross-dressing men into ladies indistinguishable from me, Madeleine, and Parfeil.
“Amazing! To think that such magic exists!” Lady Opera whispered from beside me. Her next words were louder. “I see now. Well, this disguise should hold as long as no one realizes that this is an illusion.”
I was surprised at Lady Opera’s statement. I had thought that this magic was foolproof, but right before my eyes, their disguises suddenly began to waver. Their forms flickered, and the three returned to being burly knights in dresses.
“The illusion disappeared,” I said.
“No, it hasn’t,” Lady Opera replied.
Van nodded in agreement.
That reminded me of something I’d experienced about illusion magic. Duchesse had previously cast a spell on me to make a venomous snake appear as a different kind of snake.
“So, once I recognize it’s an illusion, the spell’s effects will dull, correct?”
“That is correct. Illusions also do not work on those who possess a large amount of mana, like myself,” Lady Opera explained. Apparently, she had been able to see through the illusions from the start, so she had been nodding along and observing our reactions. “Although even I would not be immune to forbidden magic.”
Forbidden magic—magic that came with great danger upon its use. While restrictions on magic varied between countries, all of them restricted the use of dark magic. The use of those spells was forbidden except to those licensed to wield them.
“Forbidden magic aside, let us return to the topic of illusions.”
The attendant who had cast the illusion then reassured me, saying that other than Van, nobody else could hope to match the amount of mana that Lady Opera possessed. However, the illusion had wavered so quickly that I couldn’t help but worry.
Van seemed to have sensed my anxiety and offered me words of reassurance. “Mille-Feuille, there’s no need to fret. Everyone in the duchy was informed that our trip is only so that the Dragon Duke can inspect the Diamant region. Everyone believes that you’ll be staying behind in the capital.”
“Well, yes...”
Lady Opera was also going to come on the trip, so a body double for her was being prepared as well. In other words, other than a select few close to the Dragon Duke, everyone would think that only Van would be away from the capital.