Danger in a letter from your own father. Well, given his child-swapping plot, he’d already proven himself to be pretty dangerous. Did he really think he could do that without Peylon or Aspozat noticing? Maybe he thought he could get away with it since we were in the royal capital. If that were the case, he was awfully naive. This behavior was exactly why I was set to take over the house from him once I was old enough. He just didn’t know about that yet.
After making it abundantly clear that I was to watch my back, Ville and the black knight left. For all their bickering, it seemed like Ville was finally coming around to him. I wondered if the black knight’s time in the Mystic Forest had earned him a degree of respect. That was because Ville would sometimes think with the muscles in his skull.
That aside, I was considering telling the other siblings about the conversation I had just had. Ville might talk to them, but I still thought they should hear it from me.
That evening, on my way to the common room with Lanmia and Luchirs, I found myself abducted by Colny.
“A moment, if you would.”
“Okaaay. Lanmia, Luchirs, see you two tomorrow.”
While being dragged off by Colny, I waved to my friends. They silently waved back. What nice kids they were.
Colny took me all the way back to the attic room.
“I’ll put on some coffee,” I volunteered, guessing she wanted to talk here.
“Thank you. Now, what did my brother and Sir Yuin want with you?”
So she had come charging at me just because of a little visit.
“They wanted to talk about my house.”
“How so?”
“It seems my father’s pretty mad that the black knight proposed to me. So he’s planning to find me a partner and marry me off to another house.”
“Really now?”
Oh! That’s a voice dripping with disdain.
I couldn’t see her face because I was busy making coffee, but she didn’t sound happy at all.
“H-Here’s your coffee. Have some snacks too.”
“Thank you. Now, what did that thoughtless imbecile do?”
Eee!
Colny’s anger wasn’t directed at me, but that didn’t make it any less scary.
“Eh, here, let’s calm down first. No matter what my father does, the royal palace won’t permit any marriages he sets up. They’ve already approved my inheritance of House Duval, remember?”
“Yes, you’re right.”
Good, that seemed to mollify her.
“But my brother told you this? How did he come across such information?”
“Yeah, about that. He got it from the black knight.”
“Oh? From Sir Yuin?”
Yeah, I was surprised too.
“He was the first one to know because he got a letter of protest from my father.”
“Protest?”
“Something to the effect of ‘Don’t make proposals without asking.’”
“Ahh.”
She didn’t seem to care for the idea of my father suddenly acting like he had anything to do with the daughter he’d kicked out so long ago. I had grown up hale and hearty in Peylon, so he could leave me alone. He could just fawn over Ribbons. The only problem was, that might come to an end this summer.
A week after Ville and the black knight visited, nothing had happened. Even if this were just the calm before the storm, I was going to enjoy it. The academy was wonderfully chaos-free. Well, that’s how it normally was.
“Sure is peaceful,” I mumbled without realizing it.
Lanmia smiled at me. “What are you talking about, Lowell?”
“Hmm? Oh, I guess it just really sank in how peaceful it’s been lately.”
She and Luchirs looked at each other. Had I really said something that strange? Yeah. I had. Most people our age didn’t make comments about how calm everything is. Not that I had experienced war, whether in this life or the last. Though I did have experience hunting monsters in the Mystic Forest.
“Uhh, look, I was raised in Peylon, you know? You can’t go a day there without hearing about monsters.”
Granted, that was mostly people boasting about their catches. But neither Lanmia or Luchirs interpreted it that way.
“Ah, that’s right. They’ve got a real monster problem over there.”
“Life is much safer in the royal capital.”
Yeah, that’s it, I thought while giving them a vague smile. I didn’t know how Lanmia interpreted that, but it spurred her to change the subject.
“That’s right, I haven’t seen the other Duval girl as of late.”
“Hey! Mia!” Luchirs chided her as though she had said something wrong.
Hm? Do you mean Ribbons?
Last I’d heard, she was away from the academy, living the shut-in life in the capital’s Duval residence.
“Are there many people talking about that?” I asked.
Again, the two of them exchanged glances. They had a brief unspoken debate which resulted in Lanmia being the one to speak.
“Um, for some time now, people have been talking about how the Duval girl in the other class hasn’t been seen in the dorm or on campus.”
She told me that this talk was held in politely hushed voices. Since every student was required to live in the dorm, if they weren’t seen there or on campus, people were bound to talk.
“I heard she’s returned to her residence in the capital,” Lanmia said.
“Th-That’s right,” Luchirs agreed. “I hear there are some extenuating circumstances.”
“I hope she isn’t gone too long.”
Both of them appeared to seriously mean it. What good kids they were. Still, I didn’t think Ribbons would be coming back. At the very least, I didn’t see her returning for the rest of the school year, but I couldn’t just go and tell them that.
After that chat in general education, I returned to the dorm, where I was stopped outside the entrance.
“Lowell Duval, there’s a letter for you from your family.”
Oh, so it actually came.