It was the afternoon of my wedding day. Now that it was spring, the events of last autumn felt nostalgic. A refreshing breeze blew through the castle garden.
In the end, we knew nothing about why Professor Leon had appeared at the ball as Mr. Karlchen. All we could do was tilt our heads in puzzlement.
Lieselotte clapped her hands together. “Come to think of it, Count Leon Schach visits House Riefenstahl occasionally, though I’ve never seen him at any parties. Apparently, he was one of the Fae Princess’s followers. He comes to see my mother’s paintings and...forgive my phrasing, but he appears to be paying tribute to Lady Elizabeth.”
Lady Kobayashi laughed cheerfully. “Ooh, so he’s a fanboy! Well then, it sounds like he’s enjoying his life!”
“Yeah,” Lord Endo said. “I don’t really get it, but he doesn’t have to deal with his cruel family anymore, right? Good for him! Congrats!”
It seemed like we were ready to move on to the next topic, so I brought up something that had been on my mind for a long time. “Come to think of it, Aoto and Kobayashi visited Miss Fiene in the winter, didn’t they?”
“How did you know— Oh.” Lady Kobayashi covered her mouth, realizing she’d inadvertently answered my question. I didn’t think it was anything to be ashamed of, though.
I smiled. “Miss Fiene informed me right after winter break. She said she would feel less guilty if she told me the truth.”
“S-Sorry, Sieg,” Lady Kobayashi said. “I did notice you weren’t around, but it really was a coincidence that the pathway opened at all. Both of the people we’d given our blessing to were with Fiene at the time, so we could only get that perspective.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t on purpose,” Lord Endo said. “Sorry, though. It’s just that, by that point, Lirenna had already promised she’d take us to your wedding, so we figured we’d be able to see you later anyway.”
“We didn’t mean to ignore you! Well, it’s true we didn’t make an effort to see you or even pass a message along. It’s understandable if you’re mad at us.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “All of those excuses make it sound like you’ve done something to be guilty about. I know it wasn’t on purpose, so I’m not angry at you.”
“Okay, maybe not angry, but weren’t you upset?” Lady Kobayashi asked. “Or like—”
“Oh, speaking of winter break,” Lord Endo said. “Remember the day it snowed at the Riefenstahl estate? I was surprised to see how Fabian and Cecilie turned out.”
Was the drastic change of subject his way of stopping Lady Kobayashi from unwittingly pointing out the truth, or was it his way of helping me save face?
“Oh, yeah, Cechy-tan sure was strong!” Lady Kobayashi laughed.
Cecilie’s older sister, Lieselotte, gave an embarrassed sigh. “I’m so ashamed. That girl seems to have developed the Riefenstahl mentality in a strange way... Well, before she met Fabian, she was always absentminded and apathetic towards everything, so I suppose it’s a good thing she’s now willing to do anything for him.”
“Fabian is an easy target for kidnappings, so it takes a certain amount of skill and resolve to stay with him,” I said. “I’m glad he has a girl with that much passion by his side.”
No matter how many years go by, she’ll never let go of Fabian. That means I won’t have to worry about Lieselotte. She cares about her family, so she wouldn’t get involved with someone her sister loves so dearly.
I kept my narrow-minded true feelings sealed deep within my heart.
“That is very true,” Lieselotte said. “I imagine I’ll have to warn her not to make Fabian uncomfortable, but I do think it’s good they met each other.”
My wife responded positively, but Lord Endo and Lady Kobayashi were giving me disapproving looks.
I’m aware of my own narrow-mindedness, so please don’t stare at me like that.
I cleared my throat in an attempt to shake off their gazes. “Well then, while we’re on the topic of those two, shall we discuss everything that happened between the royal castle’s Festival of Gratitude celebration and today?”