The tinkling sound of knives and forks broke the silence in the room. Seiichirou was sitting at the wide dinner table, directly opposite Aresh’s sister—a perfect stranger until mere moments ago.
After Seiichirou sputtered out a greeting to the sudden newcomer, Valtom and the other servants tactfully suggested a meal, and so there they were.
Seiichirou was honestly grateful to them. One could be forgiven for not saying much while they were eating. He used this time to kick his brain into full gear, figure out what was going on, and plot his next course.
“Your cooking is as delightful as ever,” Erene said amiably to Pavel.
“Thank you very much.”
“You’re still welcome to join my house.”
“I appreciate the offer.”
Oh, of course, thought Seiichirou as he watched this conversation. If she’s Aresh’s sister, then she must have eaten the cooking of Pavel and his mentor.
He found himself a little curious about this woman who had grown up with Aresh.
“You’re quite a light eater,” Erene spoke to him suddenly.
Seiichirou almost dropped his knife, but he caught himself just in time.
“Ah, yes,” he said reticently.
His palate had expanded thanks to Pavel’s hard work, but that didn’t stop him from having a small stomach. He was still eating more now than when he lived in Japan, though his portions were about the same as Erene’s, a noblewoman. She was probably surprised at the gulf between Seiichirou and Aresh, a young knight with a voracious appetite.
Seiichirou’s eyes flitted over her again. Now that he knew that she was Aresh’s sister, he could sort of see the resemblance in the way they carried themselves. Her black-blue hair and indigo eyes weren’t the same color as her brother’s, but then again, Seiichirou had heard that purple eyes were rare.
Her makeup made her look older, but she was probably younger than Seiichirou. Aresh had told him before that he had two older brothers, followed by one older sister. This meant that Erene was the closest of his siblings to his age, which probably put her in her mid-twenties. She was already married, if Seiichirou recalled correctly.
Regardless, Seiichirou had never interacted with a noblewoman—Aresh’s sister or no—and this crippling lack of experience left him at a loss about what to do. Although he could get away with not speaking during a meal, no dinner lasted forever.
Tea was served after dinner, marking the beginning of social pleasantries. Erene wasted no time opening her mouth.
“You are not guiding the delegation tomorrow, I hear.”
Seiichirou wondered why she was choosing to ask about that. But it wasn’t a secret or anything, and it was quite likely that the nobles all knew about things like this, so Seiichirou nodded.
“That’s right. However, I do have plans to meet up with the other guides to discuss the results thus far and our upcoming schedule.”
It probably sounded as if Seiichirou was preemptively brushing off an invitation, though he wasn’t particularly lying. He and Qusta planned to discuss how things went off the rails over the past three days. They also had to talk about D-Day—er, how to get Ist to behave.
After that, Seiichirou had an appointment with Camile, where they would discuss the issue of increasing an individual’s magic capacity. He needed to get his documentation together before the end of the day…
Erene’s eyebrows furrowed at Seiichirou’s words. She was very similar to Aresh in how she expressed her displeasure.
“Well, whatever,” she said after an uncomfortable pause. “I’m sure you’re aware that my parents summoned Aresh the other day?”
“I am, yes.” His absence was very much noticed.
“Do you know why he was summoned?”
“…I have an inkling.” Orjef had mentioned it earlier. It was pretty much guaranteed that it had something to do with Seiichirou’s accessory at the dinner party.
“I just happened to be at the family estate at the time.” Apparently, Erene had been staying with her family because her husband was on a long work trip. “Our parents and I already knew that Aresh was acting as a guardian to the man who was summoned alongside the Holy Maiden.”
Of course they would know, given that he had moved out of their house and bought one of his own.
“I also heard some peculiar rumors…but who would have thought…?” Erene turned her piercing gaze on Seiichirou, which naturally made him sit up straight.
Seiichirou hadn’t been contemplating marriage when the lapel pin incident happened, but he was already thirty. Setting aside the whole “other world” and “getting back home” thing, he was at the perfect age for settling down—and so was Aresh, by this world’s standards. Seiichirou would have had to meet Aresh’s relatives eventually, regardless of the whole marriage thing.
He would have preferred for it to happen after he was done with this high-stakes, diplomacy-impacting job, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
“I apologize for failing to give my regards until now. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Seiichirou Kondou, assistant director of the Royal Accounting Department. As you know, I was summoned by accident from another world alongside the Holy Maiden. Aresh has been an enormous help to me, and I owe him a tremendous debt.” Seiichirou performed a deep bow from his seat, to which Erene made no reply. But he had to say it. “He and I are also seeing each other romantically.”
When he lifted his gaze, Erene’s indigo eyes were boring straight into him. Her expression…was unreadable. Aresh was always easy to figure out despite his blank expressions, but Erene was a cipher to Seiichirou.
“I know that under regular circumstances, Aresh and I should have paid our respects at your family home, but my hands are currently tied with the Egorovan delegation. I thought that when this task was done…”
Although Seiichirou knew it was unwise to show up alone at a marquess’s house, he at least wanted to indicate his desire to do so. Just then, however, he thought he saw Erene’s eyes narrow as she sipped her tea.
“You know nothing.”
“Excuse me?”
Erene clanged her cup against the saucer.
“Are you unaware of why the Egorovan delegation came here?”
“Well… I assumed they wanted to inspect our movement spells as a pretext to initiate talks about exchanging magic…”
“Diplomacy does not begin and end at sharing magical techniques. Do you not know the simplest way of establishing international relations?”
Well, of course he didn’t. He dealt with numbers, not diplomacy. From Seiichirou’s cursory knowledge of history, the “simplest way” was probably marriage between royalty and nobility and whatnot…
“…Wait.”
As her eyes drilled holes into Seiichirou’s face, Erene continued: “Do you know what the Egorovan prince plans to do tomorrow?”
“He means to speak with Romany nobility…,” answered Seiichirou. No way.
“Yes, he will be at House Indolark to discuss marriage with the fourth princess.”
And that’s why Aresh won’t be coming home, her high-pitched voice declared without emotion.
“…ndo. Kondo!”
Seiichirou blinked and snapped his head up.
Qusta was peering at him from across the table, his small eyes betraying their concern. Seiichirou remembered that the two of them were currently using a compact room in the palace to talk about the Egorovan delegation.
“S-sorry!” He hurriedly flipped through his papers to see how far they had gotten. They’d finished discussing the tour thus far and were about to look over the schedule for the remaining two days.
“Shall we take a short break?” Qusta suggested.
Figuring that he would need some time to regain his concentration, Seiichirou agreed. Dining was permitted there, so Qusta asked a palace maid to bring over some tea without missing a beat. Although he gave off the air of an amiable middle manager, Qusta had all the refinement and grace of a born noble.
“Is there something worrying you? Besides Ist, I mean,” he added playfully, to which Seiichirou chuckled.