Behind them, Seiichirou nodded as he put away his tray. “That seems to be the case, yes.”
“Is that all you have to say, Kondou?!” Yua was getting ever more worked up in her affront. Pushing the other two men aside, she brought her lovely face within inches of Seiichirou’s. Leave it to a high school girl to have perfect skin—you could practically see the sheen from close up. “You’re not just gonna roll over and take it, are you? Aren’t you two supposed to be an item?!”
Another wave of murmurs filled the dining hall, albeit not quite on the level as the previous round. The regulars were used to seeing Aresh’s nanny-ish behavior around Seiichirou at mealtimes, so the prevailing mood in the room was “Oh? So it wasn’t my imagination?”
Seiichirou gazed back at Yua, not affirming or denying her words.
“Let’s get him back,” Romany’s Holy Maiden declared with an uncharacteristically composed expression.
““Huh?”” Orjef and Norbert were dumbfounded.
But Yua went on, not paying them any heed. “Let’s go to Egorova and take Aresh back!”
“Wh-what are you saying, Your Holiness?” Norbert spluttered. “How do you plan to—?”
“There’s no way a foreign country would turn down a visit from the Holy Maiden, right? Kondou can just come with me!” Having kept her Holy Maiden work confined within Romany’s borders, Yua had yet to even show her face to other countries. A country that was planning on establishing diplomatic ties with Romany would indeed accept a visit from the Holy Maiden. “What are you waiting for?! Let’s go today!”
“What? That’s so out of the blue,” said Orjef. “You can’t just…”
Norbert chimed in. “Not to mention that Sei would never…”
Seiichirou was always coolheaded, logical, and obsessed with efficiency. He would never drop his work to crash his partner’s marriage interview in a foreign country, like the protagonist of some teen novel. Norbert was convinced of this.
He looked over his shoulder to find that Seiichirou was standing up, having already put away his cutlery.
“It is a little sooner than I expected, but yes. Let’s go.”
“What?” said Orjef and Norbert.
“Yippee!” squealed Yua.
“I managed to get ahead on my work over these past three days,” said Seiichirou. “I should be able to leave right away if I delegate what remains. Let’s go to Egorova.”
As a smile bloomed on Yua’s face, Orjef’s and Norbert’s shouts resounded throughout the dining hall.
““What the hellllll?!””
Seiichirou was quick to move.
He had always been the kind of man who covered all his bases. Right from the start, he had made meticulous preparations so that he could pass on his work.
Likewise, the Holy Maiden Yua showed an extraordinary capacity to get things done. After securing an immediate appointment with the prince, she and Seiichirou were ushered into a meeting room. Prime Minister Camile was there as well—and so were Orjef and Norbert, befuddled by their confusion. They’d somehow gotten swept up in the momentum from the dining hall.
“The Holy Maiden making a courtesy visit to Egorova…you say…” Yurius looked as if he was gritting his teeth, while Camile seemed somehow amused.
“Yep!” Yua chirped. “If that’s how we spin it, the other side won’t turn it down.”
“But… Nggggh…”
As Yurius groaned and rubbed his temples, Seiichirou went in for the kill.
“Given that both sides have agreed to diplomatic relations, Egorova will inevitably be the first country to make contact with the Holy Maiden.”
“Well, yes, but at this stage…”
“What’s the problem? It’s just a pretext!”
“Yua… You don’t need to say the quiet part aloud…” Even Yurius, who normally indulged in Yua’s eccentricities, found himself pushing back against her this time.
But Yua was firm and unmoving. “What are you going to do if Aresh marries that Egorovan princess and never comes back?!”
“Urk.” For Yurius, it would be a shame indeed to lose a man of Aresh’s magical and military talents to another country. But… “Why are you going so far out of your way for Seiichirou?”
He would have understood if Yua was opposed to Aresh moving to another country because she fancied him. He wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have made sense. But he could see from Yua’s demeanor that she knew about Aresh and Seiichirou’s relationship and was trying to get the two of them together.
“In my country, people who get in the way of romance get kicked by a horse and die!” was Yua’s response.
“Yua…” Yurius was lost for words.
Judging by that reaction, Seiichirou wondered if something had happened between them. Camile whispered into his ear: “Other nobles have been saying things to His Highness.”
“Oh, I see.”
So Yurius had proposed to Yua. And because of that, the nobles around him blasted him with criticism.
Judging by what Yua said, she seemed to have feelings for Yurius after all.
“Prince Yurius… I have a lot to think about,” she said. “Would you mind waiting until I return for my answer?”
“Yua… Of course.”
Predictably, Yurius’s resistance shattered quickly.
All that was left was getting permission from Camile, the man who held the political reins.
“Your Excellency, I believe that if you were to send us to Egorova, I can secure Romany’s position as the leader of the movement spell research.” Seiichirou tried appealing to Camile’s political instincts.
But Camile did not react how Seiichirou expected. Instead of stepping out of whispering distance, he simply turned his head in Seiichirou’s direction. Seiichirou took a step back in surprise.
Camile raised his hand as he watched Seiichirou in amusement. “I thought my chance had come, but it seems not,” he said in a low, velvety tone as the back of his pointer finger trailed down Seiichirou’s cheek.
“That—” Seiichirou began.
“Oh! Oh! There’s something I want to ask His Excellency!” Orjef cut in before Seiichirou could get the words out.
“I gotta ask you about work, Sei!” Norbert jumped in as well.
They were obviously trying to peel Camile away from Seiichirou, before Seiichirou’s eyes could even widen. Camile let out a chuckle.
“What’s this? When did you get so many knights in shining armor?”
“That’s not quite it. They’re simply on Aresh’s side,” Seiichirou answered with narrowed eyes. Norbert pouted, but Seiichirou ignored it. He hadn’t forgotten how Aresh had ordered Norbert to take Seiichirou to the dining hall or how he had sent him sniffing around for Seiichirou in the nap room.
“Is that so? Then would that make me your ally?” Camile said with a flirtatious glance. At some point, Yua, who should have been indulging in her own love scene with the prince, had begun gazing at them with hearts in her eyes. “Is there something I can do for you, Seiichirou?” asked Camile with a sultry tone.
Seiichirou responded:
“If you could sign this document, that would be great, thanks.”