110. Rose and Alexander

“He really has no sense of timing.”

Barbarossa clicked his tongue.

“With such fierce eyes.”

Darius’s gaze toward Anette dripped with possessiveness like never before.

“He used to at least pretend to hide his claws.”

In the past, the Grand Duke had been quite good at hiding his displeasure when Anette was with other people.

“But now, good grief.”

These days, if someone even tries to speak to Anette, a prickly gaze flies their way.

A confrontational look that seems to say, who are you to speak to my wife?

When one turns their head toward the Grand Duke because that gaze is so sharp, the Grand Duchess, puzzled by the sudden silence in the conversation, also follows the gaze to its end.

〈What’s wrong?〉

〈Who knows? That fellow seems to have forgotten what he was saying because he’s so stupid. Don’t worry about it. Since he forgot, it probably wasn’t important business anyway.〉

Then the Grand Duke would pretend nothing happened and transform the conversation partner into a fool.

Ugh……! You!

You were being defensive!

You! After glaring at me like you wanted to kill me!

〈Ah, suddenly a pain in my chest……”

If he then pretended to be weak and clutched his body, the Grand Duchess would immediately forget the person in front of her and become preoccupied with supporting her husband.

He says his chest hurts but clutches his waist—doesn’t she notice anything strange?

“Wasn’t all that talk about being in pain just lies?”

「The lifespan contract I originally agreed to take was literally just cutting off lifespan, so there’s no reason for his body to be weakened.」

“Why does the place that hurts change every time he pretends to be sick?”

「Anyway, Anette doesn’t suspect her husband’s fox-like behavior at all but burns with resentment toward me. It was that man who asked to borrow power in the first place, you know?」

“And I can’t tell anyone about this. It’s truly frustrating.”

「That’s what I’m saying.」

Haah.

Suddenly, a human and a spirit invisible to ordinary people united in complaint.

* * *

“My lady, please look at this!”

“A spirit?”

It was around the time when Darius had recovered somewhat and was starting to be active again. Rose rushed forward as if she had been holding back all this time and proudly showed me.

“Yes, it’s a spirit!”

A clay figurine the size of Rose’s two palms put together poked out its head. It was a gnome, an earth spirit that had no connection with me.

“Ahem!”

“Rose, have you become a spirit mage?”

This hadn’t happened in the original story, and even after I changed Rose’s fate, I hadn’t particularly heard that she had shown interest in spirit magic.

“Yes! Would you like to see this too? Gnome!”

Whoosh.

As Rose controlled the gnome with all her might and intense concentration, the tiny spirit created a small mound of earth.

“Impressive, right?”

‘……What can be done with that?’

It’s terrible.

“Now that I have a spirit too, I can go with you next time!”

“What do you mean…… Ah, could it be?”

I recalled how I had forcibly separated from Rose and set out on the journey when leaving for the northern mountains.

“I was so upset about being separated from you that I prayed every single day!”

‘Is spirit power something that comes from prayer?’

It’s not holy power, so why prayer? Aren’t those different fields?

「……Come to think of it, that child was with broken spirits when she nearly died last time.」

‘Could the near-death experience have changed her constitution……’

If I had to force a reason, that would be the only explanation. I’ve never heard that spirit power flows in the Temeri family. That family has been a knight family for generations. A martial house.

“Hohoho, hohohoho. Now I can follow you wherever you go, my lady. So please don’t think about leaving me behind ever again.”

I ignored Rose’s obsessive words and changed the subject.

“By the way, I have something to ask.”

Before leaving the northern mountains, Castle Inkheart had been full of people. Young ladies of marriageable age who had come along with the lord who had brought an army for subjugation.

They were all of age to make their social debut, and their purposes for coming here were quite varied. Finding a good husband, or aiming for the vacant position of my lady’s maid.

“When I returned, all the young ladies who had been staying here had gone back. What happened?”

“Well…”

“What did you do?”

“What do you mean ‘do’! I just used words. I told them this is my castle, so go back.”

I recalled what the young ladies had said during our tea party.

〈She’s never let anyone get close to His Grace the Grand Duke since the old days!〉

〈She’s just pretending to be nice in front of you, my lady! Don’t be fooled!〉

“Rose really didn’t do anything bad.”

Rose rolled her eyes. Looking at just her face, she appeared truly innocent.

With that face, what exactly did you do and how?

“Rose?”

“Those women! They were wrong to try to get close to you, my lady, when I was here, not knowing their place!”

Rose snarled, already feeling guilty.

“I really didn’t do anything bad, I tell you! Ask the castle staff. No, ask those women, and they’ll say nothing happened!”

“Then why did they all leave?”

“They must have been busy. How would I know the circumstances of girls I don’t care about?”

You didn’t somehow make them busy, did you?

I shook my head.

Next to such a Rose, Alexander, Rose’s prospective fiancé assigned by the Temeri family, was standing quietly today as well. Having the calm Alexander beside the tomboy Rose gave me some peace of mind.

‘Alexander has had a hard time lately too.’

Because Count Alexei tried to kill me, Alexander found himself in a difficult position.

As it became publicly known that the Count had cooperated with demonic beings, Alexander, who had the Count as his godfather, also began to be suspected.

〈Who are you trying to detain now! I’ll vouch for Alexander’s innocence. Do you think I have such poor judgment of character?〉

In the end, Alexander was about to be dragged to prison for questioning, and it was Rose who boldly saved him.

When Rose, the sister of the knigof the Castle Inkheart knights and daughter of the Temeri family, made such a claim, no one dared take Alexander to prison. Who would want to face the consequences later?

“I thought you had matured when I heard you protected Alexander, but you’re still the same. Alexander, are you okay? You must have been quite shocked.”

“Due to my foolishness, I’ve caused trouble in the North. I’m sorry for causing you concern.”

Alexander’s eyes were darkly shadowed by the fact that the godfather he had known for a long time was a contractor with corrupt demonic beings.

“Recently…… I did think he had become somewhat rough…… but with the incident involving the Grand Duke of Inkheart and all, I thought he was just on edge because of that.”

“Hm? Did the Count have some issue with Darius?”

“It’s well known that the princess was weighing her options between my godfather and the Grand Duke of Inkheart until the very end when deciding whom to choose as her fiancé.”

“Hm?”

……I think I just heard something that can’t be overlooked.

“Excuse me, could I hear more about this story?”

Faced with my brightly smiling face, Alexander’s shadow deepened.

He trailed off, wondering if he had brought up something he shouldn’t have, but the water had already been spilled.

* * *

So.

The center of this story was the princess, the late king’s daughter and current king’s youngest sister, a woman around forty years old.

She had been living without getting married, enjoying a pleasant life, but around that age, she must have felt the need for a husband to introduce publicly, so she began selecting a groom a few years ago.

Her criterion for choosing a fiancé was looks, above all else. As long as he had a suitable status to marry into the royal family, her principle was to take a man with a handsome face as her husband.

That’s how Count Alexei and Darius were shortlisted, and in the end, Count Alexei was chosen.

At that time, Count Alexei was the second son of a noble family and in a position where he couldn’t inherit the title, but when he became the princess’s fiancé, the royal family separately bestowed the title of count on Alexei.

Of course, it was a choice made without reflecting Count Alexei’s wishes.

In truth, he hated the idea of marrying an arrogant woman who was much older than him, princess or not.

But this damn princess would open her mouth only to torment the Count, saying things like, ‘If you were just a bit older and the North wasn’t so far away, I would have chosen Darius instead of you,’ and ‘If you don’t listen, I’ll replace you even now.’ It seemed he never had a peaceful day because of this.

The Count must have had things to say to such a princess too. That if she wanted to use his face to play the role of a kept man, there would be several wealthy widows with titles who would be after him, not just the princess, so do something about that mouth!

But a mere second son of a count’s family couldn’t dare say anything to a royal princess, so pettily, all his resentment was directed at Darius…… or so the story went.

“In fact, the Grand Duke did nothing wrong. At that time, he did come to the capital at the princess’s designation and had an audience with her, but in the end, the princess chose my godfather. My godfather’s continued dislike of the Grand Duke’s family and the North was merely because of the princess’s habit of speech…… that’s all.”

〈The princess’s plaything.〉

I recalled people’s gossip when Count Alexei behaved rudely. So that’s what the story I had overheard meant.

Pout.

But despite the detailed explanation, my protruding lips wouldn’t settle down.

‘Come to think of it, there was also what Arshama said before.’

The story that he had originally planned to propose an alliance by offering his sister.

‘Why does this man get so many marriage proposals from all over the place?’

He should be preserving his chastity with a pure body until his destined match appears, but this is too much! Next, an ex-girlfriend will show up too? Huh?