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Inside a beautiful and well decorated room of the Harkenberg family’s mansion, a little girl with black hair and amethyst eyes groaned while reading an ominous letter that was addressed to her.
(Why
!? Why is this happening to me
!?)
The little girl was none other than Leo himself
 and the ominous letter was from Leena.
Some days after Leena kicked him out of the orphanage, Leo finally received a letter from her, updating him on what was going on in the orphanage.
Well, Leena didn’t want to use the spy crystals right now because it’d be a waste to do so, that’s why she sent him a coded letter instead.
At first, Leo was happy when he received the letter, but after reading it’s contents, he couldn’t help but think that the world was being a little bit unfair to him.
Apparently, Emily, Anne and Marcel spread a bad rumor about Leonora, in order to make Albert give up on marrying her
 however, their plan backfired. Instead of being hated by the common people and the nobles, Leo got even more supporters and popularity.
(This doesn’t make any sense! I should be losing supporters, not gaining more of them! Now I won’t be able to break my engagement with Albert!)
After letting out a long sigh to calm his nerves, Leo then picked up the newspaper that Leena sent him along with the letter and read it’s headline again.
(Where did I go wrong in raising those kids
? I never taught any of them how to slander other people
 no, they’re probably learning those bad things with Leena! She walks around everywhere with those thugs, so I’m sure she’s being a bad influence to them! Besides, what’s wrong with me being a commoner? If you’re going to spread bad rumors about someone, at least do it right!)
As Everyone’s Onii-chan, Leo was definitely worried that the children of the orphanage were learning some bad things from Leena’s dubious behavior, but at the same time, he couldn’t understand why they used the fact that he used to be a commoner to make Albert break off their engagement. To him, being a commoner was way better than being a noble, so he didn’t catch up right away on the fact that they were trying to create a noble faction that opposed their marriage.
However, before he could finish his line of thought–
*Knock* *Knock*
“Is everything alright, Leonora-sama? Can I enter the room?”
–Kai suddenly knocked on the door and called his name.
“K-Kai
!? Y-yes, you can, enter
!”
Leo was a bit surprised to hear Kai calling his name, so he quickly got up from his desk and threw the letter in the fireplace to erase all the evidences that he and Leena were secretly exchanging letters.
As soon as he did that, the door opened and Kai entered the room.
“What are you doing in front of the fireplace, Leonora-sama
? Are you feeling cold? Do you want me to pick some warmer clothes for you?”
“N-no, you don’t, have to, do that, Kai. I’m not really, feeling that cold, or anything. I-I’m just, warming up, a bit.”
Because Leo was trying to hide the burning letter with his body, he ended up saying that, however, Kai didn’t know about the letter, so he assumed that his master was just trying to be considerate of him.
“I’m sorry, Leonora-sama! I thought that since the cold season was already over, you wouldn’t want me to put too much firewood onto the fireplace! But since you’re feeling cold, I will add some more firewood for you right away!”
“I-it’s okay, Kai! I’m not feeling, all that cold! Besides, it would be, a waste to, add more, firewood when, I’m about to, leave the room, right? You came here, because Emilia-sama, is calling me, isn’t it?” – Said Leo, as he quickly shifted the topic of the conversation to the reason why he was visiting the marquis couple today.
Ever since the day of the Spirit Festival, Emilia started asking Leo to come to the Harkenberg family’s mansion a lot more frequently. She often made him attend dinner parties, watch theater plays and go on picnics with her, and all of that in order for Emilia to complete her list of things I want to do before I marry off my beloved granddaughter
 but Leo obviously didn’t know any of that.
However, he was really happy that he could use the fact that he had to visit his “grandparents” to get away from Albert in the meanwhile. The number of times the prince had invited him to go out together wasn’t small, so Leo was grateful that Emilia wanted to spend more time with him lately.
“Where is, Emilia-sama, waiting for me, Kai? Is she in, the dining room? Or perhaps, the garden?”
“Oh, that’s right, Emilia-sama is waiting for you in the reception room, Leonora-sama
 . ”
For a moment, something burning in the fireplace caught Kai’s attention–
“She is, in the, reception room? Is there, a guest, here today, Kai?”
–But after Leo asked that, the young butler returned his attention to his master.
“Well, I know it’s a bit sudden, but yes, we do actually have an important guest here today.”
“Oh, I see
 so it’s an, important guest
 . ”
“Yes, but we don’t have to hurry. We can take our time getting there, Leonora-sama.” – Said Kai, as he stared at his master with a happy grin plastered all over his face.
“
???
 . ”
Leo didn’t really understand why Kai was grinning at him, but he chose not to pursue that matter, since it wasn’t of much importance to him right now.
However, unbeknownst to Leo, the important guest that the young butler wanted him to meet, was the same person that he was trying to avoid all this time
 his dearest fiance.
Klaus von Harkenberg, the Ruthless General, was a living legend.
Everyone of the Weiz Empire revered him as such in some way or another.
Some would even go as far to say that he was the best commander that the imperial army ever had.
However, on this calm spring day, even the old general couldn’t do anything but sit quietly on the couch of the reception room, as he watched his beloved wife and his granddaughter’s future husband have a “civilized” conversation.
“Fufufu, I never thought you would arrive on the same day we received a letter saying that you would come visit us, Your Highness. I’m really impressed by how quick you are.”
“Thank you for the praise, Lady Harkenberg, but I just wanted to spend some time with my beloved fiancee , since she’s been unnaturally busy these past few days, you see?”
“Nothing makes me more happy than to see how devoted you are to my beloved granddaughter , but are you sure it’s okay for you to be here and not on the academy, Your Highness? Did your father allow you to be absent from school?”
Ever since Albert arrived at the Harkenberg estate, Klaus had to watch Emilia and him bickering like that. But that wasn’t the worst part. If you interpreted their words, it would become something like this:
—How dare you interrupt my precious alone time with my beloved granddaughter! Even if you’re a prince, I won’t forgive you!
—You’re the one interrupting my alone time with her! Every time I invite her to go out on a date, she turns me down because you asked her to come to the mansion! Isn’t that the same as you sabotaging our relationship!?
—Ha! At least the academy gave my granddaughter a permit to cut classes whenever she wanted because she has perfect grades on every subject! But what about you, prince? Did you really ask your daddy to let cut classes just because you wanted to come here?
Outwardly, the two of them were just talking normally, but if you paid close attention, you’d notice that their words were coated in deadly poison. However, between the two, Emilia was the angriest. The marchioness was so angry, in fact, that Klaus could almost feel her piercing cold gaze being directed towards Albert. So, in a desperate attempt to calm both of them, and shift the topic of the conversation before anything serious happened, the marquis cleared his throat, and said–
“–So, Your Highness, what are your thoughts on His Majesty’s recent decree? Do you also agree with him that sending Leonora to the Elandian Autonomous Region, as the representative of the Empire for the upcoming Contract Festival, is a good idea?”
Contrary to the Spirit Festival, that celebrated the beginning of spring and the blessings of the Great Spirit of Light upon the human realm, the Contract Festival was a celebration of the contract that the ancient humans and the great spirits made eons ago. That’s why the Eland Kingdom, the place where the spirit faith originated, usually held that festival once every seven years. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the contract festival was the most important religious event of the continent.
Some would even say that one of the main reasons why the Weiz Empire didn’t completely absorb Eland after the war, was because only an Elandian, or rather, a direct descendant of the spirits, could perform the contractual ceremony at the end of the festival and relay the blessings of the spirits to the representatives of each country. That’s why all countries would send the most virtuous girl of their country to Eland as a representative.
Well, in truth, the first princess of every nation was usually the one chosen to represent their country, but in case there was someone more deserving, that role could be easily given to someone else. But, although Eland was now a ruined country, their old customs still persisted, so, to this day, many girls still thought of being chosen as the representative for the contract festival as an honor.
However, even though being chosen to represent their country was seen as a great honor to many, Klaus didn’t want to send his only granddaughter to Eland just because of those old customs.
“I know that the contract festival is an important religious event, but shouldn’t we send Her Highness, Princess Bianca, to Eland instead? Or maybe your cousin, Natalia von Klingbeil?”
“Well, to be frank with you, Lord Harkenberg, I’m also against sending Leonora to that place, but the Empire has many enemies, and they’re always looking for a reason to start a fight with us, so, even though it’s meaningless, we still need that religious validation. Besides, our relationship with Eland became really bad after the last war, so I don’t think that sending Bianca, or even Natalia, to that place would be a good idea.”
“I see
 I didn’t think about how the Elandians would react upon seeing them when I suggested that.” – Said Klaus, as he stroked his beard with a pensive look on his face.
Although Klaus was telling the truth when he said he didn’t think about the consequences of sending Natalia and Bianca to Eland instead, for some reason, he had this weird gut feeling that his precious granddaughter wouldn’t be safe if they sent her to that place either. But, before the marquis could put his concerns into words, Emilia said–
“–To be honest, I’m not really against sending Leonora to Eland as the representative of the Weiz Empire, but I still think this was a little bit too sudden. The representative normally receives the notice that she was chosen one year prior to the festival, however, he only gave us the notice that my granddaughter had been chosen a week ago, so I don’t think I can accept that.”
Even though Emilia was talking in a calm tone, anyone could see that she had an extremely dissatisfied look on her face. She was even trying to pick a fight with Albert by indirectly saying that his father, the Emperor, was an incompetent ruler for taking such a long time just to chose the representative of their country.
However, contrary to Emilia’s expectations, the prince wasn’t swayed by her cheap provocations this time. He just bowed his head and apologized sincerely for his father’s mistake.
“I’m really sorry about that, Lady Harkenberg. At first, my father wanted to appoint Natalia as our representative, but since Leonora had already debuted into high society, he thought it would be better to appoint her instead, since there’s literally no one better than her to play that role.”
“The Emperor thinks that Leonora is the best option
?”
“Yes, and my mother also agreed with him on that matter.”
“Even Her Majesty thinks so as well
?”
“Yes, she even said that Leonora is at the pinnacle of womanhood and that she is the most virtuous woman in the history of this continent.”
“My granddaughter is the most virtuous woman of all time
?”
After watching their interaction, Klaus couldn’t help but stare at Albert with admiration, after all, he not only managed to calm Emilia, but he also managed to gradually change her mind into thinking that sending Leonora to Eland as their representative wasn’t actually all that bad. And the best part of it all, is that the prince wasn’t doing that on purpose, he was just immersed in praising the woman he loved.
“Well, my parents know that their request is a bit too sudden, so to honor the time that Leonora will spend away from you two, they said she could take an entire month off of the academy after she returned home.”
“She will take an entire month off of the academy
?”
Right after hearing those two magic words, Emilia started thinking about how many things of her to-do list she would be able to complete thanks to that unexpected reward.
The marchioness was so happy right now, that she almost couldn’t contain the huge smile that was creeping up at the corners of her mouth, so Emilia quickly hid her mouth behind her fan, then she said–
“–V-very well, if Their Majesties want my granddaughter to be the representative of the Empire this badly, then I don’t see any reason to refuse their honest request. However, the final decision will be given to Leonora
 are you okay with that, Your Highness?”
“Of course, I would never let anyone force her to do something she doesn’t want to.”
As soon as Albert said that, the three heard a soft knocking sound coming from the door, which was soon followed by a low and timid voice.
“Sorry for, making you wait, Emilia-sama. Is it alright, for me, to enter?”