CH 40.3

It was neither a sunlit terrace with pastries and tea, nor a reception room with soft sofas, but a simple office with only a simple reception set and a large desk with bookshelves.

A man rose from his large office desk, approached me quietly in the backlight of the large window, and spoke softly.

“…that look.”

“Eh?”

The dark-haired young man, who muttered something incomprehensible, suppressed his speech as if in a rush, and then looked at me again.

“Are you Miss Carol of the Arceides?”

“Yes, Your Highness Camille, isn’t it?”

After confirming this, I showed him my curtsy, which I had learned over the past five years, and as he led me to a sofa, he blurted out, “You’re so small”.

I know I’m small, but…. But…I had a feeling that I had seen him somewhere before.

Where was it? Did I ever know such a grown man before? Well, I think I once met a dark-haired boy on the terrace of a castle at night, but he seemed kind and cheerful, which was different from the impression I had of him neglecting his fiancée for five years.

As Maia lined up with the line of attendants next to the door with a frightened look on her face, Camille, sitting directly in front of me, saw the expressions on Maia’s and the attendants’ faces and let out a faint sigh.

“I’m sorry if I’ve caused you some discomfort. The ladies need to be there to consider my position.”

“…”

Well, even I could understand what it would mean to have a subhuman fiancée in the Caenista kingdom, where human race supremacy was the norm.

I could understand, but it would be a different story if it made us look bad. Nevertheless, should I suppress the magic I was spreading a little?

“Sorry.”

Perhaps noticing the change in the air, Camille-sama smiled with a boyish face.

“…”

I feel…strange.

“Mistress Carol must have been bewildered as to why you were suddenly engaged to a man nine years older than you when you were still a little girl. I have no intention of doing anything to you. I don’t have the power to do anything about it now, but if you are unwilling, I will see if we can break off the engagement before you come of age, though not immediately. You must stay with me until then.”

“…Nn.”

A decent…person? Either way, I honestly didn’t think it would matter since I was planning to gather my strength and leave this country by the time of the graduation event…but it really feels weird.

After saying that, he had his attendants prepare fine pastries and tea, and then went back to his work.

I guess you could say that he left me alone, or perhaps he really only had political concerns about my engagement, and this time he was just creating an alibi for meeting with me.

That was fine with me, but I was also bored with simply passing the time. The attendants continued to stare at me, but when their eyes met mine, they turned away, and I couldn’t touch the snacks because I didn’t know what was in them.

Would an hour be enough? Just as I was starting to feel sleepy with nothing to do, a piece of paperwork from Camille-sama’s desk fell softly at my feet.

“What is this…?”

A simple income and expenditure report for the Arceides frontier territory? It looked like a part of it.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

When Camille-sama looked up, one of the attendants came over to retrieve the document. I restrained her with my hand and took it to Camille-sama’s desk by myself.

“What is it?”

“Camille-sama, there is no such department in Arceides territory, you know?”

“Muu?”

I motioned for Camille-sama to look at the paperwork.

A heavily armed unit to protect residents from large creatures like wyverns was supposed to have been in operation for seven years in the Arceides frontier territory adjacent to the Devil’s Forest, and a good budget was spent on it, but I have never seen such a unit.

After the wyvern, a huge worm appeared five years ago, but it only harmed the Knights, and they were able to escape. It was just a random occurrence.

“In that case, they don’t need the grant from the special budget line, do they?”

“I see …but, are you certain? It’s your family home, isn’t it? Would it be alright to betray your family?”

Master Camille asked. I looked him in the eyes, a little sad, though I doubt he was trying to accuse me of anything.

“Because I have been struggling to survive since I was a little girl without their help.”

“…I see.”

Master Camille, who had realized this, averted his gaze from me and muttered something. He must also have been through something similar.

Both of us had our lives threatened by our families.

“…We are scheduled to go on an inspection tour to the frontier next month.”

“Nn?”

I was about to hand over the papers and return to the sofa when Camille-voice sama’s called to my back, and when I turned around, his eyes were fixed on me.

“Are you coming with us?”

“…”

Nn~~…? Could he be planning to do something?