The stormy day finally passed.

The next morning.

Sunlight poured through the window cracks. After tossing and turning all night in the heat without proper sleep, I finally stretched out and sat up.

“Marie. Are you awake?”

As I barely opened my eyes that refused to fully open, I saw Marie wearing casual clothes instead of her maid uniform.

“Marie?”

At my call, Marie, who was crouched down packing her belongings, suddenly raised her head.

“Heidi! Did you sleep well?”

“Where are you going?”

Marie’s lips were adorned with a wide smile.

“I’m going home!”

“Oh my, finally?”

So that’s why she’d been humming for the past few days!

“Yes, finally. Did I tell you that my siblings have been looking forward to the summer festival?”

“Of course. You mentioned it before. Are you going to the summer festival together?”

“That’s right. This vacation is a bit longer. I’m taking four days off.”

Marie, who had been stuffing items into a large brown bag, lifted it with both hands and her eyes sparkled.

“I’m going to have a proper rest!”

“I’m so envious, Marie.”

I meant it sincerely. A vacation.

I want to go too!

I was also curious about the summer festival where Marie’s siblings would be singing.

However, it wasn’t easy for a kitchen maid to take a vacation. Being responsible for everyone’s meals in the mansion, it would be troublesome if there was a shortage of staff.

Maybe I could go out for a bit if work finished early in the evening.

‘I should ask Robert later.’

It’s not bad to go alone, but wouldn’t it be better to enjoy large-scale events like festivals together?

Anyway, seeing Marie happy made me feel good too. I bid farewell to Marie as she left for her vacation.

Then I hurriedly got ready and headed to the kitchen.

As soon as I entered the kitchen, Robert rushed to me and exclaimed.

“Heidi! Did you hear that news?”

“Huh? What news?”

“Haha, so you haven’t heard yet!”

Robert shrugged his shoulders, bragging about whatever news it was.

That made me not want to hear it anymore. I casually waved my hand and passed by him.

Probably not getting the reaction he wanted, Robert followed closely behind me.

“Why are you reacting like that? Aren’t you curious?”

“Well, not really.”

“This is huge news. The main house staff is already in an uproar! No, soon the entire Delgado mansion will be turned upside down!”

Again, he’s exaggerating.

As always, Robert never knew how to talk about anything moderately.

That’s part of his charm as a friend though.

His overreaction made me slightly less reluctant to listen.

I cracked eggs into a large silver bowl and asked.

“So what is it?”

“Well, you see. Oh my, don’t be surprised.”

“Just tell me already!”

Robert, now excited, looked like he was about to start dancing on the spot.

I could feel the chief chef glaring at us.

It was understandable, since we were just chatting instead of doing our work on this busy morning.

Oblivious Robert, seemingly unaware of such glances, banged on the table and shouted.

“Young Master Dietrich received a marriage proposal!”

Wow, this is quite funny…

“What?!”

Finally getting the reaction he wanted, Robert pushed my shoulder.

“See! I told you you’d be surprised!”

Dietrich received a marriage proposal.

After being lost in thought for a moment, I could easily guess who it was from.

It wasn’t difficult to deduce.

It had to be Princess Ariana, who had stayed at the Delgado mansion all afternoon yesterday.

“The person who proposed is…”

“Princess Ariana, right?”

“Oh? How did you know?”

In response to Robert’s surprised question, I just shrugged lightly and continued cracking the remaining eggs.

Robert, who had been chattering beside me, was finally dragged away by the chief chef grabbing him by the nape of his neck.

In the kitchen that had finally quieted down, I sighed and beat the eggs.

‘Princess Ariana was more aggressive than she appeared.’

Unlike her pure appearance, she had a side that pushed forward intensely.

‘Well, just coming to the Delgado mansion shows that.’

Even though someone else clearly won the hunting competition, the princess came to the Delgado mansion herself, determined to marry Dietrich.

If rumors spread about the princess visiting the Delgado mansion.

Everyone would know that Princess Ariana was courting Young Master Dietrich Delgado.

As if not caring about such things, she boldly proposed.

Normally, I would have cheered, shouting, ‘How amazing! To think such a wonderful woman exists in this world!’

Bang!

I roughly put down the silver bowl on the table.

Something didn’t sit right with me.

Anyway, I headed to Dietrich’s office with the finished food.

Knock knock.

After knocking several times with no response, I was standing helplessly in front of the door when a maid coming up to the third floor approached me with a sympathetic look.

“Heidi? Are you waiting for Young Master Dietrich?”

“Yes. Have you seen Young Master Dietrich by any chance?”

The maid nodded and replied to my question.

“Yes, it seemed like he went out somewhere early this morning. I’m not sure of the details.”

Shocked by the maid’s words, I froze on the spot.

“He’s gone again!”

Dietrich had disappeared since early morning.

“Yawn, Dietrich. Don’t you have any concept of morning?”

Nocturne stretched out with a yawn and sat on the sofa, rubbing his eyes.

He was in a very bad mood, having lost all his sleepiness due to this unexpected visitor.

However, this visitor, who seemed to have no sense of manners, sat on the opposite sofa and shrugged lightly.

“I have something to ask you.”

Nocturne was dumbfounded by how comfortable he looked sitting there, as if it were his own office.

Did he not realize where he was coming to like this?

“Dietrich. Do you know this is the magic tower?”

“So what?”

“Never mind, forget it.”

Nocturne blamed himself for sometimes forgetting that his friend was a person with such extraordinary abilities that logic often didn’t apply to him.

His master, who had been excited about magic items selling well with the upcoming summer festival, would be furious if he knew.

“What did you want to ask? You should hurry. It’ll be a mess if my master comes.”

“Your master? You mean Archmage Hudson?”

“Yeah, that old man. He’s been pestering me so much lately. From making the most effective magic items to submitting five research reports a week, he must be going senile.”

“…I see.”

“A few days ago, he suddenly disappeared with the items I made, saying he wanted to check how popular they were.”

It was somewhat disrespectful, but Dietrich didn’t bother to point it out.

Nocturne was originally a free-spirited type. Just look at how the only son of the Frey Viscount family left home to stay at the magic tower.

He was second to none in terms of uniqueness, so there was no point in saying anything.

“Well, good luck with that. What I want to talk about is something else.”

“…How cold, so cold.”

Nocturne leaned back comfortably on the sofa and crossed his legs.

“So, what did you want to say?”

‘It better not be something trivial. I’ll set fire to your bottom as payment for waking me up,’ he was thinking.

“I received a marriage proposal. From Princess Ariana.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

Nocturne couldn’t tell if what he just heard was real, if Dietrich was trying to fool him, or if this was still a dream.

“W-wait a minute. Is this true? Not a lie?”

“Do I look like someone who would break the instant teleportation orb you gave me just to tell such a lie?”

Of course not.

Nocturne fell into deep thought.

In fact, it was already known from the previous hunting competition that the imperial family wanted a political alliance with the Delgado family.

But he didn’t know Princess Ariana had feelings for Dietrich?

This is turning out to be quite interesting.

A mischievous smile floated onto Nocturne’s handsome face.

“So? What did she say? How did the princess confess?”

Nocturne, who had been leaning back on the sofa the whole time, detached his back from it with a sly smile.

Then he leaned forward, urging Dietrich to tell him quickly.

“She asked for help. To become the Emperor.”

“…That’s quite surprising?”

“She also said she would help me become the head of the Delgado Duchy if I did so.”

It was an increasingly surprising story. But did Princess Ariana have such capabilities?

Even though she was a top student at the academy, in reality, she was a princess pushed out of the imperial succession.

“So? Did you accept?”

“Are you crazy? I can do it sufficiently with my own power.”

‘That’s what I thought,’ Nocturne nodded.

Dietrich wasn’t someone who would easily trust others and accept help.

That’s how Dietrich had been, as far as Nocturne had seen.

A person more comfortable being alone.

Thinking about his childhood when he tried so hard to become Dietrich’s friend still made his face flush with embarrassment.

How much he had pestered Dietrich, who wasn’t very sociable from a young age.

‘That’s my dark history.’

Anyway, it wasn’t very surprising that Dietrich rejected the proposal.

Moreover, if it was someone from the imperial family, he would have rejected it even more firmly.

“But did you come all the way here to tell me this?”

Nocturne asked, scratching the back of his head.

It was interesting, but the answer to the proposal was so obvious that it didn’t seem necessary to come all the way here to talk about it.

Nocturne decided to wait, thinking Dietrich might have more to say given his personality. Sure enough, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Do you know anything about the imperial family’s hidden treasure?”