After the festival weekend, Larisa swallowed hard in a somewhat chilly atmosphere.

“I thought we became a bit closer during the festival, but maybe not?”

Larisa, unaware of what happened on the last day of the festival, was bewildered. William and Ginevra were not exchanging glances, just eating their meals.

Even Ginevra, who would usually inquire about William’s well-being, was silent. William, as if eager to finish the meal quickly, was devouring it at a terrifying speed.

Unable to intervene in the inexplicable atmosphere, Larisa quietly waited for mealtime to end.

And as soon as she arrived at William’s room, she asked.

“Willi Willi, did you have a fight with your mother?”

“Hmm.”

Huh? An unexpected answer came back. Larisa widened her eyes.

“Why, why?”

“She told me to become the Duke of Rondante.”

Larisa asked cautiously.

“Don’t you want to become a duke, William?”

William couldn’t answer confidently. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want to. The memory of lamenting his position where he was not considered as the successor of Rondante lingered.

After a moment of contemplation, William answered weakly.

“I don’t know. I haven’t tried being a duke, so I don’t know if it’s good or bad.”

“But why were you angry? Did your mother make decisions on her own again, making you angry?”

“…I guess so.”
William thought Larisa was right. It seemed that puberty had finally come to him as well. It was disheartening that his emotional control was now so out of balance, especially considering that his mother had pressured him for just a day or two. He felt pathetic. Larisa patted William’s dejected knees and said, “It’s okay, Will. Anyway, we’re planning to run away later, right?”

“Oh, right. That’s true.”

William recalled the escape plan that he had completely forgotten. Before meeting Larisa, he used to plan to run away every day, but now he had forgotten about it.

His self-change was surprising. And suddenly, he burst into laughter.

“Haha, that’s right. We were planning to run away.”

Since his mother had mentioned that Larisa would be the one he would marry, it had already been a decided matter. Why did he waste emotions unnecessarily?

“Was it because I thought my mother had changed?”

Without realizing it, he had placed expectations. Expectations that his mother would respect his opinions.

“I really don’t know why I was so angry.”

Upon reflection, even he found himself strange. The anger that even he couldn’t comprehend felt like long-buried emotions surfacing.

“Will, what if you think about it like this? Since she gives you a lot of pocket money, why not just listen to your mother until you run away? You have to do unpleasant things to earn money.”

“What?”

William was bewildered.
“You little brat… You’re incredibly calculating.”

But it made sense.

As William was about to ask Siod for an alchemy question as usual, he heard a strange story from Siod.

“You’re saying I should take a noble class?”

“Yeah.”

“From whom, the professor?”

Siod nodded. Before the atmosphere could turn tense, Siod grinned, hugged Larisa, and suggested, “How about including Lala in it too?”

“Yes!”

William, trying to find words to counter, was cut off by Siod.

“You are a noble. But just having a title doesn’t make you a noble. I think you need appropriate dignity and manners for that.”

“I have a title…”

“Regardless of having a title or not, you were born as a noble. Your mother was already the Duchess of Rondart when you were born, right?”

William looked perplexed.

“You’ve been living too comfortably until now. So, think of it as starting to work a bit later.”

“Did my mother order this?”

Siod’s attitude was firm.

“Yeah. By the way, if you don’t take the noble class, I won’t teach you alchemy. So, it’s up to you. Do you want to learn both or none?”

William sighed.

“I’m already taking etiquette classes at the academy.”

“But isn’t it insufficient?”

And indeed it was. Other noble offspring had already completed necessary etiquette and culture before enrolling in the academy.
As the only commoner in the knight department, William, with an attitude towards life almost indistinguishable from that of a commoner, was like oil floating on water.

If it weren’t for the easygoing James becoming his roommate, there would have been no one trying to be friends with him.

Although he wasn’t excluded, it felt awkward among his peers, and they seemed to consider him rough.

“Lala, do you want to learn etiquette?”

“Yes, and piano too!”

“Okay, because culture is also essential.”

Larisa jumped up with excitement. Siod, holding Larisa, began to twirl around like dancing.

“I’ll teach you the dance the princess does.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

William found himself chuckling unintentionally. He couldn’t show any displeasure because Larisa liked it so much. Siod teasingly said,

“Oh? You smiled. Will you learn? Have you decided?”

William nodded his head. He had talked to Larisa about it, and he intended to pretend to go along with it if his mother asked him to do something.