“Do you like mathematics?”

“Huh? Uh, no.”

“Then you probably wouldn’t be interested in divine arts either. How about swordsmanship?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you know anything about magical beasts or magic?”

“Excuse me?”

The man set down his teacup with an expressionless face.

The woman, who had been sitting demurely with a shy expression at first, couldn’t hide her flustered look.

“I’m disappointed. We have absolutely nothing in common. Shouldn’t we at least be able to converse with someone we’re supposed to spend our lives with?”

The woman sitting across from him turned bright red.

“This seems to be a waste of time. Shall we end it here?”

The man left her alone and walked out with steady steps.

As he was passing through the hallway, he encountered a woman struggling to open a door while carrying a large stack of documents that nearly obscured her face.

“Ah, excuse me for a moment.”

After asking permission, he opened the door for her. She entered while expressing her gratitude.

“Thank you.”

“…”

Upon opening the door, he saw that the stack of documents looked large and heavy. His ingrained manners tugged at him, making it difficult to just leave, so he reluctantly asked.

“Would you like me to carry that for you?”

“No, it’s alright. Could you just close the door for me instead?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as she went inside, he closed the door and indifferently continued on his way.

‘I hope I can just go back.’

However, if he didn’t stop by his parents to report today’s results, things would surely become troublesome.

But if he did tell them, another storm of nagging would surely follow.

The image of his angry father and his mother lying ill naturally came to mind.

‘How many more times do I have to tell them before they stop this useless endeavor?’

Frustrated and exasperated, he finally loosened his tie.

Eric Russell Gloucester.

The heir to the Duke of Gloucester family and holder of the title of Earl Russell himself, as well as the commander of the 2nd Knights Division.

Outstanding ability, excellent appearance. A man recognized by all as the number one bachelor in the current Britannia Empire, with more good qualities than can be listed.

However, his personality was the worst, or rather, completely unmanageable.

His nicknames ranged from “The Black Lion of Britannia” to his face, to “Britannia’s 3%” or “The Destroyer from the Demon Realm” behind his back.

A man at the center of attention in the Empire, for both good and bad reasons.

Today, he had spectacularly ruined yet another blind date, the number of which he had long since lost count of.

***

“You damned son!!”

The Duke of Gloucester finally shouted.

Eric thought his face might burst from turning so red.

“I should just die, I should just die.”

The Duchess of Gloucester groaned, clutching her head as she collapsed onto the sofa.

But he had already anticipated this situation from his past experiences.

It would have been better if he had just kept his mouth shut.

“I clearly told you I wasn’t interested.”

He unnecessarily added a comment, even though this wasn’t the first or second time this had happened.

“What, you brat!!”

“Oh my, oh my.”

The Duke of Gloucester’s shouts and the Duchess’s groans grew louder.

“I also told you not to do unnecessary things.”

“You!!!”

“Urrrgh.”

The Duke of Gloucester trembled with rage, unable to contain himself, while the Duchess let out an even louder groan, her patience having reached its limit.

The butler standing nearby shook his head, thinking, ‘As expected, today too.’

But Eric drank the tea the butler had given him without any change in expression.

“Butler. The tea tastes especially good today, doesn’t it?”

“It’s Orange Pekoe, which you like, young master. I prepared it knowing you would be coming today.”

“You remembered. Thank you, butler.”

Seeing his son leisurely drinking tea, the Duke felt even more frustrated.

“Alright, why didn’t you like this one? Let’s hear it.”

“We couldn’t communicate at all.”

“Communicate? What kind of conversation?”

“She said she doesn’t like mathematics.”

“…What?”

‘What is he talking about now? Suddenly, mathematics? How many people actually like mathematics?’

‘No, more importantly, who in their right mind asks if someone likes mathematics on a blind date?’

He stared at his son, dumbfounded.

“She wasn’t interested in swordsmanship either, and knew nothing about magical beasts. Anyway, we had absolutely nothing in common.”

“…Is there anyone, no, any person at all who can communicate with you?”

Eric frowned at those words, but soon shrugged as if understanding.

That irritated the Duke even more.

“You know better, yet you still do such things? There’s a limit to embarrassing your parents.”

“Ah.”

“Get out, you brat!”

Finally unable to contain himself, the Duke threw a cushion.

But his son, excellent in martial arts, effortlessly dodged it while holding his teacup. Not even a drop of tea spilled from the cup he was holding.

“Then I’ll be going.”

He placed the teacup on the table, put the fallen cushion back on the sofa, and walked out leisurely.

“Oh my, oh my.”

The Duchess of Gloucester’s wailing could be heard until he closed the door, but he paid no attention to it at all.

***

“Darling, at this rate, we’ll die from stress before we ever see grandchildren.”

The Duchess of Gloucester, who had barely managed to get up from the sofa she had been lying on, groaned while holding her head.

“I must have committed many sins in my past life. How else could such chaos befall me in my twilight years?”

The Duke of Gloucester barely suppressed his anger and sat on the sofa, hanging his head low.

***

Looking back, Eric had been a truly admirable son.

The son they had struggled to have at a late age had never been seriously ill nor caused them worry.

During his time at the military academy, he had excelled in both academics and martial arts, always at the top of his class.

After being commissioned, he had walked a path paved with success, even becoming the youngest knight commander.

But when their son reached marriageable age, he literally became a damned son.

He rejected every blind date he was sent to, and later, as if rebelling, he started doing nonsensical things to ruin the meetings, making it a daily occurrence for them to apologize to the other family.

Even today, it took him exactly 15 minutes from sitting down for introductions to asking meaningless questions and then storming out.

Unnecessarily quick to learn, he even became proficient at rejecting, gradually reducing the time it took to kick over the table and leave. Today, he had achieved the remarkable record time of 15 minutes.

Next time, he might end it in just 10 minutes.

Once, out of desperation, the Duke had steeled himself and asked seriously.

“Do you perhaps like men?”

At those words, he immediately made an expression as if he had just risen from hell, which secretly relieved the Duke as he clutched his chest.

If you don’t like men either, then why won’t you get married, you damned son?

Why won’t a perfectly fine man get married? You damned son.

No matter what, how could you make such an expression to your parents? You ungrateful son.

He cursed his son countless times in his mind, but fearing he might go even further astray, he couldn’t voice these thoughts.

Regardless of how the Duke and Duchess felt, the aged butler who had long served the Duke’s family was already accustomed to this and had prepared an apology letter and numerous gifts to send to the other family. He quietly waited for the Duke to sign the letter.

“Sigh.”

As the Duke signed the letter with a dejected gesture, a servant, also accustomed to this, loaded the letter and gifts onto a carriage full of items from the butler and departed for delivery.

“If we had saved all the money spent on those gifts, we could have bought a mansion by now.”

The head maid muttered as she watched the carriage disappear into the distance.

Beside her, the butler silently nodded in agreement, looking at the reception room where sighs could still be heard.

“Given the young master’s personality, I wonder if pushing like this might have the opposite effect.”

“I agree. He’s the type who won’t do something he doesn’t want to even with a knife to his throat. I don’t understand why they’re so impatient. He’s the type who would do anything to make it happen if the right lady appeared, even if we tried to stop him.”

“Why don’t you try talking to them quietly?”

“You think I haven’t? They don’t even listen. What about you, butler?”

“It seems my words don’t even come close to their ears.”

In the end, they looked at each other and sighed.

***

Whether his parents were bedridden or not, Eric returned to his own mansion.

“Welcome back, sir.”

“Mm.”

The butler greeted him respectfully.

As soon as he entered the mansion, he loosened the tie around his neck.

Ignoring the butler who seemed to be examining him more closely than usual, he continued walking.

‘Not today either.’

Though he had expected as much, the butler, secretly disappointed, followed Eric without saying a word.

The servants and maids who had come out to check, seeing the butler’s expression, returned to their posts with looks that said, ‘As expected.’

***

After changing into comfortable clothes, Eric immediately headed to the knights’ training ground.

“You’ve arrived, Commander.”

“How’s the training?”

“We were about to start.”

“Isn’t it late?”

“It’s not late. We’ll proceed as scheduled.”

“Is that so?”

As Eric picked up a sword and looked at the clock, Allen, his adjutant and junior from the military academy, grinned and spoke to him.

“Commander, you arrived too early.”

“What were you expecting?”

“Oh, nothing.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

Though he had anticipated this, honestly, this time Eric had arrived even earlier than expected.

“How long did you last today?”

“Well, about 15 minutes?”

“Oh, a new record. Getting faster, aren’t we?”

He clapped his hands while exclaiming in admiration.

A few knights listening from behind exchanged money with expressions that were both laughing and crying.

Though it was all visible, Eric was too tired to say anything and just pretended not to notice.

“Why do you even go to these blind dates, sir? It’s not fair to keep hurting innocent ladies. One of these days, you might really get into trouble.”

“I’ll worry about that when it happens. And I clearly said I didn’t want to from the beginning. I didn’t even know it was a blind date when I went.”

“Ah, I see.”

Allen already knew that the Duke and Duchess’s techniques for luring out their son, who immediately refused at the mention of blind dates, were improving day by day.

“What was it this time?”

“Remember when I mentioned that undeveloped land in the Bass region?”

“Yes, you were thinking about raising horses there, weren’t you?”

“Well, they said a developer came wanting to develop it, and asked me to check if it was a scam or not.”

“Wow. They’re getting more and more professional, aren’t they?”

“Exactly. They even sent the company’s documents in advance. Turns out, Father had created that company too.”

“…With your parents putting in so much effort, why don’t you just get married?”

Allen thought both sides were quite remarkable. And seeing this, it was clear they were indeed parent and child.

“Still, wasn’t 15 minutes a bit too short?”

“We had absolutely nothing in common, our thoughts were completely different, and we couldn’t even have a conversation. How could I stay there any longer?”

“Then why don’t you think of them as men?”

Eric frowned deeply at those words.

“Ah, never mind. Even I think that’s unpleasant.”

Eric didn’t bother to respond to Allen’s chuckle and gripped his sword.

“Then what will you do if a woman you get along with appears?”

“There isn’t one.”

“You never know. Isn’t there at least one in this vast Britannia Empire?”

“Hmm. If there is one-”

“If there is?”

He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then quickly replied.

“No, there definitely won’t be.”

“Don’t be so sure. How can you know?”

“Shut up. Stop fooling around and get moving. Assemble!”