“What is all this?”

Eric made a disgusted expression as he looked at the endless stream of gifts coming into the Russell estate.

“They were sent by the Madam. She said to take them as gifts.”

“All of this?”

“Yes.”

Eric finally covered his face with his hands in bewilderment.

He knew, but as expected, his parents were beyond imagination in whatever they did.

“My goodness. The Madam has been very thoughtful. Hey, be careful there. Do you know how precious the person is who will receive that!”

Not understanding Eric’s feelings, the butler kept smiling brightly, nervously paying attention lest anything happen to the gifts.

Eric stared incredulously at the butler for a moment before silently trudging to his room.

“Ugh. How did I get so caught up in this?”

The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. It felt like the whole world was conspiring against him, except for himself.

He recalled the memory of feeling his world go dark when he received the invitation from Countess Lancaster a few days ago.

‘Why is this invitation in my hands now? Surely Mother intervened. Then what words did Mother use to make Countess Lancaster send the invitation?’

Just thinking about it roughly made his face burn so much he felt like he could die.

‘Why did I get all worked up back then for no reason?’

He sighed involuntarily.

‘I’ve already been reje— No, saying it like that feels a bit— Right, out of respect for their wishes— Ah, what’s the difference?’

He was angry enough at himself to think he still hadn’t come to his senses after getting into this state by trying to maintain his pride unnecessarily.

If he had just spoken honestly without regard for pride or whatever, it would have ended then and there.

“Argh!”

He clutched his head and rolled around on the bed.

They say your greatest enemy is your past self, and sure enough, there wasn’t a single wrong word among the old sayings.

***

As the carriage drew closer and closer to the Lancaster estate, Eric began to feel more and more nervous.

Even when he first stood before numerous knights after becoming the Knight Commander, he hadn’t been this nervous.

“Hm?”

The scene outside the window as they entered the mansion was a bit different from what he had imagined.

It was certainly antique, but how should he put it—the front yard of the mansion had only what was absolutely necessary.

There were no flowers or small trees to enrich the garden, no greenery for decoration.

There were only very large trees whose age was hard to guess but seemed to show a long history, and grass. There were also some sculptures scattered about that looked old but were cleanly maintained.

The same feeling persisted when he got out of the carriage and looked up at the mansion.

As the Duchess of Gloucester had said, it was antique, but somehow the feeling was different.

‘It looks a bit worn down.’

It was certainly well-maintained and clean.

It definitely looked historic and antique, but the feeling of being worn down was strong.

Upon arriving at the entrance, a person who appeared to be the butler of the Lancaster family greeted him with utmost respect.

“Welcome, Count Russell. We’ve been expecting you.”

“Thank you.”

Eric entered the mansion, following the courteous guidance of the butler who seemed experienced due to his advanced age.

‘There don’t seem to be many employees compared to the scale.’

“Welcome.”

While looking around the unfamiliar interior, he heard a familiar voice. It was Alicia.

Though he was embarrassed to look at her, he managed a smile and handed over the bouquet that the butler had carefully placed in the carriage to avoid crushing.

“Thank you.”

She smiled brightly, but to Eric, it still looked awkward.

‘She’s probably not happy to see me.’

Thinking it was a natural reaction, he gave a bitter smile.

“Welcome, Count Russell.”

Unlike Alicia, the Countess of Lancaster greeted him with a bright smile.

“You didn’t have to come out yourself, thank you.”

He smiled gently and handed a large bouquet to the Countess as well, who received it happily and smelled its fragrance.

“Oh my. It’s so beautiful. Thank you. Well then, shall we go inside?”

***

“Were you surprised to be called so suddenly?”

“Ah, no, not at all.”

Seeing him smile awkwardly, the Countess of Lancaster smiled kindly.

Eric tilted his head slightly at that sight.

The Countess of Lancaster was clearly a gentle and delicate-looking lady, but there was some kind of strange aura about her.

“Is the Duchess doing well?”

“Ah, yes, she’s doing very well.”

‘So well that I haven’t seen her even once until now.’

Grumbling inwardly, he picked up the teacup and made eye contact with the Countess of Lancaster, smiling awkwardly again.

It felt like his face was going to cramp up from using up 10 years’ worth of smiles all at once recently.

“Please, have some. I wasn’t sure if you’d like sweet desserts, so I prepared fruit instead. I hope that’s alright.”

“Yes, of course.”

In truth, he didn’t want to put anything in his mouth, but he politely thanked her and ate a piece of fruit.

“My parents have caused you much trouble.”

“Oh my, not at all. I enjoyed it too.”

She waved her hand and smiled kindly.

“With my body being like this, I can’t go out much, so I was so happy when the Duchess came to visit.”

“Is your health very poor?”

“I had a bit of an accident in the past.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Oh no, it’s alright. It’s already an old story.”

Alicia was surprised that her mother brought up the accident story first, looking at her mother.

For some reason unknown, her mother had been favorable towards Eric from the beginning.

She was naturally a kind person, but even more so than usual.

“Ah, that’s right. If it’s alright, I’d like to introduce my son as well.”

“You have a son?”

“Didn’t you talk about such things during the matchmaking?”

When the Countess of Lancaster asked Alicia, they realized there hadn’t been time for such conversations.

Feeling embarrassed anew, the two of them laughed awkwardly as if trying to gloss over it.

Just then, there was a knock on the door and a boy entered.

“Hello.”

A boy who seemed tense, his body stiff, entered.

Eric was surprised to see a young boy in his early teens, younger than he had expected.

“Oh, hello. I’m Eric Russell Gloucester.”

Feeling awkward about speaking to a boy of this age, he greeted him awkwardly and extended his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Edward Lancaster.”

Still tense and stiff, but polite, he shook Eric’s hand.

However, the boy’s eyes were sparkling to an almost burdensome degree.

“Our Edward wants to become a knight. That’s why he wanted to meet Count Russell.”

“Ah, I see.”

Eric nodded in understanding and looked Edward over carefully.

Although his features were a bit sharper because he was a boy, he resembled Alicia so much that Eric thought this must be what Alicia looked like when she was young.

“Wow, I really wanted to meet you.”

His eyes showed pure admiration, his attitude passionate respect.

“Thank you.”

Perhaps because of the vicious rumors, no one had had the courage to approach him until now, so this was the first time he had met someone who expressed themselves so directly.

It was burdensome and embarrassing, but not an unpleasant feeling.

“So, you want to become a knight?”

“Yes!”

“Then you’ll be going to the military academy?”

“Yes!”

Generally, there were two ways to become an official knight of the empire.

One was to be directly commissioned as an officer after graduating from the military academy, like Eric, and the other was to join through the knighthood exam.

In the case of nobles, they usually graduated from the military academy.

“Work hard. If there’s anything I can help with, let me know.”

“Really? Then, would sparring be okay?”

“Sparring?”

He had said it thinking he could write a letter of recommendation for admission or something like that.

But sparring was a bit difficult. It’s not like they would see each other again in the future.

But Edward’s eyes were sparkling so much that Eric felt bad about outright refusing.

“Edward. That’s rude.”

“Ah—”

Sensing Eric’s flustered reaction, Alicia quietly admonished Edward, who apologized with a visibly disappointed expression.

“I’m sorry. I was too excited and acted rudely.”

His apologetic manner was quite mature, so Eric glanced at Alicia and then lightly patted Edward’s shoulder to meet his eyes.

“?”

“Once should be fine. But don’t tell your sister.”

“Really?”

Following Eric’s lead, they both whispered in low voices and simultaneously looked at Alicia.

“?”

Curious about what the two were whispering about, Alicia looked at them, and Eric and Edward immediately turned their heads away. Then Edward smiled brightly and whispered something.

Watching this scene, the Countess smiled and called Edward.

“Well then, shall we leave so they can talk?”

“Yes.”

Edward looked at Eric again and followed the Countess.

Even as he was leaving with his mother, he kept turning his head back, and when his eyes met Eric’s, he smiled brightly before finally hurrying out of the room.

“What did you talk about?”

“Nothing much.”

“Pardon?”

“Just, the kind of thing Edward would want to hear.”

Though he spoke nonchalantly, it was clear he had been considerate of Edward.

“You’re kind.”

“…”

He was taken aback, never having heard such a thing before.

Wanting to quickly escape this strange feeling, he brought up what he needed to say.

“Um. I’m sorry for putting you in an awkward position.”

“?”

“I was fully aware of your intentions regarding this matter and was planning to explain it properly to my parents, but they were so expectant that it wasn’t easy to find an opportunity to speak.”

Having seen her briefly at the dress shop and then coming all the way here to arrange a meeting, she was clearly someone who would go to great lengths.

Able to fully imagine the awkward situations Eric must have faced, Alicia nodded in understanding.

“You must think a lot about your parents.”

“…”

He had heard all sorts of things in his life, but this was new. Recently, the word he heard most often from his parents was ‘unfilial’.

Wanting to quickly escape this strange feeling that had come over him again, he opened his mouth once more to emphasize what he needed to say.

“It will be sorted out soon, so I hope you can bear with it until then. I won’t create any more cause for concern.”

“Thank you for saying that. Honestly, I was quite flustered.”

“I’m sure you were.”

“Then I’ll keep that in mind.”

Alicia nodded in agreement at Eric’s courteous attitude.

“You must have had a hard time getting caught up in this.”

“Not at all. You’re the one who had it hard, Count.”

“I didn’t expect things to escalate this far either.”

Of course, his own past blunder played a large part in it.

“Your parents must really want you to get married.”

“Haa.”

Eric unconsciously sighed at those words.

“There have been many times when I was flustered by their pushing regardless of my wishes. This time is no different. Even though we had no connection with the Lancaster family, to think they would arrange a meeting like this. Really, such drive is admira…”

He clamped his mouth shut, realizing what he was saying. Embarrassed by his surely flustered face, he covered it with one hand.

He couldn’t understand why he kept finding himself in so many embarrassing situations since getting entangled with Alicia.

‘You must be having a hard time because of your parents too.’

Feeling a sense of kinship from Eric’s behavior, Alicia unconsciously nodded in agreement.

But Alicia also had something she needed to say to Eric.

This might be the last time they met face to face, so despite her hesitation, she opened her mouth.