“Count Frederick has come to visit.”

“…Count Frederick? Why would he come to see me?”

To the puzzled Duke Amaterasu, the butler shook his head and replied.

“Count Frederick has come to see the young lady.”

Mikhail raised an eyebrow and asked.

“Count Frederick came to see our Jieselgrante? …Why?”

“I’m not quite sure why he’s come to see the young lady.”

After blinking silently for a moment, Duke Amaterasu soon pointed towards the garden.

“Then is that man with Jieselgrante now Count Frederick?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

The butler looked back and forth at the two men who seemed lost in thought, then carefully spoke up.

“I understand how you both feel, but perhaps after calming down a bit…”

Only then did Mikhail and Duke Amaterasu realize why the butler had just called them over.

As the butler suspected, they had momentarily lost their senses upon seeing Jieselgrante alone with an unfamiliar man.

But what if the two were dating?

“…”

“…”

Mikhail’s eyes widened.

Duke Amaterasu must have had the same thought, as he opened his eyes wide and glared at the back of Count Frederick’s head in front of Jieselgrante.

Just as the two were about to turn back towards the garden, fully prepared to fume,

Someone placed a hand on Mikhail’s shoulder. And a deep voice followed.

“Why are you here?”

Mikhail and Duke Amaterasu turned around at the same time.

And they came face to face with Cabelased, who was looking at them with a puzzled expression.

“…Cabel?”

“Duke Cardia? …You came early.”

“I came a bit early because there was something urgent to discuss before the meeting.”

Cabelased glanced at Jieselgrante visible between Duke Amaterasu and Mikhail’s faces.

And seeing the unfamiliar man in front of her, he furrowed his brow.

The butler, who had been observing the three of them, quietly interjected.

“…I’ll go prepare some tea.”

Duke Amaterasu, Mikhail, and Cabelased, these three moved to the reception room and had an urgent discussion about the situation following the drop in Semper Alpuri prices.

By the time the discussion ended, there was still some time left before the meeting started.

So the three were taking a short break while having tea.

Though in the same space, each of the three was lost in their own thoughts.

‘Just what on earth… why did Count Frederick come to see Jieselgrante?’

Opposite Duke Amaterasu, who was pondering with his chin in his hand, Mikhail was also thinking about the situation from earlier.

Why Count Frederick had come all the way to the mansion, what kind of relationship the two had. After mulling over various thoughts, Mikhail suddenly slapped his knee.

‘A plan to provoke jealousy… something like that?’

It seemed like a plausible guess.

Of course, this was without verifying whether Jieselgrante knew in advance that Cabelased was scheduled to visit Duke Amaterasu’s mansion today, but Mikhail was captivated by confirmation bias.

Perhaps because he couldn’t find any other connection between Count Frederick and Jieselgrante.

‘Father.’

Mikhail stared intently at Duke Amaterasu.

Soon feeling the gaze, Duke Amaterasu looked at Mikhail.

Mikhail discreetly gestured towards the door with his eyes, without Cabelased noticing. It meant let’s go out and talk for a moment.

Duke Amaterasu, keeping his head still but slightly rolling his eyes to glance at Cabelased, gave a small nod towards Mikhail.

Nodding subtly so as not to be noticeable, Mikhail left the reception room first.

Fortunately, understanding his intention, Duke Amaterasu followed Mikhail out of the reception room.

The two who left the reception room immediately moved to another nearby reception room.

“I think it must be a jealousy-provoking strategy.”

“…Jealousy?”

Duke Amaterasu raised one eyebrow. But soon realizing what it meant, he slightly opened his mouth.

“To show Duke Cardia?”

“Is there any other reason?”

“Well…”

Duke Amaterasu sighed heavily with his brow deeply furrowed.

He too had been frustrated, unable to find the reason why Count Frederick was alone with Jieselgrante.

Asking Jieselgrante directly would have been the easiest way, but the decision not to do so was because of the butler who came out strongly against it.

The butler warned that if they interfered unnecessarily, they might incur the young lady’s displeasure.

Of course, that’s not exactly what the butler said, but that’s how it sounded to Duke Amaterasu.

Not to get involved with his daughter’s clueless romance.

He had already been inwardly agonizing over his daughter acting more distant than before, ever since recovering from a near-fatal illness.

Moreover, he had recently heard that Jieselgrante personally made honey tea for Mikhail when he was suffering from a hangover, and was secretly envious.

Wondering why he didn’t drink that day.

But he held back, not wanting to cause trouble while drunk.

Besides, as the butler said, he was cautious about interfering unnecessarily and potentially further distancing himself from his daughter, so he couldn’t rashly step in.

‘I’m not even mentally prepared yet…’

This reality felt all too cruel to Duke Amaterasu.

When he heard the request to allow marriage, saying she loved Duke Cardia, he felt utterly devastated.

Fortunately, Jieselgrante’s early marriage was thwarted by Duke Cardia’s refusal, but the fact that someday he would have to send off his preciously raised daughter to some strange rascal was saddening.

And if he had to give away his daughter, Duke Cardia seemed slightly better than the unfamiliar Count Frederick.

“So Mikhail, from your perspective, do you think there’s a possibility of things working out well between Jieselgrante and Duke Cardia?”

Duke Amaterasu, emerging from his brief reverie, spoke up.

“Well… I was thinking of subtly probing Cabel later, what do you think, Father?”

At Mikhail’s question, Duke Amaterasu just nodded his head while lowering his gaze dejectedly.

Meanwhile, Cabelased, left alone in the reception room, furrowed his brow while staring at the door.

‘Just now… what was that?’

Mikhail had first signaled to go outside, and Duke Amaterasu, understanding, soon followed.

‘What do they want to talk about?’

As Cabelased pondered their suspicious behavior, he recalled Jieselgrante and the man in front of her that he had seen in the garden earlier.

‘Given that he was invited to the mansion… that man from earlier must be Count Frederick?’

Cabelased crossed his arms tightly while furrowing his straight brow.

‘It doesn’t seem like they’re meeting in secret from Duke Amaterasu and Mikhail.’

Which meant they were a family-approved couple.

‘Does that mean Mikhail and Duke Amaterasu already knew but were keeping it a secret from me?’

Just then, Duke Amaterasu entered the reception room and said,

Since everyone was gathered, it was time to go to the meeting room.

As he got up from his seat, Cabelased twisted up one corner of his mouth as he began walking.

Deciding to interrogate Mikhail once the meeting was over.

As it was a sudden meeting, it was difficult for all alliance members to attend.

So they had no choice but to hastily proceed with the meeting, excluding those who were in their territories.

The alliance was secretly gathering talented individuals, and they required a lot of investment.

War horses, armor, weapons, and costs for overall living expenses.

Even raising just one knight required a considerable amount of gold coins, and the worsening financial situation of the alliance’s member families meant it would be that much more difficult to raise combat personnel.

For this reason, it was necessary to check if there were any nobles belonging to the alliance who had suffered losses from excessive investment in Semper Alpuri.

Fortunately, none of the alliance’s nobles had invested as heavily in Semper Alpuri as to face bankruptcy like the Count Minster family, and the hastily held meeting also concluded quickly.

“Then let’s meet again after observing the situation further.”

As Cabelased announced the end of the meeting, the alliance’s nobles quickly left the meeting room.

Mikhail sidled up to Cabelased, who was also about to leave.

“Cabel. Do you have a moment?”

Cabelased just glared at Mikhail without saying anything.

‘Is he trying to explain about Jieselgrante and Count Frederick being together earlier?’

If so, he was willing to listen.

“Speak.”

But after glancing around the nearly empty meeting room once, what Mikhail brought up was a completely different topic.

“How about, are you planning to attend this imperial palace ball?”

It was an issue Cabelased had been contemplating as well.

Events like imperial palace balls principally required each attendee to be accompanied by a male or female partner, while unmarried young ladies and gentlemen without fiancés would typically attend with family members.

But sadly, Cabelased had no other family.

So he had declined to attend gatherings that required pairing with women, unless it was an important occasion.

However, there were limits to this as well, so Cabelased had attended important events with a temporary partner as a stopgap measure.

His partner had been the Marchioness Berylston, who had returned to her family after her husband died not long after their marriage.

Though she still couldn’t forget her late husband, after Cabelased escorted her as his partner, strange rumors began circulating that marriage talks were ongoing between Cabelased and Marchioness Berylston.

So he was thinking it would be difficult to propose a partnership to Marchioness Berylston again this time.

As Cabelased kept his mouth tightly shut, Mikhail began persuading him.

“Given the situation as it is, don’t you think it would be better to attend this time?”