The path to meet my father.

Throughout the entire carriage ride to the military unit, I did not utter a single word. I had nothing particular to say, and it was a silence akin to protest since even wine with meals was forbidden.

“Young lady, I have something to say.”

“Please speak.”

My brief protest had come to an end. Instead, I maintained my gaze out the window until the very end.

“I contacted the client for the agave fiber you mentioned, and received a response that they would only purchase through Black Swan.”

“Is that so?”

If there’s one more distribution channel, the fiber price will rise further. Yet they still want to deal with me.

“I didn’t try to persuade them further, but I think this request will be troublesome for you, young lady.”

“This will be the last one. Black Swan should return to its original work.”

Black Swan has Ranson and Murteng to be the focal points for its affiliated artists. Though lacking in diversity without performers and composers, that was something to be discovered gradually.

“Let me know anytime if you need help.”

The words “As long as you don’t take away the talents I discover for the art gallery first” rose to the tip of my tongue. But I lacked the courage to say it out loud, so I swallowed them back down.

As soon as we arrived at the unit, I headed straight for the company commander’s office. My father, who came out to greet us after being contacted, looked more muscular than when I last saw him. He appeared healthy.

“Welcome, Your Grace. Welcome, Schmidt.”

The duke and I sat down side by side in the seats we were guided to. My father had a rather tense expression.

“Baron Deli.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“I would prefer to speak in a more proper setting, but given the circumstances, I hope you understand that I have no choice but to speak here.”

“What… are you going to say?”

My father’s eyes wavered noticeably. I spoke while tightly clasping my neatly folded hands.

“Father, I’m going to marry the duke.”

Following my words, silence enveloped the company commander’s office. Only the sound of a crow cawing as it flew by outside could be heard.

“I see.”

My father, who had been frozen as if time had stopped for a moment, nodded almost imperceptibly.

“I thought this day might come someday.”

“This day?”

In response to my query, my father exhaled deeply and said.

“He was exceptionally kind to me, asked about you, and also…”

“Baron.”

At the duke’s low voice, which seemed to say ‘that’s enough’, my father closed his mouth tightly before speaking again.

“Anyway, it’s a good thing, but this father has only one wish.”

My father, with eyes identical to mine, opened his mouth with complex emotions.

“Now that I can take care of myself, I hope you’ll be happy, Schmidt.”

“Father…”

“You’ve been through a lot. Thank you for not giving up on me, for not abandoning this father.”

A large, firm hand grasped mine. It was the warm and familiar temperature of my father.

“Your Grace, please make my daughter happy. Don’t make her cry, and treat her as a precious person.”

“I promise.”

“My daughter, who would have been lacking even if raised with only love, grew up struggling under an incompetent father. I believe Your Grace will do what I couldn’t.”

I felt like I might cry for no reason. I turned my head to the side.

My father began to pour out how I had grown up, holding onto the duke. Even though it probably wasn’t interesting, he listened to my father’s stories, even chiming in.

It was a time when I newly realized that he was indeed a good person.

After the brief meeting with my father, as I boarded the carriage returning home, I spoke to the duke who was looking out the window with an indifferent face.

“By the way, when do you think would be a good time to tell?”

The duke sent a look as if to ask what I meant.

“I think we should tell Rublion that we’ve decided to get married. He’ll be incredibly happy, right? Though it might be awkward to call me mom since he’s used to calling me auntie.”

I tapped my twitching lips with my finger and continued speaking.

“What should I say? I’ve decided to become your mother?”

How happy will he be? Will he jump around? Or will he suddenly call me mom and hug my neck?

“Ah…”

He hadn’t thought that far, it seems. The duke looked quite perplexed.

“I see, you… plan to tell him directly.”

He stroked his chin with his hand.

“Yes, since it’s what Rublion wanted. I want to see his happy reaction first.”

I couldn’t help but grin. I imagined in my mind how I should react when called mom for the first time.

“Then are we going straight to the mansion?”

The duke asked.

“No. We need to stop by Black Swan briefly. There’s no kitchen in the office, so if there’s nothing to eat, we need to buy something.”

“I thought you ate out when working.”

“Ah… Somehow Ranson is at the office.”

His eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Don’t tell me he’s staying at the office?”

“Yes, temporarily until he finds a place to live.”

Perhaps because he was once an affiliated artist. The duke’s reaction was unusual.

“I offered to rent him a hotel room, but he refused, so I had no choice. I was willing to find him a place even if the rent was expensive, but he said he could stay in the office storage room converted into a studio… And he actually liked it there.”

Spilling out all the details made it sound like an excuse. But it was the truth.

“So it’s an issue that can be resolved once he finds a place to live.”

“Probably?”

Ranson liked the storage studio so much that even if I found him a place, he’d probably still come to the office to work.

But there’s no need to mention that.

“Then I’ll take you to the shopping district. We have to pass through there to get to the government office anyway.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I replied with a bright smile to the duke’s words. When I get to Black Swan, I should first check if Ranson and Murteng are doing alright. Ah, I also need to contact the agave buyer.

It was an emergency situation. Askal, who was supposed to go to the government office, turned the carriage towards the mansion as soon as he dropped Schmidt off at the shopping district.

The butler and servants were surprised to see Askal appear suddenly, but he had no time to pay attention to their reactions.

The person he sought out, putting aside all other matters, was Rublion.

Rublion, who was in the middle of an aesthetics lesson, stood up when he saw Askal burst in with a serious face.

“Duke?”

His golden eyes, wide with surprise, were shaking violently.

“There’s an urgent matter to discuss. Let’s postpone the lesson for now.”

The aesthetics professor, noticing the serious atmosphere, hurriedly left the room.

Thanks to this, the face of the young boy, who was frightened, turned pale white.

“Why? Did something happen to auntie?”

Askal strode over and sat across from Rublion. He took deep breaths, clenched his fists, and gritted his teeth.

“What’s going on?”

The tips of Rublion’s tense fingers trembled. Askal finally calmed down and opened his mouth.

“I didn’t think she’d want to tell you directly.”

“Tell me what?”

“That she’s agreed to marry me.”

Askal slowly closed and opened his eyes. Then, in the most serious voice, he poured out.

“I’ve already told you we’re getting married, but she’s excited, looking forward to your reaction.”

With an expression as if he was about to go to war right away, he was explaining a trivial misunderstanding situation.

“Pft.”

Rublion, whose tension suddenly dissipated, couldn’t hold back his laughter and clutched his stomach.

“Bwahaha!”

It was too funny that his uncle, who was trying to look like a cold-blooded man, had rushed over with his hair flying because of one woman.

“Why are you laughing? I’m very serious.”

“Pfft, uncle really… Haha, it’s so funny, my stomach feels like it’s going to split.”

Askal frowned deeply.

“Anyway, I need your cooperation. Pretend you don’t know that the young lady and I have decided to get married.”

Rublion wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes with his fingers. Then he clutched his aching ribs and took a deep breath.

“Do I just have to pretend not to know? There must be others who know about this besides me.”

“The young lady only cares about your reaction, so the others don’t matter.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Rublion stared intently at Askal, who still looked serious. Then he placed his clenched fist on the desk in the same posture as him.

“What can you give me if I cooperate?”

The sunlight filtering through the curtains illuminated the smiling face of the ten-year-old boy. Askal sighed as if he had no choice and said.

“Let’s hear what you want first.”

“It seems I don’t need to cooperate?”

“…”

“Alright. Actually, I got excited after receiving the proposal and already told Rublion everything. So you can just say, ‘I’m sorry for ruining the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the young lady to tell you directly.’ I’m fine with everything.”

“What do you want? I’ll grant it all.”

Rublion grinned. Goosebumps rose on Askal’s arm.

“Exclude morning training.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Really? Then I have no choice. I’ll go ahead and congratulate auntie myself on marrying you…”

“I’ll exclude the training, but you still have to learn swordsmanship and marksmanship.”

Rublion thought for a moment before answering.

“Exclude marksmanship.”

“Are you really doing this?”

“Oh? Then I have no choice but to…”

“Fine. We’ll settle on just swordsmanship.”

“Congratulations on reaching an agreement.”

Askal looked down at his nephew offering a handshake. He had thought the boy showed promise, but he was truly a consistent sprout.

He took the small hand to signal the end of the negotiations. Then, feeling he had to say this, he spoke.

“Rublion.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“You truly are an excellent successor.”

“Thank you.”

Askal let out a long sigh as he looked at his nephew who looked exactly like him. At any rate, it was fortunate that they had overcome one hurdle.