"I don't mind meeting her, of course... but Albert will definitely be there, right?"
She was married, so there was never going to be a private one-on-one meeting, but without Albert present, the attacks would almost certainly be directed solely at me. If I could use Albert as a convenient sacrificial shield, I might even be able to minimize the damage to myself.
"Of course. According to Primera, Albert is the one at fault and you, Tenma, were essentially set up—so there is every reason for him to be present."
They'd dragged me into this, so the least they could do was put me behind someone else.
"So when exactly is 'soon'? Do we have any idea of the timing?"
Shield and sacrifice—secured.
Now that I had him, all I needed was the predicted arrival date and information about the woman herself. However,
"Honestly, I can't say. Angela... she's strong-willed, and she was the harshest on Albert above all others, so it's entirely possible she's already nearly here."
So she might have set out at roughly the same time as the letter, specifically to catch Albert off guard... I'd had Maria-sama pull something similar on me once before, and it had certainly caught me by surprise.
"In that case, it wouldn't be strange for her to arrive today or tomorrow... Your Grace, I'll be borrowing Albert for a while."
"By all means—put him to good use."
I needed to gather information about my sister and prepare countermeasures. That meant getting Duke Sanga or Albert to tell me everything they knew about her, but there was no way I could hold the Duke for long, so Albert was really my only option. And even if Albert had work, it was still possible to arrange a substitute.
The two of them seemed to understand this perfectly well. Duke Sanga immediately agreed to lend Albert out, and Albert simply nodded without a word.
"His change of clothes and lodging expenses—we'll have someone from the household deliver them later."
I tried to refuse the lodging expenses, but he insisted that if he was going to trouble me, the least I could do was accept this much, and even went so far as to say it was a matter of aristocratic pride—so I agreed to take it.
"This isn't exactly a substitute for the lodging fees, but please take this home as a souvenir."
I handed him yuzu as a parting gift and told him that while they smelled lovely, they were quite sour, so he should try adding them to his bath or steeping them in sake. He said he'd give it a try that very evening and left looking quite pleased.
"Tenma, the Duke— wait, why is Albert still here?"
Once Duke Sanga's carriage had departed, Chris came down the corridor to call out to me, looking puzzled that Albert was still hanging around.
Since Chris also had some involvement as a go-between, I gave him an abridged account of my conversation with Duke Sanga, and—
"So a senior's coming? Rachel? Or Angela?"
Rachel was supposedly the eldest sister's name. As Chris calling them "seniors" implied, both were graduates of the academy and had been five and three years above Chris respectively. He'd never met them directly, but knew of them since they were famous.
"Would you like to meet them too, Chris?"
I told him it was Angela and, thinking the more companions the better, made the suggestion. But Chris declined, saying, "I might get scolded for not stopping Albert, so I'll sit this one out."
"Albert, what I want to know first is their personalities. Without that, I can't come up with a plan."
Well, he said he couldn't come up with a plan, but no matter what he chose, the final decision was already set—sacrificing Albert as the offering.
"Their personalities, huh… Elder sister Rachel is a sadistic demon who pesters and picks at your weaknesses. Elder sister Angela is a sadistic demon who pummels you—physically and mentally—without mercy."
"Got it! Let's offer this to Angela. Slarin will be our witness."
I pointed at Slarin, who was peeking over at me with a look that said "Did you call?" while I held up a paper that transcribed Albert's words verbatim.
"Sorry! It was a joke!"
"Please, don't mess around at a time like this. If you pull something like that again… I'll have Primera pass this paper to your sisters on my behalf."
The paper with his insults was carefully filed away as a card to play if anything came up, and I made him tell me about their personalities once more.
"Elder sister Rachel is generally easygoing, but she's stubborn—if you try to hide something, she'll keep pressing until she's satisfied, and even after you confess, she'll keep nagging about why you tried to hide it in the first place. Elder sister Angela is strong-willed and straightforward, but when she gets angry, fists start flying immediately. She'll pin you upright, not allow even the slightest movement, and scream you down."
Both of them sounded like trouble, but…
"Is that from Albert's personal experience?"
When I asked, he nodded, so there was a possibility the problem had simply been Albert.
I couldn't verify the truth of it, but it was worth keeping in mind as a reference for how his own brother saw them. I thought about what kind of discussion to expect, and…
"It really does seem like it'll come down to how he thinks about Primera… No, that's the only purpose I can imagine."
The most likely topic was Primera. After that came an apology for what Albert had done, then building a bridge between the Ootori family and their marriage prospect, and finally just small talk. Any of them were possible, but I couldn't see anyone coming to discuss anything other than Primera on its own. If they did combine topics, it would be after the Primera discussion.
"I guess there's nothing to do but tell them the same story I gave Lady Maria and Duke Sanga, rather than trying to halfheartedly dodge around it."
"Right... though, I don't really remember much of what happened back then..."
Between the glares he'd received from Duke Sanga and Lady Maria, and the shock of his sisters' letters, Albert had unconsciously sealed away those memories — he simply didn't want to recall what had happened.
After that, the conversation didn't prove very productive thanks to suspicions about Albert's bias and his suspected memory loss. So I turned to Chris for information.
"Senior Rachel and Senior Angela?"
Chris gave me a look that said, "Why are you asking me when Albert is right here?" but once I explained his condition, she sighed and told me about the two of them.
"First, there's Senior Rachel. She's laid-back, warm, and a beauty with long silver hair that really catches the eye. Usually gentle and soft-spoken with a wonderful smile, but she also had the strength to stand her ground when it mattered — even against teachers."
She was popular at the academy regardless of gender, but especially among the male students, to the point where there were several unofficial fan clubs. Quite a different impression from what Albert had described.
"Senior Angela is more of a bold, big-sister type of beauty. She's strong-willed — there's a story about how she saw an upperclassman harassing a junior girl student, slapped the guy across the cheek, and when he yelled at her, she talked him down so thoroughly he couldn't even utter a word in protest."
I thought that matched what Albert had said, but it turned out the truth was that before slapping him, she'd listened to both sides, determined the upperclassman was in the wrong, and then when the boy tried to intimidate the girl while she was still talking, Angela delivered the slap. She was disliked by some of the male students, but her popularity among the junior girls was enormous.
What struck me as I listened was that Angela might be the same type as Chris. Perhaps the reason Albert was weak around Chris was because he sensed a similarity to Angela in her.
"So when is Senior Angela coming to the Royal Capital?"
Chris said that once Angela's arrival date drew near, she probably wouldn't come around — but as far as I was concerned, the more companions the better. So I said:
"The letter just arrived today, so it'll still be a while... probably."
"Let me think — Senior Angela's marriage is into a family far from the Royal Capital, and there are all sorts of preparations to make, so... I'd guess at least a month from now?"
I had absolutely no idea where the family was, so I gave a vague reply of "probably." According to my father and brother, her arrival could end up being much sooner than expected, but... there was no need to share that. Even if Angela did show up ahead of schedule, it didn't mean Chris would come visit that particular day, and if they happened to run into each other, that would just be Chris's bad luck.
When the conversation ended and I headed back to my room, Chris said, "I'm staying the night, so I'm borrowing a room," and headed off to the one she always used. It was the kind of brazenness that rivaled the King himself, but it had become such a regular occurrence that it hardly fazed me anymore. She did serve as the royal family's liaison, after all, and she paid for her meals. And above all—
"Tenma, the person who brought the letter says she needs to hand it over to you directly, so she's waiting at the gate. I had her show the Sanga family crest as identification, so I don't think it's from anywhere suspicious."
"Got it. I'll head over right away. And Jeanne — don't tell anyone that someone from the Duke's family brought a letter. This is
an order."
That's why."
For some reason, whenever someone stayed over at our place, there was a remarkably high chance that something unfortunate would happen to Chris. And this time, the shadow of misfortune was creeping up on Chris once again.
When I opened the letter, the sender was, as I expected, Angela. At the beginning, she apologized for sending the letter so suddenly and for the trouble Albert was causing, then wrote that she wanted to apologize and thank me in person, and would like to visit on whichever day suited us. Incidentally, since the letter had been written after arriving in the Royal Capital, she also mentioned that if today worked, she could come right away. Today was far too sudden, of course, so I asked the person who'd delivered the letter to relay — verbally — that I would invite her tomorrow morning.
That night,
"This yuzu fruit is amazing! You can float it in the bath, and it tastes great in sake too!"
"Some people say that putting yuzu in ruins the original aroma of the sake, but it changes the character in its own way, which is nice. The only downside is that you end up drinking more."
Chris and Reni were drinking sake with yuzu in it and having a wonderful time. They were apparently convinced that Angela wouldn't arrive for at least another month, so they were completely off their guard.
Grandpa, being Grandpa, was probably drinking sake alone while soaking in the bath. He'd taken a huge amount of yuzu, sake, and snacks with him, so he was likely enjoying all sorts of different ways of drinking by now.
Albert had said he was tired and gone back to his room. On his way out, he'd also muttered something about having a bad feeling, so he'd probably sensed Angela's approach on instinct.
Jeanne kept glancing my way, apparently worried about the letter she mistakenly believed was from the Duke's household. And because of Jeanne's reaction, Aura seemed to be under the mistaken impression that something was going on between Jeanne and me.
Amour seemed to have finished off her share of the snacks Reni had made, and was rummaging through the kitchen looking for something else to eat.
Shiromaru and Solomon were keeping Chris close at hand while keeping an eye on Amour rummaging through the kitchen, seemingly trying to snag the best bits for themselves.
Slarin was collecting empty plates and carrying them to the kitchen. Occasionally, she'd receive the squeezed yuzu remnants and eat them, so she might have taken a liking to yuzu.
And so the night passed much as it always did, but to me, it felt like the calm before a storm. Well, my first companion in facing said storm was recharging her energy, and the second one didn't look like she'd be able to escape, so as far as I was concerned, I'd prefer to face the storm in this state.
And the next day,
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lord Ootori. I am Angela von Cariostro, the second daughter of Alsace, head of the Duke Sanga household."
Right after breakfast had ended, as if she'd been waiting for precisely that moment—
—the storm
had arrived at my home.
I led her to the drawing room, and once tea had been served to everyone, we began our discussion. Angela had brought only one of her personal maids, while on our side, there were four of us facing her: myself, Grandpa, Albert, and Chris. (That said, Chris and Angela's maid were each standing toward the back.)
"Your father and brother are always so helpful to us."
"Not at all — we owe you just as much. We're quite even."
After the introductions, the conversation drifted along innocuously for a while. Throughout it all, though, Albert and Chris remained completely on edge, flinching every time Angela so much as shifted.
"Even so, I hear stories about you, Lord Ootori, everywhere — it hardly feels like we're meeting for the first time. What I hear most often is... just how much trouble my little brother has been causing you."
Angela paused for just a beat, then fixed Albert with a glare that was somehow still accompanied by a smile. Albert, on the receiving end, reflexively started to bolt — but the moment he half-rose from his seat, Angela cleared her throat, and he sank right back down. Well, he was sitting further back than before, and though he probably didn't realize it, he had shifted a few centimeters away from Angela compared to where he had started... Honestly, if someone aimed that expression at you, even someone other than Albert would want to make a run for it.
"I've heard all sorts of things up until now, but... when I heard about the stalking, the next thing I knew my husband had me in a bear hug. Apparently, the moment I heard the story I grabbed a sword off the wall and was heading straight for the Royal Capital. Well, I came back to my senses when my husband and the others managed to stop me before I could even get on a horse."
"Just to be clear, Albert wasn't the mastermind behind the stalking. If anything, he was just caught up in it. Oh, and you can call me Tenma — all my close friends do."
The instant I heard Angela's story, my first thought was "Albert sure is lucky Angela wasn't in the Royal Capital at the time." But there was no way I could say that out loud, and when I tried to change the subject, I couldn't think of anything to say. In the end, what came out of my mouth was something that amounted to a defense of Albert.
"Then please, feel free to call me that. I found out later that he wasn't the one who started it, but since they were acting together, Albert is equally to blame. Two heirs of the same age getting along so well is a blessing, but when it goes too far, it's a bit..."
Being both a relative and a former student of the academy, she clearly knew full well that Albert and his friends were idols to the fangirls.
"Honestly, half the rumors about Albert and the others are
about
that sort of thing... The people who have to listen would appreciate a little sympathy."
"Ah, Sister, that's enough about me... Didn't you come here today to discuss something else, not this?"
Unable to take any more of Angela's teasing, Albert actually had the audacity to try using me as a shield.
"Oh my, we've strayed quite far off topic, haven't we? The reason I came here today was to discuss Primera."
Just as I was thinking "So we've finally gotten to this topic..."
"First, I want to make one thing clear — I'm not going to hold you responsible for Primera, Tenma. If you're willing to take responsibility, that would certainly make me happy, but I don't think forcing two people together out of obligation would make either of them happy."
This was somewhat... no, quite different from what I had expected.
"Well, putting that aside, that girl doesn't show any signs of getting married anytime soon, and since you, Tenma, are the most likely candidate, I suppose it's fine to think of you as a future brother-in-law."
I thought things had taken a completely different turn, but then came another curveball.
"Sister, that's..."
"I'm just thinking that on my own — I'm not going to go spreading it around. Besides, aren't you, the one who caused it, in no position to deny it? I'm just saying what I think, but you tried to use someone else's wedding to set Tenma and Primera up together, didn't you? So which of us is really more in the wrong here?"
I thought she'd looped back, but then the conversation took yet another unexpected turn toward Albert.
"By the way, I've been curious about this for a moment now — that's Christina, one of the Royal Guard, standing behind you... or was it Chris? Why is she here?"
I thought Angela's gaze had gone to Albert, but it passed right by him and landed on Chris.
"H-Hello, Senior Angela! Today, I, um... I got swept up in Albert's plan, and I'm here to apologize for my part in that terrible scheme to set up your sister! Please let me sit in on this!"
Chris stepped forward, casually throwing Albert under the bus as the mastermind while making it look like she'd come of her own volition to apologize, and bowed her head.
"First of all, regarding that, I don't think you need to apologize. I don't believe your actions had any real influence on Primera, and more importantly, I've heard that the Queen herself has already reprimanded you for what you did. If I were to blame you here on top of that, it could be seen as an insult to the Queen's judgment."
As for Albert, being family, she had every right to scold him, but since Chris was a completely different matter entirely, Angela explained that once Maria — someone in a higher position — had already reprimanded Chris and closed the matter, she couldn't very well step in and say anything more.
To put it in simpler terms as I understood it, if Angela were to scold Chris now, it could come across as Angela saying that Maria's way of handling it wasn't good enough and she was going to redo it herself.
"I am so, so sorry!"
Chris spoke her final words of apology, then returned to her original position. Angela gave Chris a gentle smile before turning her gaze away and refocusing on Albert.
(Is there no way I can slip away for a bit?)
Angela didn't seem angry at me or anything — it was more that she wanted to avoid getting caught in the crossfire aimed at Albert. I figured that if I stepped away from my seat, Angela would use that time to press Albert further. The question was how to make my escape.
But perhaps my wish reached the heavens, because—
"Forgive the interruption. Tenma, you have a visitor."
It was Jeanne, speaking in her usual maidly manner, coming to announce the guest.
"A visitor? I can't get away right now — could you ask them to wait a little?"
As I said that, I was doing mental victory fists over and over. A visitor — and the person I'd sensed through my "Search"and "Appraisal"skills was...
"That's..."
Jeanne, while keeping an eye on Angela, whispered the visitor's name to me.
"Angela, I'm terribly sorry, but I need to step away for a moment. Chris, would you mind accompanying me?"
"Of course. Senior, if you'll excuse me then."
The fact that I was bringing Chris along must have conveyed just how important the visitor was, because Angela readily agreed. Moreover, she smiled and said,
"I'd also like to have a private conversation with Albert, so please don't worry about things here."
Meanwhile, Albert wore such a sorrowful expression that you could practically hear his inner scream of "Don't leave me behind!"... Well, both Chris and I completely ignored him as we left the room, and we quickly distanced ourselves from the reception room, so I have no idea what kind of conversation Albert and Angela had in the meantime.
"Yo! Sorry to bother you during a visit."
The person who arrived at just the right timing was someone even Angela couldn't complain about... it was Lyle.
As for why Lyle had come,
"Hey! Over here, Nami-chan!"
He had brought that fish creature along, behaving like his usual self.
Apparently, what happened was that Lyle had been passing by a river on his way back from a knights' training exercise. A knight riding ahead spotted a creature splashing around in the river, and upon investigation, it turned out to be Namitarou. Incidentally, the knight who found it apparently already knew of Namitarou's existence, so he tried calling out from a distance, and when he received a reply and confirmed it was really him, he reported back.
"So I had him brought all the way here! I was thinking I'd sneak in at night like usual, so this worked out perfectly!"
When Namitarou heard this, he started shouting "Souvenirs!" as he piled up all kinds of seafood into a mountain.
"Namitarou... I really appreciate this, but could you at least bring it out in the kitchen... Hm? What's this egg?"
While gradually breaking down the mountain of seafood and putting it into my Magic Bag, a large egg emerged from the center of the pile.
"Hmm... that's big. How many servings of tamagoyaki would this make?"
"Not just servings — I'd say you could make enough for well over a hundred people."
Just as Amour and Jeanne said upon seeing the egg, the one that had come out was roughly one meter across, and its weight was...
"Whoa! Heavy!"
It was so heavy that I couldn't even lift it without boosting my physical abilities with magic.
"Tenma, that ain't some souvenir! It's something I'm lookin' after! Don't you dare drop it!"
Namitarou, seeing me hoist the egg up, frantically stowed it away into the Magic Bag.
"This egg here's a friend's kid."
According to Namitarou's explanation, the close friend who had laid this egg had taken ill, so he was watching over it in their stead.
Even so, I thought he was handling it rather roughly, but apparently they were incredibly durable, so this level of treatment was perfectly normal.
In fact, he said that giving them moderate stimulation could actually have a positive effect.
"Lord Ootori, Lady Angela and Lord Albert have finished their conversation, and they'd like to see you."
"I'll head over right away. Jeanne, Aura, I'm going to do the usual thing, so get ready."
I handed the two of them the Magic Bag filled with seafood and headed to the reception room on my own.
"I'm sorry to have left you waiting."
"No, an unexpected visit can't be helped."
After that, I made small talk with Angela, but not once did the conversation touch on anything related to Primera.
"Oh my? Is it already this late? Tenma, I'll have to take my leave now. And... there's something I'd like to ask of you..."
I thought it would end just like that, but at the very last moment, Angela said she had a favor to ask.