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n“Don’t you answer me? Are you balking at your senior’s instruction now? ”

n“…Got it.”

n“Good. Practice it one hundred times. ”

nAlthough he must be very busy with preparing for his knighthood next month, Carsein was burning with the desire to make me a regular-status knight as soon as possible. I had no idea how he found out my schedule. Whenever he could find free time, he suddenly appeared and pulled me to the training field for intense practice, so I couldn’t think of taking any break.

nThanks to his one-on-one coaching, I made tangible progress in my skills. But I really had a hard time because of his rigorous training for the past week.

nAfter swinging my sword one hundred times and catching my breath, he patted my shoulder as I did a good job. I glanced at him like that. I’d appreciate his help normally, but as I was exhausted right now, I felt upset about him.

n“Hey, why are you staring at me like that? Are you going to get in trouble? ”

n“Huh!”

n“Huh?” He quickly approached me and put his fist on my forehead lightly.

n“Ouch! Why are you bothering me, Carsein? ”

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n“How can you say ‘Huh’ without appreciating my coaching? I think you need to swing your sword another one hundred times.”

nAlthough I was upset about him, it was true that his rigorous training paid off well.

nSo, I stopped staring at him and took the sword again with a sigh. I needed to do my utmost to get out of my determined fate during this short period of grace.

nAfter barely finishing my training sessions, I returned to my room and took a shower. I logged in the timesheet and headed to the wagon checkroom with Carsein when I saw a man with light green hair walking from a distance. Dressed in a civilian uniform showing the pattern of the Ministry of the Interior, Allendis greeted me with a smile.

n“Hi, Aristia. Hello, Carsein! ”

n“Hi, Allendis. I heard you got a job at the government. Congratulations! ”

nOnly a month after my seventeenth birthday, Allendis was appointed as a ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior, even though he was still a minor. Like Carsein, he was the youngest senior official in the history of the empire. Their factions were delighted with the amazing achievements of the two promising talents, and there were rumors that some noble families were trying to curry favor with them.

n“Well, I heard about some news about you. Well, congratulations anyway. ”

n“Thank you, Carsein. Oh, let me give you this.”

nWith a smile Allendis pulled out light green envelopes and handed it to Carsein and me respectively.

n“What is this, Allendis?”

n“Oh, my mother is having a garden party in three days. Just think of it as an afternoon tea time. ”

n“Garden party? In this season? ”

n“Yes, I guess invitations were sent out to some prominent families. I came here to give you the invitation personally.”

n“Got it. Thank you.”

nCarsein, staring at the invitation, asked with a puzzled look, “I can understand you giving it to her. But why me? Any reason?”

n“You will know when you come to the tea party.”

nCarsein frowned, but nodded as if he appreciated his invitation.

nI smiled at Allendis, who was begging me to attend, then went out of the palace with Carsein and headed to my house.

nThree days later, I headed to Duke Verita’s mansion in time for the tea party. As I got permission from my father, I had no problem attending it.

nBut when I got into the wagon, I let out a sigh before I knew it. My head throbbed after I was pestered by Lina who aggressively tried to pretty me up, saying that she wanted to make me as beautiful as possible because it was the first time that I had been seen in the social circles since the crown prince’s coming-of-age ceremony.

n“Welcome, Lady Monique. I’ve been waiting for you.”

n“Thank you for inviting me, Duchess. I heard this place was famous. Wow, it really is a beautiful greenhouse. ”

nI smiled gently while looking around the place surrounded by fresh green plants. Unlike the cold outside, which turned my breath into steam, the warm air inside reminded me of summer.

nUnlike the usual garden party that takes place in the garden, today’s party venue was a greenhouse because it was winter. Besides, Duke Verira’s greenhouse was renowned for its vast size and variety of plants growing there.

nWhen I walked inside the verdant greenhouse, I saw Allendis chatting with four men and women. When he quickly found me, he stood up and smiled.

n“Aristia, welcome!”

n“Thank you for inviting me, Allendis.”

nAs there were several guests around him, I used honorific language when I called him and

nlooked back at the four men and women who stood up from their seats. The woman with a light brown hair bowed and introduced herself, “Nice to see you, Lady Monique. I’m Ilia Segenoa, the second daughter of Earl Genoa.”

nBeginning with Lady Genoa, they introduced themselves as the eldest daughter of Eal Whir, the eldest son of Earl Burt, and the second daughter of Viscount Nuen, respectively. After they were done introducing themselves, I also introduced myself. When I was about to sit down, I saw a young man with red hair coming in.

n“You’re late, Casein.”

nWith a smile Allendis raised his hand at him. Carsein frowned when he called kindly, which was unusual, but he replied calmly, “I’m sorry I’m late.”

n“That’s alright. Actually, we were about to sit down. Have a seat.”

nEven if it was a simple garden party, there was an established table manners in terms of seating because it was a social meeting of the nobles. According to the rule, the highest person was Carsein. Although I was the crown prince’s fiancée, my official status was the daughter of Marquis Monique, so I was the third in rank after Carsein and Allendis.

nBut Carsein, who was supposed to take the top chair, gave in to me and sat down on my right, and Alendis sat on my left. Because of this strange sitting, I suddenly found myself talking between them.

n“I saw you first at the crown prince’s coming-of-age ceremony, but it seems to me that this is the first time I have seen you in a gathering like this, Lady Monique,” said Ilia.

nAs she broke the ice, everyone began to chat in small groups of twos and threes. It had been a really long time since then, but I routinely attended this kind of gathering in the past, so it wasn’t so difficult to bring up a topic for conversation. Rather, it was more difficult to engage Carsein, who pretended to stay indifferent, in the conversation.

nA maid who appeared before we knew it placed teacups in front of us. The teacup with an elegant curve was filled with bright red tea.

n‘Oh, this is Hibiscus. I was expecting Blue Mellow.’

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nWhen I lifted the mug and looked to the side, I saw Carsein frowning. I sighed and took cube of sugar from the jar and put it in his mug. I was aware that he liked sweets.

n“Thanks,” Carsein, who had been silent, said with a smile.

nSmiling at him, I felt strange a bit, so I looked around. Suddenly, the four around us were watching me and Carsein closely.

n“Aristia, would you please pass me some sugar? The jar is a little far from me,” said Allendis, who laid down the mug in a relaxed manner.

n‘Huh? Sugar?’

nAlthough I was bothered by their intense attention, I first looked at Allendis and said, “Allendis, you don’t like sweets, do you? In particular, you said that it spoils the unique sour taste of Hibiscus, so you never add sugar to hibiscus, right? ”

n“You’re right, but today I want to have something sweet.”

nI felt he was a little weird, but I nodded silently and took the sugar out of the jar and put it in his cup. When I smiled at Allendis, who expressed gratitude to me, Ilia, the daughter of Earl Genoa, who fixed her eyes on me a little while ago, said, “It seems that you have a close relationship with these two men.”

n“I guess so. You are close to both of them. I thought the rumors might be true because you know his personal tastes. Anyway, I’m glad to know that. I was worried if there might be division between the political factions…”

n“Wait a minute, Lady Nuen. What rumors? ” I asked.

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