“Oh, welcome back, Lumina. You’re quite early today.”

When I and Emilia arrived at the garden, which was located behind our house, my mother welcomed me back.

“It’s because some guests are coming, mama.”

“Guests?”

“Yes, one of my servants is moving into our home.”

“Is that so? Then I better tell the maids to prepare a room beside Emilia’s.”

By the way, Emilia’s room is located right beside mine. It was formerly a vacant room, so when Emilia moved in, it was decided that it would be hers. There are also other vacant rooms beside it, so finding use for them was great. Also, if you’re wondering how many rooms we have in our house, there are around eight of them. Even though our status is quite low, we are still nobles. So having that many vacant rooms are normal.

“Thank you, mama. Then, I’ll meet up with the guests.”

The three of us then headed to the living room.

****

Emilia prepared tea for my mother as we waited. I then wondered why she didn’t prepare some for me too. But Emilia noticed what I was thinking and sent a message, through her eyes, that I already drank tea earlier. As a result, I only watched as my mother drank tea and ate some Cheesecake that Emilia baked earlier.

Knock* Knock*

Hearing that sound meant that the guests have finally arrived so I, along with Emilia, headed to the door. As for my mother, since it was bad manners to leave unfinished food behind, she remained in the living room.

When we arrived, I quickly opened the door without hesitation.

“Liza, is it tru—“We finally meet aga—“ Bam!*”

I quickly slammed the door shut again when I saw the appearance of the man that stood in front of our doorstep. He had blue hair and had quite a handsome face. The reason why I quickly slammed the door shut when I saw him was because of his gender.

“If I remember correctly, wasn’t Liza a girl?”

“What do you mean, Lumina-sama?”

“The person behind the doorstep wasn’t Liza, but somebody else.  He had blue hair and blue eyes… so I’m pretty sure he wasn’t Liza or any of my servants.”

“Is that so? Let me open it then.”

Emilia walked in front of me and opened the door. What appeared behind the door was a girl that had blonde hair that was fashioned into twin drills. The ends of her hair were black like her eyes. This meant that she was my servant.

“Huh?”

I stared dumbfounded as I stared at Liza who was standing in the doorstep.

“It has been a while, Lumina-sama. How have you been?”

She had a high-pitched voice as she greeted me with a curtsy. Looking at her clothes, she was wearing a high classed dress and on the middle of her chest, she had a brooch that was blue and had a rose symbol on it. That brooch really looked almost identical to mine.

However, those details aren’t important right now.

“… huh? I was pretty sure there was a man standing there a while ago.”

“Weren’t you just hallucinating, Lumina-sama?”

Emilia chimed in from the side of the door.

“I-I see… so I was just hallucinating.”

“You weren’t, Lumina-sama… actually that person is—“

“Oi! What you just did was quite rude! Why’d you suddenly slam the door right in my face!?”

The person who I thought was just my hallucination appeared from the side of the door and entered our house without permission. What’s more, he started lecturing about proper manners and etiquette. However, because I, along with Emilia, were shocked by his appearance, his lecture went through one ear and out the other.

After a while, I finally woke up from my shock and pointed at the man. I then asked Liza who this was. She made a bitter smile and answered me.

“That’s Carlos Melykek-sama, Lumina-sama. The person you dueled against two months ago.”

When she finished her sentence, I placed a hand on my chin and pondered for a while. I then remembered that I did duel somebody in the past. What’s more, the person I was dueling against was trying to pin false accusation to me.

After I had remembered those facts, I narrowed my eyes and asked Carlos-sama why he was here. Even though he doesn’t deserve to be called with a ‘-sama’ because he was from the four families, he was entitled to be addressed as such.

Now that I think about it, that serpent insignia with a blue background is their symbol. Why did I forget about it?

“I’m here because I bear a gift for you.”

“A gift?”

When I heard what he said, I raised my alertness to the max.

“First you accuse me, now you’re giving me a gift?”

“That’s right. Consider this as a token of my apology for the cowardly act I did before and for insulting you by calling you trash. I, as one of the heirs of the four families, am deeply embarrassed by the conduct I showed you that tim—“

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Blah blah blah blah

“You think a simple gift is enough of a compensation for what you did? You do know that the reputation of my home would’ve been ruined if I lost that duel, right?”

I lowered my voice and observed him from head to toe. In the corner, I noticed that Emilia had already formed three funnels and was now concentrating mana to prepare a sword. All that was left was to materialize them.

“For that, I asked for your forgiveness. It was a folly of my youth.”

“….”

Because I was busy concentrating mana, I wasn’t able to answer him. However, he understood my silence as a message to urge him to continue.

“And such, I present to you my gift.”

Two people with blue hair with drills that were on one side of their heads, one on the right and the other on the left, entered, behind them was a chocolate cake. Seeing this, Emilia glared at Liza while the world slowed down as it entered.

“What’s more, in this house, I announce that our house will form an alliance with your faction.”

As Carlos-sama was talking, Emilia made a screen appear in front of me.

“Lumina-sama, please ignore the cake for now and listen to what he’s saying.”

“Cough* What’s he talking about?”

“He’s saying that his house is gonna form an alliance with yours.”

“Why?”

“That’s why I told you to listen…”

She made the mana screen dissipate as she sighed. I then gazed at Carlos-sama and saw that he was still talking. Feeling that this was gonna take a long time if I left him, I interrupted him.

“Why don’t we move elsewhere and continue this discussion.”

“Un, that’s a fine suggestion. Then let’s go quickly, though drinking tea in a shabby villa like this isn’t worthy for a person of my stature, but I’ll allow it for now because this is the place where you live.”

Fuu~ just how long winded is this guy?

I turned around when I judged that it was gonna take a while. When we passed through the living room, I quickly told my mother that we were gonna go to the same place where I usually practice.

“I see, so you’re gonna have tea in the garden behind your house huh? Though the flowers won’t be that numerous, but because this is the place where the host wants to have the tea party, then I see no reason to stop you.”

When we arrived in the garden, Carlos-sama continued to speak. I decided to ignore him and told Liza that we were gonna have tea in the sky. Hearing me, the twins behind her made a puzzled face and asked why we were gonna have tea there.

“Lumina-sama had always liked to drink tea in the sky, Krisha, Misha.”

“But Liza-nee, is it even possible to have a party there?”

“Misha also thinks that it’s impossible.”

“Well, it’s kinda hard to explain so it’s better to show it to you.”

Liza made a bitter smile as she answered the twins. The two nodded to her obediently, like good little sisters. As for me, I glared at them with jealous eyes as I thought of my little brother.

Also, because I was glaring at them, I noticed a small puff of pink standing behind Liza. When I focused my gaze on it, I discovered that it was a girl. What’s more, when the girl, who looked to be around 3 or 4 years old, saw that I was looking at her, she hid behind Liza and started shaking. Emilia also noticed her and was staring at her.

Liza discovered that I was looking at the girl and made an expression of a person who just remembered something.

“Lumina-sama, this is the daughter of Duke Mearess’ daughter. Because she’s a hostage of your faction, it had been decided that she’ll be staying in you home.”

“Eh?”

That cute little girl – that invokes your protective instincts – is a hostage? Hmmm… if I remember correctly, Duke Mearess’ daughter was kidnaped, so that means…

Eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?

Though it was hard, my face didn’t show any signs of shock when I learned that this person was our hostage.

With a forced smile, I told Emilia to tell the other servants to also prepare a second room for the little girl while we head to the sky.

“Liza, would it be okay if you’ll be the one who’ll brew the tea while I slice the cake?”

“Gladly! It has been two months since we last had a tea party together, Lumina-sama.”

“Fufufu, I can’t wait to see what tea you’ll brew today.”

With slow steps, I slowly ascended to the sky. Behind me were Liza and her younger sisters. We were near the clouds; I suddenly remembered that we forgot about Carlos-sama. Luckily, when I looked back, I noticed that he was heading here together with Emilia.

----------------------------------------

Finished my marathon~ LOL