After giving Emilia an order, I returned my gaze back to Carlos.

“Since the alliance has been set, I think it’s about time for you to leave.” (Lumina)

“….” (Carlos)

I expected Carlos-sama to reply in an abusive and arrogant manner, however, he was silent. He had been like this since a few moments ago. Seeing him continuing to act like this made me feel really unsettled.

“Umm… Lumina-sama… about that…” (Liza)

From my side, Liza was making a really difficult face as she called my name.

“Nn?” (Lumina)

“Actually, since you’ve accepted in forming an alliance with his household… he’ll be living here as your hostage to guarantee that their house won’t betray the alliance.” (Liza)

“Explain yourself, Liza.” (Lumina)

Using a more commanding tone, because of the sudden news, I pressured her to continue.

“Remember when your faction was formed a few months ago?” (Liza)

I nodded to her as I urged her to continue speaking.

“A few days after that, under the plan of Fate’s father, all of our fathers announced their betrayal to the four houses in the same day.” (Liza)

I was already aware of that occurrence a last month when Emilia forcefully pressed a stack of documents to me. The contents of those documents were about the chaos that ensured in the royal court. If I remember correctly, a week after that announcement, a really brutal power struggle occurred between the four families. Using the chaos, my faction, headed by Fate’s father, they covertly bribed officials and while tempting them to join their camp. In the end, my faction gained more influence while the four families returned to a stalemate.

“When the royal court stabilized, Carlos-sama’s father met up with mine in secret. According to my father, he wanted to ask why my father betrayed his house and instead joined yours.” (Liza)

So it was because of secret meetings huh…

“In one of those meetings, father called me and my younger sisters. He told Carlos-sama’s father that he’ll base his decision on me. Though he was already aware of our loyalty to our chosen master’s, he wanted us to tell the reason in front of Carlos-sama’s father.” (Liza)

“And? What were your answers?” (Lumina)

She stuttered for a moment, but because I was silently urging her to continue on, she was able to answer my question in a very unsteady voice. Though I didn’t want to pressure Liza because she was my friend, just thinking of living under one roof with Carlos-sama forced me to become like this.

“My younger sisters answered that it was because of the tradition of our household… while I….” (Liza)

Her voice became really inaudible in her last sentence. She looked really reluctant to say what her answer was. I didn’t want to continue making her suffer, so I decided not to force her to say what her answer was.

“Then… because of your answer, your father didn’t leave my faction?” (Lumina)

“Y-yes…. Then, when Carlos-sama’s father heard of it, he quickly made lots of offers and tried to compromise to pull father back to his house. However, father was unyielding and didn’t sway to it.” (Liza)

Since the Mylekek house is one of the four families, I imagined that the offers were very tempting. Just thinking that he was able to resist those offers because of his daughter’s answer, he may either be a doting parent or a really stupid person. It’s because if it were me, I wouldn’t be able to resist it. Don’t judge me okay, I’m just saying.

“Then because Carlos-sama’s father became really annoying, your father suggested into forming an alliance?” (Lumina)

“Y-yes… what’s more, father wanted a hostage as a symbol of trust.” (Liza)

“… and that hostage is Carlos-sama?” (Lumina)

Liza nodded.

“Because he’s the next head of the Mylekek house, he was the best candidate to become one.” (Liza)

He’s the next head? The future of their house looks really bleak if that’s the case. That’s just my biased opinion though.

“I’m curious. If I refused the alliance, what would happen to your younger sisters? The reason why you begged to me was because of them right?” (Lumina)

“Father said that if you ever refused, they’ll be forced to denounce their loyalty to Carlos-sama. However, they don’t want to serve other people besides him. So father compromised and said that they’ll be disowned by our house and be evicted from our castle.” (Liza)

This is getting complicated.

“Also, in Carlos-sama’s situation—“ (Liza)

“It’s okay, I don’t care what would happen to him if I refused. So you don’t need to say it.” (Lumina)

I took a deep breath and asked Liza.

“Is that the entire situation?” (Lumina)

“… Yes.” (Liza)

“One last thing… that long convoy of coaches over there, are they yours?”

I pointed at the coaches that were parked in front of my home. Looking closely, an army of servants came out and chatted with each other. Though I know that they weren’t Liza’s servants, judging from the coaches they came out of, I still wanted to confirm it.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“No, they’re Carlos-sama’s servants.” (Liza)

“…. I see.” (Lumina)

Closing my eyes and resting my back on the chair, I asked Liza in a very tired tone.

“Was Fate’s father aware of the conditions that your father set before they came here?” (Lumina)

“Yes, father quickly contacted Fate’s father.” (Liza)

I reopened my eyes and sighed heavily.

“Emilia… make those people leave.” (Lumina)

“As you command.” (Emilia)

Emilia bowed deeply to me.

“What!?” (Carlos)

Carlos-sama… no, since he’s a hostage now, calling his name with a ‘-sama’ is weird.

Carlos, on the other hand, stood up from his seat and exclaimed loudly.

“What do you want?” (Lumina)

“Why are you making them leave!? I brought them here so that they will take care of me while I live in this dump hole! You expect me, a noble of high standing, to live in a place without any servants?” (Carlos)

A vein popped up on my forehead.

“You need that many people to take care of you?” (Lumina)

“Of course!” (Carlos)

This spoiled bastard really pisses me off.

“Emilia have them leave immediately.” (Lumina)

“Oi! Weren’t you listening!?” (Carlos)

“It seems like you don’t understand your position here. Since we have accepted the alliance, you are now my hostage. So you don’t have any say in this matter.” (Lumina)

“!”

Carlos’ face contorted in anger.

“Besides, you still have some servants with you.” (Lumina)

I moved my chin and pointed it to the direction of the twins that stood beside him with faces that were red in anger. A bit further away, I noticed that my other hostage, Duke Mearess’ daughter, was crying silently. I could guess the reason why though.

“Liza, please bring Duke Mearess’ daughter to my mother.” (Lumina)

“… Yes.” (Liza)

Liza stood up from her seat and walked towards her.

“Since you’re now my hostage, I will not allow you to act brazenly in front of my mother and little brother. If you ever do act out of line, then consider this alliance over.” (Lumina)

“You’ll pay for this.” (Carlos)

After saying those words, Carlos stood up from his seat and descended to my house. The twins were closely following him. As for me, I remained seated in the sky and pondered if this alliance was gonna be worth it.

* * * * *

When it was time for dinner, Duke Mearess’ daughter became really attached to my mother and little brother. Carlos was silent the whole time as he shoved the food into his mouth. The twins sat on his left and on his right.

Exempting the casual atmosphere that floated around my mother, as she fed my little brother and Duke Mearess’ daughter, the air was around the dinner table was really tense. As a result, I wasn’t able to taste the food really well.

When we were done eating, Emilia suddenly arrived with a large stack of documents. I asked her what those were for and she said that it was for the formation of the alliance. I massaged my temples as I read each of the documents one by one under Emilia’s strict eyes.

In that time, I noticed that Carlos was glaring at me. He continued to glare at me until I finished the huge stack of documents. When he noticed that I was done, he stood up from his seat and headed back to the room that was assigned to him.

“About Carlos-sama, are you gonna do something to him while he stays here, Lumina-sama?” (Emilia)

“Not really, I already told him that if he were to do something that’d make me mad, then we won’t be allied with them anymore. So, let’s just ignore him and carry on.” (Lumina)

“Yes, then by tomorrow, will you have Liza help you with your research?” (Emilia)

“Yeah, with her help, I think my research can progress faster since there's three of us now.Hmmm... by the way, where’s Liza?” (Lumina)

I searched around the room and didn’t find her figure.

“A few hours ago, she looked really exhausted, so I sent her to her room so that she’ll be able to rest.” (Emilia)

“Hours ago? Just how long did it take for me finish those documents?” (Lumina)

Raising an eyebrow, I turned to Emilia and interrogated her.

“About 4 hours.” (Emilia)

“Really?” (Lumina)

“Yes, since there were a lot of things that you needed to go over.” (Emilia)

“I see… then can we hav—“ (Lumina)

“No, Lumina-sama. You already had enough tea for today.” (Emilia)

“You demon…” (Lumina)

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This was hard...

Also, about Lumina's power, I like to take it slowly so I don't think her obtaining those kind of abilities or destroying some walls that obstructed her research to develop her magic won't happen for a long time.