Sufficed to say, I really couldn’t sleep. On one hand I had to worry about the whole elixir thing. On another, I had to worry about the duke’s marriage proposal. And then there was the whole thing of me being a literal child.

I was five for fucks sake. I wasn’t at the age to be thinking about women let alone marriage. Technically I’m twenty-two though…. And wait, weren’t children supposed to have good long sleep cycles? Fu….

Just like there was no drinking age in this world, there was also no legal marrying age. Of course, that didn’t mean they let kids procreate at their own discretion. It was customary for women to live with their parents till the age of fifteen. For higher nobles like the duke, it was close to eighteen. The girl could choose to live with her husband if she preferred but there was an unspoken rule about not becoming pregnant for the first few years of their teenage life. Mostly out of consideration for the girl, since she’d be caged for the rest of her life.

But she said her family was already hosting a tea party. The actual party was again, still two days away. She invited me because I wanted to see a castle. This mansion was big but it wasn’t a castle. She would have invited me regardless. Nisa obviously had ulterior motives and considering she hadn’t shown herself yet, it sufficed to say, she was going to ask the whole Manafish favor back in this way. You’ve played me, you’ve played me hard, Nisa Alzania.

But why?

I was young. I was barely a noble. And I had no real authority myself. No matter how much she was desperate for freedom, I wasn’t even a remotely suitable candidate. There were way better ones out there anyway.

Or maybe she was using me for now and then thinking of finding someone better. Considering she was the third daughter, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if her father just married her off to some distant noble family to form political or economic ties. She was using me as a shield toward to prevent that for now. And when she got her ideal situation, she would just abandon me. But why did the duke allow that? How come he wasn’t against this? Because of the influence of the Barack family? Doesn’t seem likely. He clearly has more influence. Or does he intend to use us to wage war?

Sharmon probably anticipated this and planned on using me too. Dude just wanted a lot of money and go on having fun with women and wars. Honestly, I didn’t like him. But I’d definitely misjudged and underestimated his intentions. And even now, I was probably underestimating him and almost everyone around me. I was thinking he’d be fine because Den trusted him. But Den was also human (not literally) and he was about the same age as me. I could trust him but that didn’t mean his judgement was absolute.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

But what if I used this opportunity to form a club with her? That’d be my condition. She definitely had the upper hand considering I couldn’t just reject her father outright. However, I wasn’t going to just sit around and do what I was told.

I wasn’t just going to accept reality as it was, without trying to change it. Fate? Fuck that.

The moon was bright, the night still somewhat young. Let’s sleep, I guess.

***

The next morning, I woke up early, earlier than usual and started jogging around. I got some sleep but not enough.

My mind was already made up.

It was so early my guards weren’t even awake yet. Which was good cause I didn’t want to deal with Sibrian right now.

By the time I was done jogging, some of the gardeners were plucking dead leaves while the maids were cleaning up the place; the eastern horizon did have some colors but it wasn’t morning just yet. I didn’t get in the way of their work, and they didn’t get in the way of my exercise regimen.

“I need to speak with Nisa,” I said, locating a familiar maid. “I understand it’s too much to see her so early in the morning. But considering I might be her future husband, there are a few things I need to make sure, so we don’t regret this.” Last night, Duke Alzania intentionally broke the topic marriage in front of his guests. It wasn’t a secret.

A little surprised but the maid quickly took me to the back stairs and led me straight to the second floor. But it wasn’t the corridor I was familiar with. Rather it was in the very opposite corner. The rooms here weren’t as abundant and spaced far away. And the doors looked somewhat fancier.

“I’ll take my leave now,” she said, leaving.

The hell am I supposed to do?

Stand like a moron in front of her room? I mean, I could do that. knock~! Knock!

Nothing, so I knocked again.

Annoyed moan. “Who?” the question came. It was Nisa’s voice but she was probably sleeping.

“Sol.”

“1 minute.”

She didn’t take one minute. She took ten. It felt like an eternity though. Who knew waiting behind the door of a girl was going to be this nerve wracking? I considered knocking again since she might have just fallen asleep again. But the door slowly opened with a creaking sound.

I was greeted by a sleepy, barely standing Nisa who had a pajama on which was somehow hanging there, threatening to come loose any second now. “Yes?” Hair like a bird’s nest, going places. She had some marks on her cheeks. So, we have a drooler.

Someone needed a shower, quite badly. And it wasn’t me.

“Can I come in?”

“You want to come into the room of an unmarried young girl so early in the morning? Are you planning to do something to me?”

“I’m five,” I said.

“But you’re still a man, correct?”

“Not yet, I’m not.” I shrugged. I hadn’t even remotely come close to puberty yet. “Your father proposed yesterday and I’d like to talk about that.”

“He… what?” She was shocked. No, not shocked. Flabbergasted! “The fuck do you mean,” she mumbled. Most of the sleepiness left her in an instant.

So, he brought up the subject independently?

“Exactly as I said.”

“He wasn’t supposed to. I mean, I was going to impress you with our mansion first and…”

“And?”

Nisa sighed then yawned. “Well, what’s done is done. Come in. Mind the underwear on the floor.”

Oh, white?

“Will do.”

Also, it wasn’t that she smelled (she did) but rather it was mostly her room which smelled atrocious. When was the last time someone cleaned this place?