“Why are my ears so itchy these days…?”
I had arrived in front of the Embergreen duchy’s gates and was waiting for Lady Meredia’s message when my ears suddenly started itching, and I muttered while fiddling with them for no reason.
“That makes sense.”
“…Ah, Lady Meredia. You’re here?”
At that moment, I heard a cold voice from beside me—a voice I had now grown quite used to.
“As much as you’ve become famous, there are probably more people who look at you with disdain.”
Lady Meredia, who was standing by the half-open carriage door, looked down at me with a sullen expression and said that.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything to make anyone resent me…”
“…Was that a joke?”
“No, I’m serious…”
Though I’m often misunderstood due to my suspicious appearance, I’ve always prided myself on acting righteously.
Wasn’t it thanks to that trait that even Saintess Hestia, who should be in the Holy Kingdom now, was moved by me?
Being recognized even by the Saintess is something worth boasting about, to be honest, but this damned lookism—whether in my past life or this one—never changes.
“Even if you’ve truly done nothing wrong, there would still be more than enough people who would hate you.”
As I sank slightly in dejection, Lady Meredia, who had been quietly observing me, spoke in a firm voice.
“Didn’t the Holy Kingdom, who should be supporting the Hero with all their strength, recently send a knight as a maid under the pretense of surveillance?”
“Wait, how do you know that?”
“You really underestimate my intelligence network.”
As she suddenly dropped some insider info, I felt a chill down my spine and asked cautiously, to which Lady Meredia narrowed her eyes even more.
“If I wanted to, I could receive a report on your every move by the minute.”
“…That’s kind of scary.”
“Well, don’t worry too much. I don’t plan to plant anyone in your mansion just yet.”
She slightly curled her lips as she said that, but since it was Meredia speaking, it didn’t sound like a joke at all.
“Even if married couples have no privacy, isn’t this going a bit too far…?”
“Sorry, but this is just how I operate.”
Still, I guess I should take comfort in the fact that she now fully treats me as her fiancé.
Though, even that is a precarious relationship that could change at a moment’s notice depending on Meredia’s mood.
Still, considering that she always wears the ring I gave her whenever we meet, I don’t think I need to worry about that for now.
“Now then, shall we get going?”
“……”
“If we leave now, we should arrive at Lumen Ordo’s base around sunset.”
Anyway, since time was getting tight, I swung the carriage door open wide, but Lady Meredia didn’t budge.
“Did I ever say I’d go with you?”
“…Pardon?”
“Contacting me not even a day ahead but on the day itself—your rudeness is the same as ever.”
Tilting my head for a moment, I was then left dumbfounded by Lady Meredia’s frosty response.
‘For someone saying that, she sure looks like she’s all ready to go out…’
Not in her usual extravagant attire, but in a comfortable outfit suited for movement.
She had her folding fan, which she always carried whenever going out, and makeup done just subtly enough to be unnoticeable.
All of it contradicted what she was saying, but instead of pointing it out, I just bowed my head and apologized.
“I apologize, my lady.”
“……”
“I failed to consider your position.”
Then, when I glanced up at her while gauging her reaction, I caught a fleeting glimpse of a satisfied expression on her face.
“If you needed protection, you could’ve brought that so-called elite escort of yours.”
“…Haha.”
“If it’s strategy you need, you could’ve dragged along that arrogant little brat.”
As she scolded me again with a cold expression, I quietly listened and then began giving what I believed to be the best possible response at the moment.
“Even the two of them combined still pale in comparison to you, my lady.”
“……”
“You’ve never lost a duel, and you were always the top student back at the academy…”
“Where did you learn that from?”
I did make a slip by revealing knowledge from my previous life, but thankfully, I had enough experience now to smooth it over gracefully.
“My intel might not be as good as yours, my lady, but my interest in you is unmatched.”
“That’s creepy.”
“Ahaha…”
So I thought, but seeing her eyes narrow in disgust told me that words alone might not be enough here.
‘But really, what can I even do for her?’
The issue is, even if I want to do something for her, there’s hardly anything I can actually give.
Even if I prepare the most luxurious gift, Lady Meredia could just snap her fingers and have an identical one delivered to her mansion the next day.
It’s not for nothing that the empire’s biggest merchants bow to her words even while ignoring imperial decrees.
“My lady, if you help me this time, I’ll grant you one wish—anything you desire.”
So the only thing I can do is offer a promissory note backed by myself.
“…Anything?”
To my surprise, it actually seemed to work.
“Of course. Who would lie in front of you, my lady?”
“Hmph. You must be truly desperate.”
As Lady Meredia gave me a side glance and stepped into the carriage, I rejoiced inwardly and quickly took my seat.
“You’ll have to keep that promise—on your life.”
“…Naturally. Haha.”
Her follow-up sent a chill down my spine, but that was a problem for the future me.
So I didn’t worry about it too much.
“I’m getting tired of casting anti-eavesdropping spells on this cheap carriage every time.”
“I’ll make sure to have it prepared in advance next time….”
But watching her cast a protection spell with a mere snap of her fingers the moment she sat across from me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d somehow been dragged into something.
‘Nah, must be my imagination.’
Surely Lady Meredia wouldn’t scheme just to win a wish ticket from me.
“Now, to pick up where we left off earlier….”
As I scratched my head uneasily, Lady Meredia lightly snapped her fingers again to shut the carriage door and looked at me quietly as she spoke.
“I, too, did nothing wrong, yet there was a time when I was the subject of people’s gossip.”
“Is that so…?”
“So I gave them a reason to hate me—on purpose.”
She gave a haughty smile and shrugged, but knowing a bit of her past, she looked a little pitiful to my eyes.
“That’s kind of sad.”
“…Why do you say that?”
“If people saw the expressions you sometimes show me, I think a lot fewer people would hate you….”
So I teasingly joked with a mischievous smile, and Lady Meredia’s expression instantly turned sour.
“Wondered what nonsense you’d spout next, and there it is again.”
“Of course, I do prefer to have you all to myself… Ow!”
Just as I was about to continue my joke, Lady Meredia whacked me with her fan, and only then did I shut up.
…Honestly, it felt more like getting hit with a club than a fan.
The servants at the mansion should’ve seen how pitiful I looked.
Though I guess it’s better than having Lady Meredia be labeled a villainess.
“If you make another joke like that, next time I’ll snap my fingers instead of using the fan.”
“…Haha.”
In any case, thanks to the ups and downs, Lady Meredia had finally joined us, and I felt more at ease for the journey ahead.
*****
While Whitney leaned back in his seat with a slightly relaxed expression…
‘So this is what the “push” in push-and-pull means…’
Meredia, who sat across from him hiding her face behind an opened fan, quietly observed Whitney as she sunk into deep thought.
‘But… how do you do the “pull”?’
It was the kind of dilemma that would’ve made her handmaid Clara burst into laughter if she’d overheard, but Meredia herself took the problem with utmost seriousness.
‘If I push too much, there are bound to be side effects. But I don’t want to seem like I’m being looked down on either.’
Unlike noble daughters at the academy or someone like Clara who had probably read many romance novels, Lady Meredia had no experience or knowledge in this area at all.
“Hey.”
“Ah, yes?”
Lost in thought while glaring at Whitney over her fan, Meredia suddenly called out to him.
“Give me your hand.”
“All of a sudden?”
“…Since when did you start talking back to me?”
“Haha, I never said I wouldn’t.”
At that, Whitney lowered his gaze awkwardly before hastily extending his hand at the sound of her sharp tone.
“Not the right one, the left.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He quickly switched hands at her command, then asked with a slightly sullen voice.
“This isn’t like… a training trick for dogs, is it?”
“Shut it and hold still.”
Ignoring his quip, Meredia pulled something from her pocket.
“Ah.”
“What’s this…?”
Watching her movements with some concern, Whitney looked startled when something slid onto his left ring finger, and he turned to Meredia with a surprised look.
“The lucky ring you gave me is such an ancient relic that there aren’t any left now.”
“Ah…”
“So I had it specially replicated by a decent jeweler.”
As she said, on Whitney’s ring finger was a ring identical to the one Meredia wore on hers.
“Honestly, wearing it doesn’t seem to boost luck or anything.”
“……”
“But the design’s pretty much the same.”
In truth, it wasn’t a jeweler’s work—Meredia had secretly stayed up nights to make the exact replica herself, waiting for the perfect moment to give it to him. That part was her little secret.
“You’re giving this to me?”
“What do you think an engagement ring is? It only has meaning if both people wear the same one.”
“That’s true… it does make sense.”
“If you get it, just accept it with thanks. Enough with the nonsense.”
Though she still hadn’t figured out a “natural” way to pull, her bold move stunned Whitney into staring at his left ring finger, then muttering softly.
“Now even a total stranger could guess the nature of our relationship.”
“……I suppose so.”
Responding without thinking, Meredia flinched and turned her gaze to the window.
‘I expected something like “Don’t get the wrong idea, it’s just for the contract,” but…?’
“……Shut up.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Clara had advised that proper push-and-pull involved some spacing between actions.
“But Lady Meredia, I think I really just fell f—”
“…I said shut up.”
Still, Meredia’s version of push-and-pull ended with good results—so it was fine.
***
Meanwhile, at that same moment, in the underground chamber of Lumen Ordo’s base—filled with all sorts of suspicious magic circles…
“Master, the Hero has just departed.”
“…Hieek!?”
As the maid stepped into the room and delivered the report, the girl who had been intently focused on something in the corner jumped and quickly hid what she was holding behind her back.
“Got it. Now get out.”
“…Putting on makeup for your first visitor in ages is fine, but maybe wash up first?”
“J-Just get out already!”
Trying to sound authoritative, the girl screamed when the maid pointed out the hand mirror sticking out from behind her back.
“Sigh…”
The maid, looking at her like one would an angsty teenager, let out a long sigh and exited the room.
“Protector of Radiance, Keeper of Celestial Secrets, Heir to the Great Mage Who Commands the Seven Stars, One Who Possesses the Eyes of Shining Wisdom, Controller of the Milky Way’s Flow… (abridged) …Supreme Ruler of White Magic—The Domain of Tiffany Astelaid.”
As the door slammed shut behind her, the maid looked at the ridiculous nameplate covering the entire surface of the door and muttered in a tired voice,
“They say Count Lingard’s staff wages are really good… maybe I should just switch jobs.”
Cliche Novel 