“On the first day of the Autumn Harvest Festival, our head of the family would go out in public to give his greetings. Sorry for being so sudden, but would Seiren-sama also come along, if you don’t mind?”


  “Eh?”


  The first day of the festival, isn’t it tomorrow? It is really so sudden… but, why?

  “Taiga-sama seems like he wants to introduce Seiren-sama to the fief population before the marriage ceremony, by all means.”


  “To put it simply, Taiga-sama wants to boast about Seiren-sama, right?”


  “Though the wording is a bit…, yes, that’s correct.”


  Oriza-san’s way of talking is so casual, right? And then, you’re not going to deny it, huh, Fubuki-san?! With her expression remained serious, there’s no way I could comment about it.

  Ah uhm, in other words, I’m being asked to come out in front of the fief population as Taiga-san’s fiancee, huh?

  When I realized it, my face turned hot. Whoa, is this what the idols in the other world feel when they were asked to have a public interview by the journalists? No, I’m not even an idol, though.

  “In addition, I think he’s quite worried about Seiren-sama’s safety and that he wants you to be by his side as much as possible, as he’d like to protect you.”


  “My safety?”


  “Yes. I can’t say this loudly, but…”


  Oops. Because Fubuki-san strangely has a very serious expression and seems to be glaring at something, I quickly touched up my makeup. Eh wait, it was all good.

  After confirming that my maids have also gathered and surrounded us, Fubuki-san told us in a small voice.

  “When the previous head of the family retired, there were lots of his dismissed subordinates. Taiga-sama said that it was done in order to tighten the financial affairs, since they received such a high salary, in comparison to the work they actually did, but…”


  Which means, she’s referring to Touka-san’s subordinates, huh? I guess there are reasons other than their unreasonably high salary.

  …Which means, it’s about me, huh? And, about the orphanage director. And perhaps, about the orphanage director’s mother and Touka-san’s mother, too. No, I think that the last matter shouldn’t be taken into the matter, though.

  “However, it seems that there is a slightly suspicious movement in the vicinity of those dismissed subordinates. Please be very careful. I’ve been strictly ordered by Taiga-sama to not neglect informing you of this matter.”


  “…Yes. Thank you, I understand. I will definitely be very careful.”