The elderly Duke shook his head.
“What a honorable thing. A terribly honorable thing. However... As I thought, there is no way for me to recognize this.”
“Father!”
“People can certainly make mistakes because of this thing called loyalty. I will report to Her Majesty myself. Jerome!”
“Yes.”
The butler jumped out and stood by the Duke’s side.
“Prepare paper and a pen.”
After that he turned towards Louise,
“You have to choose a son-in-law for me,” he declared.
“Huh? Why?”
“I can’t recognize your participation in the war. I absolutely can’t recognize it. You’re probably despaired, because of that traitor Wardes, right? That’s why, choose a son-in-law for me. Also, calm down your heart, ok? You've told me that you want to go to war twice now. This is an order. No changes are allowed.”
“Father!”
Louise shouted. However, the elderly Duke shook his head.
“Jerome, don’t let Louise out of the castle. Understand?”
“Certainly!”
The butler nodded.
Then, the Duke left his breakfast seat.
His wife and the elder sisters that were left behind surrounded Louise.
Her mother and bossy sister criticized Louise.
“Father isn’t young anymore. Don’t worry him so much.”
“Because you worried Father so much, now you have to choose a son-in-law.”
Eléonore declared coldly.
“Why do I have to?! According to the order, Eléonore-nee-sama must...”
As she was saying that Eléonore stretched Louise’s cheeks.
“I-I’m sowwy... Vut, to me, berrege is fill...(marriage is still)...”
“Why? For what reason? You have a lover, right?”
Having been told that by her mother, Louise shook her head.
“Don’t have. Don’t. No such thing.”
The Duke’s wife and Eléonore seemed to have noticed something because of Louise’s expression. The two exchanged glances.
“It seems you’re thinking of someone.”
“There’s no such person!”
“Who? From which noble house?”
“Count? Baron?”
“Honored Baron? You couldn’t... it can’t be a mere Chevalier, right?”
Louise’s body solidified.
“Oh no, this girl... I see, Chevalier or Order of Merit, I don’t know, but... she fell in love with a man with low social status.”
Eléonore’s face became bitter. The mother pressed down on her forehead.
“Ooh, it’s because I never really took proper care of this girl...”
“I-I didn’t fall in love with a Chevalier.”
Louise said in haste. The truth was he wasn’t even a Chevalier, but a simple Commoner. Even more, a Commoner that came from a completely different world... if they knew that, a simple sorry wouldn’t be even nearly enough of an apology. Even though she always repeated to herself that she doesn’t really like him, right now her head was full of thoughts of Saito.
Cattleya was looking worriedly at Louise.
“No matter how old this girl gets, she will always worry us, won’t she? Not only does she want to join the war, but to make matters worse she has fallen in love with a Chevalier...”
“I said, I haven’t...”, and, she hesitated. Her mother and sister both shouted.
“‘Be quiet!’”
It was the usual threatening attitude. After Louise used up the courage she used to talk back to her father earlier on, now she became completely dispirited.
Suddenly feeling sorrowful, Louise ran off.
“Hey! Wait right there!”
She heard the shouting voices of her mother and bossy sister.
The afternoon came. Because Saito didn’t have any more tasks, he laid down on the bed in the storage room and stared at the ceiling. As he looked around the room, while lying down on the bed, he noticed some off-white sheets placed upon a box, that were left there by him, and he felt a bit pained. Ever since he came to the La Vallière house, that was all his existence merited to. A small, meaningless existence.
Since Siesta had returned to her own room, Saito was all alone now. Just as he was absent-mindedly thinking what he should do, he realized that he hadn’t had any breakfast yet and he wasn’t going to get anything to eat unless he went and took something himself... at that moment came the sound of the castle’s servants running around the stone-paved corridors.
“Where? Have you found her?”
“No, not this way!” the voices were saying something like that. It seems they were searching for someone.
Just as he was wondering who they were searching for, the door opened with a bang. Several younglings jumped in, held Saito down and started searching through the storage room.
“What the heck are you guys doing?!” Saito shouted. Stating, “Doesn’t seem to be here”, and ignoring him, the guys that held Saito down left the room.
“What the hell just happened?” as Saito thought to himself, this time there was a knock on the door.
“It’s open,” he said, but the knocking continued.
If it was Louise or Siesta, they’d immediately make a rude entrance as soon as he said that. Remembering that a person that, even after being told that he can, doesn’t open the door himself can’t be a bad person, Saito opened the door.
And there a woman, with pinkish blonde hair and reddish brown eyes, was standing.
For a moment he thought “Louise?” but it wasn’t. She was taller than Louise. She had kind eyes and a smiling face without even a bit of ill intent on it.
It was Cattleya.
“U, umm, that...”
While blushing, Saito looked at her with a confused look.
“Is it ok to come in?”
“Y-Yes! Please!”
With a respectful bow, Saito ushered her in.
“Sorry for intruding,” saying that, Cattleya stuck out her tongue at him.
She was so cute that Saito’s heart started racing. Naturally, he preferred Louise. However, because of her character, that wasn’t an expression that appeared on her face. He felt that you really had to hand it to this kind big sister.
With a feeling different from that towards Louise, he looked at Cattleya sitting down on the bed with a small devilish smile floating up on her face.
She gave off a sense different from Siesta’s “healthy” sex appeal.
It was also different from Henrietta’s sex appeal that was brought up by the balanced danger that came from the fact that she was of high class.
It differed from Kirche’s “shaking, almost violent” sex appeal as well.
Of course, it was also different from Louise’s “hard to break apart” sex appeal.
With a light smile, it was a sex appeal that felt as if it was wrapping you up.
Will Louise also become like this when she grows up? If that’s the case, then Louise is a definite “Buy,” huuh, while those thoughts were floating around his head, Cattleya seemed more and more charming.
“When Louise grows up, she won’t look like me, you know.”
Because she suddenly said that while laughing, Saito jumped up.
“Huh? No! I wasn’t!... I wasn’t thinking about stuff like that! Yes!”
“Is that so? But you definitely seemed like you were wondering if Louise is going to look like me in the future...”
Wow, what a sharp woman,
“Louise will definitely become even more charming when she grows up, so calm down. But she probably won’t become any taller.”
Thinking that it would be more than enough as long as she resembles her sister in the breast area, Saito kept opening and closing his lips.
“You, what’s your name?”
“It’s Saito. Yes.”
“My, what a lovely name, isn’t it?”
It was the first time he got his name praised since he came here.