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Side Story Part 3

In the letter, Alexis’ growing feelings were spelled out in detail. Rather than praising Marine, he skillfully describes his joy at meeting her. Marine liked the way it was written.

It’s not like there hasn’t been any men who tried to seduce Marine in the past. Some of them were approaching her with political intentions in mind, while others were doing that because they genuinely liked her and felt attracted to her.

Those men unanimously praised Marine for her beauty and her intelligence. There were also many parables in their letters where they were comparing her to something else, like a white dove among the crows, or a large flower blooming among the weeds.

Hearing such parables only made Marine feel increasingly irritated. Since they were all trying to praise her beauty, then she couldn’t understand why they were doing it by comparing her to something that was not beautiful.

When she expresses beauty, one wonders why she dares to compare herself to what is not considered beautiful.

In that respect, Alexis’ letter was trying to convey only the exaltation of his own heart. Instead of quoting things from famous legends and stories, it was spelled out in his own words.

Alexis’ letters and his words were all genuinely sincere. However, Marine herself was not very interested in love or romantic affairs. She, of course, intended to one day find herself a husband and bear the heir to the Kraische family. But she knew that such marriage would be a political one, and that her father would be the one who would choose her partner for her. If she didn’t really like that someone, she was willing to refuse, but she doesn’t have any particular intention of being picky about her future husband either.

There are quite a few women who say that marriage and love are separate, but Marine felt distanced from such an idea.

However, she didn’t feel bad knowing that someone was thinking about her so purely.

Tonight, I will deliver flowers to you.

That’s what his last letter said. Looking at the date, it’s supposed to be today.

Perhaps a messenger will bring a large amount of flowers to the place she was staying at?

In the end, she decided not to write him a reply for the day. She’s going to wait until the flowers will be delivered, and then she’ll thank him for them and write that although she appreciates his feelings, she’s not interested in dating him.

But even at night, the flowers didn’t arrive. Although she was suspicious, she didn’t want to wait any longer and went to bed.

And then the morning the next day after started as usual, with a tray of tea prepared by Layla being delivered to her bedroom.

Maline took off all her clothes, wiped her body with hot water, and put on her new underwear and loungewear.

「Have any flowers been delivered after I fell asleep? 」

Marine asked Layla.

「They have indeed been delivered. 」

Layla answered while making a strange expression.

「I see… 」

Marine nodded her head.

「Where are they? 」

「Look out the window. 」

Layla said after clearing her throat.
「Look out of the window? 」

「It’s in the courtyard. 」

As Layla told that to Marine, she pushed open the windows and looked down at the courtyard.

「Is that… a flower? 」

Marine was astonished at what she saw.

There was a giant rose painted on a lawn that had been empty until yesterday. It has also been made by arranging colored stones one next to the other.

「Did he do this in one night? 」

「Yes. 」

Leyla nodded.

「Until yesterday, Lord Alexis was apparently gathering stones in a nearby vacant lot. Then, last night, after you had gone to bed, he suddenly started arranging stones, saying that he had come to deliver flowers.

I thought about stopping him, but he seemed very serious about that and he wasn’t making that much noise, so… 」

「And he did that without anyone’s help? 」

「Yes, he worked on that all by yourself. And I have to say, that’s really amazing. I’ve never seen a flower so big, beautiful, and so heartfelt. 」
Layla seemed deeply impressed.

「Is he really a Lord? 」

Even if she asked a famous artist to do the exact same thing, they probably wouldn’t be able to imitate it. Looking at this flower, she could almost believe that the letter Alexis had delivered to her was probably handwritten by the young man himself.

「So he wasn’t just a womanizer… 」

Marine smiled as she looked at the flowers painted in the garden.

「He’s weird, but also an interesting man. 」

「I think so too… 」

Layla smiled and nodded.

「I have to thank him for making this flower. I want to see him again. Do you know how can I do that?」

「If that’s what the young lady wants, then how about going to one of the rumored night parties that are being held here in Elam? 」

「The night… party? 」

Marine frowned slightly.

「We have received an invitation from the organizer, and Lady Ulrika, the daughter of Marquis of Nord, is also urging you to go together with her. 」

「That princess? 」

Hearing Ulrika’s name, Marine smiled wryly.

Ulrika, the youngest daughter of Erik, the Marquis of Nord who was also known as 「The Ocean King」, heard that Marine was going to study in Elam, and asked the Marquis of Nord to allow her to study abroad as well.

Since she was staying in the royal capital of Waldrind, she loved Marine as if she was her actual older sister.

She is an honest but lively girl at heart, and she loves to play and fool around a lot. She’s only 14 years old, but she’s at the age where she wanted to experience as many things as possible, and she must have heard rumors of the night party and immediately decided that she wanted to take part in it. However, as expected, she’d feel uneasy going alone, so she invited Marine to tag along with her. She was not interested in it, so she initially wanted to decline her offer, but…

「Even a strange person like him will probably attend that party… 」

She was more interested in what that man would do. Because it is in a place like that where people can cut loose that their true natures are more likely to come out of hiding.

「I understand. Let’s go to that night party. If it’s not going to be fun, we can just go home immediately. 」

Marine said to Layla.

「Of course. I will make all the necessary arrangements. 」

* * *

262

On the day of the night party, after it was nearing sunset, Marine accompanied Ulrika, the youngest daughter of Marquis of Nord, to a mansion in the outskirts of Elam, which was said to be the venue for the event

It was said that the party is hosted by a trader from Elam. They travel all over the continent, mainly by land, selling high-quality, inexpensive products produced in Elam. Then, they bring back the special products, food, raw materials and the like they obtained from each region back to Elam to sell them all for a profit.

It is difficult to compete with products made in Elam and beat them in terms of quality, so local Lords engaging in trade don’t have a hard time making good coin for themselves. Moreover, it is here in Elam that the common currency that circulates throughout the entire continent is minted, so inevitably, wealth from all over the continent will gather here at one point or another.

(Although Elam and the Mages Association have played a large role in the fight against Chaos…)

The uneven distribution of wealth between Elam and every other city on the continent was absurdly over the top. Marine’s father Matthias believes that this injustice must be rectified, and Marine was 100% on board with that idea.

「I’m looking forward to this. I can’t wait to see what people are going to surprise us with. 」

Sitting in the seat across from Marine, Ulrika said while she was playing innocently.

「I’m sure you’re allowed to drink alcohol back in your country, so I won’t stop you, but please make sure to do it in moderation. Dancing and playing is fine, but if anyone tries to invite you to go to bed with them, you absolutely shouldn’t do it, you hear me? 」

Marine said while looking at Ulrika with a gaze that could pierce nails to the walls.

「Yeah, I understand. But seriously, you’re way stricter than any of our maids, Big Sister Marine. 」

Ulrika pouted her mouth as she began to sulk.