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Side Story Part 2

When Marine turned her gaze towards him, their eyes have met each other almost instantly.

(I see, he’s definitely a handsome man.)

He looked like he was around Marine’s age.

His fluffy golden curly hair glistened in the sunshine. However, Marine tried not to judge other people by their appearance. That young man may have good looks about him, but good looks themselves are not everything.

When the young man stared at Marine, her body stiffened and her eyes went wide open. Her mouth was also half open, and she moved them slightly as if she was trying to say something, but couldn’t. She tried to wait for a while, but still, no words were leaving her mouth.

I thought he would react strangely to her behavior, but he’s the kind of young man who would squat down in the middle of the road and stare at the stones, so he didn’t do that, so she just picked up the hem of her dress and bent her knees slightly in a traditional greeting.

「My name is Marine. I’m sorry to disturb you while you’re having fun, but this is a public carriageway. If you sit down in the middle of the road like that, you’ll get run over in no time. 」

Marine said in her dignified voice, and then she turned her back on the young man with the intention of leaving.

At that moment, the young man raised his voice as if he had been released from a curse himself.

「My name is Alexis…! 」

He had a deep, clear voice. His pronunciation and intonation were so perfect that in the first moment she thought that he had started to sing. Then, the young man who introduced himself as Alexis took Marine’s hand and kissed it gently.

「I knew the word love, but when I saw you, I realized that I never truly knew what it was. 」

Alexis stared at Marine and said so in a quiet whisper.

「Is that supposed to be your favorite pick-up line? 」

Marine said coldly, turned on her heel and got back into the carriage. While trying to hold back her laughter, Layla gave the order for their ride to resume.

「Irvin get the carriage moving! 」

「Understood! 」

Irvin responded from the coach’s seat and the carriage began to slowly move forward once more.

* * *

Holding the reins of the carriage, Irvin signaled with his right hand, and once he did that, a girl appeared on the path and ran alongside the carriage.

She is Cammy, a maid. She leads the carriage and it is her job to spot any potential dangers, and deal with them ahead of time.

「Aren’t you being too lazy? 」

「I just judged that this man is not a danger to Lady Marine. 」

When Irvin whispered in a low voice, Cammy answered indifferently. In contrast to Layla, she doesn’t show her emotions and doesn’t talk much as well.

「You’re right, he is not dangerous. But you also musn’t allow Lady Marine to get involved in anything strange, or with anyone strange. Didn’t you see that she looked quite upset? 」

「It is my job to eliminate danger, not to determine what is and isn’t dangerous. 」

Cammy said quietly.

「Well? Did you call me here just to tell me that? 」

「No, I want you to go and check the identity of that man from earlier. That man seems to have fallen in love with the young lady at first sight, so he might try to follow us. 」

「In that case, I don’t even need to do that…」

Cammy answers curtly.

「Because I’ve already said hello to that Shadow. 」

At the moment when her words were about to end, a figure fluttered in the air and sat down next to Irvin on the coachman’s stand. Irvin simply glanced sideways at it.

The figure was a woman dressed as a maid. She was about thirty years old. Her blond hair were carefully tied up with a number of pins.

「Nice to meet you. 」

The woman greeted him in a businesslike tone.

「Well then, I’m going to be on my way. 」

Cammy then left, running away at an amazing speed.

「The Shadows of the Kraische family are all young, I see. 」

「Some of them aren’t young. The Chief Chamberlain is over eighty years old. 」

Irvin lowered his voice and answered. He can’t let Marinee hear this conversation.

「I’m Irvin. As you may already know, I serve Master Marine Kraische. So, whom do you serve? 」

「Lord Alexis Doucet. My name is Noelia. 」

「Ducet? Is the one who was dazed at the road earlier the heir to the leader of the Fantasia Union, Archduke Silvestre Ducet? 」

Irvine was genuinely surprised. Normally, one wouldn’t even think that such a nobleman would be sitting in the middle of the carriageway.

「Coincidence is a scary thing, isn’t it? Who would’ve ever thought that the heir to the leader of the Factory Alliance and the heir to the leader of the Fantasia Union are going to meet each other in a place like this? 」

「Is it really a coincidence though? 」

Irvin gave her a suspicious look.

「If it’s not a coincidence, then what do you think the purpose them meeting each other like that would be? 」

「Maybe he’s trying to steal the heart of our young lady for the benefit of the Fantasia Union? 」

「No, heavens forbid! 」

The shadow of the Doucet family named Noelia let out a big sigh.

「Isn’t your young lady the one who’s trying to steal the heart of young master Alexis? He’s kind to everyone, but I’ve never heard him say those words to anyone before. 」

「In other words, are you serious about what you just said? That this is all just a coincidence? 」

「Yes. Besides, young master is the type of person who’d never tell a lie even if his life depended on it. 」

「So he’s not the same as his father Silvestre then? 」

Silvestre Doucet was promoted to the position of Archduke at the last Fantasia Union’s Lord’s Conference, and Irvin heard that he managed to secure that position for himself through careful groundwork and skillful rhetoric, but there’s also quite a lot of his subordinate Lords who thought that they’ve been deceived into subordinating themselves to him.

「Lord Silvestre also a sincere person. 」

Noelia said abruptly.

「I’m sorry, I’ve gone too far with my words. But if your young master really meant what he said, then this is going to be more than a little bit troublesome. 」

However, Marine didn’t seem to have a favorable impression of Alexis. She was still in the carriage, taking out her anger on Layla. Even though it was the first time she had met him, he confessed his love for her, so he must have thought she looked like a lighthearted woman who’d accept his confession without complaint.

「Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to fall in love with the member of the opposite sex, even if that partner might not be someone you could get tied with more closely. 」

Noelia chose the words and said.

「And from my point of view, I can’t allow the young lady to be hurt by anyone in any way. However, as long as there is no danger of her being hurt, it is also Lord Matthias’ intention to let her experience various things. 」

「I will act according to your wishes then. If you think it will be a nuisance, feel free to tell me. After all, we cannot allow our two families to openly fight each other in this city. 」

「Oh, let’s try to keep things peaceful between them. 」

Irvin nodded approvingly.

「Negotiations are completed then. 」

With a smile, Noelia jumped out of the carriage and disappeared into a nearby alley.

* * *

From the day after she met a young man named Alexis, Marine began receiving letters from him on a daily basis.

She ignored them for some time, but he was so persistent that she thought of giving him a harsh reply just to make him leave her alone, and so she read his first letter to her. It was so beautifully written and his sentences were so skillfully crafted that she read through the rest of them before she even realized it.

However, Marine knew that me might not necessarily be the one who wrote these letters. The Lord’s letters are often written by their contracted Mages before they’re being sent. Her father, Matthias, for example, has Mages writing all of his letters for him aside from the really important ones.