“G-greetings, Lady Clara.”
“Ah… Greetings, Lord…?”
Noticing Clara’s confused look at Elias’s handsome face, Felix jumped in to introduce him as the Nocturne family’s Caretaker.
Clara, having never seen a face quite like Elias’s before, figured that made sense, since he clearly wasn’t the son of any noble house.
“This is Elias… Um… Hey, what’s your last name again?”
“Veyron.”
“This is Elias Veyron, Caretaker of Lady Evelyn and Lady Elysia.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Clara.”
“A pleasure to meet you too, Young Master Elias.”
“Please, don’t call me that… It’s a little embarrassing. I’m just a commoner, after all.”
Clara, being a Saintess candidate at heart, found herself genuinely moved by Elias’s humility.
She clasped her hands together again in a small prayer.
“Your humility as a creature of the divine is truly something to admire. May the Goddess of Life and Light walk alongside your path.”
“T-thank you.”
Elias could only respond with an awkward little laugh, scratching the back of his head.
A servant suddenly approached Clara to let her know the head of House Aurelle was waiting for her.
“In that case, if you’ll all excuse me.”
With that, the servant led her up to the second floor to meet with the head of the household.
Watching Clara finally walk off, Elias felt an overwhelming wave of relief, grateful he hadn’t done anything that might’ve sparked her interest in him.
Not that Clara had felt anything toward him in the first place, of course.
With total confidence, he figured that with a face as handsome as his, plenty of women were bound to fall for him on the spot.
*SIGH~
‘Being this handsome is seriously such a hassle.’
Hearing Elias’s sigh, Evelyn and Elysia walked over to him.
“What’s wrong with you? Want to go back to sleep, or are you just nervous?”
“It’s nothing, my Lady. I just didn’t feel all that comfortable standing close to Lady Clara.”
“Hoo?~ So does that mean you’re comfortable standing close to us, then?”
Hearing Evelyn’s question, Elias raised an eyebrow, not quite following.
“Yes. Of course I feel comfortable around you both.”
“W-what?!…”
“My, my…”
Watching their faces suddenly flush red only confused Elias even more.
He’d just said what he actually felt.
Since he genuinely felt comfortable around them, he said so.
Besides, if he didn’t feel comfortable, there was no way he’d be able to talk this casually with either of them.
‘Well, even though it’s only occasionally that I manage to talk this casually…’
“Elias, do you happen to know what the head of the household’s got planned for tonight?”
“Who do you think I am? The heir to House Aurelle? There’s no way a mere Caretaker like me would know what’s coming up.”
“Aigoo~ aren’t you even curious?”
“Hmm… Not particularly. Besides, as usual, I’ll just be standing behind my two Ladies.”
Felix suddenly sidled up closer to Elias, dropping his voice a notch.
“Hand over those 10 Grade B Mana Stones you scored yesterday. And I’ll tell you everything.”
“The price reflects just how good this information is.”
“No, no! I’m not doing it. I already told you I don’t really care about any of that.”
“What’s he talking about?”
“Hmm… Since it’s Lady Evelyn asking, I’ll answer free of charge, of course~”
“Why do I have to pay, then?”
“Shut up. I only care about dazzling, gorgeous women like Lady Evelyn and Elysia.”
Evelyn let out a light laugh at Felix’s comment.
As far as she was concerned, Felix was a bit of an odd, funny guy, rarely did anyone ever talk to the two of them quite like this.
“From what I overheard, it sounds like the head of the household’s planning a one-on-one tournament. Any young noble, man or woman, can join in. It’s supposed to be a friendly match, but if someone manages to put on an impressive enough show, that person gets a special reward straight from the head of the household himself.”
“Hold on, Lady. Don’t just believe whatever he says. How exactly did you hear about this?”
“Goodness… I heard it myself, straight from the source! I was in the Aurelle kitchen trying to steal, I mean, find some food, and I overheard the head of the household talking to Lady Seraphina about it.”
“What… But how?”
“Well… I just happened to overhear it on my way back to my room.”
Elysia stepped closer to Felix, arms crossed over her chest.
“So, what’s the prize?”
“Sorry, no clue. I was starving at the time so I just rushed straight back to my room to eat.”
*SIGH~
“Elias, hand over those 10 Grade B Mana Stones and I’ll pay you back triple, no, five times over.”
“Hmph! You think I’m just going to hand it over? Besides, I already got the information I needed.”
“Come on, hear me out first! If you give it to me, sure, you won’t have a huge stockpile of mana stones anymore. But you’ll end up seriously rich! I can see a golden opportunity for us to make some real money here.”
Even though Elias had initially felt nothing suspicious about Felix’s offer, he ended up handing over the ten Grade B mana stones anyway.
Once Felix got the mana stones in hand, he immediately said his goodbyes to Evelyn and Elysia, then took off running into the crowd of young nobles and vanished from sight.
Figuring it was pointless to keep dwelling on it, Elias instead walked over to the table and grabbed two drinks, handing them to Evelyn and Elysia.
‘Well, these past two days they’ve been talking a lot more with the other Ladies and young Lords.
Probably because it’s the last night, and with the second prince and the Saintess candidate here now, everyone’s a lot more eager to talk to them.
But while everyone’s busy trying to get a word in with Edwin and Clara, Evelyn and Elysia look pretty unbothered by either of them.’
Elias glanced over at the two of them, still standing quietly, eyes fixed on the dance floor, drinks in hand.
‘No clue what’s going through their heads right now.’
Elias quietly grabbed a slice of cake from the table beside him and took a bite.
‘Way too much cream on this thing, it’s making me queasy.’
* * *
In a spacious room filled with an assortment of food on the table, maids and soldiers lining the walls on either side, Edwin and Clara sat in chairs that had been prepared for them, with the head of House Aurelle seated right between them.
“Thank you for the meal, Head of House Aurelle.”
“The food was delicious, honestly I’d love to eat more, but my stomach’s completely full.”
“Hahaha! Goodness, I’m genuinely delighted you both enjoyed such a simple meal like this. It’s truly an honor for House Aurelle.”
“Since this is Lady Seraphina’s coming-of-age party, that means she’ll be heading into the academy in a year, right?”
“Once she’s there, please, feel free to discipline her harshly if she acts up. This girl hasn’t changed one bit, no matter how old she gets.”
“Goodness, you’re something else…”
After sharing a laugh together and continuing on with some light conversation, Marquis Aurelle eventually invited the two of them to head out to the second-floor terrace with him.
The prince and Clara simply followed along without asking any questions.
Seeing all the young nobles moved outdoors, Edwin finally grew curious about exactly what the Marquis had planned.
Sensing the curiosity from the prince and the Saintess candidate, the Marquis gave a small nod and had the two of them take their seats on the prepared chairs while he walked forward to deliver a brief speech about what he intended to do.
“Greetings and warm regards, honored young Lords and Ladies of our noble houses. First, allow me to express my gratitude, as all of you, my esteemed guests, have come to celebrate the coming of age of my one and only daughter, Seraphina Aurelle. Over these past two days, you’ve all enjoyed food, dancing, conversation, and a tour around the city of Aurellis. I’m confident you’ve had a wonderful time.”
Hearing the Marquis speak with such full confidence that everyone had enjoyed themselves left Elias both a little surprised and genuinely impressed.
Sure, Aurelle’s territory really was impressive, plenty of good food and all kinds of things to experience here.
But for the ruler of this city to say something that bold, just how much had this man actually planned out?
‘Well…
though on day two, that was mostly me and Felix livening things up.’
“And for this final night, I’ll be hosting a one-on-one tournament. A friendly competition where both sides get to learn from one another.”
‘Wait a second, is my guess right, or is this guy a total copycat?’
“Anyone is welcome to participate, as long as you follow the rules I’ve set. First, no magic above Grade D allowed! Second, no attacking with the intent to actually injure your opponent! Third, sportsmanship must be upheld at all times. Any questions?”
A few young nobles just murmured among themselves, whispering to whoever stood beside them.
Then suddenly, someone raised their hand.
“What’s the prize for the winner?”
Hearing that, the Marquis just laughed heartily, clapping a hand to his forehead.
“Of course there’s a prize! I know young people like yourselves need a bit of motivation. That’s why I’ll be preparing three special rewards for three lucky winners! And naturally, the higher you place, the better the prize!”
Sure enough, the young nobles immediately lit up with excitement and motivation.
A handful of them genuinely wanted to learn from each other through the matches, but plenty more were simply curious about the rewards on offer.
After a short while, around thirty young nobles had signed up, Evelyn and Elysia included.
Elias assumed Felix would be joining in too, but instead he said:
“I’m strictly a spectator and a businessman here. Money beats everything else in this world. As long as you’ve got money, you can get your hands on pretty much anything, including whatever prize the Marquis ends up handing out.”
He walked off wearing round glasses, carrying a small tray loaded with food and drinks in front of him.
‘That’s exactly the kind of thing a merchant’s kid would say…’
At first, Elysia was reluctant to join the tournament, figuring it sounded both boring and like a hassle, she just wanted to sit quietly in her seat and watch.
Though honestly, her real motive was just wanting to stay close to Elias.
But after some pushing from Evelyn, Elysia reluctantly signed up alongside her sister.
Elias could tell Elysia was genuinely irritated, it showed clearly in her puffed-out cheeks and the deliberately heavy stomps in her walk.
After a while, plenty of young nobles had already fought their matches, and of course, every single one of them turned out impressively strong for their age.
Some lost after trading just a few blows, some gave up the second they spotted the pattern in their opponent’s attacks, some got knocked out in a single hit, and a few others fought with such intensity that it genuinely got the whole crowd fired up.
As for Evelyn and Elysia, well, there’s not much to even ask about…
anyone who ended up facing them could basically be called the unluckiest person alive, to the point where they probably found themselves thinking:
“Did I just happen to pick the one four-leaf clover out of the whole field?”
Honestly, that might’ve been possible, but clearly, it wasn’t the case here.
It was purely because Evelyn and Elysia were simply too strong, even when using the most basic attacks imaginable.
Even so, when the two of them ended up matched against each other, Evelyn immediately raised her hand and forfeited the match on the spot.
That left a fair number of people disappointed, having missed out on watching a match between the two famously talented sisters.
Rather than feeling happy about it, Elysia actually felt incredibly annoyed at Evelyn for conceding before the match had even started.
She felt like her sister had just played her for a fool.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I never should’ve listened to her in the first place!’