13 — Tonight’s Party...

We’d finally arrived at the Argenteia manor. I’d thought the same thing the last time I was there, but it was really wonderful. The Wahl River ran through the manor grounds, beautifully reflecting the glimmering light of the fires lit along its banks. It might not have been as fancy as the Fisalis manor, but I still had to admit it was beautiful.

Wait. I was boasting just now, wasn’t I?

Our carriage quietly stopped at the porch and the Argenteias’ servants opened the door for us. It was nice how Father Fisalis got out first and tenderly escorted Mother Fisalis out, but I decided to ignore how he was holding her. I would’ve very much preferred if they’d keep the flirting to a minimum in front of their daughter-in-law, because I didn’t know where to look. Mr. Fisalis, on the other hand, must have been used to it, because he completely ignored them.

While I was distantly watching my in-law’s lovey-dovey antics, Mr. Fisalis finally spoke up. “Let’s get going.”

“Ah, o-okay!” While I’d been spacing out, he’d already exited the carriage. Realizing I was still sitting, I hurried to stand up. He held his hand out to me from outside the door, so I took it and stepped down out of the carriage. Our fingers naturally laced together and our “personal escort-style” was complete.

In front of us, my in-laws were doing the standard waist-hugging style—the one that I found too hard to walk with. It really sucked if you weren’t both walking at the same speed. But I guess that usually didn’t really matter, since the man would try to match the woman’s pace. But if you weren’t used to that kind of thing, you’d end up focusing way too much on your walking speed.

In my case, I always felt like I was being pushed. Not that Mr. Fisalis was actually pushing me or anything—it was just like I was being unwillingly(?) forced into social situations I didn’t want to be in.

But my in-laws didn’t seem awkward at all—probably because they were so lovey-dovey in the first place. Father Fisalis was matching Mother Fisalis’s speed, while she was leaning into her husband’s arms with perfect trust. Man, they’re such a nice couple.

Then there was us, walking along behind them holding hands. Just like Mr. Fisalis had said, holding hands let us be at various distances from each other. It was fun. If I walked slower than him, the distance would grow and it’d be as if I was being pulled along. Hauling mode! If I walked the same speed, we ended up beside each other, which made us look like equals. If I walked faster than him, it made me look like I was the one dragging him along—like we were going, “Oh, dear! Hurry up!” and “Wait for me~!”

It was great how different it felt based on where we stood in relation to each other. But while I was changing my speed and playing with how that changed our hand-holding, Mr. Fisalis ended up looking at me with a strained smile. “What... are you doing?”

Wah, he saw! How embarrassing! “I was seeing how things changed based on my walking speed...”

“You were falling back and then pulling ahead... Well, whatever, as long as you’re having fun.”

“You were watching?”

“The whole time.”

So he saw me smirking to myself. Hahaha. Let’s try to smooth my embarrassment over with a smile.

When I smiled, he smiled back. “If you keep doing that, we’re going to get separated,” he said, tightening his fingers around my own. He’s really holding on here. After that, we just walked beside each other for the most part.

Father Fisalis noticed us walking behind him and his wife while holding hands, and asked Mr. Fisalis, “Hm? You’re going for a different style of escorting?”

“Yes. Vi prefers it this way,” Mr. Fisalis replied, lifting our hands a bit to show him.

“You don’t see it often, but it really does make you seem intimate.”

“Oh, Dear, what are you saying! They don’t LOOK intimate, they ARE intimate! But I love how it’s just their style~!”

“Yep, it’s our style.”

Smiiiiile. That look says that’s exactly what he was thinking.

My in-laws accepted all of this with amused smiles, but you could really tell they were parent and child. Mother Fisalis thinks the same way Mr. Fisalis does.

Once we arrived at the venue, I noticed that there were fewer people than I expected. I didn’t think that every noble in the country was going to be there, but I thought it’d be on a similar scale as the last time I was here. This is an Argenteia party, right? What happened?

While I was looking around, confused, Mr. Fisalis leaned in and whispered in my ear, “They didn’t invite as many people this time—just their friends and family. You can relax.”

Relax? Are you serious, Mr. Fisalis? ...Sorry, I fell back on my usual retorts there for a second. But no, seriously—this is a ton of people for only inviting familiar faces. And there are no familiar faces for me, you know? Don’t underestimate how much of a shut-in I am. Even if it’s smaller than last time, the party is still huge! Just what you’d expect from top-notch nobles.

First, we went to greet the hosts, Duke and Duchess Argenteia.

“Thank you so much for inviting us.”

“Welcome, Cercis, Viola. It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has,” I replied, giving a graceful, ladylike greeting. Fufufu... perfect again today!

After some small talk, we headed to the party floor. My in-laws were going to stay to talk a little more with the Duke and Duchess, so we split there.

“What should we do first? Dance, or greet everyone?” Mr. Fisalis asked as we walked, still holding hands.

Hmm... It wouldn’t be good if I just parked myself in a chair and ate when we’ve only just arrived, and neither would just be zooming straight in on someone I know (probably one of the older ladies) and chatting them up.

And more importantly, I came here today prepared to be the billboard for “Viola Sapphires!” Yes, I was getting desperate—why do you ask? But regardless, I have to stand out as much as possible to get the word out about those gems!

I’d pumped myself up, but this was all still the exact opposite of how I was usually, so it took a lot of courage. Normally, I’d be headed straight for the edge of the party or hiding somewhere I wouldn’t stand out. But since I’d come all this way, I’d just have to suck it up.

If I wanted to show myself off, greeting everyone was probably the best choice. Since I didn’t know who had been invited today, it’d be a good idea to do that and feel out the venue.

“Let’s greet everyone first. We have to tell everybody about your transfer too, after all,” I said after considering the question from every single angle I could.

“That’s true. Let’s show things off by chatting with everyone a bit first.”

Grin. He was smiling. Hm? Are smiles and grins the same thing? And by “things,” he means the Viola Sapphires, right?

Before we could even consider who to greet first, people came flooding over to greet us.

“Good evening Duke Fisalis, Duchess.”

“Good evening.”

The man coming up to greet Mr. Fisalis is... Ah, that’s right! That’s Count Crocus! I’m friends with your daughter. And that’s Marquis Sanguinneah, isn’t it? Miss Iris’s father. He looks a bit more chubby than he did in the portrait...

Wait. Oooh! I’m matching names to faces here, thanks to that “Noble’s Almanac: Portrait Edition”! Woah. Thanks, Rohtas! Thanks to that book, I know who’s who! I should thank him profusely when I get home.

I was finally seeing the light. I knew most of the guest’s names, and that definitely made me feel less alone. Just my opinion, though☆

But unfortunately, I still didn’t recognize their wives or children. My social circle was ridiculously tiny, after all.

“Congratulations on becoming the Vice Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“Thank you. It’s a heavy responsibility, but I’m glad I won’t have to leave home as much anymore.”

“Oho? You’re worried about leaving your home?”

“Yes! I can’t bear to be away from my lovely wife.”

“I’m glad you have such a close relationship. Oh, but speaking of your wife, I’ve heard that your duchy has begun handling sapphires.”

“You have sharp ears.”

“Word has spread all throughout high society already, after all!”

“My wife is actually wearing some now. They’re named ‘Viola Sapphires,’ after her eyes.”

They’d talk a bit about Mr. Fisalis’s transfer before swinging the conversation over to the “Viola Sapphires.” We weren’t bringing it up—everyone else was!

I had an easy job of just standing beside him and smiling, but I felt something being chipped away inside me as his Beloved Wife Syndrome came out to play. Normally, I’d rush to stop him, but I had to hold back this time. Do your best, me!

Not only did he show off my earrings and necklace, but our matching rings too. I mean, yeah, it’s good for publicity, but it’s still kinda embarrassing.

We wandered the floor, stopping here and there to say hello and advertise our sapphires.

“Look—everyone’s focused on you, Viola.” Mr. Fisalis was saying that, but I was certain he was mistaken. They must’ve been looking at him, and then they just happened to notice the beautiful sapphires I was wearing.

But seriously, his sparkling-handsome-man aura was incredibly impressive. I always stood out just by standing next to him. Ahaha, I forgot what this was like. Why couldn’t we just use him as the billboard instead?

...I-I’m not sulking!

“They’re looking at you, not me,” I argued.

“No, you’re the one shining the most brightly and beautifully here.”

There he goes, turning the tables on me! I nearly tripped over my own feet when I heard those sweet words of his so close to my ear. That was dangerous. But he says that stuff so easily, without even batting an eye. And here I am blushing red as a tomato! Geez. Calm down, me.

“That’s not true. Everyone here looks just as wonderful, after all,” I said, glancing around as I ignored his sweet words.

It might have just been my imagination, but it looked like there were more young people here than usual. I’d managed to remember the family heads’ faces from the portraits in the almanac, but that didn’t help at all with their children.

“I hope they’ll release a Noble’s Almanac —— Now With Family Members, too! Edition...”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Mr. Fisalis looked blankly at me, and I realized I must have said that out loud!

“Oh, it’s just that I read through the Noble’s Almanac a while ago, so I know the faces and names of people here. I was just thinking about how I wanted portraits of their family members, too. I can recognize the head of each family, but I don’t know the rest of them, after all.”

I could count the noble young men and ladies on both my hands—not like that was anything to be proud of or anything.

“Ah, I see. Then let’s tell Celosia when we see him. They specifically invited all the eligible young folk, after all.”

“Really?”

Why? Wasn’t this party supposed to be just people they knew? Now I was the one looking at him blankly.

“This party is also about finding a partner for Verbena,” he explained with a laugh, whispering to me so no one else could hear.

“A partner for Miss Verbena?”

“Shh! Too loud!”

“Ack, I’m sorry!”

Mr. Fisalis shushed me with a finger to his wryly smiling lips, so my hands shot up to cover my mouth.

I was shocked to hear the party’s goal. So it was really a party to search for Miss Verbena’s husband, huh? Miss Verbena, the daughter of a duchy almost as important as the Fisalis family’s! Shouldn’t she have her pick of suitors? Wouldn’t they just bring their proposals directly to her parents through official channels rather than showing up at a party like this?

And having such a huge evening party to search for a husband... First-class aristocrats really do things on a different scale! I was stunned by my glimpse into another world.

“Yep. Celosia told me they’d been getting proposals left and right, so they had a mountain of family charts piling up.”

“I imagine!” Of course they would, with her status and prestige.

“But she’s not interested in looking at any of them, so Lord Argenteia was at his wit’s end.”

“Ah...” Miss Verbena had a thing for Mr. Fisalis, after all. She’d been the number one candidate to marry the most sought-after bachelor in Flür, and then my plain butt swooped in and got married to him. Snatched right out from under her nose, right? Of course she wouldn’t be able to look at other men so soon after that.

“Her father is worried that she’s going to miss her chance to marry, but Verbena doesn’t care.”

I’m sorry... I’m the reason she might not get married. I can barely stand it.

As I was lamenting my actions, Mr. Fisalis laughed. “You have nothing to feel bad about.”

Ah, he read my thoughts. “I mean, yeah, but... Just a thought, but what if you two had gotten married like she’d wanted...”

“It would’ve never happened. Don’t underestimate the power of fate. No matter what, I would have met you,” he interrupted me. Embarrassed me, too.

That’s right, he’s a romantic. I wasn’t the type to believe in fate or anything like that, but I wouldn’t deny it might’ve had a part in our marriage.

“That’s right~” Forgive my strained smile.

“Anyway, Lord Argenteia and Verbena had a huge argument, and he ended up telling her she had to meet with her suitors and pick someone herself. Celosia was complaining about it.”

“Wow...” A father and daughter battling over a mountain of family charts... It was easy to imagine the Argenteias arguing just like that.

It seemed as if Mr. Fisalis was thinking the same thing, because we looked at each other and smiled wryly.

“All of the attendees have been carefully selected, with their background and character picked through with a fine tooth comb, so they’re all exceptional matches. And of course it was her two older brothers who did the investigating. They did a lot of digging for tonight.”

“...Gee, that sounds rough.” Even though they had their own jobs to do, they did their best to find their little sister a marriage partner. Miss Verbena, you’re so loved!

“Viola. What—or should I say, who do you think has it rough?”

“Um, Duke Argenteia, the elder brothers, and Miss Verbena herself?”

“...So, you mean... all of them.”