21 — The Scheme

There was a noisy gaggle of knights in the entryway. Among them was my doofus of a husband, who had failed to tell me he was bringing his work home with him—literally! And once more, I only avoided being hugged to death by said knights when he pulled me to his side. Not again.

“Aren’t your parents coming tomorrow?” I stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear.

“Everyone said they wanted to throw a wrap party, so I gave them permission, but then they decided that it was going to be at my house...” Mr. Fisalis mumbled. He was looking everywhere but at me, too.

And what’s this ‘wrap party’? What’s he need a wrap party for? The servants and I should be the ones throwing a wrap party after the day we’ve had! What I got instead was an entryway overflowing with rowdy knights... Well, too late to run away now. I gotta get my head in the game!

“Well, not much we can do now that they’re here,” I told him.

“I thought you might say that!” he said, barely letting me finish my sentence and with a huge smile across his face. That cheered him up very quickly; I’d expected as much.

“In the meantime... could everyone please take a seat in the salon?” I said a bit louder to all the knights, all but squinting my eyes against the gleam of Mr. Fisalis’ megawatt smile. I could almost see a doggy tail wagging from behind his back.

I have a lot of questions, for sure, but saying something won’t make any difference now.

I mentally shrugged and questioned my life choices as I instructed Mr. Fisalis’ maid to take our guests to the salon. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dahlia disappearing into the servants’ dining room. True to character, she seemed to go into ‘guest shift’ mode without having to be told to.

I hereby declare us to be entering Guest Shift!

I called a group huddle with my main team to review our plan of action.

We’ve stocked up on food and drink for tomorrow, so our reserves are fuller than usual. I didn’t expect we’d be using them for this, but we have no choice, so we’ll have to break those out.

“We’ve got plenty of food and drinks, right?”

“Correct,” Rohtas gave a firm nod.

“If we run out, we can always buy more tomorrow, so let’s serve the guests we have for now.”

“Understood,” Rohtas confirmed before turning to head to the kitchen to inform Cartham.

“Alright, then let’s you and I head to the salon! Backup should be arriving there shortly.”

“Roger!” Mimosa responded from where she was waiting at attention behind me. I mentally checked the buckles on my imaginary armor and marched out to the salon!

Thanks to the servants’ hard work and prompt response, we had enough food, drink, and hands on deck ready to attend to our surprise guests without keeping them cordoned off in the salon. Like last time, food was served buffet style with small tables to stand at and eat.

Buffets are more fun when you have a lot of people, and besides, seated dining is too formal for something like this. This way is more casual and effortless.

“Oh, I’ve missed you!”

“The dress you’re wearing is so cute! It looks great on you.”

“You look even more beautiful than you did last time, Madam!”

The ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves, or least they enjoyed showering me with compliments. Before I knew it, the Bombshell Trio had surrounded me yet again.

Jeez, it’s like they teleported or something. I feel bad for monopolizing their attention all the time, but on the other hand, I’m super uninteresting otherwise. Whenever I try to talk to men, I just bore them, so it’s probably better this way.

“We’re really sorry for barging in like this,” one of the still-sober lady knights apologized. “This is for you,” she then added, handing me a box of cakes from a confectioner that had been the talk of the town.

Oh, wow! These are from that shop that the servants are always talking about! I’ve wanted to go there!

“Thank you so much. You shouldn’t have! You’re always welcome here!” I tittered and smiled, taking the box from her with all the reverence of a priest holding a holy relic. No, I don’t have a sugar addiction. What are you talking about?

“But the former duke and duchess are coming tomorrow, aren’t they?” the knight with the shiny golden hair asked, her face suddenly very, very close to mine. Oh gosh, she’s so pretty! I could feel my heart racing at this up-close-and-personal view of someone so drop-dead gorgeous.

“Uh, um, yes, they are, but we’re all done getting ready,” I smiled back.

“Way to go! We’ll make sure we’re out of here early tonight,” she promised, her smile growing wider.

Once the alcohol was flowing, though, the ladies completely changed. Now thoroughly intoxicated, the girls-only slumber party atmosphere was back in full force. All three of them—the blonde, the silver-haired one, and the bronze-haired one—could drink like fish, just like they did last time; and, just like that, their promise that they’d be out of here early vanished into thin air. The other knights were having a good time drinking, too.

At this rate, we’ll definitely have to restock drinks for tomorrow. Poor Rohtas is probably about ready to pop an artery.

“This is for our party pooper of a commander, who said he was gonna go straight home today when we decided to throw a party to celebrate surviving a day of back-to-back meetings!” the blonde knight said before she started to chug a full bottle of wine. Clearly no lightweight, she frantically grabbed a second bottle once she’d finished the first one.

Ma’am, that’s alcohol, not water! Please slow down!

“We even invited him along, didn’t we!? Because usually he’d go with us, even just for a little bit, but he kept saying that he had to go home today.”

Just then, I noticed that the silver-haired lady knight’s glass was empty, too, so I hurriedly refilled both of their glasses.

I’d be a bad host if I didn’t refill their drinks, but I can’t keep up at the pace they’re drinking! Seriously, wine isn’t water!

“So, like, we’re thinking... Why not have it at Commander’s place? And we don’t have anything to lose, so we ask ’im and he says yes! I couldn’t believe it! He agreed just like that!” the bronze-haired woman revealed.

Hmmm? I think I heard something rather important just now.

“What’s that? He agreed? Right away?” I asked, just to be sure.

“He sure did!”

“For once.”

“I thought for sure he’d say no!”

So he basically invited them to come home with him, did he? They didn’t just drop in without an invitation then. That’s strange. What are you up to, Mr. Fisalis?

The party ended up continuing late into the night, despite their promise at the beginning, and all the knights were tossed—I mean, allowed to sleep in the (hastily prepared) guest rooms. The nicest guest room had already been set aside for the next day, but even with that one unavailable, the manor’s accommodation capabilities were still great as ever! For a split second I was really glad that we cleaned the place, nook and cranny, on a regular basis.

I was exhausted by that time, having spent all day running around. Taking advantage of how drunk everyone was, I rushed through my good-nights and retired to my room.

It’s not like I can sleep in tomorrow morning with my in-laws coming! Having said that, I salute you, dear servants, for the overtime you’re being forced to work. And I know it’s wrong of me to ask this, but please let me go to sleep for now! I’ll make it up to you all tomorrow, I said to myself, not really knowing who exactly I was making excuses to.

The next day:

“Goooood morning!”

“What an invigorating one it is, too!” (✧sparkle✧)

Considering they had nearly drained our store of alcohol, the knights of the order all looked stunning the next morning and not a single one of them was hungover. I was, as they say, shook.

How the heck can anyone possibly hold their liquor that well!? Not to mention, they gobbled up Cartham’s buffet breakfast (and they’d only just sobered up, too!) and are acting perky straight out of bed! Just watching them eat made my stomach threaten to act up on me.

Mr. Fisalis would go to work after my in-laws arrived, so his subordinates left for the Royal Palace ahead of him. They were out the door like they had been blown by a gust of wind.

Now that I’ve seen everyone off, all that’s left is to clean up and get ready for his parents. Ooh, why don’t I have some tea beforehand, though? I’ve got time for that, right? ...Oh, how I miss my carefree days when I could do that whenever I felt like. Come back to me, my lost days of relaxation!

“Master, Lord and Lady Fisalis have just arrived.”

And just like that, my former guests were replaced with new ones.

Without any reason for it, I’d expected them to come closer to noon. When they arrived much, much earlier than I anticipated, I quickly grew worried.

“Did we have enough time to clean up? What about the rooms... the food...” I muttered, starting to turn pale.

“Everything’s fine. No need to worry,” Mr. Fisalis somehow managed to nonchalantly reply, standing beside me.

You think this isn’t your problem!? We’re only in this mess because you brought your work home with you! ...The voices in my head might have been jeering at him on full blast, but nonetheless, I let him put his arm around my shoulder, and we headed to the entryway to greet my in-laws.

When we got there, all of the servants were lined up, too. It was going to be a superb group greeting.

“Welcome home!”

As soon as my in-laws came in the door, Mr. Fisalis, Lord Fisalis, and Rohtas said something about business to attend to and left to hide away in the study. In the meantime, I had tea with my mother-in-law in the salon.

“I was surprised how early you arrived,” I told her honestly.

“Oh, heh heh. We actually traveled here from close to the capital following some business talks. I’m certain we told Cercis...” she said, carefully leaving out the ‘didn’t he tell you?’ part. Pfft, you’d expect him to tell me that? She was being honest, so I wasn’t upset with her, though.

“Oh, ohh... that explains it.” So he knew his parents would be coming this early. It’s looking more and more like he’s up to something.

I was taken aback when she smiled and said, “I’m sorry for surprising you, just dropping in all of a sudden!”

Is she saying they just dropped by for no reason? I know she didn’t mean any harm, but we had to change all of our plans for them...

Feeling physically and emotionally drained, I slumped back into the sofa and let everything out.

“Goodness gracious, Vi? There there! I ought to apologize, but here, I’ve brought you a lovely souvenir! Anemone, bring it over,” Lady Fisalis called for her maid, as she took a seat next to me, flustered. Anemone cheerfully came over with a white, expensive-looking box in her hands.

“Here you go, Madam,” Anemone said to my mother-in-law.

“Thank you.”

Lady Fisalis showed me the box, saying, “It’s a pigeon blood ruby from one of the mines in our territory. I thought of you when this little beauty was brought out, so I had this made for you!”

Sure enough, inside the opened box was a stunningly radiant, high-grade ruby.

I couldn’t believe my eyes! Well, yes, actually I could.

For sure, Lady Fisalis’ smile was even more radiant than the gem at that moment, though. I could practically see the words, ‘so happy I could die’ written across her beaming face. I felt my own face twitch in return until I managed to plaster a grin of my own across it.

I’ve had it with these nobles. How many times do I have to say that I don’t want any expensive gifts!? You all just keep lobbing fancy stuff at me.

“...Thank you kindly,” I told her, like the good girl I was.

Ugh, you can do this, be a good wife...

Cursing my shaking hands, I accepted the box from her!