Epilogue

From then on, I did my best to eat and sleep properly, and studied a lot. Miss Micah made me lots of food full of ingredients good for the body, and thanks to that, I got a bunch taller. Unfortunately, though, I was still a bit shorter than the average twelve-year-old.

Growing taller meant growing pains, and there were days I couldn’t even move. Those days, I’d have chats together with my Mother and Grandmother. They’d use a more ladylike tone than they usually did, which led to me using one more naturally, too. Other than that, I was happy to have learned of a new side of Lord Glen thanks to the half-year that we exchanged letters. I just kept wanting to see him more and more... Honestly, it was difficult.

Finally, after six months had passed, the Royal Research Academy was sending an escort to bring me back. My latest letter from Lord Glen even said that he’d be coming with them. I was so excited to see him that I could barely sleep the night before—my impatience was palpable. I knew they weren’t due to arrive until around sunset, but I couldn’t stay still. I kept pacing back and forth from the entrance hall to my room while the maids watched me warmly.

“Chelsea, why don’t you try calming down a little?”

“Alright. I’m sorry, Mother.”

After being scolded, I decided to wait in my room quietly.

“Milady, the carriage will be arriving soon.”

Nodding to the maid who came to report, I quickly walked to the entrance. After checking to make sure my hair and clothes weren’t messed up, I straightened myself up and went outside.

It seemed that the carriage had just arrived. I saw Lord Glen step out slowly—his dark blue hair like the night, and lighter blue eyes that seemed to suck you in. No matter how many times I saw him, he was always as beautiful as the angels from fairy tales.

While I stood there enchanted, our eyes met. I subconsciously averted my gaze, looking down. I was so happy to finally see him again, but so embarrassed at the same time... I didn’t know what to do. My face felt hot—I was definitely blushing bright red.

As I hid my face behind my hands, I could feel someone approach me.

“You’re Chelsea, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” I nodded immediately, hearing his gentle voice.

“You’re so tall and ladylike now. I won’t be able to pat your head easily anymore,” he said, kneeling in front of me. Since I was facing down, our eyes met again.

He wasn’t smiling his usual gentle smile. Instead, he was staring at me with a stern expression. I couldn’t look away, having never seen him like that before. We looked at each other for a while before his expression softened, eyebrows drooping and looking troubled.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to hold back...” he muttered, giving me another hard look as he pulled a small box from his Item Box. Then, opening it up, he showed me what was inside. “Would you accept this, so I can protect you openly from now on?”

Inside the box was a ring with a stone the same color as Lord Glen’s eyes. One of the things I had learned over this half-year was that a man giving an unwed lady a ring meant they did so with the intent of marriage, and that they’d like to become engaged. I thought I must be seeing things, so I blinked a bunch of times, but the ring didn’t disappear.

“Maybe I have to be a bit more straightforward...” he murmured, since I hadn’t responded. He took a deep breath. “You’re precious to me. Please, become my fiancée.”

My face went bright red the moment the words left his mouth. There was no way to misunderstand after he said that.

“...Yes,” I replied quietly, nodding.

His stern expression morphed into a happy one. He took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto my right ring finger. It shrunk down to fit my finger exactly with a little sound. Since the same thing had happened when I got my Spirit Tree bracelet, it wasn’t that surprising this time.

“This is an engagement ring, but it’s also a magic tool that will immediately deploy defensive magic if you’re threatened. I put it on your right ring finger, since it doesn’t come off easily. I want to keep your left one open for a wedding ring, after all,” Lord Glen explained, looking at it.

Putting it on my right hand because he’s already thinking of when we marry... The ring was a sign that wherever I went, he would be protecting me. I was so happy; my chest felt as if it would burst. Standing back up, he took my hand. I looked up at him as he did and saw a dreamy smile on his face, unlike his usual look. Even then, it was still angelically beautiful and enchanting.

“Really...”

I turned to see who spoke, only to see Father standing there, looking cranky. Oh, now that I think about it, we’re standing in front of the entrance... And everyone who works in the manor came out to greet him, which means there’s tons of people here...

When I realized I’d accepted Lord Glen’s proposal in front of so many people, my face started burning again.

“Oh, Chelsea, you’re red as a beet!” Mother spoke up from beside Father, a great smile on her face.

But just saying that wasn’t going to make it any less red. Even if I wanted to hide my face, Lord Glen was holding one of my hands, so I could only cover my mouth.

In the end, I went back inside, still blushing.

＋＋＋

Lord Glen and I sat on one sofa in the parlor, while Father (looking quite upset) and Mother (looking very happy) sat across from us.

A moment later, Miss Micah came in with a server maid, a smile also on her face. The maid put tea and youkan on the low table in front of us. The youkan was made by Miss Micah, and its sweetness went well with the astringent tea. It was on the way to becoming my second favorite sweet, aside from flan.

After saying my prayers to the earth god, I took a bite of the youkan; the sweetness of the red bean spread through my body. When I looked over to Lord Glen beside me, he looked extremely excited.

“You also like youkan?” I asked, getting a happy nod back.

For a while after that, we talked about what happened during his journey and in the capital over the half-year I was away. It was all so interesting, I got into listening to him talk. Father’s grumpiness soon changed to surprise and admiration, as well.

Once the atmosphere had lightened a bit, Lord Glen sat up straight and looked at Father. “Can I get to the real subject now?”

The moment he was asked that, my adoptive father looked upset again, giving a short nod in response.

“Then let me ask properly. Please, allow my engagement to Chelsea.”

For nobility, engagements and marriage were also meant to strengthen the bonds between families, so they required the permission of the family head. In the case that they weren’t allowed, they would only be seen as “dating,” and if they got married anyway without permission, it would be called “eloping.”

Dating was ignorable because it wouldn’t cause any harm to others. Eloping, on the other hand, would cause huge problems if the next family head was to do it, and be hard on the couple themselves due to having to drop out of the aristocracy. All of this was, of course, taught to me by Mother.

It was important to get proper permission first. I bowed a little bit too, because I also wanted it.

“Permission? Isn’t it already decided?” Father said, pulling an envelope from inside his inner coat pocket and showing us. It was an order from the King himself to have me become Lord Glen’s fiancée.

Engagements ordered by His Majesty were overwhelmingly for political reasons. So did that mean that ours was political too...?

I looked over to Lord Glen, who gave a sad look back. “Would you have given your blessings had it not been a royal decree?”

“Certainly not. With all due respect, Your Highness, allowing her to be your fiancée would be far too dangerous.”

Mother and Grandmother had already told me all about the dangers Father was talking about. Since the first prince was still so young, there was the chance that Lord Glen could be forced to become the next king. Other than that, his position as head of a duchy could lead to scuffles with other ladies.

But even so, I wanted to be with him. Political marriage or not, it didn’t matter to me as long as I could stay with him.

“I’ve promised to protect Chelsea, so I would never let her be in any danger,” he said straight out. I was relieved to see that he was prepared to protect me from whatever may come.

“But what about the situations where you can’t be there... Like between women?” Father countered, not backing down.

“I’ve given her a magical ring should situations such as that arise.”

“This isn’t the time for you to say thoughtless things like that...”

“James, shouldn’t you give up soon?” Mother spoke up.

I nodded, in agreement with her. Though I was happy that my adoptive father was so worried about me, I would like for him to have a bit more trust in us.

“Do you think anyone able to protect her more than His Highness will ever come along?”

“We could just keep her at home,” Father said, pouting.

“So you’d prefer to have her live her life being ridiculed for missing the chance to get married just because of your selfishness?”

Father tensed up hearing that and said nothing in response.

Suffering from gossip due to being Lord Glen’s fiancée, or suffering from gossip due to having missed my chance at marriage... If I’m going to get ridiculed anyway, I’d rather it be with the one I love.

“Then let me ask you again. Would you allow us to marry if it wasn’t by royal decree?”

“...Yes,” Father finally answered, reluctantly.

＋＋＋

And so, despite the fact that it was an order from the king, my engagement to Lord Glen got family approval, and we became officially betrothed.

“I’ve got it in writing, so no one can complain,” he murmured as we took a walk around the manor’s garden before we left.

Who does he think is going to complain? When I looked at him confused, he gave me his usual angelically gentle smile, and lifted a hand before pulling it back. I tilted my head again, and he gave a bitter smile.

“Even if we’re engaged, it’s probably not good to pat a lady on the head, is it...”

“You’ve always thought of me as a child, after all...” I mumbled back, only to get some confused blinks back.

“No, I didn’t think of you as a... Well, maybe I did...” he said before looking away.

Seeing his actions and how he couldn’t lie, I let out a small giggle.

The sound of neighing horses could be heard in the distance. It probably meant it was time to leave now. I was only here for half a year, but the people of the Sargent family were both kind and strict. It made me realize this was how families were supposed to work.

“I’m a bit sad that I won’t be living here anymore,” I whispered.

Lord Glen squeezed our linked hands. “You can take holidays, and we can come back together.”

He’ll be coming with me... I gasped at the thought. His kindness made my chest feel warm.