Epilogue

A few days after our engagement announcement, I visited Lord Glen’s office in the palace.

Right by the entrance, there was a leather-covered sofa and a big low table for guests, then a wall of bookcases stuffed full of books flanking a stately work desk and an elegant chair. It really gave off the feeling of a real working adult’s room, and my heart started pounding as soon as I walked inside...

After we’d been served tea and snacks on the low table, Lord Glen and I sat side-by-side on the sofa.

“I’d like to have our tea parties here in my office on some days. Is that all right?” he asked, sipping at his tea.

“Yes, that’s fine with me, but...” I tilted my head in confusion, unsure why he wanted to have our mana pool-increasing tea parties in his office instead of in my lab like we’d always done before.

Lord Glen looked away, covering his mouth and looking a little embarrassed.

He stayed silent for a little while, before the Communication Spirit appeared, sparkling. “He wants you to watch him work and see how coo—”

“Don’t go reading my heart like that!” Lord Glen cut the Spirit’s words off. Though he wasn’t able to see the Spirit, he could still hear it.

“I’d...like to know how you act in different places, as well.”

Smiling happily, he replied, “One day...I’d like to invite you to my personal room.”

Going to Lord Glen’s personal room...?! Lady Noel’s room is full of plants. I wonder what his room will be like? Just thinking about it got me excited.

“I’ll look forward to that day!” I said, beaming.

Lord Glen looked a bit conflicted with my response. “...It kinda hurts how little you think of me as a man.”

“Huh?” He’d spoken so quietly I didn’t catch it.

“Never mind,” he said, shaking his head.

He took me by the hand and guided me to stand. Then he brought me over to the window and hugged me tight from behind.

Reflected in the window glass were my surprised expression and Lord Glen’s smile. As I stared absentmindedly at our reflections, he brought his face close to just above my ear and planted a kiss there. I heard a smooch sound before his lips moved away.

“Hweh?!”

I was so surprised by what he’d done that a weird sound escaped my mouth. My face began to redden more and more. I wanted to cover my face with my hands, but I couldn’t since he was hugging me from behind. I looked up at Lord Glen, only to see him grinning happily like a little boy whose prank succeeded.

“I can only do this much since we’re in my office, but I dunno how far I’d go if we were in my room.”

“Ah!”

I finally remembered mother’s words when he said that.

“To visit a man’s room is to lie with him. I think that His Highness will treasure you, but make sure you’re prepared if you’re given the chance to visit.”

At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant about “lying” with him, but I understood from her expression that visiting his room wasn’t something I should do lightly. And now here I am...!

I looked up at him in the reflection again, and our eyes met. I realized he’d been watching me the entire time, and I looked away in embarrassment.

We stayed there with him hugging me for a while longer before he murmured, “I can finally show you the sea.”

Unsure of what he was talking about so suddenly, I tilted my head a little bit. “The...sea?”

“I promised before that I’d show you the sea, but we never had the chance.”

Now that I thought about it, he’d mentioned wanting to take a side trip to show me it while we were on our way to Radzuel. But we hadn’t had the time to do so, and I’d forgotten about it completely.

“My domain, the Snowflake Duchy, is on the seaside,” he began. The Snowflake Duchy was in the south of the Kingdom of Chronowize, about the same distance from the capital as the Sargent Margraviate. “If I went anywhere on a long trip alone with a lady before our engagement was announced, people would start spreading rumors, right?”

I nodded.

“Since I’d been told to be good, I’d held things back until the official announcement, but...”

“You mean...”

“Will you come to my territory and the sea with me?”

“Absolutely!” I answered instantly, getting a happy chuckle from Lord Glen behind me.

“I want to introduce the people to the future duchess. I’ll get the plans approved ASAP, so look forward to it.”

“F-Future duchess...?!” I was so happy that I couldn’t help but smile when I heard that he’d already been planning for things after our engagement.

«So this is where you were.»

After we’d moved back to the sofa to chat more, Ele appeared in his cat form. Then he hopped up on the other sofa sandwiching the table.

“Is something the matter?” He’d appeared so suddenly that Lord Glen squared himself off.

I stared at the Spirit too, thinking something must be wrong.

«I just came to tell you that the branch for the cutting is growing,» Ele reported, looking at both of us. I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t any bad news. «It should be ready in two months’ time.»

“Okay. I’ll have to let our destination know.”

After what happened half a year before, Ele had told us he wanted to meet the Proxy and talk. The Proxy, being made to seem as if she were targeting me, lived deep in the Demonic Forest behind a four-layer barrier made by the Great Spirits.

Unless we got rid of the barrier, Ele wouldn’t be able to see the Proxy. And in order to take down said barrier, we’d need to plant cuttings of the Spirit Tree, and summon the Great Spirits from the Spirit World. I was the only one who could plant the cuttings, and due to an ancient restriction, Greater Spirits could only be summoned from cuttings planted about an entire country’s distance away from each other.

“Destination? Where will we be headed?” I asked.

“To the Martec Republic, even farther west than Radzuel. They were all for getting a cutting. I figured we could go after stopping to check in on Royz.”

The Radzuel Empire was to the west of Chronowize, and its citizens were beastmen who could transform between human form and beast form. Its current emperor was Lord Royz, the dragonman. The Martec Republic was even farther west, and I remembered that it was called “the land of crafting and merchants.” Its citizens were elves, dwarves, and a race called grassrunners, who were apparently similar to fairies.

While I was busy remembering what I’d been taught, Lord Glen smiled. “I was thinking we could bring Micah and let her visit home. How about it?”

“That’s a wonderful idea.”

My personal chef-slash-maid, Micah, was originally from the Radzuel Empire, and was both Emperor Royz’s adopted daughter and disciple. The both of them would probably be happy to see each other.

«I’ll have the branch put inside of a wooden box after you reach Radzuel, so it may be best to leave a bit earlier than when it’s ready.»

I looked at Ele, confused.

«You remember that I must constantly use my magic on the cutting branch in order to prevent it from drying out, as well as to keep it safe, yes?»

I nodded, remembering how Ele had to stay right beside the box when casting his magic, and spending most of the time sleeping because of it.

«Keeping that magic up across two countries is too much for even myself. I plan on teleporting to the Tree in Radzuel from our Spirit Tree of Origin here to make the distance we must carry the cutting shorter.»

“So, in essence, we’ll only be carrying the cutting from Radzuel to Martec?”

Cat-form Ele nodded. Seeing him nod as a cat was so cute that it made me want to pet him. But unfortunately, he was sitting on the other side of the table, so I couldn’t.

“I’ll get things adjusted for now,” Lord Glen said, planting a kiss on my temple before standing.

“...?!” I squeaked something nearly word-like out and looked over at him, only for him to chuckle and sit down in his desk chair.

«You should do that when you’re alone together...» Ele muttered, fed up before he disappeared.

Ele was sitting right across from us, and Lord Glen k-kissed me! I wanted to complain, but the increasing embarrassment made me cover my heated face with my hands instead.