The battle over the love potion still hadn’t been settled by evening.
As the only one left out of the chaos, I took a taste test of the miso soup for dinner. Perfect.
“Hey, everyone, dinner’s ready. Let’s call it quits—”
“Master, catch…!”
Kanade, wobbling unsteadily, hurled the little bottle—but it veered wildly off course—
“Huh!?”
I managed to catch it, but after being handled so roughly, the cap finally came loose. And the contents splattered all over Suzuha and Yuzuriha-san, who happened to be standing nearby—!
“Whoa!?”
As the liquid drenched them both, I rushed over in a panic.
“Are you two okay!? Any weird effects!?”
“…No…? I don’t feel anything.”
“…Same here. Feels like we just got splashed with water.”
“Really!?”
Even as I pressed them for confirmation, they just tilted their heads in confusion.
“Wait, was Kanade tricked? Was this just colored water?”
“No way. This love potion is definitely the real deal.”
“Then why didn’t it work on me and Suzuha-kun?”
“Simple. Love potions don’t work on people who are already in love. That’s common sense.”
Ohhh, so that’s how it is.
Meaning, it didn’t affect them because they were already in love with—
…Huh?
Wait, what does that even mean…?
“—Ah, I see! That means my sibling bond with Big Brother is so deep that a wicked thing like a love potion could never affect us!”
“M-me too! Suzuha-kun Big Brother and I are destined partners bound by the red string of fate, protecting each other’s backs, so of course the potion wouldn’t work—!”
“Yuzuriha-san. Your face is bright red.”
“Sh-shut up! You’re just as red, Suzuha-kun! Look at you flailing around!”
Much later, when Toko-san heard about this incident, she laughed in amusement.
“What a perfect chance to just confess already! You two are seriously missing the mark, huh—?”
Only to get retorted by Yuzuriha-san— “You’re one to talk!” Or so I heard.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
3 (Ayano’s Perspective)
Honestly, Ayano thought things would be much harder.
Now handling all administrative duties for the Lohengrin Margraviate, Ayano was surrounded by a bureaucratic army dispatched from the Sakuragi Ducal House.
Ayano knew from the start they’d send skilled people—otherwise, there’d be no point.
After all, one of the Sakuragi Duke’s goals was to curry favor with the Lohengrin Margrave.
But precisely because of that, Ayano expected to be sidelined.
After all, Ayano had no visible backing.
To outsiders, Ayano was just someone who’d been handling paperwork before—and while Ayano wasn’t embezzling, Ayano past was far from clean.
At best, Ayano figured Ayano would be pushed out of the loop the moment the Margrave left the castle. At worst, Ayano would be framed. And yet—
“Ayano-dono, about the orphanage matter we discussed last week—”
“Ayano-dono, regarding the enhanced thrombolytic effects of magical sonication—”
“Ayano-dono, the selection of spies to infiltrate the Uentas Principality—”
“Ayano-dono, may I have a moment—?”
“Ayano-dono—!”
…This is ridiculous, Ayano thought.
Why was she being treated as the de facto head of the Margraviate’s administration?
Not that she disliked the work, but the sheer volume was exhausting.
One late night, as she slogged through the backlog, a fellow late-night regular—a young bureaucrat—brought her a hot cup of green tea.
“Here you go, Ayano-dono.”
“Thank you.”
She recognized him, of course.
He was the coordinator of the Sakuragi bureaucrats, formerly an aide to the Duke’s chief butler—
effectively, a future butler candidate.
In other words, he was undoubtedly one of the rising stars of the Sakuragi family.
The fact that even someone like him had been sent to the backwater Lohengrin Margraviate spoke volumes about the Duke’s determination.
“You’ve been working hard too.”
“Not compared to you, Ayano-dono. You’re doing the work of a hundred people.”
“That’s an exaggeration… Though it’s still better than when it was just the Margrave and me. He’s surprisingly competent, thank goodness.”
“Hmm. Which of us was faster at work?”
“You’re a paperwork specialist. If he were faster than you, that’d be a problem.”
The fact that she could banter like this with the Sakuragi bureaucrats still felt surreal. Though this guy was oddly easy to talk to.
Might as well ask—he probably wouldn’t mind.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Why haven’t any of you tried to push me out?”
The young bureaucrat blinked in confusion.
“Do you want to be pushed out?”
“Not particularly, but normally, you would. You understand why, don’t you?”
“Ah, that’s a tough one. Let me give you a proper answer.”
He took a sip of his tea before continuing.
“Two reasons. First, getting rid of someone competent is just stupid.”
“True. Sadly, it happens a lot.”
“Exactly. And the second reason is—you were chosen by the Lohengrin Margrave.”
Ayano froze. What?
“…I don’t follow. You could’ve easily fabricated reasons why I wasn’t fit for the role.”
“Ayano-dono. With all due respect, you’re missing the point.”
He shook his head emphatically.
“You probably assumed we’d remove you because the Sakuragi Duke wants control over the Margraviate, and you’d be an obstacle—”
“Isn’t that the logical assumption?”
“You don’t understand the Margrave at all.”
“Huh…?”
“Listen. The current Lohengrin Margrave is the hero who risked his life to rescue Queen Toko during the coup. He’s also the one who single-handedly detected the ogre outbreak and, alongside the Sakuragi Duke’s daughter, eradicated them—saving the entire continent.”
“…………”
“Without him, the Drosselmeier Kingdom would’ve lost the war against Uentas and collapsed—and a few years later, the ogres from the Great Forest would’ve slaughtered everyone. In every sense, he’s our savior.”
“…Right.”
“And if the man who saved us chooses someone, that alone is reason enough to respect that choice. Especially if there’s nothing wrong with them.”
“I see…?”
Now that he put it that way, it made sense.
But having been around the Margrave so much,
the idea of him as a “hero” just didn’t click.
“So if not for the Margrave’s influence, I’d have been removed?”
“At the very least, suspicions of you being a Queen’s faction spy would’ve lingered. And you know what that means.”
“Well, he wouldn’t care either way.”
“Oh? That’s the kind of man he is?”
“Yeah. The type who’d say, ‘As long as you work hard, even spies are welcome,’ with a straight face.”
“Hah! Truly a man among men.”
“…Uh, sure…?”
(Even though he looks more like a civil official than a warrior.)
“Shall we get back to work?”
“Right. Let’s avoid pulling a fourth all-nighter.”
Several years later, this young bureaucrat would fall head over heels for a certain Grand Duchess, propose on the spot—and be spectacularly rejected.
But that’s another story.
4
Through fields and mountains, we arrived at last—the Ducal Territory.
The Sakuragi Duchy boasted the Sakuragi Plains, renowned for the finest quantity and quality of crops in the nation, along with silver mines and tuna fishing ports—basically cheat-level lands. Nothing like our backwater territory.
You pick up these things naturally when shopping at the market.
After all, all the tastiest food comes from the Sakuragi Duchy.
As I explained the Duchy’s greatness to Suzuha—who clearly didn’t get it—Yuzuriha-san gave me a deadpan stare.
“…I mean, everything you said is true… but coming from the one person in the world who owns an orichalcum vein, this praise feels weird…”
“? Orichalcum isn’t edible, though?”
“Obviously. And if it’s food you’re talking about, there’s the recently Callandor territory. Plenty of crops and seafood there.”
“Ah, right… But that land originally belonged to another country, and I’d prefer to return it to Uentas someday…”
“So that’s what you were thinking… While being free from worldly desires is a virtue as an individual, it can be a flaw as a noble, you know? Besides, such a thing is impossible.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Once the people experience the security, fairness, and safety of your rule, they’d never accept anything less. They’d weep and beg for you to continue governing.”
“Hahaha, don’t be ridiculous.”
“I hope I’m wrong…”
*
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