The meeting between me and Princess Sakuya was swiftly realized. I went to the Dragunaut residence in the royal capital and told them that I would accept the princess's invitation, and they took me to the royal palace on the same day.

　I was surprised because I thought I would have to wait for several days, no matter how many times I was invited by the other side.

　When I asked Lord Dragonaut, he told me that he had received instructions from the princess. She wanted me to let her know as soon as I arrived.

　I walked down the corridor of the palace with Lord Dragunaut, thinking that the line that the princess had invited me just out of curiosity had completely disappeared.

　I was then led to the room where I had recently met with Claudia, the king and the crown prince. To add to that, the princess was already waiting for me in the room, and next to her was Claudia, who was in the palace as the Pope's maid of honor.

　The Duke of Dragonaut had not heard of this, and a faint look of surprise appeared on his face. Seeing this, the princess covered her mouth with a feather fan and laughed heartily.


"You can't leave your daughter to meet your fiancé, can you, Pascal?


　The princess who called Lord Dragonaut's name then looked at me and smiled softly.


"Greetings, Dragonslayer. I am Sakuya. I am sincerely pleased that you have responded so promptly to my invitation.


　The calm words of the Third Empress were unexpected to me.

　According to what Claudia had told me the other day, the Crown Prince Azar was unhappy with the arrogant attitude of Princess Sakuya whom he had met in the Empire, and that was why he wanted to get back together with Claudia.

　I still have that story in my mind, and I have formed an image of Princess Sakuya as a winsome princess with slanted eyes.

　After hearing from Lord Dragonaut about the princess's behavior in the Canarian Royal Palace, that impression was somewhat weakened, but the initial impression was still there.

　However, when I actually met the third princess, she was gentle and polite, and had the appearance of a lady-like princess. Neither her appearance nor her words and deeds showed any sign of being a Keikaku.

　Inwardly shaking my head, I too bow to the nobleman.


"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Imperial Highness.


　Feeling the princess's gaze on my face, I bow politely. For a moment, I thought I saw a sharp light in her eyes as she looked at me, but before I could confirm it, she continued.


"Now, Dragonslayer and Pascal, please come here. I would like to speak with you, and I would like to hear what you have to say. Time is limited, and not a second can be wasted.



　Thus, I, along with Lord Dragunaut and Claudia, had a pleasant chat with the princess.

　However, even though we were chatting, I don't have the skills or education to be the one to talk to the princess. Therefore, I was mostly a listener.

　It was mainly the princess who conducted the conversation, smiling constantly and skillfully talking to me, Lord Dragnote, and Claudia.

　The content of the conversation was very casual, and did not include any sensitive topics such as the internal affairs of the empire, my service, or the future of the Canary Kingdom.

　On the other hand, they were not innocently indulging in small talk without thinking. As far as I can tell, the princess is slowly investigating the relationship between the three of us.

　Recently, Claudia and I visited the royal palace together and made out in front of the king and the crown prince. There were no other retainers there, but since Claudia held my hand the whole time we were at the palace, there is no doubt that the relationship between the daughter of the Duke of Dragunaut and the Dragon Slayer came up as a topic of conversation among the court sparrows.

　It seems that the princess wanted to get more information about this.

　The relationship between me and Claudia has already been revealed to the public, but it is important to know whether I will become a son-in-law of the duke or whether Claudia will leave the duke's family and join mine. Since the Dukes of Dragonaut have no male children, this will also affect the next generation of Dukes of Dragonaut.

　At the same time, it was also a way of assessing the closeness between me and Lord Dragunaut. As the future Queen of Canary, I couldn't be indifferent to the connection between the first noble and the Dragon Slayer.

　Regardless of whether the future relationship would be divided into friend or foe, the more information we have, the better. I could sense such intentions from the way the princess spoke.

　Hmm, I nodded inwardly.

　It's obvious that the princess before me is not just a ladylike princess, but she's definitely smart. She's also very polite. She also knows how to be considerate of people's feelings, as she probably invited Claudia here to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings.

　In summary, she is a person with whom I can have a discussion.

　Somehow, I think I understand why Lord Dragunaut is so favorable to the princess.

　In the future, for example, even if the princess wants the sovereignty of the kingdom and becomes an enemy of the duke, she will listen to the arguments of her political rival if she shows interest and reason.

　I cannot feel this way about the Dauphin Azar. The Dauphin would distinguish between enemies and friends, and would not listen to the arguments of his enemies.

　The duke must be aware that the Claudia incident has caused a rift between him and the royal family. In the future, when the Dauphin ascends the throne and assumes the position of King, the rift will grow even larger and deeper.

　Just when I was feeling faintly melancholy at the thought of this, a princess who understands how to talk unexpectedly appeared as the queen of the crown prince. That would have been a good thing.

　The empire was also the party that planned to eliminate Claudia, but it was hard to imagine that a fourteen or five year old princess was actively involved in the conspiracy. Considering that it had been more than a year since Jijinbo had made his move, the possibility would be further reduced.

　In this case, I am curious about the noble attitude that this princess first showed to the crown prince. I don't know what she said specifically, but I don't think she is the kind of person who would be harsh to a person whom she has just met for the first time, and with whom she will spend the rest of her life, without any reason.

　If the princess had dared to give the crown prince the worst possible first impression, was it to test his mettle or to prevent him from feeling for her? It was one of the courtiers who came in and said that the king was calling for the princess.

　Hearing this, the princess let out a small breath of regret and looked at me.


It looks like this is it. I apologize to the Dragon-slayer-dono who took the trouble to come here.

"It's an honor just to be able to see His Highness' face. Please don't worry about me.


　As she struggled to come up with a rhetorical phrase that she was not accustomed to, the princess continued to speak, hiding her mouth with a fan in an amused manner.


You don't have to be so overly formal. I am not so narrow-minded as to be offended by the slightest impertinence.

"Well, thank you, sir.

I would like to build a good relationship with the Dragonslayer-dono. I would like to build a good relationship with you, Dragonslayer-dono, and if it is possible, I would like you to attend our wedding ceremony.


　There was no way I could say that it was impossible in front of the princess herself, so I said yes. Well, it didn't matter, because I was going to attend the meeting anyway, since I had made my relationship with Claudia public.

　Although Wisteria cannot stay in the capital for too long, as she is in the process of synchronizing with the anima in the forest of Titis, she has been able to get along with Pazuzu to some extent.

　To be more specific, Pazuzu is no longer able to take over her body, even if she is not in sync with him. This can be done against Pazuzu activated near the dragon pit. It would be no problem to stay in the Lord of the Flies' nest.

　The princess smiled contentedly when she heard my answer, and added the following.




"Dragon-slayer - no, Sora-dono, please do not hesitate to rely on me if you need any help. I'll help you as much as I can.

"Thank you for your kind words. Thank you very much for your kind words. If I am ever in trouble, I will rely on Your Highness' mercy.


　With that, he bows his head.

　Of course, it was only a polite response. Now I can manage most things on my own, and even if I can't, I don't want to owe a debt to the royal family. This is a completely different story from the princess's character -- I was certainly thinking so at that time.

　I had no idea that I would be relying on the power of the princess less than three days later.