Uh ... the Duke of Sangha?
You stink of water, Mr. Temma!　You can call me your stepfather!

　Duke Sangha, who was in a state of heightened tension, was unable to have a proper conversation with me or Primera no matter what I or Primera said because of his buoyancy.

''Duke Sanga, be still.''
'....I'm sorry, Grand Duke. I got a little carried away.

　As he was wondering how to calm down, Ernest-sama stopped the Duke of Sangha with a voice that was not loud but resonated in his body... It was a rare sight that allowed him to recognize Ernest-sama as a big man near the highest level in the kingdom.

''Duke-sama, it's not like we're engaged yet, so please calm down a bit.
"What?

　When I said that, the Duke of Sangha and the Primera looked startled, but they didn't care, they stood in front of the Primera, held out their hands, and

'Primera, would you be willing to marry me?'

　For the first time in his life, he confessed to her. As expected, it's not right to proceed with the engagement with the momentum of the Duke of Sangha, and most importantly, he hasn't heard of Primera's feelings. I don't think he hates her.......but it's possible that he doesn't see her as a marriage partner. Besides, this is the first time I've ever been involved in a marriage like this, even in my previous lives combined, so I also wanted to take the proper steps. I've seen a few sad images of people being rejected at this point in their past lives' happening footage, so it would be better to assume that the engagement would only be consummated after hearing the Primera's side of the story.

'Yes, nice to meet you,'

　Well, from the way things were going just now, I knew they wouldn't say no... but I was confident that if they said no, I would be shut down.

But since Maria will sulk if we go any further, I think it's better to do the rest of the talk in front of her.

　It's true that Ernest-sama is right, and if Maria-sama finds out that my engagement has been going on without her knowledge, she could continue to be nebbish and sarcastic every time she sees me in the future.

''Primera, let's go to the royal castle at once. Duke Sanga, please report with me. Also, while you're at it, Grandpa and Ernest-sama.

''It's just as well!　Well, okay, but....

　As expected, they were best friends, and they breathed well together.

'That's why I'm going out for a bit. Take care of the house.

　I asked Jeanne and the others to stay at home, and we decided to hurry up and head to the royal castle. By the way, we had to travel to the castle in our respective carriages. At that time, Primera was to ride with me in my carriage, and for some reason Albert was moving to be my carriage's coachman. When I asked Albert why he was moving to Gohja, he replied, "Because your father is too buoyant and uncomfortable," to which Primera looked embarrassed.


Amur SIDE.

It was planned.

What's the plan?　

　I was so happy that things were going the way I wanted them to go that I couldn't help but let my mind wander. And I was so buoyant that I didn't even notice that Jeanne was right there with me. 'Oh well.

'To put it bluntly, this may be the first step ... maybe the second or third step in my plan to be tied to Temma.

　I hadn't thought through the details, so I don't know what stage we're in.

'Oh well. Anyway, in order for me to tie the knot with Temma, Primera needs to be in her rightful place as his wife.

Why?

　

'As it stands now, it's impossible for me or Jeanne to marry Temma ... maybe not, but it's quite difficult. Because me and Jeanne are too close to Tenma.　

　I don't think it's possible that Temma doesn't see me as a woman, but the feelings of family come before that, and also stronger than romantic feelings. It's the same with Jeanne, and it's unlikely that we'll ever get married.

'I might have an idea...'

'That's where you'll need a primera. Someone who is reasonably distant from Temma, someone Temma recognizes as a woman, and most importantly treats... kindly!

'I think I just heard a very rude word?

It's just my imagination.

　Jeanne doesn't seem to believe it very well, but that's just a slip of the tongue, so let it slide.

'So, Primera's role is to liberate Temma's s*xuality....and to make me change my view of her from 'family' to 'woman'. If my perceptions change as I interact with Primera, then I have a chance!　........should be. If it's still too difficult, I'll appeal to Primera's compassion.

　Fortunately, Temma's perception of women is thanks to Rich in Kukri Village?　So, I'm softening up a lot, my grandfather said. Besides, if I tried to force myself to be Temma's rightful wife, there might be some kind of interference from Duke and Queen-sama Sanga. If it was a side or concubine lower than the full wife, they wouldn't complain. In the meantime, I'm the daughter of an influential viscount....... Since that is attached to a lower rank, the public reputation of the primera should rise but not fall. It should be the same for the Sanga dukes.
　When I told Jeanne about it.

'Amur you were able to think and act that far ahead.

　He was very rude to me, such as

'Excuse me, Jeanne!　If this works, Jeanne could be a man and a woman with Temma!

　When he said that, Jeanne was in a panic, her face red.


　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Amour SIDE end


'Alex, can you call Maria and the others?　I have a little report to make.

　We arrived at the king's castle and headed straight for the king's workroom, but neither on the way nor in the king's workroom was Maria there.

'What is the matter, uncle?'

　The king was looking at us and trying to find out what the report was about, but Master Ernest was all, "I'll tell you when Maria gets here.

'Cliffe, go get Maria at once!

　The king shouted into the corridor, and there was a reply, "We've already sent Aina towards them. Me and my grandfather were not surprised since Mr. Clife-san had been behind us many times, but Duke Sanga and Albert and Primera had turned around in surprise at the voice that suddenly came from behind us. I didn't turn around, so I can only imagine it, but perhaps now Mr. Cliffe has a satisfied look on his face because the prank was successful.


'You, you have something to report to Aina....oh?'

　As we moved to the table and were chatting idly, Maria-sama and Aina came in a few moments later. Maria-sama showed a surprised look on her face as she came into the room, as if she hadn't been informed of me and Primera's presence. And then she glared at Aina afterwards, but Aina seemed to be convinced and seemed to be nowhere to be seen.

''So, not only Temma and Merlin-sama, but also the Duke Sanga's family are together.......so Temma has finally decided to settle down!　.... not. It's Temma.

　And so on, Maria tried to sit next to the king....

I'm here to inform you that I'm going to be engaged to be married to a Primera here.

Huh?　Aaah!
'Whoa!　Phew!

　A startled Maria failed to sit in the chair and managed to avoid scrambling as she pushed the king away. Instead, the king rolled the whole chair to the floor.
　When I saw Maria's surprise, I felt like I had a revelation to turn around and look behind me now...so I turned around and saw Mr. Cliffe and Aina, who had the most surprised look on their faces I've ever seen.

''That, that's...that's...gosh!　That's a true story, isn't it?

　Me and Primera nodded at the same time, and Maria-sama sat down in her chair as if she had lost her strength from her body. Seeing this, Kleif-san rebooted and began to prepare tea, and Aina........ran off somewhere.

''Nugu, my waist, my hips....tsu...''

　Because no one paid any attention to the king, he crawled up on his own and sat down in a chair.

'So, Temma. Why did you bring up the subject of engagement?　Oh, and I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm not going to disagree with you in the slightest, so you don't have to be so adamant. I'm just curious.

　The first half of Maria's words were directed at me, but the second half was directed at Primera. It was from looking at Primera, who got stiff and nervous in the middle of the words, but it still didn't seem to have much of an effect.

'Well, well, after the recent mishap, and since I was originally fond of Primera, I thought it would be a good opportunity to confess to her. Well, it was a relief when he accepted my engagement, since there was a chance he would refuse me.

　As they talked with a bit of laughter mixed in, Primera's nervousness seemed to gradually dissipate and she was able to answer Maria's questions.

'So, now that you know we're engaged, when are you going to get married?　I don't like to put it this way, but it's partly because of Primera's age, isn't it?

　Primera's age is twenty-four this year, so she's about as late to marry as a nobleman. Well, Albert and Eliza are twenty-six and haven't been married yet, so it's not so much that there is no precedent at all.

''With regard to that, I have a favor to ask Duke Sanga-sama and Primera, the marriage will take place after next year, and I would like Primera to get out of the noble register when we get married.

What do you mean by that?　I understand that you want to set aside a period of time until the marriage, and Primera originally said that she would be out of the noble register in the future, but if you're going to get married, wouldn't it be more convenient for you to have the noble register in some way?

　The Duke of Sanga's questioning of the king, Maria, and Albert, and even the Primera seemed to wonder.

'First of all, the reason I say the marriage will be after next year is that Primera has just started her new job with the Sangha Dukes, so right now would be a hindrance to her duties, and the reason I want her to get out of the noble register when she marries is because I don't want to give that child the right to inherit the Duchy when she has a child in the future.

''Hmm, I understand that Temma-kun is thinking about the duke family, and I can agree with you about the timing of the marriage, but it's impossible that you don't want to give the child the right of succession. Even if the Primera leaves the noble register, as long as the child has the blood of the duke family flowing through him, he will be given the right of succession.

''Even so, the chances of succession are much lowered, aren't they? As I recall, the two older sisters each have more than one boy, but before the succession of the duke's family, the succession of the paternal family's family occurred, didn't it?　In contrast, the Otori family is not a noble family, so there is no such thing as a right of succession. At worst, there would be no problem if an adopted child who is not related to them by blood takes over. In that case, if something happened to Albert or Albert's child, he could be seen as a strong candidate for succession.

　Some of Duke Sangha's vassals might think of capturing the power of the Otori family, and some of the rival nobles might think of pushing my child into the candidate's ranks to disrupt or split the Sangha duke's family. But if Primera pulls out of the aristocratic register, no matter what the blood is, the family will say they are commoners.

''If it's a child with a noble registry and a right of succession and a commoner and a child with a right of succession, you could argue that the former would be a more suitable successor, right?

　As much as possible, you want to keep your own children away from the bloody world.

It's not ... well, I can't say it's not possible. And I can't say that it can't be done. Primera, Temma, you say so, but what do you want to do?

''I think Temma-san is right, too. In the first place, the reason I wanted to get out of the peerage was also for the purpose of relinquishing my right of succession.

　Depending on how you think about it, it could be taken as saying that he's still connected to the dukes but not responsible for them, which is a pretty convenient thing to say, but....

''It's a cheap thing to think of being able to have a relationship with the strongest force in the kingdom. If you think about it the other way around, the possibility of the duke's family being taken over is quite low................................There's no problem. And even if something comes up from below, it would be easy to silence them.

　I knew the Duke of Sangha would say that. In the case of the duke, the happiness of the primera is probably more important than the takeover of the duke's house by me.

''If the duke is fine with that, then it's not for the royal family to interfere, is it?
'Yes. Temma, Primera, congratulations on your engagement.

　The King and Maria also congratulated me and the Primera and the Duke of Sanga for not interrupting because they were convinced by the parties involved.

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that Temma is here, so let's talk about next year's tournament. I'd like to tell you about next year's event.　Kah!

　The moment the king suddenly started talking about work and then threw it further to me, he let out a strange sound and fell off his chair. Maria-sama, who was sitting next to him, must have stomped on him because she was holding the back of his leg at the end of his fall.

'That's it, but I think I'm going to make it an individual battle only because I'm about to get married or something. To be honest, it's too hard for me to get out of it all.

'I'm sure that method will work for next year but not after that, right?

'We'll think about the year after next year. Maybe I'll change my mind and want to get it all out.

　That would mean I might get out again next year if I'm in the mood, but I'll probably manage to remember that until next year or so. Maybe.

''Well, we'll come up with some sort of plan before next year as well, and there's no way we can keep the adventurers from competing in the first place. You don't have to push yourself.

　And, says the king, it's probably a problem if I'm the only one who wins too much. Like finding talent or betting income. Incidentally, the dividend is calculated by subtracting 20% of the sales, so whether I win or lose, the amount of money that goes into the country will remain the same, but more and more people are saying they won't buy if I win and it's a payback (possibly negative in some cases), which is why overall sales are decreasing.

'Isn't it me who's overreaching, Zain-sama, who needs to come up with a new way to sell?

　When he heard that, the king gently removed his gaze from me.

''I mean, you seem to have forgotten, but even if Temma is out, 'Oration' will still participate in the team competition.

　I suppose that means I'm out and we still have the numbers to go around.

You seem to have forgotten that the fact that Tenma will not take part in the tournament means that Slarin and his friends will not take part in the tournament.

...Ah!

　Grandpa seems to have forgotten all about it, but since Slarin and the others are my subordinates, they can't participate in team fights without me, the tamer, being there. It's a good thing that you're not the only one who has been in the same team, as the Marquis of Samos has previously teamed up with Gulliver and his knights, with him playing second fiddle, so if you have a tamer in the same team, the family members can still participate in the game even if he is playing second fiddle, but if he is not in the team, his family members will not be able to participate in the game, but will instead be able to take part in the game. I will not be able to register as a team. In other words, if I'm out, Grandpa and Amour will be the only members of this year's "Oration" team to remain. Well, it's possible to form an "Oration" with me out next year, but in that case, Jeanne, Aura and Aina will have to replace me and Surarin. In addition, Aina still keeps her registration as Jeanne and Aura's instructor.

''It's a shame........''

　Grandpa looked disappointed, but he said, "Then I'll team up with Amour to compete in a pair! He was quick to say, "I'm not sure. At this minute, he might compete in the individual competition as well.

''If that's the case, after announcing Temma-kun and Primera's engagement, it might be better to casually play it off as a rumor level story, saying that he might not be competing in any other individual matches due to marriage preparations, etc. If he doesn't participate completely, people might wonder if the royal family has pressured him in some way, and if it's a definite story, there might be a backlash if Tenma-kun changes his mind.

I think it's safe to proceed as the Duke says. I'm sure there are people who will approach you to get something to back you up, but you don't have to deal with them. It's only a 'rumor' level story.

　If someone you don't know comes to ask, don't take them up on it, and if someone you know comes to ask, just say that you're sure you're going to be busy, but you haven't decided what you're going to do yet. For starters, letting the djinn know would naturally lead to wider publicity. Well, we won't release the information until after the engagement is officially announced, so we don't know when that will be, but since the djinn are surprisingly well-acquainted with each other, I'm sure they'll do a satisfactory job.

　Afterwards, they discussed the timing of the engagement announcement, and it was decided that it would be after the djinn's commotion had died down, and it would be announced at the party hosted by the Duke of Sangha after the new year. Maria wanted to make the announcement at the party hosted by the royal family, but it became impossible to do so without the Duke of Sangha, so we agreed that Primera and I would attend the party after the Duke made his announcement.

'Grandpa, what do you think we should tell Uncle Mark and the others?'

The sooner the better, the better, but there are a lot of things to think about, and we don't want the news to get out before the duke announces it. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until after the New Year. Well, I'm sure people will notice, but as long as you don't say it outright, it should be fine.

　It pains me to keep quiet with my uncles, but I don't want them to be accused if something goes wrong, so I'll tell them why and apologize after I announce it.
　When me and Primera's conversation had come to an end, Duke Sanga started talking about the djinn's reward, so we decided to leave without him.

''We'll have to keep Amur and the others quiet when we get back.
It's not... hmm?　That's just like Din and Aina.

　Aina ran from the room, apparently to fetch Miss Dinh.

'Temma, Aina told me you are engaged to Miss Primera, is it true?

　When I returned that it was true, Mr. Din congratulated me and Primera, but then chided Aina when she said it was something she couldn't disclose yet. Apparently, Aina hurriedly jumped into the place where Din-san was training and suddenly pulled Din-san away. The other knights were there too, but the reason was that they heard the reason in the middle of nowhere, so the engagement story wouldn't have been leaked. However, he said it was rare for Aina to be in such a rush, so he said it was troublesome to think about the reason he was in a rush when he was asked.

''For now, we'll go to His Majesty's for now.
'Dear Temma and Primera, I'm sorry to show you how unseemly I am.

　Aina seemed to have calmed down after meeting up with Din-san and seemed to be the same as usual.


''And even so, are you sure you didn't want to send me to the Duke's residence?

Father will be back at the Temma compound once, and most importantly, the Primera will have to talk to Amur and the others.

'No, well you're right but...'

　Primera says nervously............well, it can't be a bad thing.
　I was thinking lightly about it....

'Temma!　Is it true that you are engaged to Primera!
'Hey!　Leon, you're too loud!

　The remaining two of the three idiots were making a lot of noise. Because of that, the djinn seemed to have found out, and they had a hard time keeping their mouths shut. Incidentally, even in the midst of all that commotion, Chris did not wake up.