This day's duties were a bit more serious than usual.

　Listening to the reports of Mimis and the other vassals, judging and approving the contents.

　What I do is pretty much the same as I usually do, but I sort of mended it to look a little more serious than usual.

　It's the seriousness of when I first started doing office work and my usual languidness.
　Somewhere in between.

　The reason I'm doing that is - Sophia.

　She's in the corner of the Oval Office, staring at me.

　She's been doing that since she started, and her attitude has made me feel like I'm supposed to be in control.

　In other words, the pressure.
　I escaped that pressure by focusing on the office.
　As a result, I'm looking a little more serious than usual.

　When the office was over, Mimis asked me, "Are you sure?

'Are you sure, my lord?'

　Then he glances at Sophia.

'Oh no well,'
'It is too rude for those of Despina to behave like that towards their master, and they should be stopped immediately or penalized.
Hmmm, well.
In the first place, it is outrageous that a man from Despina should come in during the master's office without being summoned.
That's what I'm thinking. My sister's the one who wants it.
Lady Sola?

　Yes, this is what my sister gave me permission to do.
　She gave her permission to enter the room because she said it would be good for her to see me when I'm in the office.

　I'm the head of the Cano family, but I don't like what my sister says, unless she's in a bad mood.
　That's why I didn't allow Sophia to enter the room.

　Now she's technically my daughter, but she's still my sister.
　And I'm not in the habit of sitting on my ass.
　Mimis, who knew the relationship well, was a little more convinced by the fact that it was her sister's words.

'But still, that attitude,'
That's good, too.

　I sighed and answered immediately.
　This time it was my fault.
　After Sophia told me, my memory slowly came back to me.

　I'm pretty sure I said those words to her back then.

　The girl in black who was leading me around, training me to be a warrior--

The old man said that if you beat her, she's yours, say something nice and protect her.

　I said.
　That's what he told me, and it made sense to me as part of my training.

　At the time, I knew it was the right thing to do.
　It wasn't so much a suggestion as it was a suggestion. I've convinced myself.

　So I knew this time was my own fault.

　It was so self-inflicted that if I could go back in time, I'd want to strangle myself that day.

"I understand, if that's what the master says.

　Mimis sensed that I really felt that way, and he agreed.

'Well, I've heard approximate stories,'
What?　...from your sister.
Yes, sir.

　And now you're just asking me.
　That's mean.

'If you had said this was the extent of the penalty, I would have been disillusioned.
Mwah!

　It was ... a waste of time.
　Would Mimis be disillusioned with the idea of a penalty?
　Well, if that's the case, you can start right now.

....

　Something, I thought, and I looked at Sofia and my eyes met hers.
　She was glaring at me, but now her eyes seemed to be sulking.
　There was no way I was going to penalize her for that.

　I sighed and muttered, "It was a great opportunity.
　Mimis picked up on that.

'I don't know what the chance was but the rest is up to the young ones.

　With that, he walked out of the office, taking his retainers with him.

　When the door slammed shut and they were alone, Sophia spoke to me.

'The office, are you done?'
Yeah.
Yeah, well...
Darling!

　The door was thrown open as hard as it could and Erica was revealed.
　Midea also made a stormy appearance, jumping on me and hugging me.

'Erica. Oh yeah, did I hear you say you were coming again today?

　I was so preoccupied with Sophia that I forgot all about it.

'Yeah!　Darling, I've missed you. Are you done working?
Yeah. Erica's the one?
'Wow!　My darling worried about me. I'm so glad!

　A deliberate mimicry of crying and a heartfelt expression of happiness.
　Erica says, putting both of those on her face at the same time and with dexterity.

'But it's okay!　I don't want the historians to say my darling is a downer, so I'll do my best with Erika!
Don't be a dick.

　I plunged in with a slight bitterness.
　'No, well, I see what you're saying.

'Yes!　Hey darling, hold Erica's hand.
A hand?
Yes.
How's that?

　I did as I was told and shook Erica's hand.
　I complied easily, largely because I was getting used to Erica, and this was now a routine - a routine compared to the non-routine right beside me.

　Erica's hand was small, soft, and a little cold.

'It's cold,'
'Yes!　If you get your body heat from your darling like this, you'll be a hundred times more energetic.
Okay.

　It's also a contrast or a drop in the bucket.
　Erica's teasing made me feel a bit jealous.

'....Raging Mist.
Wow!

　Quickly, I avoided Erica while holding her in my arms.
　The moment I dodged, the chair I was sitting on and the office desk were burned.

　I turned my attention to Sophia, who had unleashed her magic.
　She was ruffling her shoulders.

'No, um--'
Cheater!

　Throwing those words away, Sophia ran out of the room with tears in her eyes.

''No, cheaters...''

　From Sophia's point of view, that might be the case, but I feel like shouting out loud, "No it's not.

　Meanwhile, Erica, who's still being held by me, looks towards the door that Sophia ran out and left open.

'Hey, that girl,'
Yeah, her name is Sofia.
Hmm, you're from Despina.
Do you know?

　I was horrified.
　I was surprised that Erica connected with Despina just by saying the word Sophia.

'Darling's house and Despina are well known to me. She's also a distant relative of Erica's.
'It's well known that Darling's house and Despena's house, and both of them are people who fell for the same people as Lady Rika. All of them.
Same person?
The Demon King's Father.
That's him!　I mean, it wasn't just the first generation, but they've given out hospitality to two hundred people!
He's a great guy.

　It's amazing, what can I say?

　Our ancestor, Kaori's father.

　He was messing with Despina, too?
　It's really refreshing to see him come this far.
　I can't help but think it's amazing that he's messing with the strongest unit of 200 men.

She's one of Despina's most promising girls, isn't she?
Yeah, I guess so.

　They say she's number one in the power rankings.

"How did the girl get to be a darling?　If you're too cocky, will Erica handle it?
You don't have to do it.

　I'm afraid of the words that come out of my mouth so quickly, Erica.
　Just the other day, I literally "dealt" with Laszles, and it's scary that I could do it in a normal way.

'Apparently, I promised her as a child that I would make her my future wife. And they were serious about it and then I forgot about it.
Yeah,

　Erica said, and then pulled away from me from the hug.
　And thought about it for a few seconds.

'Maybe that's a bit of a jera.'
Erica?
But that's because she really likes her darling.
Yeah?　Will it?
You can't blame me. Erica, I'll try to be nice to you.
I'll do my best.
'The girls who love their darlings get along with each other. It's a tradition from Lady Rika.

　Erica declared.
　Why would that be - and then I remembered something that made sense to me.

　The Lord of the Rose Garden.
　A title and tradition that Queen Karamba had passed down for generations.

　It's Queen Karamba's way of poking at a harem for a man who has an opening for her, and then giving the whole harem to him.

　I remembered hearing something like that when I met Erica, and I agreed with her declaration that we would get along.

　　　　　☆

　I left Erica and went out into the garden to find Sophia releasing her magic into the sky.

'Silly!　You idiot!　Baka, baka, baka, baka, baka!

　Powerful magic, flying into the sky in almost no time (,).
　I guess "stupid" is me, but I genuinely thought it was more amazing than that.

'Yo'

　I called out from behind me.
　Sophia stopped her hand and turned around.
　She had a fuzzy look on her face.

　She looked pouty, but not to the point of rejection.
　I decided that and moved even closer to Sophia.

　Sophia got a little teary-eyed again, glaring at me.

'I tried so hard,'
Yeah?
I tried to be worthy, all the time.
...I suppose so.
'I've been waiting for you. Ever since you became head of the family!
I see.
I heard you became a great swordsman after you became master of the first generation. That's why I had to work harder on my magic to become a more suitable child.　And yet!　It was all forgotten!
I'm really sorry about that.

　I bobbed my head honestly.

　The things I'd forgotten, the things I'd done as a kid.
　It's all my fault.
　I apologized because it was totally my fault.

"I don't want an apology from you!

　Sophia gets more and more teary-eyed and grounded.
　After doing so for a moment, Sophia turned around in a circle and resumed her magic aerial shots to the sky.
　Is it a stress reliever?

　.........Yeah, that was it.
　I remembered clearly now.

　She was like this when I met her as a child.
　And I was - we were.

"Are you okay?
Leave me alone!　I'm just trying to get myself in a good mood!

　Yes, we had this exchange.

　I take my own moods.

　An idea that I never had, an idea that didn't depend on others.
　I guess that's why I became strong and number one in the pecking order.
　That's why I said something like a proposal at that moment without a doubt.

　I got nostalgic and familiar all at once.

　I moved closer and placed my palm on Sophia's back.

"Hey, what are you doing?
Just do it. I can feel it, just not against it.
Uh....

　I put the magic inside Sophia.
　I let it pass through the pathway of magic inside the human body.

　Sofia's expression quickly changed to one of amazement and admiration.

You are first in the pecking order. Now you know.''
Uh-huh.
Just do it.
Maybe.

　Sofia once again fired a magical aerial shot into the sky.
　It became more powerful than any magic before.


You should do that when you shoot magic. The more efficient you are, the more powerful and frequent you will be.
Is ... magic ... also ... amazing?
'What?　Ah........

　I huffed.
　I'd done it.

　I felt nostalgic, and I felt close to her all at once.
　I couldn't resist teaching her how to use her efficient magic.

''I knew........it was amazing........''

　A change.
　Sofia seemed to be floating in a fever.
　She looked at me like she was in a feverish state.

　Oof.