The lunch was surprisingly wonderful.
Orgueil seemed to have reserved a private room in the senior military officer’s dining hall.
There was a space looking like a restaurant where one could eat, located next to the dining hall for the senior-ranked officers and above, and it seemed that one could reserve it. The meal served was like a light full course cuisine, and although it wasn’t like what I always received in Leon-sama’s residential area, the ingredients and flavor were of fine level.
I wanted to eat the meal while observing people as it was a place where various people were present, but in the end, I felt grateful to Orgueil’s judgement for arranging the private room. When we were doing the field trip around the castle, perhaps due to my social status, the only one to seek an introduction bluntly was Chairman Asard, but the gazes from the other subordinate people and the civil officers and the military officers that passed by me—now when I thought about it again, they quite bothered me to the point where I thought I couldn’t go on like this. Orgueil completely avoided being told, “I want an introduction,” putting the hearing or something about committees, every meeting’s place, time, participants, everything about it, and thinking about a route and a time where those people ‘won’t show up in the corridor’. He said that since it was my first day, and that from tomorrow onward, we couldn’t thoroughly inspect the area until this place.
Noon passed by in the twinkling of an eye while I was looking around here and there, asking various questions, and being taught many things. Speaking of which, apparently, today wasn’t the first time Duke Rumsfeld was bad-mannered. I was happy since Leon-sama was way too cool so the thing with Duke Rumsfeld was trivial. That was my true feelings but the expressionless Orgueil seemed to be concerned about it.
“…That person is the youngest one among the three dukes, so it seems that the person himself is too conscious of it. He often tried to stand up well by making a belligerent attitude just so he won’t be made light of.”
“…What a petty person.”
“Duke Rumsfeld possesses an extraordinary talent in financing, and he’s also a military man on top of it.”
Orgueil indifferently said, perhaps he didn’t want to only say bad things about him.
After finishing the dessert and the after-meal tea, I left my seat in satisfaction.
“…His Excellency and Duke Odile, the two of them are highly praised in the literary and military arts even among the successive generations of the Gladius dukes, with them being said as enlightened monarch. No matter what, Duke Rumsfeld has to compete with them.”
“Come to think of it, how old is everyone?”
“His Excellency and Duke Odile is thirty soon. Duke Rumsfeld is twenty six.”
“What about you, Orgueil?”
“I’m twenty seven.”
…Duke Rumsfeld is the same age as me, huh?
‘What a brat,’ I concluded. Incidentally, I am not a brat.
It couldn’t be helped for a brat to be really angry. As expected, it was the best not to worry about it. I was right. Although it could be said that it was hard to deal with a brat with power like him, the two dukes would later be able to give their support to balance things up. Orgueil said that their relationship was very good. In addition, that man (I already decided in my head that I considered Duke Rumsfeld as one of the many other people so I didn’t put any title of honor for him) said, “I’m going to cooperate.” So that means, he’s going to give a patronage to me in some kind of a form, and even if he were to give me an official post, it won’t be something that was publicly mean. In that case, it’s not something I need to worry about now. Rather than that, let’s focus on the present.
“…I’m full. I want to exercise, Orgueil.”
After leaving the room, I expressed my hope as I walked in line with Orgueil.
“Not the horse, but I want to move. Can we leave the horse-riding ground for next time?”
“It is certainly not advised to ride on a horse with a full stomach.”
Orgueil nodded.
“We will arrive at the training ground after walking for a bit more. It’s the most compact one and the training there is usually held in the afternoon.”
“Do we have to make a reservation?”
“No, there is no need. Usually, if it’s not too crowded, ordinary soldiers and knights can freely come and go and use it.”
“Doing a practice swing at an empty place where nobody is around? That is a bit…”
Boring, huh? I slightly pouted. Orgueil then turned to look at me with a sublime sidelong glance and said.
“…Will you have a match with me, Princess?”
Author’s Note:
Do you want them to have a match? XD
By the way, I’m participating in ScribbleHub Anniversary competition. If you want to support me, please bookmark this story I wrote for the competition to your reading list (you have to make an account on ScribbleHub first before doing so). You can also read the story if you’re interested~! Psst, I’m also writing an original novel that I update regularly even in this site, if you’re interested in my other projects.
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