Chapter 10

「Rejoice, Harold. I have good news」「」

「Good news?」

「A notification from Tasuku-dono reached today. For a short while, Erika-jou will be staying in the Stokes house」

「I’m not enthusiastic, living together with that girl」

「No need to be shy. Because, the relationship between you and Erika-jou has officially been recognized by both families」

But Hayden misunderstood that he was feeling shy. Maybe because he was cheerful, there was no sign of him paying attention to Harold’s words properly. Even though he tenaciously tried after that, without being able to overturn the desicion, eventually Kazuki unwillingly went to welcome Erika.

(Rather, isn’t the schedule too tight?)

「To be welcomed by Harold-sama personally, it is an honor」

「Ha, even though you don’t mean it」

「Who is that?」

「Juno, my attendant. She will look after my daily necessities during the stay」

「I am Juno ～」

「I’m warning you again, I don’t have the time to look after you bastards. Staying here is your decision, but just don’t get in my way」

The 2 people accepted Harold’s sharp words without getting perturbed.

「I’ll keep it in mind」

「Understood ～」

(If you have seriously understood it, can’t you just go back………)

「To show gratitude for the other day, show Erika-chan around the town tomorrow. Because, escorting a lady is also an ability required by a noble. You won’t lose anything by starting to practice from now itself」

「The face you’re making is more scary than usual. If you’re like that, won’t your fiancee will become afraid of you?」

Coming inside the room, as soon as Zen saw Harold’s face, he talked bluntly. It was amazing that he could talk without any hesitation to a noble making such a face.

「That fiancee is the reason. Really, so annoying……..」

「What are you so dissatisfied about? Even though she is quite a cute girl」

「Is that so? I came to know about your tastes」

「You don’t understand anything! It’s a terrible misunderstanding, all right!? I prefer Juno-san more!」

「Gyaa gyaa – Stop clamoring and go call Norman and Jake. I need to adjust the plans for tomorrow onwards」

「Really, I like a grown woman, all right!?」

「I had heard about it, but he seems to be quite a naughty kid ～」

「Father told that Harold-sama is either connected to or is possibly being used by the hidden person, but……..」

「From his personality, you can’t think of him listening to someone obediently ～」

Then, the possibility that Harold had become a puppet before he realized it, became higher. Making him submissive would be a considerably difficult task.

Erika freeloading was a smoke screen for the sake of Juno being able to infiltrate naturally, in other words, nothing more than a decoy. Erika also knew about this. The objective this time and her own role, Erika understood them perfectly.

「This might perhaps require quite some effort ～」

With a sigh not audible to Erika, Juno took out a dark device from inside her sleeve, and rang it out with a ‘Kashan’.