Right after the eting ended.
Moving out of the hall, Orson calmly walked ahead while Delilah followed him from behind.
Neither made a sound as they moved.
The silence lingered as the two stepped into a quiet, empty office. Though no one else was present, the room was tastefully furnished. Paintings lined the walls, chairs and sofas were neatly arranged, and at the center was a large oakwood table where Orson made his way to and sat down.
As he sat down, he crossed his legs and looked at his adoptive daughter.
"What do you think about the current situation?"
"....It is not bad."
Delilah answered flatly, looking around the space before sitting down on one of the sofas and taking out a chocolate bar.
Riiiip—
Orson pretended not to see her actions as he continued to speak.
"Do you think he’ll be capable of winning the Rite? It would be quite troubleso if he doesn’t."
Orson had long foreseen sothing like this happening once the incident occurred.
He was well aware that many noble houses in Central had long set their sights on Evenus territory, not just for its gold mine, but for its pri geographical position. Over ti, the Evenus Household had beco a tempting prize, a piece of the pie that left many nobles salivating.
Orson had warned the others not to provoke mbers of Central, but it seed his words hadn’t been enough to deter them.
Central wasn’t as harmonious as many people would believe.
There were several factions within Central, and while he could control them to so extent as the Head of Central, now that the elections for the next head were about to start, the noble houses had all started to reveal their fangs.
In particular, Marquis Wilshire, who, in truth, was operating under Duke Morrison’s orders.
’It’ll be quite troubleso if soone like him rose to power.’
It wasn’t that Duke Morrison was a bad leader or anything like that. If anything, he had an exceptional mind and a powerful force. But the problem lay in the fact that his greed knew no bounds.
He... was soone who highly coveted the throne, and as such, was an extrely dangerous individual.
Only lunatics would try to compete against the grail Household for the throne.
Their power was so deeply rooted within the Empire that trying anything with them was simply suicide.
Soone like that...
’I can’t let soone like that beco the Head of Central.’
Munch. Munch.
As Orson snapped out of his thoughts, he looked at Delilah as she emptily stared at the ceiling while eating her chocolate bar.
The Duke’s mouth twitched.
"...Are you not going to reply to ? What do you thi—"
"No problem."
Delilah replied after taking another bite of her bar.
The way she ate so casually, eyes drifting toward the ceiling, made it seem as if she didn’t care in the slightest.
This made the Duke frown.
"Are you sure about that? This is quite important for the future of Central and the future election. If he sohow—"
"No problem."
Delilah once again replied with the sa nonchalant tone as before.
Her eyes remained fixed to the ceiling as she ate.
"That’s... Nevermind." Orson sighed, shaking his head quietly while mumbling, "What am I going to do with her?"
In the end, he decided to shift the topic of conversation.
"Setting that aside, you’re still going to go on with the made-up fiancé story of yours? You know, I’ve got several proposals. I’m not asking you to get married, but it’s also for my sake since I’m constantly getting bombarded with requests. Be it this Empire, or others..."
Taking a mont to look around his desk, the Duke opened up one of the letters.
"Ever since the mont our paths first crossed, your presence has never once left my thoughts. You have lingered in my mind with a quiet persistence, as though you were always ant to be there—"
The Duke stopped after reading the first two lines.
This was simply... too much.
The worst part of it all was that there were over a dozen such letters each day. Even if he tried to tell people to stop, they just wouldn’t stop.
The best solution was to get her engaged.
"Listen, Del, you’re of age now. I know that given your powers, you’ll be able to outlive practically everyone here, but you’re still in the pri of your life. If you—"
"I am engaged."
Delilah raised her hand to show her ring.
She pointed at it.
"My engagent ring."
"That’s..."
Looking at the ring, Orson frowned. That was an engagent ring? Quite frankly, it just looked like a plain black ring. One that he had seen many commoners wear.
The Duke tried to say sothing, but in the end, he lowered his head and sighed.
"Alright, let’s just say that you’re engaged. Can you at least tell who your fiancé is? I’d like to et him at least once."
"...Sure."
"If you’re really not lying to , then the—Eh?"
The Duke paused, his eyes blinking repeatedly as he looked at his adoptive daughter in shock. He didn’t hear wrongly, did he?
"I said—"
"I know. I will bring him."
Delilah rose to her feet and carelessly tossed the wrapper to the floor before making her way to the door. With each step, the soft click of her heels echoed through the room.
Staring at her back, the Duke was skeptical.
’She isn’t going to use this chance to run away, right?’
He knew his daughter quite well.
She was certainly the type to do this, and as he watched her open the door and leave, Orson found himself leaning against his chair as his arms crossed.
All sorts of thoughts started to cross his mind.
’I don’t believe that she actually has a fiancé. Definitely not her. I doubt there’s anyone in the world capable of truly reaching her heart. Most likely, she only agreed to the idea of an engagent for the sake of appearances. If that’s the case, she might’ve chosen soone at random to pose as her fiancé, just to get off her back.’
The Duke knew his daughter well.
In his mind, there was simply no way for her to be interested in any man.
In that case, this was most likely just sothing staged.
’But I don’t see the problem in this? It’s not like I want her to get engaged anyway. It’s only for appearances. If she’s engaged and found soone to pretend for her, that’s also fine...’
The Duke relaxed a little as his thoughts paused there.
If she really did bring soone to act as her fiancé, then things were all good.
That would be a heada—
Clank!
The door suddenly opened and two figures walked in.
One was her daughter, and the other one was...
"Hm?"
The Duke’s expression stiffened at the sight of the man who followed closely behind her. He walked with a straight, composed gait, his black hair neatly in place.
His features were striking.
Well-proportioned and no less captivating than his own daughter. But what stood out most were his eyes. Deep hazel, they held an enigmatic allure, a quiet pull that seed to draw in anyone who t his gaze.
The mont he appeared, the Duke recognized him imdiately.
How could he not when he was the main subject of their conversation not long ago?
But it was also because he recognized him that the Duke’s face turned strange as he looked at his own daughter.
"Seriously?"
He almost burst out laughing.
"...Of all people that you could’ve brought, you brought him?"
The Duke did vaguely recall Julien once expressing interest in getting engaged to his daughter, but he had dismissed it at the ti as nothing more than a convenient excuse.
Nonsense conjured by Julien to escape his own engagent.
Not only that, but Delilah was also the Chancellor of the Academy that Julien attended.
"This is ridiculous."
Orson shook his head as he dismissively waved his hand at his daughter.
"If you want soone to pretend to be your fiancé, at the very least make it realistic."
"...Realistic? Why?"
Delilah cocked her head, her large obsidian eyes blinking at her father.
"What do you an... why?"
The Duke massaged his head, feeling a massive headache approaching.
He alternated his gaze between the two.
"Let’s not talk about the fact that he was just one of your cadets not too long ago, but the two of you have quite a significant age gap. I’m not sure by how much, but it’s not normal."
"And...?"
Delilah blinked her eyes, looking even more confused.
She could live for a lot longer than normal. The little age gap between them was aningless.
So what was the problem?
"That’s, haa..."
The Duke sighed again, shaking his head shortly after.
"Choose soone else to pretend to be your fiancé, Del. Choose soone your age. It would make it more realistic. If I announce the engagent between the two of you, nobody would believe it. In fact, it would make things even more annoying for the two of us."
Delilah’s brows furrowed tightly upon hearing her father’s words.
"..But I’m not joking. He is my fiancé."
She raised her hand and showed him her ring again.
At the sa ti, she grabbed Julien’s hand and showed him his ring.
It looked identical.
"That’s just a cheap ring. Anybody can wear a ring like that. Just because you’re both wearing matching rings doesn’t an that you both are engaged willingly."
Delilah’s brows furrowed even more tightly upon hearing the Duke’s words.
She had previously thought that this would’ve been enough to convince him, and yet it only made him more dismissive.
"Del, I know you’re stubborn, but think carefully about your decision. I know that you’re only doing this for appearances, but if you want to do it, at least do it with soone more realistic. Nobody is going to believe that you actually like him."
"....."
Delilah stood in silence, listening to her father’s words without making a single sound.
She could tell from the way he was speaking that he didn’t believe her at all.
Suddenly, she was reminded of a certain scene she had witnessed not too long ago, and she turned her attention towards Julien.
He was standing next to her with a lost look on his face.
He was likely searching for the right words to say, yet he seed unwilling to interrupt the Duke. As a result, he just looked lost.
"Like I said, Del. What you need to do is—"
Delilah didn’t bother engaging with her father anymore.
Grabbing Julien’s chin, she turned his head in her direction, and she pressed her head down, feeling his soft lips against hers.
In that mont, the room turned quiet.
All noise ceased.
...All besides one.
The sound of her rapidly beating heart.
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
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