Chapter 5

Feudal Lord Representative? …In other words, to govern the territory in place of father.

I wonder what I should say in this situation… Having an unexpected piece of good luck? Casting pearls before swine? Ah, either one of those are incorrect! Because it happened so suddenly, I couldn’t find any words to make sense out of it.

“…Feudal Lord Representative, wouldn’t that role usually go to younger brother who is the heir?”

“It doesn’t matter since you’ll be going to the territory anyway. And besides, that guy is currently experiencing the ‘illness’ you spoke of.”

…Well, certainly. In order to experience being in love with the Baron’s daughter, Yuri, it is necessary for him not to distant himself from the Second Prince, but rather be part of his entourage.

If he stays in the Royal City, since it’s long vacation, a “kyaa kyaa, fufufu” development will definitely happen… Because she now belongs to the Second Prince, it should be fine if he distanced himself. In my brother’s mind, he probably wants to be in a position where he can protect the happiness of the person he loves and watch over her.

“…I shall comply. I’ll show you a territory that will not quiver ‘no matter what state’ the Royal City ends up becoming.”

When I said that, father nodded in acknowledgment and made a ‘you may retire’ gesture, and I left the room.

* * *

My name is Louis Dan Armelia. The Duke of Armelia, and also the current Prime Minister.

Now then, various surprising things occurred today.

First of all, my daughter, Iris, was expelled from school and had her engagement annulled… To me, this is a route which I had predetermined.

Besides, I was originally against it, and now I was able to prevent my daughter from doing so. However, I didn’t agree to let her get engaged… just so it can be annulled like this.

On the contrary, even if my daughter didn’t do anything foolish, I would have canceled her engagement by claiming she’s ill. In any case, I intended to have her be confined by the church before stepping in and removing her from the aristocratic society.

…In the first place, my daughter fell madly in love with Edward, the Second Prince, so she probably won’t listen to anything I say, so this works out fine. That’s what I thought.

However, when I finally met with my daughter, instead of looking humiliated as a result of being separated from the man she loves, she looked calm and refreshed. In addition, she splendidly executed my plans.

…How interesting. That’s what I thought.

Because of my work, I didn’t have much time to interact with my son and daughter, and the both of them were spoiled by my wife. As for my daughter, she grew up to be a typical noble who couldn’t do anything by herself.

On the other hand, my son grew up to be one of those youngsters who were overconfident in their abilities, lovestruck, and naive… And when he starts working in the Royal City, I planned on thoroughly disciplining him.

But that aside, when that same daughter of mine spoke with me, as though she had some sort of enlightenment, executed what I had planned beautifully… The sad part of it all is, compared to my son, she has the ability to discern the flow of society. Furthermore, she is able to make minute decisions.

It was as if she had turned into a completely different person. Now that I think about it, this child will occasionally perform strange things, and while listening to her, it made me recall those times. The most extreme occasion was when she asked for commoners to be picked up and have them by her side.

Instead of getting expensive presents, she chose to have commoner children be picked up to stay by her side… I thought she was going to make them her protégé. But when I finally approved of it, she didn’t seem to have that kind of plan.

I thought that my daughter’s phase of strange behaviors had ended… but when I looked at her expression earlier, she had the same look as before.

It is a waste not to put her to use. Before I knew it, I had already given her the position, “Feudal Lord Representative.” I thought it was rather whimsical of me if I do say so myself. However, since Sebastian is currently living in that territory, she’ll probably not do anything strange early on. Nevertheless, if Iris does perpetrate something, it’ll be amusing to see.

All except for one thing. She wasn’t able to guess one correctly. And that is the approval of her engagement to the Second Prince…

As the Prime Minister, I thought it would have been better for her to get engaged to the First Prince. The only reason I agreed to her engagement with the Second Prince was because it was my daughter’s wish.

After all, I’m also just a man. A father who wants to spoil his daughter. And so, under the pretext of her keeping an eye on the Second Prince, I agreed to her engagement. Then… after my daughter’s engagement was decided, in order for the royal family not to have disputes, I adjusted to a neutral stance.

Though, I cannot say anything about my son. Since he’s overconfident in his abilities, he should do something on his own.

…However, under the surface, I wish that royal family’s dispute over the throne intensifies. Sooner or later, my daughter would have been thrown in the maelstrom of the dispute. It was beyond my expectation that my daughter was able to get out of it on her own.

Therefore, I judged that it was best for her to withdraw from the aristocratic society until things had calmed down. Of course, if she had any difficulties, I had every intention of helping her.

But when I looked at her appearance today, she doesn’t need my help, only my protection.

On the contrary, she demonstrated that she had the potential to sail through the rough seas alone.

…I wonder what kind of move will she make. While thinking about it, I find myself looking forward to the future.