Chapter 56: Is the Order a Daughter?

“Laurier, recently it seems as if Celeu-sama has been coming to a lot of your tea parties. What do you think?”

“What I think?”

Laurier tilted her head and gave me a blank stare. I tried bringing this up as small talk during dinner, but… I guess she didn’t understand, so let me rephrase it.

“Do you get along with Celeu-sama? Do you two have something in common you can talk about?”

“Yes! We talk about a lot!”

“Is that so? What do you two talk about?”

Call me overprotective if you like, but I’m a little worried as a father, so I’ll push forward. If it turns out that Laurier fell in love with Celeu-sama during these tea parties… As I was dealing with these complex feelings, Laurier gave a big smile and responded.

“Stories about Father!”

“Eh? About me?”

“Yes! Since Father is the coolest, bestest, most amazing person in the world!”

To say something like that with a huge smile on her face… Ah! No good. My face almost went slack. But wait, why would Celeu-sama get excited over stories about me? I couldn’t help but worry he’s planning something.

Although he is a child, so I may be reading too much into this, I don’t understand why he would enjoy hearing stories about me. Celeu-sama and I shouldn’t be that close. Certainly, we have met several times, and recently he’s uncharacteristically come to the kitchen to discuss various things, but…

Thinking up to that point, I suddenly remembered what the Princess said.

‘My brother has begun to respect you a lot ever since he was saved by your words. Due to that and the sweets from the other day, he sees you as ‘the person whom he longed for’.

The Princess said that after marching into my office one day. At the time, I thought her words stupid and paid them no mind, but…

“No way…”

“Father, is something wrong?”

“Ah, don’t mind me. Are you getting along with Serena-sama, too?”

“Yes! She always says how good Father’s snacks are before promising to come again! Also, next time, she says she’ll bring her fiancé?”

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

Replying as such, I begin stroking Laurier’s head. Although Serena-sama’s and Macbeth’s betrothal isn’t common knowledge yet, it’s known among a select few. The pretext for it is that they both occasionally come to my house and “by chance” met one-another and got along well.

Well, although that’s technically true, it sounds much less innocent to me because I get the feeling the Princess was aiming to make Macbeth hers right from the start.

She might have approached me for that reason, not just to confirm the irregular state of affairs in the house of the Otome game’s Villainess. Moreover, when she learned that the irregular was me, rather than the Villainess Laurier, and she learned about the suspicions of Prime Minister Duke Grene’s treachery, she must have on-the-spot decided to make Macbeth hers.

Well, to be precise, we need to train Macbeth first so he can take Duke Grene’s status. But honestly? With the Princess here, I don’t have much work to do. With his intellect and our connections, it should be easy to raise him into a fine Prime Minister.

“Unya~,” Laurier let out a contented sigh. While I was thinking about such things, I had kept stroking her hair. Bringing my attention back to the present, while continuing to be affectionate with my adorable daughter, we enjoyed a comfy meal.