“Greetings,” Yuzuru greeted me after she was in front of me. Her greeting followed that of the culture in the South, so instead of a curtsy, she slightly bowed down to me. I slightly curtsied in return.

When I looked at her closely, I could still see the same confidence she had when she was younger. However, it was more toned down now, and she had grown up to be a mature and elegant woman. She was no longer the cheeky girl who attempted to challenge Domi to test their abilities.

But what made me a little bit sad was how she seemed to have lost her youth positivity.

Does adulthood change people to be more pessimistic, or realistic?

 

After I received a congratulations from her, the topic shifted to…

“I heard that you were studying swordsmanship. Are you still working on your swordsmanship even now?” She asked.

I nodded, “Yeah! I love wielding swords, so I’ll continue working on it for as long as I can!”

“Hmhm. The Hartmann family should be a family of magicians, but it seems that time changes lots of things,” Yuzuru nodded.

“Ah… It must’ve been the influence from my father…,” I chuckled nervously.

Throughout the whole history, the Hartmann family had always been a family focused on magic. The Grabberton’s, on pure swordsmanship. The Loera’s, on their brains. The Fumitsuna, on their swordsmanship-dark magic combination.

If the Hartmann family were to shift their style to that that combined their high magical ability with a melee or physical combat, then the style would be similar to Fumitsuna family’s.

Would the heir of the Fumitsuna family hate the idea?

 

When I was working my brains to try and ask her about it in a roundabout way, Yuzuru nodded and then spoke.

“I see. So you’ve realized the perks of our styles: combining magic with swordsmanship. I’m looking forward to see how your family’s style will develop, or will your family stay on magic specialization in the future?”

I didn’t notice a hint of dislike in her tone nor attitude, so I was relieved.

“Yeah, I wonder about that, too!”

I had the influence of my past life, so I tried to balance both of my magic and swordsmanship training. Though I had been more into magic training these days…

Meanwhile, Alt-nii seemed to focus more on his magic, while his dagger-wielding skills seemed more like a complimentary combat option. Similar with Dad.

As for the twins… They were more focused on their magic.

 

“Let’s spar one day,” Yuzuru suddenly said, and I beamed at her suggestion.

“I’d be delighted to!”

Ever since I saw her sparring with Domi, I was so intrigued to have one with her now that I could do both swordsmanship and magic as well. I’d have so much to learn from her.

I was glad that she didn’t seem to object how I, as the daughter of the Hartmann magician family, was very interested in honing my swordsmanship skills. Even in the past, I had thought about how it might bring chaos to our family instead, but Dad and Mom didn’t mind and even encouraged me to continue, so I obliged happily.

 

Thank goodness.

I had always been wondering how Yuzuru would be like, ever since that…

When I first saw her, she was twelve. And I remembered clearly how she seemed to care about her fiancé a lot. She surely loved him and looked so happy in front of him, I even wondered if I’d be like that one day, too.

…But then, I heard about how her engagement was called off.

The details of it were never released, but words of mouth travelled fast. It seemed that her fiancé had an affair.

Betrayed by the person she had loved.

I wonder if that changed her outlook in love, or in life quite a lot.

However, even if she wasn’t as bright as when she was a child, I could still see that she was doing very fine. Rather, she had glowed up so much. And her love towards swordsmanship hadn’t changed.

Then again, I wasn’t that close with her that I knew about it, and it wasn’t like I could ask about such a sensitive stuff… So yeah, who knows what went through her mind?

Even so, seeing her like this didn’t change the admiration I had for her.

 

“It wouldn’t be good if we were to spar here, so let’s arrange another date,” Yuzuru said with a slight smile.

“C-can I send you some messages?!” I unconsciously asked in my excitement.

I forgot that she might have said those words as part of formality. I didn’t sound too pushy, did I?

“Sure,” Yuzuru answered, and it didn’t seem like she was forced to say yes.

Does that mean, she really means what she said?!

We had a whopping six-year age difference. Our families weren’t close either.  To her, I might look like just a stranger’s child, who happened to be a fellow duke’s daughter. I didn’t think it was possible to forge a friendship between us, but perhaps, all I had to do was to try…?

This realization made me realize that I actually had nothing to lose. Being rejected was normal, but who knows it’d lead to such a situation, where what I thought was impossible… became possible?

 

“Thanks! I hope we can be good friends,” I smiled sincerely.

“Likewise.”

And that marked the ending of our conversation. A fruitful one.

 

Come to think of it, the four ducal houses and the royal family pretty much went around their ways, sometimes working together when necessary, but it couldn’t be said that there were friendships between them. They were quite indifferent to one another normally. Maybe in the past, they were close, but the tides of time changed that.

And by chance, Dad, the duke of the Hartmann family was good friends with a member of the royal family, the current king… And their children became friends too. Then, I became good friends with Ein, the son of the Loera family. That caused my parents and Ein’s parents to be closer as friends, too. Friendships started to blossom before we even knew.

This time, I managed to win a chance to try to get to know the Fumitsuna family’s heir, Yuzuru.

As for the Grabberton family…

 

“Lyra-san, here you are!”

Speak of the devil!

This familiar voice…

When I turned around, Adel-san was there, along with Domi.

“Adel-san! Ah, can you stop addressing me with ‘-san’? I feel weird somehow because you’re older than me and all, and now that you’re married to a ducal house, our status isn’t much different,” I quickly said.

“Oh my, I will try to… Then, can you stop addressing me with ‘-san’ too?”

“Eh, but you’re older than me, and…”

“I insist! Or I will call you Lyra-san,” Adel said with eyes that didn’t seem like she’d give this idea up.

“…Alright then, Adel,” I agreed.

Adel smiled and said, “Congratulations on your coming-of-age ceremony, Lyra!”

“Thank you, Adel! I’m glad I can see you here!”

“Of course I’ll come! Ah, come on, you say it too,” Adel turned to look at Domi and nudged his arm.

“Congratulations,” Domi said to me.

“Thank you, Domi-san,” I said as I looked at Domi and Adel’s interaction and expressions.

 

Even after she was married to Domi, Adel was still the same. Or no, she used to seem timid back then, but she was more confident now. Was it because she had raised in status?

But it was Adel. I didn’t think that was the cause.

Oh, and she was even more brimming with radiance and seemed happy…

When I saw Domi’s expression slightly softening when he was talking with Adel, his gaze seemed loving, I finally understood.

Could it be that the changes I observed in Adel were all due to Domi?

It was true that they were mutually in love, and their arranged marriage was actually a blissful one?

Back when I attended their marriage, I got a feeling that Domi had feelings towards Adel as well, but other than that surprising wedding kiss and his slightly gentle expression that lasted only for a few seconds that I had seen back then, there was nothing else that could strengthen my hunch further...

However, based on their interaction now, I was more certain that it was the case…

Aah, I was happy for them. I guess others’ happiness could infect your mood.

It was good to see that the normally indifferent Domi now seemed happier and there were more variations in his expressions. Perhaps the future of the Grabberton family would be a warmer one.

 

Just as we were chattering…

“Big Sis Lyra!”

Ein’s voice could be heard. I was expecting to be greeted with his usual childish demeanour of trying to hug me or grab my hands, just like a clingy younger brother he was in my mind.

However, even after I turned around to look at the direction of his voice, such a thing didn’t happen.

Instead, I saw Ein at a distance with Nicole and Clyde by his side. He didn’t seem like he was about to rush off to me.

“Ein, you’re with your parents, I see. It’s rare of you to not rush off to me in a heartbeat. Why the change of hearts?” I asked without beating around the bush, as I was really curious. He used to like to show off his clinginess even in public setting, saying that he wanted the whole world to know of his fondness to me. So, it couldn’t be because we were in public.

“Geez, you’re teasing me too, Big Sis!” Ein protested before he explained.

“You are now an adult. And I will soon become an adult, too. I need to pay more attention about modesty between us. Mummy and Daddy said that if I stayed the way I was, I’d hurt your reputation and I wouldn’t want that.”

Whoa—Ein is being considerate!

He’s aware of such things now?

Good grief, it’s like I’m witnessing my own nephew growing up! Wait, in a sense, he is…

 

“That’s good,” I quickly complimented him.

It was true that even if I had already considered him like a family, like my own younger brother, to others, we were not related at all. If Ein was still being clingy to me as usual, it might bring about some unwanted gossips. Because they wouldn’t know, nor they’d care that I only saw him as a family member.

 

“Being considerate to Lyra is nice, but you should pay more attention to your surroundings, Ein,” Clyde’s voice could be heard as he tapped on Ein’s head.

“Greetings, Lyra. And sorry that Ein interrupted your conversation,” Clyde added.

Ah, right. I was still talking to Domi and Adel…

“But Dad! It’s just Uncle Domi and Auntie Adel! It’s fine for us to join, right?” Ein protested.

“It’s fine, but you should still greet first. And don’t do it with the others, alright?”

Unexpectedly, Adel walked up to Ein and slightly bent down to pat his head.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’m only like this when I’m with family!” Ein smiled.

“Even if you’re with family, we are in front of the public. Maybe I should make your etiquette lesson stricter than it is now,” Nicole chimed in.

“Mum!!” Ein protested.

“So, where’s the greeting?” Nicole asked.

“…Greetings, Big Sis Lyra! Uncle Domi! Auntie Adel!” Ein finally gave us a proper greeting.

“Hello, Eine! Clyde-san, Nicole-san, greetings,” Adel greeted them back.

“Brother, Sis-in-law, Ein, too.”

I almost jumped when I saw Domi greeting them amicably too.

I had always thought that Domi wouldn’t have a good relationship with Clyde, since they were only half-brothers and there was Domi’s mother, too…

But I guess I was wrong?

I didn’t know what had happened between them, but I was glad to see that Domi and Clyde had overcome a wall that Clyde and Reinst couldn’t break.

 

Hmm?

If I could really become friends with Yuzuru, and seeing how Ein’s family was so friendly to Domi… Wouldn’t it mean that the four ducal houses could be connected through friendships again?

This would obviously be welcomed! Rather than resuming the indifferences between the four houses that could evolve into rivalries, it’d be better to build friendships.

 

After we exchanged pleasantries and chatted for a while, the adults said they’d be out of our ways, and so, Ein and I went to join the rest of our friends—who had already gathered.

I gathered with them for a while as we ate together before I continued to greet the other nobles. Including the royal family who I hadn’t greeted back then.

Then, the time for my first dance arrived. I was nervous, but I had been practicing it well. And my dance partner was Alt-nii!

At first, I was a bit nervous and self-conscious because I could feel that all eyes were on me, but as I danced with Alt-nii, I was engrossed in the dance itself that I forgot the anxiety.

In conclusion, everything worked smoothly!

 

My first dance received a round of applause.

Just as I wondered if I should dance another round with another person as Alt-nii went to dance with Celeste for the second song, I was suddenly greeted by someone familiar that I hadn’t expected.

 

“I finally could greet you!”

The long brown curly-haired girl said with her sparkling hazel eyes.

This girl…

Elise Elandia!