ITMWG 80

Chapter 80..

Social debut!

‘Baron Aylesford has bought a whole bunch of Gold Lysianthus to give to his wife!’ By the next day, the news had spread throughout the capital. It seemed like it was because the merchant at the flower garden who received the blank check went around asking to find out the identity of the person who gave him the large sum of money. Until now, only those who were familiar with rumours knew about the country baron who became rich instantly after discovering the magic stone mine, but with this incident, even those who were unfamiliar with the rumours seemed to know about the existence of ‘Baron Aylesford’.

Prince Orca was right.

Thanks to the merchant of the flower garden, who had many nobles as business partners, they were able to make their name known so quickly. Of course, Altair’s actions of sweeping away all the precious Gold Lisianthus just to give it to his wife as a gift also helped the rumour spread quickly. No matter how rich a person was, it was rare to find someone who spent money that way. Rumours only spread when something unusual happened. Perhaps as a society’s reflex, invitations came to the Marquis of Vine every day. The lords sent invitations to Altair, and the ladies sent invitations to Nadia, hoping to make them acquainted. They seemed to come in through her uncle and Melissa. There were invitations from nobles who were quite famous in the capital, but after discussion with Altair, the couple decided to decline them all. Altair would make his debut in the capital’s society this season. Considering that the central aristocrats of the capital usually made their formal debut into social circles as soon as they reach adulthood, his was the so far the latest debut.

Regardless, the first time is important.

In many ways, it seemed like a good idea to make one’s first appearance in social circles at an event hosted by the emperor. This was because appearing like a comet at a big event is more effective than frequently attending small gatherings. Though, Nadia’s timidity, not wanting to be stressed out by attending a noisy party, and Altair’s tendency to dislike complicated things are also another eason.

Phew. I’m so glad Altair isn’t the sociable type…

The scenario of attending all kinds of parties with a sociable husband seemed unbearable to her.

… Altair doesn’t seem to be overly interested in social circles, but…

He might not have known that she, a timid person, was like a cat on a hot brick and was anxious about her reputation and influence in the social world. When two people meet and there was a gap that needed to be filled, the person with even the slightest ability in that area was bound to do the part, but since Altair was indifferent to the opinions and evaluations of others, the ‘social networking’ naturally fell onto her. It wasn’t a choice of will for her, but with the desire to play the role of the Madame well, Nadia somehow managed to overcome the situation given to her little by little, and it seemed like she was slowly becoming less timid. In the past, it would have been unthinkable for Nadia to stop the Marquis from being unreasonable in the flower garden.

If it’d been before, I guess I would have remained still even when the situation gave me an ick.

But now, she found herself getting involved in such situations without as much as a second thought.

Maybe it’s because I have a reliable ally?

…But of course, there were many times when that ally surprised her with something unexpected. She could not help but gaped at the Gold Lisianthus that kept coming into the room. She knew there were a lot of them when she saw them in the glass greenhouse, but she was stunned all over again. At the sight of the large room being so full of Lisianthus that they even took over the hallway, she thought, ‘Maybe this is a punishment…’

She couldn’t even close the door. And as Nadia stared at the culprit of this situation with her mouth wide agape. Altair frowned as if he did not like the flower scent that filled the room.

“I don’t think we can put all of this here.”

Nadia sighed and pointed to the vase on the nightstand next to her bed.

“Those flowers are enough for me.”

In the vase was the Gold Lisianthus that Altair had personally picked that day in the glasshouse.

“You can use the flowers how they were originally intended to be used.”

“At that time, I also was planning to present them to His Majesty the Emperor, just like the Marquis intended when he wanted to buy the flowers…”

After hearing her thoughts, Altair frowned slightly as if he was troubled. This was probably because he knew full well that it was now impossible to confide this to the emperor. Everyone in the capital now knew that Baron Aylesford had given his wife all the Gold Lisianthus as a gift, but to present them to the Emperor would be tantamount to mocking him.

The emperor is a person who never wears an item of clothing twice.

It was clear that if he received something that was a gift for someone else, he would become furious at the thought of being looked down upon.

“Now that the situation has come to this, I am going to send a bouquet of Lisianthus along with a refusal letter to each of the nobles who invited me.”

“To the nobles?”

“Yes. We are social newcomers who have just entered the capital, so we have to be polite when refusing. Everyone will be happy if I tell them that I will share the precious flowers that my husband gave me as a gift because I feel great regret that I cannot meet them.”

In fact, ordinary flowers were already enough to please them, so the effect of precious Gold Lisianthus would be unquestionable.

“Of course, if Altair allows it.”

Considering the sincerity of the person who bought the gift, Nadia quickly added, and Altair shrugged his shoulders.

“I already gave it to you, so I’m fine with whatever you use it for.”

“Great. Now that I have your permission, I guess I should call Marie and Anna and share the flowers with them.”

The two maids were watching the Gold Lisianthus coming into the mansion and stood guard so that the workers who were noisy could not approach the flowers. The servants’ eyes were a mixture of envy and surprise, and Marie, who had suffered a lot because of them along with Nadia, looked refreshed.

Even when she did not once speak of it out of fear that I would feel bad, it still must have been very difficult for her when she was mistreated along with me.

Considering that this could make up for Marie’s difficult times, the Gold Lisianthus flood wasn’t all that bad. As Nadia looked out the wide open door into the noisy hallway with such a thought in mind, a question flashed through her mind.

“By the way, how did you find out about the flower garden that day?”

Things were so hectic that day that she couldn’t properly ask Altair about the situation.

“It doesn’t make sense that we met there by chance, so don’t say such strange things.”

Altair, who attempted to respond, shut his mouth at her warning. It seemed he was trying to come up with a ridiculous excuse like ‘I happened to be passing by’ again.

“I was not sure how safe the capital was, so I had the escorts come along with you. They said you went into a suspicious place…”

Nadia had no idea that someone was following her. But again, it was natural that an ordinary person would not be able to notice the movements of highly trained knights.

“The security of the capital is quite solid. It is a place ruled directly by the emperor.”

“I don’t believe in anything I haven’t experienced myself.”

Altair shrugged nonchalantly.

“Anyways, how did you end up accompanying the prince?”

“Oh, that’s because the watch…”

As Nadia tried to explain why, it occurred to her that she still had the pocket watch she bought as a gift for Altair. It felt awkward to suddenly present a gift without any reason, so she put it off little by little and ended up here. As Nadia hesitated and avoided answering, Altair’s expression became darker as time passed. Did he think something bad happened? She felt like she had to quickly give Altair the gift before his misunderstanding got any worse.

Since Altair gave me flowers as a gift, I can just say I’m repaying the gift, right?

Now that she thought of it, it was fortunate that the flower gift was coming in non-stop. If Altair hadn’t given her flowers, she would have continued to wonder what excuse she should use to give him the watch, and ended up just leaving it to collect dust in the drawer.

“I-, I have something for you!”

She stuttered out of awkwardness and opened the small drawer of the nightstand where she had placed the flower vase. There was a box with luxurious and neat design lying around, so she quickly picked it up and came back to Altair, whose eyes never left her despite not knowing what’s going on.

“Here you are! I bought it for you, Altair!”

Nadia gulped nervously and handed the box to Altair. Perhaps he was surprised by the sudden situation, but he just stared blankly at the box.

“Why-, why aren’t you accepting it…”

When Nadia wondered in embarrassment, Altair finally came to his senses and accepted the gift box.

“…You bought this for me?”

“Yes. I hope you like it … But if you don’t, you can always exchange it for another one!”

“Exchange…. nonsense.”

Altair briefly protested before opening the box. At his hesitant movement, Nadia tilted her head, and Altair, who soon came to know what was inside the box, widened his eyes.

“It’s a pocket watch.”

“Yes! All gentlemen in the capital have nice pocket watches. Since Altair will now be entering the social world, I thought it would be good to have at least one nice item.”

“…”

Altair then took a moment to look at his watch in silence. Somehow Nadia became even more anxious and added some explanation to show him how good of an item it was.

“This was a precious watch that the merchant didn’t usually display. He brought it out from the back. Plus, it’s black. As soon as I saw it, I thought of Altair. Because black is Altair.”

“Black is me. What kind of logic is that?”

Altair burst into laughter as he heard her ramblings.

“What…like how pink makes me think of you?”

“Black hair, pink hair… it must be they’re not common after all.”

It was perhaps natural for people’s image to be imprinted on others by their hair colour. At some point, whenever she saw someone wearing black clothes, she naturally thought of Altair.

Then does Altair think of me every time he sees pink too?

When Nadia thought about it that way, it felt a little strange.

“You know what?”

As Nadia tried to cool down the rising heat on her cheeks, Altair unexpectedly spoke.

“This is the first time you’ve given me something.”

“Huh…is that so?”

“Yes. You only made sandwiches for the knights. The same goes for tea time invitation.”

Sandwiches? Tea time invitation?

When on earth did he hear of that…?

Besides, she had never thought Altair would pay attention to such trivias.

“I-, I will give you a lot of those in the future then!”

She could not believe she was always on the receiving end. When she hurriedly expressed the intention to make up for him, Altair, who was silent for a moment, smiled and shook his head.

“No need. On the second thought, I think you’ve already given me a lot.”

Me? Gave him what?

Seeing Nadia blinking in confusion, Altair lightly ruffled her hair. Initially, Nadia did not know why he did that and was only concerned that her hair would look like a mess, but now that they had gotten closer, she could somewhat interpret his actions. Turned out, whenever he was embarrassed about something, he would mess with her hair..

Altair is flustered right now.

Nadia smiled brightly, feeling happy that she had somewhat shaken Altair, who was unfazed by anything, and his hand that was stroking her hair froze. As she looked up at Altair’s face, wondering why, their lips overlapped.

There are people in the hallway!!!

Altair’s lips parted at the same time her shoulders shrank in surprise. She quickly turned her head and looked down the hallway through the wide open door, and saw the Vine’s servants with their eyes rounded in surprise.

Ugh…this is so embarrassing!

“Oh right, I have to share the flowers with Marie and Anna. I-, I’d better get going!”

Nadia quickly left the place out of bashfulness. It must have seemed awkward to anyone watching. As she turned around and glanced at Altair, she saw that he had an incomprehensible expression on his face.

“… I can’t control myself anymore these days.”

Nadia’s face heated up at the small murmur, and she began to power-walk towards Marie and Anna.

❈❈❈

The Silver Jubilee event, which took a long time to prepare, had finally begun. The entire capital was excited about the Silver Jubilee, and the most exciting place was the Imperial Palace. However, Prince Orca’s residence, a small annex a little further away from the centre of the imperial palace, was no different from usual. Orca changed his clothes with the help of a maid and stood in front of a huge mirror. The fancy clothes and neatly organised hair felt odd to the eyes, as if they weren’t befitting for him.

“Your HIghness. You need to come to the main banquet hall soon.”

As he was quietly looking at the mirror, a servant came running to tell him that the time had come. The last person to appear in the grand banquet hall would be the main character, the Emperor. Hence, all guests must arrive before then.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Orca followed the servant’s urging and left. Everyone would be looking forward to meeting the Emperor, but Orca’s purpose was different.

‘Today is the crusty baron’s debut in central society.’

Although Baron Aylesford might not be as nervous as young boys and girls who had just reached adulthood, Orca was still looking forward to seeing what his first appearance would be like. The same went for the Baroness.

It’s not normal to keep someone in check like that…

Orca narrowed his eyes, recalling Altair’s sudden appearance in the flower garden.