Chapter 167. Idiot… I love it…

After our nap at the field, Kaori led us back to our manor where they departed together with Mana and the others which kind of gave a lonely feeling to me as I looked out at the balcony of my room with Tanya waiting behind me.

“Do we have anything we need to work on today?” I turned towards Tanya who nodded as I stretched my arms wide while asking, “What kind of work do I have scheduled today, if I remember correctly, it should be time for the confrontation right?”

“Yes, my lady,” she replied, “Your schedule today consists of an inspection over at the fields and the confrontation with the other nobles about the mass village acquisition, which one do you want to do first?”

“Where is the confrontation located, if possible, I want to do that first since a field inspection wouldn’t take much time. You can dispatch either Raeliana or Sheena to perform the field inspection for me, even Faron is more than enough,” I walked back inside my room with a yawn.

“The nobles will be gathered at the adventurer’s coliseum according to the information I was given. The guild will act as the referee and bare-witness of the entire event for fairness, ten out of the twenty nobles have already arrived yesterday and are staying at the inn,” she responded.

“Is that so, can you call the others to the living room and also bring some snacks while you are at it. I want to do a quick meeting to see what has happened during my short absence, especially with the situation of the town,” I requested before she bowed down as we quickly left the room where I walked downstairs to the sight of dozens of gift boxes all over at the living room.

My eyes turned towards one of the maids of the manor as I asked, “Whose gifts are these?”

The maid was naturally surprised by my sudden question but calmed herself as she replied professionally, “They are gifts from the Marquis of Easa, Baron of Anra, and Viscountess of Teal together with Her Majesty’s gifts, my lady.”

“Those three nobles should be on Her Majesty’s faction right, are those three potentially trying to get friendly with me… if so then please send two of our wasabi paste together with a thank you response,” I instructed before she bowed down as I closed in towards the pile of gift boxes in the living room.

They were all adorable gift boxes with a few being extremely elegant and has this royal feeling which I can tell most likely came from Kaori which was easily confirmed as the symbol of the royal palace was embedded on the boxes. The other boxes had the symbols of their families and looked a bit light.

Taking one of the boxes which came from the Marquis, I soon opened it before two wonderful white heels with diamonds came to sight together with a scented paper which was filled with flattery and clear intention to get on my side.

To the future Empress.

Please take this gift of mine as part of my advanced congratulations with your engagement with Her Majesty, the Marquis of Easa who is loyal to Her Majesty will stand by your side and will offer any assistance if you so desired.

Head of the Marquis of Easa, Yohda Easa

You could see the plain flattery, especially the first parts which deliberately recognizes me as Kaori’s other half which isn’t wrong… though then again, keeping someone like that is also not bad rather it would most likely bring more help in the future.

The heels were also beautiful which is something I won’t reject since I’ve been running around with the same shoes all day which has grown a bit too boring for me.

Placing the box back with the others, I soon opened the other box which came from the Baron of Anra, and immediately after opening it, several dozens of silk cloths came to sight. The cloth were all magnificently made and looked super pleasing to the eyes which took me aback.

There was also a letter on the box which said: “To the young Duchess, please take this silk cloth from our residence as our advanced congratulations for your engagement with Her Majesty!”

It was another one that was to get on my side which is understandable. I can already tell there will be more of them coming within this week after Kaori made an official visit which basically solidified the rumors.

“If there are more coming, please put them in my room or the storage room. Make sure to inspect all of them as well for any bad intentions, if there is anything malicious found then please send them directly to me and I will take care of it,” I looked towards a maid who was on standby.

There has been a recent rise in maids on the manor nowadays, it could be because either Raeliana or Tanya felt like there were too few servants on the manor that they decided to hire some but either way, having more servants is indeed handy.

The maid who was on standby immediately bowed down as I took out the silk cloth and had a good look at it. The cloth looked to be custom made with the symbol of a rose in gold at the center of the cloth which looked good, not to mention since it was silk, the texture of the cloth felt very smooth which was to my liking.

Placing the cloth and the box back to their spot, I then moved towards the next box which came from the Viscountess of Teal which from my memories is a famous figure. She became a Viscountess through her own powers, creating a massive number of conglomerates the same way as Mana is doing but what makes her different is all of her products are food—specifically seafood.

Opening the box, dozens of tiny, colorful fish sculptures came to sight. All of them looked incredibly adorable and pleasing to the eyes that I could help but take one of them to look at it closely. Each sculpture looked like they were crafted with perfection, each one of them was super detailed while also maintaining this cute look which surprised me.

There was also a letter which I opened to which a neat, scented paper awaited with a fishy design—yes, that was a pun, but it indeed has a very unique design. The scent reminded me of the sea which really suited the business theme of hers; written on the letter was:

To Ayumi Windsor,

Greetings to the star of the Ducal Windsor family, a pleasant day or evening. I am the Viscountess of Teal and as you may know, we perform business over sea products and as a fellow lady who is capable of conducting business and fief management, I am particularly interested in meeting you especially for business reasons, if you so wish to, then please pay a visit at my small sea town, Sela and I will be there to greet you.

From the Viscountess of Teal, Ariel.

The letter surprised me a bit since it wasn’t a letter that was like the other two but rather a letter that basically means ‘I am interested in you and want to conduct business with you which is something I wouldn’t reject especially since her business consists of sea products such as fish and other stuff which I haven’t tried in ages!

Back in my world, fish was one of the few things I really liked. This letter basically piqued my interest as I turned around before Tanya could be seen waiting as I smiled, “Can you please send a reply to the Viscountess of Teal that I will come visit her seaside town in the future?”

“As you wish, my lady,” Tanya bowed down as I placed the letter and the fish sculptures back before noticing a tiny gift box beside Kaori’s massive pile of gifts. The tiny gift box had a single emblem on it which was the symbol of a white lily which was not an emblem from this kingdom or the other kingdom.

I was curious and took the gift box which felt light before opening it as a beautiful lily hairpin came to sight with a beautiful letter with handwriting that was more elegant than any letter that I have seen except for one and that one person was exactly who wrote the letter.

To my dearest daughter,

You have grown quite a lot, Ayumi. This is your mother, Shiori writing. I’ve been watching over you for the past few months in this world of mine and you really are doing well on your new body even though the one that came from my own blood ended up dying, I am still proud of you.

This hairpin is something I’ve been working on since you left, it is called ‘Caelum’ which means the sky. If you ever feel lonely, think of the sky and it will respond to you. The hairpin also acts as a good luck charm, a defense artifact.

Also, there are two more hairpins that I made for my dearest granddaughters, though those were sent directly to little Kaori who should have given them to little Mana as well. Are you happy with your new body, do you want to spend time on my dimension to train a bit?

Anyway, I don’t have much time… do know that I am always watching over your back wherever you may be and whenever.

Love, Your Mother.

Shiori Ai.

I felt my eyes became teary as I placed the letter on the box with a smile, taking out the hairpin which looked incredibly beautiful. You can tell the dedication she placed onto the hairpin, the precise crafts… everything of it looked beautiful.

“Thank you, mom…” I mumbled softly before wearing the hairpin on my hair, turning around where Raeliana and the others were already waiting, “Does it look good on me?”

“Naturally, my lady,” Raeliana replied with a smile.

“You look sparkling like a diamond, princess!” Faron responded with his usual attitude which made me giggle as the other two who was Tanya and Sheena both nodded simultaneously.

“Please keep the box inside my room, specifically on the vanity table,” I looked at a maid who nodded without hesitation before turning towards the last gift and the others, “Do you mind if I open this last gift before we start our meeting?”

“Not at all, my lady!” Lia saluted before I smiled, walking over to the last gift which was Kaori’s gift. There were plenty of them but I went for the smallest one which also looked like the gift with the most dedication placed since the decorations and etc. simply screamed me to open it.

The box felt light to the hand as I placed it on the table before opening it as another tiny box with a soft leathery feeling came into sight. The box was dark blue in color, I took it out from the box before opening it as a beautiful crystal ring came to sight with a yellow diamond on the ring.

“Kyaaa!” Sheena immediately shouted while blushing, everyone already knew what that ring was for as I looked at the other box which had a letter but before opening the letter, I took out the ring and wore it on my ring finger which fitted nicely.

It was a beautiful ring, one if not the most beautiful rings I’ve ever seen… the ring felt nostalgic—it looked like one of the rings that I kept on looking back at during our student days simply because of how beautiful it was.

“Her Majesty is really sweet!” Sheena reacted as I chuckled before opening the letter as beautiful handwriting came to view.

To my dearest Empress.

How are you doing, Ayumi? It most likely hasn’t been long since we last met though I am writing this months ahead, do you like the ring… does it fit well with your finger? I didn’t really know your finger size now which is why I used the measurement I knew of our past.

The ring is called ‘Aether’ and it is a full replica of the ring that you really liked to look at back in our days. I thought that you liked it a lot since you kept looking at it… hopefully, you do like it, the ring may not be the same as the one you kept on looking at, but I hope it works for you. Thank you for being by my side for nearly my entire lifetime, those days and the days we have together now are forever my treasures.

Love, Kaori Nonaka.

“Idiot… I love it…” I muttered to myself with a smile, looking at the ring on my finger.