207-Chapter 14-3 Responsibility

Currently, we (...) were being made to sit upright by Maria-sama and were being pissed off.

Normally, I just watched the king, Lyle-sama and Luna being angry from the side, but now that I was in that position, I could understand why those three people (the four of them with Ernest-sama in them sometimes) were making us shrink back. And I learned that they say that 'beautiful women are scary when they are angry,' and that it was true.

The six people who are looking at us being angry at Maria-sama like that, including Maria-sama, who was in the room when I finished reporting Rich earlier, and Grandpa and Jeanne, who came with me, plus Mr. Cliffe and the Duke of Sanga. Among them, the men are looking at me with dumb or sympathetic eyes, but Isabella-sama is completely as angry as Maria-sama, and Jeanne seems to have come to think more like Maria-sama as she listens to me.

(How did that happen...)

To explain the situation now, I'd have to go back to the point where I gave the report Lady Maria really wanted to hear.

'So, I understand that Temma has chosen the Primera of the Duke of Sangha's family as her partner when it comes to being a wedding matchmaker, but why is that?'

When I heard Maria's question, I thought about it to the extent that the woman was concerned about the wedding story or something... and I thought about it to the extent that she was trying to chill out about doing the matchmaker with the primera... It was. So I tried to be as concise as possible.

'That's because Albert told me to. It was decided that it would be a bad idea for a man to do something concerning the bride, and I asked Primera for a woman who had no problem with her status and could give her relatives' permission immediately.

I answered.........no, I answered.

Grandpa and Jeanne, who knew the reason for this answer of mine, did not change their expressions, but Maria-sama and Isabella-sama became expressionless, King-sama and Ernest-sama opened their mouths in surprise, Caesar-sama and Zain-sama made difficult faces, and Mr. Cliffe looked like he was looking at a sorry creature.　

'You!　Call the Duke of Sangha and Albert at once!

'Uh-huh!　Cliffe, take care of that for me!

Ha!

At Maria's angry voice, the king was instructing Cliffe in surprise.

'Temma you sit there.

What?

I'm already sitting in a chair... or so I thought, as Maria pointed to the floor.

Sit here.

I said, this time pointing to the floor. Honestly, I didn't understand what he meant, so I looked at the king who was sitting next to Maria-sama, but he turned away the moment our eyes met. That's the same for Caesar-sama and Zain-sama. And as for Isabella-sama, she looked at me with her sharp eyes.

Do as your mother-in-law says, and sit there.

In an angry voice, he said the same thing as Maria.

''Wow, I understand...''

I didn't know why, but I understood that Maria and Isabella were angrier than I'd ever seen them before, so I sat upright on the floor around where Maria had pointed, as instructed.

'So, Temma. You don't seem to understand ... why I'm angry.

Maria stopped the question in mid-sentence, as if the fact that she really didn't understand showed on her face.

'Well then, Temma. What is a matchmaker?

When she answered Mary's question by saying, "It's about the marriage go-between," she nodded her head and said

Well, that makes sense. However, essentially, a matchmaker is a married (...) man who is a matchmaker.

'No, I told Primera that it was like a matchmaker (...) and she agreed with that.

That's not what I'm saying.

My excuse was cut down like a knife.

''If it was a small scale ... a really small wedding where only your relatives would participate, then that excuse would have been valid. But what Temma and Primera were involved in was a wedding that was on a scale that the whole city knew about, as they invited participants from outside and even the nobility to attend. And Temma hosted it...........That excuse doesn't work.

If so, what the hell is the problem?

I couldn't help but give an emotional rebuttal, partly because I felt why should I be angry, but Maria sighed as she looked at me and

'Temma's an adventurer and a man, so I can't say it's a problem. If there was, it wouldn't be a big deal. Primera, on the other hand, is a nobleman and a woman. I hate to say it, but it's going to take a lot out of you as a woman.　

Why is that so important?　And then you think.

It may be hard to understand, but a noblewoman is expected to be chaste. As hard as it may be to understand, an aristocratic woman is expected to be chaste, because in an aristocratic society, a woman is expected to ensure that she will bear her mate's children.

I know what Isabella-sama means. Because if she had a child other than the one she married, the worst case scenario would be that her husband's side of the bloodline could be cut off.

'I can understand why. But just because I did something like a matchmaker with Primera, doesn't mean we actually had a physical relationship.

'But still. You might be thought of as a light-hearted woman who would easily do with a man who is not her lover what a married person would normally have to do. Besides, there may be people who deliberately tailgate rumors in order to ruin the reputation of the Primera's and the Sangha dukes, even though they know that this is not actually the case.

A disgusting sweat ran down my back as I realized that asking for something so lightly could be detrimental to the reputation of the Primera and the Sangha Dukes. Then

'Maria, I have shown the Duke of Sangha and Lady Albert to you.

'What?　That was fast, wasn't it?

Faster than I expected, Mr. Cliffe brought the Duke of Sanga and Albert with him. I had a rude thought in my head for a moment that maybe he was in a hurry to see me pissed off, but.......

"At the gate, I saw the Duke of Sangha's carriage coming toward the castle, so I brought him straight to you.

'Yes, the duke must have had the same concern. Duke Sanga, come over here, and Albert, take a seat beside Temma.

Lady Maria ordered the Duke of Sangha to proceed to the side next to her (opposite of Lady Isabella) and ordered Albert to sit upright beside me. The reluctant Duke of Sangha sat silently in the chair that Mr. Cliffe had prepared for him. During that time, he didn't seem to be looking at me. And beside me, a blue-faced Albert sat upright, but because his body was trembling, he was almost pinned down in front of me when he sat down.

''Hmm.......Well, Albert. Do you want to disgrace the Duke of Sangha family?　Or is there some ambition you want to fulfill at the expense of the Primera?

Lady Maria looked once at the Duke of Sanga and then asked Albert a question. His voice was quieter than when he was accusing me, but the fact that his eyes weren't smiling at all scared me in the opposite direction.

'As I told Temma, I'm sure Primera will have a bad reputation in the future because you made her play matchmaker. As a slut.

It was worse expressed than before, but it seemed to be more effective for Albert now, and his complexion was even worse.

''Albert you, as the heir of the Sangha Dukes, you allowed the Primera to play matchmaker, right?　And that's in a way that I would make Temma ask for. That's not fair, is it?　It was Temma who nominated him and Primera who accepted. Albert only gave permission, and it is Temma and Primera who will lose their reputations. Well, it won't be a big deal for Temma because she's not a nobleman, but it won't be for Primera who is a woman and a nobleman, will it?

Albert seemed to understand at once the meaning of the part I had to have explained to him, and he clearly began to panic.

'Well, that's because he said he didn't want to get married, and, well...'

'There's a difference between not having a desire and not having a connection. Even if you don't have it now, the desire to marry can come out of nowhere. And because of what Albert has set up this time, there will be less of an edge. Or it will be seen as cheap.

Just like me, Albert was completely debunked by Maria-sama. The Duke of Sangha was looking at Albert with a sharp eye, but as soon as his eyes met mine, he turned away and coughed. Meanwhile, Grandpa and the other men, including my grandfather, had become completely airborne. Rather, they seemed to be willingly becoming airborne. Jeanne had some thoughts after hearing Maria-sama's story, and she felt like she couldn't help but be angry.

(How did this happen...)

Well, well, the source of the problem is myself, but part of the reason is that I accepted Albert's advice, so I'd like to go back to that time and beat me and Albert up to stop him... and so on and so forth, I guess I was wrong.

'Temma?　I don't think you've been thinking about it enough, have you?

'No!　Well, you know, I'm sorry about that.

If you are sorry, how will you take responsibility for your actions?

Responsibility...?　

When it came to responsibilities to women in these cases, only one came to mind. Namely.

'I'm asking you if you're going to marry Primera.

It was. Certainly, considering the reputation of Primera and the Sanga dukes, there could be no more obvious way to take responsibility than this.

''Certainly, Primera's aristocratic status is high because she comes from a duke's family, and although it's not a very good balance for a single adventurer, but fortunately Tenma's adoptive parents Ricardo and Ciria are from noble families, and considering Tenma's own achievements so far, it's not strange. So, what do we do now?

The conditions are also fine. If the Duke of Sanga doesn't interfere with Maria-sama's proposal, then the Duke of Sanga must be in favor of this proposal.

'Temma?'

'I would do anything I could, but when it comes to marriage, the primera's feelings are the most important thing. I don't want to talk about it without that Primera, and I don't think I should.

When it comes to a nobleman's marriage, the head of the family's wishes are more important than his own. All the Duke of Sanga has to do is tell the Primera to marry him and that's all that matters.

That's exactly what Albert did.

Are they unhappy with the Primera?

'No, I think I like Primera's character and personality if you consider her as a marriage partner, but that's not what we're talking about here.

After thinking it over, I answered clearly. I hadn't thought about it before, but when it came to marriage, I would say that Primera was a pretty excellent partner.

''That being said, I wonder what she would do as a duke?''

Maria asked the Duke of Sangha for his opinion, so I turned to him, and he looked more reluctant than before... but...

f*ck!　I can't even take it anymore!

He suddenly started laughing. It's a laugh that could be called a burst of laughter. Albert and I looked at each other as if we didn't understand what was happening, but Maria and the others began to laugh at that. If you look closely, Caesar-sama and Zain-sama are also laughing while holding their mouths.

The only four people here who weren't keeping up with the change in the atmosphere of this room were me, Albert, Grandpa and Jeanne.

''No, no, I'm sorry. Actually, I got a letter from Primera beforehand. In the letter, she mentioned that she and Tenma had been the matchmaker for the wedding, her impressions of the wedding, and that Albert seemed to be planning something, but that Tenma had nothing to do with it. I felt I had to report this to Lady Maria, who prides herself on being Temma's point of contact.

It seems to have been the result of reporting to Maria, which led to the current commotion. Knowing that, me and Albert were distracted.

'It's just, Albert. I am very angry with you, you know. After all, you didn't just use the duke's name without permission and use the primera, you got Mr. Temma involved.

''Well, I can't have that part. I thought the royal family previously sent out a notice to the nobles, 'Don't use Temma'.....................but you've broken that.'

It seems that Primera had explained it in a letter beforehand, so she wasn't angry with me, but that doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to Albert.

The Duke of Sangha had given Albert a letter at the same time that Maria-sama's story was over. Perhaps that was the letter that was said to have been sent by Primera.

''Well, I'll talk about that story after I return to the mansion............I heard a good story today!

Much to the delight of the Duke of Sangha, I often think back to what I said today....

'Indeed, it's a nice story, even for me, that Temma is 'fond enough of Primera to marry her. This isn't far off from having a Temma child in your arms!

I feel like it was a bit of a footnote, but that's generally how it was.

(Maddeningly embarrassing!)

I was especially embarrassed by the gazes of the king and the other men. It was so embarrassing that I wanted to tell them to tease me rather than give me that kind of look. Well, the more they teased him, the more embarrassed he would be.......

'Whoa, Maria. I'll be the first to hold the Primera child in my arms, in turn!

I'll have to wait until after that.

The Duke of Sangha is frolicking as he nails Lady Maria. And then Grandpa joined him. It's already a lot tighter........

I looked at the kings to ask for help, but the king and Ernest-sama were watching for the right moment to mix in with the three of them, and Caesar-sama, Isabella-sama and Lyle-sama were talking about the old days together. And Jeanne was helping Mr. Cliffe prepare the tea.

(Primera, you must have written a bunch of letters.)

Even if I counted them lightly from the side, there are lightly five or six of them. From that amount, I don't think all of them are reports and impressions of the wedding or about Albert's plans, so some of them might be letters that speak ill of Albert or accuse him. If so, I'd like to read a few of them.

'Huh?　Temma, you can sit in your chair now.

Lady Maria seemed to remember me at last, and gave me permission to interrupt my chatter with the Duke of Sangha and the others and sit down in a chair. And at the same time as me, Albert got up sluggishly, without taking his eyes off the letter.

'Albert, you're still sitting there.

The Duke of Sangha's words stopped him from going to his chair, and he sluggishly sat back down in his place.

'Temma, tea!'

Oh, thank you?

I sat down in the chair and Jeanne offered me some tea, but for some reason she seemed to be in a bad mood and was a bit rough about putting the cup down.

'Well, I know how you feel, so let's not tell Aina about it.

Mr. Cliffe looked at Jeanne, who placed her cup down roughly, and said something like that.

'And yet, Temma. This time, thanks to Primera's follow-up, we were able to get out of this mess, but if it were up to me, I would have had to show my sincerity by marrying her immediately or something.

Yes, sir.

''Maria-sama, that's about it. For our part, it was a windfall just to find out that Temma-kun has a fondness for Primera... But, Temma-kun. Please don't do this kind of thing with any other woman than Primera anymore, please. Even though it was done with Primera's consent, you wouldn't feel good about doing the same thing elsewhere, and as a father, you can't always be calm......

Yes!

The current Duke of Sangha was as scary as or even scarier than Maria was when she was angry. I felt like this was the first time I had learned of the fear that a nobleman had, which was different from military force. Incidentally, Maria's fear is like an appeal to the instinct not to disobey. Incidentally, I've never felt fear from the king. The reason for this is because I can only remember the joking part, the pathetic part, or the sloppy part, and I feel more like an old man's relative than a king. The same can be said for Ernest-sama and Lyle-sama, and in my ranking of royal family priorities, Maria-sama is at the top and those three are at the bottom.

''Maria-sama, is it time to summon those who are sneaking around behind the door?

'Yes. I mean, there are things you have to be a little careful about.

...Is there anyone else in the house besides Steele?

Maria-sama replied with a light chuckle to Cleif-san's suggestion. The Duke of Sangha seemed to think it was the escort, Steele, at first, but from what they said, he decided it was someone different.

'Come in, Chris, come in. Maria wants to see you.''

Mr. Cliffe approached without making a sound of footsteps and told her to come in as soon as he opened the door. As he opened the door, there was a sound of something hitting and a scream, but Mr. Cliffe returned to the back of Maria as if nothing had happened.

Chris held his head and advanced in front of Maria with a somewhat unflattering look on his face. And then.

Chris, I put you on to prevent this from happening?

'Well if you're not busy, I'm just trying to help you with the temma...'

What is it?

I'm sorry!

I was pissed off beside Albert.

My sermon to Chris was going to go on for a while, so I sneaked away from Maria's side. I left Albert behind as a matter of course, but he still didn't seem to have gotten over the shock of the letter.

'Temma, you look much worse for wear.

'That can't be helped. It was Temma-san's fault.

'Well, I don't know if you can apply the nobility to the adventurers...'

'But still!　No one, noble or adventurer, is allowed to behave in a way that would humiliate a woman!

Well, I'm going to go home now.

Isabella-sama countered to Caesar-sama's follow-up. With a sideways glance at the two of them, Zain-sama left the room quickly.

''Zain is the same as always, isn't he?''

I'm pleased as a sister-in-law that the couple is getting along so well.

Master Caesar was a little dumbfounded, but he smiled at Isabella, who seemed to recognize that it was a desirable thing to do.

'I'm sorry, Master Caesar, but it's time for us to take our leave of absence. We are very sorry for the inconvenience Albert has caused you at this time. Mr. Temma, I am sorry.

Duke Sanga greeted Lady Caesar and me, and then he greeted Maria and the King as well, and collected Albert. Albert's legs were very sluggish, as if his legs were numb from sitting upright for a long time, but he moved his legs as hard as he could and walked out of the room, as if he wanted to get away from here quickly.

'Speaking of which, I need to talk to you about Amy.

What did Tida do?

The moment I mentioned Amy's name after seeing the Duke and Albert off, Master Caesar was alarmed with a bite. When Tida said it had nothing to do with it, she let her guard down with a relieved look on her face, but the way she looked was so funny that Lady Isabella laughed aloud.

'Isabella, what's wrong with you?'

I can see you're enjoying this.

Hearing Lady Isabella's laughter, Master Ernest and Grandpa came over to us. We moved to a table away from Mary and the others who were preaching, because we didn't want to stand around with this many people, but Chris seemed to look at us for a moment as we moved away, and Mary was scolding him. The king, who is next to Maria, couldn't seem to leave Chris's scolding because of his position, and he looked at us happily, enviously.

'So, what is this thing called a consultation?'

''I heard there's a party at the academy next, but Amy's family can't come due to work commitments, so I'm going to take care of that for her...''

''There's no problem with that. Since the Otori family is the guardians in the royal capital in the first place, even if your parents were to attend, Temma would still receive an invitation by a different mouth.

They said that the reason why the invitations hadn't arrived was probably because the person in charge of sending out the invitations was different for the parents in the remote area and the parents in the royal capital. Depending on the distance, the invitations to the remote areas were apparently sent out more than a month earlier than the invitations to the royal capital.

''And I understand that Albert and the others are expecting some students to ask Amy for an engagement?

'That's entirely possible. Even though Temma is behind it, it's not surprising that some students think that if they go a little more forcefully, the commoner Aimee won't be able to refuse. The royal family doesn't want them to cause a scene, but since Aimee isn't Tida's lover, they can't interfere if Aimee herself decides to do so. Tida is worried about that and is a bit sensitive about it....

Because of those circumstances, Caesar-sama thought Tida had done something wrong when Amy's name came out of my mouth.

'Besides, when I look at Tida these days, she sometimes looks like your father...'

I'm worried about that.

Everyone in the room nodded at my words.

Well, you can't blame them for going a little crazy with their love affair. Alex, for example, who was about the same age as me, was strange all year round.

Well I can't tell you how many times I've smacked his ass...

Grandpa was being quite rude (but none of them denied it) and Master Ernest was muttering to himself, looking at his palms.

'Well, I'd rather have you hooked up with Amy than get hooked up with something weird......but hey.

I can understand Lady Isabella's concern. It would be nice if the two of them stayed together, but if they didn't, I'm worried that Tida will go off the rails.

'Amy doesn't seem to dislike Tida, though, so I think there's a chance if we don't rush her.

'I hope so. But even if we do go out, our status as commoners might be a problem... but then Temma will help us, won't she?

Yes, Amy is a very important apprentice to me, so I will do what I can to help her.

I used the word pupil because I thought the word pupil was too weak to protect against fools, but Master Caesar nodded with satisfaction at the way he said it.

'When the time comes, I'll let you rely on Temma. Well, there are many conditions before that but considering your age, it won't be too far in the future.

At any rate, it would seem that the cooperation was ready when Tida made her move and Amy accepted it. When I thought that, I suddenly found myself wondering about the conversation I had with Maria-sama.

''Caesar-sama, Maria-sama said, 'The marriage of a nobleman is more important to the intention of the head of the family than the person himself,' but if that's the case, what would happen to Chris-san?

Chris said that he ran away from home because he didn't want to pay off his debts and marry for his fortune, but I felt that there was a contradiction between the actions of the royal family that helped Chris and Maria-sama's words earlier. So when I asked Caesar-sama a question, not only Caesar-sama, but even Isabella-sama and Ernest-sama looked awkward.

I'm sure my mother thought it would be a pity to give a twelve-year-old girl to a man who was a thirty-three and over forty. Besides, the man had been in trouble for a long time.

The problem was that the first wife was a woman about my age, the second one was a newly grown fifteen year old, and the third one was a pre-grown girl, about the same age as Chris was at the time.

I think Master Caesar tried to blur, but Lady Isabella exposed him. Furthermore.

'When he was married to his first wife, he had an affair with his second wife. I found out and divorced him and remarried shortly afterwards... and the third one was for the same reason. Apparently his first wife was married to disguise his s*xuality and he really liked girls(...) not women(...). And the second and third wives broke up because they grew up and fell out of favor.

After his first wife found out about his s*xuality, he didn't try to hide it at all, and with his second and third wives, it was more like he dumped them rather than divorced them.

'I said that to Temma, but your mother is not a demon to marry a girl off to a man like that.

In that way, it could be said that Caesar-sama considers Maria-sama to be close to a demon, even if not to that extent.......but let's call it a figure of speech. Well, if this was Lyle-sama, I would go into it without reservation.

''So that's how it was. In other words, Chris-san's lack of luck with men started from the time he was born, right?

'That's part of it, but Chris is too idealistic. I suppose he's not willing to compromise because he struggled with his father as a child.

We nodded at Isabella-sama's words, and we all looked at Chris, who was pissed off at Maria-sama.