unedited

In the evening, the Duke’s carriage returned to the mansion.

Rieta made up her mind again and went out to the front door to meet him.

But Darrel was the only one who alighted from the carriage.

“What about the Duke?”

Darrell answered, slightly bending his knees.

“Father has work in the Duchy.”

“He left so suddenly?”

“Well, there seems to have been some complaints on the castle side. I wonder if there was a problem with the guild.”

Rieta widened her eyes at the word ‘guild’

Maybe it was Rieta’s fault.

Last time, the Duke said he would accept all the guild’s conditions, and the people in the castle who heard about it may have rebelled.

“Then, when will the Duke come back?”

“Well. It’s up to them to accept it. Sometimes it takes weeks.”

“We, weeks . . . !”

In a few more weeks here, summer would pass, and fall would come.

If that happened, the season for Rieta’s departure would be right around the corner.

Wouldn’t it be too late to say goodbye?

Although, it was already too late.

“He must be going by movement magic? Right?!”

He nodded his head with a bewildered face as Rieta asked urgently.

“Yes.”

Rieta hurriedly ran to the carriage that Darrel had just dropped off.

She didn’t even change into a dress for going out.

“Please go to the moving magic circle! Please!”

She heard that movement magic takes quite a long time to prepare.

As the Duke was using it suddenly, he would have to wait.

So if she hurried, she might be able to meet him before he left for the duchy.

The carriage carrying Rieta started, and Darrel quietly muttered the remaining words as he looked at it.

That is, the words that he couldn’t tell because Rieta looked too much in a hurry.

“Sometimes it takes weeks, if it takes a long time. But right now he will get it done quickly and come back, so there is no need to rush.”

The butler, who had heard the words that had only hovered into the air, opened his mouth cautiously.

“It would have been better if you had said that first.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter as he will like this result.”

Of course, that was quite right, so the butler nodded his head several times.

* * *

Rieta thought she would bruise her behind today.

Even when she went to the academy, she hit her behind several times in the hurrying carriage, and now she is in the same situation again.

Even if she did, she did not want to resent the coachman. It was she who asked the coachman to go so fast.

As soon as Rieta arrived at the wizards’ building built with thick stone walls, she immediately spoke of her intentions to meet the Duke.

Since she was a foreigner, she thought that she might be somewhat restricted, but she was able to get in and out more easily than she thought.

“Thank you for allowing me. You must have been reluctant because I was a foreigner.”

When she thanked the wizard for the guidance, the wizard replied with a wry smile.

“Well, you’re not like someone who can copy something just by looking inside, considering Liz’s level of magic.”

Oh, she was being looked down on.

Rieta did not know how to respond to this insult.

If she wasn’t in a position to be ignored in the first place, she wouldn’t have been able to come in, so she should be glad.

“I want to talk about the human level of the one who said that.”

As Rieta was in trouble, a heavy answer came from across the hallway.

The light was somewhat lacking, and only shadows were visible, but everyone knew that he was Duke Mayer.

“Duke!”

Rieta, to her delight, called him in a loud voice without realizing it.

“Princess.”

Perhaps because of the loud voice that filled the hallway, the Duke also approached with a faint smile and bowed.

“I heard that the Princess had arrived here, so I was on my way to meet you.”

After a friendly conversation, the Duke began to stare at the wizard with sharp eyes.

“To guide the Princess . . . I should have picked the right person.”

The wizard, who finally fully grasped the situation, quickly bowed deeply toward Rieta.

“I’m sorry. Princess!”

“I’m fine. I will accept your apology.”

“I just made a terrible excuse. It didn’t mean that . . .”

The wizard’s ugly excuse was about to become lengthy, so the Duke stopped him.

“Go, I will take care of the Princess.”

“Oh, well. I.”

The wizard seemed inclined to say a few more words, but he was forced to step back because the Duke was watching him fearfully.

“Are you okay?”

After the wizard had completely retreated, the Duke looked closely at Rieta and asked.

“Yes, I’m really sorry for suddenly coming to you while you were busy. Well, there’s a story that I can’t put off any longer, so I can’t help it . . .”

Rieta’s words continued urgently without a break.