episode_0588

“Dear Princess Victoria. I sincerely thank you for accepting my invitation to this tea party. However, I am sorry that the current situation is not convenient… .”

… How should I write the following so that I can safely decline the princess’s invitation to a tea party?

If you make a half-assed excuse, it’s not easy to shake it off. Even in the original, Victoria is shown to have a very obsessive personality.

Even though she is a princess, she is the commander of the knights of the border guard, and she is trying to establish her specialty. If you refuse her halfway, it is easy for the princess to dislike you.

It has to be something that can be safely rejected without being rude… .

“Ethan, don’t you have any good ideas?”

“Well. After defeating the Demon King, I’m in a situation where I can’t meet anyone because of the mental shock.”

“I think it’ll be hard because it’s an excuse I’ve been using for a week now.”

“Why are you refusing to have dinner with Prince Antonio?”

“Antonio is locked up with Agnes in the palace library from morning to night these days. Anyone can tell that it’s a lie and it won’t work.”

“… Then I guess I have no choice but to go.”

“Ugh, I really don’t like that… .”

I absolutely do not want to get close to anyone who interferes in the battle for the throne.

Seraphine’s fight for succession will continue for several more years after the Demon King’s subjugation, so I don’t want to get caught up in it and get tired.

That’s why I have refused all invitations from the royal family along with Edan up until now. If we never meet face to face and never create a relationship, they will have no excuse to call me.

‘Why on earth did Seraphine have to be brave and go out on a day like this…?’

Are you not taking care of your own faction? At the very least, you should manage Duke Blackwood well so that he doesn’t get attached to anyone else.

Of course, she wouldn’t have gone out for no reason and out of selfish desires, so she’s probably doing something even after she goes out. If she went out with a warrior, it means she went out to do something that requires the warrior’s strength.

I understood it in my head, but I felt disappointed in my heart. Most of the excuses used to reject royal invitations up until now were Seraphine’s.

If you want to refuse an invitation to a tea party with the royal family, you have to mention another member of the royal family at least. Or, you could be seriously ill and not be able to eat at all…

“Ah! Hey, Ethan! I got a good idea!”

“… What good thoughts?”

“An excuse to refuse Princess Victoria’s tea party!”

Even Victoria wouldn’t be able to say anything about this. If you forcefully invite her to a tea party with excuses like this, her reputation will actually go down.

I was afraid that I would be rude if I responded late, so I quickly wrote a letter of refusal to the tea party invitation.

“Really, you’re going to use that as an excuse?”

“Yes.”

“… … Yeah, I guess you can’t really refuse it to that extent.”

When Edan saw my letter, he looked at me with a slightly bewildered look.

⁎⁎⁎

The personal office of the First Princess, Victoria.

A palace maid cautiously peeked into her quiet study.

-Squeak.

“Your Highness, this is a letter from Lady Rosewood.”

“Leave it there and go. I’ll check later.”

“Yes.”

I clearly invited you to an afternoon tea party, but what came back was not a person, but a letter.

Since Victoria had already been rejected by her several times, it was not difficult to infer that this letter contained rejection as well.

However, this time, I was a little curious as to what excuse he had given to refuse my call.

“Surely, you wouldn’t have used Seraphine’s excuse to get away again, right?”

It is a fact that I have already heard that the child left the palace this morning. It is also likely that he will not return until tomorrow.

If she refuses to contact him using the usual Seraphine excuse, then she will have the excuse that she deceived him, so he can force her to call him. Rather, it will be Lady Rosewood who has committed a sin against him, so she will not be able to act recklessly in the future.

If she refuses due to health issues, you can send an imperial priest to examine her. If she says she cannot do it due to a busy schedule, you can send a representative to help her with her schedule.

No matter what excuse he could come up with, he could still curry favor with her and invite her to a tea party. It was a perfect plan.

…until I read the ridiculous excuses contained in the letter Lilith sent back.

“…Because of our busy schedules, we weren’t able to have a normal marital relationship, so we started reestablishing our marital relationship a month ago when we arrived at the palace, and as a result, I started experiencing morning sickness due to pregnancy a few days ago…”

“What… .”

The First Princess muttered with a look of vain hope as she looked at Lilith’s reply, who had rejected her invitation with an unimaginable excuse.

⁎⁎⁎

… If you wrote it like this, there will be no more invitations to the First Princess.

No matter how suspicious it was, the pregnancy excuse was an untouchable area.

Touching a pregnant woman means touching the next generation of her family.

But it’s not like you can call a real priest to confirm the truth. It’s obvious that he’s sending it with the meaning of ‘Don’t make excuses about your pregnancy.’ If he does something like that, won’t his existing supporters get sick of it and leave?

“Huh, I don’t know if this is right.”

“What can I do? It’ll be a year before we can find out the truth anyway. In a year, we’ll be at Blackwood Manor, and it’ll seem petty for the princess to ask about such personal matters again.”

“… I guess that’s true.”

If you are really so persistent that you contact me a year later to ask if the baby was okay, I will just make up an excuse that I had a miscarriage. Of course, if it goes that far, the person receiving the news will also be in serious trouble, so I won’t bother to bring it up.

Seriously, at times like this, I’m glad I’m a woman. If I were a man, I wouldn’t have been able to use things like morning sickness as an excuse. But I’m not as talkative as Ethan and can tightrope walk in many places.

If you can’t enjoy it, avoiding it is the best policy. After all, once this victory ceremony is over, there’s no reason to meet Victoria again.

… It’s not exactly a lie that they restored their relationship after arriving at the palace.

“Then I’ll go see the Third Prince briefly in the afternoon. See you in the evening, Lilith. ”

“… You don’t have plans tomorrow, Ethan? I couldn’t do it yesterday because I was busy, so tonight… . Is that okay? ”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine tonight. I’m looking forward to it.”

It was definitely nice to be able to roll around with Ethan in the highest-class bedroom under the pretense of being a guest.

… There will be a mountain of work to do when we return to Blackwood Manor, but it’s okay to put it on hold for now.

⁎⁎⁎

What happened once happens twice.

You may find yourself drawn into an episode of the original work in an unexpected situation, or encounter and fight an unwanted demon king’s Four Heavenly Kings.

… or, you may find out that you are pregnant at a completely unexpected moment.

“Uh, hmph?!”

After finishing all the events including the victory ceremony and Agnes’ engagement ceremony, we returned to Blackwood Mansion.

One day, when I had almost finished the work that had been piling up for about a month and was somewhat stable, a disgusting feeling that I had felt before suddenly came up in my stomach while I was eating.

“Release?!”

“Release, are you okay?!”

“Mom… ?”

As I started to feel nauseous, Isabelle ran towards me in a panic, and Ethan got up from his seat with a puzzled expression.

Everyone’s gaze was focused on Eris, who was looking at me with a worried look in her eyes, holding a spoon in her hand.

“Sir, shall I call a priest? Where does it hurt?”

“Miss, is there anything wrong with the cooking?”

“Is there a problem with the food ingredients… .”

People who make their own wild guesses and clamor as if the situation is serious.

To silence the commotion, he raised one hand to stop everyone, then slowly removed the hand that was covering his mouth.

“Okay, it’s okay, guys. There’s nothing wrong with the food. ”

“… Yes?”

“Then what happened? Did you bite your tongue?”

“Or if you are sick for some other reason… .”

“Ah, no… It’s not that it hurts or anything, it’s just… .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… … .”

“Maybe because I think I have a second one… .”

People’s expressions change from confusion to surprise, and then to relief.

Although most people were relieved that there was no problem with the food or anything like that, Ethan couldn’t hide his surprised expression after hearing my story.

“Second, Release?”

“I couldn’t use contraception for a few days when I entered the palace with my magic power down, so I think it happened then… .”

“… … .”

“Are you mad, Ethan?”

“Oh, no… .Yeah, it’s a good thing… .”

Although Ethan’s expression as he said that still showed some confusion.

And I didn’t really plan on making a younger sibling for Iris this quickly.

When you write a letter of rejection to Victoria at the palace, you may be paying the price for making excuses like this.