It’s been around about a month since Elaine stormed out that day. We were a bit uneasy about her knowing about our true identities, but I figured we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, and promptly forgot about the matter. Instead, I focused my attention on the house renovation project.

“Alright!” I clapped my hands together, “Time to get this place looking like a home again!”

“Do we have to?” Nelly complained, “We already dusted the entire house off, what else is there to do?”

“Don’t be like that, Nel.” Cecily patted her on the head, “There’s lots of things we need to do about this place, like for example all the extra items from when Lune was still living here previously, not to mention fix all of the scratches and holes your father put in the walls.”

It’s been a month, and she still hasn’t forgotten about that. Come on, even though I put the picture back on the wall, I would still catch her stealing glances at it, as if the framed picture was never there to begin with.

“Alright, you lazy couch potato, get up.” I peeled Nelly off of the couch, “Seriously, just who did you get this listlessness from, I wonder…”

“Mnn…” She groaned a bit more, “I don’t wanna…”

“Alright then, if you don’t wanna help me, then I guess I’ll just start throwing things away myself, starting with Sir Teddington.”

“Wha-?!” She jumped up on her feet stiffly, though she quickly started pretending to not care, “Do whatever you want, I’m too old to be carrying him around anyways.”

“You sure?” I dangled him above the trash bag, “Look, he’s calling out to you for help. You gonna just let him die simply because you were too lazy?”

“Ngh…” She bit her lower lip in anxiety, “Ugh, alright, fine! But I’m only doing it because it’d be a shame to throw him away! I’m still too old to be worrying about him!”

Hehe, my daughter’s becoming more and more of a tsundere~! Really, I feel like she’s become a totally different person ever since we moved here. She’s a lot more vocal about her likes and dislikes, and she’s even starting to build up some character, as you just saw. She’s still madly in love with Meil, and that admiration was only accentuated when his picture I promised her arrived in the mail about a week ago.

Seriously, I even made the dad joke of the century as I proudly brought it to her, stating “Meil came in the mail today!”, but she just winced and coldly took the polaroid from me. Now it’s sitting comfortably framed in her room. By the way, since we refurbished Marina’s old room into a shared parents’ bedroom, she inherited my old room. And not only that, but the picture frame that she’s keeping Meil in is actually the same one where I kept her picture. Kind of fitting, in a way. If Aaron was here, he’d even say poetic.

“Hey Lune, what’s this book here?” Cecily said, taking out Issei’s Book of Blueprints before blowing the dust off of it.

“!!!” I jolted in fear before realizing, “Geez, that scared me. Ha-ha, that sure brings back memories…”

“What’s it about?” She asked, flipping through the pages, “Eh? I don’t understand any of this.”

“Yeah, this is a birthday present from a friend I met while living here. See here, it’s basically the reason we have so much money to afford our travel expenses. Actually, I wonder how many of these I never even made…”

“Hmm?” She noticed something, “There’s a dog-eared page, what’s that…?”

“N-Nothing!” I took the book out of her hands and threw it back in the shelf, much to her suspicion, “Come on, let’s continue cleaning!”

That was damned close! She almost saw the “Adult Toys to spice up your and Marina’s Nightlife” section. It would’ve sparked some turmoil, surely. Although, I never actually tried any of those devilishly daring inventions with her, since I was too embarrassed. I am curious about them, but I think I shouldn’t show it to the somewhat innocent Cecily just yet. I’m willing to wait before biting into that forbidden fruit, but right now things are still a bit complicated between Cecily and me.

Yeah, we still haven’t done it once ever since the barn incident. It still remains to be our first and last time. Even though I’m doing my best to try to get her to get the hint about me wanting to get back together, she still seems a bit shy. She’s probably feeling kind of guilty about pinning me down that day, but I kind of liked it! I can’t really say that though, the guy should be the one doing the pinning down, but every time I’d think to try something, either she’d be way too alert or Nelly would come in. Each day is making it more and more difficult for me, so I hope something happens soon, for both of our sakes.

“Knock knock!” Someone’s voice could be heard, “Mail!”

“Oh, from who I wonder?” I said as I opened the front door, only to be left in utter shock, “G-G-G-G-Grys soldier?!”

“At ease, sir!” He smiled back, “This is nothing but good news. Ahem, you have been blessed on this day to attend a lovely evening dinner with the Grys King and Queen. We expect your arrival on the 25th at the allotted time. Please do not be late.”

With that, he saluted in the all too familiar Cardinic Salute before hopping back on his horse and speeding off just as quickly as he came. Man, a knight on a horse, that’s like peak male performance. I’m kind of jealous now…

“Isn’t this bad?” Cecily worried, “Do you think that Elaine snitched on us to her husband?”

“Well, we did kind of tell her to expect us before forgetting about it.” I chuckled, “So who knows? Even still, we both know Adam as a good person, so I doubt he’s gonna do anything dangerous. Really, it was only a matter of time before this happened.”

***

And so, the time for the dinner evening had arrived. But we couldn’t just get there in our regular clothes, since this was an evening spent with royalty, so we each took turns doing a little modeling show in front of the whole family. In the end, I went with my classic “Fancy” black tuxedo, albeit with an added yellow and red Boutonnière in the hopes that it would appeal to Cecily. Honestly, either she’s playing really hard to get, or she’s just that dense.

“What do you think of this?” Cecily spun around in place so as to show off her dress.

“I think you shouldn’t be spinning so fast, I can see your panties.”

“Wha-?!”

Hehe, I like to tease her like this the most. But seriously though, she was absolutely stunning in her bright yellow dress that made for a nice compliment to her eyes. It really was a good idea to have her pick the dress instead of me, because I’d have most definitely suggested the more obvious choice of a red dress. In hindsight though, that’d probably be too much, given her hair. Frankly, it’d be an eyesore, so she was right to go with what she chose.

“What about me?” Nelly danced around, “Don’t I look like a princess?”

“Sure do, dear!” I gave her a thumbs up, “But you sure as hell don’t act like one. Try to behave while we’re over there, since we’re the guests.”

“Geez, that’s what I was planning on doing, anyways!” She stomped on the floor all unladylike.

Aw man, looking at our lineup, now I’m kind of starting to get nervous after all. Adam is certainly a good person, but given his wife’s sour attitude towards us, add to that the fact that I’m not only the person who stole his first crush, but also scammed him and killed two of his guards… Hold on a second, maybe we should rethink this entire plan, after all!

“Alright, let’s go, the wagon’s here.” Cecily pointed to the driver waiting for us outside.

“A-Ah, wait…”

Alas, it was too late to turn back now. We had already boarded the wagon and were driven to the castle. Well, I say driven, but it was actually a really short ride, given that it takes just about half an hour to get there by foot, but I’ll be damned if we had to dirty our fancy new clothes before even getting there.

“Ah, there you are!” Elaine welcomed us with a scary grin, “So glad you could make it, come in, come in!”

“Elaine, what’s the deal?” I asked hesitantly.

“The deal? Why, I have no idea what you mean~!” She hummed as she escorted us through the halls, “Now, Adam’s in the dining hall, so follow me, lest you get lost.”

“Hm?” I turned to them, “O-Oh right, let’s do that.”

“…How did you know that’s where the dining hall is?”

“It… just made sense?” I tried to lie my way out.

In truth, I was here before. Yes indeed, I’m talking about that night. The night when Issei and I snuck into the castle and stole back the AFP blueprint, not to mention killed those two guards. In the end though, it turned out to have all been for naught, because Adam had already showed off the design and had it mass produced, so I really just killed two innocents for not reason. Can’t tell her that though, she’d have our heads on a stick if I did, so I’ll just play dumb for now.

“Hm?” She saw me looking out of the window, “You’re interested in the staff graveyard?”

“Staff graveyard?” Cecily asked.

“Indeed. Since most of the staff working here are orphans, we consider them a part of the family. Thus, it’s only natural that we bury them here once they pass.”

“How thoughtful of you!” Cecily smiled, “Isn’t that nice, Lune?”

“A-Ah, yeah…”

They all gave me a bit of a confused stare, but soon stopped in favor of advancing forth. Seems their hunger far outweighed their suspicion. Lucky I told the girls to skip lunch today in anticipation of this feast, otherwise who knows what would’ve happened.

“Dear! Here they are!” Elaine opened the door.

“Let me see.” A strong, burly voice echoed throughout the room, immediately instilling terror in us.

Adam seems to have grown a bit more since we last saw him. Well, I’m still taller than him, but I think that’s just because of his stunted growth, given his strict training routine. Actually, he’s got a rather silly image going on, seeing as he’s wearing a baby sling with his infant son on it. Seriously, I don’t know whether to laugh or be terrified.

“…” He stared us down for a bit more, “You guys! You made it!”

Immediately switching gears and going in for a bear hug, it felt almost suffocating with how much of the pressure flew off from us. Actually, it was just him suffocating us that was making it hard to breathe. That man doesn’t know his own strength.

“G-Good to see you too, man!” I mustered up the strength to pat him on the back, “Now could you please let go? You’re crushing my ribcage.”

“Sure! Hahahaha! Oh, it’s been too long, I see you two are doing good!”

Obviously, he was alluding to the fact that we’re still together, but we really didn’t have the heart to tell him the actual story. That being said, he didn’t spend too much time on us, and instead focused on the little girl that was hiding behind me the entire time.

“I only knew about you guys being in Cardina thanks to this little one, so I believe it’s only fair for me to thank her properly.” He squatted down in front of her, “Nelly Grimheart, was it? I apologize for frightening you when we met last time. I understand my, ahem, godly physique is a bit scary when viewed from a child’s point of view…”

“Husband…” Elaine facepalmed.

“…but worry not, for I am indeed a friend of your parents!”

Extending his hand towards her, she gave us a glance as if to reaffirm his words, but after we smiled back at her, she simply lent him her hand, to which he gave her the standard Cardina greeting – a kiss to the back of the hand.

“Alright now, let us feast!” He yelled loudly.

We had enjoyed a nice and lovely meal, but the fear of Adam suddenly finding out about my past made it too difficult for me to enjoy it wholeheartedly. Cecily and Elaine had actually found a lovely shared topic in taking care of their children, Adam and I talked about all sorts of interesting things that had happened between our first and last meeting, and Nelly was stuck with babysitting the young prince. Heh, sorry babygirl!