Change (1)
“…Marriage?”
Clamis von Orphega, who had been elegantly sipping tea in her room, froze with an expression of utter disbelief.
“So, let me get this straight. Who’s marrying whom?”
“…I-I don’t really know the details. I was only ordered to relay the duke’s words to you, my lady.”
Only after the servant answered, sweat pouring down his face, did Clamis realize that the message wasn’t a joke at all.
But just because it was true didn’t mean she could accept it.
“He’s not already gone senile at that age, is he? Or has Father finally decided it’s time to die?”
The whole thing was so absurd that Clamis couldn’t hide her bewilderment.
“At the very least, it isn’t even an engagement. He wants me to go straight to marriage?”
And the man she was supposedly being bound to was someone she knew very well.
He was the talk of Lutra these days, after all. If you had eyes and ears that worked properly, there was no way you could have missed him.
“I’d heard plenty about our junior’s talent, but enough to satisfy Father…?”
As the daughter of a duke, Clamis knew her father very well. He judged people solely by the talent and ability they possessed.
Then if he was willing to propose marrying his daughter to a man she had never even met before, just how much talent and potential did that man have to be hiding?
As she thought that, Clamis felt a small spark of curiosity toward her future husband.
“I suppose I’ll have to meet our husband myself. Bring my coat.”
Even if he was the man her father had chosen for her, Clamis believed she still had the right to refuse a man she found distasteful.
****
Fortunately, finding her “husband” wasn’t all that difficult for Clamis.
Whether that was fortunate or unfortunate, the man in question was the sort with a pathetically small social circle, so the places he usually appeared in were extremely limited.
Step.
As Clamis walked into the inner section of the cadet dining hall, the entire room fell silent as if they had planned it in advance.
The cadet dining hall run by Lutra provided decent food at a cheap price, but most noble cadets rarely came here.
After all, something that was merely “decent” was nowhere near enough to satisfy a noble’s palate.
The only exception was probably Cartesia, who followed Sian around everywhere he went like a loyal puppy.
That was exactly why every cadet currently in the dining hall stood there staring at Clamis with their mouths hanging open.
“…Who is that? I thought the only beauty in Lutra at that level was Her Imperial Highness.”
“Idiot. That’s Clamis von Orphega. The famous daughter of the Orphega Ducal House.”
“But why is the duke’s daughter here? I heard Lady Orphega barely even shows up because she advanced early and already completed almost all her credits.”
Clamis herself, however, paid the surrounding rabble no mind whatsoever and fixed her gaze on one man alone.
“Mm.”
A man sitting across from Cartesia came into view.
His face was… rather handsome. The rumor that he had seduced the noble imperial princess with nothing but his looks apparently carried some weight after all.
“So you were here, junior.”
“…Orphega Lady?”
Sian stared at Clamis’s face and blankly repeated her name.
“You can just call me by name here in Lutra. You’ve earned that much, Sian.”
Clamis walked lightly to the table Sian was sitting at and sat down with graceful ease in the chair beside him.
“I have something I’d like to discuss for a moment, so I hope you don’t mind if I sit here, junior?”
“…Why ask permission when you’re already sitting beside me?”
“Because I believed you’d naturally grant it, junior. That’s all just my faith and trust in you.”
Clamis shrugged as she answered, and Cartesia, seated across from them, instantly twisted her brow.
Cold water still had upper and lower parts; how dared another woman flirt with Sian right in front of her when she was sitting here with her eyes wide open?
“…Senior? What exactly are you saying to Sian right now?”
“Oh my, so Cartesia junior was here too? I was so focused on my husband that I didn’t even notice you were here. My apologies.”
Clamis’s words only deepened the smile on Cartesia’s lips.
To Cartesia, that was nothing less than an obvious provocation.
“Oh? Husband, huh… Just a moment ago you were calling him junior, and now the way you address him has already changed?”
“There are two juniors here, after all. It seemed easy enough to get mixed up, so I simply changed how I address Sian junior on the spot. Is there some problem with that?”
Though everyone was still using polite language, the atmosphere was so ominous it felt as if they might draw blades on each other at any second. Sian shut his eyes tightly.
Damn it, what a short fuse this woman has.
Yesterday she’d told him she’d give him time to think, and now she was pressing him like this. He’d never imagined she’d come at him in this way.
“What brings you here? Did the duke pressure you into this?”
“Father didn’t exactly pressure me. I just got curious and came to see for myself. Since we’ll be sharing a bedroom anyway, there’s no harm in getting close early, right?”
“…Hah.”
So they’d be sharing a bedroom in the future. Overnight, Sian seemed to have gone from the princess’s illicit lover to the Orphega duke house’s marriage candidate, and his social standing had risen quite a bit.
“So, what do you think of meeting me in person?”
“Not bad. Your face is to my taste, and since Father himself vouched for you, I think your potential going forward is more than enough… There are a few points of regret, but those can be worked out with time, so I don’t find them particularly bothersome.”
“A few points of regret? What would those be?”
When Sian tilted his head and asked, Clamis smiled faintly before replying.
“Truthfully, I prefer men who are stronger than I am. Looks are important, too, of course, but… I’m the daughter of a martial house, so I place a great deal of value on skill.”
“…Oh?”
In other words, Sian as he was now wasn’t strong enough to satisfy Clamis.
“Well, there’s no need to look so disappointed. You’re a year younger than me, and I’ve been trained in the sword by Father since I was very little. Honestly, I find it stranger that the gap is only this small.”
Though hidden beneath her clothes, Clamis could still roughly gauge Sian’s current level by the development of his muscles and physique.
Without question, Sian was strong. Strong enough that the difference between him and her wasn’t all that great.
And that’s despite the fact that he’s only learned some second-rate mercenary swordsmanship and a cheap mana cultivation method…
Given that he had honed his blade in the worst possible conditions instead of enjoying the advantage of a good environment and a fine teacher like she had, the level he had reached was little short of a miracle.
But if the duke of Orphega was making such a fuss about him that he was willing to force marriage with his daughter… that didn’t quite add up.
In Clamis’s eyes, Sian undoubtedly possessed genius-level talent, but with talent at that level, reaching the realm of a Master was still a very distant prospect.
The duke of Orphega could not possibly have missed that fact, the same way she had spotted it at a glance.
Then what exactly about Sian had made the duke value him so highly?
As Clamis sank into thought, Sian lifted his eyes and looked at her.
Of all things, there was one thing he felt he could understand for sure.
On the surface she was acting extremely polite, but in truth, this woman was looking down on him.
“So… to put it simply, you’re saying I’m weaker than you, Senior?”
“There’s no need to take it so personally. Honestly acknowledging the difference in level between yourself and your opponent is a skill in its own right.”
“…Hah.”
A dry laugh escaped Sian’s lips.
He didn’t know whether he’d really end up marrying Clamis or not, but he had no desire to make an enemy of the duke of Orphega.
For one thing, the man was already showing him goodwill. More importantly, if Orphega turned hostile toward him, his revenge against Eli would become much harder.
Which meant that, whether he liked it or not, he’d be seeing Clamis often from now on.
And having a woman like that casually look down on him wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Father or daughter, they’re all the same.
The habit of refusing to take a person’s word for it and instead wanting to verify his skill with their own eyes was apparently hereditary.
Still, that wasn’t actually a bad thing for Sian.
Because while Orphega was not someone he could simply beat into submission, Clamis was different. If the opportunity came, he could absolutely put her back in line.
“That works out well, then. I was just wondering about your skill myself. Since it’s come to this, want to have a go?”
As he said that, Sian casually brushed a hand over the sword at his waist.
“…You’re curious about my skill? Why?”
“You said you like men who are stronger than you. I, on the other hand, don’t particularly care for women who are stronger than me.”
Because I have no interest in becoming a husband who gets hit in the future.
“Though as for you, Senior… I don’t think I need to worry about my tastes anymore.”
Sian crooked a finger at Clamis. It was a blatant provocation.
“So don’t go feeling all small and crushed later when you lose to your junior. Losing to someone stronger isn’t that embarrassing.”