"Your Majesty"

At my Father"s rebuking voice the King quickly raised his head.
He awkwardly stood up and scratched his head.

"Aah, sorry. I became sentimental unbecoming of my age. Anyway, that"s the reason behind the change in the King"s Flower. I want you two to get along from now on… Lucas. It"s the first time in a while you meet her face-to-face, right? I will go to the office first, so you can talk with Princess a little"

Without pointing out the avoidance in the King"s way of speaking, Father bowed his head.

"… I understand, Your Majesty. Thank you for the concern"
"Yeah. Well, then, Princess. I am looking forward to the wedding in two months"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you very much for this occasion"
"That"s my line. It was a meaningful time"

Both I and Father bowed our heads and saw the King off.
Afterwards, only I and Father were left in the King"s private room.
Normally this situation would be impossible, but since the King himself acknowledged it, there"s no problem.
Although he sighed, Father sat on the sofa in front of me.
As expected, it"s not the spot where the King was sitting.
Father put his hands together in front of him and, while leaning forward, spoke.

"Lidi"
"Yes, Father"

I spontaneously straightened my back. The reason is, Father had an unexpectedly serious face.

"… Lidi. I knew everything about this matter, yet I continued pus.h.i.+ng you to be His Highness"s fiancée"
"Yes…"
"That"s because His Highness was enough to entrust you to him. Do you understand?"
"No…"

Father began talking about my engagement.
Thinking it"s an important talk, I silently listened with a docile face… But, while he was talking, for some reason the situation turned strange. Father talked to me like he was recalling the past.

"… Since he was young, His Highness excelled at self-control, he was an excellent person kind and fair to everybody. Of course, as the Prime Minister I knew about the mate matter of the royalty, but I thought that if it was His Highness, even if his princess consort wasn"t his mate, he would without a doubt take a good care of her. Your ages were well-balanced too. Of course, you would have various duties if you became royalty, but you could handle them flawlessly… And most importantly, I couldn"t find anybody better suited to accept you than His Highness. That"s why, I couldn"t give up on His Highness no matter what"
"Eh… F, Father?"

Was I just smoothly insulted?
Ignoring my face full of doubt, Father continued.
His glabella wrinkled.

"You"ve been a tomboy for a long time. I never know what mess you will make. There"s no way somebody of an ordinary peerage would accept you. Your facade isn"t as good as Alex"s… If your character was exposed, I thought that it could likely lead to a divorce. In that respect there was no problem with His Highness. He"s a broadminded person. Even if he knew everything, he would accept you. No matter the aspect, there was n.o.body better than His Highness"
"…"

What is this.
I feel like I was told that the numerous actions I had taken to avoid Freed were conversely the main cause of the pool of my fiancé candidates narrowing down to just Freed. And, I"m being insulted some more?
Like my facade isn"t good, or that anybody other than Freed would divorce me.
That means Freed who told me he"s fine with how I really am is a praiseworthy person!
I love him very much, so I"d absolutely hate anybody else than him now though!
I felt complicated to be seriously told that by my real father.

"Of course, if His Highness found a mate… I was thinking of gallantly withdrawing at that time. And if His Highness really didn"t feel like it, I was considering breaking off the engagement. Even if he took you as his princess consort, there"d be no meaning to it if there was a possibility he"d ignore you and take a crowd of concubines… But, I never expected you to become His Highness"s mate at first sight…"
"Certainly…"
"When His Highness said he wanted to marry you, I considered the possibility. He said he was very enthusiastic to receive you. I thought it"s very likely when His Highness declared he wouldn"t take concubines. When I talked with His Majesty afterwards, I became convinced that there"s no mistaking it… But as I said some time ago, I still had some doubt"
"Haa"

Afterwards, Father seemed to intently guess the events that led to today.
Father asked me to confirm.

"The King"s Flower changing means you too unmistakably yearn for His Highness, right?"
"… Yes"

Since there"s the blatant proof in form of the King"s Flower, I can"t deceive him.
When I nodded while casting my eyes down, Father laughed, Then that"s good, and stood up.

"Let"s slowly get going. It won"t do to stay in His Majesty"s room too long. His Highness will talk to you tonight too… Since you resolved your heart, I"m no longer worried about anything, but… Please, don"t do anything to trouble His Highness"
"Eh…"

When I got taken aback by the words suddenly said to me, Father said while knitting his eyebrows.

"You will become the Crown Princess. I am saying to refrain from overly restless and unprincipled behavior. Do you understand?"
"… Yes"

It"s not an atmosphere where I can say I haven"t done any of that.
When I nodded albeit reluctantly, Father sighed and muttered with distant eyes.

"… I"m glad I solved the biggest problem of my daughter, but… what will happen to Alex"

If he doesn"t marry, the ducal house heir… With that Father put his hand on his forehead and shook his head.
There were still various thing I wanted to say, like what"s with the biggest problem, but I stopped myself at only saying this.

"When it comes to Elder Brother… I"m sure it"s useless to worry"

Father gave me a sharp look and sighed again.

"That"s right… Aah, why is each and every of my children…"
"T, then, I will excuse myself first! Father"

Feeling like his mumbling would turn into a troublesome scolding, I hurriedly fled from the spot.