Finally I could tell my daughter.

After my daughter left the room, I breathed out in relief that I fulfilled my fatherly duty.

"Etiquette of men and women" that"s pa.s.sed down in our country. What should usually be imparted before the social debut I"ve kept hidden until just now. Once I told her such a thing, my daughter who doesn"t want to marry royalty would promptly find a suitable man, is what I had thought, and my judgement seemed correct.

In reality, even without knowing the etiquette my daughter took firm measures and splendidly found a man.
I would have never thought it"d be His Highness the Crown Prince.
The result was superb, no, the best, but one wrong step and it might"ve been the worst result for my daughter.
Even now I break out in cold sweat thinking of it.

Come to think of it, when my daughter heard of "Etiquette of men and women" she made an extremely complicated face.
She already carries the "King"s Flower" on her body, and has received His Highness affection many times, so I thought there"s no problem with her knowledge of the etiquette, but it might be different.
Perhaps my daughter again blundered somehow.

… No, as expected that shouldn"t be a case.
Otherwise, she wouldn"t be loved by His Highness so much.

Surely my daughter did it properly without knowing. She didn"t do anything strange… I want to believe she didn"t.
I have nothing to say as long as my daughter"s marriage ceremony finishes as planned.

"Old man, I"m entering"

While I was deeply moved, a knock resounded, and before I answered my son entered the room.

"Alex, like this there"s no meaning in knocking"
"Ain"t" it fine, it was old man who called for me. So, how was it? Did old man find anything?"

When I sighed at my son who spoke in his usual rough tone, I saw my son grin.

"What, you don"t seem to like me talking like this… I understand. Well then, Father"

He straightened himself and got down on one knee.
When he raised his face, his expression changed.
My son is as skillful as ever.

"I talked with Lidi, but I couldn"t find anything. She seems to be hiding something, but she doesn"t look like she wants to talk. That is all from me, but from Father…"
"I understand… It"s enough"

With a gesture I stopped my son who smugly reported.
I didn"t call him here for such a trivial thing.

"… Lidi is wary of me. No matter how I question her she won"t confess. That"s why I had you go"
"… I also tried tricking asking various leading questions, but it was useless"

My son, who replied, also frowned, and shook his head.

"Even so, she"ll be the future queen. It"s unthinkable, but I hope she didn"t poke her nose into something dangerous"
"Nn, it didn"t look like that. It"d immediately show on her face. She"s certainly hiding something, however it doesn"t seem particularly dangerous, okay?"
"How did she slip through His Highness"s security?"
"I tried asking, but she didn"t feel like telling. Really, how did she do it without using our agency"

I"d been surprised when I"d heard of it from my son.
The other day it seems His Highness set up strict security to not let my daughter go, but somehow she slipped through it all and easily came back.
I"d like to know what trick she used, both as her parent and as the Prime Minister.

"That"s because her obstinacy doesn"t lose to yours"

Once she makes up her mind, she"ll never give up.
I already know she won"t back down a step even if she"s questioned. Just recently we got into a fight.
At that time I flew into a rage, but she became stubborn and would barely speak to me if not for my wife"s intervention. That was painful. I don"t want to experience it ever again.
Thinking so I wanted to avoid forceful methods by all means, so I gravitated toward pa.s.sively investigating the situation.
Even though I can take any cold-hearted measures if the opponent is not my daughter, I think fathers are truly miserable creatures.

"Old man, you"re too lenient with her"
"… You"re the same"

My son is just as lenient brother to my daughter.
Without resorting to forcibly getting information out of her, he came here to grumble.

"Hey, what will you do about Lidi"s permission for going out?"
"It makes no sense to lock her up if she can even escape His Highness"s security. Moreover, Lidi has mostly been going to the castle town. Even if she moves freely, we can easily tail her"
"Yeah. Then I"ll increase Lidi"s security. Recently, whenever she enters the town, she shakes off her security. If we had two people on duty, that wouldn"t happen"

I tilted my head hearing my son"s story. Shaking off a person of our agency? That Lidi?
I wouldn"t have expected that.

"Does Lidi does it on purpose?"
"Strangely, that doesn"t seem to be the case. Before he noticed she disappeared making him wait at the town"s gate, then all of a sudden she seems to have come back come evening"

This normally unbelievable story made me recall her talk about the magician.

"It"s reasonable to think it"s a work of some kind of magical art. The aforementioned magician, perhaps"
"I guess"

Seeing my son agree, I held my chin and thought with hmm.

A magician with the ability to cancel any hexcraft. I didn"t expect such a capable person to be in this town, but apparently my daughter succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng connection with that person.
And according to Alex"s story, that magician seem to really exist.
The red-eyed man my daughter rescued is also on my mind, but there"s been no mention of him being seen since then.
I"d be lying if I said I wasn"t curious about his ident.i.ty, but since it can"t be discovered I left it alone for now.
First focus on what"s certain. I must get a hold of the magician.

"Track him down somehow and ascertain his existence. I want to corral him before he goes to another country"
"I understand. I"ll tell them to not lose the sight of her”

As my son firmly nodded, I added one more piece of information.

"We"re in a diplomatically tense period now. Be careful of what you do"
"Diplomatically? Is somebody coming?"

As I affirmed, my eyebrows scrunched up. I recalled the time when the message had come.
A truly troublesome person, while we are busy with the marriage preparations.

"I think you"ll know before long. I was contacted in the evening… Sahaja"s Crown Prince is coming here"

Being told so, my son blankly opened his mouth.
He must be beyond surprised hearing it. I can sympathize.
When the message had come, even as the Prime Minister I"d been at a loss for words for a moment.

"Sahaja"s Crown Prince? Ha? For what reason"
"If we"re to believe the words of the other party, it"s for the engagement congratulations. How shameless. They requested Lidi"s presence""
"Haaa? Is that Crown Prince sane. For them, we"re pretty much an enemy country. Him coming bothers me"

I agree. That"s why there"s an uproar.
Although it"s more or less for diplomatic relations, the other country is constantly eyeing our country"s territories, despite the armistice.
Would the Crown Prince of such a country come expressly for engagement congratulations? Unthinkable.
There must be some purpose. But.

"The purpose is unknown. However, we cannot leave the impression our country is open to attack. At worst he could come with a declaration of war"
"Woah, troublesome"

I reported the agenda of that country"s Crown Prince to Alex who made a displeased face.
My son who was nodding while listening, pursed his lips, seeming to find it bothersome.

"On the day of the evening party organized by the Royal Palace the audience will be held during the day. Because you have to be present at the evening party, don"t lose focus"
"… I got it"
"Until now he hasn"t appeared in public much, but this is Sahaja"s Crown Prince. There"s no such thing as being too cautious"

As my son nodded in silence, I also returned a nod.
A troublesome matter just when the marriage of my daughter is approaching.
We can"t let it cause problems. We have to make sure Sahaja"s Crown Prince goes home uneventfully no matter what it takes.

"… If possible, I don"t want him to meet Lidi"
"Ah, I think so too"

The person herself is unaware, but my daughter only ends up bringing trouble.
That daughter of mine and Sahaja"s Crown Prince meeting. Honestly, I only have an unpleasant premonition.

Together with my son I sighed that my daughter is the biggest source of headaches.