127 – Their War 1
The lordship of Bohemia.
There, I was talking to Estelle, who had just returned from work for the Dragona Empire.
“It happened. Everything worked out just as Santana wanted it to.”
“It’s great, you really worked hard. To bring the Dragona Empire to our side… If it wasn’t for Lady Estelle’s help, we certainly wouldn’t have attempted it.”
“It is overrated. I just did what I had to do.”
Estelle speaks with a slightly shy expression on her face.
Seeing her like this, a deep smile automatically began to form on my lips.
Of course, I had an optimistic outlook that things would go my way, but I couldn’t be too sure that it would actually happen.
‘It’s a shame because I had a connection with Estelle, otherwise I wouldn’t have dared to try.’
Right now, people tend to have a hard time accepting new things, and in that respect, a certain amount of trust was needed to proceed smoothly.
As such a reason was included in my previous failures, it could be said that the existence of Estelle played a huge role in this case.
“The first items are said to be coming in about a month. The person in charge there said he would personally bring it to Bohemia.”
“You mean directly? You don’t have to bother to do that, right?”
“Anyway, as this is the first transaction, it seems that he wants to put the first button firmly. He said something similar.”
“Ummm..”
Estelle speaks in a tone that doesn’t seem to care too much.
But… after hearing her story, I started to feel a little uneasy inside.
‘No matter how it is… It’s only if there’s no reason to come and go over a distance of hundreds of kilometers…’
Of course, it was something that could be seen as simply being a person with a strong sense of responsibility.
however..
Aside from that fact, I didn’t feel very comfortable about the fact that the other person was paying attention to this, as I was trying to do something that couldn’t be considered very neat with the Dragona Empire when I looked at it coldly.
‘Does this mean that there are people with good intuition on the side of the Dragona Empire? Maybe it is. Because the other side is also a great empire full of monsters…’
Although I had the advantage of having future economic knowledge, apart from that, I didn’t consider myself to be that bright.
Even though I may be ahead of myself in terms of knowledge, there are always people who are superior to me in terms of wisdom.
With that thought in mind, I became wary of the person who would visit this place sooner or later with items.
*
The person who talked while looking at himself, showing emotions such as deep expectations.
Princess Cazeros of the Dragona Empire.
Estelle felt a slight discomfort as she remembered her appearance, but she did not care deeply about it, considering it as something that had nothing to do with her.
‘Because that woman must have her own circumstances… Even if she’s far from the right of succession, there’s a high possibility that she’s pinning her hopes on this event to strengthen her position as a member of the imperial family and a power struggle within the empire.’
Although, the awkwardness of her existence still persisted.
However, apart from her groundless intuition, Princess Cazeros, who showed a favorable attitude towards the heretical alliance, was an important ally to Estelle.
In a situation where it is clear that the other side also considers this matter important, there should be no need to pretend.
As she controlled her emotions, Estelle decided to focus only on the situation in front of her eyes.
‘Anyway, I’m good with this. I have done everything Santana wants, and he is also grateful to me. If this is the case…’
The fact that I’ve been thinking all the way back here.
Thinking of putting it into practice, Estelle looked at Santana, who was drinking tea with a serious expression on her face.
“Um… Santa?”
“Yes, what are you doing?”
Santana puts the teacup down on his horse and looks this way.
At this moment, the expression on his face was clearly different from before.
When he talked about the contract engagement to himself in the past, his face literally seemed to contain only cold emotions based on cold calculation.
However, at this moment, his expression no longer showed a cold expression.
Santana’s face is tinged with feelings of warm gratitude and good feelings that come from it, not calculated coldness.
Seeing this, Estelle finally decided that the preparations she had been thinking about had been completed and spoke to him in a calm voice.
“Do you remember the conversation we had when we got engaged… by any chance?”
“of course. I do remember. They decided to take only the benefits of marriage while avoiding marriages they both did not like. Why are you asking all of a sudden?”
Santana answers Estelle’s question with a little question. Seeing him like that, Estelle spoke in a calm voice.
“At that time, I… honestly, like Santana, I was only concerned with power and profit. Things like marriage are simply a means to strengthen my footing. I was not interested in s*x between a man and a woman or anything.”
“That’s why you made such a pact. So do I…”
“Yes, I was definitely like that at the time.. but. Santana…”
Santana speaks in a voice mixed with slightly uneasy emotions in her words.
looking at him like that,
Estelle spoke in a voice full of determination.
“I am now. It’s not like that.”
“..yes?”
Santana asked in a voice filled with embarrassment at Estelle’s words.
Facing him, Estelle spoke in a clear tone.
“Unlike then. Now I’m not like that anymore. Right now, I sincerely adore you… Santana.”
“!…”
Estelle clearly conveys her thoughts while looking at Santana’s face.
Seeing her like this, Santana made an expression as if she was momentarily speechless, and then she continued talking while looking at Santana.
“Now I really want to be your woman who is loved by you. I want to become a wife who truly walks into the future as your wife, not a façade like a contract engagement. Santana please. Will you… accept my feelings?”
“… ”
Estelle expresses her thoughts clearly with sincerity.
Seeing her like this, Santana remained silent for a while with a hard expression on his face.
*
Estelle’s sudden confession.
Hearing this, I was speechless for a moment.
First of all, the moment I heard the story, there was a word that came to my mind for the first time.
‘I’ll turn…’
He was aware of Estelle’s feelings to some extent.
He used to blush so much in front of me that it was obvious, but it would be even weirder not to know.
However, as for the fact that it really happened this way, honestly I was judging that it was really unexpected.
‘I knew that the Dragona Empire case had a build-up aspect to some extent.
At the point of the other person having a crush on me and showing excessive kindness in such a situation, I had a feeling of caution to some extent.
However, I had to admit the fact that she confessed to me at this timing was a fairly fatal blow.
‘Right now, between the Dragona Empire and our heretical alliance… Exactly, there is no clear connection yet between Bohemia. In this situation, Estelle’s role has become more important than ever…’
In other words.. Now, from the standpoint of relaying with the Dragona Empire, the influence of Estelle and Rhapsody is stronger than usual.
At a time like this, if I hastily rejected Estelle’s proposal, there was a risk that things would become complicated and difficult in many ways.
Of course, it won’t go very far as this incident is related not only to us but also to the interests of the Rhapsody area, but there was plenty of room for political mischief.
Keeping that fact in mind…
As I watched Estelle waiting for an answer right in front of my eyes, I began to think about what kind of answer I should come up with.
And finally, the conclusion I came to.
that..