At the Duke's urging, my walk in the garden with Lady Anastasia has been cancelled.
Lady Anastasia and I, together with my parents, are having a detailed discussion in the drawing room.
During the discussion, I noticed that Anastasia was glancing at me, so I looked at her just as I felt her eyes on me and made eye contact.
When our eyes met, Anastasia turned bright red and turned over.
How cute.
My face broke into a smile.
As I stared at her, the prone Anastasia glanced at me as if she had noticed my gaze.
This time, she looked surprised and turned her head down again, her face redder than before.
This time she was smiling, but I couldn't understand why she was surprised.
I noticed that the duchess was smiling at us, while the duke was looking at us as if he was chewing on a bitter bug, and I hurriedly looked away from Lady Anastasia.
At any rate, the engagement was now official.
From our point of view, we thought it was a done deal when we received the letter from the duke's family, so we only had to exchange documents and take care of other paperwork, which was not a big problem.
What had a big impact on me was the fact that I was going to be adopted by another family.
It was necessary to launder my family register once because the status of a viscount and a duke were too different.
However, since adoption takes more time than engagement, it will be some time before I leave home.
Before I left home, I decided to move the head office of my business from the capital of Adorny to the capital.
This is because my base will be in King's Landing after the adoption.
Apparently, the Duke had approached the family about the engagement and also approached the families that would accept the adoption, and the families that would accept the child had already been decided.
The only thing that remains is the paperwork.
I will be living in one of the family's several residences in the noble district of the capital.
I'll write a letter."
I said to Lady Anastasia just before the family got on the carriage, as I was coming to see off the family.
I, too..."
Anastasia's face turned red again, and she said in a voice that sounded like she was about to disappear.
In fact, I couldn't hear the last part because it was lost.
It's cute.
I guess the feeling of "cute" is not related to the beauty or ugliness of one's appearance, but to the gestures and facial expressions.
I realized this when I looked at Anastasia today.
Anastasia's gestures and facial expressions exude innocence and kindness, and I honestly think she is cute.
"Hmm...
Ginorius-san. Please take care of my daughter."
The Duchess smilingly says so.
"Yes. I look forward to working with you for many years to come.
I look forward to it.
As I answered the Duchess, Lady Anastasia replied.
Again, her voice was faint, like the buzzing of a mosquito.
After that exchange, the Sevenersworth family left.
◆◆◆◆◆
Then began the correspondence with Lady Anastasia.
Her beautiful handwriting, lined up neatly, seemed to show her personality.
She had a lot to talk about, and her way of constructing a story was easy to understand and interesting.
I could feel her warm and gentle personality like a sunny day in her letters.
I quickly became engrossed in the exchange of letters with her.
It takes about five days by ordinary mail from the royal capital where she lives to the capital of Adorni here.
But if you pay the expensive express mail fee, it will arrive in a day or two.
I'm a business owner and she's a duchess.
We're not so strapped for cash that we can't afford express mail.
We used express mail a lot and exchanged letters quite often.
This was the first time in my life, including my previous life, that I had interacted with a person of the opposite sex of my age other than my relatives, a person with whom I was in love.
Since I have a fiancé and we exchange letters frequently, I guess I can say that I am already a real person.
In my previous life, I would look at the people in my real life exchanging trivial things and say, "Hmm. You're just wasting your time." I thought in my mind.
I'm sorry to all the real people in my previous life.
I didn't realize how wonderful it is to exchange casual thoughts.
◆◆◆◆◆
In the end, it took me two months to come to King's Landing.
Now I am not Genorius Adornii, but Genorius Barbarie.
I went from being the fourth son of a viscount to the second son of a marquis.
Soon after I was adopted by the Marquesses, my engagement ceremony was held in the church of the House of Sevensworth.
It seems that the higher nobility even have churches in their homes.
The members of the Viscount Adorny family also participated in the engagement ceremony.
They were terrified to find not only a splendid church, but also a lavish opera house and other facilities with carefully calculated acoustics on the premises of their house, as well as a number of annexes to the main building in the residential area.
I was also scared.
It was not a house for a family of three.
Even though it was an engagement ceremony, it was not a wedding ceremony, so there were no vows and no kissing by the bride and groom.
It was just the two families facing each other, greeting each other, and signing some documents in the presence of a priest.
There was no contact between the fiancé and the bride-to-be, as they were not married legally or religiously, and the exchange of words was almost the same as greeting each other for the first time.
From then on, I lived at the Marquise de Barbarier and commuted to the Duchy of Sevenoaks every day.
If we were only going to get engaged, we could adopt a child only on paper, but then the Barbariers, who lend their name to the family, would not have much to gain.
The Barbariers accepted the adoption offer in order to make connections with me, who would become the center of the duke's family in the future.
That's why I am now living in the Barbarie house, deepening my friendship with the Barbarie people, and also going to the duke's house every day to learn how to run the duke's house.
Since running a duchy includes not only managing a territory but also being involved in the monarchy, there were many things I didn't know.
In addition to that, the manners and culture necessary for a senior nobleman are taught in the Barbarie house.
In addition to his education as a senior nobleman at House Barbarier, he was also educated in the administration of the dukedom at House Sevensforth, and as the manager of a business association, he had to attend business meetings.
As soon as I arrived in King's Landing, my life became quite hectic.
It seems that the head of the Barbarie family knew that I had helped the Adorni family rebuild their finances, and even the Barbarie family asked me for my opinion on the management of their lands.
My father-in-law and brother-in-law were always impressed and praised my dedication.
That is why I have a good relationship with the Barbarie family.
The children of the Barbarie family have two sisters-in-law other than the legitimate brother-in-law.
Unlike my own sister, they are gentle girls who do not run in the hallway by mistake.
When my sister-in-law called me "brother-in-law" in the elegant and calm tone of a high-ranking aristocrat, I felt as if I was opening the door to another world.
As I visited the duke's house every day, I talked with Lady Anastasia every day. On the day of the engagement ceremony, she asked me not to use honorifics, so now I speak to her without honorifics.
She called me Gino, and I called her Anna, and we called each other by our nicknames.
The first time she called me by my nickname, she turned red, and it was very cute.
◆◆◆◆◆
I'm not sure if you're bored with all this talk about me. I'm sorry.
It seems that my conversational skills are not good enough to get a relationship with a woman.
I often end up asking Anna a lot of questions.
That day, I got excited and asked a lot of questions, and that's what he said to me.
You'll never get bored.
The fountain pen you like, the hat you like, the shoes you like.
I want to know everything about her, what she thinks, what makes her happy, what makes her sad, what she doesn't like.
I want to know everything about Anna.
I want to know more about the Anna that only I know.
That's what I want.
I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions, though.
I just can't resist the urge to get close to your heart."
I felt sorry for myself for expressing my feelings so frankly.
I know from experience in my previous life that my appearance will eventually fade and decay.
Even the most beautiful girl on campus was just an ordinary old woman when she was old.
So what I want to get close to is her heart.
Her heart is very desirable.
I want to know more about her beauty.
I want to know more about the shape of her heart and understand its growth and change.
I don't know why I want to know so much, but I don't think there is any logic to it.
But her words have made me realize that it's not enough to put my own feelings of wanting to know first.
I should have told her something she would enjoy.
I am aware that I am getting carried away by the fact that she is my first fiancée after having lived 82 years in my previous life and 16 years in this life.
I think I got carried away and went out of control.
As I reflected in my mind, I suddenly looked at Anna and saw that she had somehow turned bright red.
"Anna? What's wrong? Your face is red.
Do you have a fever or something? What's wrong?
Based on the flow of the conversation, this is not a scene where Anna would be blushing.
But for some reason, she was blushing, so I got worried and asked her.
I was so happy that you were so interested in me, and it made my heart pound.
How cute.
I desperately suppressed the urge to hug her.
Lady Anastasia and I, together with my parents, are having a detailed discussion in the drawing room.
During the discussion, I noticed that Anastasia was glancing at me, so I looked at her just as I felt her eyes on me and made eye contact.
When our eyes met, Anastasia turned bright red and turned over.
How cute.
My face broke into a smile.
As I stared at her, the prone Anastasia glanced at me as if she had noticed my gaze.
This time, she looked surprised and turned her head down again, her face redder than before.
This time she was smiling, but I couldn't understand why she was surprised.
I noticed that the duchess was smiling at us, while the duke was looking at us as if he was chewing on a bitter bug, and I hurriedly looked away from Lady Anastasia.
At any rate, the engagement was now official.
From our point of view, we thought it was a done deal when we received the letter from the duke's family, so we only had to exchange documents and take care of other paperwork, which was not a big problem.
What had a big impact on me was the fact that I was going to be adopted by another family.
It was necessary to launder my family register once because the status of a viscount and a duke were too different.
However, since adoption takes more time than engagement, it will be some time before I leave home.
Before I left home, I decided to move the head office of my business from the capital of Adorny to the capital.
This is because my base will be in King's Landing after the adoption.
Apparently, the Duke had approached the family about the engagement and also approached the families that would accept the adoption, and the families that would accept the child had already been decided.
The only thing that remains is the paperwork.
I will be living in one of the family's several residences in the noble district of the capital.
I'll write a letter."
I said to Lady Anastasia just before the family got on the carriage, as I was coming to see off the family.
I, too..."
Anastasia's face turned red again, and she said in a voice that sounded like she was about to disappear.
In fact, I couldn't hear the last part because it was lost.
It's cute.
I guess the feeling of "cute" is not related to the beauty or ugliness of one's appearance, but to the gestures and facial expressions.
I realized this when I looked at Anastasia today.
Anastasia's gestures and facial expressions exude innocence and kindness, and I honestly think she is cute.
"Hmm...
Ginorius-san. Please take care of my daughter."
The Duchess smilingly says so.
"Yes. I look forward to working with you for many years to come.
I look forward to it.
As I answered the Duchess, Lady Anastasia replied.
Again, her voice was faint, like the buzzing of a mosquito.
After that exchange, the Sevenersworth family left.
◆◆◆◆◆
Then began the correspondence with Lady Anastasia.
Her beautiful handwriting, lined up neatly, seemed to show her personality.
She had a lot to talk about, and her way of constructing a story was easy to understand and interesting.
I could feel her warm and gentle personality like a sunny day in her letters.
I quickly became engrossed in the exchange of letters with her.
It takes about five days by ordinary mail from the royal capital where she lives to the capital of Adorni here.
But if you pay the expensive express mail fee, it will arrive in a day or two.
I'm a business owner and she's a duchess.
We're not so strapped for cash that we can't afford express mail.
We used express mail a lot and exchanged letters quite often.
This was the first time in my life, including my previous life, that I had interacted with a person of the opposite sex of my age other than my relatives, a person with whom I was in love.
Since I have a fiancé and we exchange letters frequently, I guess I can say that I am already a real person.
In my previous life, I would look at the people in my real life exchanging trivial things and say, "Hmm. You're just wasting your time." I thought in my mind.
I'm sorry to all the real people in my previous life.
I didn't realize how wonderful it is to exchange casual thoughts.
◆◆◆◆◆
In the end, it took me two months to come to King's Landing.
Now I am not Genorius Adornii, but Genorius Barbarie.
I went from being the fourth son of a viscount to the second son of a marquis.
Soon after I was adopted by the Marquesses, my engagement ceremony was held in the church of the House of Sevensworth.
It seems that the higher nobility even have churches in their homes.
The members of the Viscount Adorny family also participated in the engagement ceremony.
They were terrified to find not only a splendid church, but also a lavish opera house and other facilities with carefully calculated acoustics on the premises of their house, as well as a number of annexes to the main building in the residential area.
I was also scared.
It was not a house for a family of three.
Even though it was an engagement ceremony, it was not a wedding ceremony, so there were no vows and no kissing by the bride and groom.
It was just the two families facing each other, greeting each other, and signing some documents in the presence of a priest.
There was no contact between the fiancé and the bride-to-be, as they were not married legally or religiously, and the exchange of words was almost the same as greeting each other for the first time.
From then on, I lived at the Marquise de Barbarier and commuted to the Duchy of Sevenoaks every day.
If we were only going to get engaged, we could adopt a child only on paper, but then the Barbariers, who lend their name to the family, would not have much to gain.
The Barbariers accepted the adoption offer in order to make connections with me, who would become the center of the duke's family in the future.
That's why I am now living in the Barbarie house, deepening my friendship with the Barbarie people, and also going to the duke's house every day to learn how to run the duke's house.
Since running a duchy includes not only managing a territory but also being involved in the monarchy, there were many things I didn't know.
In addition to that, the manners and culture necessary for a senior nobleman are taught in the Barbarie house.
In addition to his education as a senior nobleman at House Barbarier, he was also educated in the administration of the dukedom at House Sevensforth, and as the manager of a business association, he had to attend business meetings.
As soon as I arrived in King's Landing, my life became quite hectic.
It seems that the head of the Barbarie family knew that I had helped the Adorni family rebuild their finances, and even the Barbarie family asked me for my opinion on the management of their lands.
My father-in-law and brother-in-law were always impressed and praised my dedication.
That is why I have a good relationship with the Barbarie family.
The children of the Barbarie family have two sisters-in-law other than the legitimate brother-in-law.
Unlike my own sister, they are gentle girls who do not run in the hallway by mistake.
When my sister-in-law called me "brother-in-law" in the elegant and calm tone of a high-ranking aristocrat, I felt as if I was opening the door to another world.
As I visited the duke's house every day, I talked with Lady Anastasia every day. On the day of the engagement ceremony, she asked me not to use honorifics, so now I speak to her without honorifics.
She called me Gino, and I called her Anna, and we called each other by our nicknames.
The first time she called me by my nickname, she turned red, and it was very cute.
◆◆◆◆◆
I'm not sure if you're bored with all this talk about me. I'm sorry.
It seems that my conversational skills are not good enough to get a relationship with a woman.
I often end up asking Anna a lot of questions.
That day, I got excited and asked a lot of questions, and that's what he said to me.
You'll never get bored.
The fountain pen you like, the hat you like, the shoes you like.
I want to know everything about her, what she thinks, what makes her happy, what makes her sad, what she doesn't like.
I want to know everything about Anna.
I want to know more about the Anna that only I know.
That's what I want.
I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions, though.
I just can't resist the urge to get close to your heart."
I felt sorry for myself for expressing my feelings so frankly.
I know from experience in my previous life that my appearance will eventually fade and decay.
Even the most beautiful girl on campus was just an ordinary old woman when she was old.
So what I want to get close to is her heart.
Her heart is very desirable.
I want to know more about her beauty.
I want to know more about the shape of her heart and understand its growth and change.
I don't know why I want to know so much, but I don't think there is any logic to it.
But her words have made me realize that it's not enough to put my own feelings of wanting to know first.
I should have told her something she would enjoy.
I am aware that I am getting carried away by the fact that she is my first fiancée after having lived 82 years in my previous life and 16 years in this life.
I think I got carried away and went out of control.
As I reflected in my mind, I suddenly looked at Anna and saw that she had somehow turned bright red.
"Anna? What's wrong? Your face is red.
Do you have a fever or something? What's wrong?
Based on the flow of the conversation, this is not a scene where Anna would be blushing.
But for some reason, she was blushing, so I got worried and asked her.
I was so happy that you were so interested in me, and it made my heart pound.
How cute.
I desperately suppressed the urge to hug her.