“Annulling the engagement?”

Lily asked in surprise when she heard the news.

“What’s this about all of a sudden?”

“It means I’m free from now on.”

I answered Lily’s question casually as I opened the wardrobe.

When I first came here, it was such a meager wardrobe, but when did it grow so much? It seemed packing would take longer than I thought.

“I agreed to leave today. We don’t have much time, so let’s pack quickly.”

“Ah, Miss. Wait a moment. Please explain. Why are you suddenly breaking off the engagement?”

Lily asked again, trying to stop me, seemingly unable to believe it.

“I requested it from the beginning.”

“You did, Miss?”

“Yes. From the start, the Duke and I weren’t as deeply involved as others thought.”

“What? But…”

“So, now I’m going to find my rightful place. Thanks to this, it seems I’ll be able to receive quite a large settlement. Isn’t that great?”

“Miss…”

Lily looked at me with a pitying expression. Then she took the clothes from my hands.

“Let me. I’ll pack the clothes.”

And she started packing silently. The packing that I thought would take a long time was quickly finished with Spinel joining in.

How much time it took to get here, for a task that could be finished so quickly.

Seeing the luggage bags at the entrance reminded me of the day I first came here. That day, Sebastian was the only one who greeted me, and now he was the only one seeing me off.

“Are you thinking of returning to the Count’s residence?”

“No. I’m planning to try living independently with this opportunity.”

I don’t think they’d welcome me at the Count’s residence anyway.

“If you have any preferred accommodation, I can look into it.”

“From now on, I need to do things on my own. I appreciate your offer, but I’ll be fine.”

“But since I’ve agreed to find accommodation for Spinel as well, please leave it to me.”

For some reason, Sebastian seemed unwilling to give up on the accommodation issue.

Finally, unable to ignore his kindness, I asked if he could prepare a house in the suburbs, not too far from the capital, in a quiet area with few people.

He nodded enthusiastically, saying he would prepare it.

Until all the luggage was loaded onto the carriage and I exchanged final greetings with Sebastian, Ilion never showed his face. I hadn’t particularly expected it, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

With such a bittersweet farewell, I boarded the carriage.

“You look regretful?”

“No way. This is what I wanted.”

“For someone who says that, you can’t take your eyes off the mansion.”

She’s always unnecessarily perceptive.

“I’m really fine. Besides, what’s there to regret? I’m a free person now. Which means,”

“Means?”

“I can live surrounded by handsome and cute guys if I want to.”

“……”

Lily and Spinel looked at me and let out small sighs.

What, why? Did I say something strange?

***

Time passed faster than I had thought.

The season at the tail end of autumn was exuding a slightly chilly air, and Spinel, Lily, and I were gradually adapting to life in our new home.

The place Sebastian had arranged was also very much to my liking. It was quiet and secluded, and if we wanted, we could visit the village using Spinel’s magic, so there wasn’t much inconvenience in living here.

“What’s all this?”

Spinel asked, watching me lay out seedlings in the garden in front of the house.

“I thought I’d try growing some plants.”

It was a rather desolate space with nothing to do, so I had gone to the village and bought seedlings as it was boring to just sit around all day.

“Plants?”

“Yes. They say if you sow at this time, you can harvest in early winter.”

Spinel, who had been watching the field preparation with interest, asked curiously.

“What happened to your dream of having handsome men by your side?”

“… Did you come out to help or to pick a fight?”

When I answered grumpily, Spinel chuckled and wiggled her fingers.

The hoe moved like it was dancing to her finger movements, and at the same time, an indescribable sense of deprivation washed over me. After staring blankly at her gestures for a while, I asked.

“… Isn’t that cheating?”

“What do you mean?”

“Farming, you know, should involve sweat and effort.”

“Why bother? It’s not like the taste changes just because you grow it easily and eat it easily.”

Right, aren’t you clever. Because you’re a mage. Pouting my lips, I diligently worked with the hoe in one corner, and Spinel said, “Alright,” stopped using magic, grabbed a hoe, and came over.

“If you insist, I’ll do it by hand.”

Her downward stroke didn’t look particularly difficult. Meanwhile, I was sweating profusely in this weather. No matter how I thought about it, this was too unfair.

“I’ve always thought this, but Spinel, you don’t seem human.”

“… Huh?”

Spinel looked at me as if to ask what I meant.

“I’m not human.”

“… What?”

“Didn’t you know?”

“Know what?”

Somehow, the conversation seemed to be going in circles.

“I’m a dragon.”

A what?

“Don’t you know what a dragon is?”

Spinel seemed to think my silence was because I didn’t know the meaning of the word. No, it’s not that I don’t know. I’m too shocked to speak!

“What?!”

I screamed, almost shrieking at the unbelievable bombshell, startling Lily who came out.

“Miss, what’s wrong?”

“Dr-dr-dragon, she says she’s a dragon.”

As I pointed at Spinel while speaking, Lily tilted her head. As if to say, why are you stating such an obvious thing now?

“Didn’t you know?”

“What? You knew too?”

“I heard about it when you were captured at the Imperial Palace.”

How could everyone know except me? I looked at Spinel with a sense of injustice, but instead she looked at me strangely.

“You really didn’t know? Even after stabbing my eye?”

“When did I ever stab…”

Come to think of it, there was one memory that came to mind. I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t? Newly realizing this fact, I felt cold sweat running down my back.

Could it be that I’m still alive after stabbing a dragon’s eye? I felt like I should build a shrine to Spinel’s generosity.

“By the way, aren’t you two going to watch the coronation today?”

“Coronation?”

While I was still not over the shock of Spinel being a dragon, Lily changed the subject and asked.

“Yes. There’s only a few hours left, but you two are calmly tending to the field.”

Calmly? I’m currently overwhelmed with shock and terror!

“If we prepare now, we should be able to arrive in time.”

Lily’s face was full of desire to go as she said this. Although I wasn’t particularly curious about things like the coronation or the next emperor, having encountered them countless times through newspapers…

“Maybe the Duke might also…”

Lily, who was speaking, suddenly stopped, startled.

Right, if we were lucky, we might see Ilion’s face. Ilion would surely attend the coronation.

“We-well, should we just rest at home today? Oh, we have cake from yesterday, how about having it with tea later?”

Lily, watching my reaction, hurriedly tried to change the atmosphere.

“Let’s go.”

“… Pardon?”

I said, trying to act nonchalant while dusting off the dirt.

“Even if we live in such a remote place, we should know what’s going on in the world.”

***

The coronation was held at the temple. Only nobles could enter, while ordinary citizens and lower-ranking nobles like me had to wait outside.

Tired of waiting idly, I sat in a cafe a bit away from the temple and looked around.

“Did you hear? They say it’s the youngest son of the late Emperor.”

“I think his name was Antias?”

“Who would have thought there was a surviving bloodline?”

People who came to watch the coronation were gathered in small groups, talking and wondering about the new emperor.

As I was listening to the conversations around me with interest, a familiar brown-haired figure suddenly caught my eye.

“Alice?”

“Duchess?”

Well, I’m not a duchess anymore. The news of my broken engagement hadn’t been spread to the media yet.

Ilion had promised to handle the annulment process as I wished. That included the rumors to be spread to the media.

“What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for the coronation to end. To see the face of the new Emperor.”

“Couldn’t you go inside, Duchess?”

“Just to remind everyone who seems to have forgotten, I’m not married yet.”

At my words, Alice muttered, “But you’ll be married soon anyway.”

“What about you, Alice? Where’s Anton, why are you alone?”

Alice pouted her lips and answered my question.

“That jerk Anton, he left without saying a word.”

“Already? Wasn’t there still some time left?”

“Well…”

Alice looked somewhat depressed as she said this. It seemed there was a lot to talk about, so I offered her the empty chair.

Sitting down, Alice started pouring out her story as if she had been needing someone to talk to.

“Yes, yes, Anton was wrong.”

To calm down Alice, who was quite heated, I quickly called a passing waiter and asked for a cold drink.

Somehow, it felt like I was watching the second part of her previous venting session. I thought they had reconciled and gone back well.

“I even confessed to him, but not only did he reject my confession in that way… When I see him next time, I won’t let him off easy!”

As Alice was saying this, she gulped down the drink that the waiter had just brought.

“Miss, Miss! Look, His Majesty the Emperor is coming out!”

Lily, who had been quietly listening to Alice’s story, pointed excitedly towards the temple.

Just then, the temple doors opened, and a young man with dazzling blonde hair and blue eyes, looking somewhat youthful, was walking out. He seemed somewhat familiar…

“Pffft! Cough, cough.”

“Oh my, Miss Alice. Are you alright?”

Alice kept coughing but couldn’t take her eyes off the temple. And I, who had been hit full in the face by Alice’s sprayed drink, wiped off the moisture with my hands and called Lily.

“Lily, I need a handkerchief too.”