Aiming for the Ultimate Mansion Construction
After bathing in the hot springs and tidying myself up, I’m visiting Farah’s room accompanied by my guard, Diana.
“This is Reed Baldia. May I request an audience with Princess Farah Renalute?”
“Certainly, sir. I’ll confirm right away. Please wait a moment.”
When I speak to the soldier guarding the room, he bows and goes to inform her of my arrival. Shortly after, the soldier returns.
“Thank you for waiting. I’ll guide you in.”
“Thank you.”
I take a deep breath while moving to the room where Farah is. As the soldier stands in front of the sliding door to her room, he announces:
“I’ve brought Lord Reed Baldia. Is it alright to enter?”
“Y-yes. Please come in.”
Upon hearing the cute reply from inside the room, the soldier carefully opens the sliding door. I enter with a nervous expression, saying, “Excuse me.” Farah stands to greet me.
“…Welcome, Lord Reed.”
“…Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Combined with nervousness, I felt somewhat embarrassed and struggled to find the right words. As we enter the room, Farah guides me to sit at a table with sofas. Diana, who came with me, stands behind the sofa where I’m seated. At that moment, Asna prepares green tea for Farah and me.
“Here you are. Please be careful, it’s hot.”
“Thank you, Asna.”
She smiles at me before taking her position behind Farah’s sofa, just like Diana. After that, an indescribably awkward atmosphere begins to settle between Farah and me as we face each other across the table. Come to think of it, this might be the first time we’re talking directly like this. In this atmosphere, I slowly begin to speak.
“I heard from my father. Thank you for staying with me until late yesterday.”
I bow to Farah while still seated. She seems confused by my action and hurriedly responds.
“Lord Reed, please raise your head. It was because of our vassal Noris, so we should be the ones apologizing…”
As I raise my head in response to her words, Farah has an apologetic look on her face. Yeah, this won’t do. Thinking that, I decided to change the subject. Well, it’s actually the main topic. I smile gently.
“I understand. Let’s put his matter to rest. More importantly, I came here today because I wanted to talk with Princess Farah about something.”
“…Something you wanted to talk about?”
She looks puzzled at my response. I clear my throat and ask her politely.
“Well, you see. It’s a hypothetical question, but if you were to come to the Baldia domain, what kind of mansion would you like to live in?”
“Eh…!? Um, th-that’s… quite a bold question… isn’t it?”
At my words, her face turns red, and her ears start to move up and down. Asna, standing behind her, is trying to hold back her laughter. What’s going on? When I glance back, I see Diana looking exasperated. Noticing my confused expression, Diana whispers in my ear.
“Young master, although she’s technically a princess, asking such a lady about her future residence, even hypothetically, is tantamount to a marriage proposal.”
“Ah…!?”
Indeed, now that it’s pointed out, there are generally no ‘what ifs’ for ladies or princesses. Moreover, I’m here as her potential marriage candidate. If it weren’t so, it would be terribly rude. But if I’m asking a hypothetical question, it implies that it’s a decided matter. In other words, it’s nothing short of expressing an intention to marry.
I understand the meaning of my words, and I feel my face turning red. But thinking about it, it’s just that she and others don’t know it’s already decided. Having made up my mind, I decide to be straightforward and clearly tell Farah, my face still red:
“Um, yes. You can think of it that way!! With that in mind, please tell me what kind of mansion Princess Farah would like to live in…!!”
“…!? Uh, well, that… y-yes…!!”
Seeing my sudden boldness, Asna and Diana are covering their mouths, trying to hold back something while watching.
Meanwhile, Farah’s face has turned bright red, and her ears are moving up and down. I-If this continues, we won’t make any progress. I hurriedly start explaining about the mansion.
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‘”Um, f-for example!! Would you like rooms similar to those in Renalute, or do you have any preferences for the garden?”
“Eh…!? W-well… Um, could I ask for tatami rooms too?”
“Yes. I’d like to hear all your wishes without considering whether they’re possible or not.”
I receive her words with a smile, and Farah gradually begins to tell me about the rooms she’d like. It seems she wants a variety of basic Renalute-style rooms, including Japanese-style rooms, fusion rooms, and verandas. When I ask about sliding doors, she says regular doors are fine for entrances.
I’m surprised to hear that Farah often spends time in fusion-style places. She seems to have mastered Imperial culture as well, saying she could live in the Baldia domain right away without any problems. I’m a bit wide-eyed at Renalute’s elite education. Seeing my expression, she smiles somewhat happily.
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After that, once Farah has expressed most of her requests, she ponders for a moment before murmuring:
“Also, I know it might be difficult, but I’d be happy if there was a hot spring…”
“A hot spring… yeah, I’d like that too.”
At that moment, I feel an expectant gaze and presence from behind and nervously turn around. There, I see Diana with sparkling eyes and a delighted expression.
“Lord Reed, Princess Farah, I have a personal request. If you don’t say ‘I’ll do it’ here, you’ll lose your manliness. Please, give Princess Farah a positive response.”
I made an indescribable face at Diana’s words. Still, saying “you’ll lose your manliness” is quite rude. Well, it doesn’t bother me much. I turned my gaze back to Princess Farah and smiled.
“I’m not sure if I can, but I’ll try my best to make a hot spring too.”
“I’m sorry for asking too much. Please don’t do anything unreasonable.”
Farah looks at me with an apologetic face, worried about me. Meanwhile, Diana maintains her composure, but she seems to be clenching her right fist. While feeling a bit exasperated, I shifted my gaze to Asna and asked her a question as well.
“Asna, do you have any wishes? It’s just ‘what if,’ but if Princess Farah comes, you’ll be living here too, right?”
Asna’s eyes widened at my words. But when Princess Farah gave her a knowing look, Asna cleared her throat and voiced her request.
“…I’d like my room to be in Japanese style, and I have no special requests for bedding. More importantly, I would appreciate it if a training ground… no, a dojo could be prepared within the mansion.”
“…A d-dojo?”
Even I was surprised by this unexpected request. I know what a dojo is, but Diana doesn’t. So, I made a puzzled face, partly to confirm. Then, Asna began to explain briefly.
“It’s not something complicated. It’s an indoor training facility for practice. With a dojo, we can train regardless of rainy days. I’d like Lord Reed to show his resourcefulness to the princess.”
Asna’s eyes are sparkling. In a way, she seems similar to Diana. When I glanced behind, Diana also seemed very interested in the dojo. Farah had an apologetic expression but didn’t seem to want to stop it. I sighed resignedly.
“Understood. But I don’t know if it’s possible. Anyway, I’ll do whatever I can.”
“As expected of Lord Reed, you’re truly the gentleman the princess has her eye on.”
Asna looked pleased with my answer, clenching her right fist. At that moment, Diana put on a thoughtful face and said to me:
“Lord Reed, since we’re at it, we should also hear from Danae and Galun at the Baldia house. The maids and household members like Galun are the ones supporting the mansion. I’m sure they’ll have good ideas.”
“I see, that’s true. Then, I’ll consider everything I’ve heard here along with what everyone at the mansion says.”
Just as I was thinking it might be alright for now, Farah suddenly said:
“Lord Reed, it’s not about rooms, but would it be possible to bring the ‘cherry blossoms’ from Renalute?”
“Huh…? Are there cherry blossoms in Renalute?”
I didn’t know there were cherry blossoms. Farah nodded at my response and continued:
“Yes, it’s understandable that you don’t know. It’s said that cherry blossoms only exist in Renalute. The flowers are very beautiful, so during the blooming season, we have flower-viewing parties where we eat while looking at the flowers. But I’ve never done it, so if possible, I’d like to do it with Reed… no, with everyone at the Baldia house…”
As Farah said this, her face turned red and her ears twitched up and down. And I’m not so dull as to miss the words she changed midway. Well, if I don’t say I’ll “do it,” I might be seen as lacking in resourcefulness and I’ll lose my manliness. Thinking this, I smiled, even though I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
“I understand. I too would like to view the cherry blossoms with Princess Farah. I’ll do my best to make it happen.”
“Thank you so much!!”
Farah’s face lit up with joy at my answer. Now that I’ve heard the requests of everyone here, I’ll go back to the territory and hear the opinions of everyone at home. Then, I’ll compile everything and submit it to Father. If it doesn’t work out, it’s unfortunate, but we can always cut something out. Thinking this, I thanked everyone.
“Thank you all. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but I’ll do my best.”
“Yes. Please don’t overexert yourself, okay?”
Farah looks at me with a worried face. However, it was impressive to see both Asna and Diana looking so pleased. Now, let’s move on to another consultation.
“Yes, I’ll do my best without overdoing it. By the way, I have another question. I’d like to go to the castle town, what do you think?”
Diana’s expression changed at my words.
“Lord Reed, that’s not possible. Your appearance would stand out too much in Renalute. Besides, we can’t be sure that people like Noris won’t target you.”
“I understand, but isn’t there some way around this?”
Despite coming all the way to Renalute, Father wouldn’t allow me to go to the castle town because of Noris. While there’s surveillance within the castle, I stand out too much in the castle town and am in a position where I could easily be targeted. Naturally, this increases the risk. That’s why I came to consult with Farah and the others, but it seems difficult as expected.
Just as I was about to give up and think of another way, I noticed Farah pondering something. Could she have a good idea? As I was thinking this, she slowly muttered:
“Lady Diana, would it be alright if Lord Reed wasn’t recognizable as ‘Lord Reed’?”
“Well, if that were the case, the risk would be reduced, so it might be okay, but…”
Diana couldn’t completely dismiss Farah’s words and answered with a softer tone. At the same time, Farah’s face brightened up, and she enthusiastically said, as if she had come up with a brilliant idea:
“Lord Reed could become a maid!!”
“Huh…?”
Both Diana and I were dumbfounded, not understanding the meaning. Asna, standing behind Farah, let out a big sigh and looked exasperated.
By the way, I would come to regret consulting Farah about this later.
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