“Ah, Sister! What are you doing here?! I am sorry, Your Highness Nagi, something unforeseen has come up. I am very sorry to trouble you, but we will have to end it here for today.”

“Huh… but what about the Taurus Mine…?”

“I understand! I will arrange it for you, we will go visit it together, so please, I want you to not tell anyone else about this.”

“Wait, let me talk! I-I want to have a talk~~~!”

Tillois came back to his senses, and perhaps because he was quite in a panic, he easily accepted my request to go to the mine. After that, he dragged Miss Vivienne along with him and left the room.

As Mika and I were left alone there, a butler quickly appeared and urged us out to the carriage that would take us to the royal castle, it all happened in a flow.

“Mi-Mika… What in the world had happened…?”

“I also want to know, but I heard that she’s been acting strange since classes started this school year.”

“Acting strange…? Was that person really Duchess Vivienne Ackerson?”

She was a tempestuous person. However, while remembering her strange behavior from earlier, I thought about what happened in my first life.

Duchess Vivienne Ackerson.

The more I think about it, she would have been one of the first people to be executed as a public figure in the future.

I have never been involved with her and have not even seen much of her face, even if she was supposed to be my sister-in-law. That is because she will lose her status as a duchess next March and will be executed without ever becoming a royalty.

That’s right, she was charged with—

“Huh? Come to think of it…”

Then, I remembered.

She was executed for the crime of an attempted assassination of Brother Vincent’s fiancée.

I knew that Brother Vincent had feelings for Baroness Emilia Tessier. Rumors were rife that the engagement might be broken off, but the truth was that no one really believed such a ridiculous thing could happen.

The Dukes of Ackerson and Dukes of Tyndall, the family of the second queen, are in collusion with each other. Even Brother Vincent must have been well aware of this.

Even as it is, he was already in a dispute with Brother Seth. There was no way that he would break off his engagement to Duchess Vivienne Ackerson, which had been arranged since he was a child in order to make his position rock solid.

However, Brother Vincent really caused such an incident. Looking back, I feel that the weirdness in this country started with that strange incident, as if the gears had gone awry.

(In the first place, the crime was for an attempted assassination of his ‘fiancée’… The charge itself is ridiculous, even though the real fiancée is Miss Vivienne.)

To tell the truth, it was even a good incident for the first prince faction, because it was an ugly affair for the second prince and it undermined the ties between the Dukes of Tyndall and Ackerson. That’s why, I didn’t really care about it, but why did Brother Vincent force his engagement to the Baroness by executing his fiancée?

I should have listened more about the story… I regretted it.

While I was dawdling with such thoughts, Mika, who sat across from me on the carriage seat with his elbows resting on his wide-open legs, peeked into my face from below.

“What are you thinking about?”

“…Ahh …No, nothing much. I’m just wondering if that strange person is going to be my sister-in-law.”

“I see. Ah, by the way, have you decided on your summer break plans? If you have time, why don’t you come over to my place? My father also has been wanting to see you.”

I was still puzzled by something that didn’t add up, but my attention quickly turned to my summer break.

I hadn’t seen Count Chardin for a long time since I had distanced myself from Mika. Count Chardin’s residence is located in the Côte de Marais, a sea town straight down south from the royal capital.

It’s a beautiful city with a blue sea and bright white buildings. In my memory, the fiery red color of Count Chardin’s hair is added to the scenery. I thought, “I want to meet him after such a long time,” and my eyes relaxed.

“Is your father doing well?”

“Yeah, he’s doing well. He’s been doing too well, in fact.”

“Haha. It seems like I’ll be going to many places this summer. Can I ask you to come along with me?”

I couldn’t help but smile when I think of Count Chardin, who was always laughing loudly like he was doing a vocal exercise. When our eyes met, Mika’s face softly and gently relaxed. His eyes looked at me as if he was showing tenderness, and my heart throbbed.

Then, Mika’s hand slowly rested on top of my hand that I put on my knee, and I flinched.

As he intertwined his fingers with mine and squeezed my hand, I blinked my eyes. Mika, still propped up on his elbow in front of me, went on, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb, and asked.

“…Many places, you say? Where do you want to go?”

“Huh, ah, well, I want to go to the Taurus Mine, to your place, and then, I also want to go to Machina’s house.”

“…….Machina?”

I don’t know why we’re talking while holding hands like this, but I wish he would stop because it’s not good for my heart.

But Mika suddenly stopped stroking the back of my hand, and looked up at me. His eyes looked a little piercing, and I thought it was strange. Then, Mika asked me a question in a strangely low voice.

“When… did you meet Machina?”

“Huh? Ah, we were in the same class for Livelihood Magic Study. When I tried talking to him he was so easy to talk to, and then we started talking about the Lambert territory.”

“……..Hmm.”

I don’t know why, but Mika seemed to be in a foul mood. So while feeling a little confused, I told him about the refugees in Lambert territory that Machina had told me about. Mika wouldn’t let go of my hand and listened silently. Then, apparently convinced of my reasons for wanting to go there, he said again, “Hmm,” with a frown on his face.

But then, the next moment—

Mika suddenly yanked me and I fell onto his chest.

I didn’t even have time to let out a cry of surprise, and he hugged me tightly. My body flinched when I felt Mika’s hand caressing my left ear. In my right ear, I heard Mika’s voice that sounded like a whisper.

“I’m coming with you. So make sure to tell him.”

“Hm? Hmm?? O-okay??”

Thus, the last week of this semester, after I returned from death, passed like a raging wave.

Starting next week, it’ll be the summer break. In my first life, five years ago, I was mostly just reading books in the royal castle.

But in this summer of my second life—

(I have so many things to do……)