Felicia started showing up to Mark’s classes, and Felicia and Mark started showing to Nii-sama and Gill’s classes. A few extra guards also came on those days in addition to the usual guards.

Graces was there most of the time, so I was kind of happy to see him. I have a slight connection with him, and he was also the person who had protected Otou-sama. He seemed to feel indebted to me for some reason and listened to my requests.

“Gracesh I wanth tho cwimb thhath three.” (Graces I want to climb that tree)

“Alright, up you go.” He lifted me up like this.

“Climb up the places you can climb,” it was completely different from what Hans would do. Hans would scold him, “Graces, you have to guard them, is this the time to be paying attention to a baby?”

“No, I’m guarding them inside the castle, it’s different from guarding someone outside of the royal capital. I thought that it was more important to raise the Four Marquis children well rather than protect them from enemies.”

“Don’t quibble.”

Well, in fact, Hans told Nii-sama that the convoy corps was monitoring what the Four Marquis children were doing since they were all gathered here. They wanted to keep track of the movements of the Four Marquises. Felicia was also included in this, but it must have made a big impact for Mark to be here since he’s already an adult.

Stupid Mark.

Under these circumstances, the Remingtons must have found out long ago that Felicia has been training her magic here.

However, Felicia explained, “They know that I’m taking classes with Chris. But she was surprised that I was interested in such a thing. She only asked me if I was embarrassed to be studying with babies since I’ve already graduated from the Academy.”

Felicia smiled sadly.

“She knows I want to spend time with Chris, so she probably thinks that I’m simply keeping her company instead of studying. She’s not interested in what I want or anything else. She just thinks it’s better not to be disturbed.”

Certainly, Otou-sama didn’t seem interested in what I’m learning. I guess he just wants me to have fun. Oh my, why are Hans and Natalie looking at each other in a troubled way?

“Well, in a roundabout way, the Four Marquises are independent and don’t interfere with each other. Yes, but she heard what I said.”

Felicia giggled. I think she’s been laughing a lot lately. Chris also seemed to be enjoying herself.

But the reason why we were able to play like this is because we were actually spending more and more time at the castle.

It’s quite a long time between when I wake up from my nap and when Otou-sama comes to pick me up.

I played with Nico while waiting, which made him happy, and I had no problems with this either. The maids were apparently worried about me not coming home early, but that doesn’t matter for now, the problem right now is Otou-sama.

“Lei!” He says, as he puts me on his lap and doesn’t let go while in the carriage. I want to look outside the carriage too, but it can’t be helped so I swung my legs. Otou-sama seemed really busy with work.

“Lately, the distribution of the Rug Dragons has been very intense. Originally, each fief should only replace the Rug Dragons they need from the herds in their fiefs, but having the Rug Dragons travel from Kingdom to Wester and back, then from Kingdom to Farland means that business is not just across fiefs, but across countries.”

“Gah.”

What else can I say in reply to Otou-sama who was complaining about how hard his work was?

“And a lot of magic stones are being moved around too. The amount of magic stones coming from Wester and Farland remain the same, but recently, we’ve been exporting more to Farland. We’re also exporting some to Wester, but a lot less than to Farland. The system was designed so that the magic stones would be gathered in Kingdom, so a slight increase in exports won’t cause any problems. But why are the exports increasing?”

“Ai.”

That’s certainly information I’m interested in.

“I’d like to go to Farland to investigate. Well, I don’t think it would be a problem for me to go to a town near the border. But I don’t want to separate from Lei.”

I didn’t respond to this. I would also miss Otou-sama when he’s gone, but that’s what working means sometimes.

“I’ll send a team of investigators first for now…”

I comforted him. I can only ask Otou-sama to do his best as someone who he is raising. But what are the others doing? For example, Gill’s Otou-sama.

“Lei’s hard on me.”

“I’m noth.”

Stan-ojisama lamented. He came to the mansion with Gill and Julia-obasama on his day off. I only asked him, “Otou-syama ish bushy wathewy. Are you bushy Sthan-ojisyama?” (Otou-sama is busy lately. Are you busy Stan-ojisama)

I didn’t say that he was slacking off or not doing his job.

“It feels like you did. Well, the answer to your question is that I’m busy too.” Stan-ojisama looked tired as he grieved.

“Is Dean coming home late too?”

“Ai, Juwia-obasama. Otou-syama ish thired.”

“Oh my, Stan is as well.” It must be true since Julia-obasama said it was.

“Farland is making a lot of fuss about the Rug Dragons and the magic stones. Dean works more on the Wester side, but I’m the one who’s dealing with Farland. The vendors say they’re just following the orders, and I’m beginning to wonder if I need to go to Farland for this, but I can’t go, and I’m troubled over who to send to investigate.”

I certainly didn’t get the impression that anyone was very competent.

“Whether it be the Lisburns or the Albans, it would be quicker to use our companies. But the civil officials are the people who are operating this, so that’s a problem. Those guys can’t do their jobs.”

“It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they don’t want to leave the royal capital. They’ll faint if I told them to go to Farland to investigate,” Otou-sama, who had just returned, joined in on the conversation.

“Stan’s right, let’s use our companies first.”

“That sounds faster.”

It sounds like a hassle.