Agreement

The next day,

*Knock Knock!*

"Princess Alicia." The maid, who usually woke Alicia up, knocked on the door and waited for the response. However, even after waiting for one minute, she didn't get the usual response from her, so she knocked again.

*Knock Knock!*

"Princess Alicia?!"

Hearing no response from Alicia, the maid furrowed her eyebrows and decided to come inside. "Please excuse me, Princess."

To her surprise, Alicia was nowhere to be seen. She searched the entire room but to no avail. Alicia never went out of her room before the maid dressed her up, making the maid panic.

"Princess! Princess!" The maid searched for her and called her name for a few more minutes before her body shook. She ran toward Raymond's study room with shaking hands.

*Bam!* The door pushed open, startling the grand duke.

"What happened?"

"Master… we couldn't find Princess Alicia in her room. I never heard her going out before dressing her, so…" The maid couldn't finish her words because she was afraid of his wrath.

The grand duke took three seconds to process and he immediately rose from his seat, recalling a certain matter.

"She also didn't come here… Ask people to search around the mansion right now." Raymond slammed the table and ordered.

"Ye-yes!" The maid left and rushed to inform the other servants.

Raymond looked at the pile of documents on his table and gritted his teeth. Alicia was better than these piles of papers. With that thought in mind, the Grand Duke joined the search.

Not long after that, the entire mansion turned into an uproar as the house lady, Raymond's wife, appeared before him and asked. "What happened?"

"Alicia's gone missing."

"What? How come you conclude it that way? Where is the kidnapper?" Her voice was shaking.

"I don't think someone kidnapped her…" Raymond shook his head, feeling heavy in his heart.

"Then what?" She grabbed Raymond's shoulders, not planning to release him unless she got the answer.

Raymond scratched his head before finally revealing yesterday's matter.

"Are you kidding me?" She snarled at him as if she wanted to butcher him.

"No, no. But you also need to see Alex's talent from our point of view… His talent will shake the entire world… Wait, that's right. I haven't checked Alex's room!" Raymond slipped away and ran toward Alex's room.

"Wait, you bastard!" his wife was trying to stop him from running away but she failed.

The moment he saw Alex's room, he pushed open the door without thinking about being polite and knocking on the door.

When his wife caught up with him, she was stunned by the sight. In fact, she couldn't think a single word at the moment.

They found two people inside the room, one man and one woman, sitting side by side and leaning to each other. The curtain that had yet to be closed yesterday let the sunlight to illuminate the room, perfectly at their spot.

Raymond and his wife looked into each other's eyes and nodded. The anxiety in his heart and the anger in her heart disappeared at the moment, turning into delight. Both of them decided to go out of the room, allowing them to sleep a bit longer.

However, Alicia yawned and slowly lifted her eyelids due to the disturbance earlier. "Mmm… It's already morning?"

It was supposed to be a nice morning for her since she just had a good night's sleep yesterday even though her body felt a bit uncomfortable. And yet the sight of his mother and father appearing in her vision startled her. Yesterday's memory flashed in her mind as she turned at her side and confirmed that everything was true because Alex was still beside her.

Before she could utter a single word, Raymond smirked as he put 'I understand' expression and said, "Please enjoy your sleep. I am sorry for interrupting your sleep… Ahem, this might be my worst mistake."

"Indeed. Let's go." The lady grabbed his hand and tried to leave the room.

At this time, Alex also woke up and rubbed his fuzzy eyes. Yet the sight of these two immediately brushed away his sleepy face as he stood up and raised his hands. "Let me exp—"

Raymond didn't say anything and walked toward him, patting Alex's shoulder a few times with the same cheeky face he made for Alicia. "You don't need to explain. You can start calling me Father from now on."

"He is right. You can call me Mother as well."

"Haha… Good son-in-law. Listen to me, you can do anything you want but just make sure to not have a child before marriage. Are we clear?" Raymond grinned as he gazed upon Alicia's expression. He then left the room without giving a chance for them to reply.

He took his wife and left the room before explaining the whole situation to her, including Alex's talents and the reason he wanted Alex to be Alicia's husband.

It was at this moment that Alex and Alicia caught up with them as Alicia shouted, "Father, Mother. You've misunderstood everything. We may have decided to keep the engagement for now, but it's to test our feelings for each other. After graduation from the academy, we will decide if we want to marry each other or not. In case Alex and I have a feeling for other people, we want to annul the engagement."

"Annul?" Raymond widened his eyes as he grabbed Alex's shoulder again, clenching it tightly. "You brat. My daughter is not for a one night stand."

Alex opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but the pain started crushing him. He even closed half of his eyes due to the pain.

"Father!" Alicia gritted her teeth. "We have decided this ourselves. You say that you won't force something like this, but you are now forcing him like this? And after we compromise with your idea, you are pushing yourself like this!"

"!!!" Raymond instinctively released Alex and took a step back. This might be the first time Alicia talked back to him like this and her reaction calmed his heart a bit. He took a deep breath and thought for a moment. "I understand. Since that is the case, I agree with your condition and handle the matter with my brother.

"Still, you also need to consider your age. By the time you graduate from the academy, you will be 19 years old. If you two are not…"

"I will let Father decide who I will marry," Alicia said with determination in her eyes.

Even Alex widened his eyes in surprise, never expecting her to gamble her future like this. He looked down as he thought of everything Alicia had said. At first, he was thinking to stay with her because he had no power to decide his fate, but he needed to take this seriously after watching her determination.

Seeing they had reached an agreement, they decided to have lunch together before Raymond determined to use this to make the first move.

"I am announcing a piece of good news. Alex and Alicia are now engaged." Raymond said out loud while thinking, 'Heh… Three years are enough for me to do many things to make you marry Alicia.'

"…" Alex and Alicia were stupefied. They just agreed to this condition and forgot to mention it a secret.

"Ufufu… Now I have a son-in-law. Call me Mother, Alex." The lady urged Alex before glancing at the other two daughters. "Now I am wondering when my other two girls will have a man by their side."

Lea and Mia twitched their eyebrows and ignored their mother. They said at the same time, "Congratulations. I have a brother-in-law now."

"Sisters!" Alicia screamed to hide her embarrassment.

A few minutes later after finishing the lunch, the grand duke went to the castle to inform the king about the agreement.

"This…" He never expected them to play such a move.

"We need another plan and make sure they are together. I can see Alicia was the one who reacted more toward this plan… So, the problem is Alex. I wonder what I can do to have him open up to her and love her." Raymond nodded.

"How about we let them go to the same room in the dormitory? Many nobles have their maid or butler accompany them in the room, so I believe we can do this without breaking a single rule."

"Ah!" Raymond realized his plan and added. "Same room, same class, sit next to each other and do all school activities together. With all these skinship, Alex will slowly open up to her. I am sure Alicia's charm will be able to make him kneel on the ground for her."

"Yes." The king agreed and wrote two letters, one to Alex as his recommendation, and the other was about Alex's arrangement.

…

The next day.

"Alex. This is your recommendation letter for the academy. Since the academy needs to test your ability normally, we need a way to hide your ability. If you present this recommendation letter, you wouldn't need to undergo the test because I will send you a helper there." Raymond handed the letter to Alex.

"Thank you." Alex received the letter gratefully. With this, he could raise his strength under the protection of the academy. At the very least, he wouldn't be on the radar of those people from Zircodina, and even some students coming from Zircodina won't know anything about him unless the other side sent a letter to them.

"The enrollment will be next week. Ask Alicia to guide you around the city, so you can familiarize yourself with this capital."

"Yes." Alex nodded, he then asked permission to leave the room and headed straight to Alicia.

"There is one thing I want you to know. The situation is a bit worrying, but I'll back you up. Just tell me when you need help." Alicia informed Alex that she was on his side no matter what.

After talking about what they needed to do, Alicia brought Alex around. Of course, she felt thrilled this whole time. Just like how they went around the places in their travel, this city was her home and her pride. She guided him to the best of her ability.

On the last day, they finally came to the academy.

"This is our Acacia Royal Academy, the best academy in the world." Alicia pumped her fist to her chest and couldn't hide her grin.

Alex had gotten used to this exaggerated pride for her kingdom, so he completely ignored the action and looked at the entrance.

The academy itself was surrounded by a wall with a grand entrance. Two red pillars stood tall next to the wall and hung a golden plaque with 'Royal Academy' written on it.

A bit farther from this, he could see a few buildings inside with the same style as her mansion.

She started bombarding him with praises about this academy.

"You haven't tried yet?" Alex looked at her with an uninterested expression.

"Now that I think about it, I have talked for an hour without me realizing…" Looking at the time, she thought it would be the perfect time to have lunch, so she suggested while pointing at the building behind them. "Let's go to the Phoenix Restaurant. Sisters said their food is great and cheap. So many students from the academy eat there."

Alex turned around and saw the restaurant. "Sure, let's go then."

They came to an empty table at the corner and didn't make a scene for fear of being acknowledged by their identity.

A waiter immediately came to them to take their order. "Welcome to the Phoenix Restaurant. I will help you with your order. May I know what you want to order?"

"Let's go with today's special for both of us," Alicia ordered their food.

"Noted, please wait a minute while we are preparing your food." said the waiter, writing down their order. 

The waiter then left both of them to get the order.

"Tomorrow is the enrollment day, right?" Alex asked.

"Yes. We will leave tomorrow morning. It's not that far anyway." Alicia nodded.

"Alright. I will get ready."

Not long after, the waiter came back and placed the dishes on the table. "These are your two today's specials."

Alex thanked the waiter and started eating with Alicia.