Invitation

"Hm. Lady Edelt sent an invitation, didn't she?"

"Yes. I mentioned that Your Grace would not attend, but Lady Edelt insisted on you receiving it. Shall I burn it?"

I urgently shook my head at the butler's question.

"No, it's fine. I'll see it for myself."

"...Directly, you say?"

The butler asked with widened eyes at my response. It was a sight of someone who had seen a miracle.

"Is there something wrong?"

I asked, wondering if I had done something wrong, and the butler shook his head.

Thankfully, it seemed I hadn't made any mistakes. That was fortunate, but the butler's expression was still strange. As I furrowed my brows, the butler hesitated before speaking.

"Didn't Your Grace usually discard whatever Lady Edelt sent?"

Ah.

I forgot to consider the usual behavior of the original main character, Owen.

The previous Owen would found Lucia bothersome. That's why he threw away all the things she had given him, and burned all the invitations and letters he received. He thought that by doing so, she would stop trying to get close to him. 

"...It's just that I thought I might have been a bit too much."

Since there was no particular reason to bring it up, I made up an excuse casually.

At that, the butler's expression became even more weird. It was as if he was saying, 'Finally you realize?'

Well...

"So, what about the invitation?"

Boldly demanding the invitation from the flustered butler, he handed it to me despite his bewilderment.

I cautiously accepted the red envelope that the butler handed to me. Inside was an invitation written by Lucia herself, and the thought of it enough to made my heart trembling in excitement.

'Whoa...I'm actually seeing an invitation written by Lucia.'

There were too many limitation to be a fan of a novel character. But now I became one of the character inside the novel and now I'm receiving a letter directly written by my favorite character. 

I tried to calm myself down as much as possible, taking slow breaths.

Carefully, I opened the envelope and took out the invitation inside.

**

To His Grace, Duke Verdin. 

With winter's footprints in the past and snows begin to melt at last.

The warm sun comes out, serenading the morning breeze.

Rustling in the grass, telling about the bursting sticky buds on the trees.

As spring is coming, we are planning to hold a garden party at the Edelt Mansion next week.

If it suits Your Grace, please do attend.

The garden party is scheduled for next Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Looking forward to seeing you on that day.

Sincerely,

Lucia Edelt.

**

Even though it was a letter addressed to Owen, my heart strangely fluttered.

I read and re-read the invitation several times.

The elegant and dazzling handwriting, every single word inscribed on the invitation felt too precious.

I tenderly stroked the invitation before putting it back into the envelope.

Then I asked the butler.

"Do we have any plans next Wednesday afternoon?"

"Yes, there is a scheduled business meeting with Count Darius."

"Cancel it."

"Yes...?"

"Do I need to repeat myself?"

The butler, after a brief moment of confusion, eventually gave an affirmative response.

"Yes, I understand."

I averted my gaze from him and focused on the envelope once more.

'Hm... Is there any suitable place to keep it safe?'

I pondered carefully but couldn't come up with an answer.

With no other option, I turned to ask to the butler again.

"Do we have something like a display cabinet?"

The butler, with a puzzled look, seemed to give up on deep thought and took a short breath. Then he provided an answer to my query.

"Your Grace, since you have never shown a particular interest in collecting items, currently there is no display cabinet in the mansion. If you require one, I shall arrange for it."

Just as I was about to refuse, the original novel contents came to mind.

In the novel, Lucia had sent numerous gifts to Owen. Even though I had already discarded most of them, but there were still more to come. That's why after a brief moment of hesitation, I changed my mind.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea. Please prepare a display cabinet."

"Yes, understood."

With a display cabinet, I could carefully store the gifts Lucia would give in the future. Even the thought was satisfying enough.

"Then, Your Grace, should we move to the dining room? Breakfast time has been delayed by 30 minutes."

'How time flew so fast.'

While I was excitedly looking at Lucia's invitation, 30 minutes had passed. 

"In 30 minutes, Your Grace's schedule for today will begin. While Your Grace was away on a business trip, a lot of documents piled up."

Suddenly, his words brought me a jolt of reality. I also need to handle the workload of the Dukedom of Verdin.

"...I understood."

Day by day passed by and I came to a conclusion that this was definitely reality, not some dream.

Moreover...

I kept hearing the same words again and again.

"Your Grace. Today, there's a business meeting scheduled."

"Your Grace, here is a pile of documents you need to review."

"Your Grace, you are scheduled to have a meal with Viscount Curzon."

"Your Grace, you have schedule...."

"Your Grace..."

....

For goodness sake. The workload was disgustingly heavy.

I mean. Very. Extremely. Heavy.

Could there be a more realistic situation than this?

Initially, I was elated at the thought of meeting Lucia.

But now it was half joy and half agony.

No matter what I do, the documents won't disappear...

Burdened with piles of work, I couldn't sleep for hours, and under the guise of business trips and meetings, I had to run around everywhere.

'Hm...'

Luckily, having read the original work dozens of times and memorized the settings separately was very helpful. Overall, there were no major issues with work. There were minor problems, but those were within my reach with the butler's assistance. Also, Owen's physical abilities and stamina were at a monstrous level, so physically, I didn't feel strained or tired. It was just mentally exhausting.

'Not even a single day off.'

I let go of the pen I was holding as if throwing it and then I slumped onto the desk. In that moment of exhaustion and desperation, my eyes caught sight of the calendar. There was a red circle drawn on a particular day of the calendar.

"...Finally."

The day of Lucia's garden party.

Finally, it was tomorrow.