It had been two days since the special three days celebration came to an end and the capital was still in a festive mood. Everybody seemed to be talking about the Nation's favoured soldier who had made a grand appearance at the final banquet, stealing the hearts of many ladies that night.
Hina had received a letter from Gen and the two were planning to meet up alongside Issey, who had been out of town for some time. The three of them had been exchanging letters but had not seen each other for about two months and she felt that a reunion was much needed. While Issey had been getting ready to take over the Count title from his father, Gen had simply been busy with life and was thinking of starting a pastry-making class for young noble ladies. That way, she would get to do what she enjoys while earning and networking with people of the high class. Such 'fancy' hobbies were rapidly getting popular among the ladies and Hina also felt it would be a great time to take advantage of the opportunity.
As she climbed out of the carriage, she spotted the agreed meeting place. It was a pub that Gen had highly recommended. Hina noticed the neon green lights that read 'Lazy Ocean' at the top of the small building. Unlike what she had pictured it would be like, the pub had an industrial rustic style but gave off very modern vibes with its mature, sophisticated palette with rose and blush hues contrasting against black and white terrazzo. The hanging plants and cascading vintage lightning coloured the space, adding a touch of grandeur to the vibrant atmosphere. The pub was surprisingly quite busy for a midday time.
"Hina! Over here!" Gen called out to her through the noisy atmosphere, waving her hand in the air with a contagious smile on her face. Hina smiled as she made her way towards the table where Gen was seated at.
"Wow! I haven't seen you in just two months and you've gotten prettier already? How is this even legal?" Gen started with her exaggerated compliments, taking a healthy sip of water.
"You're exaggerating, Gen" Hina said through a small laugh as she sat across from her.
"I'm serious! Look at how smooth your skin is. I've been so stressed out lately with my business plans and it's killing my skin" Gen complained, tucking her purple hair behind her ears. Before the two ever got so close, they had run into each other often at the academy but remained on a 'hi hello' basics until they later found themselves in business administration classes, along with Issey. Their friendship was simple and easy.
"What about Issey?" Hina asked, noticing that the man was the only one not yet here.
"I don't know, but he should be here soon. He's always late" Gen told her, looking through the menu on the table.
"So how's Kai?" Gen asked through a wide smile. Like the rest of the girls, she used to have a crush on Kai after seeing him one time when he came to get Hina from the academy, but that feeling had quickly faded.
"He's fine. He just got back from the northern frontiers"
"I still can't believe that he volunteered to be a part of the war, but it's good that he's back safe" she stated, "I've always thought you two would make a cute couple," Gen said in a whispered tone with a rebellious smirk.
"Oh please, you know that's impossible" Hina shook her head at the weird thought. For some time now, Gen was becoming very dedicated to hooking up Hina with Kai despite knowing that Hina was supposedly married to his father.
Gen and Issey were the only ones who were indeed aware of Hina's bizarre marriage arrangement. They had found out most awkwardly when Tanaka and the merchant had once shockingly decided to escort Hina to the academy. The old geezer had addressed her as 'my lovely wife' in their presence while he placed a kiss on her forehead and there was no turning back from that situation, as she inevitably had to explain it to them. The two had been heavily shocked and enraged by the unexpected confession but that didn't change their friendship and the two were tactful enough to keep it to themselves.
"Why not? He is a very hot-blooded young man. Plus he's handsome to top it up" Gen added.
"You've been reading too many forbidden romance novels, haven't you?"
"Guilty as charged"
Moments later, Issey emerged through the door, instantly noticing them as he moved in their direction. His dark red hair combed away from his face as he adjusted his glasses.
"I'm here, sorry I'm late" he said, sitting down right beside Gen, motioning at a waiter to take their orders.
"It's fine, we didn't even notice you weren't here" Gen said playfully as she leaned closer to him to share the menu in her hand.
They ordered a few finger snacks and some beer to drink while catching up about what each person had been up to over the past months.
"Ah! Have you heard about the grand duke?" Gen abruptly asked as she double-tapped on the table. Hina's ears perked up at the mention of the man, thinking back to that brief moment when she caught him staring at her. For some reason, it bothered her and she had been hoping to get any sort of information she could on him. As tempted as she was to give the task to Suki, it sounded too dangerous a task as it involved the grand duke and it could draw suspicion.
"I'm so sick and tired of everyone talking about him. He's even more popular than the crown prince these days" Issey hissed in an annoyed tone as he downed his beer.
"Jealous much?" Gen teased him. Typical Gen behaviour.
"Who's jealous?"
"What about him?" Hina asked, cutting short their lover's quarrel.
"I heard that girls were literally queuing up to dance with him at the final banquet! Some ladies even fainted just by glancing at him!" Gen parroted excitedly like a fangirl.
"That's all bullshit. Who faints simply because they saw a handsome man? Don't you think your stories are a bit too exaggerated to be true? It's not like you were even invited to the banquet so how do you even know all these things actually happened?" Issey went on, digging into Gen's words with his questions.
"What do you know? It's not like you were invited either!" She yelled at him,
"What do you think of the grand duke?" She turned to ask Hina.
"I don't know, I've only heard rumours about his looks and his military strength but nothing else" Hina answered.
"People also say that he might like men" Gen leaned over and whispered to the two, making Issey chuckle hard, almost spilling his drink.
"I'm serious! He apparently hates women and is very close with the crown prince. What other reason could there be?"
"It could just be that he hasn't found any lady that interests him. He's the grand duke of Asahi, I'm sure that most of the ladies he's seen are usually just interested in the title of the grand duchess and the power that comes with it." Issey explained logically.
"That's true too" Gen muttered, "If only I was invited to the imperial banquet.."
"Why? So that you could try to seduce the grand duke?" He scoffed at her
"You don't think I can?" She shot back, her face a bit closer than he'd thought.
"Stay away from me" he backed away, his cheeks slightly red as he ignored her tantrum.
Hina had not laughed that much in a while, watching them argue over everything like Kai and Tanaka. The evening sky had settled in when they all said their goodbyes and departed to their homes.