"You know, my little sister was curious about your lab. Why don't you go and have a little tour with Miss Assistant over there until I have a little chat with Miss Aria alone?"
Franklin indirectly asked everyone beside me to leave the room.
I can't predict his motives at all. By the way he asked to be left alone with me, one might think that he is trying to ask for my hand in marriage. But because of his calm and calculative attitude, I am not certain.
Is he still suspicious? But everything went pretty smoothly. And what's the point of making the others leave?
Maybe I am just overthinking it and he wants to propose marriage.
But that in itself would be another headache. I hope my guesses are wrong and he wants to talk about something entirely different.
After everyone else left, Franklin spoke,
"You're quite an interesting person, Miss Aria"
I am getting the feeling that this conversation might go in that direction.
"Look, you are a great guy and all, but I am already taken. Just letting you know before you get any ideas" I clarified.
"Woah, you really think very highly of yourself. I would have considered it, but unfortunately, you are a little too young for my taste. Perhaps, in a few years, I might have considered it. But as of now, I don't think so"
God, this is embarrassing.
"Then what do you mean by 'interesting'?", I asked.
"I was talking about the little act you put up", he said.
"No way. How did you know? What gave it away? I thought everything went perfectly"
"The story was pretty believable. And honestly, the kid's ability was real as well. For all I know, he might even be a prophet. But your reaction says otherwise", he said.
"What? You were bluffing? I can't believe I fell for it!"
"Not exactly. I deduced that the boy was brought here in haste from Lerio City, but I wasn't certain. The first hint was when Lady Martha said that you were off doing some negotiations about some petty disputes between your neighboring city. And while conversing with the butler, I found out that the dispute in question was most likely between yours and Plorke City which is located in the north-east direction from here. But when your carriage arrived, it came in from the southern gate", he said, pausing to look at my reaction.
"That's not solid evidence. I could have just taken a detour for some reason. How does that prove anything?" I asked.
"The next clue was the carriage wheels. They were reinforced to make them fit for mountainous terrain. And judging from the location of Swindfort city and its near vicinity, there is not much point to using such wheels unless you want to head to a notable tourism spot like Lerio City, which also happens to be in the south of Swindfort city. Not to mention the obvious wear and tear of the wheels", he said.
"So that was it, huh? Damn it! I should have revised the act more thoroughly. You said it was the first hint, so what's the second?" I asked. No point in trying to hide anything now.
Sigh, all that planning was for naught. Well, at least I got to have a memorable first date with Letty. So it wasn't a total loss.
"The second hint was the boy's traditional footwear. During a trip with my ex-fiance to Lerio city, I took a fancy to the traditional footwear that every second person was wearing, which also happened to be identical to the ones that the boy was wearing", he said.
"So that's how you connected the dots. Sigh, a total defeat" I hung my head low.
"Don't be so down. If it means anything to you, It was a nice effort… As I said before, I am not here to interrogate you. I am genuinely thankful for your help, and I respect your secrets. It would have been better if you had just told the truth to begin with", he said.
"You are right, and I am sorry for trying to deceive you. But why did you send everyone else out?" I asked.
"My little sister isn't very fond of liars. And considering that you are the only friend she has ever talked about, I don't want this incident to ruin your friendship. That's all" he said.
"I see. I am thankful. And please trust me that I don't mean any harm to you or your house. It's just that I can't reveal my secret"
"Don't worry. I know you wouldn't have gone to such lengths to protect a secret if it wasn't important. And after talking to you and Lady Martha, I am sure you are not our enemies. So I am willing to let bygones be bygones and start a trusting relationship", he said.
"Really? How did you know that we are not your enemies? Not that I object or anything, but I am curious", I asked.
"Hmm, it's a secret" he chuckled.
"Come on, really?"
"Hehe" he ignored my plea.
***
After that, we made our way towards the office to join Letty and Carolina. On our way, he said,
"I wish I could have met your father. I was really looking forward to meeting Sir Richard. But alas, it couldn't be helped if he is out for business"
"Yeah, Dad's going to be back this weekend. I take it that you have to leave soon", I said.
"Unfortunately so. But Carolina is here to stay. Actually, I got the intel that our father was looking for a suitable marriage partner for Carolina. 'She is my only daughter. It's her duty to strengthen our bonds with other houses' is what he probably believes. And knowing her, she would likely go along with whatever our father says. So I convinced her to take a short vacation and dragged her along, if you know what I mean", he explained.
"To be honest, as soon as he heard that you were the one who gave the intel to Carolina, he asked me to bring up marriage between you and her. But I don't want that for my little sister. I want her to choose who she wants to be with. Seeing that you are already 'taken', I will be at ease knowing that she's in safe hands. So will you please let her stay here for a while? Until I come up with a better solution" he asked.
She's likely the only single candidate, as all her siblings are likely engaged already.
"She's got it rough, huh. You don't need to ask, of course I'll help. Plus, it works out in my favor as well, because I've always wanted to hire her as my lab's enchanter for a while now" I said.
"Haha, I see. Then leave it to me to convince her to stay here, just don't mention anything to her about our conversation… Looks like we are here, let's not keep them waiting for long", he said as we left the carriage.
***
We entered the lab and found Carolina snooping around the lab and touching anything that she found interesting.
"Welcome, Ma'am, Sir Franklin. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn't listen", Letty said. Gesturing toward Carolina.
"It's alright. Sorry to keep both of you waiting", I replied.
"Hey Aria. It's alright if we talk informally now. Brother won't mind either, so don't talk like that with your 'Letty'. I'm sure you don't want her to talk to you this way either", Carolina said.
I saw Letty squint her eyes at her. Haha, I wasn't being subtle about it anyway.
"Sure, please treat me as invisible. In fact, I'll go take a little walk around the company and leave you friends to reunite". Saying so, he left through the same door we just entered.
"I'll take you up on that offer. And before you ask, yes, she is the one" I said, to which she grinned and said,
"I figured as much. She's pretty well endowed in the breast department compared to you. But you both look really good together. I'm amazed she fell for such a nerd, or was it the power and mone-", just before she could complete her sentence, I could see Letty getting prepared to lash out on her.
So I interrupted her before Letty could. "The fact still remains that she did fall for me. And no, I trust her with all my heart, so don't try to belittle our relationship"
I felt the need to clarify things over to Letty, so I said, "See, this is why she doesn't have any other friends. Please don't be offended by her insensitive comments, she doesn't mean it"
"If you say so…" Letty said, while maintaining a glare at her.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for being so insensitive. Uhh… I know! Your necklaces, how about I give you a little present? I can see that both of you are wearing matching necklaces, so let me make a slight upgrade to it as an apology. I'm sure you'll love it!", she said, while extending her hand towards us.
I gave a nod to Letty and said,
"Okay, let's see what you can do. But let me warn you, these are very special to us, so do not damage them", I said, while handing her the necklaces.
"Oh don't worry, my success rate is pretty decent. There is a little chance that it might break, but don't worry. I can handle it", she said in her usual playful tone.
God, please don't break them. Although unlikely, there is still a chance that things can go south. So all we can do is pray now.
She began drawing some formations on papers. It took a comically long time, which only added to our anxiety.
"And done, now the next step", she said as she got up from her seat and placed both necklaces over the formation. With her utmost concentration, she began the actual enchantment.
This was probably the first time Letty saw this process, because I could see her surprised and scared face after every step of it.
After a series of steps and weird glows, she returned the necklaces intact, saying,
"Phew, now that's a job well done! I was afraid it would break in the final stages. Why did you have to use such a cheap necklace as a memento? You could have at least chosen a higher quality product, the process would have gone much smoother that way"
Letty released a huge breath and hastily checked the condition of the necklaces.
"It's special, alright. I wasn't thinking too much of it back then. Anyway, what's the upgrade?" I asked.
"Hehe, why don't you try it out?" she replied.
We both put our necklaces on. But nothing felt different.
"I don't feel anything", Letty said.
"I know, now one of you. Letica, you, inject a little bit of mana into it. Just like you would when using any magical device, just less in magnitude"
Letty did as she was asked, and her eyes widened.
What could it be to make her give such a reaction?
"It's vibrating…" she said.
Huh?
"Yes, but more precisely, what you are feeling is the amplified version of the vibrations that are felt by the paired necklace. In other words, it's Aria's heartbeat. Whenever one of you inject your mana into your necklace, it would pulsate in the same rhythm that its paired partner is experiencing. In this case, it's your partner's heartbeat. Now, no matter how far apart you are, you can still feel each other. How cool is that?", she said.
"Wow! Let me try it too", I said.
"Sure, just wait for Letica to stop injecting her mana", Carolina said.
I did, and woah! I could really feel Letty's heartbeat. This was so sweet!
"Wow! This is the sweetest gift ever. Thank you so much", I pulled her and Letty into a hug.
"Thank you for this wonderful gift, Miss Carolina. And I'm sorry for my rudeness", Letty said.
"It's alright. I mean, it was a pretty big deal, so you better be grateful. I will need a good night's rest coupled with a balanced diet to recoup from the mana loss", she said.
"By the way, did you know that this technology was used by our kingdom for communication in the army before your Mana-comm came into existence. It can only transmit or receive signals of the same frequency with varying amplitudes. After Mana-comm's emergence, they made this research public. So in a way, I felt that it was only fitting to gift you with this", she continued.
"Hehe, thanks Aria", Letty said.
"Hey, it's me who should be thanked. Hah, do whatever you want", Carolina said.
"Hehehe"