"Have a safe trip, father"
"Thank you, Atsuko. Also, please, write us a letter once in a while, okay?"
"Of course, father. I'll also make sure to have my honeymoon with Edward-sama at home"
"… Sir Edward, you better take good care of my daughter, and if anything happens to her" *threatening gesture*
"!? Y-Yes, King Yuudai! I-I'll make sure to take care of Atsuko-sama, even if it costs my life!"
"Good"
In front of the Neville Manor, all of its inhabitants were currently giving their farewells to Yuudai and his entourage, after they stayed for a few days to take proper rest, with Atsuko also giving her farewells to her father, as she wouldn't be accompanying him anymore for the rest of the royal tour, since she was now Edward's third fiancée.
When the father and daughter duo talked, Yuudai's tone was soft and gentle, as he looked rather sad at having to let his princess stay with the person she chose. But when he turned to look at Edward who was standing next to Atsuko, Yuudai's tone and expression immediately changed to a very intimidating one, as his face almost looked like that of a demon.
With everyone having given their farewells to Yuudai, he entered the luxurious carriage and then it began moving away with the rest of the caravan behind it following suit. Of the servants that had come with Atsuko, only Mako and Kenichi remained, as they were Atsuko's maid and bodyguard, respectively.
Once the last carriages and wagons had left the estate's premises, everyone who was present for the small and humble farewell ceremony was now finally able to return to their usual activities. Which for the servants meant doing the usual maintenance and cleaning duties, while for Hamilton it meant administering his territory. Leaving only Edward, Lysette, Nanako, and Atsuko, as the only ones without any obligatory tasks to do.
"Edward-sama, what do plan on doing from here on out? Now that I am your fiancée, we do not have to wait for my father's arrival anymore"
"Hmm… Well, I was planning on returning to my family's territory today, but if there's something you want to do, Atsuko-sama. I can postpone my return trip for you"
"Fufu! I appreciate your consideration, but I must say that I am quite interested in seeing your home, Edward-sama"
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear that, Atsuko-sama"
After saying so, Edward turned to look at Lysette and Nanako, who were making somewhat annoyed faces from him giving a bit more attention to Atsuko than on them.
"Lysette-sama, do you also want to go to my family's territory with us as well?"
"Of course, Edward-sama. I will go prepare all of my necessary belongings for a long stay"
"*Nods* Lysette-sama, I look forward to continuing to live together with you"
"…" *Blushes a little*
At his words, Lysette turned away as her face turned pink from embarrassment, then began walking away into the mansion to get everything that she needed.
"Hm? Edward-sama, have you been living together with Lysette-sama already?"
"Huh? Ah! Yes, Atsuko-sama. Me and Lysette-sama have been living together for some weeks already before your arrival, mostly due to… A certain problematic noble, who've been trying to take Nanako away from me"
"I see… Then, Edward-sama. You do not mind, if I also start living with you back in your family's territory as well, right?"
"…? I thought you were already planning on doing so, Atsuko-sama"
"How so?"
"Because we've already been living together for a month already?"
"Ah… Yes… You're right… … … W-Well! I-I guess I will also go pack my belongings as well!"
When Edward pointed that out, Atsuko began blushing as she remembered all those embarrassing moments she had with Edward. So, just like Lysette, Atsuko took her leave, with Mako and Kenichi following after her, thus leaving only Edward and Nanako at the front entrance of the Neville mansion.
"Nanako"
"Yes, Edward-sama"
"Are you looking forward to going back home?"
"Yes, I am, Edward-sama! I can't wait to see my siblings again"
"Mm *Nods* I also look forward to seeing the kids again"
"Ah…" *Blushes*
"? What's wrong, Nanako"
"I-It's nothing, Edward-sama… I-It's just… That the way you said it… Made me think as if you were talking like a father"
"Hmm… Well, then I suppose you would be the mother, Nanako"
"Ah!…"
Hearing Edward say such a thing to her, caused Nanako's blush to become even redder as she imagined herself holding her future child with Edward in her hands.
"… … … I-I will also g-go pack m-my belongings, Edward-sama… S-So, if you excuse me…"
Just like the other two, Nanako took her leave with a red face with the excuse of packing her belongings. Thus leaving only Edward at the entrance, and with nothing else to do…
"Well, I suppose I should also go pack my belongings"
Edward also decided to go back inside and get everything else for his trip back home.
.
.
.
Sometime later
Just like earlier the Neville Estate when King Yuudai was about to leave, all of the inhabitants of the Harding manor, had gathered in front of the main entrance to greet four people, but differently from back there, this time it was more like a familial gathering to greet returning relatives. Even more so, as the first orphans who started working under the Harding family, due to contrived plot reasons, had expecting gazes from seeing their adored older sister Nanako again after a whole month, and also from seeing the sometimes older brother, and other times fatherly, figure of Edward again.
Then, once the carriage that had the symbol of the Neville family came to a stop, that very person who they were all excited to see, stepped out of the carriage as he then went on to help the other person who they were equally excited to see to step out of the carriage as well. Noticing all of her siblings' excitement, Nanako happily waved at them.
Because of that, the orphans unable to hold themselves back anymore, all dashed to greet Nanako, as they began surrounding her as they also started asking her all sorts of questions, which immediately caused Nanako to feel bashful and overwhelmingly happy at having her surrogate family this excited to see her.
While Nanako unknowingly diverted the attention of the orphans away from Edward, he went on to help Lysette leave the carriage, and finally, he helped Atsuko step out of the carriage. And due to being the last one to leave the carriage, Atsuko had the opportunity to hug Edward's arm instead of having to let go of it, as Lysette and Nanako had to do. Which, of course, resulted in the two sending jealous gazes at her.
So as usual, Lysette went to hug Edward's free arm as well, while Nanako, being surrounded from all sides by her siblings was unable to do anything. As all that happened, Oliver, Edward's father, approached his son to greet him.
"It's good to have you back, son"
"I'm glad to be back, Father"
"I'm also honored to have you here again, Lady Lysette"
"I should be the one feeling honored to be back here, Father-in-law"
"That's great to hear, Lady Lysette"
After greeting the two, Oliver looked in Atsuko's direction, who was amusedly smiling as she waited for Edward to introduce her, in turn, both Edward and Oliver were making troubled expressions, mostly because of her position and their current situation.
"… A-Ahem… Father, I'd like to introduce you to my third fiancée, Princess Atsuko Shimizu, from the Kingdom of Akeshi"
"Princess Atsuko. I am Oliver Harding, and it's an honor to be able to meet you and to choose my son as your fiancé. Although my family's residence is not as impressive as the Neville Family Residence, I hope that you will enjoy your stay here"
"It is also great to be able to meet you as well, Father-in-law. I look forward to becoming a member of your family and living together with everyone here"
"I cannot describe how honored I feel to hear such words from you, Princess Atsuko"
After their short greeting, Oliver looked again at Edward, as they both remained silent, but their minds didn't.
"…"
"…"
"…" *Cold sweating*
"…"
"…"
"… … …"
"… … …"
After narrowly avoiding the trigger conditions for a flag towards a future stomachache while cold and sweating a lot. In the short meantime that Edward spent talking with his father just through their eye movements and thoughts, all of Nanako's siblings began making their way to greet Edward, and what was for them a cousin-like figure that was Lysette.
Just like with Nanako, they all surrounded the two, with Atsuko, who noticed the kids coming closer, having moved away for a bit to let all of them have their little reunion.
"It's Lady Lysette! It's Lady Lysette!"
"Sir Edward! Sir Edward!"
"Nee! Nee! Did you bring any souvenir from there, Sir Edward?"
"Sir Edward! Sir Edward! I learned some new things while you were away!"
"Lady Lysette! Lady Lysette! Did you and Sir Edward are still acting lovey-dovey?"
"Lady Lysette! Did Sir Edward continue kissing every day there as well?"
As the short crowd of young boys and girls, surrounded the two, they all said and asked them a bunch of things all at the same time, with Lysette being in the worse position as she was bombarded with embarrassing questions, the same embarrassing questions that were also asked to Nanako, thus causing Lysette to blush and stutter as she was unable to answer them. As for Edward…
"Yes, yes, everyone. I'm happy to see that everyone is still in high spirits, now here's a candy for everyone"
He skillfully dodged all of their questions by simply diverting the children's attention to something else, in this case, candy that he had brought with him for this exact scenario, Edward swiftly pacified all of Nanako's siblings as they all munched on the candy that he had just given them.
However, just as he thought that it was all over, he felt someone tucking his clothes, and when he looked at the direction it came from, he saw the youngest of Nanako's siblings, a little girl who would be turning eight years old in a few weeks, who was looking at him with bright eyes as if she wanted something more.
"*Sigh* Good grief"
Guessing what she wanted, Edward picked the girl up and had her sit on his arms, causing the girl to cutely smile as Edward correctly guessed what she wanted. However, at the same time, doing that also made the two look like a parent and daughter, which was very effective on Nanako, Lysette, and Atsuko, as the three all looked at Edward with surprised eyes.
" " "… … …!" " " < <
For a moment, the three all at the same time, imagined that scene of Edward holding the little girl in his arms, being of him holding their respective children. When they all realized what they had just imagined, caused all of them to blush intensely, still, they couldn't quite fully give up on that idea of theirs.
"…"
As that all happened, Camilla, the Head maid, who had been watching everything unfold from a safe distance, started making a proud face at seeing her son come back home with another cute fiancée.
.
.
.
After the rather lively welcoming event, Edward and the girls went in different directions. Edward went on to take the children to the room used as a classroom for teaching them, this time giving him an appearance more similar to that of a caretaker with Camilla, and Elliot, the head butler, accompanying him to help in guiding the children. As for the girls, they went in the direction of the areas where the bedrooms were located, mostly to guide Atsuko to the room she would be sleeping in from now on, and to help her set her belongings, with Mako accompanying them.
(Kenichi was taken away by Hughes, the captain of the manor, for a sparring session)
"Atsuko-sama, this will be your bedroom from now on, I hope you like it"
"Thank you, Nanako-san"
Nanako bowed down to Atsuko before opening the door, revealing a simple and clean, bedroom with only the basics in it, as they all entered it. Once inside, they put down all of the luggage that Atsuko had brought with her, and they all began helping her and Mako organize everything into the closets.
"Atsuko-sama, may I ask you a question?"
"Of course, Lysette-sama"
"Thank you, so what do you plan on doing from now on?"
"Hm? What do you mean by that, Lysette-sama?"
"Ah! It's nothing too serious. I just wanted to ask if you would like to join me in acting like a maid with Nanako-san helping us"
"Hmmm… *Nods* I think I will, Lysette-sama. That does sound like an interesting activity to do, and I am quite looking forward to showing Edward-sama, my bridal skills"
" "…" "
NAnako and Lysette both remained silent as they weakly smiled at Atsuko's last statement since they knew what would be happening from now on, now that they were back to Edward's home. But they felt that they needed to give Atsuko a bit of heads-up, but they also didn't want to make it obvious what it was, in case Atsuko decided to take advantage of Edward's usual behavior.
"Umm… A-Atsuko-sama, I-I think that you should instead… Try avoiding Edward-sama from time to time"
"Huh? Why so, Lysette-sama?"
"Well… It's complicated"
"A-Atsuko-sama, Y-You should really t-try avoiding E-Edward-sama e-even if for just a little"
"Can you tell me why, Nanako-san?"
"… … … *Blushing* Sorry, Atusko-sama… I can't"
"Is that so? But, Lysette-sama, Nanako-san, you two do not have to worry about me. Because, as the first princess of Akeshi, there is nothing that I cannot take!"
One week later…
"I can't take this anymore!!!"
On a tea table, together with Lysette and Nanako who were both awkward and friendly smiling at Atsuko, who was currently with a red face from the amount of embarrassment and shame she was feeling.
She had now finally understood what Lysette and Nanako had tried to warn her about, and this was the price. But as she remorse for her past mistakes, Lysette and Nanako who were watching her in silence were…
Feeling both relieved and guilty from seeing that their plan of getting a third fiancée for Edward, so that they could get some breathing room between the moments where Edward constantly flirted with them, was working quite well… Even if meant having the new fiancée get the shortest stick imaginable and become the target of Edward's excessive affection.