(3rd person pov)
"What? Ian went out?"
Aaron was slightly surprised to learn of Ian's absence while working for the Wade Knights as usual.
"Oh my god…"
He muttered quietly, looking at the knights without Ian.
"It's so nice."
Aaron's face crept with a smile.
"As expected, it's exciting if your boss isn't at work. The day will go by in an instant."
And after spending the morning training a bit, he had tea time with Leslie.
If Ian had been there, who never allowed breaks, this kind of routine would have been impossible.
Aaron was not the only one who returned to the Wades after vacation.
Oscar also returned as the chef and the dessert quality of tea time became very good.
"As expected."
Leslie opened her eyes thinly and murmured happily.
"The best thing about being the Duchess of Wade is that I have more money to spend, and the good thing about having a lot of money is that I can hire Oscar Rainfield."
In fact, in order to invite Oscar as a chef dedicated to the duke, Leslie poured out the budget allocated to him.
"Many women seeking the position of Duchess of Wade must be sad to hear that."
Aaron spoke skillfully.
"Of course. The duke went on an inspection, right?"
"Yes. He suddenly moved up the date."
"All of a sudden?"
"He must be out of his mind these days. Since yesterday morning, he has been making a fuss to decorate our date wagon with flowers and other carriages, but he actually led all the other carriages out."
Leslie continued as if worried.
"So eventually, Ian had to use our date carriage. Did Annabelle say anything afterwards?"
"She didn't say much."
Aaron answered.
"Actually, she has changed a little. She's a lot nicer. For example…"
He chose his words slowly.
"When she was Annabelle Nadit, she was like my mother, who was stubborn, but after entering my family, the blood of my good father was strongly expressed."
"It won't be fun anymore then."
Leslie sighed and said.
"But, well, it can change, because she's loved by her family now."
Then she added, raising her eyebrows.
"Love changes people, right?"
"Well, that's right."
Aaron answered smoothly and put his chin on his hand as Leslie asked.
"Then, will Ian change if he falls in love?"
"Well, I don't think he'll be talented at dating…"
Leslie blinked.
"If he gets a woman he really wants, will he suddenly wake up and act more like Braden?"
"How was the duke?"
"Well… We didn't get along well in the first place, did we? Even though we were close."
At that time, she couldn't remember in detail how she fell for him, but Leslie managed to trace her memory.
"But I slowly narrowed the gap, step by step."
"Oh, it's surprisingly normal, isn't it?"
"I thought I knew a lot about him during that time, but as we got closer, I saw a completely new side of him."
"Then we can make a hypothesis here."
Aaron clapped his hands once to sort it out.
"If Ian, who is no-fun, falls in love, he might show a new side that no one expects."
"I don't even know what that will look like."
Leslie added and chuckled.
"Even if it's a fake relationship, he should try it once to get a feel for it."
~*~
(Annabelle's pov)
As soon as we arrived, we were sweating in front of the first difficulty we faced.
First of all, I was hanging on to Ian in front of the knight, and I said that we were the lovers who promised to marry.
But, of course, he didn't believe it right away.
"…Is it true?"
In fact, if you had normal reasoning ability, you were right to be suspicious.
It was obvious that anyone would be suspicious of changing their stance at any time when they were annoyed that the conditions were unreasonable.
"I think you just improvised that."
Originally, a knight in the territory guarding the road could have been a little negligent in his work, but he had an unnecessarily sharp eye.
Of course, I had the audacity to not yield in front of sharp gazes.
"It's true. Right, Ian?"
I smiled and leaned closer to Ian.
'He must have never done anything similar to dating, but maybe he can match the rhythm a little bit.'
Of course, I couldn't do that either, but I had the confidence to do better than Ian.
'Just nod your head.'
I had almost no expectations for Ian.
Whatever I did, it would be acting, so I had to pray for the least to say.
From the past experience in the slave black market, Ian was quick to grasp the situation and understand well, so I believed that he would cooperate to that extent.
"I feel disappointed with myself for being suspected of acting like a lover in a hurry."
Ian smiled and placed his hand on mine and continued.
"I guess I didn't seem sweet enough to my Belle." (pr/n: Shdjfjfn BELLLE)
Now I have to be careful about my acting.
'My Belle?!'
I hid my embarrassment and smiled.
The knight looked at us quietly and suddenly asked.
"Answer me at the same time. How long has it been since you two met?"
We answered at the same time.
"8 years!"
"2 years?"
It was me who said eight years, and Ian who said two years.
No, we met 8 years ago, but where did the 2 come from?
The knight kicked his tongue, and I quickly recovered it before I thought we were screwed.
"No! That question can be a bit confusing. It's been 8 years since we first met, and 2 years since we became lovers."
"Hah."
The knight, who seemed to have to receive an exemplary citation for sincere work, stared at us quietly and sighed.
"I can't help it. It's suspicious to just let you in…"
My arm shook slightly.
In fact, I thought it was invincible when the two of us worked together, but I was blocked by the first obstacle and I couldn't believe it.
However, it was not possible to randomly enter by knocking down or neglecting an innocent knight who was just doing his job.
I didn't want the land to be noisy because of an intrusion.
This was because if Lanella stayed here as we expected and hid herself, it would be a disaster.
'What should I do if they say they can't let us in? I don't have a plan B.'
The strategy was to enter the territory, meet the lord named Nick Averson, and then solve the problem quickly from the black magic.
At first, I thought the lord was incompetent enough to not catch any human traffickers, but it didn't seem to be the case when I saw such a sincere security check placed on the border area.
So, if they were under dark magic or related parties…
'Do we have to plan the operation in detail in the future?'
That was when my brain began to circulate.
"…I need you to accompany me. There was an order that the lord would judge it himself if it was ambiguous."
Ian and I exchanged glances. It was a very good development.
'I'm glad you didn't come up with useless operations. Thanks to you, my brain cells are saved.'
Once the knight blew the horn, a small boy, who seemed to be eight years old, came running.
"Paul, guide them to the lord. They're outsiders who need to be judged for access."
"Yes! I got it."
Paul, a boy with red hair and freckles, looked at us with a triumphant look.
"Follow me. I'll take you through a shortcut."
So, Ian and I walked along the trail with the small boy.
I didn't think much, but Ian talked to the boy to see if something was wrong.
"…Why are they giving this task to a young boy like you?"
"Oh."
Paul said excitedly as a boy of that age who was on a critical mission.
"This place is more dangerous for younger people. I don't know when and how it got weird, so they don't give out important tasks to us."
Ian and I exchanged glances.
"It's getting weird?"
Come to think of it, the knight, who was monitoring the border, was also middle-aged.
Black magic was a magic that dimmed a person's conscience.
Being 'weird' was probably the influence of black magic.
"How is the Lord?"
I asked seriously.
"Is the lord weird?"
"As a lord, he wasn't particularly strange, because he was weird from the beginning."
Paul replied with a smirk.
"From the beginning, there were only two servants in the lord's castle, to take care of his belongings, and meals."
A normal lord had many servants. Not only for the livelihood of the castle, but also for personal escort.
"He was like a housekeeper himself, and his swordsmanship is probably the best in the South. The general consensus is that the swordsmanship is a bit lacking here."
In the southern part, there was little exchange with other regions, and there was not that much friction, so swordsmanship was not well developed.
Therefore, even if it was excellent in the South, there was a high probability that it was just that.
"But he does housekeeping and escorts himself?"
"It's a waste of money. He said he could do it alone."
Noticing my puzzled expression, Paul smiled and added.
"You ask a lot."
"…"
The lord bought the title since he was a commoner and seemed to be an old man who saved money.
I tried to whisper to Ian, 'he must be a strange person,' but then I stopped.
The ruby ring was shining.