...Was this woman really a mage at all? She had not even once considered using her own magic to earn a living!!
Juliet no longer knew how she was supposed to react. Brandish clearly possessed considerable strength. If she were only willing to put in a little effort, she could absolutely live quite well on her own.
But instead, she stubbornly insisted on taking the shortcut, clinging to Kabe's leg and aiming straight for a life of luxury.
That kind of useless mentality was enough to make even Juliet, a magical construct, look down on her.
After that, the room fell silent.
The only sound left was the steady splash of water coming from the bathroom.
Just as Kabe, enjoying Juliet's massage, was beginning to drift toward sleep, a knock suddenly sounded at the suite's door.
Knock knock~
Silence...
Knock knock knock~
Silence...
Knock knock knock knock~
By the third round of knocking, Kabe's brows finally drew together in irritation.
"Brandish, go open the door."
The one being called only turned her head away in silence, without making the slightest response.
Knock knock knock knock~
Listening to that increasingly annoying pounding, Kabe frowned and helplessly instructed Juliet instead,
"Juliet, you go. See who it is. If it is some unimportant nobody, tell them to get lost."
"Okaaaay~"
Dragging out the word in obvious reluctance, Juliet climbed off Kabe, put on her shoes, and went to open the door.
Outside, after knocking several times and receiving no answer, Hisui had already begun muttering to herself.
'No one is here? That should not be possible. The innkeeper clearly said they came upstairs and never left again.'
Just as she was raising her hand to knock for the fifth time, the door finally opened with a creak.
A small head with light brown twin-tails poked out, looking her up and down with suspicion.
"Who are you? You do not look like room service."
Still dressed in a luxurious formal gown, Hisui took the unfamiliar girl to be one of Kabe's or Irene's attendants.
Even so, she politely gave a small bow before answering,
"My apologies for the disturbance. I am Hisui E. Fiore. I came here especially to express my father's gratitude to Lord Kabe."
"Fiore? That is the name of this country, right? Then does that mean you are Lord Kabe's princess fiancée?"
Juliet immediately latched onto the important part. She yanked the door fully open and practically pressed herself against Hisui, looking her up and down from head to toe.
That close inspection made Hisui completely flustered.
And that single phrase, "fiancée," instantly made her cheeks turn red again.
But remembering her father's instructions before she came, Hisui still forced herself to nod with a red face.
"Y-yes. It is me."
At once, Juliet's eyes lit up.
She grabbed Hisui's hand without another word and dragged her straight into the room.
"Lord Kabe! Your fiancée came to see you!"
"Eek, y-you should say that more quietly!"
Hisui's face turned red like a freshly boiled egg. She hurriedly spun around and closed the door at once, afraid the people outside might hear.
Meanwhile, Kabe and Brandish, still on the bed, had already heard everything from the doorway even without Juliet shouting it so loudly. Both of them struggled their way up into sitting positions.
"Hah... so it is Princess Hisui. Since you were able to come, I suppose His Majesty is all right.
Sorry, I was just resting. Please forgive the poor reception."
As a properly raised princess of the kingdom, Hisui should have responded with some equally polite and fitting words.
But the moment she saw Kabe and Brandish rising from the same bed, both looking exhausted, she froze on the spot and could not say a single thing.
'Th-this... what exactly happened here while I was gone?!
He clearly just agreed in the palace to marry me for Father's sake.
And yet the moment he comes back, he is already in bed with another woman, and he looks so utterly unconcerned that I caught him.
This man... this man!!! He really does not take me, his future wife, seriously at all!!!'
If anger could be measured, then Hisui's rage would already have blown past the maximum.
What enraged her was not the fact that Kabe was a philanderer, or that the moment their marriage was settled he was already cheating.
After all, among nobles, husbands and wives each keeping lovers was practically normal. That much she could understand.
What infuriated her was that Kabe had not even made the slightest effort to hide it. He had so openly exposed his other woman right in front of her face.
Even among aristocrats famous for their rotten private lives, that was an incredibly disgraceful and humiliating thing to do.
If word of it got out, the noble circles would laugh about it so hard she would never be able to hold her head up again.
And that was without even mentioning that she was a princess, and that all this was happening right under the royal capital's nose.
To Hisui, Kabe's behavior was practically a slap across both her face and the royal family's.
Kabe: "?"
What is going on with this girl? She came here, and now she just stands there without saying anything?
"Hey, Hisui, are you okay? Your body is shaking, you know."
Crack~
The sound of teeth grinding.