Melina hurriedly pulled Leliana inside, closing the door behind herself. "Master, there's something I need to discuss with Leliana. We'll be in my room."

"Since when did you two grow so close?" Gilbert asked suspiciously as Melina pulled Leliana through the kitchen.

"What are you talking about, Master Gilbert? We've been good friends since day one!" Leliana said it so convincingly that Melina almost believed it.

Gilbert, however, stared at them suspiciously.

"I won't stop you, but I will not appreciate any bullying going on under my roof!" He warned.

"There's no bullying! Just some girl talk," Melina said.

The two girls quickly went into Melina's room, closing the door behind themselves in a hurry. Sienna chittered curiously, not understanding what exactly was happening.

"Before we begin this whole discussion, do tell me—why are you telling me this? Weren't you trying to keep Alistair all to yourself?" Melina said.

"I'm tired of it," Leliana said unexpectedly. "I can see that I don't really stand a chance of swaying Lord Sinclair. He's never really shown any interest in me. I'm not foolish enough to keep chasing after somebody who doesn't give me the time of day."

"I was convinced that you'd keep going after him no matter what."

"Maybe I would have if you hadn't given me those magical fruits. But if I manage to grow those in the Human Realm, then I'll have no need to marry a noble," Leliana said smugly.

"D-Did you actually manage to grow something?" Melina asked curiously.

"Just yesterday, one tiny feyfruit sprout appeared. Just one out of the 20 seeds I used, but it means that growing it is possible. I just need to figure out optimal conditions."

Now Melina understood why Leliana wasn't pinning for Alistair anymore. If her goal was to secure an easy life for her family, then growing magical fruit from the Monster Realm would certainly accomplish that goal.

Growing even a tiny sprout was impressive enough. To Melina's knowledge, nobody had even managed to do that much so far. Perhaps, it was the proximity of the passageway that provided the seeds with enough ambient mana to take root.

"I actually have two new samples from the Monster Realm. A root from a zephyr plant and scorchvine peppers," Melina said, hoping that it would incite the girl to be more favorable towards her.

"Oh, I want them!" Leliana's eyes lit up, and she stepped closer to Melina. "Heck, I'll be your best friend if you give them to me."

"No need to go that far. I'll be grateful if you just tell me what you saw."

"I was going to tell you anyway, but I won't reject your samples. But we'd better sit down," Leliana said, pulling out a chair for herself. Melina sat down on the bed, and Sienna skittered down to her trough.

"So I was just coming back from the market with my sisters when I saw an extremely fancy carriage arrive with a whole bunch of guards along with it. Initially, I thought it was our lord, doing his annual visit before the festival," Leliana began.

"There's a lord presiding over this place?"

"Yeah, but he's a complete wimp and lets Guildmaster handle all the difficult stuff. He only comes to take the tax money and then leaves. In either case, I saw this carriage, but then I noticed that the sigil on it was different. Luckily, the carriage was going down the same as I was, so I saw it stop by Lord Sinclair's house. Out of it came what I assume to be Duke Sinclair and some girl who looked a lot like him."

That must be Charlotte—Alistair's little sister. Why is she here? To my knowledge, she and Alistair weren't that close. At least, she had never shown any interest in him while we were travelling together.

So Leliana continued her story, telling Melina how she saw Alistair come out and greet his father. However, the exchange looked far from pleasant, and aside from Charlotte instantly sticking to her older brother like glue, there was palpable tension between them.

Melina concluded that the Duke was likely here to address what Heiliger had reported to him. She wished she could be there to know exactly what they were talking about. The Duke was likely angry at Alistair. Then again, would he even care if some orphan girl like her tried to defend him? Likely not…

"I think you should go to Lord Sinclair," Leliana said.

"What?! Are you crazy? You think the Duke would be happy to see a commoner girl?" Melina protested.

"Likely not, but I'm sure Lord Sinclair would appreciate your support nonetheless," the redhead said. "After all, they are likely talking about you."

"How can you even know that?" Melina squinted.

"Well… I heard Alistair say your name as I passed by…"

This was not how Alistair wanted his morning to begin. He had hoped to go to the bakery as he always did and check on Melina's progress with the new pastries. She had promised to give him samples.

But instead of that, he was sitting in his living room, his father sitting across from him, looking at him with the same face of disappointment as he usually did. The only one who managed to keep things somewhat in check was Charlotte.

"Brother, tell me about your time here! How is it living among commoners? It must be dreadful!" Charlotte said dramatically, looking at Alistair with her golden eyes.

It was a bit odd meeting her after so long, and even doubly so because of his regained memories. She seemed to have grown during the time they were apart, her childish features becoming slightly more mature. Of course, as a fifteen-year-old, there was still a lot of growing for her to do. Her chocolate brown hair had been cut shorter since he last saw her.

But from his past memories, his impression of Charlotte was completely different. There wasn't much to remember, but he knew that they had grown estranged from each other after Alistair married. But why exactly–he didn't remember. Alistair just hoped it wouldn't happen again.

"It's not so bad. The people living in Sunglow are quite talented and skilled at what they do," Alistair said to his sister.

"Really?"

"Obviously, you would be saying that. I've already heard that you've been fooling around with some commoner girl," his father spoke up harshly.

"I have not—"

"Silence! You should know better than to interrupt me when I'm speaking," the Duke reprimanded. Alistair and Charlotte both shrank back. "This is the kind of behaviour I would have expected from Alan, not from you. I was hoping that you'd reflect on your mistake here, but instead I received a message from Bishop Heiliger that you've been doing anything but that."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Alistair clenched his fists. He was expecting this, but this was still unpleasant to hear. He still couldn't understand why his father felt the need to bow to the Church, when House Sinclair had far more influence and power than they did.

"Also, look at the state of the house. It's a pigsty," the Duke complained.

"You said I should live without any servants. So I've been doing just that," Alistair said through gritted teeth. In his opinion, the house was in much better condition than before. Melina had helped to clean it substantially.

"Right. I did order that," the Duke said somewhat awkwardly.

"I told you, Father, that it was too much! Cleaning is a job for the commoners. Besides, Alistair didn't do anything so horrible to deserve this kind of treatment," Charlotte puffed out her cheeks and grabbed Alistair's hand protectively.

"Charlotte, we talked about this many times. An order from the Church should be obeyed, especially if you're under their tutelage," the Duke said sternly.

"Have you come here all this way just to chastise me?" Alistair spat.

The father and son stared at each other for a long while, Charlotte glancing at both of them nervously.

"No. The main reason for my visit was the summer festival. A portal has been set up between here, Fenrora, and other nearby cities. It'll be open for the next week," the Duke said.

"What Father means to say," Charlotte said after a moment of heavy silence. "Is that you should come visit home sometimes. Mother misses you dearly!"

The Duke cleared his throat. "She has been asking for your well-being. She'd appreciate it if you came to visit."

Alistair thought about it for a moment. He didn't really want to run into either of his older brothers, but visiting Mother sounded nice. She likely hadn't come along because of her bad leg. Remembering the incident gave Alistair a strong sense of guilt.

Some ten years ago, he, along with his mother, was travelling to one of the cities in Grenardia to go shopping. Charlotte was still too small to come along, and the Duke was busy with work, so it was just the two of them. On the way, a pack of ice wolves ambushed the carriage.

Normally, that wouldn't be an issue—every noble always travelled together with at least a dozen trained knights. But the leader of the wolf pack was an evolved monster, and it managed to overpower the knights for just long enough to make its way to the carriage.

It reached inside, trying to snatch Alistair, but his Mother jumped in the way to protect him. The knights did defeat the monster in the end; however, his mother's leg was so horribly mangled in the attack that even the best healers in Alemahria couldn't fix it. She'd had trouble walking ever since then, requiring a walking stick.

Granted, compared to the apocalypse his and Melina's actions brought, it seemed like a small thing. But it felt far more personal—it was his mother after all. The one person who always defended him.

"I'll go visit Mother," Alistair said.

"Good. In the meantime, Charlotte and I will stay in Sunglow to look over the preparations for the summer festival. Sunglow has been chosen as the central hub for the festivities this year, so there are lots of things to prepare. I hope you'll cooperate," the Duke explained.

"Of course. I'll help however I can."

"T-There's another matter I wanted to discuss with you," the man looked a bit uncomfortable, almost guilty, running his hand through his hair.

"What matter?" Alistair asked suspiciously, although he already had a strong suspicion of what it was.

"I'd prefer to discuss it among the two of us," he said and gave a meaningful look to Charlotte.

"Nu-uh! I'm not leaving! It's been so long since I've been with my brother. Just tell him while I'm here," Charlotte said, clinging onto Alistair even tighter.

"Charlotte!" The Duke warned.

"I am not leaving!" She protested. Alistair had to admire his little sister. She was the only one who dared to speak against their father. Even Alan, the least sensible one out of all of them, didn't dare to oppose Father directly.

The Duke massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Fine! You'll find out about it eventually anyway."

"Yay!" Charlotte cheered.

"Alistair, you're twenty-one years old and you'll be twenty-two this year. I believe it is time for you to start thinking of marriage."

Yeah, here it is. This will be ugly.

"Brother should marry me!" Charlotte said jovially.

"Charlotte, do not interrupt. This is serious!"

"Fine…" Charlotte slunk back into the soft cushions.

"I have arranged a match for you. I believe it is a good match. I thought long and hard about what could benefit not just family but you as well. I've heard of all you accomplished here in Sunglow. How you defeated that ember wyrm all on your own."

Alistair felt bad that he was given credit for that. Melina was the one who calmed Sienna down. In fact, without her help, Leon and many other adventurers would have died. He would have been horribly wounded, and Sienna would have been dead. It was the worst possible outcome in that scenario when, in reality, the wyrm was merely a little spooked from being thrown into an unknown location.

"I've also heard that you assisted in defeating a cragjaw drake in the Monster Realm," the Duke actually sounded a bit proud.

"Wait… I thought that information was restricted!"

"Who do you think I am? Nothing in Grenardia happens without me knowing. You think your Guildmaster would explore the Monster Realm without approval from higher up?"

This surprised Alistair. He never thought that his father would be sneaking behind Church's back like this.

"But the Church?"

"Their expedition will still happen, of course. But there's no harm in exploring the passageway beforehand."

Sly, old fox.

"In either case, I believe that with your physical prowess and these accomplishments, we could convince His Majesty to wed his third daughter to you. She's just turned of age, and I believe you two would be a good match. Not to mention that with such a strong connection with the royal family, you could even become a [General] one day. A truly powerful class," the Duke continued.

"I refuse!" Alistair said flatly.

"W-What?"

"I have no intention of marrying the third princess or becoming a [General]!" Alistair said firmly.

He'd already gone through it all once. Although he couldn't yet remember all of it, he had a strong grasp of what happened before. How miserable he was in his marriage to the princess.

Initially, he had been elated, of course. It had felt like a good match, just like his father said. However, after the wedding, it quickly became clear that the princess had no interest in him. He remembered the moment when he had asked her out of frustration whether they'd act like real husband and wife.

To that, she had replied that he was so terribly dull. They'd remain married on paper, but in private, do whatever they pleased. But Alistair couldn't just accept that. For years, he hoped to change her mind. But seeing her fooling around with other men without showing an ounce of respect for him eventually broke him.

It was his time together with Melina that slowly healed him, giving him hope that love wasn't just a fairytale. But of course, Melina was honorable. She'd never dare to flirt with a married man, and he didn't dare to tarnish her honor. His feelings remained firmly suppressed within his heart.

But things were different now. He wasn't married, and Melina was right beside him. There was no way he'd throw this chance away and marry the third princess again.

"Excuse me, son… Could you repeat yourself?" The Duke blinked his eyes in disbelief. "This is the third princess we're talking about, not some baron's daughter. The Princess!"

"I am not marrying the princess!" Alistair repeated.

The Duke leaned back, staring at Alistair for a moment. Then his expression grew angry. "Don't tell me this is because of that commoner girl you've been fooling around with?"

Alistair didn't reply, staring at his father stubbornly. The Duke let out a cold laugh, "Very well. I get it. Young love has clouded your mind. I understand the heat of youth. I was affected by it as well. I'll give you time to think it over. Charlotte, let's go. Your brother clearly needs some time to think and realize how ridiculous he's being!"

"I-I want to stay with my brother…" Charlotte said timidly. The tension wasn't lost even on her.

"I'll come visit you later at the mansion in Pertia. That's where you are staying, right?" Alistair asked, gently unhooking Charlotte from his arm. He suspected her presence was the real reason why Father hadn't berated him in earnest.

"Yes. But you have to come soon!" Charlotte begged.

"Tomorrow."

"You promise?"

"I promise!"

Charlotte gave him a tight hug, then headed outside. Father followed after her, but looked at him warningly. "Think carefully about your future. Don't think for a second that I'll allow you to marry a commoner."

But Alistair already knew that no matter what his father said or did, his answer would not change.

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