Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

The next day, early morning.

Just as I entered the dining room to prepare breakfast, Ruifeng Sandalqia Dilz was lying face down on the floor.

A red liquid spread around him. I screamed.

“H-He’s dead!”

“He’s not dead, he’s not dead.”

Lord Ruifeng sat up, waving his hands. In his hand was a cloth stained red. Oh, thank goodness. He was just cleaning up the red liquid spilled on the floor—probably red wine. Given his status, I thought he might have been targeted by an assassin.

After a moment of relief, I calmly assessed the situation and screamed again.

“Why on earth is Lord Ruifeng mopping the floor!?”

“I’m here too.”

From beside him, Lord Cyrus crawled out from under the table. I screamed once more.

Lord Ruifeng, the Third Prince of the Dilz family, and Lord Cyrus, who recently inherited the Granado duchy, are both among the highest-ranking great nobles in this country. Why on earth were the two of them crawling on the floor cleaning early in the morning!?

As I was confused, the two close friends seemed completely unfazed. Rather, they looked at me curiously, wondering what was so surprising as they tilted their heads, holding the wet cloth.

“Yesterday, Ruifeng spilled wine on Dario, right? The area under the table was left as it was then. So, I’m wiping it now.”

“I’m helping with that.”

Lord Ruifeng continued while wringing out the cloth over a bucket. If anything, since Lord Ruifeng spilled the wine, it seems Lord Cyrus is the one helping. Either way, I cannot let the two of them mop the floor. I reached out toward them.

“Th-Then I’ll do it, please let me take over.”

“Why can’t we do it, but Marie can?”

Apparently, I was taken completely as joking. It was that obvious that the two of them were cleaning. My face, blank and bewildered, must have looked strange enough for Lord Cyrus to realize this and nod as if he suddenly understood.

“Really, don’t worry about it. Back at the academy, the rule was that everyone cleaned their own rooms. At Granado Castle, Mio doesn’t let me do it; the master is too rough, so she says I’m disqualified as a maid.”

Wouldn’t that be terrible if he actually passed?

Lord Ruifeng, who also graduated from the same academy, said that the knights order’s private rooms are self-managed. With practiced movements, he rinsed the cloth and started wiping the floor again.

“Just leave it to us. It’s not good for the baby to smell alcohol anyway.”

Come to think of it, the floor smells like a mixture of wooden boards and wine — a rather mature scent. As I absentmindedly watched Lord Cyrus saying, “This actually smells kind of nice,” I muttered quietly.

“...Lord Alfred also liked wine, didn’t he?”

“Ah, for birthdays and anniversaries, wines famous from all over the world were sent by dignitaries from various countries.”

Lord Cyrus responded.

“If we can get some again, how about making an exhibit in the museum? A corner called ‘The Duke’s Beloved Wines,’ for example.”

“That’s a great idea. We might even sell them as souvenirs. Surprisingly, there might be visitors coming just for that—of course, only if we have facilities that can maintain good storage conditions.”

Lord Cyrus’s words made me suddenly curious.

...Now that I think about it, I wonder how the ancient city is doing these days?

I had asked Thomas to scout it, but due to an encounter with Ella, I hadn’t asked for detailed information. In the end, neither Lord Cyrus nor I have seen the site ourselves yet.

Before hearing a proper report from Thomas, he went to the town to call for a search party. I pondered what to do and then proposed an idea.

“Why don’t we go see it ourselves? It could also serve as a change of pace for Lisa.”

When I said that, Lord Cyrus nodded in agreement.

“True, it’s quite close from here, so it might be just right. As long as there’s a decent number of us, it won’t be a dangerous forest.”

While Lord Cyrus and I casually planned a picnic, Lord Ruifeng wore a somewhat serious expression.