(A/N Notes: I got inspired to write this)
After having managed to calm down herself and her overly excited friends, Lysette sighed in an exhausted tone. But she immediately noticed that she wasn't showing a presentable view of a noble lady, so she quickly disciplined herself and went back to acting as a proper lady, which meant introducing everyone to each other.
"A-Ahem... My dear friends, I will now introduce you all to my fiancée, Edward Harding. Now, Edward-sama, these are my friends..."
In a very natural yet acted way, Lysette approached Edward and hugged his right arm, gently pulling him towards her friends, whom she then began introducing one by one.
"This tomboyish lady is Isabelle, from the Ducal House of Moray, known for leading our kingdom's armies;
This gentle-looking lady here is Jade, of the prestigious Lavigne family, and much like mine is from a cadet branch of the Royal Family;
While this innocent-looking lady is Rosemarie, of the eminent Bretz family, known for handling many of our diplomatic overtures abroad;
And finally, this lone-looking lady is Sofia, from the famous Falkner family, thanks to their many discoveries..."
After introducing her last friend, Isabelle raised her hand to ask something to Lysette, as she shared a similar expression with the others.
"What is it, Lady Isabelle?"
"Lysette... Did you just sneakily insult us?"
"... ... ... Ladies, this gentleman beside me is my fiancé, Edward Harding. And I hope you all get along with... But make sure to keep a healthy and proper distance from him"
With a gentle-looking smile, Lysette tightened her hug on Edward's arm, and said her last words with a pretty scary and intimidating tone, almost as if she was warning them.
"..." (x4)
Her friends wanted to argue against her, especially in regards to her ignoring Isabelle's question and changing subjects, but neither of them wanted to try getting into her bad side, even more so when Lysette was the only one amongst them who could hold out and win against Isabelle, who practiced her swordsmanship daily.
Instead, they all silently agreed to not pry any further in either of those subjects and went on to the next subject that they had some interest in.
"I understand, Lysette-chan. Then may I ask you who's that maid, currently hugging your fiancé as well?"
Rosemarie, was the second one to speak, as she asked a pretty obvious question.
"Her? She is Nanako, and just like me, she is also engaged to Edward-sama, but as his second fiancée under my permission"
"..." <That's the person that you allowed to get engaged with him!?> (x4)
Her friends all said the same thing inside their minds, as they observed Nanako from head to toe, and the more they looked, the more surprised they got as no matter how many times they looked at her, they couldn't find anything bad about her.
Nanako had a perfect face, much like Lysette. A perfect body, much like Lysette. A gorgeous appearance, much like Lysette. And her embarrassed, yet happy, expression from hugging Edward's other arm, was a feast for the eyes. No matter how they looked at her... They could and couldn't understand how Lysette allowed Nanako to be engaged with Edward.
No, rather... They couldn't understand how Edward was the person who managed to get the hearts of those two beauties. All they could see at him, was an average-looking noble boy, with noticeable dark circles under his eyes, and aside from being able to give equal attention to both Lysette and Nanako, and a decent personality. No matter how many times they tried, none of them could see what was his charm.
Even more so, because of how well Lysette always talked about him, they all thought that Edward was very similar to the crown prince, a handsome genius, without any flaws whatsoever. In fact, they even thought that the crown prince would look way more in place between Lysette and Nanako, than Edward.
"..." (x4)
But for some reason, they felt a lot of pressure coming from both Lysette and Nanako to not say anything bad about Edward, so they preferred to remain silent for some time, before talking about something else.
"S-So... Edward-sama, when are your friends going to arrive?"
"Y-Yeah, I also want to know, since this was the point of this meeting, right?"
Jade and Rosemarie who were the first ones to talk with him, decided to go with a neutral question and ask Edward about his friends instead.
"When will they arrive? Probably anytime now, since we're almost at the agreed time"
Then, with very convenient and perfect timing, totally not made up by me on the spot, Edward's friend arrived, and they all looked... Extremely nervous, after all, they were currently walking through the manor of the Neville family, and when they all heard who they were going to meet, their pale face only became even paler.
"..." <I knew this would happen>
Edward was also feeling pretty nervous, but thanks to the combination of the two soft sensations on each of his arms, and his usual headache, he was able to mostly ignore the fact that he was meeting noble ladies from the very top of the nobility ranks. His friends didn't have any of those, so they had to endure the full brunt of their nervousness.
*Sighs inside his mind* "Lysette-sama, Nanako, if you two don't mind it, can I ask you two to let go of my arms? I believe that I'll need to introduce my friends to everyone here, or else they might choke themselves by accident"
"Of course, Edward-sama. But make sure to return quickly"
"Y-Yes, a-and make sure to come back to us, and not anyone else!"
Seeing his two fiancées acting possessive in a cute way was a very soothing scene to him, but he still needed to move away from them, so that his friends wouldn't try to kill him out of jealousy. So, Edward approached his friends who were frozen like ice, and began talking to them from a fair distance from the girls, so that they wouldn't hear them.
"Nice to see you all, gentlemen. How're you all feeling?"
"Edward... What were you thinking!?"
Aron was the first one to snap at Edward, as he showed him a desperate face.
"What do you mean? I managed to find girls who are still single and who were willing to meet you all"
"You didn't say that they would all be daughters from those families!"
"You guys asked me to find girlfriends for you all, and I did, now you complain?"
Aron and the others all began making faces saying that they wanted to argue against Edward, but none of them could find a good counterpoint to his question. So instead, they did their best to hold out from screaming and changed the topic.
"Fine, we'll accept that you managed to get girls to meet with us... But what are we gonna do to even manage to convince those unobtainable flowers to go out with us!"
"Yeah! We can't even use our noble status, because they all rank higher than us!"
"... Erm... Be yourselves... And don't lie?"
"... But that's the exact reason we're single!" (x4)
"Huh? Isn't it because you all try some shady pickup lines and always target girls who're already engaged?"
"... Well, there's that too..."
"Then just be yourselves"
"Oh yeah? And how did you even manage to convince Lysette Neville to get engaged to you?"
"... ... ... I... was just honest with her and praise her when I could?"
"... ... ... Like hell, she would go out with someone just from that?!" (X4)
None of Edward's friends believed him, which hurt him... Just a little bit, though.
"... Well, if you all don't want to meet them, I can just tell them"
"Like hell, we're going to let this opportunity to get girlfriends to go away!" (x4)
"Then why are you guys complaining about this, instead of just introducing yourselves to them?"
"..." (x4)
They all looked away or feigned ignorance at Edward's words, as they preferred to show their cowardly side instead of risking getting ignored by those girls.
"... *Sigh*... I knew it would end like this... Fine, just come with me, I'll introduce you all to them, but at least try to do something to look respectable to them, alright?"
"We'll never forget you, Edward!" (x4)
"???"
The four collectively held Edward's shoulders and they also gave him a thumbs up from sacrificing himself to talk to Lysette's friends on their behalf. With that settled, the boys went towards the girls, so that Edward could finally introduce his friends to everyone.
"I'm terribly sorry for my friends not properly greeting you all"
"It's fine, it's fine. So why don't you all introduce yourselves?"
"..." (x4)
"... Haa... If you excuse them again, I'll introduce them to you all in their stead, so the first one is Isak Johan, and he's into training"
"..."
"What're you doing at least say hello or something them"
"Erm... Hm... N-Nice... ... ..."
Isak who was feeling too shy and cowardly to greet Isabelle who was in front of him, began to feel his vision spinning, as he tried to think of something decent to say to leave a good impression on her, but his mind was blank.
"..." <I can't think of anything!!!... Wait... T-There's that! Y-Yeah! L-Let's do what he said!>
Then in his desperation, he remembered what Edward told them earlier, for them to just be themselves, so with everything to lose and nothing to gain, Isak did the only thing he knew how to do right...
"... RAAAAHH!"
And that was ripping his upper body clothes with only his muscles! Allowing for his glistening, well-developed, and tanned muscles to shine under the bright sunlight, and allowing his ripped abs to breathe the fresh air from the outside. And by god, this description is unnecessary and stupid. I like it... No homo.
Seeing Isak do that, Edward and his other friends, all showed shocked faces at his crazy decision, while the girls showed surprised expressions at the unexpected development that this was going on, except for one.
"..."
Isabelle different from the others, had her cheeks flushed red as she made the expression of a maiden who had just fallen in love, with the manly, powerful, and handsome muscles being flexed right in front of her eyes. That muscled body in front of her, was the perfect definition of strength, power, and muscular beauty, and the more Isak flexed his arms in different poses, the more in love Isabelle fell for them.
Isabelle, due to her many years of training alongside her father, brothers, and personal knights, had developed a serious muscle fetish. She wanted to feel those rock-hard abs with her hands, she wanted those hulking muscles in front of her to hug her body in a powerful embrace, and most of all, she wanted to feel that perfect tanned and muscled body to push her down on a bed and *beep beep beep.*
*Grabs Isak's hands*
"?!"
"Sir Isak please go out with me!"
"...Wha?!?!?!"
"Eh!?" (X9)
At the sudden proposal by Isabelle, everyone let out a surprised voice, as their faces simultaneously showed a confused and surprised expression at the unexpected development of Isak's crazy decision. While the person who was being proposed by Isabelle, simply had his brain stop functioning as his face turned into a bright crimson color.
"... ... ... A-Ahem. W-Well, h-how about w-we continue with their introductions?"
"! Ah, y-yes, let's"
Jade who managed to snap out of her shock, answered for everyone else. With a nod, Edward then moved to introduce Aron.
"*Clears throat again* *Deeply breathes in* Now this one is Aron Wilford, and he's..."
"..." *nods*
For the briefest of moments, Edward glanced at Aron who noticed it, and simply gave him a cool nod, almost as if he knew exactly what Edward had in plan for his introduction. And Edward seeing that small nod, acknowledged it as being the green light for him to say it.
"..." <Kuku... That's right, Edward. I know that you have many good points about me that you can present to the girls, and seeing how easy it was for Isak to get a girl to confess to him... I'm sure that I'll get a girlfriend even if you only tell them about one of my good points!>
Yes, Aron had a great expectation for his introduction, and when Edward continued his introduction...
"An overconfident guy who thinks he's super smart when he isn't all that much, and he's also really easy to anger, and always overreacts"
"OOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO SAY ABOUT MY GOOD POINTS AND NOT MY BAD POINTS!!!"
Aron immediately snapped at Edward casually roasting him for his introduction. While Jade meanwhile, covered her mouth with one hand, to hide the small, but amused smile forming on her face at seeing Aron's anger, while her cheeks had turned slightly pink. With calm steps, she approached Aron who was about to grab Edward by the collar, and then...
"There, there... No need to be angry like that"
"... Huh!?"
Started petting Aron's head, and when he felt that, he took a jump away from it due to the surprise.
"Heeh, are you feeling embarrassed from just a little headpat"
"O-Of course, I'm not! I'm not so petty to feel embarrassed by that!"
Aron then made a forced laugh to hide his embarrassment, which was easily seen through by everyone else.
"Heeh, is that so? Then why do you look so embarrassed?"
"I said I'm not embarrassed!"
This time Aron got angry, thanks to his short fuze that was really easy to trigger with a little push.
"Heeheeh, then how about a little game? If you win, I'll do anything that you ask me to, but the same applies if I win"
"Challenge accepted, so what will it be? Arm wrestling? Staring contest? Or..."
With a confident face, Aron, who now had forgotten about his earlier cowardice in talking with the girls, accepted Jade's challenge without asking what it would be about. Which only made Jade smile even more amusedly.
"The challenge is... You cannot get at anything that happens next"
"Heh... That'll be a cinch, I'll win this easi-"
"Nee, Sir Edward, do you have anything else to tell about, Sir Aron?"
"... Well, there was the time that he fought against a scarecrow that scared him for 1 ho-"
"OOOOOOIIIII!!! DON'T GO TELLING HER ABOUT MY DARK PAST, AND YOU DON'T JUST CUT ME WHILE I'M TALKING!!!... ... ... Ah!"
Aron who immediately got angry at both Edward and Jade, quickly realized his mistake, when he saw Jade amusedly smiling at him.
"Sir Aron, I believe that you just lost the bet, so you will have to do anything that I ask you to"
"... D-Do I?"
"Yes, you do. Now... I want you to... Accept on being engaged to me"
"... ... ... Eh?"
"Fufu, I hope that you're ready for what's to come, my cute Sir Aron"
"D-Don't think I-I'm g-going t-to give I-in s-so easily"
"Hee hee, that's what we will see"
Jade was a noble with a very particular taste, like many girls her age, she had a fondness for cute animals, but different from most girls, she for some reason, found animals and people who put strong or angry fronts to be the cutest ones. And she liked even then more after taming them, and turning those "savage beasts" into "docile creatures."
Her home was filled with such examples, a savage feline who was once feared as an untamable beast, a feral wolf who defeated many poachers who tried to subjugate it, a vicious horse who refused to let anyone ride it, and the many fallen nobles and peasants who refused her family's charity.
Now all of them had been turned by her, the feline was now nothing more than a large house cat, the feral wolf had become a friendly company dog, the vicious horse was now a gentle horse who allowed even small children to ride it, and the nobles and peasant had all turned into loyal servants and subjects of her family.
And the same Aron in front of her was no exception, no, rather, he was the cutest person she had ever found, his strong front that refused to give in no matter what, a fuze that could be ignited by the littlest of things, and most importantly his fierce eyes, showed her that he wouldn't fall so easily like everything that was tamed before him.
"..." (x7)
Once again, everyone looked at that development in silence, this time with Edward cold sweating as he felt a very horrifying chill running down his spine when he saw Jade making that amused smile. So to move his mind away from that he decided to continue introducing his two remaining friends.
"A-Anyways... This one here is Jan Roy, he's very outgoing and likes reading books"
"Jan Roy? Are you perhaps related to Franz Roy?"
This time the girl who spoke was Rosemarie, who had noticed that his name was similar to the name of an author from a book she once read.
"That is right, he is, in fact, my great-grandfather"
"Oh my, that's a nice coincidence, and I apologize for my late introduction, I am Rosemarie Bretz, and I am a big fan of your great-grandfather's works"
"Really? I'm also a fan of my great grandfather, I'm especially a big of his book 'The King,' a true deconstruction of politics and diplomacy"
*Claps hands together* "Ara, that's also my favorite book as well! I really enjoy the parts where he explains how everything needs to be used to achieve your goals"
*Nods in understanding* "I know right, he really pulls deep philosophical questions on his works, and on how human nature can easily change many geopolitical situations in the flick of a dime"
"Fufu, Sir Jan, would like to have some tea with me, as we continue our discussion about your great-grandfather's works and those from other authors as well?"
"Well... ... ... I suppose, I shouldn't let this opportunity pass"
"Fufu, as your great-grandfather once wrote, 'One shall never pass the offer of a deal, lest the wish to allow their enemy to take it' and I believe you also don't want the opportunity to go out with me to be taken by someone else, right?"
"... ... ... I shall neither confirm nor deny your allegations about my interest in having tea with you, Lady Rosemarie"
"Hehe, smart words, Sir Jan"
With that, the two made their way to one of the free tables so that they could continue their conversation more comfortably.
As for Rosemarie, she was simply a normal noble lady, with a deep interest in books and geopolitics thanks to her family's background. Of course, due to her interest, few girls tried talking to her as almost none would be as knowledgeable on the topics of Rosemarie's interest, while her rank and smarts made many others feel incapable of even keeping up with her, as she would often talk about topics that people her age wouldn't be knowledgeable about.
Even girls like Lysette, who was able to keep up with Rosemarie on such a topic, weren't always that keen on talking about geopolitics every time. While adults tended to look down on her knowledge and didn't bother discussing such topics with her.
So for her, Jan, who was into the topic thanks to the influence of his great grandfather, who was a moderately successful writer on geopolitical matters. Was someone who she couldn't just let pass by her, even more so since she didn't know whether she would ever find someone else who shared the same interest as her, and was able to keep up with her.
Rosemarie didn't want to pass on this opportunity of having someone with whom she could talk about her favorite topics and interests so openly, no, she didn't want to lose the opportunity of having someone by her side so that she could always share her opinions with, whenever she wanted and whenever she could.
"..." (x5)
This time the remaining people stood silent at how normal their progress was, so without much else to think or say, Edward went to introduce his last remaining friend to Lysette's last remaining.
"Well, at last, I introduce you to Moss Rolf, He likes to research stuff"
"... Can't you at least be more specific about what I research?"
"I can't explain what I don't know"
"Fair point"
"... ... ...Hmm, may I ask you what you're researching about?"
Sofia Falkner, the last remaining of Lysette's friends, shyly raised her hand as she asked so to Moss.
"Eh!? Ah! S-Sure... W-Well, I-I'm researching a-about M-Magic f-formulas, a-and r-recently I-I finished c-calculations a-and i-initial t-tests f-for a p-potential d-double c-casting f-formula"
"You finished calculations and test for a double casting formula!?"
Hearing that, Sofia immediately approached Moss and grasped his hands as her eyes shone in excitement. Which only made Moss even more nervous about talking.
"Y-Yes, t-t-t-though I-I s-s-still h-h-have t-t-to t-test it m-more, a-and f-f-fix i-i-it's e-excessive m-m-mana u-u-usage"
"Wha!? What's the problem? Is it perhaps an extra calculation? Or maybe an overly long formula? Ah! I know! It's probably due to the necessity of redundant calculations to keep the double casting stability and synchronized!"
"... ... ... Y-Y-Y... You're right!"
"I knew it! I've been also researching double casting, but I haven't been able to make a working formula yet! Even though my theoretical formula makes it faster, the mana supply never manages to complete the formula in time..."
"... Huh? Maybe it's a leakage problem, there might be a lack of stability in your formula that is causing the mana to be used before it can be reached on the next calculation"
"! I-I didn't think about that... Y-You're amazing, Sir Moss. You were able to find the problem of my double magic formula without even seeing it!"
"N-No, I'm the one who should be impressed for you to be able to know what the problem of my magic formula without much Information"
"Ehehe... T-thanks... I hope you manage to make your double magic formula faster and more efficient"
"I-I should be the one thanking you, and good luck on improving your double magic formula stability"
" "... ... ... Hm? Ah!" "
After their initial excitement died down, the two noticed that they were holding each other's hands, and very close as well. This made them jump away with embarrassed faces, as they began to think about what had just happened, but then they noticed something that they each said during their talk.
"E-Erm... S-Sir Moss"
"H-Hm... L-Lady Sofia"
" "Ah! Y-You can go first! N-No! I-I insist!... ... ..." "
After accidentally repeating each other in perfect synchrony, they both went silent again from the embarrassment they felt. But they still wanted to ask each other about the idea they just had, and unable to hold it anymore, Sofia was the first one to say.
"S-Sir M-Moss, i-i-if y-y-you d-d-don't m-mind... H-How a-a-about w-we j-join o-o-our r-r-researches? S-since y-you-"
"I accept your offer! I also fell in love with you so please go out with me!"
"I also feel in love with you, so I accept it!"
" "... ... ... Eh?... ... ... AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" "
When the two noticed what they had just said to each other, they both immediately crouched down as they covered their now beet-red faces. As for the last remaining people.
"..." <Yup, I didn't get anything of what they just said, aside from that they like each other now... ... ... I barely did anything and I'm already feeling tired... I guess, I'll just go home>
Edward was just silent at seeing the two talk about something he had no idea about, and as for Lysette and Nanako...
" "Nn" "
"!"
They both hugged one of his arms, as they appeared slightly annoyed at the fact that it took him quite a while to introduce his friends to Lysette's friends.
"Edward-sama... You better not be thinking of going home when we barely spent any time together"
"Haha..."
Edward could only make a dry laugh at Lysette's sharp and intimidating gaze and smile towards him, as she correctly read what he was thinking. While Nanako simply kept rubbing her cheek on his arm. Then Lysette closed her eyes and looked at her surroundings, which loosened her expression.
"Also Edward-sama... Thank you for finding suitable partners for my friends"
"I don't think I did anything special"
"Fufu, you may think so. But I'm sure that your friends are the perfect partners that they all could ask for and that they will all get perfectly along, just like how we do"
"Well, if you say so..."
Then Edward began to feel a pretty sharp headache, together with a weird feeling that he may have seriously messed up with something very important, but that he couldn't know what it was exactly. He also wasn't allowed to think too deeply about the feeling he just had, as Lysette and Nanako both dragged him to sit down with them at the bench, giving him two soft sensations that prevented him from thinking about many things that weren't related to that softness, so that they could go back to having their usual tea time together, as they always did.