For now, since Chester wasn’t taking any action, Ruite had to come up with a plan himself.
“Still, that guy Chester… Rank 2 already? ‘Amazing’ doesn’t even cut it.”
The updated news about Chester was exactly what he had just overheard from those middle-aged men’s conversation.
To become Rank 2, he knew one had to not only pass the specific rank exam but also satisfy several difficult conditions: the total number of subjugated monsters, the number of Rank 2 or higher monsters hunted, the sheer quantity of mana, and so on.
To fulfill all those picky requirements and pass the exam within just six months of joining—that was undeniably exceptional.
“But do you think the Callaway Duke’s influence was involved? It was a bit suspicious how he got into that ‘notoriously difficult’ headquarters right from the start.”
Ruite, who had been about to stand up, stopped.
He sat back down and focused on the voices.
“Hey, then are you saying the Young Duke was like that too?”
“No, the Young Duke was famous for being a genius since birth. But I’ve never really heard much about the second son.”
“Mister, there are plenty of commoners among the Rank 1 Mana Users.”
Before they knew it, Ruite had moved to the seat right next to the group.
Seeing the sudden intruder, the two men nearly jumped out of their skins in shock.
“Wh-what?”
“If things worked the way you’re suggesting, most Mana Users Rank 2 or higher would be from noble families. But they aren’t.”
“Is… is that so? And who might you be, young master…?”
The two men instinctively drew back.
They didn’t know which house Ruite belonged to, but one look told them he was undoubtedly a noble.
“You don’t need to know that. Just please don’t spread strange rumors. You might be saying it without thinking, but if it spreads and becomes a rumor, and that rumor is treated as fact, don’t you think it would be quite hard on the person involved?”
Ruite stood up and brushed off his clothes.
He felt the men’s puzzled stares on the back of his head, but he ignored them.
‘The Duke backing him? As if.’
If anything, it would be a relief if the Duke wasn’t working behind the scenes to get Chester kicked out of the Knights.
Duke Callaway wouldn’t be happy about Chester joining them in the first place.
He had come out just to clear his head, but he only felt worse now.
Ruite headed straight back to the estate.
He opened the door and stepped inside, but the air felt strangely peculiar.
Even Blue, who usually jumped at his face in excitement, was quiet.
“Blue? Why are you acting like that over there?”
Looking closer, Blue was tucked away in a corner, looking visibly disgruntled.
Ruite approached, but the cat immediately got up and darted away to another spot.
“Ah, Young Master!”
Just then, Kio came rushing toward him from inside.
“Kio, I think Blue is sick.”
“Eh? He was playing just fine a moment ago. Ah, more importantly, you need to go inside right now!”
“Why? Did Mother bake more cookies?”
If he kept ranking up, he might end up eating celebratory cookies instead of actual meals.
However, Kio didn’t give a clear answer, only curling his lips into a meaningful smile.
“What is it exactly?”
Kio practically pushed Ruite toward the drawing room.
‘What good news could possibly make him smile like that?’
Before the question could fully form, Kio opened the drawing room door.
Inside sat the Count and Countess.
They wore their usual gentle smiles, and opposite them sat someone with broad shoulders.
It was a familiar back.
“Oh! Ruite, you’re here!”
Reina cried out as she spotted Ruite standing at the door.
As Ruite greeted her with a “Yes, I’m back,” the person sitting with their back turned slowly rotated.
“Oh.”
Ruite froze.
The person sitting calmly in the drawing room, conversing with his parents, was none other than Chester.
“Um.”
Ruite made a strange noise, scratched his cheek, and turned back to Kio.
“I… I left something at the plaza!”
“Pardon? You didn’t take anything out with you, so what…?”
“There’s something. I did.”
Ruite grabbed Kio’s shoulders and gave a forced grin.
It was a smile heavy with the pressure to shut up and not say another word.
Kio swallowed hard.
Taking advantage of the moment, Ruite quickly turned to flee from the drawing room.
“Yo-Young Master!”
“Ruite? Where are you going! Chester is here, what on earth is he doing… Chester, I’m so sorry, what do we do?”
“It’s alright. I expected as much. I’ll go after him.”
Chester stood up as if he were an expert on Ruite’s erratic behavior.
Meanwhile, Ruite had just made it outside the mansion.
He was about to bolt off the grounds when his back collar was suddenly snatched.
“…What kind of manners is it to grab someone there?”
Like a cub caught by the scruff of its neck by its mother, Ruite couldn’t escape and remained dangling in Chester’s grip.
“And what kind of manners is it to run away when you see someone?”
“I didn’t run away. Why would I run away from you? There’s no reason to.”
And Ruite had just realized himself that there really was no reason to.
Although he hadn’t thought of a new plan yet, there was no need to avoid him like this.
It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong.
Only after reaching that conclusion did Ruite regain his composure.
Feeling the grip on his collar loosen slightly, he turned to face Chester properly.
“Hi. Long time no see.”
“Your greeting is late.”
“Have you been well these last six months? I heard you joined the Knights. And became a Rank 2 Mana User? That’s really impressive.”
“What’s with that ‘old soul’ way of talking?”
“Don’t use the words I taught you.”
However, Ruite also felt the awkwardness in his own words.
Six months wasn’t that long, yet it felt like they had been apart for decades.
“Have you been well?”
“Yeah, as you can see.”
Chester stared at Ruite’s face as if trying to bore a hole through it.
“You… hmm, you haven’t changed at all.”
“Of course not. It’s only been six months. Naturally, you haven’t…”
He was about to say Chester hadn’t changed either, but the words wouldn’t come out.
That description didn’t fit the current Chester at all.
Chester’s aura had become strangely more dignified than before.
His expression looked more stable than it had during their academy days.
“…You’ve aged a bit.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
But seeing him snap back like that, it was definitely Chester.
“But what brings you to the Count’s estate?”
“They said for the first six months after joining the Knights, you aren’t allowed to go out; you have to live inside the headquarters.”
“Really? That’s intense. Isn’t that basically confinement?”
“Yeah. But for me, it was actually a good thing. I wanted to sharpen my skills and raise my rank as quickly as possible.”
Ruite fell into deep thought.
His first question was ‘Why are you here?’, so why was the answer going in this direction?
“Just as you said, I became Rank 2, and I’m being well-recognized at the headquarters.”
“Congratulations.”
“That’s why I came. I thought it was only polite to come and pay my respects before sending the proposal.”
“Right, naturally, you should pay respects before sending a propo— Wait, what?”
Ruite, who had been nodding along, froze.
He had almost been swept away by the flow Chester created before snapping back to his senses.
“Sending a what?”
“A proposal.”
“…Why?”
“Because we are promised to each other in a political marriage.”
There was nothing factually wrong with what Chester said.
Their families had promised a political marriage, and it was standard to send a proposal before formal wedding talks.
But the critically incomprehensible part was that all of this was coming out of Chester’s mouth.
This was the Chester who hated the marriage arranged by his family.
He had even defied his father’s pressure and joined the Knights just to avoid the path laid out for him.
Furthermore, Chester hadn’t wanted to marry someone like Ruite.
So why was a word like “proposal” coming out of his mouth instead of “annulment”?
“Let’s go inside for now. I told your parents I’d bring you back, so they’ll be waiting.”
“W-wait a minute.”
In his flustered state, Ruite grabbed Chester.
He leaned in closer without realizing it and opened his mouth.
“Are you… going to marry me?”
“…You’re too close.”
With Ruite’s face suddenly entering his field of vision, Chester covered his mouth with his hand and turned his head away.
“Ah, sorry. Hmm, but Chester.”
Ruite stepped back.
He decided it was best not to get worked up and to probe a little.
“I… I don’t particularly mind if we don’t get married…”
“I know.”
“Huh?”
But before he could finish, Chester answered first.
“Putting the family talk aside, I know that at the very least, you don’t mind not marrying me anymore.”
“…”
“But now, I mind.”
The strength drained from Ruite’s hand, which had been holding onto Chester.
He couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Strangely, he didn’t care about the fact that he was a villain or the possibility of a brutal ending.
Just hearing Chester talk about the marriage like that made everything feel complicated—what was what, and how did it happen?
“Let’s go in.”
Chester turned first and entered the mansion.
Ruite blinked slowly, staring at Chester’s retreating figure in a daze, before slowly following.
Unaware that Ruite was caught in a whirlwind of confusion, Chester was struggling to calm his racing heart.
Six months wasn’t that long, but ridiculously, Ruite seemed to have gotten even prettier and cuter.
Was it because he hadn’t seen him in a while?
Chester let out an unnecessary cough.
He tried to suppress the twitching corners of his mouth, but he felt a burning gaze from somewhere.
Looking toward the source of the gaze, a black cat was staring intently at him.
No, it might be more accurate to say it was glaring.
Blue is feeling jealous lol tipical cat behavior.