It felt like bombs were dropping non-stop as soon as I returned to the ducal residence. The academy’s nonsense.. and now Peep.

I was stunned for a moment, staring at the disappearing fluffy backside.

However, after clearing his throat once, Grandpa said,

“Follow her.”

“What?”

“Summoned beasts are emotionally very dependent on their masters.”

Grandpa looked down at me and continued.

“Even if you said it carelessly, it probably hurt her, so go and comfort her.”

Just now.. Did Grandpa call me a ‘master’?

Astounded, I stared at Grandpa. Definitely, I thought that he would be angry with me for taking Melissa’s pet in the end.

‘It should be worse..’

Of course, even if Grandpa didn’t go that far, I didn’t expect him to recognize me as Peep’s owner right away.

‘And in front of the dukedom’s employees..’

“Ah.. uh..”

As I hesitated with surprise coloring my face, Grandpa added lowly.

“Summoned beasts only follow their master’s orders. Peep listened to your order, so that means you are Peep’s owner.”

“.....”

“That’s it. Don’t dwell on the past.”

Grandpa patted me on the back.

Oh my god. Grandpa.. He just gave me sincere advice about the symbol of Prelai, the summoned beast, right?

Something felt very odd.

“Alex.. Please don’t curse in front of the summoned beast. Isn’t it said that the personality of the summoned beast follows its master?”

“Joshua, if you start giving jewels to your pet, you have to keep giving until forever. Don’t get it wrong.”

“Melissa, how can you listen to everything Peep says without a backbone? You have to decide your matters.”

I was actually envious when the only adult in Prelai, my grandfather, gave his grandchildren summon advice.

And when the same thing happened to me, I was stunned.. and a little touched.

“Apart from all that, you are my granddaughter. But why are you looking at me about your pet?”

“.....”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that I might not be ‘his granddaughter’.

I really.. I really couldn’t get it out. There was no way to prove it anyway.

In fact, there was no answer or attitude I wanted from Grandpa. That was the problem.

Even if Grandpa said, ‘Of course you are Hyde’s child,’ I thought I would be overcome with guilt. However, if he said, ‘It’s okay even if you’re not Hyde’s child,’ I thought I would cringe from the thought he was also aware of the fact.

Anyway, the situation was the problem, not the person, and neither the other family members nor I had the right answer.

“And the Duchy of Prelai is not the academy. So..”

Meanwhile, Grandpa spoke in a firm tone.

“Skipping meals and pouring coffee, candy and medicine to do research is no longer allowed.”

I coughed. My stomach churned, and I secretly tried to take some stomach medicine.

“Anyway, go ahead and appease your pet.”

Really, the situation itself was very embarrassing.

It was awkward to brazenly say in front of Grandpa that I was the owner of Peep from today..

So I decided to express only very slightly that I took his advice.

“Yes, I got it. I’ll chase after her right away and soothe her fragile ego, and I’ll also fix her whining habit. Taking my grandfather’s advice to heart, I am now reborn as the true master of Peep.”

“.....”

“I don’t know if that’s a joke..”

Then I immediately started running to my room, which Peep flew to.

─??

At that time. A guest hurriedly came to Heaton’s office in the Imperial Palace.

“Your Highness!”

It was Rodrigo.

Rodrigo had run to Heaton right after meeting Kiana.

“You come here too often.”

Heaton sighed lightly.

“You know that we are not accepting guests because of His Majesty’s illness. No matter how much it is me, if you keep visiting me like this, it’ll catch the attention of the imperial doctors.”

“Only this time!”

Without even a greeting, Rodrigo sat down in front of Heaton and started talking to him.

“Please help me just this time.”

“.....”

“I have a favor to ask.”

Heaton looked at Rodrigo with a cold face, then quickly erased his expression.

Rodrigo didn’t notice the change in demeanor and went on.

“Kiana Prelai.. I want to marry the princess.”

Rodrigo’s grasp of the situation itself was not very slow. After he exchanged a few words with Kiana, he noticed that she was no longer obsessed with him.

“What else can I say? You can do it if you want to.”

Heaton smiled grimly and spoke as if it was nothing.

“If it’s that princess, doesn’t she already have a crush on you?”

“But..”

Rodrigo bit his lower lip for a moment, and he replied in a sullen tone.

“She seems to have changed her mind. Because it started when she was young.”

“Oops.”

Heaton turned his gaze back to the papers he was looking at, seemingly unimpressed.

“I think it will be easy if Your Highness helps me a little.”

Rodrigo continued with twinkling eyes.

“Isn’t it true that I tried to marry someone of the Duchy of Prelai? The breakup with Melissa was very one-sided, so if Your Highness can directly hold them responsible for it..”

“Rodrigo.”

Heaton said lowly.

“You know, I listened to your unreasonable request last time. I sent your brother out to battle on the borders, didn’t I? Is that not enough?”

“Instead, he made my mark there and came back earlier than expected and further gained my father’s approval!”

The Duchy of Purves was a place where succession was based on ability. So, the second son, Rodrigo, was also aiming to become the successor.

Until now, however, he had been losing to his oldest brother. His personal ability was no match for his brother, so Rodrigo was trying to increase his value with his connections.

“But marriage is different. There is no marriage in the empire like with the Duchy of Prelai.”

“.....”

“At this point, we have to consider the very slim possibility that Kiana will be coaxing her family. Please press the marriage as soon as possible.”

With a disapproving look on his face, Heaton remained silent.

“Your Highness.”

Noticing the strange atmosphere, Rodrigo subtly lowered his voice.

“We are close friends. Your Highness must listen to my request. Actually, it’s nothing compared to what I’ve done for Your Highness.”

Heaton’s eyes narrowed.

Yes, it was true that he had been helped in the past. And after that, they became best friends and hung out.

“The real power of this palace is Your Highness..”

Rodrigo said with a servile smile.

“No matter how powerful Prelai is, they won’t be able to do anything about Your Highness’ suggestion. You are the next emperor.”

It had already been seven years since the emperor was bedridden with a chronic illness.

Despite the efforts of all the talented doctors, his condition did not improve.

Still, the emperor did not appoint Heaton as crown prince. It was because the body of the crown prince who disappeared six years ago had not yet been found.

In any case, it was true that after the crown prince disappeared, Heaton became the real power of the Imperial Palace. The emperor was ill and the empress had been living in isolation since the crown prince disappeared.

In his youth, the emperor had several empresses for diplomatic reasons, but her hand was precious. Therefore, he had only three children— the crown prince, the son of the empress, Heaton, the son of the third empress, and Celiette, the daughter of the fifth empress.

Celiette was behind Heaton in the line of succession, and her birth mother had died prematurely, leaving her without any support. Therefore, she was not even a person to be wary of.

Moreover Heaton’s birth mother, Third Empress Dolores, was holding her own in politics. Nonetheless, Heaton was very annoyed that he was not the crown prince.

“Still, I am not the crown prince. Is it possible that my beloved brother might still be alive?”

When Heaton muttered so, Rodrigo chuckled.

“But, isn’t Your Highness already investigating and secretly eliminating all the young men the same age as the crown prince who have blue eyes? Blue eyes themselves are not common, and as you know, there is no way to change the color of the eyes.”

“Hmm..”

“So don’t worry. He must have fallen off a cliff at that time and died.”

And he lowered her voice to a whisper.

“Because I pushed him myself.”

It was Rodrigo’s way to reassure Heaton and remind him of his help.

Heaton stared at Rodrigo.

He was a young man who was used because he was said to be the best friend of the missing crown prince. It couldn’t have been a real friendship. For example, he wouldn’t even tell him about his determination to get rid of the Duchy of Prelai, which was disgusting in many ways.

Besides, he didn’t like the fact that he kept asking him for favors, and constantly cited the past as if he was threatening.

“Yes, Rodrigo.”

Heaton grinned, changed his attitude, and spoke kindly.

“Try to do well with Princess Kiana. I will help at the right time.”

It would be better if he could tie Rodrigo up with the Duchy of Prelai and send them all away. In any case, there would be one less person who knew the truth.

“Princess Kiana.. No, you weren’t betrothed to the new priestess, so you can’t just force the princess to get married. However, if she doesn’t have a particularly suitable marriage partner, you may be able to pressure her to think positively.”

“That’s enough.”

Rodrigo grinned and nodded.

“Who would be interested in the youngest granddaughter, even if she was offered? Honestly, no one said it because they’re afraid of Duke Prelai, but..”

Rodrigo’s voice got lower.

“There’s no way that princess who can’t summon a magic beast is a real Prelai.”

And he even snickered as if he was having fun.

“Anyone can see that she is not of Prelai’s bloodline. It’s unknown why the dukedom is still holding onto her.”

Laughing heartily at Rodrigo’s words, Heaton immediately wrote a brief letter to Duke Prelai. The content was exactly what he had mentioned to Rodrigo earlier.

“Anyway, see.”

And Heaton shook the letter in front of Rodrigo as if telling him to look.

“Then, do well.”

“Thank you. I’ll send it to Prelai’s residence tomorrow morning.”

Seeing Rodrigo bow down in gratitude, Heaton smiled.

And the next morning.

With the marriage proposal from Rodrigo, the Duchy of Prelai was completely turned upside down.

Ame:?An overprotective family never gets old to me :> go gramps and Joshua! Burn that squid dry!

+ for those who missed my edit last episode, I changed the title for this arc as after reading more, it will fit bette