Chapter 109

What should we do, Aeris?”

“I’m not sure . ”

Time was passing as Aeris stood there with a much more serious expression than usual . The men were troubled over this dilemma . But Maki was different .

“Let’s get this straight . Who is that person? Is she your lover?”

Maki crossed her arms and asked Aeris . Aeris replied frantically .

“Lover? Certainly not . She is one of the princesses . In fact, she is married…no, she’s a widow now . ”

“A widow?”

“A widow?”

Maki and Edwy said at the same time . It was not particularly unusual to be widowed when they lived so long . And remarrying was just as common . Maki had been relieved to hear that she was married, but she couldn’t keep silent once she heard that the woman was a widow . She had plenty more to say, but Chiharu suddenly pulled at her clothes .

“Chiharu…”

Maki turned to her with a worried expression . But Chiharu looked quite normal now . Yes, she did . However, Maki suddenly felt a chill . Chiharu looked straight at Aeris .

“Aeris . ”

“Chi-Chiharu . It’s not that . Never . ”

“Aeris . ”

“…Yes . ”

His shoulders slumped .

“What are you going to do?”

“Just throw her out . ”

Aaron muttered from behind her .

“Aaron, a lady cannot be treated in such a fashion . Still, what can I do…”

He really could not think of anything . They needed her to get dressed and leave . But that required going into the room and persuading her . And he didn’t want to go inside .

“Aeris . When you came in the room earlier, there were people behind you . ”

“Ah, the fifth princess kept following me from the entrance . But I managed to brush her off, as I had an audience with the king . ”

However, something told them that there was still someone waiting behind the door .

“The fifth princess . So the younger sister of the first princess . ”

Chiharu muttered .

“Are they close?”

“They are not close at all . ”

“Aaron…”

Aeris didn’t feel that it was right to speak so boldly about the royal family . However, Aaron did not care .

“They are nearly 200 years apart . And yet they are rivals for Aeris’s affection . ”

“Aaron! I do not care for her at all! It’s just that I played with her when she was little, and she seems to have misunderstood something . ”

“Well, there it is . ”

Chiharu folded her arms and looked at Maki .

“Wh-what? Chiharu?”

“Maki-chan . I want to take a bath already . ”

Maki had been watching the scene excitedly and was taken aback .

“Uh, right . Yeah . We’re all sweaty . ”

“But it’ll be so much trouble to talk her into putting on her clothes and leaving . ”

“Ye-yes . I don’t want to do that . ”

“Well, we’ll just have to let them fight . ”

A silence fell over the room .

“Di-did you say fight?”

Maki’s voice echoed in the silence .

“Maki-chan . I’m going to open the door . ”

“Wa-wait, Chiharu!”

But even Aeris’s intervention was ignored as Chiharu opened the door .

“Lord Aeris! Oh, who might you be?”

The person on the other side of the door was the fifth princess . But when her shining, beautiful face caught Chiharu, she looked very confused . Chiharu spoke without emotion .

“Come in . ”

After a second of silence, the princess’s servants began to talk .

“How dare you speak to the princess with that voice!”

“So rude . ”

“This is why I don’t like humans . ”

Maki was annoyed as she listened in the back . However, it was clear that Chiharu didn’t want her to join them .

“So you don’t want to come inside?”

Chiharu asked . The fifth princess managed to reply .

“This is Lord Aeris’s room . What authority do you have to be here?”

Chiharu chuckled .

“Authority? I was called here as Aeris’s guest . I have his permission . Now come in . ”

Of course, she had no such thing . However, the princess and her servants had no way of knowing this . The men behind her were overwhelmed as well . And so they all entered the room quietly . Then they saw Aeris standing awkwardly in the back .

“Lord Aeris!”

The fifth princess tried to run to him, but Chiharu stopped her with a raise of her hand .

The princess couldn’t help but stop . Chiharu was angry . And that was a rare thing . Maki clenched her fist in front of her chest .

“That’s not where you should go . Go that way . ”

She said as she pointed to Aeris’s bed room .

“Th-that is…”

The princess’s face reddened . She looked to be in her twenties . But to be honest, both Chiharu and Maki looked older than her . But Chiharu did not allow the blushing woman to phase her, and she opened the door without hesitation .

“Go ahead . ”

“But…”

“You don’t want to?”

And so the fifth princess took a step into the room and gasped .

“Sister!”

“What’s all this noise?”

“How shameless!”

“If anything, it is shameless for someone like you, who has never been married, to come in here . ”

Now that the fight had begun, Chiharu shrugged her shoulders and closed the door .

“Chiharu, wouldn’t it be more entertaining if you left it open?”

“But then she won’t be able to get changed . ”

Maki was enjoying this now, but Chiharu was not in the mood . She was still angry .

There was a lot of noise coming from the bedroom for a while, but then the door finally opened, and out came the fifth princess and her servants . She was soon followed by the first princess . In human years, she would be a little past thirty, which made her look quite nice standing next to Aeris . She was very beautiful as she stood there with her hair tied loosely to the side . Of course, she was wearing clothes .

“Aeris . You are quite cruel . Not only do you rarely return, but you kept me waiting so long . ”

She said sweetly . Maki thought she could hear the sound of a vein bursting on Chiharu’s head .

“Princess . You go too far . No matter how many times you request it, I cannot oblige you . You must search for someone else to spend the rest of your life with . ”

Aeris said . He sounded both annoyed and polite .

“Sister . Let us leave for now . I do not like to think what will happen if father learns of this . ”

“And what is that to me? Love should be free . I doubt anyone takes interest in my affairs at this point . Even father said that I should do as I please . ”

Chiharu just opened the door without saying a word . But the first princess’s mouth curled with irony .

“Get out, is it? Don’t you know that I’m a princess?”

Chiharu kept her silence and opened the door even wider .

The first princess turned to look at Aeris .

“I’m sure you’ll be staying for a while . We’ll have time to talk later . ”

She smiled and then left the room .

“Sister!”

The fifth princess said goodbye to Aeris and then frantically left the room .

Chiharu slammed the door shut and turned around .

“Well, then . ”

The others suddenly felt quite nervous .