Last minute changes are a pain. Especially when you already prepared for the beach, but it was changed to going to the pool instead.

***

As the Royal Trumpets blows, everyone gathers to the sides opening a large space in the center of the hall to the end.

When the royal family showed themselves, everyone lowers their head to show respect.

It's a good thing that dad understood that custom, but he nearly bowed there. Good thing mom grabbed his sleeve.

The King steps forward and looks at everyone in a 180 degree cycle.

“Good evening everyone! Tonight, we shall dine and celebrate the 427th year anniversary of our kingdom's establishment. Our kingdom has been prosperous due to the work of each people that lives in it, and for that, I am thankful that I am able to lead such good people. We have remained in peaceful terms of our neighboring cities and kingdom, fought against foreign oppressors and became victorious. That is because we stand united as a country. For that, we shall celebrate!”

Damn that was a good speech. I can't help but join the clapping crowd that was also moved by his words.

“With that, we will also hold our yearly Inauguration of the young nobles. Let us begin!”

After what he said, some of the noblemen steps out from the crowd, the ones sitting stood up, and the ones flirting with the women stopped. Geez…

All of us line up in a semi-circle and stood straight. I just followed suit actually. I have no idea what I’m doing to be honest.

While I stand along with the rest of the men, I notice Jane coming inside secretly while being guided by another maid.

Seeing her again reminded me of what we did in the carriage. I can feel my face heating up.

Calm down me! This isn't the time to get flustered!

“Ahem.”

When I faked a cough, the ones standing behind me got startled and looked at me with complicated expressions. I apologized for it.

“And now, everyone who will be called shall step forward. Starting from the….”

There's a lot of names that got mentioned so I'll keep it brief.

From the top, it started from 2 Earls becoming Marquises, another 2 viscounts becoming Earls with the other one getting appointed to become a viceroy of a distant territory, 5 barons becoming viscounts, 8 baronets to barons with 3 that skipped from chevalier, and 15 aristocrats becoming chevaliers of the king.

And now, it's finally me. I don't know why by they obviously got me as the last. My legs hurt from standing for an hour.

“Chevalier Key Got—Godfre Chardelier, please step up!”

Hey now, I heard him almost making a mistake there. But let's ignore that for now.

As I approach the red carpet, everyone's gazes are locked at me. I already got used to it so I’m not as nervous as before.

In front of me is the royal family. Unlike us, they're sitting comfortably. However, the King and Princess Thema along with Duke Dalseriev holding a red pillow are standing in front of me. Evia and the rest are just sitting.

“Key Godfre Chardelier…”

As he mentions my name, I kneel on one knee with my head looking down. Since this is a special occasion, I do it with extra elegance. Not too exaggerated of course.

“I will promote you to be a Baron…”

“I acc—”

“However…”

Wait a minute, it doesn't sound like the ones before me. Isn't it just to be a simple promotion?

Because the King had a different tone, I inadvertently raised my head in shock.

“However, I and the council have recognized you and your power to be unfit to become just a Baron. You also have become friends with the Dwarven Family and even became their representative. Not only that, I received a confirmation of your dominance over the Dungeon in Behemoth's Horn Mountains. You also aided our kingdom from one of the calamities the moment you knew about it….”

I can seriously feel something crazy is going to happen.

“…And because of all those achievements, the council and I have decided to make you will skip from Chevalier to Marquisate.”

What the fuck?

When he said that, a lot of people gasped in shock and the hall becomes noisy with chattering. Everyone was shocked to hear what the king just announced and some even looked like they wanted to object.

Even I want to object! Lifting my rank that much will give me a lot of problems, I'll get flocked with a lot of paperwork tomorrow after this!

I'll turn that head of yours into a roll-on later, your highness! I'll curse you with baldness!

And also, because he announced it to everyone like this, I'm in no position to turn it down. If I did, it will make more problems than accepting it.

“So what do you say, Celestial Magus?”

Yeah, yeah, I know. Just wipe that smug off your face before I'll turn you bald on the spot.

“I-I accept.”

With a reluctant feeling, I accept the promotion. After that, Thema takes the Marquis Medal and pins in on my chest beside my other medals.

While pinning the medal on my chest, for some reason, Thema is pouting a bit.

“Is there a problem?”

“Nothing, idiot.”

What's her problem?!

Even though she says that, she kisses my cheek lightly. I take it as a form of congratulations from the royalties….. or so I thought.

When the king’s gaze met mine, I could see him grinning under his beard. This old fart… he's giving me the wrong ideas.

***

After the Inauguration ceremony, everyone calmed down and continued to the next part of the event which is the ball. Everyone is not obliged to dance, but since this is a way for the noblemen to impress the ladies, a couple of pairs goes to the center of the hall and dances to the tune.

On the other hand, I'm sitting on one of the round tables with Cherry and Matt beside me and the rest of my family are also sitting on the remaining chairs. Jane is also here, but she's just standing behind mom like every maid of every household group.

By the way, we're sitting in the higher classes section of the hall. Only viscounts above are here and the rest are sitting in the lower classes section.

“Congratulations, Key. To become a Marquis at that age makes me proud as a mother. Still, I'm quite shocked that the king decided to put you that in that position.”

“I'm quite shocked too. I thought that I'll just get promoted to Baron, not all the way up to Marquisate. The paperwork….”

“Stop thinking about work for now Key, tonight's your night! You should enjoy it!”

“I agree with Cherry. You should loosen up. It's not everyday you get to experience something like this.”

“You two… aren't you supposed to stay with your family now?”

When I said that to them, they both smile and grab each of my hands.

“You are our family now.”

“We're going to be your wives soon. Don’t you remember that?”

Wow, these two sure became aggressive for the short time we split up.

All of a sudden, dad raises his hand to get my attention.

“Key, since you're a Marquis now, what are you going to do?”

At that moment, a knife struck between his fingers on the table. Tracing where it came from, obviously from mom.

“Let's leave that kind of things for now, okay dear?”

“Y-yeah….”

Dad's sweating buckets and everyone found it funny.

“Don't be too hard on dad, mom. And dad, why don't you show some moves?”

I winked at dad as I said that. He understood it and then gave me a big smile and then stood up.

He then turns to mom, offering his hand while bowing.

“Milady, may I take you for the tune?”

Since dad made it sound so cool, mom giggled a bit while blushing.

“Oh, Kenneth. That funny side of you will never get old.”

Mom then takes his hand and gets pulled to the dance floor before disappearing into the crowd. I’m still amazed on how mom can change her mood quickly though.

After that, I switch my attention to Jane.

When our eyes met, she immediately looks away like she doesn't want to see me. Ah fuck! She hates me now.

“Are you okay? You seem a bit down?”

Cherry suddenly asks me with a worried face. She saw that?

I need to change the topic?.

“Was I? It’s probably just stress. Who wants to dance first?”

“Oh, can we?!”

“I'm not too fond of dancing with a lot of people so I’ll pass for now.”

That's unexpected of Matt. I didn't know she doesn't like dancing.

In contrast to that, Cherry becomes hyper and pulls me to the dance floor.

When everyone saw me coming, they suddenly open up a space for me and Cherry to dance.

I look at the guys with instruments and luckily they're also looking at me. Since there's only one type of music I can dance to, I signal those guys to play something like slow waltz. I'm thankful they understood the slow side-wave signal. That was random.

“Can I do the honor to dance with Cherlaine?”

“You did it a tad too late, but okay.”

Cherry cheerfully takes my hand and puts her other hand on my shoulder. In response, I put my free hand behind her back and pull her closer to me.

And as the music transitioned to waltz, everyone followed suit which is pretty cool.

I bet they can dance to every tune. I'm envious!

When the music starts, everyone including us starts dancing. Thankfully, not everyone's attention is to me anymore.

While dancing, Cherry leans her head on my chest and entrusts her weight on me. And her boobs too…

“You know, Key. This is actually one wish I had fulfilled.”

“Huh?”

All of a sudden, she suddenly starts to talk. She seems melancholic about it.

“What wish did you fulfil?”

“Well… it's a bit embarrassing to say...”

“There are a lot of people so it's noisy. No one will hear us.”

I lightly giggled since she's acting all cute of a sudden.

“…. It's about dancing with the man I love. Gosh! I’m so embarrassed.”

It is embarrassing. I could feel my face turning red from what she said.

To hide her embarrassment, she buries her face on my neck. It tickles a bit.

“… Then… I'm thankful for being the one who granted you that. And also….”

Before continuing my words, I let go off her back to lift her chin up. After that, I gave her a light kiss on the lips without warning. Her blushing is cute.

“And also… I never said it once before, but I actually love you.”

“… love me?”

“Yes, I love you. I'm sorry for not admitting it immediately before.”

When I apologized, she shakes her head and then lean on my neck again. I guess she's really embarrassed right now to the point that even her ears are going red.

“Geez, you dummy! Don't blurt out something like that all of a sudden in here!”

“Ahahahaha! But it means we have mutual feelings for each other. Don't you like that?”

“Of course I like it! Geez! I can't show my face like this in public!”

It might sound very selfish, but it really is what my heart is saying about Cherry. There's nothing else in the world that can change that. Even if it's the gods, they can't.

Then while we're dancing, someone suddenly hits my back with their back. Looking at that direction, it was mom and dad smiling at me.

“We heard that.”

“Like father like son. You really are your father's son.”

After teasing me, they danced away while laughing.

Now that they said it, I can see that everyone around us actually heard our conversation. The noblewomen are looking at our direction with blushing cheeks.

Realizing how embarrassing it was, my face becomes hot. I’ll just smile it out.

After the music has calmed down again, it was time for the other noblemen and women to change partners or sit down.

And to my surprise, I can see Matt coming towards us. Hmm? She's taking off her glasses.

“Can I have the next tune with you?”

Both Cherry and I looked at each other. After that, both of us giggled and separate from each other. As Cherry goes back to the table, I put my attention to Matt.

“What was funny?”

“Nothing much, it’s just that you sounded a bit different back there.”

I put my right arm behind her waist while holding her other hand with my left hand.

“What did I sound like?”

She seems a bit angry. Well, it's cute too.

“… You sounded like you were jealous. Ow!”

After I said that, she immediately steps on my left foot. She did it on purpose, I’m sure of it!

“I'm jealous? Please don't say such stupid things.”

“That level of denial confirms it—Ow!”

Twice? Really?

“I'm sorry, I can't really see well without my glasses.”

“Then why'd you take them off then?”

After I ask her that, I felt her twitch like she instantly stopped herself from reacting to that question. Yet even so, I could see the tips of her ears reddening.

What? She's acting pretty cute tonight.

“…I-I get easily embarrassed when I see too many people looking at me.”

“Ahahahaha. So that's why.”

I couldn't help but laugh at her. I'm not making fun if her. I just find it really cute.

Because a lot of people looked to our direction because of my loud laughter, she gets embarrassed even more and starts hitting my chest lightly. Damn, I want to tease her even more.

“So you took your glasses off so that you won't see them. It's not working well I see.”

“I hate you!”

“Yeah, yeah… pfft.”

“Stop laughing!”

Now this is refreshing. This is the first time I've seen her like this. Even Viscount Balerishk is looking at us warmly from a distance.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Both of us gave a nod after that telepathic message.

After Matt has calmed down in the middle of the music, she leans her head on my shoulder as we continue dancing to the tune.

“Key, what do you think of me?”

As we calmly swing our bodies to the music, she whispered a question on my ear. Her question surprised me since I can feel a bit of loneliness there.

“You're asking me that now?”

“I was just curious. Mother and I had a talk about you back at the Duchy Capital. She said that your world's morals on marriage and this world’s is very different.”

“You must be talking about having one partner for the rest of your life.”

“Yes, and I…. I thought that… If you had just stayed a Chevalier, everything will be fine since it doesn't have much difference from your own culture. If that did happen, I would be already out of the picture.”

Matt buries her face even more. She's also clasping my hand like not wanting to let go. I could even feel her heart going wild on my chest.

“What do you mean?”

I asked her gently while trying to take a good look at her face.

“…. You know… you'll only be able to love one woman because of your morals. I doubt that you have the heart to accept a woman who took advantage of you because of your power.”

“Idiot.”

Because of what she said, something itched in my head and I got a bit angry.

I take my hand off her back and grabbed her chin. After that, I lightly kiss her lips and then look straight into her eyes.

“Never… ever… think of that ever again.”

I tried my best not to let out my angry voice, but I wasn't able to hold it very well.

Yet even so, Matt's cheeks became rosy as she stares back at me.

Still, I will speak out my feelings for her.

“My morals may be preventing my heart from trying to accept you both, but I'm a stubborn man. I can be a hypocrite for the two of you. I accepted you both not because I have responsibility over you, but because I am in-love with the two of you. Before I realized it, I was already fighting my beliefs and became a hypocrite.”

I didn't only say that to Matt, but also to Cherry via telepathy. Seeing both of them react the same way at the same time, it makes me very happy.

Matt puts her face again on my chest to hide her reddening face.

And when I looked to my surroundings, every guy who heard me looked at me with thumbs up. I wasn't expecting that so I can only smile wryly.

And when we reached near the end of the music, Matt has calmed down and wore her glasses again.

“Can I ask you one question?”

“Sure, why not?”

Before she asks, she looks at our table's direction. I wasn't able to see who she is looking at because of her glasses.

“What do you think of Jane? Hye!”

Because of her question, I lost my concentration and almost tripped with her.

“What do you mean?”

Matt fixes my posture and tightly grips my hand and shoulder. She's pinning me down!

“I confirmed it just now, but I noticed this already back at Berigious before. Jane likes you.”

She said it while looking at my face.

On the other hand, I lost my train of thought since I don't know how to react to it. Even so, my chest feels fluffy about it.

“You smiled.”

“What?”

When she said that, I hardened my face. If worse comes to worst, I'll just use illusion magic.

“Well only a little, but you smiled. You're happy to know that aren’t you?”

I can't help but shiver from her devilish smile. I don't know what I feel about the situation, but her words sting my chest.

“N-no… yes? No…. She can't be!”

“Stop denying it. You already noticed it but rejected the thought. I'm a woman you know, I can guess that much.”

Is this what they call women's intuition? It's scary as fuck!

I can't talk back at her for some reason. It's like my throat prevents me from retorting against her.

“I noticed that she isn't looking at you properly today. That also goes the same for you. Did something happen? No, something did happen!”

“You're too cruel….”

The tides have turned against me! She's bullying me!

She keeps on teasing me about it, but after a moment, she lets out a sigh and gave me a gentle smile.

“You know, I'm fine if there's a third one.”

“What the…”

Because of what she said, my face becomes hot like fire and at the same time my knees stopped moving.

After that, she kisses my cheek and then let go of my hand.

“For now, you should talk to her. I'll convince Cherry about it. Just so you know I personally like Jane. She's a nice girl.”

While walking towards our table, she leaves me standing on the floor alone.

At that moment, I saw Jane looking at me as I am towards her.

Her eyes are locked with mine and my heart feels like a drum beating in my ears that I inadvertently grabbed my chest.

As I look at her, I can see that she's actually a beautiful woman. If she's wearing a dress, she'd look like a princess.

Remembering what Matt said, maybe what she said really is true. Maybe we share a mutual feeling and the reason I didn't immediately realize that because of my morals that I brought from earth.

When I said she was like a sister to me maybe that was me rejecting my own feelings. I probably hurt her too.

This feeling of mine… Maybe I should be more honest about it and accept the fact that I actually like Jane too.

“Damn.. Even as a Hypocrite, I'm a Hypocrite in being a hypocrite.”