"Congrats on your coming-of-age, Reinst-san! I must extend my apologies as that younger brother of mine still doesn't want to attend to noble gatherings. I sincerely apologize for his rudeness."
A young man that looks to be in his early twenties humbly bent his body and takes my hand and lightly kisses it.
Hmm, how brave. He must be brimming with confidence.
His white hair is messy—well, it's his style, I guess. When he finally looks up, I notice that his left eye is yellow, while his right eye is red.
…hmmm, what a peculiarity.
Wait, I think there's something I need to remember.
Oh, so he is the rumored Hartmann family's heir.
There are bad rumors about their family, so Father would advise me not to be too close to them. If I remember, he had a brother.
Now, I don't remember if I have ever met with the younger brother, but if I had—then it would mean I already forgot.
They are from the East Area, after all. We won't be able to meet one another that often.
The other remarkable nobles would be the Fumitsuna couple.
The heir of the Fumitsuna main family just married a half-oni woman from the South territory. The two of them attended my party and gained others' attention because of the appearance of the half-oni.
The married couple made their way to congratulate me properly.
Well, we are from the same generation of the Ducal family, despite our age difference, so of course both of them will definitely attend!
A timid girl then approaches me, she seems to be around 6 to 7 years old. There are three boys with the same purple eyes nearby. I am familiar with the two boys who are older than me, as their family's territory is in the West, so obviously we have often met.
They are all the Schafer siblings who seem to be close to one another, even towards the siblings born from different mothers.
That-- I can't comprehend.
"U, uhmm...," the girl timidly speaks.
"Sienna, let me say it if you can't," the eldest boy--Gilbert, touches her shoulder.
"No, let me say it. It's concerning my sister and my mother, after all."
Oh, right. The Schafer has a daughter whose age is the same as me. I rarely see her, though. Maybe because their territory is in another island in the west—the Welsh island. It is quite tiring and time-consuming to be traveling here from there, and vice versa, so some people who dislike traveling wouldn't bother coming that often.
It's alright, I understand that. I won't judge you.
Anyway…
She is not with them, so I assume she's not coming…? Or are they having some kind of quarrel?
"I apologize, my sister and my mother are unable to attend. They also told me to convey their birthday wishes to you. And... It's not that they don't want to, but there is something urgent that they need to attend to, uhm---"
Before the girl can finish her sentence, I cut her off.
"It's fine, I don't mind it at all."
"Ah...," Sienna seems relieved after hearing my answer, and said nothing more.
Whatever reason they have, it must be an important thing that they decided to not attend a duke's daughter's coming-of-age ceremony.
Nevertheless, there are the types of nobles who hate traveling and attending these kinds of parties, and the ones who aren't forced to attend. I have categorized her sister and her mother in this group of nobles.
After her sister is of age, I bet she will be pressured to be more active in the noble society, so this might be her last time bailing out of the noble parties and relaxing at home, or doing other activities there.
"We also apologize if we can't attend the party until its very end, because of the said urgent matter, as well," the second son--Darian talks.
"No problem, you have something needed to be taken care of, and it must take quite a long time for you to go back home. Thanks for coming and please have a nice trip back."
They bowed down before me and excused themselves.
"Let's go back to father's place," Gilbert said.
"Daddy, Mommy~!" The youngest boy quickly located his parents and ran towards them, causing the other siblings to be flustered and raced after him.
When the crowd gathered in front of me have finally moved on with their life to the other side—I mean, talked among one another—I saw my half-brother with the familiar light-blonde and curly haired girl.
Clyde and Nicole.
"Reinst!! Congrats on becoming 13!! I am going to be 13 soon, as well, so make sure to come, okay?" Nicole shoved a bouquet of white carnation to me.
Among all other nobles, I can say that Nicole is the closest to me—although I don't think we are that close enough as friends. I am unsure of my relationship to her.
She would strangely approach me over and over again, though I don't really respond well to her approach. By the way, we are enrolled to the same school.
"Thank you, Nicole. I'll surely come." I accepted the flowers from her.
"Hehe!" Nicole smiled happily.
I think it's like a common courtesy for me to come to her coming of age ceremony, so why would she be happy with that?
I don't understand.
Then, she gazed behind her.
"Hey, Clyde! Come and greet her, she's your sister, after all!"
Hearing that, Clyde slowly closed our distance and shortly said.
"Happy birthday, Reinst. Congrats on becoming adult."
"Thank you."
And that's the end of our short conversation.
As always.
We never talk really long. Maybe we have been so used to how we were back when our competition to be the heir was so intense.
I don't even know how he feels towards Domi's birth and how our chances to become the heir to the family just got cut off without considering our feelings to the matter.
Regardless, he seems to be listening when Nicole and I talk.
He would often try to enter our conversation—on Nicole's urging.
He doesn't look like he's being forced, though.
As we are talking about our school activities and the like…
… Oh my, another wave of enemie—no, I mean, nobles are incoming!
Huh? Something feels different with this crowd.
They seem way noisier…
Taking a close look at the crowd, I immediately take a notice on the royal family emblem.
Wearing gorgeous golden and white suit combined with the royal family emblem, he is none other than this country's one and only… crown prince!!
Mother wasn't lying when she told me that the prince would attend!