“Hinata?” Narissa asked as she saw the girl with a heavy expression in the bathroom.

  “...Hello again.” Hinata said, somewhat sad.

  “Did something happen? You don’t look great.” Narissa said, clearly worried.

  “My father is being an idiot and there isn’t much I can do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He wants us to be sister wives. He is very subtly selling the idea in the party…”

  “What!?” Narissa asked, both angry and confused at both Hinata and her father.

  “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on getting into your lives like that, he is all yours…” Hinata said, almost resigning herself to something.

  “I can tell there is more to this.”

  “My mother said in no uncertain terms that if he continued with this stupid idea she would leave him and she actually left the party already.”

  “...And what are you doing here?”

  “Someone has to take care of his corpse when he dies, doesn’t it?” Hinata said sarcastically with a very sad tone.

  “Explain!”

  “Once enough he ‘convinces’ enough people he will try to talk with Mia and try to use the pressure of numbers to have her give her blessing or something.”

  “Oh no!” Narissa said in panic. She turned around and with all haste began to look for the Duke.

  —--

  “Are you sure that is even possible? You saw what I saw and we both know that we can’t deal with the fallout of a failure.” One of the Maquis of the Kingdom said.

  “Do not worry, my friend. The tax cuts and incentives are already doing their job in my domain and this union will send a message to everyone that we are serious.” Duke Furukawa explained.

  “But will their union really happen? Your daughter is lovely but I don’t see the new groom looking her way.”

  “Do not worry about that. My girl is friends with the Mia girl and the new couple treats her words as gospel. I can easily convince the girl that this will be a good idea. It will for the betterment of the kingdom after all.”

  “Well, you always made true to your promises to me. I will be in place when the time comes…”

  “Thank you, Maquis. I will be continuing if you don’t mind, enjoy the party.” Duke Furukawa said as if he was the one responsible for the whole thing.

  —----

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  “Excuse me, have you seen our daughter?” Marry and Lin asked a group of women who were sitting at a table near the windows of the party hall.

  “Hello. Who is she? What does she look like?” One of the women casually asked.

  “Light blue dress, blonde like her, purple eyes, probably asking around for chocolate.” Lin explained.

  “...Someone like that did indeed pass through here. We gave a few pieces to her. She was adorable.” Another woman said.

  “Did something happen?” The oldest woman there asked.

  “Yes and no. Our husband wanted to dance with her a little but we can’t find her.” Marry explained.

  “Well, why don’t you two sit with us for a while. One of us promised more chocolate if she came back later.” The oldest one said.

  “You did.” The second oldest one said. Marry and Lin looked at each other for a moment before accepting the proposition.

  “May I ask what the ladies were talking about?” Lin asked as both her and Marry sat at the table.

  “How boring it is that we can’t just have a party. There is always someone scheming something. I feel bad for my granddaughters if this is how engagement parties will be from now on.” The second oldest woman there. Mind you that those were nobles and they didn’t look older than 40 even if they were clearly older than that.

  “What do you mean?” Marry asked.

  “Let’s make trade deals between countries! Let’s set up political marriages! Let’s try to convince a little girl to do something! Let’s backstab someone who did me wrong! It’s always the same thing. It gets boring after a while.” The oldest one said.

  “I know how you feel. My daughters-in-law wanted to have simple jobs in a restaurant and now they are having to learn how to deal with the rich and nobles. Their new boss is expanding very fast and always has some scheme brewing. It is almost comical how they usually work.” Lin said.

  “I do understand you. My husband is in the military and he is always butting heads with the adventurers guild over on how to deal with monsters. Why can’t they just work together?” One of the younger women said.

  “Yes, why not?” Marry said mostly to herself as she drank some tea that was poured to her. These women might be talking shit about men always having something in the works but in her humble opinion it was better than what those women do. Rich and noble women, for the most part, did anything and everything if that meant their social standing increased, no matter the consequences. If there was a net positive in doing something, not even supposedly close friendships would be safe.

  “Oh yeah. Did you see? Duchess Furukawa left the party angrily.” One of the women said. Lin and Marry paid close attention as they recognized the name.

  “But, isn’t the Duke still here?” The older woman asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, I feel some drama unfolding.” The second oldest one said.

  “Do you have any idea why?” another woman asked.

  “The Duke said something about convincing a girl named Mia to do something. I think she is the girl everyone is talking about.”

  “What!?” Marry and Lin asked in unison.

  “I don’t know. But he was pretty sure it would work.”

  “Fuck! I need to find my daughter. Thanks for the chat!” Marry said, leaving the table.

  “...Wait, are you that Lin?” The oldest woman asked.

  “Yes. I guess just changing my dress was enough for people to not recognize me.” Lin used pretty much the same dress every time she went to meet a noble so people didn’t really have another mental image of her. Her name was also somewhat common.

  “If you don’t mind, why the panic?”

  “Well, as much as I don’t like it, My daughter has no qualms about dealing with people she deems bad in a very permanent way. One wrong word and we might not have a duke anymore. Here is probably one of the worst places to try anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Narissa is one of Mia’s best friends. Anything that would make this day bad for her would get her really angry.”

  “And we don’t like angry little girls that can destroy cities, right?”

  “Yes…Now if you excuse me, I will try to prevent a tragedy. Good night ladies.”