I Don’t Want To Be the Main Character

131. The meeting of the century (5)

1.

Each of them had no choice but to roll up their sleeves and go. Either way, they would soon meet their future mother-in-law. It was a scary thing, since each of them had their own sins and regrets, but apart from that, they had to prevent their mother-in-law from finding out about their marriage to Ludrick through the newspaper.

As soon as Ludrick delivered the news, the unity was roughly completed, and now the last person who had to deliver the news was Elena.

There had already been an incident where the Crown Princess had visited Elena and learned shocking details, but Ludrick, who was unaware of that incident, stood in front of the office door and took a deep breath.

It’s already been a week, a whole week.

The story of Elena, who spent a week almost without food or drink and locked herself in her office to plan the perfect wedding that would never happen again, was already famous within the palace.

People didn’t know why Elena was hiding, but Ludrick, who knew the inside story, was honestly starting to feel scared.

‘How on earth are you planning to have this wedding? What are you planning to do to make it like this… … .’

Ludrick, standing in front of the door, took a deep breath and then quickly put on a tired expression.

Even though it was a once-in-a-lifetime wedding, Elena’s enthusiasm was a bit excessive. It was good that she left the wedding planning to herself, but it was hard to guess what kind of wedding she was preparing for that she had been planning it for so long.

I could feel Elena’s presence beyond the door.

“……No, it might be better to change the decorations to something else and hire a magician to change the light color as well.”

“…….”

“Inviting guests is also a task. I’ll make a separate list later, and for now, I’ll just pick the most urgent people first…”

Not only the sound of footsteps, but also the sound of Elena muttering incessantly inside the office could be heard.

The princess of a country was secluded in her office, and fortunately no one was brave enough to put their ear to the office door and eavesdrop, so no sound escaped.

In fact, it didn’t really matter since it was already an established fact and would be made public soon, as if Rasil was openly showing affection to so many people.

However, when everyone realized that Elena had been staying away for almost a week simply to prepare for the wedding, Ludrick only thought that way considering how Elena would be perceived by others.

“This is serious, serious.”

Ludrick muttered softly and knocked lightly on the door.

But no voice was heard from inside giving permission to come in.

“Damn, I have so much to do that my thoughts are getting more tangled. I should just make a guest list first…”

Instead, all that could be heard was Elena muttering to herself as she became lost in her own world.

In that situation, asking for permission would be meaningless.

Thinking so, Ludrick grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open. Inside the opened door, Elena, who had barely slept and had dark circles around her eyes, was buried in a pile of papers, thinking deeply about something.

The situation has become even more serious than when the Crown Princess visited Elena a few days ago.

But even in the midst of all this, Elena glanced at the door and smiled brightly, as if she had time to identify the visitor.

“Ludrick, what brings you here?”

“I’m alone here anyway.”

“Ahem… What’s going on all of a sudden? I was thinking of going to look for it anyway.”

“Of course, since she’s been stuck here for a week, I came to check if she’s alive or dead. It’s weird if you make plans and then the bride-to-be starts making noises at the wedding.”

“That’s true, but….”

Elena, whose words were trailing off, belatedly realized my condition and spoke with a blush.

“I’ve been up all night for a few days now and I look like a mess… Would it be okay if we wait ten minutes and talk again?”

“Actually, I want to tell you that it’s okay because you’re pretty just the way you are, but I can’t because it’s time to talk about something important.”

“Yes, it’s okay because it’s pretty…”

“That’s not the point, so don’t blush. I came here to talk about something really important.”

If I had eyes to see, I would have naturally acted as a princess and a court magician, but after the last incident, we agreed to use the same speech when we are alone together.

Elena blushed at Ludrick’s words and made a puzzled expression, but Ludrick quickly stopped her before she could start to let her imagination run wild and got back to the main point.

“I have to meet the parents. So I’ll finish making the plans later and go wash up first.”

“Meeting the parents…?”

Elena tilted her head at Ludrick’s sudden words. To be exact, it wasn’t a meeting between the parents of both families, but it was similar in that they were visiting and greeting each other.

It was clearly a procedure that had to be done before marriage, but the reaction was that it was not an urgent matter to the point of being notified so suddenly.

“Right now, the news that Rasil and I are dating is going to be in the newspaper and it’s going to spread all over town.”

“ha?”

As soon as Ludrick finished speaking, Elena frowned.

Among the nobles, there were even rumors that Elena and Ludrick were secretly dating. Elena, who had already missed her prime for marriage, was especially so, and Ludrick was almost ready for marriage, so it was not strange for rumors to spread.

At first glance, the relationship between the two seemed close, and it was an appropriate subject for the nobles to gossip about.

But in that situation, suddenly a newspaper article was published saying that she was dating Rasil?

Elena didn’t understand the context, but she couldn’t help but frown like everyone else when she heard the additional explanation that followed.

“I had already gone to see Rasil once to bring up the subject of meeting the parents. I heard he was at the training center, so I went to see him and talk to him.”

“I went?”

“I was watching the new recruits getting trained, and I thought it didn’t matter if it was known anyway, so I kissed them. In front of them.”

“…….”

Elena, with a crumpled expression, retorted without any reason.

“……And you accepted it again?”

“There’s no reason not to accept it. If you’re going to get married soon anyway, it wouldn’t be strange if rumors spread throughout the entire continent, not just the Empire.”

“That’s true… but anyway, so this is the situation where it’s going to be in the newspaper, right?”

“That’s right. But there’s one problem. Even though my older sister knows, my parents don’t?”

“…….”

Elena shut her mouth after hearing Ludrick’s answer. It was certainly strange that her parents were unaware of such an important matter, and that she found out about it through the newspaper.

It’s like saying, “What does it matter if your children date and get married anyway?” It’s like knowing only one thing and not knowing the other. This time, since the lineage is so splendid, there’s no need to follow the old, outdated customs, but still, deciding on the marriages of family members is entirely within the authority of the head of the household.

In other words, it depends on the wishes of Ludrick’s mother, Countess Aline Weiss.

Even though it was a wedding of the century, once Elena was involved, Count Alin Weiss could not object, but strictly speaking, the decision-making authority was entirely his.

“……So that’s why you’re trying to hurry.”

“I’ll do it even if my mom tells me not to. So it doesn’t really matter, but if I found out about it through the newspaper first, the picture would be a bit weird.”

“It wouldn’t be strange if Count Vice felt disappointed.”

Elena nodded.

The situation was already fully understood. In short, the point of what Ludrick was saying was that since it was a situation where they couldn’t postpone it even if they wanted to, they had to quickly hold a meeting.

Elena said, jumping up from her seat.

“Getting ready.”

“What about Elena?”

“Twenty minutes is enough.”

Ludrick nodded at Elena’s boast.

A sort of time limit is until tomorrow morning, when the published newspapers of tomorrow will arrive in the Vice County Territory via the West Sea. In other words, as long as you leave and arrive within today, there will be no problem.

The time it takes to arrive is not a problem, as there is the Archmage Ludrick, and there are also Sylphia and Arwen, who are experts in magic.

“Then Elena, get ready and come to my lab. In the meantime, I’ll gather the rest.”

“okay.”

As Ludrick left the office, just as she nodded in response, Elena, who was left behind, took out a string, put it in her mouth, and muttered while tying up her hair.

“I never thought I would see my mother-in-law again like this.”

My pronunciation was muffled because I had a string in my mouth to tie my hair, but it was still good.

Just a moment ago, I was having a headache trying to plan my wedding, but now I’m in a complicated situation because I’m suddenly having to have an unexpected meeting.

Elena opened her eyes slightly and spoke softly.

“To gain the upper hand… I need one sure shot…”

An unexpected meeting.

And the conditions are the same for both parties. There are five wives and one husband. This would have been absurd if it had been the case, so it is a place to introduce yourself to the prospective parents-in-law before the wedding.

Strictly speaking, she wasn’t going to ask for permission but to make a statement, but Elena’s point was that it couldn’t hurt to look good.

A faint light sparkled between the deep, sunken eyes.

“…A good idea occurred to me.”

The corners of Elena’s mouth went up as she muttered.