
The next day,
*Tok Tok!*
“Princess Alicia.”
The waiter who usually woke Alicia up, knocked on the door and waited for a response. However, even after waiting for a minute, he did not get the usual response from her, so he knocked again.
*Tok Tok!*
“Princess Alicia?!”
Hearing no answer from Alicia, the maid furrowed her brows and decided to go inside.
"I'm sorry, Princess."
To her surprise, Alicia was nowhere to be seen. He searched the whole room but to no avail. Alicia never came out of her room before the maid dressed her, making the maid panic.
"Daughter! Princesses!"
The waiter looked for her and called her name a few minutes before her body shook. He ran towards Raymond's study with trembling hands.
*bom!*
The door opened, startling the Grand Duke.
"What's been going on?"
“Mr... we can't find Princess Alicia in her room. I never heard it out before dressing it up, so..”.
The maid was unable to finish her words because she was afraid of her anger.
The Grand Duke took three seconds to process it and he immediately got up from his seat, recalling a thing.
“He also did not come here. Ask people to search around the mansion now.” Raymond slammed the table and ordered.
"Y-yeah!"
The waiter left and hurried to tell the other waiter.
Raymond looked at the pile of documents on his desk and gritted his teeth. Alicia is better than this pile of paper. With that in mind, the Grand Duke joined the quest.
Not long after, the entire house became in an uproar when the hostess, Raymond's wife, appeared before him and asked.
"What's been going on?"
“Alicia lost.”
"What's? Why did you conclude like that? Where's the kidnapper?" His voice vibrates.
"I don't think anyone kidnapped her..." Raymond shook his head, his heart heavy.
"Then what?"
He grabbed Raymond by the shoulder, not planning on letting go unless he got the answer.
Raymond scratched his head before finally revealing the incident yesterday.
"Are you kidding me?" He snarled at her as if he wanted to kill her.
"No, no. But you also need to look at Alex's talent from our point of view. His talent will shake the whole world. I haven't checked Alex's room!" Raymond slipped away and ran towards Alex's room.
"Wait, you bastard!"
His wife tried to stop him from escaping but he failed.
As he looked at Alex's room, he opened the door without thinking of being polite and knocked on the door.
When his wife caught up with him, he was stunned by the sight. In fact, he was unable to think of a word at the moment.
They found two people in the room, one male and one female, sitting side by side and leaning against each other. The curtains that were not closed yesterday let the sunlight shine through the room, right in place.
Raymond and his wife looked at each other and nodded. The anxiety in his heart and the anger in his heart disappeared instantly, turning into excitement. The two decided to leave the room, letting them sleep longer.
However, Alicia yawned and slowly raised her eyelids due to the disturbance earlier.
“Mmm... It's morning?”
It should have been a nice morning for him because he had just slept well yesterday even though his body felt a little uncomfortable. But the sight of his mother and father appearing in his vision shocked him. Yesterday's memory flashed through his mind as he turned his head to the side and made sure that everything was right because Alex was still next to him.
Before he could say a word, Raymond grinned while putting on an 'I understand' expression and said, "Happy sleep. I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep. Ahem, this might be my worst mistake."
"really. Let's go." The woman grabbed his hand and tried to leave the room.
Right now, Alex also woke up and rubbed his blurred eyes. However the sight of the two immediately wiped off his sleepy face as he stood up and raised his hand.
"Let me explain—"
Raymond said nothing and walked up to her while patting Alex on the shoulder a few times with the same brash face he did to Alicia.
“You don't have to explain. You can start calling me Dad from now on.”
“He's right. You can also call me Mother.”
"Haha. Listen to me, you can do whatever you want but make sure not to have children before marriage. Is it clear?"
Raymond grinned as he stared at Alicia's expression. He then left the room without giving them a chance to answer.
He takes his wife and leaves the room before explaining the whole situation to her, including Alex's talent and the reason she wants Alex to be Alicia's husband.
It was at that moment that Alex and Alicia caught up with them as Alicia shouted, "Dad, Mother. You guys misunderstood everything. We may decide to maintain the engagement for now, but that is to test our feelings for each other. After that graduation from the academy, we will decide whether we want to get married or not. If Alex and I had feelings for someone else, we'd want to call off the engagement."
"Cancel?"
"Basin a bad boy. My daughter's not on a one night stand."
Alex opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but the pain began to crumble him. He closed half his eyes in pain.
"Dad!"
Alicia gritted her teeth.
"We alone decided this. You said that you wouldn't force something like this, but you are now forcing it like this? And once we compromise your idea, you force yourself like this!"
"!!!"
Raymond instinctively let Alex go and took a step back. This was probably the first time Alicia had replied to him like this and her reaction calmed her heart a little. He took a deep breath and thought for a moment.
"I understand. Since that's the case, I agree with your condition and deal with this matter with my brother.
"Stay, you also need to consider your age. When you graduate from the academy, you will be 19 years old. If you two don't..."
“I'll let Dad decide who to marry,” Alicia said with determination in her eyes.
Even Alex widened his eyes in shock, never expecting him to risk his future like this. He lowered his head as he thought of everything Alicia had said. At first, she thought of staying with him because he did not have the strength to decide his fate, but he needed to take this seriously after seeing his determination.
Seeing they had reached an agreement, they decided to have lunch together before Raymond decided to use this to take the first step.
“I announce the good news. Alex and Alicia are now engaged.” Raymond said out loud as he thought, 'Heh, three years is enough for me to do so many things that will get you married to Alicia.'
“...” Alex and Alicia are stunned. They simply agreed to these terms and forgot to keep them a secret.
“Ufufu... Now I have a daughter-in-law. Call me Mom, Alex.” The woman urged Alex before glancing at the other two princesses. “Now I wonder when my other two girls will have a man by her side.”
Lea and Mia furrowed their brows and ignored their mother. They said at the same time, “Congratulations. I have a brother-in-law now.”
"Brother sister!" Alicia shouted to hide her embarrassment.
A few minutes later after finishing lunch, the Grand Duke went to the castle to inform the king of the agreement.
"It's..." He never expected them to make such a move.
“We need other plans and make sure they are together. I can see it was Alicia who reacted more to this plan. I wonder what I can do to make her open to him and love him. " Raymond nodded.
“How about we let them go to the same room in the dormitory? Many nobles have their servants or butlers accompany them in the room, so I'm sure we can do this without breaking a single rule.”
"Aah!" Raymond realized his plan and added. “One room, one class, sit next to each other and do all the school activities together. With all this skinship, Alex will slowly open up to him. I'm sure Alicia's charm will be able to make her kneel on the ground for him. "
"Yes." Yeah." The king agreed and wrote two letters, one to Alex as his recommendation, and the other about Alex's arrangement.
…
Next day.
"Alexes. Here's your recommendation letter to the academy. Since the academy needs to test your skills normally, we need a way to hide your abilities. If you show me this letter of recommendation, you won't have to undergo the test because I'll send you a maid there." Raymond handed the letter to Alex.
"Thank you." Alex received the letter with gratitude. With this, he could increase his strength under the protection of the academy. At the very least, he would not be on the radar of the people from Zircodina, and even some students who came from Zircodina would know nothing about him unless the other party sent a letter to them.
"Registration will take place next week. Ask Alicia to guide you around the city, so you can get to know the capital."
"Yes." Yeah." Alex nodded, he then asked for permission to leave the room and headed straight for Alicia.
"There's one thing I want you to know. The situation is a bit worrying, but I will support you. Just tell me when you need help." Alicia tells Alex that she is by his side, no matter what.
After talking about what they needed to do, Alicia took Alex around. Of course, he had been happy all along. Just like how they went around to various places on their journey, this city was his home and his pride. He guided her to the best of his ability.
On the last day, they finally arrived at the academy.
“This is our Acacia Royal Academy, the best academy in the world.” Alicia clenched her fists against her chest and could not hide her smile.
Alex was already used to excessive pride in his kingdom, so he ignored the action completely and looked at the entrance.
The academy itself was surrounded by a wall with a majestic entrance. Two red pillars stood upright beside the wall and hung a golden plaque inscribed with the 'Royal Academy' on it.
A little further from here, he could see some buildings inside in the same style as his house.
He started bombarding her with praise about this academy.
"Have you tried it yet?" Alex looked at him with an uninterested expression.
"In retrospect, I've been talking for an hour without me noticing..." Looking at the time, he thought this was the perfect time for lunch, so he suggested as he pointed to the building behind them. "Let's go to Phoenix's restaurant. My brother said their food was good and cheap. So many students from the academy are eating there."
Alex turned around and looked at the restaurant. “Sure, let's go.”
They came to an empty table in the corner and made no fuss for fear of his identity being known.
A servant came to them to take their order. "Welcome to Phoenix Restaurant. I'll help you with your order. May I know what you want to order?"
“Let's go with today's special menu for both of us,” Alicia ordered their food.
“Noticed, please wait a moment while we prepare your meal.” said the waiter while writing down their order.
The waiter then left the two of them to take the order.
“Tomorrow is the day of registration, right?” Alex asked.
"Yes. We'll leave in the morning. Not too far anyway." Alicia nodded.
"alright. I'll get ready."
Not long after, the waiter returned and placed the dishes on the table.
"This is today's special menu."
Alex thanks the waiter and starts eating with Alicia.