It's Annoying Because My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage

The reason why I'm searching for my mother is simple: When the Crown Prince proposes to me at the imperial ball, all eyes will be on me.

Everyone was courting the Crown Prince.

But what would happen if I, who had never shown my face to society, stole his heart?

Conspiracy theories would start to circulate.

Like how this ball was part of the Emperor's plan, to arrange a place for me to be chosen as the Crown Princess, etc.

I didn't want to be swayed by such groundless rumours.

And what worried me most of all was the reaction of the other noble families.

Many, many noble families wanted to make their daughter a crown princess.

If I were to receive the Crown Prince's hand in marriage, they would speculate that something was going on behind the scenes between me and the Crown Prince, since we had never interacted before.

This will lead to a lot of prominent families in the country investigating us.

I don't want to be bothered with that kind of hassle.

I have no intention of showing them a single flaw.

So let's make sure we're thoroughly prepared.

For example, let's make it seem true that the Crown Prince fell in love with me at first sight.

The first thing I have to do is get help from my mother, Duchess Kaerun.

My plan was ignorant and reckless, but also intuitive.

I will be the most recognizable woman at the imperial ball.

Let's do something crazy with the money I've been saving to revive the slightly depressed imperial capital economy.

"Phoebe."

"Yes, my lady."

"Who is the most famous dressmaker in the empire?"

"Madame Bailey."

I nodded at Phoebe, who had given the correct answer.

"That's right, everyone is clamouring to get Madame Bailey to make their dresses."

The ball is next week, so there's no way she could whip me a dress in a week.

Fortunately, there are many things power can solve in this world.

I hate to do this, but I have to use my mother's influence.

Right now.

But my mother, who I expected to be in her room as usual, was nowhere to be found today.

"Where is my mother?"

I grabbed and asked Austin, who happened to be passing by.

"She has gone to the garden with the Duke after lunch."

At Austin's words, I turned to walk to the gardens with Phoebe.

As we entered the garden, a wave of familiar laughter washed over my ears.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahahoho!"

I didn't need to look to know who they were. They were the only ones who could roam the historic gardens of Kaerun Duchy like it was their bedroom.

"C'mon, Duke, catch me!"

"Huh?! You think I can't catch you?!"

"Haha, I don't know, I don't know! Hey, it hurts my back if you hold me from behind like that!"

"Hoho, my dear duchess, has your back become much worse? Shall we take a trip to the hot springs on the outskirts then?"

"Hot springs? I love it! I love you for taking care of my spine, Duke!"

Plop!

A man and a woman sprang out of the bushes just in front of where Phoebe and I were standing.

Actually, "a man and a woman" was an unconscionable description. They were clinging to each other as if they were conjoined twins.

"I love you, Duke, you're so handsome, I love your pure face, your double eyelids, and your long eyelashes. Your eyelashes are so long that if I measured them with a ruler, they would be 546213 centimetres long. And your hair is the colour of horse piss, how can you be so handsome?!"

"Alas, my dear, you must be an angel who has fallen from heaven, to please me with such fine words! If you were the sun, I would be born as a sunflower and look at you, and if you were the moon, I would be born a werewolf to howl whenever I saw you!"

After that, there were muffled sounds of a promise.

My parents were, as always, lost in their own world.

"..."

Their sudden appearance made me speechless. The dizzying dialogue coming out of their mouths makes my bones ache.

What did I do in my previous life to deserve sitting and watching this every day...

Even Phoebe is unfazed by it now.

"Mother. Father."

With a sigh as deep as smoke, I called out to them.

"Oh, my!"

"Oh, my!"

My parents, who were rolling on the grass, bounced up like drops of water in oil.

The hell? Why are they startled all of a sudden?

My father scrambled to his feet and reprimanded me.

"S-Skyla. You're being a bit rude for barging in without knocking."

I was dumbfounded.

"There's no door to knock on."

"Ah."

It seemed to dawn on him that he was in an open garden. He cleared his throat ruefully.

"It seems like having crossed the threshold of love with your lovely mother made me think that I was in our room for a moment."

That's some high-class bullshit.

My mother blushed and avoided my gaze.

"Well, so... hmm! Uh, what brings you here?"

Why is she suddenly being shy? She's usually worse than this.

"It's nothing, I need mothers help."

"My help? Oh my god, Skyla... you need my help?"

My mother blinked. It was as if she hadn't expected the words 'help' to come out of my mouth.

I nodded, "I've made up my mind."

"About what..?*

"I think it's time."

I said confidently, my hair slightly tucked behind my ears.

"I'm going to find someone to be my husband at the imperial ball."

"Gasp!"

I heard a gasp from behind me at my declaration.

It was Phoebe.

"Apologies, I apologize. I, I, I wasn't expecting that at all, and, well, I was so surprised that I didn't realize what I was doing..."

Fevrez, who is known for not saying more than necessary, stammered and made excuses.

My parents were equally stunned.

"Skyla, what did you just say..?"

"Did mommy hear this right? You said you didn't want to get married..."

I shrugged nonchalantly, looking at my parents as they looked at me with trembling eyes.

"Yes. It's about time I inherited the duchy, isn't it? Father needs to rest, too."

Thud!

My father's body snapped like a broken toothpick as he dropped out completely on the spot.

F*ck is happening?

Panicked, I turned to my mother, who was standing next to him.

But my mother was unable to digest her bewilderment.

"Skyla... what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

"What do you mean by that?"

I snapped, "You've been telling me for days now to get married and inherit the duchy, so I've been thinking about it and made a decision."

"Well, yes."

My mother recovered her composure and rolled up the sleeves of her dress.

For a moment she was lost in thought, and then she looked at me with her eyes wide open.

"So, what can Mom do for you?"

"Make me the most beautiful lady at the imperial ball."

I said with a straight face, armed with unfounded confidence.

A smile tugged at the corners of my mother's mouth.

"You've come to the right place, leave it to your mom."

She gripped my shoulders tightly. Her eyes shone with determination.

"Skyla, do you know what mommy was called back in her day?"

"I don't know because I'm not interested."

"Hoo, don't be surprised... It was The Slayer of Society."

"Huh?"

My eyes widened in genuine surprise.

What did I just hear? Did I hear her right?

I ask, desperately hoping that I had misheard, "Mother, what did you just say…"

"The Slayer of Society. Ah, yes. It was a nickname with a nice ring to it."

But my mother didn't care about my reaction; she was already reminiscing about her heyday, which was roughly 20 years ago.

"Do you know why they call me that? Because when I was in my prime, I went to every social party and stabbed every single person in the heart."

Her eyes were sparkling too much.

It was so overwhelming that I thought a star might pop out of them at any moment.

"That's why I broke your father's heart and then later even married him. For the record, we got married because we had an incident."

That last sentence could've been left unsaid.

"Looks like you can't hide the blood that runs through you, Skyla, and you'll soon inherit your mommy's nickname of 'The Slayer of Society'."

An upgrade from Reaper to Slayer? I don't want any of that!

I now felt like crying. I wondered why I had been given such a shameful nickname, but it turns out it runs in the family.

But my mother didn't let me shed a tear.

"Phoebe."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Take good care of Duke Kaerun. I have to go into special training with Skyla."

My mother, who usually suffered from separation anxiety if she was separated from my father for more than ten minutes, reluctantly gave up on him. Suddenly, it hit me.

She meant it.

I think I chose a good partner to work with.

I picked the right choice... right?