Brendu’s point of view:

  No matter how hard I try to escape and last as long as possible, Maki never stops breathing down my neck. It’s a little frustrating to be defeated by him—I love watching him beat people stronger than him or of a higher rank, but I at least want to shine a little too and show him my own strength. A girl also wants to impress her partner.

  That tap on my forehead with his finger didn’t hurt at all, all I can feel is affection when he smiles in that tender, pure way. No one would think that a man with such a perfect face could turn into a monster when it comes to fighting. I take his hand to stand up, and we both walk toward the rest of the participants.

  “The last time we trained together you could only create small ice spheres, now your constructs are as solid as steel and strong enough to compete with someone a rank above.” Ritmo speaks to his older brother, the next heir of the Vichag family, who is sitting on the ground. He’s someone with his head in the right place, a bit bland and much calmer—good traits for a ruler.

  “Even back then you already had incredible swordsmanship, but now you’re playing in another league.” Sers, his other older brother, is lying on his back, a smile on his face. He’s very similar to the current head of the territory—energetic, passionate people who are now held in check by their new responsibilities.

  “It’s frustrating not being able to beat you even with six people.” Marga is already standing, her clothes immaculate like all the other women’s. Changing into training outfits with self-cleaning runes was a great idea. The duke’s daughter is excellent support in fights, and in the future she’ll be even better once she improves her new affinity with life.

  She’s cheerful, direct, and smart—ever since she was a child she’s had the same personality. If she has something in mind, she tells you straight to your face. She likes to have fun, but not to overdo it, always trying to find a good balance.

  “I expected it from the start, he was already a monster when we were kids.” Sol, the baron’s daughter, lets out a sigh. I can’t help glancing a little at her front—she’s bigger than me, and I consider myself quite well-proportioned.

  Sol is a very centered and focused woman, the perfect example of how a noble should be in society. I’m sure she doesn’t force it—she was born with the perfect personality to attend events and be the center of attention. She’s always looking out for what’s best for everyone around her, she’s pure kindness.

  “Look at the bright side—we made him work for it. Next time we’ll do better.” Arisa is very positive and always overflowing with energy. She’s the most talented fighter of the three—although all of them are far above average, Arisa stands a couple of steps above Sol and Marga, her talent for combat half a step ahead of mine.

  She has weaknesses in other areas—I’ve heard rumors about her childhood, how she used to hit kids her age when they tried to make her look bad. She’s changed a lot, now she doesn’t go straight to her fists… well, not that much. She can control herself, and if she’s with Sol and Marga, everything turns out fine.

  “You really put me in trouble—at one point my mind almost burst trying to keep track of everything that was happening, my head nearly exploded.” Maki is very honest, and I like that about him. He’ll probably give us some advice later.

  The fiancées of Maki’s older brothers come over and offer us drinks to hydrate. They’re opposites too, each with a personality very similar to her partner, and miraculously they get along well. Opposites usually attract… in this case, even similar poles attract, otherwise they wouldn’t have chosen those men as their partners.

  Maki releases life mana around us—he still doesn’t have enough confidence to heal other people directly. He’s afraid of deforming some part of the body by healing it the wrong way, but it’s different when it comes to giving energy and helping us with fatigue; life mana simply follows its own course.

  Looking at everyone around me feels special, like I’ve known them for years. None of them has treated me badly—ever since I made things clear, I haven’t been treated like a princess, just like another member of the family.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  At first I was a little nervous, I even thought things would go wrong when meeting his family or the trio of girls, but my worries were for nothing. Being myself helped, and now everything is flowing in the best way. I can talk to each of them as friends, though it’s more fun when the four of us chat together—we can tease Maki a little that way.

  Looking at the strange little creature I’m in love with, he’s playing with Glia right now. His little sister couldn’t join the training and stayed with the two pregnant women. Now Maki is practicing with Glia, every move carefully calculated, as if they were talking mentally. I’ve been thinking that for weeks—those two communicate.

  I sit down with the three girls, while Maki’s brothers say goodbye to everyone before leaving with their fiancées to handle some matters in the other town.

  “I had a tiny hope of beating him.” I break the silence with my comment.

  “Me too! When I stabbed his shoulder with my spear I thought for a moment I could win, then he completely crushed us.” Arisa makes the saddest face she can.

  “I thought the same at first—I saw a little light at the end of the tunnel, but when I felt that bloodlust, the light went out.” Marga pulls out a fruit from her dimensional bracelet; when she sees us all looking at her, she takes out three more and offers them.

  “We lost here, so we have to win at the family dinner—prepare your best comments.” We all listen to Sol’s words and nod; at least we’ll leave with a tie.

  We won’t tease him as much as yesterday, just a couple of small funny remarks and some light jokes. Maki enjoys it a little too—clearly not as much as we do. I look at my future husband in front of Glia; they aren’t moving right now, and after a moment they walk toward us. I’m convinced they can communicate with each other.

  “Do you want to stick to the schedule? Do you want to go back home?” Maki asks as soon as he arrives.

  “I want to go home—even though I’m not tired and I look clean, I’d rather take a shower.” Marga, always direct.

  “I think the same, I want to rest my body a bit before dinner with your family.” Sol touches her finger to her lips as she answers.

  “Same here—not all of us have healing abilities, normal people need to take small breaks.” Arisa points at him with both index fingers while laughing.

  “That makes four of us—I also want a long shower and to check the news. By the way, Tiani contacted me. It’s very hard to extract information from that lunatic, maybe tomorrow there’ll be news.” That woman is a very well-known mental mage—it’s obvious she has dozens of blocks in her mind and cube.

  “Let’s go back home then.” Maki gives us a big smile. “Please thank your family and Tiani when you contact them again.” Maki must be a bit anxious about the information—he wants to know if his town will face another attack. Tiani told me the chances of that happening are almost zero; her whole family already knows it.

  That concern for his family and loved ones was another big reason I fell in love with him. The first day I met him, I clearly remember how, upon learning who I was, he decided to “sacrifice himself” by going with me to put Shawu at ease—and I never saw fear in his eyes, only deep respect. Maki respected me because I deserved it, not because of my family.

  “I’ll keep practicing with Glia a bit longer—you can go ahead.” He stops at the door of the house, we all nod and continue.

  When I come out of the shower, I see Sol sitting by the huge window, still wrapped in a towel. I walk over out of simple curiosity. She’s watching Maki practicing with Glia—his laughter is clearly visible from the second floor, and we can even hear it.

  “It’s hypnotic to watch him when he’s happy, isn’t it?” My comment makes Sol jump a little—she was very focused and didn’t hear me approach.

  “It certainly is. I didn’t feel his absence that much these past months because I spent my time with Marga and Arisa, but now that I can see him, I realize how much I missed him.” Sol gives me a sweet smile before continuing. “Maki is very mature and centered… he just goes off track sometimes. Thank you for being there for him and taking care of him when we couldn’t.” Her words leave me frozen—I can feel her sincerity in every single one.

  “You’re welcome. You’re right—sometimes he needs a little tap to work properly.” I think about how many times he overworked himself at school or ended up fighting people a rank above him—that’s only part of all my headaches.

  “A little tap won’t do anything to that hard head—he needs a good hit.” Marga joins us, her gray eyes with bluish tones a bit different from mine.

  Arisa and she came out of the shower just a little after me; the count’s daughter smiled when she saw Maki and immediately lay down on the bed. “I never thought I’d be this happy just watching him play with Glia. I guess it’s not just me—we’re really lost for him.” She throws her words out to all of us.

  None of us denies it—we just smile and keep watching him. He’s now lying on the grass, stroking Glia’s soft fur. I’d love to have a view like this for the rest of my life—moving to such a peaceful town in the future sounds like a great option.

  “Let’s get ready, or we’ll be late.” My words make them move—we have to arrive on time for dinner, we don’t want to give a bad impression to our future in-laws.