Chapter 4

What remained were the happy Altvalt, Elansio, and Poala, and the countless broken fans on the floor.

"Fall into hell!"

When the carriage arrived at the townhouse of the Honest family, the butler Sebastian greeted us.

"Welcome back, Miss. I thought you were planning to go directly to the castle from the academy. What happened?"

The capable butler Sebastian, who must have sensed that something was amiss, asked calmly without showing any signs of it.

I showed him the bright yellow hair ornament, which I had deliberately disheveled in the carriage.

"My hair ornament came undone. Fortunately, the graduation ceremony ended earlier than scheduled, so I hurried back."

The cancellation of the engagement to the crown prince was undoubtedly a highly confidential matter that couldn't be leaked to anyone.

I waved a fan with a 30-degree angle open at my side.

"Urgent! Very urgent!"

Sebastian's right eyebrow twitched when he saw this.

"That must have been quite a predicament. Ah, Sir and Madam have finished their preparations to go to the castle and are having tea. Would you like to greet them first?"

I smiled and nodded.

* * * * *

"...So, the engagement between His Highness the Crown Prince and Lady Cornelia, the duke's daughter, has been canceled."

My father, with his ordinary chestnut hair, ordinary dark brown eyes, an ordinary nose, and an ordinary build, froze and let out a mysterious "Pio" sound.

Incidentally, I look exactly like my father.

"Um, how should the Honest family proceed?"

My mother, who was sitting next to my father, poked him with her fan.

My mother has light golden hair and gentle green eyes, and my younger brother Rict resembles her.

My father finally exhaled and looked at me seriously.

"Milie, do you remember the family motto?"

I was startled and looked at my father.

"Go with the flow of the river."

My father nodded emphatically.

"That's right... Can a modaka go against the flow of the river...? Of course not... Our family is a modaka. We should not go against the flow but go with it, and do our best wherever we end up."

A modaka is a fish that looks very similar to a medaka but, unlike a medaka, it goes with the flow of the river and is carried away wherever it may go.

And it is a tough fish that adapts and survives wherever it is carried.

I hope our family can be like that.

We looked at each other, nodded slowly, and smiled deeply.

Yes, it's futile for the Honest family, like a modaka, to resist the flow.

Thank you for the likes, bookmarks, and reviews!

I was thrilled when I noticed the likes the day before yesterday and even more excited when I saw the bookmarks.

And yesterday, I realized that I could see the likes, bookmarks, and reviews by clicking "View Novel Information" after posting.

I'm still not used to it...

Until then, I had been searching for myself and clicking "View Novel Information" to check.

I apologize for the delayed gratitude to those who gave me reviews.

I was very, very happy.

Thank you so much!

⭐︎2024.3.14 Changed "medaka" to "modaka."

What a surprise! It turns out that medakas can go against the flow of the river!

I was surprised to learn this from your comments.

I searched for a replacement fish but couldn't find one, so I created an original fish called a modaka for this world.

The medaka episode is an important element in this story, and I couldn't remove it, so I hope you can kindly accept this change. Thank you very much! m(_ _)m