Our royal capital residence is a two-story U-shaped building, divided into an east and west wing with the main building—where the front entrance is located—situated in the center.

The first floor consists of the couple’s quarters, an office, and a lounge, while the second floor holds the guest rooms.

Not only the exterior, but even the interior layout is built much like other houses’ residences.

I’ve visited the royal capital residences of other families several times, so I’m pretty confident about that observation.

Well, I suppose the purpose of having a residence in the capital is the same for everyone, so it’s no wonder the structures are similar.

If I had to point out a difference, I guess it would be the size?

Even though the royal capital is among the most expansive in the country, and even the noble district is spacious, the estates here, while significantly larger than an average household, aren’t especially huge when compared to the manors of nobles with territory.

However, this residence… is big!

In the noble residences I know in the capital, the second-floor guest rooms are aligned on one side of the hallway, with windows on the opposite side. At most, the only difference is whether the guest rooms face the courtyard or the outer side.

But here, guest rooms are lined up on both sides.

I’m currently walking through the women’s wing, but the men’s wing I saw yesterday was the same.

Compared to the Müller family’s residence… this one is about 1.5 times larger, I’d say?

It makes sense, since the number of guest rooms is doubled.

Right now, there aren’t any guests staying here aside from Riana’s people, but maybe it’s designed for hosting a large number of people eventually…

◇

“Ah! Hey, hey. What’s that? That thing being built in the courtyard-looking area.”

We had left our room to explore the residence, and after receiving a simple explanation from a servant who had been waiting just outside, we exited the east wing and entered the main building.

In the east wing, there are guest rooms on both sides, so you can’t see outside from the hallway.

The rooms do have windows, and you can see outside from inside them, but the room we’re using is on the outer side, so while we can see the outside, we couldn’t view the courtyard.

However, the second floor of the main building’s entrance hall has windows facing the courtyard, providing a clear view.

So I stopped there and looked out the window…

I had already noticed something being built in the courtyard last night while heading to our room, but since it was already dark, I couldn’t tell what was going on.

There are connected walkways leading to and from the east and west wings as well as the main building, so I figured it couldn’t be servant quarters or anything like that.

I thought Seriana might know something and planned to ask her later, but I completely forgot.

Seriana, who had been walking slightly ahead of me following the servant, stopped 【Small Orb】 at my voice, turned around, and looked out the window with me before speaking.

As I expected, Seriana seems to know what it is.

“It’s a hall for parties. It’s not finished yet, but it should be completed within the year. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes. It was originally scheduled to be completed at the start of the year, but since several other families needed urgent renovations to their estates, Lady Liesel heard of it and instructed the craftsmen to delay work on our estate. Thanks to that, the other families were able to finish their renovations in time for the school entrance season, and they’ve expressed their gratitude.”

The servant responded to Seriana’s inquiry with a touch of pride, then looked out at the courtyard along with us and continued speaking.

“Construction should resume either by the end of next month or the beginning of the month after that, once the comings and goings of foreign nobles settle down. The materials have already been secured, and I’ve heard it will be completed before autumn.”

“Autumn, huh…”

Unfortunately, it looks like it won’t be finished during my stay.

From what I can see, the exterior looks complete, so it must be the interior that’s unfinished?

Well, it’s not like it’ll take years or anything, so I guess I can just take a look when I return to the capital again.

I’ll probably have the chance to visit the capital again at some point.

It’d be fine to see it then.

That’s what I was thinking as I listened to the servant…

“I see… In that case, I’d like to take a closer look. Please show me.”

…But Seriana had other ideas, and ordered the servant to guide us.

“Yes. Certainly.”

With a swift reply, the servant accepted Seriana’s request and took the lead again as we descended to the first floor.

We followed behind her down the stairs, but… I don’t know, Seriana being this particular about something like this feels kind of unusual.

Well, it’ll be more than ten years before Seriana comes to the capital again.

With that in mind, even though it’s unfinished, maybe she wants to take advantage of the opportunity and see it with her own eyes.

Still, I wonder… is this a sign she doesn’t trust my reporting skills?

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・ Blessing ・ 【Hideout】 +1 【Prayer】 【Mira’s Blessing】 【Wind’s Garment】

Blessed Item ・ 【Floating Orb】 +1 【Shadow Sword】 +1 【Scarlet Bee Needle】 【Fairy’s Eye】 【Dragon’s Lung】 【Amber Sword】 【Danrem’s Thread】 【Serpent’s Tail】 【Ankle Bracelet】 【Amber Shield】 【Purple Wings】 【Red Sword】 【Monkey’s Arm】 ・ 3 cards

Seriana ・ 【Area Detection】 ・ 【】 ・ 0 cards

Elena ・ 【】 ・ 【Green Fang】 【Amber Sword】 ・ 4 cards

Alec ・ 【Strong Strike】 ・ 【Red Shield】 【Fierce Horned Trumpet】 ・ 10 cards