Chapter 250: Holiday Break II

[Duke Alan's Mansion]

After all the stuff they brought were settled down by the servants of the mansion, Shun and Sephiria were called over by Duke Alan and lady Cecile towards the living area in where they would have a heart to heart talk. After all based on the date, it was near Sephiria's birthday in which she would turn 19 this year. At the same time they were planning to officially announce their daughter engagement towards a person who is not royalty.

Shun's status in this world is a commoner and nothing more, despite having achievements so worthy and recognizable to be a proper knight in this kingdom, Shun himself never received any reward whatsoever that elevates his status. For the nobility of this world, a commoner marrying a noble who is in the ranked of duke is a huge controversy which is similar to a celebrity gaining a scandal reputation back on earth.

For all the nobility's social circle and its people in their territory, the duke household is similar or akin to a celebrity or a famous politician. Each and every movements they make and choices they made are heavily monitored by the people who looked at them.

It would have been bearable and acceptable if a commoner managed to marry into nobility from a barony to a viscount household. But any nobility rank higher than that is strictly prohibited to not marry a commoner but rather among the nobility circle itself. So the issue of a duke household accepting a commoner to be married into family, was  a huge issue.

However this was not the first time that the Maelstrom Ducal household had made a commoner married into the family. The first offender of this rule which caused a huge controversy in the past was none other than duke Alan himself. Since Lady Cecile is from a commoner's family, marrying her was quite taxing and a challenge. He had to use everything he had just to get her to marry him and goes against the societal norms

He had to fight his own family, his step siblings and step mother, the nobles, and even some threatening forces just to marry her safely. In the end he emerged victorious with the help of his connections and friends. One could even say that he was fortunate to have friends to help him along the way.

Now that he thought about it, Shun is even more fortunate than him despite being a commoner. Even though he doesn't have that extensive connection in the higher circle of nobility, he is an acquaintance and somewhat friend to the crown prince of the kingdom, a friend of the royal family, a person who won the six academy competition with a otherworldly battles. and even held his own against terrorist which gained him support from an allied other country. He is like basically a low key celebrity at this point.

If he wills it, he could ask for the royal family's help when dealing w9ith the nobility in terms of accepting him being married into the family. All he need is one word from the king and  the nobility's hostility towards him will be neutralized. Shun's influence is just unfathomable.

"Shun... Sephiria's birthday is just around the corner, we have already sent out invitations and even begun setting up her birthday party... at the same time we were planning to her announce her engagement to the whole circle, do you think you can handle critism?" asked by Duke Alan

Hearing his words, Shun remembered the time where he always kept hearing critism and insults from the games he had played whenever he had done bad. He even experienced social media's shaming due to his rise in popularity, but despite all that, he stayed strong and never lost his nerves. Practically he was built for this.

In comparison to nobility's shaming in this world, modern social media shaming is far worse and cruel due to how people easily get judgmental during his generation. With that experience in mind, he then answered.

"I can handle that much, its nothing compared to before"

The moment Duke Alan and Lady Cecile heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other as if they had somewhat misunderstood Shun's words. It is quite natural for them to understood Shun's words as something that happened during his childhood, after all they don't know that Shun is not a human of this world but rather of another earth.

With that misunderstanding, Lady Cecile then spoke up as if trying to comfort Shun.

"Shun! I'm sorry if we made you remember those horrible times"

For Shun who was ignorant of what they're thinking, he couldn't help but be confused as he naively replied

"What times? Anyway i'm fine"

After Sephiria's parents heard Shun's words, they then turned towards their daughter and begun briefing her about what's to happen and what's to expect. After their long session with their daughter, both the duke and lady Cecile sat back as they gave out their opinion. The first one to speak was Lady Cecile herself.

"Truth be told we are not opposed of your engagement, its just that your father is a little bit overreacting at the case that his daughter is being engaged off... he's a pretty doting father at times and yet also overprotective... its like he's not ready to hand over her daughter and still think of her as a child that should be protected at all cost"

"Isn't that a natural thing to do?" complained by Duke Alan

"Yeah its natural but your overdoing it" rebuked by Lady Cecile

"Overdoing it?!?!?! There is no such thing as overdoing it in terms of protecting my daughter" said by Duke Alan

"There is nothing to protect, Shun is a respectable person and a good man, it is quite fortunate for our daughter to fall for this kind of guy rather than someone who has ill reputation" reasoned by Lady Cecile

After that initial argument between them, their back and forth banter lasted for a couple of minutes which ended with Lady Cecile's victory. With that Lady Cecile had the upper hand in this talk between family as she turned to look towards Shun.

"I cant assure this yet Shun, but i will do everything in my power so that you will be accepted as my daughter's fiancé.... don't worry, i'm rooting for you"

After she concluded the talk as she ordered the maids to bring in the snacks. With that their preparation for the upcoming reveal is now on the way.