"Fiancée?" Karl asked dumbstruck.
Ercia expression turned blank at Karl's reaction and the next minute she raged as she understood Karl's obliviousness.
"Seriously Kevin! How could you not do the one job I asked of you!"
Ercia shouted out loud which made the maids in the room flinch.
Meanwhile Kevin while getting a report from a butler felt a chill run down his spine.
While Ercia was shouting at Kevin, Karl was thinking something else entirely.
'Fiancée? Did Karl have a fiancée?'
As Karl was thinking back to any mention of Karl's fiancée in the novel, Ercia, after making a mental note to 'have a talk' with Kevin later, looked at Karl with a smiling face as she bent down to get on his eye level.
"Karl, your father and a friend of his had jokingly promised each other to marry their kids and, by luck, we had a son and they got a daughter as the first child.
So they are coming here to meet us and if you two like each other then you both will get engaged.
You do not need to worry, it is just an old promise so if you do not like her then you do not have to agree to the engagement.
But she is a very good girl so you two should at least get along with each other as friends." Ercia said in a very calm tone, reassuring him so that he does not panic.
'Yeah, whatever it is I will just go through it.'
Seeing Karl nod, Ercia smiled gently but the next moment her eyes sharpened.
"But the same holds true for her. Any girl would not like a person who reeks of sweat so go and bath!" Ercia scolded again.
Karl understanding the reasonable crash out of his mother quickly made a run for the bathroom door besides the closet as he left behind the words "When I come back, there should be no one in the room."
Ercia sighed at Karl's words as she asked the head maid to put Karl's new clothes on his bed.
"Kids sure grow up fast." She spoke bitterly as she walked out of the room.
***
The bathroom was very much like a modern bathroom.
The world of Arhaven is quite advanced, more than earth in some fields.
But the difference with earth was that the development here was due to magic as even in the bathroom all the faucets and taps worked with magic.
Karl, while taking a shower, was thinking about the situation he had at hand.
'What do I do now? I can either deny of the 'fiancée' thing or I can accept.
If it was when I had just been reincarnated, I would have denied without a doubt as it would have been weird to think of a kid as a love partner.
But now I don't know whether I will feel as a three year kid or as a 28 year adult.
I might even like her if my emotions act as the kid I am.
Well whatever it is, I will just go with it.
I have already decided not to act all stuck up and just enjoy the new life as a new person.
By the way, which family is my so called 'fiancée' from? Is it marquis? Or thinking back, mom said it was father's friend so it might even be another duke!'
***
The whole estate had been decorated so heavily as if a grand festival was going on.
Karl walked through the garden, towards the duke's manor to find his father.
He was wearing a white suit with red and blue colored triangles drawn all around it giving a very refined look and that paired with Karl's hairs and face screamed of a high noble.
Just as Karl was going to make a turn, he heard his father's voice coming from the opposite side.
As Karl turned to take a look, he saw Kevin running towards him with a pale face.
'What now?' Karl wondered as he walked towards his father.
"What happened dad?"
Kevin got on his knees and put both hands over Karl's shoulder as he locked eyes with Karl..
"Your mother has already told you about my friend and our promise right?" Kevin asked seriously to which Karl nodded.
Kevin continued with a serious tone.
"I am late but I want to explain some important things to you. Son, as a boy you might fall in love when you see a beautiful girl. It is perfectly normal but you should-"
Kevin stopped as he saw Karl shying away from his gaze as his face turned a shade of red, easily captured by Kevin's superhuman eyesight.
Kevin could only think of one reason for such a reaction.
"Son have you already read about such things? Is that why you always insisted me for permission to enter the Knowledge Hall?" Kevin asked, his face revealing a bit of disappointment.
At Kevin's words, Karl's thoughts became frantic.
'Fuck! Even in my past life I learned such things on internet and was not given a info talk by my father!
It was already embarrassing to get educated on love like a kid and now he thinks I am a pervert! I need to think of an excuse and quick!'
Karl was able to finish his thoughts in a second as he slowly turned back to look at his father.
"That was not the reason that I wanted to go to the lib-Knowledge hall! But I know of su-such things as I once overheard some maid's talks."
Karl spoke fast his eyes wide as if he had been wronged.
'Oscar worthy acting!' Karl mused inwardly.
Kevin believing Karl's words made a sorry expression and inwardly made a note to tell the head butler about finding and removing the maids.
"How much did you hear?" Kevin asked after coughing awkwardly.
"..."
At Kevin's question Karl tried to think of an answer but could not pinpoint the level he should say he knows as practically he knew everything there was.
Let alone normal, he knew even the dirtiest of the acts.
But misunderstanding Karl's silence and his still red face, Kevin's expression turned ugly.
"Did you even hear that?" Kevin asked his voice now brimming with anger directed towards the maids.
By the time Kevin asked the second question, Karl had thought of the answer.
"Ki-Kiss" Karl thought his face turning redder and his voice still stuttering but this time it was not acting.
'Fuck! Making such low level lies is really embarrassing me!' Karl thought as he looked down not being able to speak such things while looking at his father's face.
Kevin after hearing Karl's words, instead, calmed down and then he also felt embarrassed about his thoughts.
Karl's mind still in frenzy due to the 'talk' found a nice way to get out of his embarrassment as he looked at Kevin with puppy eyes and asked-
"But what is that?" Karl asked with a curious voice though inwardly he was laughing at the situation he was trying to put his father in.
Hearing Karl's question Kevin's mind went blank as he felt his face turning hotter.
Karl did not intend to give Kevin any time to think as he asked again, walking a bit closer to Kevin.
"Dad what did you mean by 'that'?"
Kevin was now turning redder by the second as Karl kept repeating the same question again and again.
"I was talking about kissing." Kevin said in a calm and composed tone though his face had a tinge of red.
Hearing Kevin's answer Karl quickly turned to look at the ground as his face had already broken into a grin and holding back the laughter was becoming harder by each passing second.
Kevin cleared his throat as he turned back and started walking away, oblivious to Karl's thoughts.
"You go back to your mother. She will be in the main manor." Kevin said as he continued but suddenly paused and turned back.
"Also make sure to behave in front of the the guests." Kevin continued in an authoritative tone making Karl nod seriously.
Kevin satisfied with Karl's seriousness turned back and continued walking away.
Karl also started walking towards the main manor.
(Main manor refers to the main family's housing where Karl, his parents and grandparents live.)
***
1 hour minutes had passed since the 'talk' and Karl was standing in front of the entrance of the main manor, sitting on the ground while Ercia stood behind him.
Ercia had another brief 'talk' with Karl as Kevin had just left without speaking anything.
"You exercise so much and yet you can not stand up for 5 minutes." Ercia spoke, annoyed.
"I can. I am just very lazy." Karl replied.
"If you are even a tiny bit unmannerly in front of them then you would be grounded for a month at the very least, just know that."
Ercia spoke in a matter of fact tone and smiled inwardly as Karl stood up at her threat.
Just as Karl was dusting off his butt, he saw a carriage coming towards them from a distance.
As the carriage came closer, Karl was able to look at the emblem engraved at the front of the carriage, making him dumbfounded.
It was the symbol of a pegasus, looking gracefully towards the sky.
'What the fuck!!'
Karl's face could not hide his apparent shock but fortunately Ercia's attention was also at the carriage, not noticing his slip-out.
The carriage stopped a bit in front of them and from inside stepped out his father followed by a man with silver hairs.
The man was not as bulky as his father but still was as refined and noble or even more.
The man exuded an aura of authority even though his expression resembled a friendly neighborhood uncle's.
The man was followed by a beautiful woman with long grey hairs, her appearance invoking peace and calmness.
Lastly a small girl, about the same height as Karl came out of the carriage.
The girl had silver hairs and blue eyes like her father, her cheeks filled with baby fat gave her the look of a very cute little girl.
But the most eye catching feature of the trio was... long, pointed ears.
As the trio along with Kevin walked forward, Ercia stepped forward and greeted both the man and the woman.
From the greeting Karl came to know that the man's name was Derek while the woman's name was Aria.
Derek greeted Ercia back and Aria came forward and gave Ercia a hug.
After that happened Karl looked at the little girl and as his eyes met with hers... he froze.
Karl and the girl locked eyes as they stared at each other.
'I had thought that I might like her but this... Is this.. love?'
Karl wondered, his thoughts, slow as if not wanting to disturb him.
The girl was not any different as she looked at Karl in a daze.
Interrupting Karl's moment, Kevin held him by the shoulder and swiftly turned him 180 degrees and started pushing him inside the manor.
'Shit. Dad sav-'
Just as Karl was about to thank Kevin for the save, he heard the giggles of Aria and Ercia which made his face turn beet red as he continued walking in the front, too embarrassed to look back.
'FUCK!'
Curses echoed in Karl's mind as he felt the most embarrassment he had ever felt in both his lives.