"Nothing much, but I'll tell you all about it when I get back."
"Huh? When you get back? What do you mean?" Sue asked. But then she noticed that he was already getting to his feet, so she asked again. "Where are you going?"
"To see my wives," Austin replied as though it was his usual routine.
In fact, his response sounded more like he was saying. "Since I will be having two beautiful wives in my pavilion, I should be the first person they see early in the morning."
This was exactly how Sue interpreted his words, so after hearing this, how could she stop him from seeing his beautiful wives?
Sue was momentarily speechless as she watched Austin stand up from his seat and heard the lacquered floor creak underneath his feet.
"Austin, but you…"
"Don't worry, Aunt Sue. I promise to tell you everything I discussed with my brother when I return." Austin assured her, but that wasn't the reason why Sue was astonished right now.
She trusted Austin enough to know that he would tell her everything she wanted to know.
However, the real reason why Sue had a surprised look on her face was due to what Austin had said concerning his wives.
She vividly recalled telling the fourth prince to spend time with his wives yesterday, but the prince hadn't been interested in doing so.
Now she wondered why the prince had a sudden change of heart.
The only reasonable explanation she could come up with was that Austin was also curious about his wives.
Yesterday, she had seen how much Lina was interested in knowing more about her future husband, and now it seemed her husband was also interested in knowing more about her as well.
With this thought in mind, Sue couldn't help but giggle to herself after realizing that both Austin and Lina couldn't wait to meet each other.
It seemed the young couple were truly meant to be together.
She smiled and simply watched as Austin walked out of his bedchambers.
While leaving his room, Austin pondered over what he was going to do.
He didn't really have a plan for what to say when he sees either of his wives, but he was definitely interested in knowing more about them.
'Hmm, let me take a look at it again.' Austin summoned the system's interface once more before opening the profile section of his wives.
He then looked at the part concerning Lina's current mood, and he tried to understand why she was feeling worried right now.
With that thought in mind, Austin began combining what he had obtained from the fourth prince's memories with what he had learned from the system.
'Hmm, my wives were the daughters of an important noble in the empire, and their father was well-known as The Lord of the Western Estate.'
'However, their father, Lord Han, had also been rumored to be working with three influential magistrates of the empire.'
'Their goal seemed to involve leaking vital information to the demons, but no one knows the full details, so I can't say what might have motivated them in the first place.'
'Anyways, Lord Han eventually realized how dangerous his actions, along with that of the magistrates, were, so he informed the emperor about what the three magistrates were planning.'
'Upon hearing this, the emperor ordered the execution of all three magistrates. Their properties were seized, and their families were either killed, demoted to commoners or enslaved.'
However, as for Lord Han, the emperor could not overlook his own involvement in treason.
Although he had confessed, the emperor still stripped him of his title as Lord of the West and seized all his properties, later passing everything over to the fourth prince.
This meant that Austin would officially be recognized as the new Lord of the Western Estate and would gain ownership of several lands and territories.
However, this was one of the reasons why Lina was worried about what Austin would think of her and her sister.
To be honest, as a prince of the empire, Lina had expected the fourth prince to reject the marriage proposal altogether because marrying both sisters would automatically reduce his chances of succeeding to the throne.
So, the best course of action for the fourth prince, if he truly wished to become emperor, would have been to refuse the marriage the emperor had proposed to him.
From a general point of view, the Han household had been involved in an act of treason against the empire. The only reason they weren't executed or enslaved was because of the emperor's mercy.
In other words, they were still seen as traitors.
So why would a prince want to marry into a disgraced family… unless he had no choice but to obey his father's command, even if it went against his own wishes.
This was what Lina assumed was the reason for the fourth prince's decision to marry her and her sister, and it became the root of her worries as well.
She was afraid the fourth prince hated her and her household for ruining his opportunity to claim the throne.
But what she didn't know was that Austin wasn't bothered by any of it.
He wasn't even interested in the throne. He would rather live quietly on his own land with his wives than chase a crown that would eventually cost him his life.
This was the only thought on Austin's mind, and he was finally able to make up his mind on what he wanted to do next.
Since today would be the first time he would be meeting his future wife, his goal was to spend time with her and try to understand his wife better.
"Well, technically we aren't married yet, so I guess I should call her my fiancée, right?" He asked himself with a smile, but he shrugged it off a moment later.
For now, he only wanted to focus on spending time with his wife—and he didn't want anything else clouding his thoughts.
"Alright, let's go spend time with my wife." He uttered it out loud to himself, but the moment he did this, a new screen suddenly popped up in front of him.
[Host's personal objective has been noted. The system will now activate 'The Basic Courtship Mode'.]