Chapter 54
Late at night, in the Emperor’s bedchamber.
Alrend lay on the bed, but sleep would not come to him at all.
Eventually, he slipped out from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed.
After being lost in thought for quite some time, he summoned his familiar.
“Lu.”
“Meow?”
Alrend’s voice was serious.
Lu tilted its head and looked up at its contractor’s unusually grave expression.
That worry-laden, sculpted face opened its mouth.
“The Saintess is strange.”
There was nothing that would be solved by confiding in Lu.
But Alrend felt like he at least wanted to hear the familiar’s cries about the current situation.
Was he the only one who thought so, or did others think the same?
He wanted to hear an opinion, but—
How could he possibly tell someone that the Saintess was strange?
It wasn’t as if the Saintess being strange was something new, but this time……
“This time…… she’s especially strange.”
A frown formed between Alrend’s brows.
Now, what woke him from his pre-dawn sleep was no longer the grudges of restless souls, but the Saintess’s……
Alrend recalled what had happened a few days earlier.
“Your Majesty, I think I’m lost.”
“……Isn’t this the Saintess’s room?”
She had suddenly said something strange while they were having tea, so he had wondered what it was about.
Then the Saintess lifted her teacup toward him and said something even stranger.
“The path that leads to you.”
A shiver ran through him.
For the first time, Alrend realized that even words without killing intent could send chills down one’s spine.
That was the beginning.
“There aren’t any stars in the sky today.”
“…….”
“Maybe they’re invisible because Your Majesty is shining too brightly.”
“You think I’m drunk? I am. I’m intoxicated by Your Majesty.”
“What crime did Your Majesty commit to fall into the human world? The crime of stealing my heart?”
“Stop…….”
Now, just the Saintess opening her mouth made him afraid of what she would say next.
Ever since returning the sealed darkness.
The word “net” had not come out of the Saintess’s mouth again.
That was fortunate, but instead, she’d picked up this new habit of saying things…… things like the lewd remarks street womanizers would make……
‘What happened?’
Up until recently, the Saintess had been perfectly normal.
As far as he knew, when someone changed this abruptly, it was usually because mental-manipulation-type divine power had been used on them.
‘Derachi…….’
The mental manipulation placed on the assassin sent by Derachi a few months ago.
That category of divine power was the Grand Duke of Derachi’s specialty.
But Alrend couldn’t single anyone out as a suspect.
Because I’m the one who knows best—
That the Saintess is perfectly sane right now, without any manipulation at all,
Since I checked her mind with divine power earlier today.
“……I don’t know the reason.”
“Meow—.”
Unable to resolve the mystery, Alrend’s gloom deepened throughout the night.
The second prince of the Kingdom of Bonia, Ruid Attinger, strode boldly down the corridor alone.
A solid build, ash-blond hair similar to Sharl’s, and upturned brown eyes.
His overall fierce impression gave off the scent of the wild.
He stopped walking, turned the doorknob in front of him, and entered.
“Hey.”
“You’re here, Brother.”
Sharl greeted Ruid with a gentle smile.
When Ruid said he wanted to see her, Sharl had chosen her palace’s reception room as the location.
Perhaps she had dismissed the maids in advance to match his arrival time—inside, there was only Sharl.
“Is it just you?”
Tea and sweets were prepared on the table, but Ruid didn’t even glance at them as he went and sat on the sofa.
“Brother, won’t you have some tea?”
“……Could you not call me ‘Brother’? It gives me goosebumps. I won’t tell anyone your personality’s a total wreck, so please. Don’t do that.”
Ruid grimaced and scrubbed his arms.
“Why are you here?”
Sharl immediately changed her attitude, picked up only her own teacup, and sat across from him.
She didn’t like calling him Brother either.
“You’ve been quiet lately. I was wondering what kind of scheme you were plotting.”
Ruid watched Sharl take a sip of tea.
She looked elegant and dignified, but his little sister had been an expert at making his life miserable since childhood.
Letting snakes loose in his bedroom, telling him a class was canceled so he’d get scolded by the teacher the next period.
Even now that they were grown, those kinds of pranks still happened casually once or twice a week.
For example, serving him tea laced with laxatives.
After he returned from leading a delegation to Zendal, Sharl had been quiet.
She’d said she wiped out that troublesome pirate, Ben Wolfman.
“Did you grow up?”
“I’d rather get assassinated. Ruid.”
Oops.
Feigning surprise at Sharl’s sharp gaze, Ruid spread both palms.
A gesture saying he didn’t want to fight.
He hadn’t come here to do that anyway.
“That guy’s strange too.”
“Who.”
“Delcan.”
Sharl frowned.
No one in the Bonia royal family except herself had the right to worry about Delcan.
That included Ruid.
He was one of the culprits who, together with the first prince Hillis, had ruined Delcan’s childhood.
“Why do you care about Delcan?”
“Then you take care of him. The knights are making a fuss because monster howls keep coming from your kennel at all hours.”
“Leave him alone.”
“Leave him? The dog’s sick, the owner doesn’t even come to check, complaints come to me instead. I’m the one stuck with the headache.”
Sharl’s dog.
That was the term the knights used for Delcan.
That was how inseparable Delcan had been from Sharl since childhood.
It was rare for them to live like strangers now, not seeking each other out.
Ruid rubbed his interlaced fingers and asked,
“Did you really abandon Delcan?”
“What?”
At Sharl’s sharp glare, Ruid shrugged.
“That’s what’s going around the palace. If he’s a dog without an owner, I was thinking of picking him up.”
“Why would you pick up Delcan?”
“He’s a skilled hunting dog. Might as well work him until he’s used up—at least then that mongrel has a reason for being born.”
At that last remark, Sharl lifted her half-full teacup as if she were about to throw it at Ruid.
“Whoa—. Calm down. What if you throw that and the maids realize how nasty your personality is when they clean it up?”
Sharl ground her teeth and bit her lower lip.
“……Get out.”
“What a mouth on you. Anyway, judging by how angry you are, guess that rumor’s not true. Fine, fine, I’ll go as you wish.”
“You came all this way just to check that?”
Sharl asked sharply.
Ruid rose from the sofa as he replied.
“That, and you’ve looked spaced out lately too.”
Around the same time Delcan locked himself in his quarters, Sharl had also grown oddly quiet.
She rarely left her palace except for official duties, and recently murmurs of concern about something being wrong with the princess had begun to spread.
Before long, those whispers would reach the ears of the nobles involved in the succession struggle.
“Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you stayed like this. It means I’ll be the one taking the throne.”
“…….”
Sharl watched Ruid’s back as he walked toward the door, then asked,
“Have you ever seen the Saintess in Zendal?”
Ruid stopped and turned his head.
“I have. Not up close, though.”
“What was she like? The Saintess.”
“I thought she was fascinating. I’ve never seen such a vivid black before.”
Ruid’s mother was a concubine who was a distant relative of the king.
In other countries it might be different, but in the Kingdom of Bonia, the most important factor in choosing an heir was blood.
That so-called noble blood of Bonia.
And Ruid knew nothing.
Sharl snorted.
“Ruid. No matter how hard you try your whole life, you won’t make it.”
After all my duties were finished, I sat down at my desk.
“A toast to His Majesty’s eyes…… no, that’s a bit weak.”
I crossed out the sentence on the paper with my quill.
I’ve been running my mouth nonstop lately, so it feels like His Majesty’s starting to build an immunity to my nonsense.
“Isn’t there something more original? Something that’ll make His Majesty flinch when he hears it.”
At first, it was a mistake.
His Majesty, drinking tea across from me, was so handsome that I completely lost focus.
Seizing that moment, my mouth and hands hijacked control of my body like bandits.
“……The path that leads to you.”
And His Majesty hated it. Like, really hated it.
He’s someone who knows full well how good-looking he is, so I thought he’d just laugh it off.
Who would’ve thought he’d react with such disgust?
Hehehehehe.
That’s when I launched an emergency operation.
Name: Operation Lifelong Friend, Phase 1.
<Make His Majesty say, “It’s better if we stay friends……”>
How to become His Majesty’s lifelong friend?
Simple.
If His Majesty gets sick of me to the point that no matter how much I confess, he won’t accept it—
That’s friendship, right?
Execution was easy.
I just had to say out loud all the nonsense I’d only thought in my head before.
Like a faucet suddenly turned on, my nonsense poured out nonstop.
And recently, His Majesty started avoiding me first.
“Huh? Your Majesty! Where are you going? Today as well, to Your Majesty’s beauty—”
“Saintess, I’m busy. We’ll see each other later.”
Hehe. It’s definitely going according to plan, but why does it feel so bitter?
‘His Majesty…… His Majesty is avoiding me…….’
[His Majesty’s facial features are clearer than my future]
…….
I stopped scribbling and pressed my cheek against the desk.
“Waaah. What’s the point of all this? His Majesty’s avoiding me……!”
“Pyuu, pyuu!”
Startled by my sudden outburst of sorrow, Pyu hopped around trying to comfort me.
“Thanks for the comfort. But I’m okay.”
My emotions swung wildly dozens of times a day.
This is love…… yeah, no.
Kgh. Forget love—I just want to live while fangirling in peace.
Sniffling, I opened the desk drawer.
When I’m this depressed, soothing my heart with pure childhood innocence is the best.
A package had arrived earlier today from the Nisephoriel Temple.
A bundle of children’s letters that came about twice a month.
The outer envelopes were decorated so prettily that I hadn’t been able to open them right away, looking through them one by one instead—when one letter stood out.
A glossy, luxurious envelope, sealed with red wax stamped with a rose emblem.
“Who sent this?”
As if perfume had been sprayed on it, the letter carried a strong fragrance.
Turning it over, I saw the sender’s name written in neat handwriting.
Hazel Roiken.
“Headmaster?”
I opened the letter and read it.
[…and so, I would like to invite the Saintess to serve as a special guest lecturer for the upcoming class.]
He wanted me—the Saintess personally sent by the god Seikan—to be a one-day instructor.
An instructor?
“That’s ridiculous.”
I don’t even know what Seikan looks like or sounds like—what would I teach?
The children probably know more than I do.
‘I should send a letter declining,’ I thought.
That was before I read the postscript at the end.
[P.S. My collection also includes items His Majesty the Emperor used during his childhood.]
