HSML 21

Chapter 21

“I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

As Mother bowed her head, Prince Syphon told her to raise her face.

“No, we are the ones who arrived unannounced. Please don’t worry about it.”

Prince Syphon explained that although he had sent word ahead, he had arrived before the notice itself reached them.
Mother seemed to hesitate slightly over the intent behind his words, but when she apparently failed to find an answer, she promptly replied.

“You are most kind.
So, may I ask what brings you here today?”

“I proposed an engagement the other day, did I not?”

“Yes.”

Thanks to that, yesterday and the day before had been rather hectic.

“Ever since we met at the Coming-of-Age Gathering, my heart has been racing nonstop.
Simply proposing an engagement wasn’t enough to restrain my impatience, and so I came in person.”

At his fresh, radiant smile, a few of the waiting maids shuddered for just an instant.
Even I, watching through the scrying box, felt a little lightheaded at the sight of the prince.

If I didn’t steel myself, I felt like I might be swept away.

It was the smile of someone fully aware of how good-looking he was, carefully chosen to look its very best.

Even Mother froze for a brief moment. That smile must have had considerable destructive power, enough to affect even someone like her, seasoned by countless social encounters.

Among the maids with weaker resistance, some might even have lost consciousness. The fact that none of them collapsed might actually deserve praise.

In any case, as a prince, he probably had no interest in someone who would fall to him with just that smile.
If I were to lose here, the engagement would likely be called off on the spot, so I had to be careful.

After Prince Syphon stated his purpose, Mother knit her brows slightly—so subtly that one wouldn’t notice unless familiar with her usual demeanor—and then expressed her thanks as though nothing were amiss.

“We are honored that you would trouble yourself to come for the sake of our daughter.
However, um… is that truly all right? She is our daughter, but… she is a box, you know?”

“Isn’t that precisely why the box is appealing?”

The prince stated this firmly, and an air of Wait, seriously? spread through the room.
The attendants and knights standing behind him all wore similar expressions.

“So… you mean you took a liking not to my daughter, but to the box?”

“Ah, no… that’s not quite it… or perhaps it is?
In any case, the form in which I have met her has mostly been that of a box. Still, as we conversed, I became deeply interested in the depth of her knowledge and education, and above all, in the way she understands how to apply them.”

When told that my appearance had basically been that of a box, Mother nodded in understanding—that would explain it, she seemed to think.
Seeing that, I found myself thinking the same thing.

All the same, someone who wishes to meet me in person is rare—valuable, even.
Mother appeared to understand that point as well.

“Catrina. Please confirm with Mocha.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Mother likely had no way of knowing whether this was truly his honest feeling.
Still, having grasped the reason for his visit, she called out to Catrina.

Watching Catrina head back toward my room out of the corner of her eye, Mother returned her gaze to the prince.

“We have conveyed your proposal of engagement, but regarding this visit, we will give priority to my daughter’s wishes.”

“Of course. I have heard she is extremely shy. I have no intention of forcing anything upon my fiancée. After all, we are the ones who came unannounced.”

In other words, if I refused, he would withdraw gracefully.
Of course, I had no intention of refusing, and the prince surely understood my feelings.

After all, we were both fully prepared to take advantage of our positions as fiancés.
Knowing that, Prince Syphon’s behavior was quite easy to understand—but Mother could not see it that way.

From her perspective, Prince Syphon’s actions must have been utterly unreadable.
She was probably wearing a grim expression on the inside.

On the surface, it looked like the adorable recklessness of a prince experiencing his first love.
But the object of that affection was me—a box.

…Even if I say it myself, falling in love at first sight and going this far seems a bit much, given the circumstances.

Mother must have been thinking along those lines.
I couldn’t know exactly what was going through her mind, but it was surely spinning at full speed.

For now, though, none of it showed on her face.

While waiting for Catrina, Mother began some light small talk with the prince.

“Miss.”

Soon after, Catrina returned to my room.

“What will you do?”

She skipped all preamble and asked directly, on the assumption that I had been peeking the entire time.

Catrina knows most of the details of my magic, so she is aware of the existence of the scrying boxes.
After all, she’s usually the one who goes around placing the external ones.

In any case, this was my reply to Prince Syphon.
I had decided on it from the start.

“Please tell him… ‘If he doesn’t mind me remaining a box, then it’s fine.’”

“Understood. I will return to the reception room.”

“Mm. Thanks….”

Catrina bowed and left my room.
Shortly after, her figure appeared in the scrying box that overlooked the reception room.

“Thank you for waiting.”

As Catrina returned to the room, Mother asked,

“Well? How was it?”

In response, Catrina delivered my message word for word.

“Yes. She says that if it is fine for her to remain a box, then she has no objections.”

“I see. That is good to hear.”

Once I calmed down, I couldn’t help thinking how strange my wording sounded.
In contrast, Prince Syphon looked delighted, while the members of the Dripps household reacted as though this were perfectly ordinary.

…This is my fault, but is this family’s sense of normalcy still intact?

As she surveyed the scene, Mother let out a small breath and turned her gaze toward Prince Syphon—or rather, toward the knights and attendants he had brought with him.

There was a hint of sympathy mixed into that look, no doubt about it.

The prince’s attendants and knights, clearly wearing confused expressions as they observed the situation, were surely thinking:

(It’s fine to remain a box…?)

That reaction is, in fact, the normal one.
I myself have simply grown used to responding while remaining “a box.”

Still, this means that in the everyday life where I exist, this will become the norm.
Since he is now my fiancé, it’s a daily reality he cannot escape, so I would very much like him to get used to it sooner rather than later.

In any event, Prince Syphon and I were reunited for the first time in three days since the Coming-of-Age Gathering.