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Chapter 37
I kept my mouth shut.
What they said was certainly correct, and it was good that As was experiencing fewer side effects, but for some reason, my mouth tasted bitter.
“So, the official narrative is that my relationship with Aques is bad…?”
Just as I barely managed to swallow the sigh threatening to escape my lips—
“The side effects won’t endanger your life, so as long as you have the willpower to endure them, there’s no problem.”
A voice rang out beside me, sharp and cold enough to sting.
Startled, I turned my head, and over the curve of his lips, crimson eyes glimmering with killing intent shone dangerously.
“If we tell Harnen to lower the grade of the spells so they can be mass-produced as much as possible, then you’ll be able to attend public events without any issue…”
“Ah, As! As, no, that’s not it!”
I hurriedly stopped As before he could go on a rampage.
The last time, As had said, “It’s a top-grade spell, so the side effects aren’t severe.”
Which meant—
the lower the grade of the spell, the more severe the side effects would be!
That is absolutely not okay!
It was a hundred, a thousand times better to just let people believe Aques and I had a bad relationship.
As I resolved that firmly in my heart, the faint smile tugging at As’s lips slowly faded.
“But… I don’t like people thinking Einra and I are on bad terms.”
He gripped the hem of my clothes tightly and muttered, sounding frustrated.
“Einra promised me you wouldn’t hate me. You promised you wouldn’t regret it. So why do I have to sit and listen to people saying our relationship is bad?”
His small face was filled with sorrow.
He looked like he might burst into tears any second, leaving me flustered. But before I could react, the emperor, who had been resting his chin in his hand and watching As with bored eyes, suddenly spoke.
“That transparent act of yours is the same as ever.”
“But As, more than anything, the most important thing is that you don’t get hurt. Just until things go back to normal, can’t you endure a little? Please?”
“And you, Einra—you’re still just as easy to win over.”
The emperor shook his head and straightened his posture.
“The duke’s suggestion is rejected. I cannot allow my subject to become vulnerable. We’ll correct the rumors once there’s some progress.”
“…”
“There’s nothing for you to worry about. Harnen or I will naturally protect you. Besides, Einra, you’re rather slow when it comes to these things anyway.”
“What? What did you just say?”
I frowned, asking back. The emperor chuckled faintly and reached out to ruffle my hair.
“I said it means the Grand Duke of Serenia will have fewer things to worry about.”
“That’s not what you said just now.”
You just called me slow, didn’t you, Your Majesty?
I narrowed my eyes at him, and his gaze softened lazily.
“Ha… How is our Einra so cute? Honestly, I’d like to take you to the Empress’s palace right away…”
“Should I call Ilaye over? He told me to summon him immediately if my life was ever in danger.”
That would be attempted murder, you know.
The emperor, cut off cleanly, immediately looked sulky again.
As I wondered if it might be about time for me to head home, the emperor spoke again in his still-drooping voice.
“Soon, we’ll hold a banquet to commemorate Einra’s return to the capital.”
“…What?”
My shoulders flinched at the unexpected words.
A banquet…?
After living a blissful life without them for five whole years, he suddenly throws a banquet at me?
My old banquet-trauma was flaring up again.
“Einra, you’ve returned to my embrace after five long years—how could I just sit idly by?”
“I haven’t returned to Your Majesty’s embrace. I never left in the first place.”
“I’ve been thinking for a long time about what kind of banquet to hold when you came back.”
“The best banquet is no banquet at all.”
“But of course, something large and splendid will best show the depth of my affection.”
“Excuse me, is my opinion just being completely ignored here?”
The emperor, who had been sulking just moments ago, now looked positively radiant at the thought of throwing a party in my honor.
Whether I suffered or not was clearly the least of his concerns.
“It’s been five years since you last attended a banquet, so it must feel unfamiliar. I’ll have to personally look after you. Let’s see… time is short, so we’ll need to prepare a banquet dress and matching jewelry right away.”
“Um, excuse me—”
“The banquet dishes should all be your favorites, so you can eat to your heart’s content. The decorations, too—let’s make them entirely to your taste.”
“Hello? Can anyone hear me?”
“Ah, but there’s the issue of a partner. The Grand Duke of Serenia won’t be able to attend, so he can’t accompany you. In that case… I’ll just have to be your partner myself—”
“Then I suppose I’ll be Einra’s partner, Your Majesty.”
A low, clear voice cut in from behind.
The emperor’s bright, beautiful face crumpled in an instant.
I, however, turned with a wide smile toward the voice.
“Harnen!”
“Hello, Einra.”
Harnen greeted me with a soft smile, then turned to bow formally to the emperor.
“Court sorcerer Harnen, at the summons of His Supreme Majesty.”
Though his etiquette was flawless, the emperor still frowned in displeasure.
“My fellow emperor, could you not learn a bit of tact? I’m rather hurt.”
“To call a mere commoner like me an emperor—I am so humbled I know not where to put myself. Please refrain from such slips of the tongue.”
“Hmph, sly as ever. That part of you is unmistakably imperial, you know.”
The emperor had essentially just insulted himself, forgetting that he, too, was an emperor.
As I blinked tiredly at that, Harnen noticed As and gave a sly smile.
“Well, little As, here you are again. While I’ve been run ragged day and night chasing after my damned superior, it seems you’ve been enjoying yourself quite a bit. You look well-fed.”
“…Ah. I’m sorry that’s how it seemed to you, brother.”
As replied with a cold smile.
The two of them looked about ready to grab each other by the collar despite their smiles, so I quickly pulled Harnen over and sat him down at my other side, opposite As.
Were they always this hostile? Five years ago, it wasn’t nearly this bad…
I wondered what on earth had happened between them in those five years—but that wasn’t the most important issue right now.
I quickly turned to Harnen.
“H-Harnen! I heard on the way here that you were investigating the sorcerer who cursed Aques.”
“Indeed. And I heard that you found out little As here is actually my superior.”
Harnen’s smile deepened.
“When I visited your house, little As glared at me and told me to give up my vacation days and work overtime. You can’t imagine how hard that was on me.”
At that, As’s expression crumpled with guilt.
“Brother, I didn’t want to do that either. But how could I just sit on my hands when the Grand Duke of Baharman was threatening even Einra?”
“Ah, so it was unavoidable? What a shameless excuse, Your Highness.”
“Shameless? Brother, that hurts. You know better than anyone that you’re my most capable subordinate.”
Harnen’s smiling face was marred by throbbing veins, while As looked on the verge of tears.
If this kept up, their squabbling would never end.
I desperately laughed and squeezed myself into the conversation.
“S-So! I have something I’m curious about! Did you find out anything about that man, Dante?”
I raised my hand to ask, and Harnen, who had just been glaring daggers, turned his head toward me.
His face softened instantly into a gentle smile.
“I did my best to investigate, but unfortunately, I found little. His background was spotless, not a speck of dirt. I even got my hands on some magical tools he’d made and analyzed them, but there was nothing remarkable about them.”
“Nothing remarkable?”
“Yes, he was just an ordinary sorcerer. Hired by the Grand Duke of Baharman.”
“I see…”
I nodded at Harnen’s words, but uneasiness lingered.
Maybe it’s because I fell prey to that spirit-suppression spell of his twice…
It felt jarring to hear someone I disliked described as “ordinary.”
Well, it doesn’t really matter.
When I got home later, I’d ask Ilaye to raise my resistance against spirit-suppression spells.
With that decided, I turned my attention back to the continuing conversation.
“Um, Aques…”
On the way back from the imperial palace to the Serenia Grand Duke’s residence, riding Hisha—
I sat stiffly, unable to look back, moving like a clumsy wooden puppet.
“Should we… go in through that window?”
Sensing my nervousness, he chuckled softly near my ear.
Playing idly with strands of my hair, he answered in a languid voice,
“Yes. That’s the way in.”
