“The day after tomorrow, Your Highness.”
Joachim answered immediately and then asked:
“Are you planning to attend?”
“Yes.”
He looked genuinely surprised. So did I, in a different way.
“Good heavens — you didn’t actually think I’d skip my younger brother’s engagement ceremony, did you?”
“No, it’s just — you never attend anything other than the victory banquet and the Emperor’s birthday celebration.”
“…”
He’s not wrong. If this were the original Rene, she would have stayed away without a second thought. She had missed her own father’s remarriage, after all.
“But it’s my beloved younger brother’s engagement. How could I possibly not go?”
Joachim looked at me as though he had heard something deeply unnatural. I shrugged.
“Anton has gotten engaged. At this point, His Majesty really ought to be making some decisions.”
“Your Highness—”
“He still hasn’t woken up from his daydream, it seems.”
I clicked my tongue in mild reproach, and Joachim closed his mouth. I added, more lightly:
“Well? Is the idea of being consort to a private citizen Rene Stade really so unappealing?”
“Not in the slightest. Though I do wonder what you intend to do with yourself after—”
“A private citizen returns to nature. I want to live somewhere with a good view, in peaceful idleness.”
“…Don’t you already live like that?”
He’s starting to sound like Elsa. I pursed my lips.
“I want to live like that even more. Is there something wrong with that?”
“It’s just that it would be such a waste. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
Joachim glanced at Friedrich as he said it. Friedrich, who had been listening in quiet, met my eyes.
Right. He told me once that I should just be Emperor.
But the answer that followed surprised me.
“I, for my part, intend to follow wherever Your Highness wishes to go.”
“Hey— hold on—”
Joachim turned to Friedrich with an alarmed look.
“You’ve always said you didn’t want to see Her Highness give up the throne either.”
“That’s true. But I have no intention of presuming to oppose Her Highness’s wishes.”
“…Then what does that make me?”
“What does it make you? A presumptuous retainer who dares to oppose his princess, I suppose.”
I delivered it lightly, like a tease, then turned naturally to Friedrich.
“Either way — you’ll come with me, won’t you, Friedrich?”
Friedrich looked startled. I laughed.
“You’re not really going to make me arrive without an escort, are you?”
“Oh—”
Friedrich shook his head quickly. Beside him, Joachim asked with an injured air:
“And when midnight passes, what then?”
“Then you’ll manage it, won’t you, Joachim? That’s what we agreed.”
Joachim considered this and gave a reluctant nod.
“I suppose if you bring the Prince, it does lend more weight to the idea that you mean what you say.”
“Don’t put it like that. He’s my husband — that’s reason enough.”
I frowned slightly at the phrasing, and Friedrich, cheeks going faintly pink, turned to look at me.
I noticed. Which immediately made me feel oddly self-conscious, and I shifted my gaze elsewhere for no good reason.
* * *
Three days later, the morning of Anton’s engagement ceremony arrived.
I chose a soft blush-pink silk dress in a bell silhouette — a loose echo of the gown I’d given Marie, something like an unplanned pair.
“You’re truly bringing Princess Marie as well?”
“She missed my wedding. She’s coming to this one. Her health has improved considerably.”
I had told Marie she didn’t have to come if it felt like too much, but she had said she wanted to, and so the matter was settled.
Elsa finished braiding my hair with a white lace ribbon and stood back, looking at me with a considering expression.
“What — am I so lovely it’ll upstage the bride?”
“I’m wondering whether to change the ribbon color.”
“…That was a joke, and now I’m embarrassed. Is Friedrich ready?”
“Most likely. Shall I take you to him?”
I went directly to Friedrich’s room.
It occurred to me, as I walked, that this was the first official public event he would be attending as a member of the Stade imperial family.
When I opened the door, he was standing with his back to the window. He turned at the sound.
For a moment, his head was silhouetted against the sun behind him, and the light flared like a halo. I had to squint against the brightness.
“Your Highness.”
Then he smiled — and it was brighter than the sun at my back, and it made my eyes open wide.
I smiled quietly and took in the sight of Friedrich in formal dress — soft, warm colors that echoed mine.
It was perhaps a slightly discriminatory thing to think, but — was a man really allowed to look this good in pink?
“I think we may have made a mistake, matching our colors.”
Friedrich startled and looked at me. I gave his shoulder a playful nudge.
“Pink suits you too well. I’m worried you’ll outshine me.”
Rene Stade was not exactly known for being unattractive. But this kind of soft color suited Friedrich in a way that felt different.
He listened to my teasing with an expression of genuine incomprehension and murmured:
“You are far more beautiful than I am, Your Highness, if you ask me…”
Right — he’s exactly the same on that end. I gave a slightly helpless laugh. Whatever I said, he managed to return it as something sincere. It made me nervous to open my mouth.
I hid the awkwardness by reaching up and straightening his collar.
“Take it as a compliment. It means you’re that handsome.”
“…”
“Anyway — are you all right? If attending today feels like too much—”
“I’m your husband.”
The words came in before I’d finished, and I stopped.
Friedrich tilted his head slightly, voice dropping a note.
“…You said so yourself, Your Highness.”
“I did. Right.”
I agreed before I’d quite thought it through.
“But I don’t want to put pressure on you.”
“None at all.”
And then, quietly, he reached out and took my hand.
“None at all,” he repeated.
“Oh… good. I’m glad.”
The hand he’d taken was suddenly very aware of itself. I fidgeted with my fingers as we stepped out of the room together.
It must be the heat. The warmth in my palm was mounting, and I couldn’t very well pull away without making something of it.
We went together to Marie’s room.
Marie was wearing the pink dress I had given her, with matching pink shoes and a pink ribbon braiding her hair — an accidental trio.
I had hoped to see this at my own wedding. But then again, seeing it now was something.
“Your Highness, you look so beautiful today…”
She looked up at me with shining eyes, then immediately grew uncertain.
“…But are you sure it’s all right for me to come?”
“You’re a member of the Stade imperial family too. You should be there to celebrate your half-brother’s engagement.”
I smoothed her hair gently and murmured:
“I’m here. Nothing will go wrong. Don’t worry.”
Marie nodded, and then reached for the hand that was still resting near her — and held it. We walked together to the carriage like that.
…My nose itches.
It suddenly itched enormously, but I couldn’t free either hand to address it, so I decided to endure.
As the carriage drew closer to Avent Cathedral, Marie’s grip tightened. I pressed back.
“Would you like a sweet?”
Friedrich asked, apparently unable to stand by and watch. Marie shook her head with the embarrassed look of someone whose nervousness had just been pointed out.
“N-no, I’m fine—”
“Have one, Marie.”
“…Just one, then.”
A gentle suggestion was all it took, and Marie nodded promptly. Friedrich released my hand for the first time, and offered Marie a small yellow sweet.
Marie peeled the wrapper with one hand and put it in her mouth. At least one of my hands was free now — finally, I could scratch my nose—
Friedrich set something small and crinkly on top of my hand.
I looked down. A sweet, wrapped in soft pinkish cellophane.
A different color from Marie’s.
“What flavor?”
“Peach.”
I paused — just for a moment — without quite meaning to. In that pause, Friedrich unwrapped the sweet and brought it to my lips.
Instinctively, I opened my mouth a little. He smiled gently and placed it on my tongue.
It was sweet. But not as sweet as the peach from before.
“How is it?”
He asked quietly, and took my hand again.
I belatedly remembered I still hadn’t scratched my nose. But now it was too late.
“Sweet.”
“How sweet?”
“Very. Why don’t you have one too?”
“…”
Friedrich looked at me for a long moment after that. His gaze seemed to drift, just slightly, downward. I followed the direction of it without thinking — then caught myself, and swallowed.
He hadn’t missed it. He watched the movement for a moment, and then a faint smile curved his mouth. He unwrapped a pink sweet with one hand and placed it in his mouth.
“It is sweet.”
I watched that smile.
The sweetness in my own mouth seemed to intensify. It was enough to make my throat feel like it was tingling. I swallowed again, for no reason at all.
