Anyone could see it was an indifferent response, yet the Empress covered her mouth and laughed, “Ohohoho.”
“He’s my son, but he really is so shy.”
That’s what shy looks like? Absurd! That’s just him giving a half-hearted answer because he doesn’t care about the topic.
My inner voice failed to reach the Empress and quietly faded away.
Yes, embroidery. I’m already playing the role of a fiancée that was never meant for me, so adding a bit of embroidery wouldn’t be so bad…… No, it’s very bad.
After that, the Empress continued to ask about trivial things. Just as the Crown Prince had said, I answered “yes” to everything.
Just as I was getting used to answering only “yes,” the Empress curved her lips into a mischievous smile.
“Adrian is a bit mean, isn’t he?”
“N-no…… Yes.”
Crunch. I heard something being crushed right beside me.
I trembled and couldn’t bring myself to check what had broken. I didn’t have the courage.
Why, why, you bastard. I was going to say no too!
It was definitely the Crown Prince who told me to answer “yes” no matter what.
“Oh my. I didn’t expect you to actually say yes. So Adrian really is mean to you?”
The Empress’s eyes went wide. I couldn’t even turn my head and just trembled in place.
I could feel an intense gaze boring into me from right beside me.
“Does Adrian bother you a lot?”
“Yes…….”
“Adrian is insufferable, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
This isn’t right. Even as I thought that, the command the Crown Prince had given me before meeting the Empress echoed in my mind, and I couldn’t give any other answer.
And I couldn’t ignore the Empress’s questions either.
I desperately hoped Her Majesty would stop asking difficult questions, but my wish was not granted.
“That’s right. I don’t know why he suddenly changed from the gentle, kind child he was when he was little. Sigh, he was so cute and adorable.”
The Crown Prince was gentle, kind, cute, and adorable when he was young?
It was the most unbelievable and terrifying thing I had heard all year. It had no basis in reality.
“You look like you don’t believe me?”
“……Yes.”
How could I believe that?
For a personality wreck like the Crown Prince to have been cute and adorable in the past was truly absurd. It would have been more believable if he had smashed everything around him the moment he was born.
“When he was little, he used to say, ‘Yes, Mother,’ and he was so adorable! Ah, I really miss the old days.”
“Please refrain from pointless stories, Your Majesty.”
“Oh my. Are you embarrassed? Won’t you call me Mother like you did when you were little?”
“I refuse.”
I had learned a fact I didn’t need to know. The Crown Prince had been very kind and cute when he was young……. I wanted to return to the past when I didn’t know this.
“Anyway, Lady Artienne.”
“Yes?”
“This seat is quite uncomfortable, isn’t it?”
Ah, this question doesn’t seem like one I should answer with “yes.” My anxious gaze turned to the Crown Prince, but he paid it no mind.
I answered, thoroughly tense.
“Yes…….”
“I thought so…….”
Was Her Majesty angry? The Empress said nothing for a moment.
A quiet silence flowed. My mouth felt as though it were burning dry.
I waited for the Empress’s next words, terribly tense.
“Ah, I really like that you’re honest!”
It was a completely unexpected response.
The Empress laughed like a young girl and clapped her hands. I froze with a stupid expression. Wasn’t this a serious atmosphere……?
She was even laughing on the verge of tears.
The Crown Prince, watching the scene, let out a sigh.
“Your Majesty.”
“Why are you making such a serious face? Isn’t this better than talking about you behind your back?”
The Empress’s praise did not end there. She took my hand and smiled gently and softly.
“I’ve felt somewhat hurt because Lady Artienne seemed to keep her distance from me, but I’m glad we’ve grown closer and opened our hearts through this opportunity. Adrian is still immature and often acts coldly. Even so, I hope kind-hearted Lady Artienne will gently soothe him from his side. I feel I can entrust that immature child to you, Lady Artienne. Please take care of him.”
“Yes…….”
All I had done was say “yes, yes,” and yet in an instant I had gained the Empress’s trust.
I nodded with a dazed face. I couldn’t tell whether this was a good thing or not.
“In that sense, I have a favor to ask of Lady Artie.”
“What? Yes…….”
“A congratulatory delegation from the Sirius Empire is arriving tomorrow to attend my birthday party. Among them will be my younger sister, Empress Veronica, and Crown Prince Ronen. I was thinking of entrusting them to Lady Artie―.”
Before the Empress could finish, Adrian stepped in.
“I’ll do it.”
The Empress’s eyes went wide.
“Oh my, you?”
“Yes. If you have nothing more to say, I will take my leave.”
“Oh, oh my.”
The Crown Prince gave a perfunctory bow to the Empress, who was covering her mouth in surprise, and dragged me outside.
I left the Empress’s reception room in a daze.
I opened the door, stepped out, and let out a sigh of relief. Still, it seemed to have ended well, which was a relief.
But that seemed to be my mistake. When I turned around, the Crown Prince was staring intently at me with an expression that suggested he had a great deal to say.
“Wh-why are you like this?”
“You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you?”
What do I do? I don’t know…….
“Did I do something wrong…….”
My voice grew smaller and smaller until it dwindled to a whisper. But no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why the Crown Prince was angry.
Was he angry because there was no chair or teacup for him? But he stole mine and sat in it and drank from it!
Why on earth is he like this?
His cold gaze, cast downward, turned toward me.
Ah, as expected, today too, the crises of death never cease.
* * *
After the meeting with the Empress, Adrian’s office.
Terni, who happened to run into us, looked puzzled at the sight of us, then began interrogating me in detail.
“Why is that bastard angry?”
“Her Majesty the Empress summoned me, so I went…….”
“And then?”
I relayed only the facts, excluding as much commentary as possible. The conversation I had shared with the Empress. The more I did, the more Terni burst into laughter.
The part where his laughter grew loudest was this.
Adrian is a bit mean, isn’t he? Yes.
“Adrian is mean…… kuhk…… you said yes. You’re insane, really. Heugh…….”
“No, if you laugh that hard…….”
Terni laughed enormously, unable to see even an inch ahead. I couldn’t tell whether he was laughing or crying. Trying to stop him was utterly useless.
And then I saw it.
Adrian’s expression hardening as he moved his hand to his waist.
“Hey, are you crying?”
Terni began teasing Adrian with a sly grin. At last, the Crown Prince gripped the hilt of his sword.
“Ah!”
“Whoa!”
The sword was drawn.
It was a critical moment where Adrian was about to cut Terni down.
“Is this a murder case?”
Diano, far from stopping it, sparkled his eyes in admiration.
“His Highness with his sword drawn is so cool…….”
He even added fuel to the fire.
I felt an enormous sense of crisis. I had known this for a while, but I was the only sane person here.
Terni, the Crown Prince, and even Diano—none of them were in their right minds.
I subtly glanced toward the door to escape, but it was firmly shut, as if mocking me.
I’m doomed, doomed…….
It was when the Crown Prince raised his sword high to cut Terni down.
“Wait. Freeze! I’m holding very important information right now!”
“Stop your tricks and just die.”
The Crown Prince was not so easily swayed. But Terni, standing against him, was no easy opponent either.
“Essen!”
At the sudden name, the Crown Prince’s sword halted in midair. Terni, noticing he was shaken, smiled at the corner of his lips.
“I found where Essen is. I’m the only one who knows where that is! And you’re still going to kill me?”
“Tell me. Where is it.”
“Put that down first, and I’ll tell you!”
The Crown Prince, after some deliberation, soon lowered his sword.
So he misses this person named Essen that much. Once again, the fact that the Crown Prince was gay came to mind.
He even suppresses his surging anger to find his departed lover. I grew needlessly melancholic and my nose tingled.
“Tell me quickly. Essen, where are you now.”
“Ah, where was it again. Hold on. You ask so suddenly, I can’t remember.”
Terni pressed his index finger to his head as if thinking. Sensing something amiss, the Crown Prince reached for his sword again, but it was already too late.
“Actually, I don’t know~.”
Leaving only those words behind, Terni bolted out of the office like a shot.
A tremendous silence descended upon the office. It was so cold I wondered if the temperature had dropped by five degrees.
The Crown Prince, holding his sword loosely, glared at the door through which Terni had fled.
“……That bastard. Bring him here this instant.”
After a brief pause as if suppressing his anger, he continued.
“I’m going to execute him.”
Diano, watching the Crown Prince’s chilling fury, spoke as if in defense.
“However, Your Highness. Information really has come in. It’s not certain, so we’re still verifying its authenticity.”
“Is that so?”
Diano briefly glanced at me.
“It’s all right, tell me.”
“Well…… they say he’s been going around dressed as a woman.”
“Is that why you couldn’t find him?”
“Yes. It seems we’ll need to expand the search to include women as well.”
“Understood. Do that.”
I had unexpectedly overheard something tremendous.
“In any case, bring him back without a single wound. He must not be hurt anywhere.”
Love! It’s love!
I never thought I would hear such words from the Crown Prince’s mouth. Unlike me, who was shocked, Diano nodded as if he had expected it.
“It hasn’t been long since he ran away, and I already miss Lord Essen.”
“Is that so?”
I was startled by Diano’s words. No, is it really all right to say that in front of the Crown Prince? Unlike me, who was alarmed, the Crown Prince nodded plainly.
“I miss him a little too.”
Ah, it’s love…….
