Chapter 53
Pession, who had been waiting for Arellin like a puppy waiting for its master, stood up.
“Arellin!”
Pession ran over to Arellin with a big smile on his face.
“Arellin, what’s wrong with your face?”
“Huh? Nothing.”
Arellin touched her face. Her normally pale face was so white you could almost see the blood, and her impassive eyes looked somewhat blank.
“How was the tea party?”
Arellin stared at Pession.
“?”
Pession shook his head.
“What did you get on my face?”
“Pession.”
“Huh?”
“We’re friends.”
“Huh? We’re friends.”
“Okay, then.”
“What happened?”
Arellin gave Pession a grumpy look as he shook his head.
“You’re babysitting me.”
“Huh?”
“She thinks you’re my nanny for clinging to me.”
Pession frowned.
“What are you talking about, I want to be your dad!”
“Dismissed. I already have a dad.”
Arellin shook off Pession’s casual clinging.
“You said you’ve never met him!”
“But he’s still a dad.”
“I can take better care of you!”
“You can’t be a dad by caring.”
“I don’t like it.”
Pession whined and clung to her, but once again Arellin shook him off.
“A lady who knows her honor does not cling to a man. Get away.”
“What do you mean, all of a sudden?”
“Clinging to a man is vulgar. Stay away.”
“No, what do you mean?”
Pession jumped up and down.
Arellin suddenly felt strange.
Or rather, rather than explain, Arellin said something else.
“Pession, how long do you think that interest will last?”
“What interest?”
“Interest in me.”
Arellin’s nonchalant tone made Pession feel like he was about to go mad.
“What are you talking about!”
“If you think you’re going to lose interest, let me know. I need to make a big announcement that I’m about to be abandoned.”
“Arell!”
The twins turned to face each other, Arellin looking strangely cold and Pession looking like he was about to go insane.
“Did they fight, Ciel, do you know?”
“I don’t know, Noel, do you have any idea?”
Arellin’s eyes locked with the twins’, who had been arguing amongst themselves.
Why were they being stabbed when they were clearly innocent? The twins were experiencing a strange phenomenon.
“Why, why?”
“Arellin. Do you have something to tell us?”
“Hmm.”
Arellin stroked his chin.
The twins took a moment to consider what they had done to her.
There were so many guesses.
What is it? What’s the catch?!
“You’re having a hard time looking out for me because of Pession, twin.”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“So now you don’t have to follow me around trying to look after me.”
She doesn’t.
She should retort.
It’s so outrageous, so ridiculous, that she blinks and loses the timing of her rebuttal.
What a load of bullshit.
“Arelliririn, what have we done wrong?”
“Arellirin, did we do something to offend you, and this is your revenge?”
“Arellirin, you’re twisting our minds!”
“Arellel, we’re not like you, Your Highness, we’re purely interested in you!”
Pession blurted out.
“I’m purely interested in you, too!”
The sight of the innocent, nubile, squirming twins and Pession seemed to ease Arellin’s mood. Arellin’s expression brightened.
“Wait!”
Ciel suddenly protested.
“Arellirin, why didn’t you say something to Aaron?”
“That’s right, it’s discrimination!”
Arellirin’s gaze locked on Aaron. Aaron, standing silently in the corner, flinched.
“…”
“…”
A short pause.
Arellin patted Aaron on the shoulder and walked past.
“What the hell, Ciel, I didn’t do anything and I think I lost.”
“Oh, Noel. Me too.”
“Me too.”
Pession was sandwiched between the twins as they clung to each other. Aaron sneaks up beside them, but is silently pushed away.
“….”
Aaron was frustrated again.
***
Sigh.
Mehen sighed as he looked at the paper that magically disappeared from his hand.
The information arrived as a top secret letter.
“The Sky Tower is coming…”
The holy place of mages, the headquarters of the Demon Tower, the home of all mages.
News that the ‘Sky Tower’, a place surrounded by mystery and questions as to whether it existed, where it existed, and where it existed outside of the realm of mages, had sent a letter to the Albrecht Empire formally stating their intentions to visit.
‘Because of the Sharit incident.’
Mehen’s gaze fell to the other papers as he sent a letter from the Sky Tower, requesting a meeting with the Demon Lord in Halbern’s name.
<Request for assistance in exterminating monsters in the Western Mountains.>
“There’s been a lot of slaughter lately.”
“Spring is here, and the monsters must be having a picnic.”
“It’s summer.”
“It’s also late spring.”
“What’s the Crown Prince’s special request again?”
“It’s a secret request that’s been circulating around the 1st Knight Order lately, and the rewards are so good that the knights are very motivated.”
Mehen’s expression became strange. It was odd that Pession would do something so out of character for the Crown Prince.
‘I suppose it doesn’t matter.’
More like.
“Reinforcements from the northern castles…”
Jaren muttered a hard, hard mantra each time the connection was made, and it seemed the situation was indeed serious.
‘Valar.’
His golden-green eyes narrowed.
‘The Archduke of Halbern, fearless in the world.
Power for power, wealth for wealth, physical strength for physical strength, looks for looks, brains for brains.
Whether it was the favor of the gods or a man who had everything he could possibly want, Mehen always felt he was in danger.
As if he lived to die every moment.
“Come with me.”
“If you come with me, I’ll give you a place to stay.”
“I’ll make sure you’ll never be alone again.”
He was a boy about his age, and he’d taken his hand, drawn in by his confident smile.
Valar had kept every promise he’d made, but Mehren had never seen anything like the smile he’d seen then.
“You bastard.”
He thought it was a golden cord.
He thought it was the enemy who wouldn’t let him leave work.
“I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
A faint flicker of regret washes over him, then fades away, leaving only a pale trace.
With a light sigh, Mehen brushes it away and looks down at his seat, his eyes slightly clouded.
Agent of the Archduke of Halbern.
The one and only position that allows him to exercise the full power of Halbern in the name of the Archduke in his master’s absence.
‘I’ve entrusted you with this.’
It was handed over to Mehen, overriding the vassals who had served the House of Halbern since its inception.
The backlash was natural, public opinion shattered, but as always, Valer laughed it all off.
‘I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking.’
The pressure and nervousness of being in this position for the first time washed over me.
“You bastard.”
What the hell is he doing here, stuck in the North, where he’s left his family, left his children, left everything, and lost.
“You owe me an explanation.”
Mehen pressed his forehead together in exasperation.
“I’ve been contacted by the Imperial Household. They say there was a brief disturbance at the meeting today, involving a young lady.”
“A disturbance?”
Mehen looked up. Dylan relayed the brief message from the Imperial Ministry. A mild, if mild, disturbance.
‘I’ve never heard of such a thing.’
Mehen was inwardly surprised.
“I see you have a quarrel, young lady.”
“Because she is a child, and it’s better to be spanked than to be beaten!”
“That’s true.”
Mehen shuddered. Perhaps it was because he was thinking of Valar, but he couldn’t recall a good memory.
“It’s just that Dylan doesn’t know Valar himself. If Arel is anything like Valar, shouldn’t we give her a good scolding… to prevent it?”
Dylan blurted out a factual assault.
“If she looks like the Archduke, there’s no point in scolding her, is there?”
“…”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Still, a scolding is a scolding…”
“Mum!”
Arellin burst in, opening the door to his office, wondering when she’d returned.
“Arel.”
Dylan stifled a laugh at the sight of Mehen, who always greeted him when he asked if she needed to be scolded.
