“That must be the second prince. I heard the first prince has black hair. He’s very kind, as the rumor has it.”
“…”
The woman seemed rather relaxed, not showing any sign of urgency or appeal from before. She looked out the window and said, “You seem to be very hooked. Do you want to know the truth?”
Blake Ariandel turned her head.
I didn’t need to tell her that Valery knew my existence. I just looked straight at her. It seemed that her eyes were shaking a little bit, but before I knew it, they became solid again.
I didn’t know what else Sir Shubart promised Count Ariandel besides money, but I felt a little twisted when I thought he might promise to give one of the princes.
“What do you want?”
“So scary. Is your appearance earlier fake?”
“As far as I know, I received this identity from the exchange.”
Then Blake Ariandel shrugged. “My father received a lot of things, but what does that have to do with me? The existence of Blake Ariandel is me.”
“Do you want to get your seat back?”
They said she was sick, but she didn’t look like that at all. She did look a little thin, but it didn’t mean being skinny made you look sick. Above all, it was certain she was more beautiful than her portrait.
Fake and real. Real and fake. I felt worse than I expected.
“Well, what do you think?”
“…”
Did I have any foresight? Maybe it was just my feeling, but I felt like her image overlapped with the Blake Ariandel I saw in my dream.
“You’re older than me, right? I will just call you sister.”
“Do as you please.”
“That person seems to be obsessed with Sister. What do you think about it? Your appearance may be fake, but you’re sincere on the inside, right?”
“Stop talking nonsense. You probably didn’t do this just because you’re bored.”
Then Blake Ariandel widened her eyes.
“I don’t have any motive though? I guess Sister and I are in the same category of human beings.”
At the constant nonsense, I finally gave up and turned my head. If there was anything she wanted, she would tell me.
In the meantime, we reached the front of the mansion. Blake Ariandel, who had been looking outside from the moment the conversation stopped, couldn’t take her eyes off the mansion when the carriage stopped.
“…It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
Pretending not to hear her small murmur, I opened the carriage door and tried to get off immediately.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell him now. I will go home with the help of this person.” Blake Ariandel pointed at Ian, speaking as if she was the original owner— thought, in fact, it was her mansion.
“Ian, take her inside. I’m going to say my farewell.”
Then I opened the carriage door and got off immediately. Valery was walking toward me as I opened my mouth first. “She’s not from the capital. She must not be familiar with the geography here. How surprised she must be.”
“Is that so? I give her a carriage and take her to the nearby treatment center. There’s nothing more to worry about.”
“No. She is younger than me. I already told Ian to serve her tea, then take her there later.”
“Wouldn’t it bother you? If not…”
Valery blurted out the end of his words. Then he held out his hand to me. I put my hand on top of his, and at the same time, he lightly kissed it and then put it down.
“…What?”
“Are you going to be jealous?”
I was about to reply, but I raised my other hand to cover my forehead at the thought that passed by.
That’s right. I remembered throwing all sorts of weird words earlier to get Blake Ariandel away from him.
“That’s…”
Of course, of all the words, I said that word. But I couldn’t pick up the water that had already been spilled.
Somehow, Valery’s expression looked better than when he said he would take Blake Ariandel earlier. He must have been smiling the whole time in the carriage because he thought I was jealous. I didn’t know how I could say that…
“L-Let’s forget about that.”
“I think it would be better if you said it every day.”
Feeling like he was making fun of me, I glanced at him.
“Being locked out of jealousy isn’t your preference, right…? You don’t like it, right?”
“It seems to be my preference. I only realized it today. Are you going to lock me up?”
I eventually let go of his hand. “If you keep doing that, I will really lock you up.”
Then he smiled pleasantly. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”
“Even though we were together all day yesterday and today too?”
“Yes.”
This time I laughed at his expression asking if I was asking for something obvious. My nervousness that Blake Ariandel had entered the mansion felt a little washed away. Really, no matter how I looked at him, he looked like… a big dog.
“…Then shall we see each other tomorrow?””
“Is that okay?”
“I heard the night market is held every Wednesday and Saturday in the commercial district. It happens to be tomorrow. I’ve never been there before. Do you want to go with me?”
“From the morning?”
I frowned at his words. He wants to stay with me all day again?
“During the day… Your Highness has to work, right?”
“It’s Valery.”
“…There are people here.”
He became sullen again. I held his hand as if to soothe him.
“We can meet anytime.”
His lips touched the back of my hand again. “I will pick you up in the evening.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
After forcibly pushing Valery, who didn’t want to go, I came to the mansion. As soon as I entered, I felt suffocated. I needed to figure out what to do first. Thinking of that, I headed to the living room where Blake Ariandel was.
* * *
The inside of the carriage on the way back to the imperial palace was very quiet. Joanne, his assistant, was sitting across from him comfortably as if he was familiar with this situation. He had been racking his butt up and down again and again before he opened his mouth.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes.”
“The woman who fell in front of the carriage earlier.”
Valery looked at Joanne as if to tell him something.
“Don’t the two of them look oddly similar?”
“Who looks alike?”
“It’s not that they have similar faces, but they have the same red hair and similar eye color, so when they faced each other, I instantly thought they were sisters.”
“Red hair?” Valery asked in a tone as if he knew it for the first time.
Then a strange expression appeared on Joanne’s face.
“…You saw it before. Bright red hair. Even though their eyes are a little different, from a distance, you can’t tell they’re completely different…”
“She doesn’t look like her at all. Whether it is her eyes or her hair. Her hair is naturally red.”
Valery turned his head with a casual expression and stopped talking.
“Naturally? What was Your Highness trying to say?”
“Nothing. You don’t have to be interested. She doesn’t look like her at all.”
“Yes…”
Joanne murmured, “Similar…” and then closed his mouth again. It was because he saw Valery’s face turned back to the window and his stiff mouth loosened before he knew it. He must have imagined the person he had just parted away with.
When Valery was younger than now, there was a joke that he liked men because he wasn’t interested in any women. But now he fell in love at once.
Joanne was worried about it before, but he was relieved because it didn’t influence his work at all. Moreover, Valery tended to be trusted by the emperor these days.
Although they had a good brotherly relationship to the extent that it was the first time in history, Joanne still wished that his master would receive the position of crown prince. Since he was young, he had already made up his mind to serve him, so he couldn’t help but feel that way.
“Joanne.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Joanne woke up from his thoughts and answered immediately.
“How far can I trust you?”
“Are you doubting me again? I said I would give my life to serve you.”
Joanne had a somewhat resentful look on his face because Valery had already asked that question several times.
Valery just smiled, leaning loosely with his legs crossed. “Can you trust and follow whatever I entrust you to do?”
“Shall I tell you again? Your Highness is the reason I’m here.”
Joanne had become familiar with that question these days. A few times, Valery asked meaningfully and just let it go. Now he wanted to hear his answer.
“Just give me an order. Ah, of course, I hope you don’t tell me to die right now.”
“It contradicts to what you just said.”
“Since I’m protecting Your Highness, it would be nice for me to protect your future grandchildren as well!”
“Stop it.”
Joanne, who was fumbling, cleared his throat, calmed his face, and asked sincerely, “What do I have to do?”
“I want to protect her.”
Fearing that she might get hurt, Valery hid the truth from his subordinates, worried they would feel betrayed and angry.
What calmed the remaining confusion was the words Valery spoke while looking at Joanne.
