Once Hereis left, my mind calmed down a little. I suppressed the surging shame and traced back through the contents of the dream.
Arleigh -> Finger
Eldon -> Finger
Forti -> Tongue
Hereis -> X
Hmm… Aren’t dreams supposed to become hazier as time passes? Why is this so vivid?
Anyway, Arleigh and Eldon only put their fingers in, Forti used his tongue, and nothing happened with Hereis. There were variations in the story, but nothing went beyond the level of what I’d experienced.
Moreover, Seha was there too….
I suppressed my anger. When I see the real Seha, I have to smile at him, so I mustn’t get angry over a dream.
In any case, despite burying my nose in a 19+ rated novel, I failed miserably. Is my imagination really only this much? Even though I was someone who worked in creative fields, it’s so disastrous.
Still, there were some parts that were a bit different from the dream. Namely, the part where Forti’s member rubbed against my belly…. Ha, just thinking about it is embarrassing.
Sorry, Forti.
I was incredibly shocked by the size of Forti’s penis, and it seems that came out even in my dream. Right, now that I think about it!
I opened my eyes wide and opened Greedy Rose’s novel again.
<Night at the Imperial Academy Dormitory>, <The Young Grand Duke and the Tower of Training>, <Spirit Confinement>….
All of them were too high level to just read the text and visualize the scenes. I’d never been to the Academy, never been to the clock tower where the young grand duke was imprisoned, and certainly never seen a spirit. To solve my lack of imagination, I needed to experience things directly.
Right, experience! I think I found the key to giving Hereis a meal. I was about to call Raki. But the door opened first and Raki came running in breathlessly.
“Young master! Young master!”
“What’s the matter?”
“His Highness the Third Prince is receiving the Imperial Glory Medal!”
“…Imperial Glory Medal?”
“Yes. They say a party to celebrate the medal conferment will be held tomorrow.”
The moment I heard the words ‘Imperial Glory Medal,’ my fingertips went ice cold.
The greatest reward that can be given to someone who has achieved merit is a ‘title’. But there are people who cannot receive titles. Those whose status is too humble, who are of a different race, or who are from another country are awarded medals. And also when one’s status is too high….
The ‘Imperial Glory Medal’ is a medal given when the Crown Prince, for whom receiving a title would be meaningless, achieves merit.
Although it wasn’t legally established that only the Crown Prince could receive it, it had solidified as customary law. Therefore, the weight the ‘Imperial Glory Medal’ carried was heavy.
A prince receiving the ‘Imperial Glory Medal’ was considered a signal for Crown Prince investiture. If another prince received the ‘Imperial Glory Medal’ when there was already a Crown Prince, it meant the Emperor’s heart had changed. And without fail, a Crown Prince replacement would be carried out.
The Emperor was declaring that he would depose Eldon and make Arleigh the Crown Prince.
I clenched my fists tight. It wasn’t that I was worried Eldon would be deposed. Because it was like this in the original work too.
A party is held to celebrate Arleigh’s medal conferment, and he receives Crown Prince treatment. Then Eldon and Seha return with evidence to bring down Grand Duke Curtis, and the Third Prince begins walking the path of downfall.
Right, tomorrow the bastard fiancé who cheated on me with his lover is making his comeback.
I hurriedly sat at my desk. I’d forgotten for a moment because of Hereis’s meal, but my biggest goal was a safe breakup.
And there was something important I had to do before Eldon arrived.
I took out the finest paper and wrote a letter. Although I was a villainous sub-uke in danger of a gruesome death ending, I liked this world. Especially the quality of writing instruments and art supplies was top-notch. If it had been a world using quill pens on parchment, I would have despaired in other ways too.
After writing a short letter with a simple fountain pen studded with diamonds, I put it in an envelope. Then I handed Raki the envelope sealed with wax using a stamp bearing Rosenthal’s initials.
“Deliver this to His Highness the Third Prince.”
“Yes, young master.”
Normally, he would have been reluctant about me making contact with Arleigh and would have begged me to reconsider. But Raki didn’t do that. Rather, he dashed out as if every second counted.
Raki had grown up in the ducal residence since childhood. When empresses or crown princesses marry, they take their nurses or ladies-in-waiting with them. Raki was a child Duke Chendewden had carefully selected to send to the imperial palace with me, and had been just as thoroughly educated. Overshadowed by Eldon and Hereis’s unrealistic looks, but he was tall, neat with handsome features, perfect in etiquette, and smart.
So he would know just from the fact that the Imperial Glory Medal was conferred that the political situation had rapidly changed. And as soon as he saw signs of the Crown Prince changing, he swiftly switched sides.
I thought, ‘So despite being so kind, he managed to help Rosenthal torment Seha,’ but it was swift movement befitting a villain’s henchman.
He must think I’m going to switch horses to Arleigh, right? But unfortunately, Raki’s thoughts were wrong.
***
“Young master, will this be alright?”
“It’s fine.”
As soon as Raki returned with a reply, I went out with Raki and Forti.
It was the first time I’d left the palace of my own volition since entering it.
Why hadn’t I ever thought to leave even once? Well, there were many reasons. I’d be kicked out soon anyway, so before that I wanted to sketch the imperial palace a little more, I had to follow Eldon around because of the chastity belt, and I’d been injured too. Plus, I had my inherent homebody tendencies.
But thinking about it now, it’s a bit regrettable. There were many things I could have enjoyed because I was the Crown Prince’s fiancé, but I hadn’t utilized any of them.
So today I planned to make use of the Crown Prince’s fiancé status. Because tomorrow this life would be over anyway.
“Maybe I should have requested an escort knight.”
When we came out to the plaza, Raki’s expression hardened even more. He must be worried about my safety because of when I was dragged away by the slave trader. I brushed it off thinking it happened because of the original work’s power, but Raki ended up getting trauma.
“It’s fine. We have Forti. Right, Forti?”
“Yeah. Just trust me.”
Forti spoke in what was, for him, a dependable tone. But the childlike feeling didn’t disappear.
Forti was the same age as Seha. Nineteen by Imperial age, twenty by our country’s age. But his appearance looked at most like a high school freshman or sophomore, and his speech and behavior were even younger.
He didn’t talk about his past so I couldn’t know, but it seemed he’d spent quite a long time as a wolf. Looking at his memorization and mental calculation abilities, he seemed smart, but his common knowledge was at a child’s level. His vocabulary was also lacking, and his sentences were often somewhat awkward.
However, this might be due to factors other than language ability. Since werewolves are said to use their own language, he might simply be unfamiliar with human language and culture.
In any case, though Forti lacked common knowledge and vocabulary, his martial arts skills were unimaginably excellent.
When I first brought Forti, I vaguely thought that since he was a werewolf he’d be stronger than ordinary people and mentioned escort, but even to me who was ignorant about martial arts, his movements had discipline. Even Hereis acknowledged him, saying he wouldn’t need to worry if Forti was with me.
After bringing Forti, I read numerous books about werewolves in the library. And those books all said the same thing. That the Wolf Tribe were beings who only believed in their superior physiques and attacked people by charging ferociously and roughly, unable to handle weapons. But Forti seemed more skilled in swordsmanship than unarmed combat.
I was curious how Forti, who had both strength and technique, got captured and ended up flowing into the imperial palace, but he didn’t speak of it and I had no intention of prying.
When I got out of the carriage, a strong wind blew. I put Forti’s robe back on him as it fluttered.
In the Empire, fear and contempt for beastmen were rampant, and unless one covered their ears, going outside was impossible. I expected it, but Raki really was kind.
There were almost no people who would look at Forti without prejudice like Raki did. Even when palace servants came to the separate palace and saw Forti, they often screamed and ran away.
“Sorry.”
When I carefully fastened his robe, Forti lowered his head.
“What are you sorry for? I’m doing this so you won’t catch a cold.”
After covering his ears, I also pulled my robe deep over my head.
“And outstanding people like us need to cover up a bit.”
It would be a good example to add that it’s like celebrities’ hat & sunglasses & mask fashion, but Forti wouldn’t understand.
Actually, I wore one too because I thought Forti might feel bad if he wore it alone.
“Young master, what about me!”
I was smiling at Forti when Raki got indignant.
“Hmm…. Raki, you’re fine as you are. You can just go like that.”
“That’s too much!”
Raki pouted his lips, but he didn’t really look angry. He too would know full well why I wore the robe. He must be playing along to accommodate Forti’s feelings.
“Haha, sorry. But there are a lot of people.”
“It’s November now. It’ll be in a festival atmosphere continuously until Founding Day.”
“Founding Day….”
Founding Day was one of the Keltan Empire’s three major festivals. And it was also an important episode in <Three Crowns>. Eldon names Seha, who made great contributions to bringing down Grand Duke Curtis, as a concubine, and the enraged Rosenthal goes berserk.
Raising hell about bringing a man who isn’t even an omega into the harem, he boards the express train to a full-fledged gruesome death.
But that won’t happen now. When Eldon returns tomorrow, he’ll probably declare an annulment. We’re not yet married, after all.
Tomorrow, Eldon really arrives. He must have suffered mentally hiding his identity in the south, so has his face gotten rough? No, what needless concern when Seha is there. Eldon will be full of love, so I should worry about myself.
In exchange for the annulment, I need to get the slave brand erased and receive Forti’s ownership too. And then completely part ways from the <Three Crowns> story.
“Young master, where shall we go?”
“First, let’s go to a restaurant overlooking the Serian River.”
The day of reckoning is tomorrow. And what I have to do today is ‘Hereis’s feast’. I’d even shown him a strange dream, so as mental damage compensation if nothing else, I had to give him proper treatment.
And my goal today was to aim for the status of Crown Prince’s fiancé while faithfully recreating Greedy Rose’s novel <The Young Grand Duke and the Tower of Training>, and to have that dream.
