At Nigel’s answer, the countess fluttered her fan as if in agreement and said.
“Isn’t it because of those Sihari people over there? I’ve been bothered by them continuously as well.”
“I heard from Benji. That Your Highness Nigel brought one Sihari into the Student Council. Hehe. As expected, you are destined to become the master of the Empire in the future. You must have the grand intention that even they are citizens of the Kaiserion Empire.”
Benji, the son of Marquis Valerian, was a member of the academy’s Student Council. The boy had apparently conveyed the situation when Eden Lake joined to the marquis.
That aside….
“I merely admitted a new student who met the Student Council’s standards.”
Nigel replied dryly. It was the truth. Eden Lake’s origins didn’t matter. He was simply the most outstanding among this year’s freshmen, and his work abilities were excellent, so the fact that he was Sihari wasn’t of interest.
However, the nobles gathered around him arbitrarily packaged Nigel’s choice as imperial magnanimity and clinked their champagne glasses.
The deceitful praise bounced off the high ceiling of the glass greenhouse and resonated. Nigel looked beyond the plant shadows once more. The unidentified man had already disappeared into the secret passage in the corner of the greenhouse, and Eden Lake, left alone, was walking toward Nigel while adjusting his glasses.
He elegantly crossed between the nobles and stopped right behind Nigel. The murderous aura from just moments ago when he’d been glaring as if to devour his counterpart was completely gone.
“Nigel, were you looking for me?”
It was his usual low voice.
However, the scent of perfume not commonly used in the Empire, seemingly wafting from where the middle-aged man had been standing, reached Nigel’s nose.
“Eden. Who were you talking with just now?”
At Nigel’s question, Eden’s eyes curved thinly for a fleeting moment behind his glasses. He whispered very naturally while filling the empty teacup in front of Nigel.
“…My relative. Since Kaiserion’s festival is so famous, he wanted to tour the academy even if it meant committing the discourtesy of seeing Your Highness. I scolded him sharply and sent him away, so please don’t worry too much.”
“It seemed like you were conversing in Sihari.”
At Nigel’s point, Eden’s touch paused briefly. But soon he smiled politely with an unconcerned face and said.
“I didn’t know Your Highness even knew Sihari. You heard us exchanging greetings according to our hometown’s customs since it was a relative I hadn’t seen in a while.”
Greetings? Nigel slowly raised his gaze that had been directed at the teacup. Even if he didn’t know Sihari, he could at least read the atmosphere. It definitely hadn’t felt like warmly exchanging greetings after meeting for the first time in a while.
“For greetings, it sounded like you were fighting.”
“Since Sihar is such a barren land, the language is also rough. It could certainly have sounded that way to Your Highness.”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Nigel looked down at the tea leaves rippling in the cup. To simply say it was because the language was rough, the atmosphere that had clashed in that brief moment had been far too chilly.
But Eden’s face was still courteous without a single hint of disorder. Etiquette more imperial than that of imperials, and blind loyalty directed at him.
Nigel reassured himself that there was no way he would lie and brought the cup to his lips.
“Your complexion looks quite poor. It seems you’ve overexerted yourself ahead of Her Majesty’s visit.”
Eden naturally reached his hand near Nigel’s wrist. While pretending to adjust the end of Nigel’s sleeve, he caressed Nigel’s skin with his long fingers. Veil’s silver bracelet positioned there briefly glinted at that touch.
This is…. After confirming Eden’s eyes narrowing, Nigel suppressed the oncoming headache and stood up from his seat. As the nobles’ pretentious laughter filling the glass greenhouse and the heavy scent of perfume rushed over him all at once, he felt like he might vomit.
“…I need to get some fresh air for a moment.”
“Shall I accompany you?”
“No.”
After answering quickly, Nigel thought he’d spoken too firmly and softened his stiff expression slightly before speaking again.
“No. I’ll go alone.”
It wasn’t Eden’s fault that his head hurt right now. Eden was silent for just a moment, then soon bowed his head elegantly.
“Have a safe trip.”
Nigel left the Student Council room with Eden’s farewell behind him.
As the moderately cool afternoon air touched him, he finally felt like he could breathe. Inside Kaiserion Academy was still filled with excited VIP guests and students.
Should I stop by the garden for a bit?
His head was complicated. He needed to sort things out a little.
Clearly, until just yesterday, he’d been searching the campus with Rowen trying to find the culprit who had cursed him. Now, finding the culprit had become a secondary matter.
That’s when it happened.
Nigel’s quick steps slowed down. It was because he’d seen someone’s back. It was the man who had confronted Eden Lake in the corner of the Student Council room earlier.
Though he was in the bustling plaza crowd of Kaiserion Academy, he felt out of place, perhaps because of his distinctive non-imperial attire.
“…….”
Whether he felt the gaze directed at him or not, the middle-aged man stopped walking and glanced back. His exotic appearance with dark skin similar to Eden’s was noticeable.
Is he really related to Eden Lake?
Nigel newly realized that what he knew about Eden was only his country of origin and his perfect work abilities. It was probably due to his personality of not enjoying small talk unless it was work-related.
No, was that really the only reason? There might be a reason why Eden Lake didn’t talk about his personal daily life.
For instance, stories about the Kingdom of Sihar that was destroyed by the Empire….
As soon as the middle-aged man resembling Eden confirmed that Nigel was looking at him, he removed the hat he was wearing and then politely bowed his head in a brief nod.
It was perfect imperial-style etiquette.
Nigel’s brow furrowed slightly.
Then he walked away again and concealed himself among the VIP guests moving in groups.
***
Sitting on the bench in the academy’s garden, which was always perfectly maintained, his complicated head seemed to have sorted itself out to some degree.
It seemed like he and Rowen had fought because they’d conversed while being unnecessarily sharp with each other. If he had apologized more properly, Rowen wasn’t the type to hold small matters in his heart, so he would have accepted it immediately.
Come to think of it, this was the first time he’d properly fought with Rowen like this. Though there had been big and small conflicts while growing up, Rowen, who had always apologized first and approached him, felt newly impressive.
Nigel let out a sigh and lifted his head that had been leaning against the bench backrest. Then he raised his heavy body.
When he returned to the Student Council room, Eden Lake, who had been sitting and organizing festival-related parchments, greeted Nigel.
“You came back quickly, Nigel.”
“Yeah. As a change of pace.”
As Nigel buried himself in the sofa set up on one side of the Student Council room, Eden placed his favorite teacup on the side table as if he’d been waiting.
“…….”
Nigel’s hands, which had been straightening his clothes that got wrinkled from sitting on the sofa, stopped abruptly.
“…The tea has an unusual fragrance?”
It was because he’d noticed that the scent of the tea Eden was brewing was different from what he usually enjoyed. Ah, Eden Lake nodded and resolved Nigel’s curiosity.
“Yes. I received a lot of tea leaves from the visitors this time. I brewed it because it was good when I tried it. It’s neither sweet nor bitter, so you’ll like it too, Nigel.”
Come to think of it, there was a teacup containing the same tea in front of Eden as well. Since Nigel enjoyed tea so much, Eden often personally procured distinctive tea leaves from the Empire. As he had anticipated, most of them suited Nigel’s taste.
Trickle. After confirming Nigel’s intention with a slight nod, Eden poured tea into the teacup on the side table. As warm steam rose, the unique scent of tea leaves emerged.
“Please try a sip, and if it doesn’t suit you, let me know. I’ll brew your usual tea right away.”
“Thanks.”
It was just when he was thirsty after coming back from his walk. Nigel lifted the teacup. The tea water going down his throat was moderately refreshing and cool, unlike the somewhat unfamiliar scent. The leather of the sofa behind him felt much softer than usual.
The conflict with Rowen that had been disturbing his mind all day today, or the man who had been fighting with Eden—all of it faded like a story from a very distant country.
