Suppressing my still violently pounding heart, I turned to look at Mikhail with difficulty.
Mikhail, his face flushed from the celebratory drinks he’d emptied, waved the cane he was holding.
“I gave you an assignment. Did you talk with His Highness Benedict during the music festival?”
“……”
‘This time, you absolutely must exchange at least a word with His Highness the Prince. If you just run away again, I’ll sever our brotherly ties.’
I remembered he’d said he’d cut family ties if I didn’t fix my personality and talk with the Prince.
Corset. Mask. Kiss.
There was nothing I could say.
“Uh… who are you?”
I didn’t particularly want to be family with Mikhail either, so I said that. The cane came flying. Since the blade in my heart was still pulsing, I nimbly dodged it.
* * *
Unable to attend the Academy due to pheromone rampage, I received individual question-and-answer style lessons.
That lady, a famous governess, was known for being strict. While being tutored by her, I had to read one thick philosophy book each day without fail and absolutely write a review longer than the author’s preface. It was from this time that I came to dislike books.
That wasn’t all. That lady, who also supervised all the other tutors, would set one theme by synthesizing various fields and have me logically express my views on it once every two weeks.
In this process, the lady demanded that I propose the results of my own thinking, not a summary.
That short, if short, inspection moment. It was one of the most fearful times in my childhood.
Speaking my thoughts in an orderly manner before that stern gaze was harder than writing. Also, no matter how I organized it, it was hard to escape criticism of being childish or narrow-minded. Hearing such words every time was somewhat unpleasant.
No matter how much I went through that process, I still find it difficult to logically expound my thoughts before others.
“The social advancement of male omegas was faster than that of female alphas.”
That’s why I thought such a sight was impressive.
“It’s a case proving that stereotypes based on innate gender were greater than stereotypes based on pheromones.”
Lady Lifros, Miss Lucia, was speaking boldly.
“Now it’s not uncommon for male omegas to inherit titles.”
But there were counterarguments too.
“The first duchess was an alpha. There’s still no case of a male omega inheriting a ducal title.”
“That case is different. In the case of the former Duke Yorick, Bonita, it was a case where her own abilities were excessively outstanding. I heard that excluding the imperial family, there has never been anyone born with such powerful magic in the Empire’s history.”
Whether her opinion was right or wrong, the way she confidently presented her views without fearing rebuttal looked wonderful.
“If ‘Duke Bonita Yorick’ had been ‘Duke Bonin Yorick’ and an omega, the first male omega duke would have been born.”
I was admiring Lady Lifros who asserted without hesitation when I flinched. My shoulder jumped.
Though it disappeared like a lie, there was no way I wouldn’t recognize that gaze.
Baron Moss, who had been observing Lady Lifros, walked past me.
I clenched my fists tightly.
Just now, the Baron was looking at me, not Lady Lifros.
Why did he look at me?
“My younger sister seems to have made quite an impression on you.”
It was Sir Lifros.
He followed where my gaze had been, looked at Baron Moss puzzled, then pointed to his younger sister who was still in debate.
“Lately there’s been a rumor going around that Lucia is being stalked.”
Ah, already.
It was a clearly different situation from five years ago. It seemed someone besides me had already noticed.
I don’t have to be tense alone.
I sighed in relief and opened my mouth.
“That’s right. Baron Moss—”
“You’re stalking Lucia—”
“Pardon?”
“Pardon?”
It was a similar situation to before and we both lost our words.
Sir Lifros’s face became strange. And I,
“Me?”
“Haha, yes.”
“I’m stalking Lady Lifros?”
“Yes, you are. That rumor is, hmm.”
That’s why I came to stop you. Sir Lifros smiled like a cloud.
I could understand why Baron Moss had looked at me that way.
Those were the eyes looking at a rival.
“You were continuously watching Lucia just now too, weren’t you?”
His purple eyes sparkled like violets. It was a fresh face that couldn’t believe he was dealing with the culprit who got his younger sister involved in rumors.
“Not just today, but on other days too, there are rumors that you keep following Lucia around or asking about Lucia’s whereabouts. Of course, I know you don’t care about rumors, but unlike other rumors, there are quite a few witnesses.”
“……”
“Words travel fast on the wind. If you’re sincere, go approach Lucia now and tell her, and if not, stop it quickly. Actually, even if you say you’re sincere, I’d like to stop you. There are many people in the world better than that child.”
Sir Lifros spoke as if his younger sister wasn’t much, being considerate of me. That made me feel even more sorry to the two of them.
Making them get caught up in rumors, making them targets of unsavory incidents that didn’t exist before.
When Sir Lifros had actually saved me from Baron Moss’s hands in the past.
“If black spots appear on Miss Lucia’s body, make her eat orchid flowers.”
“……Pardon?”
Only after hearing the knight’s bewildered voice did I realize I’d said something out of the blue. I spent a while making awkward excuses about how I’d been interested in medical texts.
“Because she has such clear, fine skin, no, anyway, given the young lady’s physical characteristics, uh, I thought she might be susceptible to certain diseases?”
The more I spoke, the worse the situation became. Looking at Sir Lifros’s face, it was clear I was losing credibility.
“I’m sorry if I offended you. But really, make her eat orchid flowers.”
“You weren’t really stalking my younger sister, were you?”
“No! I’m not!”
I said I wasn’t, and yet,
“I’m Lucia Lifros.”
“Ah, pleased to meet you. I’m Joachim Meyer.”
“I’m Leon Lifros.”
“……Why are you suddenly introducing yourself, oppa?”
“Because I wanted to too.”
Sir Lifros had suddenly brought Lady Lifros over.
“Is this wonderful gentleman the one who’s been following me around lately?”
“Who knows? Anyway, there’s a suspicious aspect so I brought you. —Young master, you need to learn healthy ways of expressing affection. If you’re interested, don’t hide behind and speak directly, will you?”
Then he grinned and left, saying he’d come back later.
“Oh dear. What is this about.”
Lady Lifros scratched her cheek awkwardly. I was the same. My eyes rolled around in embarrassment. Jake had taught me not to leave a lady in an awkward position.
“I was surprised to see you express your thoughts so fluently in Imperial language too.”
The words I inevitably chose were about the debate that had heated up this drawing room. It was also an honest impression I’d been thinking about all along.
“Oh my, did it sound plausible? But I’m still not as familiar with it as my native language, so I must have been inadequate in embodying my thoughts.”
The young lady lifted her chin like a child.
“If I’d done it in Iotan, you would have fallen for me?”
My mind was confused.
As someone suspected of being a stalker, I felt apologetic to hear this. Mixed with all kinds of guilt, I opened my mouth sincerely.
“I’m sorry, Lady Lifros.”
It really seemed such a rumor was going around. The nobles who had been freely exchanging opinions were glancing back meaningfully at Lady Lifros and me.
“Not at all. And calling me Lady Lifros, just call me Lucia.”
“Pardon?”
Refusing a woman’s kindness was improper. I asked back in surprise, then realized it was rude and hastily added.
“Ah, thank you, Miss Lucia. Just call me Joachim too.”
“I will, Joachim-nim.”
She and I moved our steps toward the window, avoiding gazes.
“Imperial people really live uncomfortably. Just come directly and ask. ‘Are you two dating!'”
“Ahaha……”
“And actually, I’ve been interested in Joachim-nim from before.”
She said something surprising again.
“Rilke Meyer. I don’t like that person. So I became interested in you, who was subtly mistreated by that person.”
“You don’t like Rilke?”
The direct speech of a real Iotan person, not Sir Lifros, was surprising the more I experienced it.
“About two years ago, I saw a different side of that person at an omega gathering. They were acting strangely, so I pretended to be a foreigner who didn’t understand and fired away in Iotan. Wow. They really didn’t seem to know this side spoke Imperial. That’s why they said such things, I suppose?”
“……”
“Normally I would have said let’s settle it right then, but I was too scared to do that.”
Miss Lucia’s words were quite unexpected.
To me at twenty-five, Rilke was very good at packaging their external self for being nineteen. But seventeen-year-old Rilke seemed to have made mistakes.
“Miss Lucia, may I ask you something?”
“Heh, I’ll allow it.”
She answered playfully. Thinking I should just ask next time without asking permission, I opened my mouth.
“Um, back then. Why were you there?”
I mentioned the last day of the music festival. Miss Lucia asked if I remembered the noble man I’d seen then.
“That person is someone I’m seeing these days.”
“Ah.”
“He’s not one of His Highness Benedict’s knights but an imperial knight. Why is he busier than the prince’s knights!”
It was possible that someone working below could actually be busier.
“He just shows his face briefly throughout the concert! When I try to find him, I can’t! How many times did I get lost wandering around looking!”
She added that she’d briefly met me during that time.
“I finally got to see him longer on the last day, and then he says he has to go again. It seemed clear work was more precious to him than me! So I had no choice but to follow! He wouldn’t let me enter the room, so I thought he must have a hidden lover.”
Was that the situation I saw?
“Then, would you believe, His Highness Benedict was there!”
“You must have been surprised.”
“Of course! So I was just happy to see him, and then he tries to send me out.”
“Then what I heard, that, saying you didn’t want to?”
“Yes. I didn’t want to go so I held onto him tightly.”
‘I’m not going, I don’t want to!’
That’s how it happened.
“Can I ask you something too?”
I was blankly lost in thought about that day when Miss Lucia asked.
Looking at her sparkling eyes, I suddenly remembered. My ears were about to burn.
Come to think of it, Miss Lucia must have seen the whole situation that day.
“No, don’t—”
“Why have you been calling him Sir Lifros all this time?”
I looked down at her small figure with wide eyes.
“Weren’t you two friends? Oppa said you were his friend?”
