Puti, who had received orders to observe the Prince using the servants, opened his mouth.
“Other than stories that he has a good personality, there are no particular stories coming in.”
Since Rosetta hadn’t expected him to find out something amazing already, he answered indifferently.
“Manage things well so our information doesn’t leak out.”
There shouldn’t be any foolish incidents of approaching to obtain information only to hand over information from this side.
Of course, even without such detailed orders, he would handle things well on his own, but nevertheless Rosetta gave another warning while simultaneously revealing a reward that would tempt Puti.
“If this matter goes well, I’ll gradually hand over the position of head butler.”
Rosetta knew that Puti was someone with quite a bit of desire for power. Of course, since his loyalty to the Imperial family and himself was greater than that desire for power, he had made him his personal attendant.
‘I thought he was quick-witted, but not about that.’
It was a story that would make Puti feel very wronged if he heard it, but Rosetta didn’t bring that thought out of his mouth. At Rosetta’s words, Puti was moved and bowed deeply once more.
“…I will do my best.”
When desire for power and loyalty combined, Puti would accomplish what he was entrusted with even more splendidly. Since he was someone who showed quite a talent in handling servants, the reward of head butler wasn’t excessive either.
Observing Puti, who was full of motivation, Rosetta looked back out the window. No matter how close the tea time location and the office were, he couldn’t see their figures beyond the window.
He could grasp where they were to some extent using divine power, but he couldn’t know the detailed circumstances either.
‘The palace is uselessly large.’
He even thought it might be good to reduce the size of the palace. Rosetta, who clicked his tongue quietly, asked Puti.
“Over there?”
Puti, who realized what he was asking, brought up the story he heard through the servants who had brought tea.
“It’s going smoothly. There’s nothing particular so far.”
It meant the atmosphere was neither particularly good nor bad.
“If Seoho seems uncomfortable, make an appropriate excuse that I’m calling for him.”
“Yes.”
“Go on.”
Having sent Puti away like that, Rosetta thought that Seoho’s schedule wouldn’t last very long.
Seeing how he was uncomfortable with others besides Puti, Aris, and himself—specifically the servants—Seoho was someone who was a bit shy with strangers.
However, the tea time continued longer than Rosetta expected.
‘Two hours.’
Rosetta received the report Aris had sent. He had ordered Aris not to leave Seoho’s side whenever he was away. Perhaps because of that, it seemed he had chosen a report rather than coming to report in person.
‘He’s got initiative.’
Rosetta carefully went over the conversation Aris had conveyed. Introducing an alias to use here and trying to create common topics of conversation was a common conversational technique. Although some irritating questions came up occasionally, there was nothing that greatly bothered him.
‘It’s unexpected that he brought up the canary story first.’
It seemed to be a gesture that he would get along well. However, there was one part that couldn’t be passed over. Rosetta’s eyes grew cold as he examined the last page of the report.
“Yun?”
Sunlight Yun. This was the moment when it became even more certain that the concubine was really from the same country as Seoho.
A name created in a similar way to Seoho’s name. Someone with a mother from the same hometown, and if even the names were similar.
“…Seoho will have no choice but to care.”
Rosetta shook off the pen that was being consumed by darkness and crumbling in his grip. Then he looked down at the desk that was corroding more and more.
As long as Seoho felt a sense of kinship with that person, from now on Seoho wouldn’t be able to easily refuse meetings with the Prince.
‘And I won’t be able to stop it.’
However, his insides didn’t boil over like the previous day. It was irritating, but even so, strangely his mind was at peace.
‘It must be because of that day’s conversation and kiss.’
Recalling the gentle voice that had caressed his heart, Rosetta let out a faint smile.
‘Right, I should let you do as you wish.’
Rosetta wanted to be as kind and gentle a person as possible, at least to Seoho.
Of course, while saying he would give Seoho autonomy, he might have screwed up from the point of eavesdropping on that conversation in this manner, but Rosetta was trying his best to maintain a minimum line.
‘Because that’s how I’ll truly have you.’
Rosetta wanted not a manufactured choice, but for Seoho to choose him of his own accord.
***
Just because he had revealed the canary’s existence to Seoho didn’t mean all the eyes that had been substituting for Yun’s eyes had disappeared.
A few days after the tea time with Seoho, spending time in the room given to him without any particular schedule, Yun thought.
‘There aren’t that many people compared to the scale.’
Of course, this was the Emperor’s palace, and there were many gazes monitoring Yun, who was under the Emperor’s suspicion, so he couldn’t use magic freely.
‘Except for everyday level magic, if I use even a bit more mana, there will be problems.’
Where Yun was now was the Emperor’s Palace, which could be called the heart of the Imperial Palace, and therefore it wasn’t strange that the Emperor’s soldiers were sensitive about safety. Even if something happened during the suppression process, neither Yun nor the Iakos Kingdom could properly protest to the Empire.
So Yun had to spend time as obediently as possible without going against the Emperor’s mood.
‘Though I haven’t actually been spending it obediently.’
Yun, who raised the corners of his mouth slightly, swept the edge of the teacup with his index finger and examined the appearance of Seoho, who appeared faintly inside the teacup.
‘As expected, he’s using the room together with the Emperor.’
What Yun used this time were the servants who had recently become close to him. They seemed not to be people the Emperor trusted, as they didn’t know he was a prince, but they were servants monitoring his every move.
Yun had attached one small bug each to such servants. To be precise, they were his familiars made from bugs he had brought directly.
‘Since the garden is outside, it’s not strange either.’
Unlike controlling birds from beyond the kingdom, controlling them right under his nose like this was an easy task.
As much as the size of the bugs was small, meticulous mana control was necessary, but since the mana used wasn’t great, it was obvious that even the Imperial mages wouldn’t notice.
‘It’s a shame they’re disposable.’
And today, Yun was really lucky enough to be able to send a bug into Seoho’s room.
‘The mage called Aris isn’t here.’
Although the guards protecting them were hiding their bodies nearby, it was difficult to detect this level of mana from such a distant state.
Beyond the teacup, Seoho was smiling and conversing with Puti, the Emperor’s personal attendant, as if something was so fun.
As if resonance was heard from afar, bright laughter echoed inside his ears. It was laughter that no one except Yun, who had cast the magic, could hear.
“Really? Puti has it tough. So who’s causing trouble these days?”
“Ugh, well, today the kid working in the kitchen broke five dishes?”
“Five?”
“His hand slipped so he dropped the dishes he was holding.”
Then Seoho, who had been listening with a smile, asked worriedly.
“He wasn’t hurt, was he?”
Yun unconsciously let out an exclamation, and Puti showed a similar reaction to Yun.
“…Seoho-nim is too kind. He wasn’t hurt. His salary will just be reduced.”
“His salary will be reduced?”
Confirming the expression full of pity, Puti reminded him with a firm face.
“Of course. Do you know how much those dishes cost? And you have to properly punish them so they’ll be careful next time.”
Of course, the confident attitude didn’t last long. Because Puti opened and closed his mouth several times as if gauging Seoho’s reaction.
When Seoho felt something was strange and looked back at him, Puti added an excuse.
“Really, the Imperial Palace servants don’t experience overwork or violent situations…”
Seoho laughed as if he found it absurd.
“I’m not going to say anything. You’d know better about those things, Puti.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
At Seoho’s assertion, a bright smile appeared on Puti’s face. And he corrected his evaluation of the person he had been showing displeasure toward.
“Well, it’s fortunate they didn’t all break. If those plates had all broken, there would have been real chaos, but he staggered but regained his balance so less than half were damaged.”
It seemed the personal attendant spoke more than Seoho, but still, his gaze went to the appearance of smiling with his eyes as if that trivial story was interesting.
It was a smile different from yet similar to the smile he had shown in front of him. A smile that looked a bit more comfortable and natural.
‘Is it similar to when I told him my name yesterday?’
After listening to such an unsubstantial conversation for a while, Yun let out a sigh.
He couldn’t spend time listening to such meaningless conversations. He had to examine the palace through the bugs he had released.
‘It’s inconvenient that I can only share one field of vision at a time.’
To begin with, making multiple familiars even if they were bugs was something that exceeded the standard, but nevertheless, the feeling of regret was great.
‘Should I research how to share multiple fields of vision?’
Research when he didn’t have time already—it was a realistically impossible task. Yun abandoned his lingering attachment and decided to look around while luckily having entered the Emperor’s room.
