Seoho, who had swallowed his regret, widened his eyes to convey his refusal, when Rosetta, whose eyes met his, smiled faintly and opened his mouth.
“If you just follow the conditions well, I’ll allow it.”
As Seoho looked at Rosetta in shock, Rosetta reached out as if finding him cute and caressed the area around Seoho’s eyes, then spoke to Yun again.
“However, may I think about the conditions a bit more?”
“Yes. Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The corners of his mouth that became bland and dry again the moment he turned to look at Yun. He maintained courtesy and continued the conversation as if nothing was wrong, but no matter how he looked at it, Rosetta was still wary of Yun.
But then why did he accept that proposal?
‘Does he have some other thoughts?’
He felt like a sigh would burst out at the attitude whose interior he couldn’t read.
***
After parting with Yun and returning to the room, Seoho naturally immediately threw out a question.
“So why did you accept it?”
“Hm?”
“Walking around the palace.”
At those words, Rosetta, who made an “ah” sound, answered while unfastening the button on his wrist.
“I have to grant his wishes one by one for him to tell his real intentions. And it’ll be easier to monitor him that way.”
“Pardon?”
“The places he’ll walk around are limited to the Imperial Palace, and if so, it’s also good for planting shadows here and there in the palace. Aris will also feel more at ease.”
It didn’t seem entirely wrong, but he was still uneasy. As Seoho was about to object again, Rosetta took out the photograph he had brought and showed it.
“And because you liked it.”
Rosetta looked down at the photograph and chuckled.
“I like it too. Though it’s not as good as seeing the real thing.”
Rosetta, who had been looking back and forth between the photograph placed next to Seoho, sat at the edge of the bed and patted the spot beside him. When Seoho sat next to him in bewilderment, Rosetta firmly grasped Seoho’s hand and said.
“Seoho. If there’s something you want to have or something you want to do, you can do it. I can solve whatever happens after.”
Rosetta instructed with a gentle face.
“Next time, if there’s something you want to do, tell me you want to do it. Understood? You don’t need to give up anything because of me.”
It was grateful words, but at the same time, they were also apologetic words.
‘It’s the reaction I expected.’
Though they hadn’t spent a long time together, knowing the devoted Rosetta, he had deliberately not added words to things that seemed like they would trouble him. Because he didn’t want to cause him harm.
‘But now that my inner thoughts have been discovered, Rosetta won’t change his mind either.’
He knew that even if he said there was no need, Rosetta would stubbornly recommend the camera.
‘There’s no need to argue about being considerate of each other.’
So in times like this, it seemed best to express his grateful feelings.
“Thank you, Rosetta.”
But seeing Rosetta smiling more happily than himself as if he had gained the whole world at the words of thanks, worries piled up. Reflecting on his own actions of welcoming the camera too openly, Seoho carefully asked.
“But you won’t grant everything I ask for, right?”
He was asking just in case. He really didn’t want to cause a big loss because of himself.
Fortunately, Rosetta didn’t deny it.
“Right. If it’s too dangerous or the situation doesn’t allow it, that could happen. I’m just saying you don’t need to give up from the start. If it seems like I’m being a bit stubborn, you can try to persuade me.”
“I understand.”
That was fortunate at least. Seoho lowered his gaze to the photograph held in Rosetta’s hand and naturally avoided the beautiful blue eyes.
He felt a bit uncomfortable with a relationship where he only received. He wanted a relationship that was considerate of each other while maintaining boundaries, not hurting or being hurt. But there was nothing he could do for him right now.
The guilt that had been growing in a corner of his heart from the moment he met him seemed to have grown a bit more.
***
Aris, who had been continuing his research for the first time in a while at the words that there was no need to meet the Prince with Seoho today, rose from his seat at the voice of a servant calling him. Seeing Aris like that, the voices of fellow Imperial Mages whispering could be heard.
“He really caught the line of that direct attendant.”
“Then is it true that he became His Majesty’s person? I’m envious.”
“What’s there to be envious of? A mage who can’t even do research and just attends to him all the time.”
“But I heard this time the research budget allocated was tremendous?”
“He has no time to research!”
“Still, I’m envious. At this rate, Aris might become the Chief Imperial Mage.”
“The first commoner to become Chief Imperial Mage? That’s impressive.”
“What’s impressive? Standing in that position through backing will only bring more shame to commoners.”
Come to think of it, rather than whispering, they seemed to be openly talking for him to hear. Aris, who had been leaving the research lab, pretended not to notice the servant’s gaze watching him.
Because there was nothing wrong in their words.
Except for just one thing.
‘Caught Puti’s line?’
Aris bit his lips as laughter seemed about to burst out. Puti’s line, not Rosetta’s? It was so fascinating that Puti’s power was evaluated so highly.
When Aris, who had recalled the pale face like bland soup, finally couldn’t hold back his laughter and made a “pfft” sound, the servant flinched in surprise and walked a bit faster.
It seemed he was worried Aris might take out his anger. Aris began managing his expression again for the servant’s peace of mind.
To tell the truth, Aris didn’t find his current life so bad.
‘It’s a bit different from expectations.’
Though he had inevitably continued research as much as others did because his research budget would be cut and even his salary reduced if he didn’t produce results, in fact, Aris wasn’t such an enthusiastic person.
‘To be precise, I have no interest in research.’
He had the ability to enter the imperial palace. So he became an Imperial Mage with food and lodging provided, receiving a high salary, and the greatest honor as a mage, but Imperial Mages didn’t do such great work.
‘Though it’s because this generation’s Emperor is peculiar.’
The Emperor had the power to protect himself and disliked having people around him, so just as knights above a certain level couldn’t be by the Emperor’s side, Imperial Mages were also forbidden from staying near the Emperor. Because of that, Imperial Mages had nothing to do but research even more.
‘Always the same boring daily life.’
It wasn’t that he wanted to do something great either. Though it was boring, they gave a lot of money, so he was thinking of quitting once he saved enough money to go down to the countryside and live prosperously until old age.
But being entangled with the Emperor like this by chance made his surroundings noisy.
‘It’s good that it’s not boring.’
Though it wasn’t very pleasant to see everything about those in high positions without concealment, still, wasn’t there someone he could grumble and curse with?
“We’ve arrived. Then I’ll take my leave…”
With the servant who disappeared quickly as soon as they arrived at the Imperial Palace behind him, Aris, who had entered the corridor where Rosetta and Seoho’s rooms were located, almost bumped into Puti standing at the end of the corridor with a tired face.
“Puti?”
“Aris.”
Puti, who had almost buried his face in Aris’s shoulder, contorted his face in a rush, then recognized Aris and returned to his gentle impression.
Aris, who had been watching that gap as if it were interesting, looked around and asked.
“What are you doing here?”
Seeing how he was sharply raising his eyes at the end of the corridor, it looked exactly like he was blocking this passage. Puti glanced behind Aris and answered in a small voice.
“There’s no need to go in right now. I’m also blocking others from coming, killing two birds with one stone.”
Aris quietly listened to the laughter heard from the Emperor’s room and answered.
“They seem to be enjoying themselves.”
The owners of this sound right now were Seoho and Rosetta.
And Puti was standing guard here both because he didn’t want to be wedged between that couple, and to prevent any tactless servants or guests from ruining the atmosphere.
Aris, who had quickly grasped the situation, was paying attention to the laughter heard once more when Puti apologized.
“I’m sorry. You came all this way, but you’ll have to wait a bit.”
At Puti whispering small again, Aris quickly used magic around them.
“You can talk comfortably now.”
Puti, who had been touching the opaque barrier surrounding them with his hand, smiled brightly.
“Thank you.”
Satisfied with the voice that came more comfortably than before, Aris recalled Seoho and the Emperor’s schedule from earlier and asked.
“But they’re in a good mood even though they came back from meeting the Prince?”
Puti shook his head saying he wasn’t sure either.
“I didn’t accompany them. I looked around the Prince’s room.”
Aris turned to look toward the Emperor’s room once more. He too didn’t particularly want to break that good atmosphere, but according to the words of the servant who had called him, it was certain that Rosetta had told him to come.
‘What if it’s urgent?’
After thinking for a moment, Aris realized there was a suitable person right in front of him.
No matter how much he had come to know Rosetta’s other sides, Aris still didn’t have the talent to read all the Emperor’s inner thoughts, but Puti was different.
“You don’t know why His Majesty called me either?”
“It’s probably because of magic items. But his time with Seoho-nim is more important than that, so it’s okay to wait.”
Just as expected, Puti knew. At Puti’s confirmation, Aris leaned against the wall comfortably and continued his questions.
