Anya fell into silent thought, clutching the potion in his hand.
Evernight and a child.
Just these two things alone felt like his head would explode.
His child. A child between him and that man.
At the sudden surge of nausea, Anya rushed out hastily. Your Highness! Buppu and Sisou chased after the boy. Anya leaned against a corridor pillar to steady his breathing. His fingertips resting on the ivory-colored corridor pillar had turned pale white. It was a panic that felt like suffocation at any moment.
“Quickly, quickly drink the medicine.”
Buppu picked up the potion rolling on the floor and presented it. Worry bloomed in his small eyes buried in flesh. Only then was Anya able to pull out the potion’s stopper.
‘Pull yourself together.’
When he poured all the potion into his mouth with somewhat hasty movements, Buppu let out a faint groan as if it were bitter for him too.
“…The medicine must be quite bitter.”
After wiping the medicine from his lips, Anya turned his body toward Buppu and Sisou.
“Where is… the Lord right now?”
Though shadows had already fallen over his gentle eyes and his lips were pressed into a tight line with a somewhat gloomy expression, there was no tremor in the voice he uttered. There was only one reason why healing magic wouldn’t take hold, and there was no way the palace healers, who had no connection to him, would lie to Evernight for his sake. Perhaps he was just waiting for Anya to wake up.
“He was summoned to the ducal council this morning but hasn’t returned yet. It seems the meeting might be running long…”
Sisou scratched his head and trailed off. Just then, raindrops began to pour down outside the corridor, and before long, refreshing streams of rain moistened the blue courtyard.
“I must go to meet Lord Evernight.”
When Anya trembled slightly, Buppu draped a cloak over his shoulders. Sisou looked rather displeased. He was truly frightened of this imperial palace now and wished Anya would just stay in this bedroom until they returned to Tildyen.
But there was no way to confine Anya.
“I must also give my thanks to Lord Bluoa. If I remain silent even though I’ve awakened, everyone will curse Tildyen for being rude.”
It was a plausible justification. So plausible that the simple-minded Sisou couldn’t even think of grounds to refute it. Sisou struggled to ignore Anya’s gaze. The boy’s upright determination and needlessly strong sense of responsibility. Those were Anya’s shining qualities that had moved Sisou’s heart. But now he wished he could give a damn about such things. At first it was curiosity, then sympathy. Now worry came first.
‘Until the Commander returns, just stay like this…’
“Lord Sisou…”
Considering their positions, Anya wouldn’t need Sisou’s permission, but the kind-hearted prince couldn’t bear to ignore Sisou’s silent resistance.
Despite how desperately Sisou had hoped, Buppu interjected with an excited voice.
“Yes, Your Highness. The healers also said that taking a walk would help you recover faster than lying in bed. Since it’s raining, we can go through the corridors. All the corridors connect to the main castle, so you don’t need to worry about getting rained on. Ah, on the way I’ll show you the notice board with the hunting festival results!”
Sisou pressed his forehead and glared at Buppu. Whether he was being oblivious or pretending to be, he was just quite excited about the outing after such a long time, wiggling his buttocks. He had been terrified after the incident with Royster, but fortunately his mental state seemed to have stabilized considerably, and a faint smile bloomed on Anya’s face. Faced with those two, Sisou had no choice but to return to the bedroom and fetch his sword to wear.
Now Anya had become a bird that had learned to spread its wings. A bird yearning for freedom couldn’t be kept in a cage forever.
* * *
Whenever he strolled through the imperial palace, people’s gazes blatantly followed Anya. Previously, the half-wit prince had been treated as less than human, regarded as nothing more than a passing mongrel, but today everyone was dying to look at this half-wit.
“Somehow it seems everyone is glancing over here.”
It was such fervent interest that even the dull Sisou could feel it.
“It’s all because Your Highness is doing so well.”
Buppu, on the other hand, gladly enjoyed that attention. The closer they got to the main castle, not only the servants managing the castle but also provincial nobles who had entered the capital for this hunting festival and equestrian tournament, along with their households, passed by them frequently.
“I greet the Twelfth Imperial Prince.”
Finally, someone even appeared to speak to Anya. They stopped walking at the appearance of an unfamiliar figure. The man had a slender build, large sunken eyes, and a beard that grew narrowly only around the corners of his mouth, giving him a somewhat base impression.
“Ah, I am Snyle Dulin, minor lord of Rahan.”
Rahan was a humble countryside in the south belonging to Runfield. He placed his hand on his left chest and politely bowed according to imperial palace etiquette. Since this was the first time someone had spoken to him in the imperial palace, the bewilderment wouldn’t fade.
“At times like this, the superior usually extends their hand.”
Buppu whispered in his ear. When Anya extended his hand, Snyle kissed the back of his hand lightly as if he’d been waiting. The skinship from a stranger was quite unfamiliar. However, Anya could now hide his bewilderment to some degree.
“Lord Snyle, you should be careful with your actions in the imperial palace. Even the walls have eyes and ears.”
Just then, someone was walking around the corner. The smell of heavy perfume spread throughout the dim corridor. The man waddled toward them, supporting his burdensome body on a young attendant’s hand. Snyle’s face, which had confirmed the man’s identity while still holding Anya’s hand, soon turned deathly pale.
“Lord Mibar?”
“Minor lord of Rahan. I dare to advise you—it would be best to refrain from kissing the back of the Twelfth Imperial Prince’s hand in reverence.”
Though it was a distance of only a few steps, as soon as he stood beside Anya, he was too busy gasping for rough breaths. Sisou took a guarded stance and monitored Mibar’s movements.
“What do you mean? I was simply conveying my respect… Ah, Your Highness, please don’t misunderstand. I assure you there wasn’t even a speck of impure intention. I was just in awe after hearing the news of the hunting festival…”
Snyle hurriedly rattled off excuses with a flustered face. While his hand kiss had been disconcerting, it wasn’t enough to make him blush. Rather, for Anya, Mibar was a more uncomfortable and burdensome opponent than the unfamiliar lord of Rahan. He was the Emperor’s black confidant, an unpredictable man whose behind-the-scenes activities were impossible to fathom.
When the attendant handed him a handkerchief, Mibar pressed it firmly against his forehead and wrinkled his nose.
“Tsk, Lord Snyle. If you had met Duke Evernight even once, you wouldn’t have dared to spout even that pathetic excuse. Isn’t that right, young knight of Tildyen?”
Mibar quietly stared at Sisou’s hand resting on his sword hilt and let out a cloying sneer. Sisou’s brow furrowed tightly. He was a man he’d disliked since Tildyen. Or was he even a man? Everything about him was ambiguous.
“Your Highness, it’s been a while. I heard the news about the hunting festival.”
Every time he smiled, an exotic fragrance vibrated. What region’s perfume was this? Was it really from the western continent? It was a somehow familiar scent he used to smell when he set foot in the damp, dark underground prison of the imperial palace in his childhood. Back then he hadn’t known who it was because cloth was wrapped over their entire face… Could the person in the underground prison have been Lord Mibar?
“…Yes.”
Even at the lukewarm response, Mibar didn’t seem to care. He narrowed his eyes thinly and briefly cast his gaze at the scenery outside the corridor before looking back at Anya.
“I heard a giant footprint was left at the scene. Truly magnificent.”
The shadows had arrived at the scene before the footprints were erased by rainwater that night. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a footprint but footprints, plural. Mibar had chosen the singular rather than the plural.
“Magic is a blessing from the gods, you see. The authority of the blessed prince will only rise higher from now on. His soft-hearted Majesty is always concerned about the nonsense of fortune-tellers, after all.”
Prophecy? Conversations with the man called the leader of the shadows were always ambiguous and confusing like this.
“I’m busy on my way, so I’ll take my leave. May there be the fortune of meeting again sometime.”
Had he really just happened to encounter me on his way? Anya couldn’t shake off his uneasy suspicion.
“What’s with that person…”
Sisou muttered while watching the retreating back that looked like flesh might drip off. Buppu raised his hand toward Sisou and drew a large X. His lip movements were saying this: Watch your words! Lord Snyle is still in front of us! Only then did Sisou straighten up as if realizing his mistake. Fortunately, Snyle also seemed greatly flustered by Mibar’s sharp tongue, and simply bowed to Anya with visible relief.
“Your Imperial Highness. I had absolutely no disrespectful intention. Please know that for certain.”
He was merely a powerless opportunist.
“See, I told you. Everyone is dying to get into Your Highness’s good graces.”
Buppu, somehow filled with excitement, whispered toward Snyle’s back as he scurried away.
“I’m worried about Your Highness’s safety. Just as Lord Mibar said, now that your authority has risen, opportunists like that are starting to swarm.”
Sisou, on the other hand, let out a deep sigh with a face full of concern.
“There’s no such thing as a quietly emerging supernova. That’s how the world works. Authority and fame are fated to go together, and quiet fame doesn’t exist in this world.”
Buppu shrugged and finally dragged Anya in front of the notice board with the hunting festival results. As he said, first place in the hunting festival had been taken by the half-wit prince who had appeared out of nowhere. Second place went to Evernight, and third place to Royster respectively.
