“May I ask the reason? Hmm, isn’t it too long? Since this is your first ducal council, you’ll have much to prepare for going there… Above all, considering Tildyen’s finances… the Golden Ravens have quite the appetite, as you can see.”
Mibar glanced around at the soldiers below the platform and snapped his fingers. Indeed, as he said, it was winter now, and with the merchant guild’s footsteps cut off, the warehouses of Tildyen’s main castle were gradually being depleted. And in the midst of this, to provide lodging and meals for all those people for three weeks.
“That’s not your problem to think about.”
Evernight downed his wine without giving Mibar a single glance. He looked so relaxed and languid he seemed like a huge predator that had just finished a satisfying meal. Those watching from afar wouldn’t even notice he was currently engaged in a battle of nerves with the Emperor’s master.
“Please refrain from using such disrespectful tone toward the Master.”
Raniel, who had been gnawing meat off the bone, growled fiercely. He had no choice but to hold himself back as the price for losing the earlier battle of nerves with Anya. This time, Mibar didn’t restrain Raniel either.
“His Majesty Emperor Luksus is very worried about Prince Anya, who is suffering in a foreign land in a man’s body. He is eagerly counting down the days until he can have a private audience with Prince Anya at the Maneregia Imperial Palace. When I send a letter by messenger bird, if I say you’ll be staying here for three weeks without any reason, how bewildered would His Majesty the Emperor be, who was looking forward to meeting his son?”
‘Father wants to see me…?’
Ridiculous.
Anya’s hand resting on his thigh gripped his pant leg tightly. Emperor Luksus had never once come to see Anya. Anya had only ever stolen glances at his father from a distance while holding his breath. The one fortunate thing was that he was cold and arrogant to all his children. Even when his children died in succession struggles, not a trace of grief passed across Emperor Luksus’s face.
“…Bullshit.”
Then a scoff came from beside him. It was Evernight. On the table, fingers very elegant for a knight tapped the table, revealing his discomfort. His bright blue eyes that didn’t lose their light even in the dim interior looked down at Anya. Anya read displeasure in his pupils.
“What… did you just say?”
Mibar’s thick cheeks trembled finely. He had flesh even on his eyelids, bringing to mind the characteristic gaze of foreigners living across the strait. But his snake-like green eyes shot fiercely at Evernight. When his face, which had been playful throughout, hardened stiffly, Anya shuddered slightly. Anya knew that look. The underground prison. The Mibar above ground was a man with a cheap smile, but the Mibar of the underground prison didn’t smile.
In an instant, the Golden Ravens below the platform all stopped eating at once. Beyond Mibar, Anya witnessed Sir Raniel grinning wickedly as he quietly placed his hand on the scabbard at his waist.
“The Emperor handed the prince over to me. Now this child no longer has the Claicer surname but has my surname, and I have complete ownership.”
“……”
“Without my permission, you can’t just take him away as you please.”
Finally Raniel jumped up and drew his sword. He shouted in fury.
“You filthy Tildyen bastard!”
Clang! Sisou immediately drew his sword and leaped up this way. Several Golden Ravens rose from their seats and blocked Sisou’s path. Clang! The swords clashed with their characteristic friction sound echoing through the smoke-filled banquet hall. In an instant, the banquet became chaos.
“Stop, stop!”
Mibar pressed his forehead and let out a small sigh.
“Fine. I’ll admit I went too far. But it’s true that His Majesty the Emperor wants to see the prince. I’ll stake my position as Master on the fact that it’s not a lie. Don’t fathers sometimes have belated regrets?”
Mibar continued speaking while observing Anya growing stiffer and stiffer. It was an observation so persistent it raised goosebumps on his forearms.
“If you fail to keep the promised time, or if the prince doesn’t accompany you when you go to Maneregia, there will need to be a proper reason. Tildyen is facing a very important period, and our Emperor Luksus is cold as ice, so I hope you make a wise decision….”
I’ll take my leave first. Saying that, Mibar waddled out of the banquet hall with support from his attendant. Raniel sheathed his sword as if frustrated and followed Mibar. As the Golden Ravens exited the banquet hall all at once, the banquet hall that had been packed for once became quiet as a mouse.
“Those rotten bastards!”
“Do they think this is Maneregia? If you come to Tildyen, follow Tildyen’s customs!”
Curses poured out from here and there. Sisou, who had leaped up onto the platform, immediately ran toward Anya.
“Prince, are you alright?”
Anya forced the corners of his mouth up and nodded.
“Yes…. I’m fi-fine.”
Even so, Sisou’s worried expression didn’t ease.
“Then….”
“Commander. We need a senior knights’ council right now.”
Before he could finish speaking, Riario cut in. Sisou stepped back reluctantly. The senior knights had already gathered around Evernight. They all cursed those ignorant Golden Raven bastards, that damn fatty, and so on, but everyone felt that the current situation was not simple.
Evernight rose from his seat. Without realizing it, Anya hastily grabbed Evernight’s collar.
“…My lord!”
“Three weeks. Finish and come back within that time.”
He removed Anya’s hand. It was an indifferent attitude, but there was no time to be disappointed. Evernight was keeping his promise with him. He was his husband and the lord of Tildyen. If he had thought only of Tildyen’s safety, he could have immediately derailed all of Anya’s plans right now and forcibly dragged him to Maneregia.
But he didn’t.
“Ra-rather, if I re-reveal that I’m a ma-mage….”
Anya wanted to help him. When he first saw him, he had thought he was just a scary and cruel man. Now… he had come to worry about him and Tildyen with all his heart.
“Everyone will find out about that anyway as time passes, even if you don’t reveal it. All you need to do is take responsibility for your own choice.”
* * *
The next day at dawn. Anya packed his bags with Gregos’s help. Like a thief in the night, Anya silenced his footsteps and ran through the corridors so as not to wake anyone. He had arranged to meet Sabelli in front of the cut tree stump at the entrance where the forest connected. There was no need for a horse. Not only could Sabelli not ride, but the forest was connected to Tildyen Rock, and beyond the ice lake there was no proper road. Taking Mil would only cause suffering.
“Having to stay in this place for three whole weeks, damn it. Every morning when I wake up I can’t help but cough.”
“How do those Tildyen bastards live their whole lives in a ghostly castle like this? Uncivilized bastards.”
Golden Ravens were walking from the opposite direction. Anya hastily turned and hid himself around a corner. Fortunately, Tildyen at dawn was always thickly shrouded in fog and dark with the sun rising late. They passed by without spotting Anya.
“Duke Evernight seems like a useful talent… but even if he’s a prince, to engage in sodomy… Have you fellows ever seen the 12th Prince?”
“I saw him for the first time this time, and well, he was unimpressive, wasn’t he? I thought he’d at least be the greatest beauty of the western continent. I guess I had expectations because he’s marrying a man.”
“Ah, you were thinking of the Montrose family of Rivercastle.”
“Crazy bastard. The Montroses have elves among their ancestors.”
“Anyway, tsk, below expectations. … It just makes Duke Tildyen look ridiculous.”
Haha. At one knight’s words, the others began to laugh in agreement. When they disappeared from view, Anya emerged from the darkness. The boy began to run again. Whatever they babbled, such jokes didn’t deal much damage to him anymore. However….
‘Because of me, Lord Evernight is being insulted….’
Only that one fact made Anya’s heart ache.
‘Won’t Sir Mi-Mibar be loo-looking for me?’
The people of Tildyen might not know, but Anya knew Mibar better than anyone. He was the Emperor’s lackey who wore a good-natured face while contemplating death behind the scenes. If he dropped even the slightest negative mention about Tildyen to the Emperor, Tildyen could… become much more difficult than now. As long as the Claicer Imperial Family stood firm, they could fall into an abyss from which they could never escape.
‘Leave secretly at dawn tomorrow. I’ll say you went out to the common villages for volunteer work with Sabelli. I’ll make excuses that it was scheduled, and that it was a solution to recover your narrow standing as a prince in Tildyen.’
‘…….’
‘If you become unable to return… you died at the hands of bandits or monsters.’
The night after the banquet ended. Evernight sat on the windowsill and told Anya that. He was lost in thought, gazing at the Beriela Mountain Range that revealed its white existence even in the middle of the night beyond the window. Despite the cold day, Evernight opened the window and gave himself over to the northern wind that blew in.
‘If Til-Tildyen will su-suffer because of me, I wo-won’t go.’
When he answered that way, for a moment it felt like the cold wind entered his heart and froze each and every cell. There was plenty of time. He could start again after returning from the imperial palace.
But why was he so resentful and wronged?
‘There’s nothing suffering because of you. As long as you return within three weeks. But if you return after that, for Tildyen’s sake you’ll have to be locked up in the castle for life without revealing your existence to anyone. After that I’ll say you died.’
Anya maintained his silence. Whatever he said right now would sound like shabby excuses. Instead, Anya knelt on one knee before him. As he bowed his head, his long hair flowed down like a curtain.
‘…Yes, I’ll go and return.’
Anya wanted to repay his trust with all his might.
The old man was biting his long pipe and gazing at the mountain ridge spreading blue beyond with a calm face.
“Sa-Sabelli-nim.”
When Anya ran to him, Sabelli slowly rose. He slung the bag he had carelessly tossed under the tree base over his shoulder, then gently stroked Anya’s head.
“From now on, it would be best to forget all the common sense the boy knows.”
The two entered into a pitch-black darkness like a huge monster opening its maw.
