“I think a one-year vacation would be best.”
As soon as Dante stepped out of the bedroom and faced Müllen, he spoke with grim determination. Müllen greeted him with a bright, pleasant smile.
“I shall interpret that as a statement made with the premise of negotiation.”
“If I were aiming for a consensus, I would have asked for two years.”
“Sir Renard, your vacation has been set for three days. And that is only assuming there is a replacement available.”
Since His Majesty decided it personally, I do not intend to accept any objections.
Having finished his sentence, Müllen smiled quite benevolently. Dante stared at him, his eyes wide.
Didn't you say you had something to ask me regarding my vacation?
“Then, what did you mean by saying you wanted to ask me something?”
“Oh, dear. Did I say it was regarding your vacation? I intended to call you for another matter, but……”
“Oh, come on! There should be a limit to how shameless you can be, shouldn't there?”
“Shouldn't you be the one showing courtesy, Sir Renard?”
I should have just kept my mouth shut!
At Müllen’s impossibly slick reply, Dante raked his hands through his hair.
He wasn't the type to lose an argument, yet strangely, whenever he stood before Müllen Cassus, he felt like he was being played. Of course, the same went for Elisha, and he had never once won against Erich, either.
Thinking about it, everyone around me is nothing but a monster.
‘Though that is the only way to survive in the imperial palace.’
Thanks to that, a commoner like me is always getting pushed around.
Just as Dante was about to turn away with a groan,
“What I wanted to ask you is.”
Müllen caught Dante in his tracks with a slightly lowered voice.
At the sudden shift in atmosphere, Dante swallowed hard and turned around before he could help himself.
Whenever someone who usually smiled and acted slick turned like that, something always happened.
“It is regarding Miss Lucy Forte.”
‘I knew it……!’
My bad premonitions never miss!
Dante was overcome with the urge to run far away. If he could, he would have left right then and there using teleportation magic.
The only flaw was that he couldn't, as he hadn't received approval since Erich changed the barrier.
“Sir Dante Renard, you are Miss Forte’s patron, are you not?”
“I’d like to stop being one as of today…….”
“Therefore, I believe you would know the most about her.”
Could you please stop ignoring my words and only saying what you want to say?
Dante struggled to calm his tear ducts and rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, Müllen fixed his gray gaze precisely on Dante and continued slowly.
“When I look at Miss Forte, I am somehow reminded of a certain person.”
Of course you would be, since she is that person.
“Furthermore, Miss Forte seems to dive headlong into anything involving His Majesty.”
Of course she would, since she acts as if Erich is the only person in the world.
“In addition to that, the fact that she knows the layout of the imperial palace quite well, and that she possesses such unprecedented magical prowess as well……”
Müllen muttered, casting his gaze toward a distant place for a moment, before looking straight at Dante again to continue.
“Of course, I am aware that I may be making wild assumptions.”
Dante rolled his eyes, his throat feeling parched.
Perhaps Elisha never had the intention of hiding her identity from the start.
Otherwise, there would be no way even Müllen Cassus could have noticed something strange.
But in my opinion, Elisha has been hiding it quite well. Unexpectedly, she uses formal language, her mana signature is different, and she even knows how to humble herself before others.
For Elisha to have that much social grace—I would never have noticed it myself.
“But, decisively, His Majesty has been acting very strangely…….”
In the end, it was Erich’s problem.
Dante suddenly whipped his head around to glare into the bedroom.
True, Müllen had seen Erich more often and for longer than Elisha had, so he would have realized immediately that he was acting strangely. Especially since he possessed the sharp intuition honed by years of experience.
‘No, but!’
She changed her appearance and her voice, didn't she? Her mana is different, too! Yet he could still reach that conclusion? How?
‘Let’s think positively.’
It’s not like there’s only one thing he could say; he could just as easily say, “I suspect His Majesty sees Lady Elisha in Miss Lucy Forte.”
Just as Dante was trying to breathe and think as positively as possible,
“By any chance, is Miss Forte.”
Contrary to Dante’s wishes, Müllen heartlessly uttered those words.
“Lady Elisha?”
* * *
The bedroom Dante had left was enveloped in a silence deeper than before. Only the faint, labored sound of Erich’s breathing occasionally filled the void.
Elisha remained where she was, staring intently at the man before her.
Erich von Cardion.
The son of the former emperor, Bernhard, who had been her benefactor and mentor.
The young prince who hated eating vegetables more than death, and hated the idea of marrying her even more than eating vegetables. The prickly crown prince who hated it more than anything when she participated in subjugations or expeditions.
Even though he had started avoiding her at some point, and even though he had told her she was an existence that shouldn't be in the imperial palace.
Yet, despite that, the gaze he had rested upon her before then had been quite affectionate—the one who had told her that she wasn't strange.
“Erich.”
Elisha parted her lips slightly and called his name. She hadn't expected an answer. No, she actually hoped Erich wouldn't answer.
Because the moment those blue eyes opened, this peace would shatter. Because she wouldn't be able to look at him like this anymore.
“Erich.”
Once more, Elisha pronounced his name carefully.
This time, she had taken a step closer to him.
Since returning to the imperial palace, Elisha had never approached Erich. At least, not while he was awake.
A place not permitted to Lucy Forte, nor to Elisha.
Yet, for some reason, she kept wanting to return…….
‘Return, she says.’
When that place was never hers to begin with.
Elisha stopped her train of thought and furrowed her brow.
In the books she had read long ago, the protagonist would let out a wry laugh in moments like this, but for some reason, Elisha couldn't bring herself to laugh. She didn't want to.
What kind of emotion is this, really? No, more than that, what does “moments like this” even mean?
She had thought she had learned much, but the current Elisha knew nothing properly. It felt as if everything around her was shrouded in fog.
Primavera’s cryptic words.
What ‘they’ were, and who ‘that man’ was.
But even in the midst of it all, if there was one thing that was particularly clear.
“…….”
Elisha took another step toward Erich’s side. Now, she stood at a distance where she could reach him with just a stretch of her hand.
She had promised to protect the prince.
This was a promise to Bernhard, but at the same time, it was a vow she had made to herself.
That was why, whenever Erich was ill, she would always sit within arm’s reach to watch over him. From the time the little boy became the crown prince, until he became the emperor.
During that time, Elisha had reached out to Erich countless times. Perhaps this was just an impulse born of habit.
“……Your Highness.”
It was the moment she opened her mouth faintly while fiddling with the ends of Erich’s hair.
“…….”
Just as his rhythmic breathing seemed to stop, Erich’s eyelashes fluttered. Elisha held her breath for a moment as she watched him.
Then, an eternity-like instant passed, and those signature deep blue eyes stared straight at Elisha.
“Ah.”
Elisha immediately tried to withdraw the hand that had been touching Erich, but this time, Erich was a step faster.
“……Again.”
Erich, who had grabbed Elisha’s wrist before she knew it, spoke in a voice that was deeply sunken and raspy. A little as if he were angry, a little as if he were relieved.
Still staring only at Elisha.
“Trying to leave, again.”
The hand gripping Elisha’s wrist was burning hot from the fever. Elisha recoiled, her shoulders hunching instinctively.
She was clearly disguised as Lucy Forte, so she couldn't understand why Erich would say such a thing.
Perhaps, delirious with fever, he didn't know what he was seeing or what he was saying.
“Your Majesty.”
Whatever the reason, she must not let herself touch Erich right now.
Just as Elisha was about to exert force on her captured hand to pull away,
“Please.”
Erich opened his eyes again, his eyelashes fluttering.
The hand that had been holding her wrist had moved down to Elisha’s hand, their fingers now intertwined.
“Don’t leave.”
Soon, the eyes that had been struggling to stay open closed, and his irregular breathing found its rhythm once more. His grip on Elisha did not loosen.
Elisha let out a held breath and stared at their intertwined hands.
Erich hadn't regained consciousness. He was merely talking in his sleep.
He had done so many times in the past. He had called for his father while trapped in his subconscious more than once.
But he had never done this before.
“……Lucy?”
Following that, with the sound of the bedroom door opening, Dante’s voice flew in from behind Elisha.
Elisha, unable to tear her gaze away from their hands, breathed shallowly.
She could feel the heat on her cheeks and the rapid pulse of her veins at her wrist. Her vision was blurring, and her head felt like it was spinning.
Perhaps she had caught it from Erich.
Something unknown—a fever.
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