Assad was silent for a while. He just blinked quietly, facing Cayden.
But before the peaceful quiet could turn into a heavy silence, he spoke again.
“Your Imperial language. Not bad.”
It was a different topic.
“Th-thanks to Amun.”
“You’re giving credit to your teacher?”
“Even though I was quite frustrated, he never gave up on me and has always been a kind teacher. If it weren’t for Amun, I would be… much more inadequate than I am now.”
“Is that so?”
Assad detached himself from the pillar and leaned toward Cayden.
“You shouldn’t praise another man in front of your partner.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant…”
“Well, I’m the one who assigned him to you. In a way, it’s no different from hearing praise for myself.”
Assad was smiling. He even seemed to be in a good mood.
A pleasant sense of relief filled the space where bewilderment had retreated. Reassured, Cayden smiled back at Assad. It was a very awkward and small smile, but it was the first comfortable expression he had shown in front of Assad.
“You smile strangely… Not that it’s unpleasant to see.”
After checking that the rain had mostly stopped, Assad hurriedly stood up. He glanced down at the low steps connecting the pavilion to the ground, then suddenly extended his hand toward Cayden.
Why is he doing that? Half-dazed, Cayden slowly rose to follow Assad.
He had seen such scenes a few times in Elba too. When he had wondered why people did this on steps so low that even children could easily climb up and down, Emma had told him that it was proper etiquette between lovers. She had even shaken her head, adding that any alpha with a properly functioning mind should naturally act this way.
But this now… could it be called an escort?
He couldn’t understand Assad’s intentions. Yet Cayden felt awkward about the hand Assad was extending toward him. He knew he wasn’t the kind of person who deserved to be escorted by Assad, which made it even more uncomfortable.
Still, Cayden perceptively took Assad’s hand. Though he was stiff due to the unfamiliar experience, he safely descended the steps following Assad.
Cayden walked into the dizzying heat with Assad, who seemed to have forgotten to let go of his hand. Perhaps because he was holding a hand cooled by magic, the sharp sunlight didn’t feel hot at all.
- The Gift
With his forehead resting on his hand, Amun was silent.
Cayden, who had been about to say something to Amun, chose to keep his mouth shut after several hesitations. Instead of waking Amun from his deep thoughts, he decided to wait for him to come on his own.
Assad, disguised as Amun, was mentally half-elsewhere. Assad was continuously dwelling on what had happened at the outdoor luncheon he had attended at noon.
The irregularly held noon outdoor luncheons were essentially family gatherings for the imperial household. But Assad didn’t call that time a family gathering. He called it a meeting where those who lived comfortably on national funds gathered to whine about pathetic and trivial complaints, acting above their station.
Assad disliked his relatives. Those who pretended to be close were even worse. Whether old or young, they all irritated him equally.
In the past, he had listened to the nonsense these fools spouted, while suppressing his anger. But not anymore. Assad didn’t even pretend to listen to his relatives’ nonsense. He didn’t care if they resented him for being cold-hearted.
The incident occurred while he was aimlessly strolling by the pond with a cold glass in hand. It was just before the meal.
Assad, who had been half-listening to his second cousins while thinking about the Imperial language lesson scheduled for the afternoon, was suddenly bombarded with a flood of questions. They were questions dripping with sticky curiosity. Most were about the Crown Prince Consort, who had not shown himself, hiding behind secrets and rumors.
…Recalling it again made it even more infuriating.
The words spoken had clean exteriors, but their contents were uniformly vulgar and low-quality. Perhaps interpreting Assad’s silence as agreement with their words, the level of their comments gradually increased.
Stupid people who couldn’t distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said were abundant everywhere. But Assad believed that members of the imperial family should not be among such people.
Unfortunately, Assad’s second cousins were among those stupid people. It seemed they had been frequenting Elba, which clung to the old empire’s bad customs and its lewd and filthy culture, and had filled their already lightweight heads with excrement.
In Helio, where ability was valued over bloodline, these fools who would clearly never earn any respectable titles in the future were trying to darkly express their anxiety and inferiority by using the Crown Prince Consort. Since the partner who should be by Assad’s side was nowhere to be seen, and rumors circulated that Assad was sick of both the destined partner oracle and his bride, they considered the Crown Prince Consort someone they could badmouth as they pleased.
Assad felt no need for patience.
He immediately raised his foot. He kicked one fool in the shin. When the stunned man staggered, Assad personally gave his back a push, causing him to fall and splash into the pond.
Assad’s hand also reached the back of another startled fool. He gently patted the back of his frozen relative. And then pushed him straight toward the pond. It might as well be said he had thrown him in.
“Oh dear. Did you trip because your hem was too long? Or were you too hot?”
Assad asked in a gentle voice.
Instead of waiting for an answer, he threw the glass he was holding at those who had fallen into the pond. He grabbed another one from someone who had come to watch and threw that one too. The sound of the solid glass cups hitting their foreheads was delightful.
“Ah, my hand slipped. I was trying to help.”
Claiming that’s what happened, Assad apologized to the two men.
The Crown Prince’s second cousins had to flounder in the pond for quite some time until their father came running breathlessly. Assad didn’t allow the shocked attendants to pull them out.
“Those guys didn’t know that His Highness cherishes his bride.”
“There are things in this world you only learn through experience.”
The twins, whose dissolute lifestyle made them no different from those who had fallen into the pond, clung subtly to him and spouted nonsense. It was an irritating luncheon in many ways.
The gathering came to an indistinct end in the tense atmosphere that followed the small commotion.
At the end of that commotion, Assad ended up having a private audience with Emperor Heset. It was what Assad had wanted.
“Why are you hiding the Crown Prince Consort?”
Assad asked Heset, who wore an indifferent expression. After all, it was the Emperor and Empress’s responsibility to invite the Crown Prince Consort to imperial events.
The absence of the Crown Prince Consort, which he had never cared about until now, suddenly bothered him. It was an interference that didn’t suit him. Yet he had no intention of taking back his words.
“Hiding?”
“Isn’t he being excluded from all imperial affairs?”
The Emperor laughed loudly upon hearing his son’s words.
“That expression looks just like a child complaining, ‘Why did mom move my things to the storage on her own?’ A 10-year-old child.”
“…”
“Fine. Let’s say I bring him out. Then, will you hold him in your arms? Will you cherish and honor him? No. I should ask if you’ll pretend to do so. Assad, you were well-educated by the previous Emperor. You know well that love is a curse that burns in fire. Unlike your younger brother.”
The words continued leisurely.
“Think a bit more simply. What would happen if the Crown Prince Consort stood in your closest place? Rumors might spread that the burden you seemed to hide because you disliked seeing it might actually be the Crown Prince’s treasure. Would such stories help you? You have no intention of… making him your Empress.”
Assad remained silent while being half-hit at his core by Heset. There was no need to inform his mother of his still incomplete plan.
He also found his mother’s intentions suspiciously unclear. While showing no intention or action to send the Crown Prince Consort back, she was speaking as if she too had no desire to make that person the Empress.
“Assad. I know that you’ve changed your face and approached the Crown Prince Consort. You wouldn’t have approached him with good intentions. Just as I hide him from people for your sake, aren’t you also deceiving him for your own sake?”
“…”
“Our hearts are so alike, I don’t understand why you’re trying to throw a tantrum.”
Heset reached out and stroked Assad’s cheek. It was an imitation of the affection her husband had shown their children.
“Do you feel sorry for your bride? Well, it’s natural to grow attached even to animals you raise. If the subject is a person, it would be even more so.”
After being lost in thought for a moment, Heset immediately added a word.
“Or, do you feel good being with an omega?”
“Don’t say such nonsense.”
Assad frowned and refuted.
One who is swayed in body and mind by merely another’s trait and pheromones cannot become a true Emperor. It was an old teaching deeply engraved in his heart. Since his mother had received the same education, her question about omegas was nothing but mockery.
“Keep your center and think comfortably.”
“…”
“In the royal court of Elba, they employ alphas and omegas to safely get through the pleasure period, yes, what they call ruts and heat cycles. With the ridiculous excuse that they cannot treat the ones they love roughly. If you’re confused about how to think of him, well, think of him as an omega hired to get through the pleasure period.”
That was the last thing Heset said.
Ha. In Amun’s form, Assad heaved a deep sigh.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
