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“When this is burned, the magic formula engraved on the invitation will activate.”
With our entire family gathered in the office, Father, who had shown the letter, threw it into the fireplace.
As the letter caught fire and burned, magic circle patterns appeared and began to shine above it.
Whooom.
Soon the magic activated, creating an oval portal connected to the Imperial Palace.
‘Wow.’
I, who had been watching beside Mother, was purely amazed. This was my first time seeing a magic activation trigger.
Only people over 20 who had gone through their coming-of-age ceremony could attend the Lumentia festival banquet, so until now only my parents had gone.
And since the two of them always departed from the room with the fireplace, I already knew such a system existed, but seeing it up close was a different experience.
“So Eddie. You’re all ready to go, right?”
“Yes.”
I answered energetically to Mother’s question.
Soon Father, who had turned toward the portal with the servants and attendants carrying luggage including tribute goods, nodded.
“Let’s go. Redward, I leave the mansion to you.”
“Yes. Please go without worry.”
Redward, who had been standing guard at the office entrance, bowed politely in greeting. Leaving him behind, when we passed through the portal, the scenery changed in an instant.
“…!”
The suddenly different air touched my skin. Looking around, the surroundings were quite familiar – we had arrived at the Imperial Palace lobby.
‘I hope portals become commercialized someday.’
Then travel between regions would be much easier.
Eventually we received room guidance.
The festival procession where the Emperor would ride a large carriage and go around the village was scheduled for tomorrow morning, so today we had no schedule except attending the banquet held in the evening, making it leisurely.
Father took the tribute goods that needed to be presented to His Majesty in advance, and while Mother rested in her assigned room, I went down to the lobby to observe the arriving people.
I asked the knight guarding the lobby when familiar faces might arrive, but he said none of the people I knew were on the arrival list, so I had no choice but to wait quietly.
Fortunately, I didn’t need to wait long before a familiar face appeared in the lobby. As soon as I saw that face, my expression brightened without me realizing it. It was Cedric and the Grand Duke couple.
Just as our family had, they were about to move after receiving simple guidance from the knight when I approached quickly, and Cedric, who discovered me, soon smiled with his eyes crinkling like snow melting in spring sunshine.
“Eddie.”
As he immediately approached me, the Grand Duke couple also looked back at me. I didn’t miss the chance and politely greeted them.
I need to make a good impression to win their favor.
Perhaps to give us time alone, the two went up the stairs first. Cedric, who had watched their retreating figures for a moment, immediately turned his head toward me.
“Eddie, you came early. Where are Count Lowell and his wife?”
“Father went to present the tribute goods and Mother should be in her room.”
“I see. Ret hasn’t come yet?”
“Yeah. It seems that way.”
Cedric naturally headed toward a corner of the lobby where outside gazes couldn’t easily reach and took my hand behind my back.
The warm warmth was welcome, so I held on tightly while pretending not to, and I had trivial conversations with Cedric until Riette appeared.
While doing so, we occasionally made eye contact, I brushed and arranged his bangs, and played around by poking his cheek with my fingertips.
That’s all we did, but that time was happier and more enjoyable than ever. As if suddenly remembering something, Cedric brought up a topic.
“Ah. I heard that story recently too.”
“Huh? Which one?”
“Do you know a Beta noble family called Varetta? Their second son was dating an Omega who’s the youngest son of Count Strain, and apparently they recently succeeded in trait change.”
“…Where did you hear such a story?”
“What kind of reaction is that?”
“You… besides me and Ret, you never had anyone you were close enough with to privately share such stories.”
I was curious about it. There’s no way Cedric, who wasn’t a social butterfly like Riette and had lived as much of a frog in a well as I had, would be the first to bring up rumors he’d picked up.
Cedric awkwardly explained.
“I did attend gatherings and banquets frequently, so there were quite a few people who wanted to keep in touch. I just never contacted them first since there was no particular reason to contact them personally.”
“So you found out because they contacted you?”
“…No, I wrote a letter first to ask for news. I became interested since it’s closely related to us too.”
My mouth fell open without me realizing it.
Isn’t that even more surprising?
“You contacted them first?”
I can’t really imagine it.
I was newly reminded of the fact that if this guy put his mind to it, he’d have an overflow of people to contact. Isn’t he the most coveted groom-to-be in the empire?
Among those who would welcome contact with Cedric, there would be many with purposes other than just socializing.
‘……’
My heart became unsettled for no reason. It was a familiar color of emotion, and when I thought carefully about what it was, it was definitely jealousy.
The difference from my emotions before regression was that it wasn’t ‘jealousy toward popular Cedric’ but ‘jealousy from disliking that the other party likes my person.’
…Having a lover who’s too outstanding isn’t good either.
“Eddie? What’s wrong?”
“Hmm, just. I was trying to understand you.”
The things like getting impatient, anxious, and jealous even while knowing the other person devotedly likes me.
Unintentionally switching positions, I realized that Cedric who gets jealous at the drop of a hat and me who gets jealous over mere possibilities aren’t that different.
Cedric tilted his head and continued.
“Anyway. Those people took 3 months.”
“3 months? That was quick?”
I opened my eyes wide in surprise. That was quite a hopeful story. Cedric kissed my cheek while avoiding other people’s eyes and grinned.
“We can succeed quickly too.”
…Right. If trait change succeeds, there won’t be occasions for such jealousy. If I get jealous, I just need to firmly nail down that I’m his so no one can covet him.
“What’s the secret? Did you ask about that?”
“Yeah. Frequent pheromone marking and…”
Cedric reached out and stroked my hair.
“Frequent sex too.”
I was startled by the word that dropped from those sweet-voiced lips and unconsciously looked around.
“Spending ruts and heats together is good too.”
“…Mm. Really?”
It seems somewhat unreliable. But thinking about it briefly, it also sounds plausible.
While I was rolling my eyes suspiciously, a familiar sight entered my vision in the lobby, so I turned my head that way. It was Riette and her parents.
We joined with Riette and had a bit more conversation. Since three familiar faces were gathered, fellow noble children who recognized us came over to greet us first.
‘Come to think of it, did His Highness Castian come?’
I recalled his words about returning on Lumentia festival day and meeting then.
‘Terion probably came with him too, right?’
Did they meet the Sun tribe, were there results – I’m full of curiosity. But I only thought about it internally, worried that Cedric might get jealous or dislike it if I showed it outwardly.
If they really returned, I’d be able to meet them at the hall banquet tonight at the latest anyway.
“Should we go up to our rooms for now?”
“Ah, let’s do that.”
I quickly nodded at Riette’s suggestion that came out mid-conversation.
As we moved locations and continued the conversation asking whether Gareth said he was coming and how he was doing, it happened.
“Eddie! You were here.”
As we were about to go up to the first floor corridor, we encountered Father walking from the opposite side.
It seemed he had been looking for me for some business, so I stopped hesitantly. Father, who approached closely, greeted Riette and Cedric with his eyes and said to me.
“There’s a place I need to go with you for a moment, would that be alright?”
He spoke like that, leaving out the destination, but since I had already heard that His Majesty the Emperor wanted to see me once, I could roughly guess where we were going together.
“Yes. I’ll go and come back, you two go up first.”
“Ah! Okay. Come back safely.”
Riette seemed to know that the destination couldn’t be revealed and tactfully sent me off, but Cedric was staring at me intently with burning eyes. Since Father was calling, he was staying quietly without saying anything, but he looked curious.
‘I’ll tell you when I come back.’
Saying that in my heart, I patted Cedric’s shoulder and left with Father.
The closer we got to the audience chamber, the more nervous I became. Perhaps it showed outwardly, as Father looked at me and smiled lightly.
“You don’t need to be too nervous.”
“…Mm. Father, you were on your way back from meeting His Majesty, right? What kind of person is His Majesty, by any chance?”
At that, Father stroked his chin and pondered.
“Usually he has somewhat, um, very loose aspects… but sometimes he’s also sharp. He’s also like a cunning snake.”
Such descriptions don’t really give me a sense of what he’s like. I eventually arrived at the audience chamber unable to get a grasp on it.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
