“Danny, are you curious about such things in this situation?”
“Unofficially, I’m Your Highness’s strategist, aren’t I? What could be more important for a strategist who needs to devise schemes than understanding the nobles’ movements?”
William burst into loud laughter as if satisfied.
“As expected, Danny is serious about politics. If you had been born a noble, you would have become an excellent politician. What a shame.”
Since I had already pleased him, I thought I might as well humor him a bit more.
“Not at all. I’m already sufficiently happy as I am. It would be fun to engage in politics at the forefront, but being able to implement the things I’ve thought of from behind Your Highness the Crown Prince, what could I find lacking?”
William snorted and reached out his hand. His long fingers ruffled my hair as they passed through.
“Even though I know you said that to make me feel good, it’s strange that it still makes me feel good. Well, anyway, the reason the nobles didn’t oppose it is simple. It’s because the Ohariko Empire has us at a disadvantage.”
At the word “disadvantage,” I searched my memory and suddenly remembered something. Two years ago, Lord Ridden had been caught trading illegal weapons with neighboring countries, and the Ohariko Empire was among those countries.
I had thought it was fortunate that it passed quietly without major incident, but apparently they had been hiding their claws to use at a time like this…
“We can’t start a war just to bring back a prince who was pushed out in the struggle for imperial power, right? Besides, becoming that country’s crown prince might not necessarily be a bad thing for Kalroy.”
“Yes. That’s certainly true.”
I tried to give as lukewarm a response as possible, but William looked at me with sharp eyes.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I don’t like the fact that I’m saying such things with my own mouth. But I can’t cut off something His Majesty the Emperor has also approved of at my level.”
What’s this? Why is he beating around the bush like this? This person who’s always too straightforward for his own good…
“What exactly are you trying to say…”
I urged him out of curiosity, but instead of answering, William took out an envelope with gold trim from a drawer and handed it to me.
“Something like this came.”
I immediately took it and looked at the front. The front read:
[Invitation to the Crown Prince Investiture Ceremony of the Ohariko Empire.]
“Wh-what is this!”
Too shocked just from seeing the front, I couldn’t even think of opening the envelope and looked at William. He ruffled his silver hair with his own hand in displeasure.
An invitation was sent? By Kalroy? Or by the Emperor of the Ohariko Empire?
I was confused because I couldn’t understand how this situation had come about.
Since Kalroy was originally from the Stamili Empire as a crown prince, it wouldn’t be strange for him to invite his brother, but considering their relationship, even if the Emperor of the Ohariko Empire suggested inviting William, Kalroy should have normally stopped it.
In my confusion, I looked at William. He was watching me with an expression that seemed to be carefully observing what reaction I would show.
I quickly collected myself and carefully opened the invitation first. I needed to find out who the sender was first.
The sender wasn’t Kalroy but the Emperor of the Ohariko Empire. The invitation had my name written alongside William’s. Seeing that, I somewhat understood what had happened.
The Emperor invited William out of consideration for Kalroy!
But why did he invite me, who isn’t even an official Crown Princess?
Even after opening the invitation, with only more questions piling up, I reacted as calmly as possible for William’s sake.
“If the Emperor of the Ohariko Empire has invited us, it would be proper etiquette to attend, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s exactly why I don’t like it. But…”
William narrowed his eyes and trailed off.
“Is that all your reaction?”
“…Pardon? What other reaction should I show?”
“Well, how strange? I thought Danny would have questions when seeing this invitation. Like why you have to go when you’re not even an official Crown Princess.”
It was a mistake to have overthought things. I had focused on reacting as if I wasn’t interested and forgot that William was the person who knew me best.
The most important thing in acting is naturalness…
For now, I had to somehow smooth things over.
“It was strange, but since there was no separate reason written for inviting me, I thought there was no point in asking.”
“Hmm… So you don’t know the reason?”
“No.”
“But I do…”
My heart began to grow increasingly uneasy. What kind of fantasy was William, who always thought only the worst about Kalroy, imagining now?
“Danny, can’t you tell just by looking? The Emperor of the Ohariko Empire invited us? Make sense when you talk. What connection does he have to invite us? This is one hundred percent Kalroy’s invitation.”
“Why do you think that?”
Instead of answering, William pointed with his finger to my name written on the invitation.
“This is the proof. If it were the consideration of an emperor who cherishes his adopted son, only my name would have been written, right? But why do you think your name was specifically included?”
Come to think of it, William’s words made sense.
“He used the excuse of the investiture ceremony to ask the Emperor to invite me because he wants to see you.”
“If he wanted to invite me directly, why would he go to such lengths?”
William sighed as if frustrated and continued.
“Because he knows I wouldn’t bring you if he invited me himself, so he borrowed the Emperor’s help! Really, there’s not a single likeable thing about him to the very end!”
Angry William snatched the invitation away from me. Then, unable to tear it up, he threw it on the desk and fumed.
I swallowed a sigh thinking about the future where I would be caught up in the brothers’ fight.
He’ll be an adult in just a little while… Why is this happening now!
***
Unable to refuse the Emperor’s invitation, we had no choice but to leave for the Ohariko Empire.
On the day of departure for Ohariko, I left the Crown Prince’s Palace with William. At the palace entrance, Behern and Erica, along with several knights who would escort us, were waiting with preparations complete.
“Are you coming out now?”
“Yeah. Danny has been since morning…”
There he goes again.
William didn’t usually do this, but whenever there were many people around, he would deliberately say strange things. It was fortunate that I stopped him before he could continue.
“We have a long way to go. Please get in the carriage quickly.”
William got into the carriage first, and the rest of the people began to take their seats one by one.
“Then we’ll depart.”
At the coachman’s signal, horse neighing could be heard and the carriage began to move.
Then, Erica, whose expression seemed somehow excited, glanced at William and whispered to me in a small voice.
“Lord Daniel, the Ohariko Empire is famous for cosmetics. I’m planning to pick out some that suit Lord Daniel’s skin during this opportunity.”
“We’re not going there to have fun, Erica.”
“Who said we’re going to have fun? The job of a concubine’s attendant like me is to make the person I serve beautiful.”
It seemed like it would only hurt my mouth to say more, so I kept quiet. Even though I had lowered my voice, our conversation must have been heard by William too, because he, who had been quiet, suddenly interrupted.
“Our Danny is beautiful even without doing anything. But if Erica wants to buy cosmetics, I don’t particularly want to stop her.”
Erica winked at me triumphantly and said.
“I express my gratitude for Your Highness the Crown Prince’s deep consideration.”
“Well, I can do at least this much. If Erica goes out, she’ll be less attached to our Danny.”
Erica’s face crumpled. Though she tried to hide it because she was conscious of William, her disgusted expression was clearly visible on her face.
“Yes… I should go shopping frequently.”
William commanded Behern as if he had been waiting for this.
“Give Erica plenty of money.”
“Yes.”
Behern’s expression as he answered wasn’t much different from Erica’s.
I sighed inwardly watching William, who was even wary of Erica.
William, you’re not a ten-year-old kid anymore. In just a few months, you’ll be eighteen…
At least when you were young, you were cute. Now you’ve grown to the point where you couldn’t be distinguished from adult Alphas, yet you’re still acting like this, making me sigh more each day.
What was even more depressing was the fact that once we arrived at the Ohariko Empire, I would have to face Kalroy.
***
Inside the Crown Prince’s Palace of the Ohariko Empire, Kalroy was stretching his neck out the window. He looked like someone desperately waiting for someone.
“Rob, when exactly are they coming?”
“Pardon?”
“That dirty Omega, I mean, Omega! So the name is… ahem, it’s been so long that I can hardly remember! That, Daniel Lambert.”
Rob looked at Kalroy with an expression that said this was no longer surprising. He didn’t understand why Kalroy sang “Daniel, Daniel” but then acted like he forgot the name.
“Your Highness, as you know, the Stamili Empire is far from the Ohariko Empire.”
“When the precious me, who will become the Crown Prince of the great Ohariko Empire, sent an invitation, they should come quickly. Why are they dawdling? Why?”
Kalroy looked ready to throw himself out the window right now to bring Daniel back. Rob responded calmly.
“Since this is an occasion to meet Your precious Highness, how could a humble person just come to see you? They would need to prepare themselves anew, and renew their mindset as well.”
“Even so, it seems too late… That impudent one, unless they’re taking the great Crown Prince of the Ohariko Empire lightly, there’s no way they would do this!”
As he said this, Kalroy’s upper body was leaning so far out the window that he was about to fall down.
‘Even if they arrive as early as possible, it would be difficult to arrive within today…’
Rob looked at Kalroy with pitying eyes.
Since life in the Stamili Empire had been nothing but pain, Rob had no peaceful days, working to ensure Kalroy wouldn’t suffer the same pain in the Ohariko Empire.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
