Still, he hadn’t expected to blurt out that someone was pretty so casually.
Even though they had spent less than a day together under the name of “senior,” he seemed to have grown accustomed to the role already. Perhaps he had been influenced by Assad, who was borrowing Amun’s name and acting skillfully like a professional actor.
Cayden found it strange how comfortable he had become around Assad. He felt belated embarrassment too. After Emma’s wedding ended completely, he would probably go back to being stiff and tight-lipped again.
“…The flower. I should keep wearing it. Since you said it’s pretty, it would be a shame to take it off.”
After a moment of silence, Assad quietly smiled along with Cayden. He didn’t add anything more. Cayden wondered if he was thinking to himself, “I already know I’m pretty.”
The conversation didn’t continue after that. They were now face to face with Emma and Alrina, the protagonists of the wedding.
Leaving her spouse behind, Emma came toward Cayden with steps close to a sprint. She was gripping the hem of her dress tightly with both hands.
“Cayden!”
Emma, who was shorter than Cayden, hugged him tightly and bounced up and down on the spot. Cayden bent down and hugged Emma back while checking the expression of the woman visible behind Emma.
Emma, who used to grumble that no matter what she did, the smell of soil never left her body, now smelled of tea leaves and flowers. Her once skinny body had filled out and become plump. Happy about this, Cayden smiled.
After releasing the hug, Emma shook Cayden’s shoulders and bombarded him with questions. Rather than questions… it was more like pouring out concerns about Cayden’s new job, life in the hot desert, and worries about him being ostracized by some terrible person.
All these were concerns she had already expressed in past letters, to which Cayden had already replied. Emma must have received his responses.
Still, Cayden pretended not to know and answered Emma’s questions once more. What the two of them, awkward with writing, needed was not sentences made up of awkward combinations of words but each other’s gazes and voices.
It was only after some more time had passed that Emma turned her attention to Assad.
“Is this the junior colleague who came with you to Ruana for work?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you speak the kingdom language well too. I’m so pleased to meet you! I didn’t expect you to come to the wedding!”
Emma, her eyes wide, grabbed Assad’s hand. She shook it vigorously up and down while smiling. Assad also smiled back at Emma, relaxing his hand in hers.
“I’m very pleased to meet you too. I’m happy to be able to attend your beautiful wedding and offer my congratulations. Please call me Amun. I’d be even happier if you treated me with familiarity.”
“How could I do that?”
“Aren’t you my senior’s closest friend? If so, you’re also someone close to me.”
Assad introduced himself as Amun to Emma and Alrina.
“I can’t believe Cayden lied in his letter. Describing such a handsome, well-built junior as a small, cute child. Aren’t you a complete fraud?”
“I guess in my senior’s eyes, I looked like a small, cute child.”
“No, that’s…”
“And I might have grown much taller in the time it took for the letters to go back and forth.”
Assad added, pressing his body against the embarrassed Cayden. Cayden, who had closed his mouth again during this exchange, just stared at Assad as he joked around.
Assad, conversing with Emma, looked like a solid young man who had just started his social life. Except for the fact that his face was somewhat excessively handsome. For some reason, it felt strange to Cayden. It was also nice to discover a side of Assad he hadn’t known before.
“…Thank you for traveling all the way from Acro to Ruana. If you hadn’t been here today, my bride would have been in tears all night.”
Alrina, Emma’s spouse, spoke quietly to Cayden. Her face appeared cold and emotionless. But the gratitude she expressed was born of pure sincerity.
“That’s right. I would have cried all night. Because I wanted to see you, Cayden.”
Emma added after hearing Alrina’s words. It seemed she hadn’t missed her spouse’s voice even while conversing with Assad.
Cayden, stumbling over his words and responding awkwardly to Emma, subtly shifted his gaze away. He was avoiding Alrina’s piercing eyes.
The conversation continued leisurely under Emma’s lead. Whether she knew Cayden’s feelings or not, Emma kept examining Assad’s face even while talking to Cayden. Sometimes she would wink at Cayden, conveying some unspoken message. It was an expression impossible to interpret.
“I was worried about how Cayden was doing. But seeing him today, I think my concerns might have been a bit excessive. I didn’t know he had such a bright, good-natured junior by his side. Hmm, it must be fun every day. There must be no time to be bored, right?”
“You think so?”
“Of course. The fact that someone like Cayden came to a friend’s wedding with a junior colleague, oh my, I can’t even put it into words.”
Emma finished speaking with a pleased smile. Her face was playful.
In her reply to Cayden’s letter mentioning he would have company, Emma had repeatedly asked what their relationship was. When he said it was a young junior colleague he worked with, she didn’t ask further, but now that they were face to face, her curiosity seemed to have returned.
“Amun came with me because he had business in the North, and it worked out well. He had free time, so he came all the way here with me.”
Worried that Emma might develop some strange misunderstanding, Cayden quickly spoke up. But as Assad interjected into the conversation, the atmosphere changed.
“Well, I do have business in Ruana. But more than that, I was worried about my senior traveling such a long distance alone, so I came along.”
Assad’s few words, spoken without knowing the context, made Cayden’s denial sound somewhat peculiar. Watching Assad and Emma chat, Cayden could only move his lips without speaking.
It was fun to listen to the conversation between the two. Cayden realized for the first time that Assad knew how to use a speech style that made the listener feel good about themselves. Sometimes he looked just like a merchant working in a trading company.
Assad was delivering all his conversations to Emma in the kingdom language rather than the imperial language. That was no longer surprising to Cayden.
When Assad, boarding the carriage, had said he had learned the kingdom language so there was no need to worry, Cayden hadn’t thought much of it. He just thought it was impressive that Assad had learned the language so quickly. But as time passed, his puzzlement grew. He finally realized the possibility that a person who was to become the crown prince of the empire couldn’t possibly know only one language.
He didn’t want to mix words with me, so he only used the imperial language.
Cayden belatedly realized this fact.
The man who had hidden for over half a year that he could speak the kingdom language fluently was now using it freely even in front of him. Whether that was a happy thing or a sad thing… Cayden couldn’t tell.
Emma, in a good mood, smiled brightly. She poured out words of admiration toward Assad. Taken together, she was saying it was fortunate that a handsome, good-looking junior with a nice personality had become friends with the introverted Cayden.
Assad was smiling too. Cayden also followed Assad and Emma, awkwardly lifting the corners of his mouth. All while keeping an eye on Alrina, who was growing increasingly cold.
Cayden discreetly tugged at the hem of Assad’s clothes. Assad willingly stepped back in accordance with Cayden’s wish. While doing so, he moved closer to Cayden.
Naturally lowering his head, Assad whispered a word in Cayden’s ear.
“I’m doing this to make a good impression on your friend. Is that bad?”
Bad? At Assad’s question, Cayden could only shake his head. If he was doing this because he wanted to show a good image to Emma, what could Cayden say?
“Cayden, how much longer will you stay in the North?”
Emma asked, taking in the sight of Cayden and Assad standing close together.
“Just one more day tomorrow… When morning breaks again, we have to return to Helio.”
“Ah, that’s too soon. It would have been better if you had stayed here at the mansion rather than at another lodging. I would have given you the best room. For your junior colleague too.”
Emma’s eyes, which already tended to droop, drooped even more.
Cayden also wanted to accept Emma’s kindness and stay at this mansion. But he had to decline the offer, using the excuse of work he needed to help Amun finish overnight.
“But there’s still one more day left. Hmm. Not bad. When you have time, let’s have lunch together tomorrow.”
Emma, not pressing on her friend’s refusal, spoke in a cheerful voice. It was closer to a declaration than a suggestion.
“Emma. Thanks for the offer, but we shouldn’t take away time from a couple who just got married.”
“Hmm. But we’re leaving for our honeymoon trip four days later. Until then, Alrina and I have plenty of time, so don’t feel burdened. The biggest issue is whether you have time or not.”
“But…”
“Am I invited too?”
Assad added, wrapping his hands around Cayden’s shoulders. He was smiling in a way that Cayden couldn’t understand the meaning of.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
