Da Capo 25

? Views,

Chapter 25

Blair actually knew very well why Aaron was so determined to introduce him to Kyle and create a friendship between them. It was due to Aaron’s nature, with his compassion and meddlesomeness stretching to the ends of the universe. Aaron, who could never leave anything pitiful alone, had suffered considerably because of this temperament even into adulthood. In the past, he had picked up and raised numerous abandoned dogs and birds. The large garden of Aaron’s mansion in the imperial capital was always full of dogs and rabbits running around.

With such a soft disposition, it was inevitable that Aaron would find Second Prince Kyle Owentree pitiful. Though Kyle was a Second Prince, he had almost no influence. This was because his mother’s background was extremely humble. Kyle’s mother had been a maid working in the imperial palace.

There were two types of maids and servants working in the imperial palace. There were those from noble backgrounds who entered to build relationships with the imperial family and secure better marriage prospects, and there were those from commoner backgrounds who entered the imperial palace for the money. For the former, the meaning of being a maid or servant was different. Of course, Kyle’s mother was the latter.

Her beauty, which was excessive for a commoner, was both a blessing and a curse for her. According to rumors circulating privately, she might have been the most beautiful woman in the Crassia Empire. The Emperor, who was lustful, took Kyle’s mother for a night of play. But what was thought to be just play resulted in Kyle’s unexpected arrival. Kyle’s mother became an imperial consort by bearing a prince. However, surviving in the imperial court without backing was by no means easy.

Until now, the Emperor had taken four women as official wives and concubines. The Emperor had one child with each of these four women.

From the Empress, who came from the Sichen Ducal family, he had the First Imperial Princess Adriana; after conquering the Kalshon minority, he brought a woman of that ethnicity as a captive, made her an imperial consort, and she gave birth to the first son, Prince Joshua.

The second son, Kyle, was born to a commoner maid with the surname Owentree.

Lastly, there were Julia Spirenda, daughter of Baron Spirenda, and her young son Dain. She was currently the most favored imperial consort. Consort Spirenda was a greedy woman. Never satisfied with her position as a consort, she eagerly coveted the vacant position of Empress after the Empress’s death, as well as the position of heir for her son.

Naturally, to her, Joshua and Kyle were only political rivals to be eliminated. It was Consort Spirenda who had sent Kyle away to the academy, as if driving him out, finding excuses even before giving birth to her own child. As for Joshua, he had long been sent to the Kalshon minority.

In the past, Consort Spirenda had also possessed great ambition. But fortunately, in the past, the current Emperor had died prematurely, before Dain had fully grown. If the Emperor had lived longer, both Kyle and Joshua would have been purged without being able to do anything, and Dain would have become Emperor. In fact, the First Imperial Princess Adriana had been poisoned by Consort Spirenda.

But ironically, the Emperor died suddenly before Consort Spirenda could reveal her ambitions, and the ones who could compete for the throne were the two princes of appropriate age, Joshua and Kyle. At that time, Consort Spirenda’s son Dain was not even five years old. And fortunately, Kyle, who had seized military power, was able to become Emperor. Blair, who had witnessed the process of Kyle becoming Emperor from right beside him, knew this process better than anyone.

In any case, Kyle becoming Emperor was a story that would unfold much later. The current Kyle was in a position with no one to support or care for him. His innate nature was not tough either, which made it worse. In the end, Kyle was a prince in name only, with no one to protect him. With his mother’s humble family background and having clearly fallen out of the Emperor’s favor, he had no future. Despite being a prince, Kyle’s current position in the empire was worse than that of a powerful noble.

It seemed that Aaron, the king of meddling, couldn’t ignore such a pitiful sight. It had been the same in the past. Blair, caught in Aaron’s meddling clutches, had sworn loyalty to Kyle. Looking back now, Blair thought his past self had been quite soft-hearted too.

Although he had no intention of doing that this time, Aaron apparently wished for Kyle and Blair to build a relationship. For a powerless prince, the youngest son of Count Monetery was certainly not an easy friend to acquire.

“Blair is a good kid, so get along well. You too, Blair.”

“Haha.”

Aaron praised Blair to his face. Caught off guard by the unexpected comment, Blair let out an awkward laugh. Blair wasn’t very accustomed to being directly complimented to his face. Though he had been a popular and widely praised politician and soldier, he disliked flattery, so few people dared to speak carelessly in front of him.

In any case, he found it frustrating that he couldn’t directly tell Aaron that he didn’t particularly want to become close with Kyle. If he said that, rumors that the third son of Count Monetery had a broken personality would spread throughout the academy within a day. Blair, with an embarrassed smile, made eye contact and gave Kyle a slight bow.

Kyle kept his head down toward his plate and only moved his eyes slightly. He had been stealing glances at Blair’s face, but when their eyes met, he quickly lowered his gaze as if nothing had happened.

What’s with him?

Blair tilted his head and continued his meal. Now that they had exchanged greetings, it was too late to completely ignore each other. Kyle certainly wasn’t a bad person. There was no need to avoid him like a startled wild boar in a forest fire. Blair decided to maintain an appropriate distance.

Suddenly, the voice of Kyle, who had wept as if he himself were dying before Blair’s breath had ceased, echoed in his ears.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Blair, who had been caught in distracting thoughts, cleared his throat with a fake cough. Aaron, who had been eating, looked up and tilted his head.

“What’s wrong? Did you choke?”

Blair shook his head. Noticing this, Kyle pushed his water glass toward Blair. Blair glanced at Kyle and picked up the glass.

“Th…thank you.”

Though he wasn’t thirsty, there was no need to ignore the other’s kindness. Rather, ignoring it would make the atmosphere awkward. After drinking the water, Blair pulled at the corners of his mouth and politely gave his regards. Seeing that smile, Kyle averted his gaze. It was such an obvious avoidance that even Blair, who had given an artificial smile, hesitated. After returning the water glass, Blair tilted his head slightly.

Had Kyle always been this shy and uncomfortable with conversations? Blair couldn’t remember exactly what Kyle had been like long ago. To begin with, Blair and Kyle hadn’t been particularly close around this time.

The Kyle who became Emperor had his own dignity, appropriate flexibility, and a decent sense of humor. Blair had no memory of him having difficulty with or avoiding conversations with strangers like this. Even to Blair, the current Kyle was an unfamiliar person.

The sight of Kyle avoiding eye contact and averting his gaze was quite unfamiliar to Blair. The Kyle of the past had been someone who would quite freely invade and cross over into Blair’s personal space, pestering and touching him. But Blair quite liked this level of awkwardness. He decided not to push Kyle away noticeably.

He decided to withdraw the plan of picking a major fight and remaining enemies who would bare their teeth and growl at each other whenever they met. Earning hatred or animosity was not a good idea either. Being just acquaintances who knew each other’s faces and names was perfect. Just enough to remain vaguely in memory in the distant future. He had no intention of repeating the foolish process of the past.

This distance between the two was sufficient.

liberamente (Freely)

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

After finishing his meal and wiping his mouth, Blair stood up first.

“Are you leaving?”

Aaron looked at Blair with a disappointed expression as he stood up.

“I have a class right after this. And since I’ve sweated, I need to change my clothes. So I’ll see you in the next class. Your Highness, I’ll take my leave first.”

This time, it wasn’t just an excuse. Having come straight to the dining hall after physical training, his clothes were damp with sweat and uncomfortable, and there wasn’t much time left before class. There was no time to dawdle.

“Oh? Oh, sure.”

Aaron hastily replied to Blair. Blair, who had politely bowed, leisurely disappeared outside the dining hall. Aaron’s voice reached Kyle, who had been staring blankly at Blair’s retreating figure. Aaron tilted his head and spoke.

“That’s strange. He wasn’t that kind of personality.”

“Really? What was he like originally?”

Kyle responded to Aaron’s muttering. Aaron muttered as if perplexed.

“He wasn’t quite frivolous, but his innate personality was quite amiable. Now he’s prickly like a hedgehog. Did something happen during the break? Did puberty hit? Well, this is just the time for puberty to hit.”

Aaron mumbled to himself.

“Even now… he doesn’t seem to have a bad personality?”

Kyle defended Blair.

“No, how should I put it. It’s different from having a bad personality. Don’t you feel a lot of prickliness from him now? You could tell he was raised as the pampered youngest child of a wealthy family. He was very gentle by nature. He had an extremely amiable personality. That’s why everyone liked him a lot.”

This wasn’t something Aaron Taklamakan, who had been raised with no less pampering than Blair, should be saying. But a flower in a greenhouse, unaware that it was in a greenhouse, criticized Blair, another flower in the same greenhouse. Without knowing who was inside that core. It would have been a story that would have made the current Blair double over with laughter if he had heard it.

In a way, it was natural for Aaron to feel a sense of dissonance. The Blair that the current Aaron knew was the Blair from last year, continuing from the age of fifteen. But the core inside was a thirty-three-year-old man who had lived through many more years. It was a natural dissonance, considering he was a person twice Aaron’s age.

The thirty-three-year-old Blair and the sixteen-year-old Blair couldn’t help but be different, and on top of that, Blair had deliberately tried to distance himself from them, which made him appear even more rigid.

“Is that so? I can’t really tell.”

Kyle, who didn’t know much about Blair, smiled awkwardly.

“How would you know? Just eat your food. We should head to class soon too.”

Aaron patted Kyle’s back. Kyle once again traced with his eyes the doorway through which Blair had disappeared.

Blair’s wish to distance himself from Kyle was, unfortunately and ironically, not fulfilled at all.

[To be continued…]