69
The next day, they headed straight for the capital. Although Owen was quite annoyed by Oliver’s insistence that they should leave for the mansion in the capital as soon as possible, he eventually agreed to his request. Thanks to this, Oliver seemed very happy throughout the packing process.
The two, who had just arrived at the mansion yesterday, naturally had light luggage. Nevertheless, they were assigned an entire carriage. The person apologized, saying it might not be of the best quality, but it was better than any carriage they had ridden before.
It was after arriving at the mansion in the capital that they fully realized the wealth of the Fides viscounty, which they had thought was unusual from the beginning.
“It’s really spacious…”
Rohan, walking side by side with Arpel, uttered a brief comment of appreciation. At a glance, the mansion looked similar to the temple where they had stayed until a few months ago. The fact that a spare mansion in the capital was as large as the temple meant that the wealth they had accumulated was enormous.
“The mansion in our territory is a bit larger than this. Next time, when you have time, you should come and vis—”
“Who said you could decide that?”
“Young master, they are your friends, aren’t they?”
Oliver replied with a chuckle. Naturally, Owen made a very strange expression upon hearing this. Who are you calling friends? That was exactly the look on his face.
“You’ve never brought guests to the mansion and given them the largest room before, have you? It must mean that you value these two greatly.”
That wasn’t the case at all. Owen had no particular interest in the two. He had reluctantly given them a large room because Dionel had told him to treat the two with care. It was simply the fault of following his superior’s orders, so his brow furrowed immediately. Of course, Oliver paid no attention to this.
“The butler has an unusual personality, so don’t mind him.”
Owen, who had been completely drained by his misunderstanding, greeted the two with a very tired expression until they arrived and unpacked.
A few years ago, Arpel had come to the capital with Rohan. It was also when he had traveled various parts of the empire for two years before going to the temple with the young Rohan. The scenes he saw then were quite different from what he saw now.
“Do you remember? When we came to the capital before.”
“Of course. We went to that famous bakery, didn’t we?”
His gaze turned slightly towards Rohan. Indeed, they had once waited in line for nearly half a day, saying they wanted to visit a quite famous bakery.
The eyes staring at Rohan were filled with quite unexpected sentiment. He had heard that humans don’t remember much from their childhood. Was it because of that? Because so much time had passed, he didn’t expect Rohan to remember clearly where they had traveled together, even if he remembered being together.
“It was delicious there… Shall we go again?”
“You want to keep waiting?”
“…I think it might be better not to go.”
The shape of his grumbling mouth was similar to when he was young. Rohan was the same back then. Although Arpel had carried him for most of the time as it seemed difficult to wait under the scorching sun, his lips were still pouting. Whether he wanted to eat the bread or not, despite his sullen expression, he didn’t go back and finally got what he wanted to eat.
How much determination was in that tiny face? The fortunate thing was that the bread they obtained after all that trouble was incredibly delicious. The image of Rohan holding bread in both of his small hands, biting into it with his mouth full and looking happy, came to mind.
“Come to think of it, I think it would be fine if Arpel is with me.”
“…Should I make it for you later?”
“Hmm.”
Rohan’s movement of slightly leaning his head was full of aegyo, but he stopped abruptly at the following words. His eyes, which seemed to be gauging Arpel’s reaction, looked a bit awkward.
“…Um, Arpel shouldn’t do difficult things, so should I make it for you?”
As he carefully held his hand and rested his head on it, tilting slightly, with the sunlight streaming through the window, it looked like a watercolor painting. However, Arpel’s eyes, which were staring at this, were only strange.
“Do you dislike what I made?”
“What? Ah, no. No. I don’t dislike it…”
The eyes that were sparkling as if they could enchant someone at any moment began to waver helplessly. The slightly bowing head and the action of burying his face in his palms were his best efforts, but they were quickly dispelled by Arpel’s touch.
His brow furrowed and relaxed repeatedly, knowingly or unknowingly. Rohan, belatedly remembering that his emotions would be transmitted to Arpel no matter what, refrained from speaking.
There was a reason for his hesitation. When Arpel was very young, he had tried to make food for him once but failed miserably. After that day, Arpel had tried cooking several times, but all resulted in the same outcome.
Even Rohan, who rarely said anything unpleasant to Arpel, hesitated to say it was delicious. Knowing this fact very well, Arpel just pouted his lips for no reason.
“Sh-Shall we make it together?”
Rohan, who had been keenly observing Arpel’s reaction, smiled brightly. It was only natural that Arpel’s expression softened as he stared at him. He knew very well that the food that came from his hands was something that could hardly be called food, so it was close to deliberately ignoring it.
In the end, they promised to make it together someday. Although Arpel knew Rohan was trying to soothe him, he couldn’t help but fall for his expression.
***
Oliver came to find them before mealtime. With a satisfied smile on his face, he asked for their understanding, saying he would be intruding, and then vigorously pulled something behind him.
A long rack with various clothes hanging on it rolled in. A woman with a friendly smile also entered with it. Rohan’s expression was strange as he looked at all of this.
“…What is this?”
“The highlight of a banquet is, of course, an outfit that greatly enhances one’s charm, isn’t it?”
As soon as he clapped his hands lightly, the servants waiting behind quickly moved. Their first target was Arpel.
As they brought several outfits from the hanging clothes and tried them on him, Rohan took a step back. It was an unconscious action to better see him being fitted with clothes that gave a much more dressed-up impression than usual.
“This is too flashy.”
“We should avoid anything with prominent red decorations…”
“…Hmm. The buttons on this one seem a bit out of place.”
Every time a new outfit was held up to Arpel’s body, the butler watching from afar shook his head. After this action was repeated several times, irritation began to creep onto Arpel’s face, who had been standing like a mannequin. The main reason was the inconvenience of interrupting his time with Rohan.
“Oh, this one is quite nice.”
Finally, words of approval came out of Oliver’s mouth for the first time. Reflexively, Arpel’s eyes turned to Rohan. It was a look seeking confirmation.
“…Really, really beautiful, Arpel.”
However, Rohan didn’t make eye contact with him. His unfocused eyes were completely lost, frantically examining Arpel’s appearance. With each blink of his eyes, all sorts of rapture flowed from him.
As a result, Arpel had no choice but to avert his gaze from Rohan’s. He repeatedly rubbed his face due to an inexplicable feeling of tightness or queasiness.
“Lord Arpel, how do you find it?”
“…It doesn’t matter. Please use this one.”
“Ho ho, I’m glad you like this old man’s taste.”
His voice was blatantly filled with satisfaction. It was when Oliver, nodding contentedly, turned his gaze to Rohan.
“I’ll have the same as well.”
“…Oh?”
Still fixing his gaze only on Arpel, Rohan answered as if stating an obvious fact. Oliver’s eyes widened for a moment, and soon the corners of his mouth curled up.
“Then we’ll make some slight changes to the color and decorations. Please have two outfits custom-made according to this design, but make the lace in this part a bit shorter… Ah. It might be good to have different colored buttons as well.”
After that, for a long time, passionate conversations went back and forth between the woman who received the clothes and Oliver. It was mostly a serious discussion about how to make a few changes to the clothes and what would suit them better.
They retreated from their positions, and the racks full of clothes belatedly disappeared. Only when nearly five people had left did the room finally feel a bit spacious. Arpel realized for the first time what it meant to be mentally exhausted.
It felt like a storm had swept through. Of course, in a mental sense.
“…You should have tried on several outfits.”
If there was one thing to regret, it was that Rohan had decided on the outfit to wear to the banquet without trying on any clothes at all.
Perhaps because dissatisfaction could be read in his narrowed eyes, Rohan, who had been blinking blankly, soon smiled gently. It was a face that instantly melted even the dissatisfaction that had been swirling at the back of his throat.
“Just… thinking about wearing the same clothes… I’m too happy.”
A blush rose like flower petals blooming under the shy smile. Arpel was momentarily at a loss for words at such a vivid change.
All sorts of joy and happiness shimmered in the aspect of affection and love whispered to Arpel. The numerous emotions directed at only one person made his heart swell. In the end, Arpel, who had been biting his lip silently, turned his head away.
Not missing this opportunity, Rohan quickly approached Arpel. The way he gently rested his head on Arpel’s shoulder and nuzzled him looked exactly like a dog showing affection to its owner.
“I really, really love you…”
A sigh-like statement burst out. Arpel’s shoulder, which Rohan was leaning on, trembled for a moment, but that was all.
When he first heard those words, Arpel had said “I’m sorry” to Rohan. But now, he just kept his mouth shut.
Was he simply pretending not to hear, or… was he gradually losing reasons to be sorry? For just a moment, intense desire flashed in his eyes.
Perhaps really… it might not be far off. A bright, sunny smile appeared on Rohan’s face.
