Chapter 46
“Ah, I’m bored.”
“…….”
At one boy’s words, another boy who had been reading leisurely made a look of utter disgust.
“Your Highness, keep your dignity. What in the world is that posture?”
“But I’m bored.”
A boy with well-kept white hair, golden eyes more noble than gold, and a face identical to Lucian’s.
If there was a difference, unlike the very cynical Lucian, he still hadn’t lost that bright, mischievous innocence from childhood.
Of course, in front of people he didn’t lose his majesty, but right now, in front of his best friend, Harry Graham, it didn’t matter.
At present, Leopold was sprawled out on the sofa, one leg up on the backrest and his head hanging down beneath the sofa, striking a truly bizarre pose.
Just looking at him makes you oddly irritated.
“They say Lilis is coming soon. Are you going to greet your fiancée in that posture?”
“Oh! Really? It’s been a while since Lilis too!”
Seeing Leopold treat his fiancée like a friend, Harry shook his head.
Then, suddenly, Harry recalled the rumors he’d been hearing lately.
‘They say Lilis mingles around with other men.’
He told her to mind her conduct since she was the Crown Prince’s fiancée, but she played dumb, saying they were just friends.
It seems far too close to call it friends, though.
They’re tied together by interests anyway, so he can’t tell them to love each other, but shouldn’t they at least keep the bare minimum of propriety?
‘At least it’s a relief His Highness doesn’t think about it.’
Harry looked at Leopold with sunken eyes.
“Ah—”
Leopold opened his mouth.
“I want a little brother.”
“……Are you still on about that? It would be far more beneficial for Your Highness to not have a little brother, you know?”
“That’s not something a guy with two little brothers gets to say.”
Rendered speechless, Harry let out a groan.
“I know too. That having siblings isn’t necessarily good. The imperial family has always had a history of bloodshed whenever there are siblings.”
“…….”
Seeing Leopold turn serious for once, Harry closed the book he’d been reading.
“Still. In an imperial family this big, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone you can rely on? You always say your little brothers are a pain, but when you’re older, you’ll become solid friends to each other, right?”
“If my little brothers don’t covet my title, then sure.”
“Good grief. You’re born from the same womb and become family—why is everyone so desperate to devour each other?”
Leopold sighed and lamented.
He was fifteen now, and in three years he’d be an adult, so it might be strange that he still talked about little brothers. But he was always sincere.
There was no way Harry or the other friends could understand the emptiness of the imperial family.
‘If I had siblings, they’d understand me…….’
Leopold, caught by his thoughts, waved his hand roughly.
“I’m just saying it. Let it go.”
Resignation was mixed into his light tone. Knowing that, Harry couldn’t say anything.
He wasn’t very talkative, so he didn’t know what kind of comfort to offer him. He could only comfort him in his own way.
“You say you’re bored, so when Lilis and the others come, let’s play a game or something.”
“Oh!”
Leopold brightened in an instant, like it was the most unexpected thing.
Seeing him consider what game would be good made Harry’s heart ease.
‘His Highness doesn’t suit looking so drooped.’
He should brighten people like the sun. That is the look that suits him best.
So Harry, enduring the annoyance, accepted all of Leopold’s chattering.
After some time had passed like that, friends including Lilis arrived.
“Your Highness! It’s been so long!”
“Have you been well in the meantime?”
“Oh! Guys, it’s been a while!”
Leopold quickly got up and greeted his friends.
One was Shulan, the eldest son of Count Neofin, and another was Amanda, the second daughter of Marquis Basilion.
They had exchanged letters, but it had been two years since they met in person.
After exchanging friendly greetings, Lilis, who had been behind them, appeared.
“It’s been a while, Your Highness. It’s been two years.”
“Lilis! You’ve been safe and well in the—”
Leopold, who had been about to welcome Lilis like the other friends, suddenly couldn’t continue.
Soft, cotton-candy-pink hair that looked fluffy, and pale blue eyes that looked transparent like glass beads.
They were familiar colors he’d seen to the point of being sick of them, but today, they felt strangely unfamiliar.
“……Lilis?”
“Yes, Your Highness. What is it?”
When Lilis tilted her head with a delicate, kindly smile, Leopold took an involuntary step back.
Seeing the back of Leopold’s neck flush red, Shulan’s eyes gleamed.
“He’s fallen, he’s fallen. Looks like Your Highness fell in love at first sight.”
“But the two of them have been engaged for a long time, haven’t they?”
“Engagement and love are separate. Besides, Lilis did get a lot prettier in two years.”
Since making her debut in high society this year, Lilis had become a young lady who set countless young noblemen’s hearts ablaze.
But since she had already been engaged to the Crown Prince long ago, no one could easily approach her, and they were satisfied with merely getting one dance, one conversation with her.
A pure flower no one dares to break.
That was the phrase that referred to Lilis.
Leaving Shulan and Amanda’s murmurs behind, only Harry watched Lilis and Leopold with narrowed eyes.
‘I didn’t expect this.’
He’d been relieved that Leopold didn’t think of Lilis as more than a friend—who would’ve thought a variable like this would appear?
Unlike her soft image, Lilis was cunning inside.
Using her looks, popularity, and power appropriately, she would pull many young noblemen into her grasp and make it so they couldn’t escape.
Well, she was the only daughter of Duke Sevans—what could she have lacked in life?
Since the empire has no princess, she would be the most noble young lady, and since she was engaged to the Crown Prince early on, becoming the next empress was as good as guaranteed.
Having lived richly without any lack, the whole world must look like it belongs to her.
If the next emperor’s favor rolls into her hands too? That’s a dangerous sign.
Sure enough, in Harry’s eyes, Lilis’s pupils gleamed darkly.
Meanwhile, seeing Leopold’s eyes that were the same as the young noblemen who looked at her with pleading gazes, Lilis held a sneer inside.
‘This is too easy, it’s not even fun.’
Honestly, she was surprised when she saw him again. He’d grown up more handsome than she’d imagined.
In the two years Leopold was away studying abroad, Lilis fell into boredom.
Her beauty grew more stunning by the day, and the men courting her increased day by day.
Isn’t it a waste to let her beauty rot for Leopold alone?
Besides, she had lived her whole life with everything she wore and ate controlled since she was little, so the first time she saw men desperate for her, she felt exhilaration.
Of course, there were no men who satisfied her eye, so she only kept them around briefly as a way to kill time.
Still, she hadn’t forgotten her status as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
When she heard the Crown Prince was returning, she honestly felt annoyed.
Once he came, people around her would impose all sorts of restrictions, going on about Crown Princess, future empress, and so on.
But now that she was seeing Leopold, she realized he was a far more splendid man than the men she’d played with until now could ever compare to.
‘Well, he is the only Crown Prince of the Audrian Empire.’
Besides, everyone supports him, nobles and commoners alike.
His looks are not just handsome but superior to anyone else, he’s brilliant, popular, and he holds the strongest authority in the world.
There couldn’t be a better groom than this.
So she should simply enjoy it, and yet…….
‘Why does it feel so empty?’
Just as she had, Leopold had surely seen her only as a friend, not as a woman.
But seeing Leopold fall for her simply because of her looks, like other insignificant men, took the wind out of her.
‘It’s gotten boring, Leopold.’
That was the impression Lilis formed of the fiancé she met again after two years.
* * *
The fifteen-year-old boys and girls, reunited after two years, talked comfortably.
“Ah, I’m bored.”
But it was impossible to soothe Leopold’s boredom.
Everyone had gotten older, so they couldn’t play thoughtlessly like before, and perhaps because they knew they shouldn’t treat Leopold too informally now, there was a subtly cautious air.
Leopold didn’t like that.
When he saw people drawing a line even as he approached without formality, his longing for siblings only grew stronger.
As Shulan and Amanda watched the mood, Harry looked at him with cold eyes.
“What do you want to do.”
“I don’t know. I’m just bored.”
Honestly, he wanted to do something that moved the body, like target shooting, horseback riding, or racing, but if he did that, it wouldn’t be a fair match, and the winner would be obvious, so he didn’t feel like it.
And calmly playing chess didn’t suit him either.
“Isn’t there something fun?”
“Something fun…… come to think of it, I think I heard a strange rumor.”
“A strange rumor?”
At Shulan’s words, Leopold perked up his ears.
“I don’t really know either, but. They say there’s an old mansion in the forest owned by the imperial family. They say a ghost appears there.”
“Oooo!”
“A, a ghost?”
“Where in the world are there ghosts?”
“That’s why I said I don’t really know. I just heard it.”
Shulan shrugged.
“I think my escort knight said something like that before too.”
Once even Lilis chimed in, Leopold’s eyes sparkled even more.
“Tell me in detail!”
Lilis told what she had heard.
“So there really is a ghost.”
“And the knights who went for courage training all failed?”
“And someone even peed themselves?”
At the unbelievable story, the kids grew restless.
“But seven years ago, an order came down saying no one was to approach the mansion. Something like, they’d finally subdued the spirit, so they mustn’t awaken it.”
“Lilis, you know a lot?”
“……Well, my escort knight talks about all sorts of things.”
Lilis put on a demure expression. Soon Leopold beamed and sprang to his feet.
“Great! Let’s go to that ghost mansion!”
“Eek!”
“Y, Your Highness!”
Everyone recoiled. Even Lilis, who managed her expression well, frowned, but Leopold didn’t care at all. Unable to watch any longer, Harry stepped in.
“Are you seriously saying that?”
“When have you ever seen me say something as a joke?”
Never. That’s the problem.
In an instant, his head throbbed.
“You don’t even know where it is. So how are you going to go?”
“Lilis’s escort knight has been there before, right? Then he’ll know.”
Everyone except Leopold glared at Lilis.
As if asking why she said something so useless. Lilis felt wronged.
“Shulan’s the one at fault. If it weren’t for Shulan, I wouldn’t even have dreamed there was a ghost mansion.”
“That’s right, Shulan! How are you going to take responsibility for this!”
With the arrow suddenly turning toward him, Shulan broke into a cold sweat.
“Don’t all be like that. We just have to go take a look at the ghost mansion once and come back.”
Grinning, sparkling.
Seeing Leopold’s face, the four raised their hands.
There was no one in this world who could stop Leopold once he made up his mind.
“Alright, then I’ll take that as agreement! Let’s go right now!”
“R, right now?”
“They say you should pull an ox’s horn while it’s hot! If we put it off, I know you’ll all make excuses.”
Amanda, who had been thinking up an excuse, flinched.
“So Lilis, call your escort knight right now and find out the location, and the rest of you change clothes.”
Seeing everyone stunned, Leopold grinned.
“Because we might get caught on the way.”
In that moment, his smile felt like the Grim Reaper.
