TGBAP 50

Before he knew it, it was 5 o’clock.

Even Leopold, who had been shouting to open the door at ten-minute intervals, had been quiet for the past hour.

Pit-pat, pit-pat.

“The rain really won’t stop.”

Compared to how it had been pouring at first, the rain had let up a lot, but it was still raining.

“He’s probably gone back by now, right?”

Dinner time would be soon, and he always went back before six, so he must have left by now.

Otherwise, the imperial family might raise hell about the Crown Prince disappearing.

‘Then why do I feel so uneasy?’

He opened his book, but even after an hour he couldn’t bring himself to turn the page. If anything, his concentration seemed even worse than when he could hear Leopold’s voice.

Thinking reading was a lost cause today, Lucian got up from his seat. And, just in case, he opened the window and glanced toward the front gate.

Because of the eaves, he couldn’t see properly, but there was no one.

“I really hope he stops coming.”

He didn’t want to admit it, but the more the days he came increased, the more his heart wavered without him realizing it.

‘Maybe I was hoping for days like this to come.’

Ever since he learned his brother and he were twins, he’d wanted someone—anyone—to come and explain it to him. No, he wanted to hear even a single “I’m sorry.”

Of course, judging by the Crown Prince’s attitude, he seemed to know nothing.

But as the one who knew nothing kept coming to find him, the emotions that had piled up all this time slowly, imperceptibly began to fade away.

“Maybe I just wanted to be acknowledged by my family.”

He would never tell Ria that he’d had a thought like that.

It was embarrassing, and he didn’t want to look like a child to her anymore.

“It’s pretty cold.”

Pulled out of his reverie, Lucian rubbed his arms at the increasingly chilly weather and closed the window.

No—he was about to, if he hadn’t caught, however faintly, something under the eaves.

“……No way, right?”

He widened his eyes and leaned his head out the window, and he could see a person’s legs.

“That insane bastard!”

Lucian dashed out of his room in a hurry.

* * *

[Ahem, ahem, should I make some stew for the first time in a while?]

In chilly weather, something warm is the best.

Ria began taking out ingredients to prepare the evening meal. Just as she was about to start prepping them—

BANG!

[Ah! That startled me!]

Somewhere, she heard the sound of a door being flung open in a hurry. Startled, she hurried out.

“Hey, get a grip! Hey!”

She saw Lucian holding the Crown Prince, sprawled out.

The front gate wide open, the Crown Prince slumped, and a fierce wind blowing inside. She could roughly guess what kind of situation it was.

“Ria! This guy’s got a fever!”

She hurriedly checked Leopold. He had a fever and his stamina had dropped so he couldn’t come to his senses.

“Ugh…… cold…….”

His complexion was pale, and his lips were tinged blue. For cold weather, his clothes were far too thin. And for some reason, his clothes were drenched.

The wet clothes had clearly stolen his body heat.

[Lucian, first, move him to your room. Go up first and light the fireplace.]

“Yeah, okay.”

Lucian went up first, and Ria lifted him into the air as he was and headed to Lucian’s room.

[Bring a blanket!]

While Lucian went to get a blanket, Ria quickly stripped off Leopold’s wet clothes.

Leaving only his underwear, she wrapped the shivering Leopold up tightly in the blanket and placed him in front of the fireplace.

“Ria, shouldn’t you use healing magic?”

[I already did. But since it isn’t an illness, it won’t have a big effect. Raising his body temperature is the important thing first. Lucian, rub his hands and feet.]

Lucian did as he was told and rubbed Leopold’s hands and feet. His hands and feet were icy cold, and Lucian clenched his lips tight.

After some time passed, Leopold began to regain consciousness. He opened his fluttering eyes and smiled faintly.

“……Haha, you finally let me in?”

“What are you doing, this idiotic thing! You knew they wouldn’t open, so why didn’t you leave!”

“With rain like that, how could I leave. And since the weather was bad, I thought you’d let me in quickly.”

[Tsk tsk, even so, you stood in the rain for three hours without moving? Why is this kid so stupid?]

She said that, but she couldn’t help clicking her tongue at his persistence.

“……What do you even want from me?”

At Lucian’s question, Leopold smiled faintly.

“Nothing in particular.”

“……What?”

Lucian, who had been frowning, and Ria, who had been guessing what he might say, both went blank at his answer.

“I just wanted to talk to you like this.”

“……Before, you were spouting nonsense about sworn brothers and whatnot.”

“That was me getting ahead of myself. If you tell someone you’ve never even met before to become sworn brothers out of the blue, even I think I’d be wary. So we have to get to know each other first!”

Leopold smiled brightly, his cheeks red.

“I’ll introduce myself again. My name is Leopold Odelion! I may be the Crown Prince, but let’s ditch a position like that for now! What’s your name?”

Even while still shivering from the cold, his gaze alone was intense. It somehow reminded Ria of Lucian when he was little, and without realizing it, her heart leaned toward him.

[……Lucian, what are you going to do?]

But that was just how she felt; Lucian might take it differently. Lucian lowered his gaze, as if thinking something over.

“Ah, hurry and tell me your name! I’ve been coming here for two weeks, squeezing time out, and you still won’t even tell me your name?”

“……Haah.”

Lucian let out a sigh, rubbing his dry face.

But she saw it clearly. His mouth, hidden behind his hand, had curled up slightly.

“I lost.”

Seeing Lucian’s guard drop and him let out a small laugh, Leopold’s eyes gleamed.

“I’m Lucian. I’m fifteen. I live in this mansion.”

“Waaah! Same age as me? That makes us really seem like twins! Ah! No, that’s not it—take it back, take it back! That slipped out…….”

“I don’t really believe in the superstition about twins, so you don’t have to watch yourself.”

“Ooh, really? You’re the first person among the imperial citizens I’ve heard say that!”

“If anything, you’re the one who doesn’t seem to have much aversion to twins?”

“I studied abroad for two years. In foreign countries, twins are a symbol of abundance and fertility. And I had twin sisters among my friends. So I don’t think much of it. If anything, I find it interesting!”

[……In a lot of ways, he’s pretty enlightened.]

Maybe it’s a relief. That he doesn’t loathe twins.

“Achoo!”

“For now, warm up a bit and then go. The rain will stop soon.”

“You’re already trying to kick me out?”

When Leopold whimpered like an abandoned puppy, Lucian’s eyebrow twitched.

“You have to go back home, don’t you! You said you’re the Crown Prince. If they realize you’re gone, the imperial family will come looking.”

“Ah, right, that’s true.”

Ria’s eyes cooled without her meaning to as she looked at the somewhat vacant Leopold.

[The rain is slowly letting up. It looks like you can go down in an hour. Since it’s come to this, let’s at least feed you dinner before you go. I’ll make you delicious stew.]

“Then please, Ria.”

Even with Leopold right there, Lucian calling her so casually made her a little uneasy, but she figured he’d handle it himself and left the room.

As she headed down to the kitchen, she could hear their conversation.

“But, you know. At first I thought this place was a ghost mansion. But since you were here, I was shocked. At first I even thought you were a ghost that looked just like me.”

“This is a ghost mansion.”

“Huh?”

“A ghost lives here. You saw me talking to the air just now, didn’t you? You asked before, right? If ‘Ria’ is some magic spell. That isn’t magic—it’s a ghost’s name.”

[Oh dear, why would he say something like that?]

Is that some high-level strategy to kick Leopold out again? If that’s what it is…….

Kyaaaaaaah! A ghosttttt!

……It seems to have worked very well.

* * *

After two weeks of push-and-pull, Lucian finally accepted Leopold.

Before returning to the imperial palace, Leopold trembled as he looked at Ria.

No—more precisely, it was closer to him faintly seeing the spot where she was because of the umbrella she was holding.

[When I tried to kick him out, he didn’t even get scared, but he reacted in such a weird place.]

“From the sound of it, he must have thought the rumor about there being a ghost was nonsense when he saw me.”

[Then will he be scared and stop coming? The guy who came every day hasn’t come for three days now…….]

Lucian twitched. He tried to act like it wasn’t anything, but it seemed he couldn’t help being bothered by Leopold not coming.

Otherwise, how could a kid who used to go down to the village so often stay home for three whole days?

Lu-ci-an! Leeeet’s plaaay!

[Huh? It’s Dio.]

She’d wondered whose voice she heard outside, and there Dio was, strolling this way.

Five years ago, since the day they invited him to the mansion, he would sometimes sleep over at the mansion or spar with Lucian at the practice yard.

“Why is Dio here?”

[Maybe he came because you haven’t been coming down to the village?]

“Maybe so.”

To welcome Dio, they opened the front gate.

“What brings you here?”

“What brings me—! You haven’t been coming down, so I came, that’s what! Lately you don’t even come down to the village much. You hiding a honey jar in the house or something?”

“As if. I was just too lazy to go down.”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

Ignoring Dio’s glare, Lucian casually made way for him to come inside.

Dio pouted, calling him a boring guy, then suddenly looked around.

“Ria, where are you?”

[He looks for me every time he comes.]

Feels like just yesterday he was trembling in fear.

Ria let out a small laugh and greeted him using a stone slate nearby.

“Ah! There you were! I was looking for you without even knowing. Didn’t it look weird?”

[Weird? It’s just cute, that’s all.]

Lucian, in the living room, twitched. But Ria didn’t notice.

“Ria, I’m only telling you, but Lucian’s been weird lately.”

As Dio whispered with his voice lowered, she silently scribbled on the slate.

-What?

“Up until a month ago, he was so savage it was hard to even talk to him, you know? But lately he got gentle again, and now he doesn’t come down to the village much.”

The period Dio mentioned overlapped with the time when Ria had been worrying about Lucian the most.

-Nothing strange going on in the village, right?

“Well, no. Still, a kid who was low-pressure the whole time suddenly changing like that makes me worried.”

Dio worrying about Lucian was truly admirable. Should she say it made her chest ache, that he’d found such a good friend?

[Pretty kid. I should make you something tasty.]

“What are you two even whispering about?”

[Ah! You startled me!]

She turned around to see Lucian had come right up to her before she knew it. He was making a sulky face, like he was dissatisfied about something.

“It’s nothing! We weren’t talking about anything.”

[Right, since you haven’t been coming down to the village lately, Dio just asked if everything was okay.]

“……Then why are you saying things like ‘cute’ and ‘not cute’?”

“Huh? What did Ria say?”

Lucian frowned, then went “Hmph!” and turned his head, going back to the living room. Somehow, there was force in his steps.

“What’s with him? What’s he sulking about?”

[That’s what I’m saying.]

He’s like a kid who’s pouting and complaining, wanting her to look at him. Sure enough, even now he was glancing over at her.

[I have to indulge him, I guess.]

Ria let out a small laugh and walked up to Lucian, patting him. Lucian grumbled that he wasn’t sulking, but his lips, which had been stuck out, pulled in a little.

Whenever he whined at her like that, she felt relieved, thinking he still needed her.

Maybe it isn’t that he needs her, but that she needs him.

But what does that matter. As long as she can stay by Lucian’s side, none of it matters.