“Y-Your Holiness…!”
Judging by the cardinal’s flustered reaction, I suppose he wasn’t supposed to do that.
“Hehe, my apologies. He looks so much like an old friend of mine that my hand moved out of habit.”
A lie.
Carthaeus had never thumped Mikhail on the back like that.
Of course, there had been plenty of times when he’d wanted to.
[Kal, let’s have a little talk.]
[W-What? I have nothing to talk about.]
[It’ll only take five minutes.]
[Hmph. You said that last time too, and we ended up talking for three hours.]
[Haha, Ser. Could you close the door for me?]
…If anything, Mikhail was the one who was always lecturing him.
There had even been jokes that he had fled to the expedition because he was tired of listening to the king nag him.
He wasn’t even on the list. He suddenly joined us that very morning.
With his fiery temper, the priest went around making people repent with his fists. No wonder Mikhail had to scold him.
“It’s quite all right. How could I possibly blame you for treating an old acquaintance warmly?”
The Crown Prince quickly composed himself and smiled pleasantly.
The irritation that had lingered on his face just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
“It is an honor to meet Your Holiness like this. However, this is not the audience chamber… It seems Count Bellow may have led you here by mistake.”
A brief look of injustice crossed Count Bellow’s face, but he quickly nodded in agreement with the Crown Prince.
“My apologies, Your Holiness. I must have gotten turned around for a moment. His Majesty will be waiting, so shall we go together?”
“There’s no need for that.”
Carthaeus waved him off.
“How can I meet the master of the Empire without any preparation? I shall spend today praying to the Goddess and purifying both body and mind before having my audience tomorrow.”
“What?”
“I foolishly rushed along despite this old body of mine, and now I’m feeling unwell.”
Carthaeus patted his lower back and broke into a series of hacking coughs.
Yes, in fact, my fake-illness strategy had originated with that old man.
Children naturally learn the bad habits first.
As my acting mentor, Carthaeus’s performance of being sick was quite convincing.
“Your Holiness! Are you all right?!”
The cardinal even hurried over to support him.
“Hehe, this old man doesn’t have many days left, yet I keep changing my mind like a pot of porridge. I’ve caused you quite a bit of trouble.”
“Please don’t say such things, Your Holiness… I’ll explain everything to the count. Please go inside and rest.”
Apparently, he had chosen the most innocent of the cardinals as his attendant and brought him along.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to ask this child for some assistance.”
Carthaeus naturally moved to my side.
“Could you guide this old man?”
“Your Holiness, that maid…”
“Of course.”
Before the Crown Prince could say anything, I quickly answered.
“I’ll support His Holiness and escort him there safely, Your Highness. You don’t have to worry.”
The Crown Prince’s gaze shifted to me.
“Ser.”
His stiffly set lips could no longer maintain their smooth smile.
“You’re leaving again like this? Today, too?”
“You said you didn’t want to rush me. We can talk again later.”
There was a hollow frustration mixed into the Crown Prince’s gaze as he stared at me.
“…All right. If that’s what you want, Ser, then I have no choice but to wait.”
“Hehe… I’m sorry for interrupting you.”
Carthaeus said that as he lightly nudged my arm, as if telling me to support him.
“Let’s go. This old man’s legs hurt, and I need to lie down as soon as possible…”
When I took hold of Carthaeus’s arm, the Crown Prince spoke.
“Take care, Ser.”
His farewell sounded almost as though he were reminding me that where I truly belonged was by his side.
Instead of answering, I merely nodded and began walking while supporting Carthaeus.
As I felt the Crown Prince’s gaze following us from behind, Carthaeus’s pace gradually quickened.
Weren’t you supposed to be pretending your legs hurt?
“L-ittle bit s-slower…”
I lowered my voice as much as possible, and Carthaeus stopped for a moment.
He bent forward, patted his legs, and whispered.
“I’m worried that bastard might change his mind.”
“He’ll be fine.”
I grabbed Carthaeus’s arm again and pretended to support him, slowing our pace compared to before.
“He still wants to stay on my good side.”
With that, we stopped talking and focused on leaving the area as naturally as possible.
The Crown Prince watched us without taking his eyes off us for even a moment, all the way until Carthaeus and I left the garden and disappeared completely from sight beneath the shadow of the building.
Once we finally got away, we practically ran all the way to the detached palace.
Only after reaching the space that had become completely my territory with Kay’s arrival could I finally breathe freely.
“Whew… What kind of man is that? He gives me the creeps.”
Carthaeus clicked his tongue.
“Even you think he’s strange, old man?”
“Do you really think the word ‘strange’ is enough to describe this?”
Carthaeus threw off the mask of the easygoing old man and thumped his chest.
“I told you to fall in love, not let some man walk all over you!”
He knew perfectly well that it couldn’t be helped because my abilities were far too conspicuous, yet he was still giving me a hard time for it.
“And of all people, it had to be someone who looks exactly like Mikhail?”
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
I answered grumpily, dumbfounded, when Kay suddenly appeared from somewhere and spoke to Carthaeus.
“Your Holiness, our captain was just about to start dating someone.”
“I saw it quite clearly with my own eyes.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about. The man our captain is head over heels for is in this building.”
Head over heels…? Me?
“What? Is there someone else besides that bastard from earlier?”
“No, seriously. What exactly are you two talking about?”
“Captain, please be quiet for a moment.”
“……?”
Kay and Carthaeus ignored me completely, moved to a corner, and whispered among themselves for quite some time.
Is this really right?
Was this really what the head of the greatest information guild on the continent and the Pope were supposed to be discussing when they met?
They should be talking about the political situation on the continent, Bardia’s current circumstances, and the Crown Prince’s identity.
“What? He’s been drinking that bitter, nasty stuff all this time without a single complaint?”
“That’s what I’m saying. And there’s more…”
“……”
Ugh, fine. Do whatever you want.
When had either of them ever listened to me, anyway?
In any case, thanks to Carthaeus, I had managed to escape the Crown Prince without having to reveal my powers.
Perhaps I don’t need to worry about that at all.
If the Crown Prince had known my true identity from the beginning, that was.
I carefully went over our conversation in my mind.
In truth, the Crown Prince’s identity wasn’t what mattered.
Even if he really was Mikhail, as Kay suspected, it would make no difference.
I already know what I have to do.
If anyone interfered with my plan to revive Bardia and create a place where the expedition members and their descendants could live peacefully, I would remove them without hesitation.
The real question is why he approached me.
Even if his confession of liking me was genuine, there had to be another reason he wanted to draw me to his side.
Is he trying to eliminate a variable?
Perhaps the expedition would become an obstacle to his war of conquest across the continent, so he thought he could solve the problem by bringing its captain—me—onto his side.
I clenched my teeth as the Crown Prince’s detestable face came to mind, the same face that had tried to steal a kiss from me.
Huh…?
“What’s this?”
I spotted a servant kneeling bound in the corner of the kitchen.
“Oh, him? We caught him trying to sneak into the prince’s room.”
“There was already an intruder?”
I examined the man sharply.
That was close. He targeted Elhardt while I was away from the detached palace.
Was it the Crown Prince after all? Or had the princess sent him to set a trap for me?
But the face of the gagged servant looked strangely familiar.
Ah…?!
Something suddenly came to mind.
The intruder was the servant from the Central Palace who had brought breakfast to Elhardt in my place on the Crown Prince’s orders.
Could it have been… since then?
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