[Translator’s Note: Hello Reader, this is the new translator here. I hope you are enjoying the novel. Keep reading 🤍🤍🤍]
“Not sleeping together anymore was what we agreed on before you left!”
Ash was dumbfounded.
“What, was that what you meant? What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem, I said?”
‘You. You’re the problem.’ He was about to tell him, but Carlos shrugged.
“It’s an agreement, something between us. If our feelings change, it’s a meaningless promise, isn’t it? Since when did you care about the past?”
“You know me?”
“I know you a little. I know what you like even better.”
Carlos pressed his lips together, made a kissing sound, and pulled away.
His brilliant blond hair, like an ornament, was beautiful even in the dim candlelight.
His playful smile was enough to make anyone fond of him.
Ash almost weakened, but he pulled himself together and drew his head back.
When they broke up, they decided to remain friends.
That wasn’t what Ash had wanted first, either.
He had realized that he had acted as Carlos had taught him, but that didn’t mean Ash’s feelings for him vanished in an instant.
It’s because he expects uselessly.
No matter who the other person is, even knowing that nothing is as fleeting as feelings, his heart swells on its own and he gets hurt.
But Carlos was a genius at making those around him harbor expectations on their own.
There was a reason Tyllian hated seeing him associate with Carlos.
In that sense, Tyllian was someone who never made anyone harbor expectations.
He was really strict with anyone who had feelings for him. It was to the point where one wondered if he needed to go that far.
‘Isn’t treating someone you have no feelings for kindly the very essence of human courtesy?’ Tyllian retorted, but.
It was to the point where Tyllian’s lack of affection seemed better.
It seemed unwise to keep spending time with Carlos.
If he kept being wishy-washy, he would keep being dragged along, so Ash decided to be firm.
‘I won’t date you.’ He had declared that. But Carlos persistently came looking for him.
-Fine, okay. Do as you want. But just because we broke up, are we supposed to live without even talking to each other? I thought we’d gotten close.
-Ugh, why are you so persistent? Go play with someone else. Do you not have friends?
-…You’re the one who has no friends other than me!?
-What are you talking about? I do have them, okay? Though I’ve gotten a bit distant from them lately because of you…
-You don’t mean Tyllian Mayner, do you? You’re saying he’s your friend?
He snorted, and Ash felt offended. Why was it something to laugh at that Tyllian was his friend?
Of course, he knew the two didn’t suit each other.
If it weren’t for his duty to guard Ash, Tyllian wouldn’t have even glanced at Ash, but…
The more he thought about it, the lonelier the story became, so Ash got angry.
-I’m telling you, I don’t need you for anything.
-Did you make up with Tyllian Mayner?
Carlos smiled round and round. Ash shut his mouth. Of course, they hadn’t made up.
Tyllian had been furious when he found out that Ash had secretly been going to a secret social club.
At times like that, Ash usually tried to soothe Tyllian’s mood, but this time he couldn’t because he was ‘dating’ Carlos.
He had been completely out of his mind. Over Carlos.
But Carlos hadn’t been. Holding his aching heart, Ash frowned.
-I won’t tell you.
-So you couldn’t.
-Ugh, I said go away!
-Should I help?
-How? He doesn’t even listen to me, so you think he’ll listen to you?
-So you really didn’t make up. Your knight is too much. He won’t even hear you out? You must have felt hurt.
-Exactly!
Ash was momentarily taken in by the gentle coaxing and reflexively agreed.
He belatedly realized his mistake and shut his mouth, but it was already too late.
Carlos narrowed his eyes, smiled, and coaxed Ash.
-Should I make him come to you first?
-…How? No. I don’t need it. I can do it myself.
-Really?
-…So how do I do it?
In the end, Ash became ‘friends’ with Carlos. Surprisingly, the method Carlos had told him worked…
-It’s nothing. You just have to do something fun with me once.
-What is it…? That sounds ominous.
-You don’t trust me?
-…Should I trust you?
-You’ve already caught on to my credibility. Ash, you’re quicker on the uptake than you look.
-Of course. I just realized you’re an annoying person, too!
-Oh dear. That’s a bit late.
Carlos burst out laughing, and in the end Ash laughed too.
In truth, the two got along well even without doing anything like dating.
Because they had pulled that ‘fun thing,’ Carlos, who had almost received a duel challenge from Tyllian, had suggested, ‘…Should we not sleep together?’
Even that was similar to Ash’s way of doing things.
There was no need to take unnecessary risks.
Tyllian was frightening when he got truly angry.
-I thought Tyllian Mayner was always angry. But until now, he hadn’t even been angry. If you set him off wrong, you might not survive…
-Now you know? You’re the one who’s oblivious.
Ash said triumphantly. In truth, Ash had only learned Tyllian’s true anger after Carlos came.
Even when Ash had been caught playing dice at a gambling den, Tyllian hadn’t gotten that angry.
“Do you want to get a duel challenge from Tyllian?”
“That would be troublesome…”
“If you know, don’t pull any tricks. Are you so bored you want to die?”
“If you lost two friends overnight, it would hurt, wouldn’t it? That’s what’s troublesome, not that I’m afraid of a duel.”
Carlos whispered tenderly.
‘How ridiculous.’
Ash smiled. It was so absurd that he could only laugh.
“I feel like you’d lose even if you dueled me.”
“I’m not that bad!”
“Why would I lose two friends? If you duel Tyllian, only you die.”
“My death is a foregone conclusion?! You won’t even be sad?! I need to go correct the rumors. Tyllian Mayner assaulted Ashton Mills and…”
“Hey! Ow, that’s so sad. My heart already hurts!”
Ash placed both hands on his chest. When he put on an exaggerated act, Carlos snorted.
“If I die, do you think my father will leave your knight alone? Even like this, I’m a son who’s expected of.”
“Still? His Majesty still hasn’t given up on you?”
Ash was appalled.
“This damn popularity. Even Father loves me too much.”
Carlos sighed and ruffled his hair. He had been putting on a ridiculous act, but this time it seemed sincere.
Ash let out a sigh mixed with many emotions from deep in his chest.
Jealousy was mixed in as well. What he had hoped for as he grew twisted was the same fatherly attention Carlos received from the Emperor.
It was a childish feeling he had given up on after puberty, but…
“His Majesty is truly His Majesty. If you inherit the throne, won’t the Imperial Family grow about twelve times its current size? The Empire might be torn into twelve pieces.”
“Am I a seed-sowing machine?! I use contraception properly!”
“The fact that contraception comes up right away is the problem… I don’t get it. Of course, His Highness the First Prince is in poor health, and it’s been over ten years since he married, yet he still has no child…”
“It’s not like there’s a problem with my brother’s body. From what I see, Father is the problem. Making him work until he’s crushed by overwork and expecting him to make a baby is ridiculous.”
“Right. If he were let loose to live like you, he’d have a dozen children. Right.”
“What do you mean, ‘right’?!”
Carlos pounced on Ash from above.
Then he hugged him and rolled them around once.
Ash’s sides were tickled, and he laughed as if he were having a fit.
Carlos’s soft blond hair brushed against Ash’s nape.
That sensation was ticklish, too.
Ash shouted for him to stop and curled up.
Carlos caught both hands that tried to push him away in one breath.
He pressed his nose against Ash’s and asked.
“Tyllian Mayner won’t know anyway, so what does it matter? Your knight can’t enter this ballroom. No one knows. What we’re doing.”
‘Huh?’
That was true.
To begin with, Ash didn’t care much whether Carlos got beaten to death by Tyllian or not.
Even so, if Tyllian really tried to kill him, he’d stop it, but… Tyllian wouldn’t do that.
Unlike Ash or Carlos, he was a knight who kept his word.
He had told Ash to act as he wished. That he wouldn’t stop him.
So Ash wasn’t refusing to sleep with Carlos because of Tyllian. He just… felt that this wasn’t right.
‘Why?’
An inexplicable aversion wouldn’t allow him to cross the line with Carlos.
There was some reason. But Ash couldn’t recall what it was.
‘Is it Tyllian after all?’
Was it because he was bothered by him standing outside?
It seemed that way. There was no other reason…
Ash wasn’t the type to struggle to fish out something he couldn’t recall.
One of his few good points was that he was good at forgetting bad things, so there was no need to try to use his head for nothing.
‘Right. Making Tyllian stand outside while doing that with him isn’t right.’
Ash wriggled his hands free from Carlos’s grasp. Carlos didn’t stop him.
“I said I don’t want to. If you keep bothering me, I’m leaving.”
“Okay. I won’t. Come here.”
Carlos raised both hands as if in surrender.
“I’m joking. You know that, right?”
“You’re no fun.”
Ash grumbled and leaned back against the cushion. While feeling doubtful of himself for being inwardly relieved.
Carlos looked as if gauging the distance between him and Ash, then lightly changed the subject.
“So, what’s the next plan? After spreading rumors, clearing your name, and giving Owen Mills a hard time, what are you going to do?”
“I have my thoughts. You just fan the rumors.”
Ash said confidently. In truth, he had no particular plan.
And a week later, Ash received an invitation to Carlos’s mansion.
A servant whose face Ash also knew delivered the letter.
“Young Master. The Duchess of Chepley wishes to see you.”
“…Aunt?”
She was Ash’s relative in the Imperial Capital…
Ash was afraid of her. She was strict, and she had tried to correct young Ash’s ‘habits’ in place of his mother.
“Do I really have to go?”
“Shall I tell her you refused?”
Ash shuddered.
“No! Of course I have to go. Tell her I want to see her so much.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
The servant bowed his head.
‘I really do have to see her.’
Ash sighed in dismay. The servant, who had been about to leave, saw him and said.
“Madam worried about you a great deal, Young Master.”
“Mm, did she?”
“Because there were even ominous false rumors that you had been kidnapped. I’m glad you’re safe. I was worried too.”
“Thank you. False rumors are this frightening.”
Ash almost sighed again but held it back.
In any case, the rumor that Ash had come to the Imperial Capital seemed to have spread well.
Judging by the fact that news had reached even his aunt, who didn’t much like social circles.
And his aunt was certainly someone who could help Ash.
His aunt didn’t think well of Ash, but she wouldn’t welcome Owen either.
Owen, the adopted son, had confined and abused Ash, the Duke’s illegitimate son?
If it was the aunt Ash knew, she would have been outraged.
‘Good.’
Ash decided to persuade his aunt. Yes. Why had he tried to find allies in the Duchy of Mills?
Of course, it was because he hadn’t expected to end up fleeing outside the duchy… Anyway, there was no need for that.
The Duke’s relatives were all over the Empire.
And the Duchess of Chepley—his aunt—was one of the people most likely to have heard his father’s will.
Because she was his father’s cousin.