Carlos looked into Ash’s eyes.
His deep blue eyes were so transparently azure that his inner thoughts seemed to shimmer through.
Could a painting on a canvas be more beautiful than this?
Just looking at his face, he seemed like someone experiencing a love for the ages.
‘This guy, this really is a sickness.’
Ash clicked his tongue.
He perfectly understood His Majesty the Emperor’s worries.
“You’re really too much. No one’s as meticulous about contraception as I am!”
It was Carlos’s strength that he didn’t utter the utterly unconvincing lie, ‘I’m not that promiscuous.’
“And you, if something like that really happened, you wouldn’t even look at me, would you?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Weren’t you disgusted by bastards?”
“What I’m disgusted by is Owen! What sin is it for a bastard? It’s the fault of the one who sowed their seed around.”
“That’s what I mean. See? I knew you wouldn’t really want to go to your father’s funeral.”
Ash looked at Carlos, who was nodding, with disgust.
“No, you might genuinely be sad. Then I would have tried to comfort you.”
“Comfort me then.”
“Oh, really?”
Carlos gave a strange smile.
“How should I comfort you?”
Ash wasn’t in the mood for Carlos’s antics.
He slumped his shoulders.
“I’m genuinely exhausted. I was locked up, chased, jostled around, and now there’s even this false rumor about being a kidnapping victim…”
He glanced at Carlos.
“Isn’t that pitiful? So unfortunate?”
When Ash looked at him with an expression begging for pity, Carlos let out a hollow laugh.
“Indeed. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Right? I think so too.”
Carlos chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.
“I can’t just stand by. Let’s go out.”
“Where?”
“Let’s relax a bit. There’s a decent masquerade ball tonight anyway. Your face won’t be exposed since it’s a masked ball. We can listen to good music, dance a bit. If you don’t feel like it, you can just lie down.”
“I’m tired from the journey. How far do we have to go?”
Ash feigned reluctance. Inwardly, he was thinking, ‘Just like Carlos.’
His initiative was extraordinary.
He knew what Ash needed more than sleep.
A new rumor to sweep through society.
Carlos, despite his angelic looks, was tall and broad-shouldered.
Like a noble accustomed to society, he didn’t neglect his physique, so he had well-defined muscles even without clothes.
Ash actually preferred him fully dressed, but…
The reason Carlos didn’t build more muscle was because “his current physique was the most striking when wearing an evening gown,” and that was also why he never stopped exercising.
Someone like him wouldn’t go unnoticed at a masquerade ball.
In the first place, it wasn’t often that people truly didn’t know each other at a masquerade ball.
For someone with a keen eye, and a rough idea of the nobles attending the ball, it wasn’t difficult to identify people.
With golden hair and height like Carlos’s, people would recognize him as His Royal Highness, the Second Prince, no matter what mask he wore.
Even though they clearly knew, the nature of a ‘masquerade ball’ gave people the feeling of a secret gathering.
And it was said that when a preface like ‘This is a secret’ was attached, people would perk up their ears.
It was the best condition for spreading rumors.
“You don’t have to go far. I’ll wake you when we’re leaving, so you can sleep until then.”
“Karl.”
Ash’s eyes sparkled.
He called out, clasping his hands together.
“Why?”
“Did I ever tell you I truly like you?”
“That’s shallow. There’s no sincerity. So, Tyllian Mainor fell for words like that, did he?”
Carlos shook his head, clicking his tongue.
“What are you talking about?”
Ash ignored him and finished his meal.
The feast was satisfying enough for his taste buds, and Carlos was good company for conversation.
He felt a pleasant premonition that everything would go smoothly.
***
After finishing the meal, they went upstairs, and the guest room was neatly tidied.
Tyllian greeted Ash.
“…You’re alright.” He looked Ash up and down.
“Of course, I am. I told you it wasn’t dangerous. What would Carlos gain from selling me out to Owen?”
“That wasn’t the kind of concern I had. It’s just… he’s so frivolous.”
‘What am I, then, to be called frivolous by someone like him?’
Ash felt a brief moment of self-pity, but a surging yawn quickly made him forget it.
“He might not be great as a romantic partner, but he’s fine as a friend, I tell you. He’s loyal. I’ve resolved everything. It’ll be over tonight.”
“What will be over?”
“Your rumors! I have to restore your honor. And finish off that Owen bastard.”
Ash waved his fist.
“I told you, isn’t Owen crazy? Even if he’s not crazy, he made a bad move. Do you know why you shouldn’t make a big deal out of things?”
“Because it’s hard to clean up?”
“No. Because if the blowback hits, you’re screwed!”
His mother’s family was wealthy, which was natural since they owned territory bordering the sea.
As such, Ash had picked up a few things about trade, though he’d never heard it directly from his mother.
“Let him experience the rumors he created.”
Ash loved the mere thought of it.
Owen, flustered?
It was hard to imagine, though…
But Owen with a scrunched-up face?
He could picture that without closing his eyes.
He always looked at Ash with that expression, after all.
***
Balls were traditionally held late in the afternoon, usually around sunset.
The lighting of a ballroom was most beautiful as it grew darker.
This was why most nobles woke up only by midday.
Social events started late.
The nobles attending them would go to sleep only at dawn or daybreak, forcing them to oversleep.
For them to get ready and attend social events, the events had to be held after evening.
So, the hosts would hold social events late… and the nobles would attend and then sleep at dawn.
It was a cycle where cause and effect were indistinguishable.
Ash, who had fallen into a deep sleep and then woken up, was still groggy as he prepared for the event.
Seeing him half-asleep, Carlos asked, “Do you know why beautiful people are heavy sleepers?”
“No…”
He didn’t want to know.
“Because they receive too many ball invitations. How many suitors must be lined up for them?”
Carlos took a rose from his chest pocket and placed it in Ash’s pocket.
Their eyes met, and he winked.
Ash casually brushed it off.
Carlos doing things like that was like breathing.
If he pointed it out every time, the day would be over.
Ash was concerned about something else: Tyllian.
‘He said he’d wait.’
The ball tonight apparently couldn’t be entered without an invitation.
Most social events were like that, actually.
However, a person with an invitation could bring one escort, and that was the spot Carlos had given to Ash.
Guards, of course, couldn’t be accompanied.
Servants neither.
Their role was to sit idly in the servants’ waiting room and pass the time while their masters enjoyed the ball.
However, a knight would never be in such a place. In the first place, no noble would ever bring a guard to a ball.
Would there be murder or robbery in the Imperial Capital?
There was no commoner brazen enough to attack a noble’s carriage, so a guard was a luxury.
Moreover, bringing a knight with a sword implied a distrust of the host of the social event, which was an insult.
Knights were semi-nobles and proud individuals, so they couldn’t be treated like servants…
And not all nobles had vassals.
But Tyllian had followed along, saying he couldn’t let Ash go alone, and now Ash was in a bind.
Tyllian wasn’t planning to stay in the servants’ waiting room.
But the place he chose was also a problem.
He had to make Tyllian wait in the carriage?
That was Tyllian Mainor! The most outstanding knight in the Duchy.
He was also Baron Mainor’s eldest son.
The only person who could make him wait in a carriage all night would be his deceased father.
‘Ugh.’
Ash bit his lip.
He looked up at Carlos.
“You couldn’t get more invitations?”
“I told you it was beyond my abilities. Even for me, it’s hard to get invitations to such a popular ball just a few hours before it starts.”
“Couldn’t you get permission from the ball’s host? To allow just one more person to attend?”
“Are you that concerned about your knight?”
Carlos seemed to find Ash’s behavior strange.
“He always disliked you attending social events, didn’t he? You used to run away from him when he was assigned to watch you, and now you two are getting along?”
“That’s not it.”
Tyllian still disliked social events, and he disliked Ash attending them even more.
But he seemed to have decided not to comment on Ash’s decisions anymore.
Of course, this time there was a reason Ash had to attend the social event, but…
Just moments ago, the reason he said he’d wait for the ball wasn’t because he was worried about Ash’s conduct.
-“Didn’t I say I’d show you how much I love you?” -“You allowed it.”
Ash was deeply bothered by those words.
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