That was how naturally
the two of them fit together within the same frame.
After that, at other parties as well,
the two of them crossed paths again and again.
And each time, they spoke at greater length.
&
At the party I attended this time, too, I saw Aileen and Depiros talking.
They seemed to be enjoying themselves far more than they had at first.
“Hey, rival.”
At the familiar voice from beside me, I turned my head and found Ian Lucevalt standing there.
“It’s been a while.”
“As expected of my rival, the rumors about you have been quite heated lately.”
I gave a faint laugh.
“I hear the rumors about you are even greater than mine.”
Though he had received his knighthood later than Baron,
the title of youngest “elite” knight had ultimately gone to Ian.
“That’s only because Prince Baron is busy. And what does it matter anyway?”
Ian glanced toward where Aileen and Depiros were talking and said,
“We’re both out of the running now.”
“You’ve given up? The great Ian Lucevalt?”
“Do you think the great Ian Lucevalt would be shaken that badly over one woman?”
Ian shrugged.
“Aileen is a wonderful woman. But I’m a wonderful man too.”
Wow.
That was pretty cool.
“Then what about you?”
“Me? What about me...”
“Don’t you like Aileen? Isn’t it mutual?”
I gave a faint laugh.
“Lady Aileen likes me?”
“What’s this? Are you pretending not to know, or is that some other kind of bragging?”
Right.
From the outside, it could look that way.
Because you don’t know Aileen.
...
Or not?
Do I not know her either?
Even now, I still didn’t know whether it was real or not,
how much was a joke, and where the sincerity began.
Ian looked at me as if frustrated, then asked,
“Or are you actually insanely jealous right now?”
“Jealous...”
I looked at Aileen.
“I don’t think so.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you’re a wonderful man too?”
“No.”
Ian raised an eyebrow.
His face said, Then what is it?
Still looking at Aileen as she spoke with Depiros in the distance, I said calmly,
“Aileen doesn’t like men like that.”
“...”
Ian’s eyes widened for a moment,
then he soon let out a laugh.
He tapped my shoulder and turned away.
“There’s a reason I lost. Hey, friend. See you next time.”
***
After speaking with Reion,
Ian wandered around the party hall, casually conversing with a few people.
Then, when he was briefly alone.
“What did you talk about?”
Aileen approached him.
Ian looked at her as if to ask what had brought this on.
“Oh, you know. That I’ll visit your father soon. That I’ll bring gifts. The usual sort of thing.”
“No.”
Aileen gave a slight glance with her eyes.
Ian followed her gaze, and when he saw Reion standing alone in the distance,
he chuckled.
“I asked if he wasn’t jealous.”
At those words, Aileen’s eyes flashed for an instant.
“And?”
Ian shrugged and replied,
“He said he wasn’t.”
“Why?”
Aileen’s brow furrowed at once.
Ian laughed as if he found her reaction amusing.
“Wow. You really do care, don’t you? Your poker face is usually so good, but now it changes this easily.”
“Be quiet. Why did he say that?”
Ian deliberately paused for a moment.
“Ah, now I don’t feel like telling you.”
“What do you want?”
“Forget it. If I take something for this, then I really lose completely.”
At the urging look in her eyes telling him to hurry up and say it, Ian smiled and said,
“Aileen doesn’t like men like that.”
Aileen’s eyes widened.
Then she whipped her head around to look at Reion and said,
“Not Lady Aileen?”
“Right. Exactly.”
Aileen’s eyes narrowed.
“What a shame.”
“Why? You don’t like that answer?”
“No.”
A smile seeped across her lips.
“Because I didn’t hear it from him directly.”
Ian let out a hollow laugh.
“What the hell. Then why did you talk to Viscount Depiros Gremory like that?”
“To make him jealous.”
“Ha! The great Aileen?”
Aileen was still looking only at Reion.
Just then, Reion also looked back,
and their eyes met across the distance.
Aileen smiled.
Reion answered with a smile of his own.
Aileen sent Reion a wink,
then brushed past Ian and said,
“I’m trying, you see.”
Ian let out another hollow laugh.
He looked back and forth between Aileen as she walked away
and Reion in the distance, then scratched his head.
“We were never rivals to begin with.”
***
“This is party hell. Hell, I tell you.”
It had already been a week.
When I opened my eyes, there was a party.
When I came to my senses, there was another party.
At this point, I was practically clinking glasses with someone even in my dreams.
I had known that high society was difficult.
Of course, I knew it was exhausting to deal with people one by one.
But I had not expected the mere act of attending to be this tiring.
Of course, my current position was at its most awkward.
My name had just begun to gain some recognition,
but I was not yet in a position to pick and choose,
and it was the time when I had to accept most invitations that came my way if I wanted to avoid seeming arrogant and turn them into good rumors.
It was precisely the most exhausting stretch.
With a somewhat hollow look on my face, I finished greeting the nobles, retreated to a corner, and picked up some food.
That was when it happened.
“Lord Reion Signal.”
I raised my head to find Depiros standing there.
“Viscount Depiros Gremory. We meet again.”
He was still far too handsome.
Gray hair and purple eyes.
A slender impression that seemed sickly, and a decadent air that suited him to an almost strange degree.
Naturally, young ladies were captivated by him,
but if anything, the older noblewomen were even more beside themselves.
It was to the point that
the gazes their husbands directed at him seemed hot enough to burn.
“To be honest, I felt we didn’t have a proper chance to talk back then.”
“The honor is mine.”
Depiros smiled lightly.
“Would you mind... stepping out to the terrace for a moment?”
I followed him out to the terrace.
The noise of the party hall grew distant with a single door between us.
The night air was faintly cool,
and below the terrace railing, the lights of the capital stretched out in long smears.
Depiros rested one hand on the railing and said gently,
“I heard you recently went through a territorial war. Are you all right?”
“Fortunately, it was resolved well.”
“That is truly fortunate.”
He let out a short sigh.
“It is quite worrying. As it happens, I recently experienced a similar absurdity myself.”
“A similar absurdity?”
“There is a road our territory has used for a long time. For decades—no, for over a hundred years, people have come and gone along it without issue.”
He laughed in disbelief.
“Then suddenly, some bastards blocked it, claiming it was their territory. I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak for a while.”
I nodded.
“It was similar for us. They made unreasonable claims over the water coming down from the mountains. They even seized the embankment facilities for a time.”
“You must have suffered. How did you get through that crisis?”
I explained calmly.
“They claimed they had built the upstream embankment themselves, but when I went there in person, that wasn’t the case. By proving that, I was able to settle the situation.”
“Impressive.”
Depiros spoke as if genuinely surprised.
“Even if one were to inspect an upstream embankment, finding the problem there is another matter entirely.”
“I was lucky. The operating system was far too old-fashioned.”
“Even so, most people would simply pass it by.”
His gaze turned toward me.
“Especially when it concerns a field they do not know well.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
He continued speaking very naturally,
yet with depth.
“When people see something they do not know, they generally simplify it in their minds and move on. But you, Lord Reion, did not simply pass by that unfamiliar thing.”
“Haha... When you put it that way, it makes me feel as if I’ve become someone truly remarkable.”
Depiros smiled and shook his head as if denying my words.
“It truly is remarkable. More than anything, that territorial war created a precedent.”
“A precedent?”
“If one uses absurd claims as justification for a territorial war, one may instead lose a great deal of money.”
I was a little surprised when I heard that.
“Are you aware that thanks to you, the number of people making absurd claims in order to initiate territorial wars has sharply decreased?”
“I was not.”
“Do you understand now that you are remarkable?”
When Depiros said this with a smile, I nodded lightly.
“I see. Certainly... I am remarkable.”
“Hahaha!”
Depiros laughed as though he truly found it funny.
“I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t have praised you.”
“I’ve already received it, so I can’t give it back.”
“Hahaha! I understand. Regrettably.”
Before we knew it, the atmosphere between us had become far more comfortable.
Then, suddenly, I looked at him and said,
“I think I understand why you are so popular in high society, Viscount.”
“Is that so?”
“You see things differently, things other people would pass over as insignificant, and you make people feel good. You have a talent for making others want to keep talking to you.”
Depiros looked at me with a smile.
“That is rather what I would like to say to you.”
“Oh, not at all. That’s only because you make me feel so comfortable.”
He suddenly stared at me, then gave a faint laugh.
“From what I can see, Lord Reion, you do not seem to know yourself very well.”
“Me? I’m someone with excellent self-objectivity.”
When I put on an extremely confident and self-assured expression, Depiros smiled and changed the subject.
We naturally spoke about many things.
About our territories.
About our families.
Even about the smallest details of daily life.
“You have a younger sister? She must be adorable.”
“She is adorable, but... I am worried. She’s going to the academy this time, and she’s going on about seducing every man there and whatnot... Good grief.”
“Haha! What a bold young lady. I would like to meet her.”
Even the way he laughed was charming.
He looked sickly, yet he was hearty.
And yet he was not frivolous.
I understood why he was popular not only with women,
but with men as well.
“Do you have any younger siblings, Viscount?”
“No.”
He looked briefly into the air, then smiled.
“I wish I did. Especially a younger sister.”
“Why?”
“I think I could take good care of her.”
After saying that, he gazed at the moonlight,
and the brief silence that settled between us felt strange.
His eyes made it seem as though he truly had some deep story.
This atmosphere is insane.
There was a reason women lost their minds over him.
It was not just that his face was handsome.
“Looking at you all of a sudden, Viscount...”
“Yes?”
Depiros looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“It makes me wonder whom you will marry.”
“Yes? Ahahaha!”
It was the second time he had truly laughed.
“My apologies. That was so unexpected.”
“You know how it is. When you see someone handsome or beautiful, you sometimes wonder who a person like that will marry.”
“Hmm...”
He subdued his laughter and looked at me.
Then, ever so slightly,
the look in his eyes changed.
“When I spoke with Lady Aileen, I was truly surprised. To think she already possesses that much depth at her age.”
“She does.”
I nodded lightly.
“Knowing a great deal and viewing it deeply in one’s own way are two different things.”
“That’s right.”
He chose his words for a moment.
“If it were Lady Aileen, I think even I would find my heart drawn to her.”
Then he looked at me.
As if with meaning,
very softly.
I nodded as if agreeing quite naturally.
“She’s beautiful and intelligent. Anyone would want to marry Aileen.”
But Depiros’s reaction was strange instead.
He examined my face once more,
then narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Lord Reion.”
“Yes?”
“Do you wish to marry Lady Aileen?”
At those words, my mind stopped for an instant.
Did I
want to marry Aileen again?
It was true that I was being swayed by her.
But truly, again?
My answer came out of my mouth faster than expected.
“I don’t know.”
“Huh.”
Depiros seemed genuinely a little surprised.
“You don’t know? That is surprising.”
“Is it something to be that surprised about?”
“You just said it yourself, Lord Reion. That anyone would want to marry someone like Lady Aileen.”
Right.
It was surprising.
That I, of all people,
had answered not no, but I don’t know.
As I stared blankly into space for a moment, Depiros smiled and extended his hand.
“I truly enjoyed our conversation today.”
“As did I.”
“It was enjoyable, but... also unusual.”
Depiros smiled.
“It was my first time speaking at such length with someone about such ordinary things.”
“When you say it like that, I feel even more honored.”
“Lord Reion.”
He looked at me again.
“I think you may have a little more confidence in yourself.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Depiros said calmly,
“I did not know that I would end up talking about everyday matters in this way either. Had we spoken just a little longer, I might even have found myself naturally bringing up my own personal affairs.”
“I don’t feel like I did anything special... You praise me too much. I really might misunderstand.”
“You may misunderstand if you wish.”
It did not feel unpleasant.
Depiros lightly shook the hand he held.
“I have a feeling we will meet again.”
“I will look forward to it.”
Depiros smiled, turned, and went from the terrace back into the party hall.
I followed him back into the party hall as well,
but when I looked a little later, he had already left.
And then.
At the countless parties that followed,
I never saw him again.