Two mornings before her debut in society.
Lea, who had risen at dawn and prepared breakfast, found Yurien sitting calmly at the table, and the expression naturally vanished from her face.
“I greet Your Highness, the king’s brother.”
“It has been a long time.”
Yurien, utterly nonchalant, spread a napkin over his lap.
Then he quietly waited for the breakfast Lea had prepared to be served.
“I came to see how well Baroness Bashuport has educated you as a lady.”
“I see.”
Nerasmun’s son was flustered to see Lea’s frosty manner for the first time.
Lea reassured him with a gentle smile.
Seeing that, Yurien pointed out with a sly air,
“To smile at another man while leaving the one who will be your husband aside—points deducted.”
“Who exactly is supposed to be the one who will be my husband? I am already marri….”
Lea, who had been about to say that she was already married, hurriedly shut her mouth.
If the baroness’s son, who knew nothing of the circumstances, heard that, he would surely be confused.
The baroness also gave Lea a look, warning her to be careful.
“We are in the same boat. If the grand plan succeeds, we will reveal to all under heaven who you are, and if that happens, the one who possesses Virensha will be no different from one who possesses the right to be king.”
“…….”
Lea did not answer.
To dare ignore the other party’s words, and the words of the rebel leader at that.
Baroness Nerasmun signaled with her eyes once more, but Lea pretended not to see that either.
Unable to watch any longer, the baroness tried to intervene, but Yurien raised a hand to stop her.
Even now, he was still at ease.
“One tends to grow sensitive when hungry.”
Twitch.
Is he saying I’m a glutton?
Without realizing it, Lea pinched her own side.
There was no extra flesh, and her figure was well balanced.
Though she was not sure about her face, Lea secretly took pride in her body, so Yurien’s remark displeased her greatly.
Without a word, she ladled stew out of the pot she had brought.
It seemed she had done well to prepare plenty.
With so many people flocking to the capital, ingredients were not easy to obtain.
“What brings Your Highness personally to such a humble place?”
“This humble place is one of the residences I own.”
“…….”
She was at a loss for words.
No wonder Baroness Nerasmun had told her that since it was not an inn, they could act freely, but there were no servants at all, so they had to do everything themselves.
Lea began to suspect she was being thoroughly deceived by those rebel elements from the very beginning.
Even as she trotted back from the kitchen with well-cooked sausages and soft-boiled eggs and distributed them to everyone, Yurien’s teasing did not stop.
“I feel quite apologetic, making such an honored person stay in a humble place.”
“…….”
She gave Yurien an extra half sausage in particular.
Next, Lea brought out hard bread to soak in the stew.
But no matter how she scraped and sawed at it with the bread knife, the stone-like bread would not cut.
“Ugh…!”
She even let out a faint groan as she strained, but all she managed was to leave the slightest scratch.
Nerasmun, who had tensed slightly when she saw Lea take up a knife, found it strange.
Does she not return to Earei of the battlefield simply by holding a weapon?
Yurien, too, watched Lea struggle with amusement.
Only the coachman shifted in his seat, wondering if he should help Lea, but his mother gripped his shoulder.
In the end, Yurien rose from his seat.
“I shall help you.”
“No, I am fine.”
It was an immediate answer that practically breathed cold air.
Even at that refusal, Yurien did not falter.
“This is also my house, so I too have a duty to entertain the guests.”
As he subtly approached Lea’s side while saying so, she set the bread knife down altogether and raised both hands.
“…What posture is that?”
“I am expressing my intention that I have no desire to harm Your Highness.”
Maintaining that posture, Lea backed away and left.
“That is all the food I prepared. Please enjoy it.”
Only then did Yurien and the others in the dining room realize that there was neither a bowl nor a portion for Lea herself.
“Hm, did that have the opposite effect?”
“What on earth did you attempt for you to say it had the opposite effect?”
Even Baroness Nerasmun looked at him in disbelief, and Yurien shrugged.
“Did I not confess just now?”
“Confess?!”
Even the baroness’s son was greatly shocked, shouting at the same time as his mother.
At their reaction, Yurien propped his chin on his hand and sank into thought.
“It was not an outright confession, but I thought I had hinted at it in a rather easy-to-understand way. I even casually bound us together under the concept of ‘us’ by saying husband, and I also hinted that we had a duty to entertain the guests together, and yet this is the result.”
After thinking for a moment, Yurien came to the following conclusion.
“I shall have to look up more books on the subject.”
“Your Highness, I beg you with all sincerity.”
Baroness Nerasmun held her throbbing temple and gave him a bitter admonishment.
“Please do not learn the world from books. Your Highness has already learned more than enough of what can be learned from books, so please, simply act a little more naturally in reality.”
“What is the definition of naturally?”
“Haa, it means acting as your heart leads you, within the bounds of courtesy and without pretense.”
“Without pretense, as my heart leads me….”
Yurien picked up a plate and stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To Lea.”
“Whatever you do, do not go and call Learie by a nickname. Calling a lady by a nickname out of nowhere is a great discourtesy.”
“I know that much! Thank you for the advice. You are all always my great assets.”
“Haa….”
Watching Yurien’s back as he moved away, the baroness sharply asked her son,
“And where do you think you are going?”
Her son flinched and quickly sat back down.
--
Lea sat leaning against a tree, blankly gazing at the rising sun.
It was a little cold, and goosebumps had risen on her skin, but Lea had always been indifferent to her own physical sensations.
Rather, when it was cold or hot, Lea felt that the place was one where she was allowed to be.
It was a habit that had taken root from the time she had been under the knight who taught her.
‘How dare you try to be in a better place than your master?’
Demitrix Virensha.
That was the name of the knight who had bought Earei.
He had a foul temper, but his swordsmanship was truly useful.
Not merely useful—even now, he was among the top three people Earei had ever seen.
Thanks to this habit, learned while being beaten mercilessly with gauntlets, she had been able to offer a rather memorable consideration during her first meeting with Seorin later.
For the half sibling of the tyrant whom no one respected and everyone ignored, Earei voluntarily stepped down into the blazing sun and yielded the shade. From then on, Seorin began to take note of Earei.
Of course, not as a man, but as a tool.
“The weather is still cold. Why are you outside?”
“The colder the dawn air, the more clearly I can keep my mind.”
Yurien took a seat a little way from the tree.
“There is no shade there, so it will be hot once the sunlight reaches it. The sun will soon be fully in the sky, so please come over here.”
“I know this place better than you do. Without sunlight, it is difficult to read, so I liked this spot.”
Yurien lifted a piece of bread soaked in stew and took a bite.
Though there was not much in the stew itself, it tasted good.
“Will you have some too?”
“I am all right.”
“It seems this was originally prepared as your portion.”
“Guests come first.”
“This is my house, though. To be precise, it is a house I have had since childhood.”
After taking a bite of the sausage cut in half, Yurien looked around for a moment.
“My sister always stood in front of that mansion’s gate, waiting endlessly day after day to see if anyone had come to seek her out.”
“His Majesty?”
When Seorin came up, Lea showed interest.
Feeling a trace of bitterness, Yurien pointed it out with his own finger.
“At first, she hoped a messenger from our royal father would come. Believing he would come to take her back to the royal palace, she would keep her lips pressed shut and glare down the empty road. Ha, now that I think of it, perhaps that is why her eyes became so sharp.”
“When His Majesty is expressionless, her eyes are a little frightening.”
“I deliberately sat on this hill every day and looked down from beneath the sun, so I could notice anyone coming sooner than my sister did.”
“Why beneath the sun?”
When she paid attention, Lea’s response was excellent for a lady.
She naturally kept the conversation from breaking off while handing the initiative over to Yurien.
The king’s brother admired it inwardly.
“If I was beneath the sun, atop the hill, the other party would surely notice me first. If that person was an enemy, he would point at me and act roughly, and if he was an ally, he would greet me. Then I could let my sister know whether good news or bad news had come, while also earning her time to prepare.”
“Your Highness has been a thoughtful person since childhood.”
“A sickly bookworm can do nothing but think.”
“Please do not say such things. Are not the core families of Bashuport and Nerasmun following Your Highness?”
“As rebels, you mean.”
“…….”
“…….”
It was a regrettable reality.
Lea hated who she was now, and the situation surrounding her, while Yurien had to whip himself toward the future from this moment on.
“Your Highness.”
“Did you call me?”
“Why are you trying to point a sword at your sister?”
“…….”
“I liked you. You, who smiled over a single book, who comforted people with a deep heart, and who sweated alongside them.”
“What about me now?”
“…I do not know. If I had to say, it is closer to dislike.”
At her honest answer, Yurien smiled.
In his heart, he wanted to say everything inside him, but as someone who had read many biographies of great men, he did not forget the obvious and simple truth that one should not ignore one’s subordinates’ advice.
‘Please, simply act a little more naturally in reality.’
If it was his natural way of acting, then it was to wait without pestering Lea.
There were many things he wished to accomplish as soon as possible, but he knew well that not everything could be achieved overnight.
Sometimes, rather than being directly given the answer, struggling, wandering, and finding it oneself made it more unforgettable and more valuable in meaning. So Yurien said indifferently,
“Ah, by the way, that tree.”
“Yes?”
“It is always packed full of baby spiders, so I never lean my back against it.”
“Eek?!”
She quickly looked at the tree, and sure enough, on the trunk, there were movements like tiny waves wriggling ever so faintly.
Realizing that those were truly tightly packed baby spiders, Lea was horrified and fled toward Yurien.
“Hahahahahaha! You are a lady through and through.”
“Y-you knew, and on purpose…!”
“Here, take this.”
While the agitated Lea was distracted, Yurien handed her the bowls with the stew and food.
After confirming that she had properly received them, he brushed the bread crumbs from his hands.
“If you go just a little farther to the right, there is a stump. Eat there.”
“This was originally Your Highness’s meal.”
“More originally, it was your meal. I cut off the bread and sausage and ate them with my hands, so you may safely use the utensils and eat the remaining food.”
“Your Highness.”
“Hm?”
“This country originally belongs to Your Highness’s sister, His Majesty the King.”
“…….”
Yurien gazed silently at Lea, then shoved both hands into his trouser pockets and trudged down the hill.
“A country belongs, by nature, to its people.”
“Your Highness?”
“Make sure you eat it all without leaving any. You must have strength if you are to stop my rebellion, must you not? If you are not in the mood to eat, then eat according to the need to eat.”
Yurien, who had stopped walking farther below, glanced up at Lea.
On his upturned face, one corner of his mouth was raised.
It was something cynical, yet warm.
“Or will you follow me and join the rebellion?”
“Do not even dream of it.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Lea huffed angrily and turned around, heading to the stump Yurien had told her about.
She was angry.
After Seorin became king, after she became Lea, the first person to show a smiling face to him—or her—was the ringleader of the rebels.
And that ringleader was the wife she had once cherished and cared for, and the king’s younger brother.
She was angry.
Why did she feel lonely now that he had left?