Even after returning, the palace is as usual, taking the lead in spreading rumors that damage my reputation.
This time's rumor is, as expected, about the rewarding of merits, claiming that I unjustly over-reported my achievements.
There was also a rumor that an angry General Wageris had negotiated to make it match the current proportion of merit rewards.
"It's true that he stormed in yelling, but that was a forceful measure because he had no official route to meet me. It was actually the opposite; General Wageris appealed that my achievements were unjustly low."
The ones I'm explaining this to are my younger brothers, who visited me for the first time in a while.
I am moved by their kindness in checking with me first upon hearing the bad rumors.
At the same time, they had also come to do the alchemy experiments they hadn't been able to do for a year.
However, there is a slight problem.
"I see. I apologize for bothering you when you must still be exhausted, Brother."
"Don't worry about it. I was mostly just being shaken around in a carriage anyway."
"Under normal circumstances, you should be resting a bit longer to regain your strength, Brother."
"I wanted to see you all after so long too, so I'm glad you came. ............ More importantly, Terry."
Terry, speaking to me, is already ten years old.
However, the way he speaks with a faintly smiling expression is overly formal, and honestly, it's nothing more than a poor polite smile.
The twins, Wornell and Fell, standing next to him, were energetically making noise a year ago, but now they stand without saying a word.
"Are you really going to come all the way here and leave without doing anything? Won't you stay and talk a little longer?"
"It is a very tempting invitation, but my tutor is already waiting for me."
"I see, my apologies for that. Next time we have time, let's sit down and talk properly."
"Yes, thank you very much."
Only when I brought up next time did he smile with genuine joy.
But immediately after, he returned to a poor smile that he couldn't hide well because he was a child.
And then............ he really went home.
"Hmm?"
I inadvertently let out a troubled voice in the Gold Room.
Then I felt a gaze piercing me, and belatedly realized the twins were looking at me anxiously.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. Wow, to think you'd grow up so much just from being apart for a year. I just thought it was a bit of a shame."
"Is Brother's greeting, no good?"
"Does Brother hate the quiet?"
"It's not bad, and I don't hate it. I just wanted to play more. You two, there are no prying eyes here, so as long as it's not dangerous, you can do as you like."
At my words, Wornell and Fell looked at each other with completely identical movements.
Next, they ran towards me, so I instinctively crouched down and spread my arms.
Then the twins jumped in simultaneously and raised their voices.
""Brother!""
"Yes, yes."
Immediately, cheerful laughter burst out.
It seems they were just keeping quiet to match Terry.
"By any chance, were you told to be good kids?"
"Yeah, we were told. So we stayed quiet until we were told it was okay."
"Then they said Brother was being good, so we thought maybe we should do the same."
They seem dissatisfied, but the fact that they could do it means the twins, whom I thought were childish, are growing up too.
And they properly have the sense to respond to the demands of those around them.
"You're both good kids. You managed to stay quiet and still properly."
When I praise them and pat their heads, they rejoice like children.
I headed to the library in the Blue Room with the twins, who had returned to their old selves from a year ago.
Thanks to the financial officer Waldo collecting them while I was away, the unread books have increased, and I don't have enough time.
But compared to my brothers, that can wait.
This time, I was the one put on the back burner by Terry, though.
Interrupting his studies would be wrong as an older brother, so I can't be selfish here.
"So, around when did Terry start talking like that? Their Majesties said he had grown in a year and was probably conscious of his behavior, but..."
"Hmm, I think it was after the new tutor came. They said he doesn't do bad things."
"It's the magic person, and they said it's better to listen to the other teachers too."
Listening to them, when I was deployed, Terry had apparently started strongly refusing to listen to the ducal faction's people.
The trigger was the teacher who came during that magic practice.
We dismissed that one, but there were apparently various other people saying similar things.
So Terry's frustrations halfway exploded, leading to his refusal.
"............ I see. You two were watching Terry closely because you were worried, weren't you?"
The twins knew the details of his interactions with the tutor, and it seems they had sensed Terry's limit of patience.
On top of that, after the new tutor arrived, they apparently admonished him that just refusing everything wasn't right, and that if he was to become emperor, he must learn to swallow both the good and the bad.
It's not wrong, but because of that, Terry is rushing to become an adult, and I think that's a bit questionable right now.
"In other words, they made it so Terry couldn't act like a child."
Precisely because they understood what Terry wanted, they used it to guide him to suppress the resentment of those around him.
To an outsider, he's a prince who has shed a layer of his skin and gotten closer to adulthood.
It can also look like growth with his eyes set on becoming crown prince.
That's why Their Majesties, Terry's parents, don't stop him, even while feeling it's a bit unnatural.
(Because I was away for a year, I can notice how different he is from before, huh.)
Because he changed gradually, they can't realize that his current state is unnatural.
But Wornell and Fell, on the contrary, might have noticed things precisely because they are so close to him.
"Brother, he started talking like that all the time. Even when he's with us."
"Before, he would smile and forgive us. But now he doesn't smile, and we get scolded."
He's probably warning the twins as a member of the adults.
But for the two of them to say it so clearly means Terry is also being harsh.
Isn't that the rebound of doing it unwillingly?
His frustration of "I'm enduring and paying attention to my behavior, so why can't you?" might be showing in his attitude.
Still, for them to notice this so clearly and appeal to me, doesn't that mean Wornell and Fell have amazing observation skills?
Even though their parents understand the changes to some extent despite having work, it feels like the twins have seen through the strain on his inner self.
"But Brother, you haven't changed."
"You haven't changed from the beginning."
"Me?"
The sight of the two of them nodding together is still cute.
"Brother is also enduring, but you don't look like you're suffering, and you're smiling."
"Brother also talks like an adult, but you don't look like you hate it."
"Ah, that's just because I want to look good to my younger brothers as an older brother. I'm doing it because I want to."
Saying that, I hold a finger in front of my mouth.
"It'd be embarrassing if they found out, so it's a secret, okay?"
""Secret!""
The twins, excited over something so trivial, are still at the age where they want to play a lot.
Even so, since they were born into the imperial family, they probably have far more restrictions than I know.
Still, pushing themselves is bad, and just because they were born as princes, I don't want them to endure excessively.
Even in my previous life, there were people in history whose childhood hardships came back to bite them, causing them to mess up after becoming emperor.
"Terry is doing it because he has an ideal self he wants to become, but it might not suit him. Pretending isn't a mistake, and I think there are things to be gained from it. But doesn't it feel like Terry has forgotten how to relax?"
"Yeah! He looks like he's in pain. He definitely wanted to play with you today, Brother!"
"Always! He's always tense, trying to do things he hates."
"Yeah, I understand. Shall I try talking to Terry next time? This is probably something difficult to say from the standpoint of His Majesty and Her Highness."
Starting with that, today we just kept talking about what had happened over the past year to each other, and before we could even go to the Emerald Room, it was already time for the twins to go home.
"Your Highnesses, you're forgetting what you need to give him."
When the mood to leave settled in, their guards called out to them like that.
Then Wornell panicked, and Fell searched inside his clothes.
"Brother, you see!"
"An invitation!"
What the two offered was a single sealed letter.
The emblem embossed in foil on the paper is that of the Emperor.
In other words, it's from my father, but why?
""A family trip! Let's go together.""
"............ Eh?"
I feel like I heard some happy words, but it's so unexpected that I'm suspecting an auditory hallucination.
Wait, really? Did they say family trip?
To me like that, the twins urged me to check the contents of the letter.
The opened letter was indeed an invitation detailing a plan for a family trip, including me.
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Next: Family Trip 1