WNC SS 157

Since the gathering was to celebrate Titi’s birthday, naturally, much of the conversation revolved around her. This eventually led to discussions about the development and growth processes of the other children.

Ruben knew more about a child’s developmental stages than I did.

Thus, Ruben, who had been quiet until then, joined the conversation.

Before he was the Emperor, Ruben had been my longtime lover. Since his days as a Prince, he had always clung closely to my side. He had been suspiciously friendly toward the two girls, Marianne and Jenny, winning their favor, while Shayden and Ivan were simply types who did not fear the power Ruben possessed.

Thanks to this, the conversation was quite lively. Watching the children exchange various words in harmony filled me with an indescribable sense of pride and joy.

Ruben and Ivan shared quite similar educational views, while Jenny and Shayden remained neutral. Bill Brown argued that children should grow up freely. I quietly took Ruben’s side.

The fellows did not hesitate to ask mischievous questions.

“You’ve been married for quite a while now. Has there ever been anything annoying or something you disliked about each other?”

However, I am no longer someone to be teased by these young comrades.

“Nothing was annoying, but sometimes it’s heartbreaking.”

“What? Really? What is? When?”

“Every time my efficient wife is stolen away by the office.”

“…Ooh! What about Your Majesty? Is there nothing?”

Ruben also gave a gentle, eye-curving smile and shrugged his shoulders.

“For me… when she keeps covering me with blankets even though I’m hot? It’s a bit annoying then.”

“…No, but that’s!”

“That’s what?”

“…It’s nothing.”

When Ruben rejected the blankets, it was usually after doing something that inevitably made his body heat up. Even without that, as he matured, he was a man who would quiver at the slightest touch of a fingertip. How could I not worry when the delicate and fragile Ruben was utterly exhausted and half-naked? Of course, I couldn’t say such things in front of these comrades.

I was left gaping in disbelief, and my clever comrades, sensing something in that gap, quickly looked away from me.

“…”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Me too.”

“What about you, Ivan? Is there anything?”

“I wonder. Something I dislike… is there any? You should be asking me what I like.”

“Hmm. Yes, then. What do you like most about being married?”

“Seeing that cute face first thing every morning. I find that the best.”

“…”

“…”

“Ah, Baroness Vikoff should have been here.”

“I agree.”

Everyone laughed hollowly and lifted their teacups.

The second teapot was already empty. Just as I was wondering whether to refill the [stolen content]water, stolen contentShayden, who had been looking around, was the first to wrap up the gathering.

“It wouldn’t be right to keep the Imperial couple too long on the Imperial Princess’s first birthday. Let’s start heading out.”

“Ah, I’m dizzy from laughing so much. Let’s try to coordinate our schedules somehow this summer. Even if everyone is busy, if we announce it in advance, we can probably find one day.”

“That sounds good. Once Marianne has a child, it will be difficult for everyone to gather for a while. I will set a date and let you know.”

“Yes. If possible, Wednesday is best for me. I’m actually busier on weekends.”

It was then. Suddenly, Ruben reached out his hand to Shayden.

“…I enjoyed today. I’ll see you often in the capital.”

Suddenly?

As I looked on in bewilderment, the corners of Shayden’s mouth soared. He smiled fully, as if he couldn’t contain himself, and looked up at the ceiling once. After biting his lower lip firmly, he smiled, revealing his teeth, and shook Ruben’s hand with a hearty attitude.

“It took a very long time, Your Majesty.”

“…”

What on earth were they saying to each other with their eyes again? They don’t even know how to use Sound unauthorized copyon Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL NovelsTransmission or Divine Speech, yet they are quite skilled.

While I remained puzzled, Ivan also slid his right hand out toward Ruben, saying, “Me too.”

Ruben looked down at the hand for a moment before readily accepting Ivan’s handshake as well.

I now know that Ruben had lived with an astonishing amount of jealousy toward Shayden. Seeing me play with my comrades by his side today, he must have realized how ridiculous his jealousy had been.

The child, who would have primly played innocent in the past, was now acting cute and sly by being the first to seek reconciliation.

However, I have no idea what had happened between him and Ivan for them to be reconciling together.

Since meeting Ivan in Yulan, Ruben had granted him quite a few interests, and thanks to that, the Eldos Merchant Guild had established itself as one of the top three guilds in Sierren. Ruben and Ivan must have met more frequently than I had met Ivan, so why was a reconciliation necessary now?

But judging by the beaming face of Jenny, it didn’t seem like a bad thing, so I left it be.

---

Wanting to see how the children were playing, I headed to the Greenhouse with Ruben.

The First Greenhouse, the closest to the Crystal Palace, had been a space overgrown with tall trees that grew in humid environments until a few years ago. There was an artificial valley where water trickled, and large flowers blooming occasionally from drooping vines scattered a deep fragrance.

But now, that place consisted of low, shallow shrubs.

Only two large trees remained in the center of the greenhouse. One had branches [stolen [unauthorized copy]content]stretching out sideways, and the other had a very thick trunk. The lush leaves had been neatly trimmed, making the sturdy swings clearly visible.

The swings were large enough to hold two children at once, but the tables, benches, and various toys were all small and low to fit the height of young children.

Low shrub fences, which barely reached my knees, created a winding path. In the pretty maze, all sorts of dainty flower clusters bloomed in clusters.

The sound of trickling water came from a stream that had been made shallower and narrower than before. With nothing blocking the view, it looked much wider and cozier than before.

The greenhouse was filled with the sounds of children sitting side-by-side on small benches kicking their legs, those acting poised with tiny teacups fitting their small hands at low tables, and the laughter of children playing tag, running through a maze that didn’t even reach their waists.

“Caught you!”

“Emily is the seeker now!”

“Emily! Emily!”

“I’m counting to ten! 10, 9, 8…”

“Run! This way! Left!”

“No, right!”

The boy called Emily was around seven or eight years old.

His golden hair, which would normally have been combed flat with a brush, was sticking out in various directions.

It wasn’t just him; all the children around were the same. Their cheeks were red, their hair was tousled, and their clothes were disheveled from how hard they had been playing.

While that boy counted, the other children scattered with a loud shout.

Where was Titi? Looking around, she was blending in perfectly with the group of children. She patted the back of a small, chubby child who was panting beside her, and when the seeker ran toward them, she dashed away with a face full of laughter. I could feel that the practice of controlling her strength had paid off immensely.

I let out a hollow laugh at the sign that she was desperately trying not to look this way.

How could a child who notices Knights across the street fail to sense the presence of Ruben and me? She just wants to play more because she’s excited and having fun.

It’s quite fascinating to watch.

Originally, Titi was the type to throw everything aside and jump into my or Ruben’s arms the moment we arrived, even in the middle of a fun game. Is she already at an age where friends are better than her father?

I felt a slight emptiness in my chest, but I also felt proud to see her getting along so well with the other children, and a bit poignant thinking that she had already grown up so much.

Ruben pulled my sleeve and hid behind the attendants.

I had never seen Ruben with such an expression.

There was neither a smile nor tears on Ruben’s pale face. Perhaps because of his wide-open pupils, as if looking at something very far away, his gaze seemed deeper than usual. No sound of breathing escaped his quietly parted lips.

Like someone facing something they had waited for since a very long time, something truly wondrous…

Ruben looked at Titi, I looked at Ruben, and the attendants stiffened their shoulders and heels to avoid glancing at us. Since we remained quiet, Titi soon stopped paying attention to us.

The seeker, who had been running for a while, dashed to the right, toward Titi.

It is a hunter’s instinct to chase the weakest prey. The tiny child Titi had been sticking with was the target this time. Titi tried hard to pull the child along to escape together, but the limit was obvious.

It seemed as if the child’s arm would pop out if she pulled any harder. In her urgency, Titi let go of the hand and hoisted the child up onto her back.

…Is that allowed?

A gasp escaped me. It seemed I wasn’t the only one baffled.

Soon, jeers and laments poured from the boys and girls, and the seeker, who had been running hard, shouted with a face full of misery.

“Ah, Your Highness! How can you do that!”

“…But Rowan has already been the seeker three times.”

“Me too, me too, this is my second time…”

“Then this time I’ll be the seeker…”

“No! That’s cheating. I’m the seeker now, so I have to be the one to catch you… But Your Highness, Your Highness keeps holding only Rowan’s hand…”

The child half-hidden behind Titi had cheeks that turned bright red from shyness, and the child standing before Titi was half-sobbing.

Do they think her name is ‘Your Highness’? It’s quite amusing to see them whine while using an honorific, treating her like a very close friend.

The slightly older children, around ten years old, who were itching to interfere, kept looking back toward us. Even if they wanted to stop the fight, they couldn’t act willfully since they recognized Ruben and me.

They say children grow up by fighting, but I have no hobby of watching other people’s children cry.

The moment I took a step forward to stop the fight, Ruben’s arm blocked me. Looking down, Ruben’s expression was inexplicably calm and serious.

Titi, looking perplexed, made a humming, groaning sound and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them.

Then, she clapped her hands.

“Then, Emily get on my back!”

“…Me?”

“Yes. Let’s merge and be the seeker together!”

“Okay!”

I wondered what the difference was since they still weren’t running on their own feet, but the cheeks of the child who quickly climbed onto Titi’s back and wrapped their arms around her neck turned red instantly. In truth, they had wanted to be carried too.

The excited seeker pointed at the fastest and largest boy this time, and Titi dove into the crowd of children with a loud shout. The children who had been flustered by the fight also ran and shouted in excitement, and the chubby child who had been left alone quickly fled in the opposite direction.

“…”

“…”

“Ahem. Hem.”

“Pfft…”

The watching attendants coughed to hide their laughter.

Even with a child on her back, Titi hopped nimbly and succeeded in catching the target before long. Then, she pointed stolen contentaria-label="unauthorized copy">unauthorized copyto her back and shouted quite brazenly and loudly.

“Hey, get on!”

“No, but Your Highness is too small.”

“Then you don’t want to?”

“…No, I dooo…”

I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw the next child shyly cling to Titi’s back.

Laughing loudly, I pulled Ruben’s waist and hugged him. The children, noisy with their play, didn’t pay any attention to us. Seeing that, Ruben’s complexion, as he was led powerlessly by my hand, was pale.

Knowing the answer, I asked anyway.

“Did you expect this?”

“…No.”

“I wonder whose baby is so smart. The fight stopped quickly.”

“…Lucilla didn’t do things like that.”

“Things like that?”

“She… she might have ridden on others, but she never became the horse herself.”

“So, how is it? She seems to be playing well anyway.”

“…”

After pondering for a while, Ruben pressed his forehead against my collarbone and answered in a very small voice.

“…Cute. She resembles you.”

“I never ran around carrying anyone on my back.”

“Still.”

Ruben and I continued to stand in the same spot, watching the children play.

After a while, the attendants gathered the children and headed toward the restaurant.

Titi’s bangs were soaked with sweat from all the running, sticking flat to her neat forehead. [unauthorized copy]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[stolen content]While they were all noisily talking about today’s play, a girl around ten years old wiped Titi’s sweat with a handkerchief using quite deft movements.

“Thank you, Big Sister!”

“You shouldn’t call me Big Sister, Your Highness. Call me ‘Andrew’.”

“Okay, Andrew!”

Looking at Titi’s profile as she smiled and leaned in happily, I thought.

This child will grow up well.

In a way different from both Ruben and me.