Dressed more modestly than last year, Marianne’s upright posture and strong spirit made her look more splendid than if she were draped in jewels.

Damian wore a gracefully pleated cloth draped from his neck to his chest, tucked into a vest. The hazy piece of fabric, which swayed whenever he spoke, flaunted a dignity like a rooster’s comb.

I studied the two children carefully before asking again.

“Why are you looking for that senior?”

“We heard that a magical prodigy who reached the 6th Circle before graduation might be on our side. I thought it would be a good idea to get a look at his face at least once, so I asked Marianne for a favor.”

“Hmm.”

“Edwin-sunbae is pretty close with Mika, right? I’m his junior in the Department of Magic, too, and I’ll be entering the Magic Tower eventually. If he’s a friend of a friend, we can at least say hello in advance.”

Marianne smiled faintly. What was this thoughtful, mischievous child planning? I pondered for a moment, then scanned the hall. I should have been able to pick him out easily, familiar as he was, without even needing to sweep the area with my Qi sense, but he was nowhere to be seen.

My eyes met Rubel’s, who had been looking my way for some reason, and I just gave him a smile.

“In any case, he’s not in here.”

“Oh, we know that. You haven’t seen him today?”

“No.”

“Ughhh…”

Watching Marianne groan, something occurred to me, and I changed the subject.

“More importantly, Marianne.”

“Yes?”

“Rubel has decided to come to the Yuil Mountains with us.”

“Wow, what? Really? I mean, I did think that might happen.”

“Ah…”

Marianne let out a surprised sound, then broke into a bashful grin, while Damian let out a faint sigh. Feeling my neck and cheeks grow warm for no reason, I brushed them with my hand. Before the children could make any more of a fuss, I continued.

“That’s what’s happened, so when you see Young Master Claudian later, please pass on the message.”

“Wow, really, wow.”

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was just thinking that even Michael knows how to be embarrassed.”

“Go away.”

Just as I was shooing away the child, whose eyes were twinkling with the intent to tease me, like I was chasing off a dog…

Right after the Winter Dance ended, the sweet, sweltering heat of the venue cooled with a sudden chill. I couldn’t tell where the silence had begun, so I looked past the children. All their gazes were fixed on the entrance. I looked that way, too.

A young woman was walking in gracefully, her hand resting on Edwin Kiadris’s arm.

She was a woman whose skirt was fluffed up with dozens of layers of shockingly crimson fabric. She had sharp, flashing violet eyes and fiery red hair that seemed to burn even brighter. Adorned in crimson from head to toe, the only things that shone with paleness were the skin of her face and shoulders.

I knew who she was without needing to be told her name.

Poplar Kiadris. The illegitimate child of the Duke Kiadris family and the woman rumored to be the First Prince Richard’s second prospective fiancée. The hall was so deathly quiet it felt as if I could hear the sound of her red hem sweeping across the floor.

I had thought it was my imagination, but the music had stopped. Looking over belatedly, I saw that all the musicians were holding their breath, their eyes fixed on the tip of the First Prince’s finger.

In that silence, Richard Flo Searon bid a polite farewell to Hestia Yeldidus. Fully aware that all eyes were on him, Richard held his chin high with an aloof air, and the sight of him asking Poplar Kiadris for a dance was even graceful.

At a flick of Richard’s finger, the paused music began to flow again. It was the Autumn Dance.

Poplar Kiadris smiled brightly in response and took Richard’s hand. My gaze was drawn to the gold-rimmed glasses perched decoratively on Edwin’s pale face. He stood three or four steps away from the main hall, watching Poplar Kiadris. No, he was glaring at her. But his posture was surprisingly courteous.

In a voice small enough to be buried by the music, Marianne whispered.

“Wow… She’s got quite a personality, too.”

“In what way?”

“She’s not even royalty, but she came in a dress so intense, it’s like she’s the star of the party. She hasn’t had her debutante, and she didn’t come to last year’s New Year Festival, so this is basically her first appearance.”

“Is that against etiquette?”

“Well…”

Damian answered my question for her.

“It’s not an outfit that goes against etiquette. It’s common to match one’s dress to their eye or hair color, and the jewels she’s wearing are all of appropriate quality. You can’t criticize someone for being born with vibrant hair and eye colors.”

“That’s true, but… it’s not the current trend, is it? Such a deep, primary color.”

Marianne, who was about to say more, glanced at me and faltered.

“Ah, I don’t know. The Kiadris family has been leisurely cooperating with Yeldidus’s business, so I thought the news about them aiming for the Empress’s position was just an empty rumor, but they seem more serious than I thought. It’s going to be noisy for a while.”

I understood even without her finishing the thought. Since Edwin Kiadris, the legitimate son, had personally escorted her in, it meant that Poplar would also act as a legitimate daughter of the Kiadris family. It was a clear display of Duke Kiadris’s fierce determination not to let her be treated as an illegitimate child.

For a while, that woman would either have people flocking around her or she would struggle to gather them. It was a relief that I could head to the Yuil Mountains without getting swept up in all that.

Marianne fluttered the fan she was holding, covering her lips as she whispered.

“Anyway, it’s a bust for today. It doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere to talk to Edwin-sunbae.”

“Hmm. Well, I’ll at least introduce him to some of my friends he might find approachable.”

“Ah, you’d do that?”

Damian asked, his face lighting up, so I gave him a compliant nod.

All the while, watching Poplar Kiadris, draped in numerous gazes like a veil, and the pale-faced Hestia Yeldidus in turn, made my chest feel tight. I didn’t want to talk anymore, so I sent the children away and stood alone for a long time.

How could I not know my own heart?

The political strife and power struggles would be handled by those who were better at it.

However, that boy Rubel deserved to dance dozens of times with such wonderful women, yet there he was, not even sparing a glance for anyone but me, trying to look good in my eyes… It was unsettling.

I had heard more than enough of an explanation for why Rubel had decided to climb the Yuil Mountains. But at the same time, the other words the child had uttered were still ringing clearly in my ears.

I know I’ll look like someone blinded by love, he had said.

I should have waited a little longer. I should have been less obvious, and left more opportunities open for the child. I had accepted a precious heart far too early. I was happy, and my heart had fluttered, but what remained in the end was vivid regret and self-reproach.

I vowed to myself several times to be patient and careful so that the child’s gentle heart would not be hurt.

❖ ❖ ❖

On the third day of January, Rubel and I took a walk at night.

It was a shame to break my promise to spend the evening with the other children, but it couldn’t be helped.

I felt I absolutely had to see Wesley Kiadris’s face once before leaving for the Yuil Mountains. Seeing Poplar Kiadris had brought his viper-like gaze back to mind. In all my life, I had never once benefited from ignoring my intuition.

However, Rubel and I were too young to enter the Crystal Palace as we pleased. Rubel, looking troubled, explained that since he was vying for the crown prince’s position, there were rules that required him to be even stricter about the palace etiquette. When he added that not even the First Prince had yet set foot in the Crystal Palace, I couldn’t press the matter any further.

So, the next best thing I chose was this.

I intended to stroll through the garden between the Opal Palace and the Crystal Palace, to get on Wesley Kiadris’s nerves. The range of a martial artist of Hwagyeong is quite wide. If he saw me and had something to say, he would read my presence and come out. If not, he wouldn’t.

As we walked together, Rubel asked me several times what I wanted to talk about if we ran into him, but I couldn’t answer.

I didn’t want to have a conversation with him. I wanted to read him.

It was something I hadn’t considered last year, but this year, I harbored the thought that Wesley might have come from the Martial World.

Bill Brown was born in this land with a shattered Dantian. Wesley Kiadris’s father was said to have doubted for a long time whether he was truly his son. So it was only natural to think that Wesley, who had achieved so much so quickly, might also have come from the Martial World.

Was he someone I knew?

Was he an old master from the Orthodox Sect, or a demonic head from the Evil Sect?

Or perhaps he was a great villain from the Demonic Cult.

There were a total of ten Hwagyeong masters whose names were widely known in the Martial World. Three of them were from the Orthodox Sect, two from the Evil Sect, and two were neutral. The remaining three were great figures of the Demonic Cult. Any martial artist of that era would have known their respective martial arts and personal details.

Even if I couldn’t see Wesley Kiadris draw his sword, I felt I could figure out what kind of man he was just by stealing a read of his spirit. It was with such a desire that I had set out. But my walking speed gradually slowed, and my eyes, which had been scanning my surroundings, filled with admiration.

It was truly a garden of the Imperial Palace.

The flagstones of the neatly laid path were so smoothly polished that one wouldn’t trip even if they ran or jumped. On either side, shrubs trimmed to a uniform height received the moonlight and starlight, scattering a subtle glow.

The statues placed throughout the garden had light Artifacts installed beneath them, causing them to change color from time to time. White, then red, then blue.

Then the trees near the statues would also glow white, red, and blue, bathed in the light.

I tried to suppress my troubled heart with the enchanting scenery and the fragrant, fresh scents. Rubel, who had been walking silently beside me, matching my pace, deliberately brushed the back of his hand against mine.

“…Rubel.”

“No, no. This time, I really didn’t do it on purpose…”

Was this the first or second time the child had pestered me to hold his hand? But I couldn’t indulge Rubel’s whims in the Imperial Palace, where anyone could be watching. I was about to burst out laughing at how flustered and cute he was when I felt a welcome presence and turned around.

Seiren Ernhardt, wrapped in a lavishly puffed-up dress, and William Ernhardt, wearing a long-tailed coat that reached below the back of his knees. My mother and father in this life had been walking with their shoulders affectionately leaned against each other, but had stopped dead in their tracks and were now staring this way.

I was incredibly happy to see my parents’ red and blue eyes, wide with surprise.

“Mika…? And next to you is…”

“Father, Mother.”

After greeting them with a smile, I thought I should introduce Rubel and turned to the child. It was the same Rubel who had been grinning from ear to ear just a moment ago, but now he was frozen stiff, looking utterly shocked, as if he had seen a ghost.

I was very puzzled as to why the child was so nervous.

By Zephyria

Hello, I'm Zephyria, an avid BL reader^^ I post AI/Machine assisted translation. Due to busy schedule I'll just post all works I have mtled. However, as you know the quality is not guaranteed. Maybe just enough to fill your curiosity.

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