By Zephyria 
My own act of protecting Ruben while injured and moving to Yulan, my act of defeating a bad spirit after receiving a request from a good spirit and bringing the Golden Turtle ashore, and my act of defeating several Black magicians and the Black Dragon Bel Vifer in Biban and receiving King Vivian’s gratitude were reenacted on stage.
The sight of the glamorous dancers, who played the spirits, pouring out and creating wave patterns with their blue robes was particularly beautiful. The Golden Turtle doll, made of golden fabric, was hollow and easily guided by the actors’ hands as it was moved around the stage.
For a long time, I was mesmerized by the magic emanating from the stage props and Artifacts, whose mechanisms were beyond my comprehension.
Wooden horses shaped like Wyverns appeared on stage. Actor Michael, who had declared he would leave for beyond the Yuil Mountains with God, paused as he mounted a Wyvern and looked around the audience. Then, he leaped from the stage prop.
He strode towards actor Rubel. Grabbing his opponent, he brought his head close as if about to kiss him. Even though the mask covered his eyes, his movements were so profound and poignant that his deep, sorrowful emotions seemed to drip from him.
Gasps and screams echoed from various places.
“Does that guy Benjamin have eyes in his feet? I’ve never done anything like that.”
Ashamed to look at my younger brothers sitting beside me, I fixed my gaze on the stage and couldn’t look to either side. I tensed up, wondering what would happen if the two of them actually shared a passionate kiss.
However, after listening to actor Rubel’s breathy, tense gasps for a while, actor Michael did not kiss him but instead embraced him tightly. Then, in a voice that sounded like a whisper, he recited through the voice-amplifying Artifact so all the audience could hear:
“Your Highness… No, Your Majesty.”
“…Speak.”
“There is something I must tell you when I return.”
“You won’t say it now?”
“Yes. Not now… Later.”
Actor Michael laughed energetically and pushed actor Rubel’s shoulder.
“When I return as a hero, you must grant my request!”
Wyverns with large wheels, each carrying an actor, disappeared behind the stage. The remaining companions, who watched them depart with longing, also walked down behind the stage on the opposite side.
The musicians, who had been playing a melancholic melody of farewell all along, suddenly struck up a lively and cheerful tune. The actors who had disappeared began to hop back onto the stage one by one, bowing to the audience.
Even though I knew the play was over, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the stage for a long time.
“…Benjamin oversaw this?”
“Ah. This part changed after the rehearsal, so Ruben-hyung might have worked on it.”
“…After the rehearsal, when was that?”
“It was about four months after hyung disappeared like that?”
“…”
“It was rumored among the Knights that hyung and His Majesty kissed back then, but since the character was the current Emperor, the theater didn’t want anything too explicit. Originally, it was just supposed to be a hug.”
Right.
Ruben must have wanted to hear those words right after he lost me.
I felt immensely proud that I gave the correct answer immediately upon my return, yet the thought of what kind of heart Ruben must have had when he ordered the playwright to revise the lines made my head spin. What if I had fought for ten years, not two or three, and then returned?
The ticket taker, who had been the theater owner earlier, also knew that I had proposed to Rubel. This was partly because many people were present when I proposed to Rubel, but it might also be because the play had already publicly revealed that Rubel and I were in a loving relationship.
Could my mother-in-law have seen this play too?
And is she thinking that I, who returned as a hero, intend to ruthlessly covet her son?
As the audience began to disperse one by one, my siblings and I also rose from our seats.
As soon as we opened the door, the attendant from earlier guided us upstairs. Ascending the stairs that led directly from the terrace seating, I looked around. It wasn’t my first time at this theater, yet the fact that there was another level continuing upwards felt very unfamiliar.
“How many floors up do we go?”
“Where you were is the second floor, and the reception room is on the fourth. The ceiling height on each floor is quite high due to the stage equipment, so it might feel even higher.”
“I’ve been here too.”
“You have?”
“Yeah, with Ruben-hyung.”
He then grabbed my shoulder and whispered in my ear.
“There are private rooms connected by secret passages from each terrace seat for high-ranking nobles to have clandestine meetings. He told me not to have truly secret conversations there because it’s easy to eavesdrop.”
“…”
I’ve learned something good.
However, this advice was not applicable to me, who could easily read the presence of people around me and even deploy an Aura Barrier. Amused by Michael’s concern for my reputation, I simply patted his head once more.
❖ ❖ ❖
Was it called a room prepared for high-ranking nobles?
Indeed, it was. The furniture in the room was solidly crafted, and the fresh flowers in the vase were vibrant. In the center, surrounded by ornate tapestries on all sides, was a sofa with its backrest and seat covered in blue silk. On a table made of polished, crimson stone, a set of pristine white tea ware was neatly arranged.
Hestia, who had arrived earlier and was sitting alone, gracefully stood up and offered a polite greeting. She briefly covered her upper body with her fan before smiling sweetly, her demeanor exactly like Poplar’s. So, that was the proper etiquette. It would have been better if they were men instead of women. It would have been easier to learn.
“It’s been a while, junior. Your younger brothers are with you too?”
“Yes. It’s been a while.”
“Hello, Duke.”
“It’s my first time meeting you, Duke.”
My younger brothers also returned polite greetings with bright smiles.
Seeing that she had brought no other companions and used no other titles for me, emphasizing our senior-junior relationship, I surmised that what she had to say today must be quite personal. Was her mentioning my brothers first also a way of hinting at that? How should I respond?
After pondering various responses that wouldn’t violate social etiquette, I decided to be honest.
“My younger brothers had a prior engagement, so I couldn’t leave them behind.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t understand well when things are said indirectly. If you have something you want to say, please just say it directly. You are Rubel’s old friend, and my senior, so you can speak comfortably without me being offended.”
“…Ah…”
I chuckled as I watched Hestia’s fan flutter gently at the corner of her mouth.
“I know. I just wanted to convey that.”
Hestia no longer fanned herself. She simply held the fan tightly, then folded it neatly and placed it on her thigh.
I knew that holding the fan with both hands on the sides indicated a sly attitude. But what did it mean to place both hands overlapping in the center of the fan? It was difficult to decipher.
It was an ambiguous gesture, making it hard to distinguish whether she was speaking with her fan or simply trying not to distract me with fan language or anything similar.
I gazed at her pale lavender eyes, which showed her awkwardness so clearly that even I, with my lack of keen observation, could see it. Hestia chided me in a gentle voice.
“…Lord Ernhardt has a talent for silencing people.”
What could I do about it? Since she wasn’t someone who would hold a grudge against me, I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Then, may I speak first?”
“Yes. Of course. Please speak freely.”
As I prepared to speak, I worried about the children.
I quickly put up an Aura Barrier. While my siblings, who could no longer hear both my voice and Hestia’s, tilted their heads in confusion, I quickly asked:
“I heard that the Empress Dowager isn’t naturally cold-hearted. Since it’s been a while since Rubel last spoke face-to-face with her, are Rubel and his mother perhaps not on good terms, or is there something going on?”
“What? …No? ‘That guy’?”
“Ah, Rubel. Would I really call the Empress Dowager ‘Hey, you’? Rubel is just equally rude to everyone, and that includes his own mother.”
“…Hmm?”
“There’s a give and take in everything, isn’t there? Even with parents, the current Emperor isn’t the type to be overly affectionate, so the Empress Dowager doesn’t bother him. Well, it seems they’re both more comfortable living like this now that they’re grown, even if it was different when he was young.”
“Hmm.”
“There’s no major problem. It’s just that Rubel became independent so early.”
Was the Rubel Hestia was talking about the same person as my cute and charming lover? It didn’t seem so.
However, there is only one Emperor in this Sierran Empire, and I had already confirmed Hestia and Rubel’s friendship with my own eyes in the past.
I had worried that Rubel might have suffered alone due to his mother’s harsh upbringing, so it was a great relief that their relationship was fine. I dismissed the long-held worry that I might be pressuring a child who had a poor relationship with his mother.
Actually, there was one more thing I was curious about.
“Then, perhaps… when dealing with social matters.”
Michael and Asdel’s gazes were fixed on my lips. They were trying to guess what I was saying by watching my lip movements, as they couldn’t hear me. Conscious of the curious children, I moved my lips only slightly, as if using ventriloquism, and continued with my next question.
“Have you ever heard that my mother-in-law goes out periodically? You know, socializing with Countess Austin and others around her?”
“Ah… Melatia?”
I had found the person who knew the answer.
I nodded once. Hestia Yeldidus didn’t answer immediately but paused for a moment, contemplating various things. Watching her for a moment, I couldn’t wait any longer and urged her on.
“When did my mother-in-law know that Melatia was alive?”
“Quite a while ago. It was about three or four years before the previous Emperor passed away. While the current Emperor and Lord Ernhardt were away from the capital, all correspondence the First Prince exchanged with the outside was under the Empress Dowager’s surveillance.”
“…Ah.”
“It was around that time that the Empress Dowager began to associate closely with several ladies, including Countess Austin, so it’s probably correct. Didn’t the First Prince start exchanging letters with Melatia when he was around twenty?”
“…And did they actually meet?”
“They couldn’t when the previous Emperor was alive. After the current Emperor ascended the throne, five countesses, including Countess Austin, immediately became ladies-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager. So, perhaps after that, she could travel freely as she wished.”
“…”
Melatia acted as if she was very happy to see Kate, but was her true intention different?