Chapter 62

Oh fuck.

But I couldn’t say that out loud.

Because Kyle was next to me.

No matter how good my relationship with Kyle was, casually swearing would be crossing the line.

“Hah…”

Seeing Kyle sigh as well, it seemed he wasn’t feeling much different from me.

The current situation was incredibly absurd.

It couldn’t be helped.

The decorations on the carriage approaching us, from their color alone, clearly indicated where it was coming from.

“Why is the imperial family here again…”

Yes, the imperial family.

Only the imperial family would use purple so obsessively.

Their eyes are purple, so their symbolic color is purple—it’s absurd.

Well, I understand that purple has traditionally been a special color because it’s difficult to obtain in nature.

But does that mean they need to decorate the carriage to such an extent?

They’ve zealously gilded it with gold, and then covered it with purple flowers, jewels, fabrics, magic stones—basically everything.

Even the Oldenburg carriage I saw before wasn’t this excessive.

Screech…

Anyway, the carriage stopped in front of us.

Kyle and I naturally bent deeply at the waist.

Since we were outside, we didn’t kneel.

Honestly, I was glad I wasn’t in a position of loyalty to the imperial family.

Click, click, click…

As we remained with our waists bowed, we heard the sound of heels.

A sound that anyone would recognize as saying “I’m a noble~”

The person getting out was clearly predetermined.

There was absolutely no chance the Emperor and his wife would come.

There was also absolutely no chance the Crown Prince would come.

Then it must be determined.

“Hmm…?”

A woman’s voice.

“Eristirol Young Lord, or should I call you Duke now?”

“You may call me whichever you prefer.”

“Then I’ll call you Young Lord Kyle. We met once at the debutante, so you should remember me. You may raise your heads, it’s not a problem.”

“Thank you.”

Kyle and I listened to the woman and raised our heads and straightened our waists.

And the identity of the woman in front of us was exactly as I thought.

The Imperial Princess of the Dextrin Empire, one of the two born between the Emperor and his wife.

The Imperial Princess.

She’s pretty.

“It’s been a while. Nice to see you again, Kyle Eristirol.”

“It’s an honor to meet you again, Your Highness.”

Julia Dextrin.

A famous figure in many ways.

The biggest reason among them is simply because she’s beautiful.

“By the way, how much more will Young Lord Kyle grow? You’ve grown even more since the last time we met.”

“I’m not sure about that myself.”

“Hmm… By the way, I haven’t heard that Young Lord Kyle has a lover. Perhaps a young lady from some family?”

“?”

“She’s not my lover. Not yet.”

What’s this?

Kyle has a lover?

I haven’t heard about this either.

And where is this noble lady supposed to be?

I turned my head to look around, but I couldn’t see any nobles except for Kyle.

“You. The black-haired lady.”

“Excuse me? You mean me?”

“Who else is here besides myself, Young Lord Kyle, and you?”

“Ah, I’m Sofia, working as Young Lord Kyle’s personal servant.”

I said that while bowing at the waist.

I never expected to greet a member of the imperial family in my life.

I didn’t anticipate this at all.

Working for a high-ranking family means these things happen.

“Hmm? A commoner?”

“Yes.”

“Ah.”

The Imperial Princess made a brief sound as if she had realized something.

From her expression, she probably understood the situation, but I couldn’t tell since I was keeping my head and waist bowed.

Kyle would handle it well.

“—–“

“Let’s talk about that later.”

“Hoho… Well, this has become interesting. As Young Lord Kyle says, shall we discuss this later? You there, servant? You may raise your head.”

“Thank you.”

I straightened my waist again, but I didn’t hear what conversation they had.

More precisely, I didn’t hear what the Imperial Princess said.

Did she whisper something to Kyle?

Even for an Imperial Princess, I don’t think it’s appropriate to do that to a man who has completed his coming-of-age ceremony.

Besides, wasn’t the Imperial Princess older than Kyle?

“…”

“Now, please guide me inside.”

“Yes.”

Kyle led the Imperial Princess to walk inside the castle.

Since Kyle gave me a signal not to follow right away, I remained at the castle gate for a moment.

I was going to help unload luggage from the carriage, but I was told not to touch the imperial family’s belongings, so I just stood there.

“…Fuck.”

The imperial family’s workers also went inside the castle.

I was alone in front of the castle gate, looking up at the snowy sky as always, and cursed.

To be honest, I wasn’t in a good mood.

Anyone would feel the same in this situation.

It was an appointment made almost three weeks ago.

Going out with Kyle was a very long-standing promise.

That’s why I put in effort and wore such feminine clothes.

“But you ruin it like this?”

It was absurd.

Thanks to this, I felt hot despite the cold weather.

In fact, could this woman, the Imperial Princess, be a heat pack?

Otherwise, there’s no way she could make me this hot so easily.

“Huff…”

I spent time running my fingers through my hair and ruminating on my anger.

“By the way, I didn’t expect Young Lord Kyle’s taste to be someone like that.”

“…”

Kyle guided Julia to the reception room.

There wasn’t much choice since the reception room was the only place suitable to entertain Julia at the moment.

That was because Julia really arrived without any notice.

“So, Your Highness, what brings you to Eristirol?”

“Hmm… First, my father sent me to congratulate you on completing your coming-of-age ceremony and heir succession. And second…?”

“…”

The first reason was only natural.

An emperor who sends small gifts even to a mere viscount would have no reason not to do anything for the Eristirol, one of the ducal families of the empire.

“My father told me to find out about Kyle Eristirol’s relationships with women.”

“Pardon?”

Kyle was momentarily flustered by Julia’s words.

Kyle, who was rarely surprised except by Sofia’s occasional impulsive actions, couldn’t help but be surprised this time.

After all, the Emperor had ordered an investigation into Kyle’s relationships with women.

“My relationships with women?”

“Yes.”

“…Why on earth?”

It was a slightly impolite question, but Julia let it slide.

In her mind too, her father’s thinking was honestly absurd.

‘Indeed, old people just don’t understand young ones.’

“Don’t worry. He’s just concerned that you might end up a bachelor if there are no women around you.”

Julia had no choice but to convey this fact to Kyle, whom she was meeting for only the second time.

If she didn’t tell him, the relationship between the Eristirol and the imperial family would obviously deteriorate.

Even though he had completed his coming-of-age ceremony, Kyle was still young.

“My father has no intention of harming Young Lord Kyle at all. Rather, he’s being friendly. I really just came for that reason.”

“…I see.”

Kyle understood the imperial family.

He understood the Imperial Princess and the Emperor.

The peace of the empire and relationships with the nobility were important to them.

But Kyle still felt displeased inside.

‘It would have been better if she came tomorrow.’

It wasn’t much different from what someone was still thinking at the castle gate, cooling off.

Today was important for Kyle too.

Having a date with Sofia was something he hadn’t done in a long time.

He had spent all his time with his father, whose hair was always fluffy, in preparation for the coming-of-age ceremony, always rolling in the snow, taking snow to the face.

In addition, the time he couldn’t see Sofia due to the coming-of-age ceremony was long, and he hadn’t properly relieved his stress since returning.

Then, finally, an opportunity came to relieve stress by going around with Sofia after a very long time.

‘Today Sofia looked… beautiful.’

Kyle was a man too.

He was the kind of man whose heart would pound if he went on a date with a woman and she was wearing completely different clothes than usual.

That was Kyle today.

‘The skirt… suited her well.’

It wasn’t something he planned to think about with the Imperial Princess in front of him, but he couldn’t help it.

For Kyle, Sofia had already become his top priority.

“Anyway, don’t worry. I’ll probably go back after staying for a week. I’ll just tell my father whatever works.”

Julia looked at Kyle and smiled seductively.

It wasn’t particularly to seduce Kyle.

She just smiled because the situation was amusing, and her expression was like that because social skills were ingrained in her face.

“The man is in love with a servant.”

“Pardon?”

Kyle answered with a foolish voice.

Seeing him like that, Julia began to laugh loudly.

If the room wasn’t well soundproofed, a servant passing by in the corridor outside might have thought something strange was happening.

“That servant who was next to you, you like her, don’t you? That’s why you were looking at her with worried eyes. And she had big breasts too, by the way.”

“……”

“Don’t worry. I really don’t intend to cause any harm.”

“Yes…”

Kyle answered the Imperial Princess.

He understood that ruining his date with Sofia was already in the past.

Besides, he had no particular interest in the Imperial Princess unless she caused more trouble.

And more than anything else, the image of Sofia from earlier filled Kyle’s mind, so he had no intention of prolonging the conversation.