“……”
Then, all at once, Nox’s eyes met Khalid’s.
From among the nobles, Khalid looked at him in silence. To Nox, it felt as though their eyes had remained locked for a very long time, but in truth it had lasted only a fleeting instant. The moment he broke away from that gaze, Nox unknowingly let out a long breath.
Stopping his breathing the instant their eyes met had not been his intention.
And then, from behind him, he heard laughter.
“You’re doing better than I expected. Is it thanks to you?”
Before Nox could even turn around, a large hand came from behind and closed beneath his chin, pulling it up.
His body tilted backward, and his shoulder struck someone behind him.
Nox knew the owner of that voice.
The only remaining member of the imperial family in the Empire now, and its Emperor.
Peltion Andras Daidalontz.
It was him.
“…Your Majesty.”
“You needn’t call me that. I know perfectly well that I’m the Emperor.”
The Emperor looked down at Nox with a faint smile. He did not remove the hand cupping the underside of his chin. Nox wanted to pull free of his grasp, but the hand holding him there was firmer than he had expected and did not loosen easily.
“It’s been a long time. Hasn’t it?”
The Emperor’s eyes curved as he met Nox’s gaze.
The moment he heard those words, Nox remembered a certain day when he had been eighteen.
The day Peltion and Nox had first looked each other in the eye.
*****
It was the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet.
The nobles had all dressed themselves up lavishly and attended carrying expensive gifts, each hoping to curry favor with the Crown Prince and the Empress. The Emperor had not attended the Crown Prince’s banquet, citing poor health, but Nox knew the truth well enough.
Even then, the Emperor had already begun to find the Crown Prince displeasing.
“The Empress seems to be in excellent spirits today, doesn’t she?”
“She does. Even though His Majesty the Emperor didn’t attend.”
“Does anyone know why?”
The nobles gathered among themselves and whispered.
Nox had come to this banquet because he had heard a certain rumor today.
And it seemed no one else here knew it.
That, too, meant that even if House Rainerio was slowly rotting away in his father’s hands, it still remained strong for the present.
Dressed in a dark blue-black suit, Nox stood at the edge of the banquet hall with his back perfectly straight.
He could feel the nobles glancing at him one after another, but Nox neither looked at them nor spoke to them. He merely stood there, upright and immovable. The nobles disliked the way he showed no interest in them, but they did not dare address him carelessly.
This was House Rainerio.
The greatest house backing the Crown Prince and the Empress, whose power was now at its height.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Crown Prince would ascend the throne, and House Rainerio would stand at his right hand.
Whether Nox wished it or not, thanks to his father’s actions, that was how his house was known.
The nobles chatted among themselves.
That Nox Rainerio, who never showed his face unless the occasion was an official one, had come here tonight was proof that House Rainerio fully supported the Crown Prince.
But it was not the Crown Prince Nox was waiting for.
It was—
“His Highness the Second Prince, Peltion Andras Daidalontz, has arrived!”
It was the Second Prince, Peltion.
At his appearance, everyone began murmuring. The arrival of a Second Prince who held not the slightest power in his hands. And yet here he was, appearing at the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet.
Come to think of it, they said the Second Prince’s birthday banquet last year had been completely ruined by the Empress’s cruelty.
Small whispers passed between them.
“Welcome, Second Prince.”
The Empress greeted him with a radiant smile.
The Empress did not like Peltion. But if she was welcoming him with a smile like that, there had to be a reason for it.
“I knew you would come to offer your congratulations in person.”
At those words from the Empress, Nox realized at once that Peltion had been forced to attend this gathering.
So that was why the Empress had not been displeased even though the Emperor had not come.
The Second Prince, Peltion, returned her smile and answered,
“Why would I have any reason not to attend my brother’s birthday banquet?”
Peltion smiled gently, like a man without the slightest trace of dissatisfaction.
The Empress openly mocked him.
Fanning herself softly with a fan that concealed the lower half of her face, she spoke as though she meant him well.
“It relieves me so much to see how close the brothers are. It is truly pleasing to watch you live so quietly, never trying to grasp any power for yourself, all for the Crown Prince’s sake.”
A penniless prince who possessed nothing.
The Empress mocked and humiliated him for exactly that.
But unfortunately, Peltion had no power with which to answer that humiliation. A member of the imperial family who held literally nothing.
That was what Peltion was.
Nox narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at him.
If the Emperor has begun to find the Crown Prince displeasing, then surely he would want to lend strength to Peltion, the Second Prince.
And yet the Emperor had taken no action until now.
Even in Nox’s eyes, it would have been difficult to move at present. The power of the Crown Prince and the Empress was simply too firmly entrenched.
There are even rumors that the Empress’s maternal relatives covet the diamond mine owned by the Emperor. That cannot be dismissed lightly.
Nox took a glass of champagne from a passing servant and swallowed a few light sips.
The Empress was still standing in front of Peltion, mocking him.
“Crown Prince, come here. Your younger brother has come, and yet you do not even look at him. What are you doing?”
At that, the Crown Prince slowly walked over to the Empress’s side and said,
“Ah, my apologies. There were too many people for me to see. I forgot you for a moment.”
“…Not at all. Naturally, that can happen when you are busy.”
“Thank you for understanding. Since you’ve come out after so long, I hope you enjoy the banquet as well. After all, you couldn’t enjoy anything on your own birthday.”
Even though he knew perfectly well that it had been the Empress herself who had ruined it, the Crown Prince still said that and spread his arms slightly, as though he were bestowing some favor.
Peltion merely smiled, his expression revealing nothing of what he was thinking.
…He isn’t someone who reveals what’s inside him easily.
Watching Peltion, Nox thought that.
He felt entirely different from the Crown Prince, who loved to flaunt himself and loved to press others down beneath him.
And Nox felt he now understood why the Emperor had begun to look upon the Crown Prince with displeasure.
Peltion, the Second Prince, must have caught his eye.
According to rumor, the Second Prince Peltion lived quietly within his own palace.
But if one dug deeper than that, there were other stories.
Stories, perhaps, that the other nobles did not know.
They said that in every branch of learning, including the study of kingship, he was not even comparable to the Crown Prince.
Nox turned his eyes to the side.
That must have been why the Empress was so desperate to keep him in check.
Especially after the duel the Crown Prince and Peltion had demonstrated two years ago, when Peltion had emerged victorious, the Empress’s once-confident manner had changed.
The mother who had borne Peltion had died giving birth to him, and she had come from such an insignificant house that there was scarcely any maternal family worth mentioning.
That was why the Empress had not considered him much of a threat at first.
After all, how could a Second Prince with no proper faction ever threaten her son’s place?
But as time passed, Peltion’s exceptional ability revealed itself more and more, and the more it did, the more desperately the Empress itched to trample him down.
She had probably prepared something to crush him again today as well.
It was then.
The Crown Prince offered Peltion a glass of champagne.
“Have a drink.”
“Ah, thank—”
Peltion extended one hand to take the glass.
But then, suddenly, the Crown Prince’s brow twitched.
And instead of letting Peltion take it, he tipped the champagne over Peltion’s head.
“Oh my.”
“My goodness…”
The nobles all flinched and covered their mouths.
The Crown Prince sneered at Peltion, his face twisted.
“How dare you try to accept a glass I am giving you with one hand?”
“……”
For a moment, Peltion said nothing, his head bowed.
Champagne ran down through his hair and along his jaw.
The Crown Prince held out the empty glass to him once more.
His meaning was obvious, and Peltion had no right to refuse it.
“…Thank you, Brother.”
And so Peltion had no choice but to accept the empty glass with both hands.
Only then did the Crown Prince’s face relax. The Empress, too, looked on at the sight with open enjoyment.
A short sigh slipped out of Nox at this tedious farce.
He saw the corner of Peltion’s mouth tremble faintly.
The humiliation was probably a heavy blow.
But—
It isn’t time to bare your teeth yet.
Looking at him, Nox whispered inwardly.
Endure it. You have to endure it for now.
Satisfied once Peltion had taken the glass, the Empress and the Crown Prince smiled and said,
“Well then, I hope you enjoy the banquet to the fullest before you leave.”
It was a kind of order.
Even covered in champagne, he was not to leave the banquet hall.
Peltion could not answer, and the Crown Prince and the Empress turned away from him as though it made no difference. At once, the nobles swarmed toward the Empress and the Crown Prince.
There was not a single noble who paid any attention to Peltion, the powerless Second Prince.
When Nox saw the nobles crowding toward the Empress and the Crown Prince, he slowly began walking toward Peltion.
Then he held out a handkerchief to him.
“Are you all right?”
“……Ah, I’m fi—”
Peltion, who had been about to say that he was fine, fell silent the moment he saw Nox.
Nox Rainerio.
The strongest house supporting the Crown Prince.
That was probably what Peltion thought.
And Nox thought it was better if he did.
Because what he was about to do now would be cruel to him.
And it would test him.
“The Crown Prince was being cruel.”
“…Was he?”
The Second Prince’s voice lagged by a beat each time he spoke, as though the humiliation he had just suffered had struck him hard.
The moment Peltion and Nox began speaking, the eyes of the nobles—and of the Crown Prince and the Empress as well—gathered on the two of them.
Peltion looked at Nox as though wary of him.
Watching him, Nox tilted his head slightly.
“It seems my presence makes you uncomfortable.”
“…It doesn’t.”
“That is a relief, then.”
As he said that, Nox slowly lifted one hand.
Then he removed the ring from his finger.
People’s eyes followed the movement of his hand.
Nox paid no heed to those stares as he slipped the ring free.
And then he dropped it.