Volume 3 Chapter 8 (2/2)

「Your Highness, there’s something I would like to ask you. What were you trying to accomplish by pointing your blade at Filmina in broad daylight?」

The man’s voice was as cold as winter’s morning, chilling me to the bone. It was difficult to guess his emotions from his facial expressions alone, but his voice was clearly indicating that he was quite angry.

Any weak-willed person would have already break down under the weight of that ice-cold stare, but Klanven was as cheerful as ever. He crossed his arms on his chest, showing that he did not intend to back down.

「That’s simple, really. Don’t you think that as a Priest, it would be problematic if I had Shadows tailing me wherever I go? That could lead to needless anxieties and undermining of the Temple’s authority. This way was the best to prevent that from happening.」

…… I see, that was indeed quite the sound reasoning.

After all, Klanven was not only the current king’s brother but also the High Priest at the Temple. Even if he was targeted by assassins, placing him under an obvious surveillance like that would serve to undermine not only the Temple’s authority, but that of the royal family as well. I wanted to say that I understood how he must have felt, but that would be a lie on my side.

It was still disturbing that he pointed a knife at me with such ease, but as I said nothing to him about it, he just continued to smile.

Wait, what was that sound? It was quiet, but rather disturbing. When I tried to look at the man, I could see small sparks flying in the air all around him. His mana must have started to react with the magic in his surroundings as his emotions were growing out of control. As he opened his trembling lips, the cups began to crack and the tea was starting to boil!

「For such a stupid reason…… You used Filmina for such a stupid reason!」

「It may sound stupid to you, but for me it was a matter of the utmost importance. It had to be done, even if it meant bringing your wrath over my head.」

When Klanven said that, the cups and teapot were already on the verge of breaking.

And once they did, the pieces of porcelain flew all over the floor and the table, accompanied by the spilled tea. It was a good thing no one got hurt, since the pieces of porcelain were as sharp as razors.

Then one of the pieces flew towards Klanven and scratched his cheek. There was a thin red line on his white cheek, and soon enough a small trail of blood began to drip down his face.

There were several more pieces of shrapnel like that, but I stopped them with my own hand before they could reach him.

「Edi.」

As I called out his name, the man stopped glaring at Klanven and his eyes eased up. I kept my hand held up to shield Klanven as I continue.

「Edi, stop it.」

「But……」

「It’s fine, really.」

Even though I said that it was fine, I could see it in his eyes that he thought otherwise. As usual, the cold beauty of his stare was simply captivating.

「It’s alright, Edi. That’s already water under the bridge. You were there to help me, and that’s the only thing that matters.」

What followed was another period of awkward silence. No one was saying anything, but the atmosphere grew a little bit warmer. Seeing Edi step down, Klanven laughed in a merry way.

「See, Filmina truly is a force to be reckoned with!」

「Would you kindly keep quiet, Your Highness?」

His words were just like adding fuel to the fire, and making that man stand down was already hard enough as it was. However, I wonder why he was looking at us like that? As if someone was protecting Klanven from his wrath. Oh, wait. I did just that a moment ago.

「I’m angry not because you were trying to hurt me, but about the fact that you could have hurt someone else by accident.」

And here I was, trying to convince someone that Klanven was harmless, when in actuality he could have hurt me pretty badly at that time. But no matter how much that man overreacts, it will eventually come to hurt him more than it will hurt anyone else. And knowing him, he would surely result to violence rather fast. I didn’t want to see him suffer because of something like that.

「Say, Edi. If you want to be angry with someone, then be angry with me.」

「……」

The man didn’t answer to that. He didn’t have to. Instead, the shattered cups and spilled tea began to fly in the air once more, but this time backwards, as if someone was reversing a film. That was the best answer there could be. Soon, the whole tea set was brought back to how it used to be.

「Hee. What a handy ability to have.」

I let out a sigh of relief and calmed down, while Klanven said another unnecessary thing while giggling and wiping the blood dripping down his face with his hand. Then he recited a short prayer and the wound was no longer to be seen.

He smiled gently towards the man, who was still about ready to glare daggers at him.

「You have committed a bunch of unpleasantries while I was Edilka Vince. I demand some time with Filmina tonight as compensation.」

Klanven said nothing to that, instead he began to slam his fists onto the table, laughing like mad, but then he eventually approved the idea.

And just like that, tonight’s unscheduled tea time came to an end.

***

If two adults wanted to get into one bed for the night, their bodies needed to be dangerously close to each other. I changed into my night clothes and entered the bed in my chamber together with that man, but thanks to my overwhelming anxiety and shame, I was unable to either move or fall asleep. That man’s arm was enclosing my body and was only making things even harder.

His glossy black hair was in my hand’s reach, I wanted to try to touch it, if only for a short moment.

「…… Can’t sleep?」

「Oh my. What about you, Edi? Can’t fall asleep as well?」

I thought he was asleep, since his eyes were closed shut. I could see myself being reflected in those eyes. I asked him that while stroking his hair gently, which was calming me down.

「It’s been such a long time since you last touched me as “Agedilus”.」

I say “Maybe so”, and then I can feel that man hugging me more tightly, making my hand entangled in his hair even more.

「…… You might get angry with me again.」

「Why is that?」

「Edilka Vince. I personally think that his looks and attitude is not so bad after all.」

「Oh my, and why is that?」

It was strange for him to admit something like that, especially since he was quite frank from the very beginning that he wasn’t especially fond of having to play a role like that. Not to mention that Edilka Vince was way more popular than his normal self. What may have caused such a change of his mind?

Seeing me confused like that, there was a slight smile on the man’s lips.

「If I was Edilka, surely you would be able to walk outside with me in a more relaxed manner?」

「–––– My, oh my.」

Was he really still worried about that? It seems that Agedilus Von Lancent was still quite not over the fact that Edilka Vince was more popular. And I could see it in his eyes that he wasn’t joking when he said that. It must have actually hurt his pride that Edilka Vince was so popular with the people. And not only other people, but he thought that I was actually fonder of Edilka over him. –––– I had no idea that he was really that concerned about my opinion of him. It was actually pretty cute of him to act like that. I know that I don’t really have time to think about things like that, but I couldn’t help it but to think just how cute he was. I knew that my tomorrow duties may suffer as a result of that, but I really didn’t care at this point in time.

He must have figured out what I was thinking, for he stared at me with his cheeks stained slightly red.

When I giggled in his arms he hugged me even tighter and pressed me against his chest.

「Let’s go to sleep soon.」

I was still giggling for a while, seeing how ashamed he was because of that, but soon enough his body warmth made my eyelids heavy and I drifted to sleep not long after that.