Special Story 5
Clatter.
“Shh!”
“Keep it down.”
Freyer swallowed a laugh at the sounds he heard. Taking advantage of the fact that he was focused on his work, two cute kittens had raided his office.
‘Should I pretend I don’t know?’
He hadn’t seen the children for several days due to his work. Perhaps he should let himself fall for their prank just this once.
Making his resolve moot, the silver kitten and the gold kitten were making quite a racket, looking ready to destroy every fixture in the room.
Clatter—
A gap appeared between the books as one was pushed out. Purple eyes twinkled in the darkness.
“Father seems incredibly focused!”
“I want to see too!”
Then, green eyes shone in the darkness. Freyer turned a page of his documents while focusing on the children’s voices.
“Wow! Royal Father is the coolest!”
“Me too, me too!”
“No! I’m going to watch more.”
“Let’s watch together! I want to see Father looking cool too!”
The sound of their squabbling brought a smile to Freyer’s lips.
“I have a good idea! We just need to pull out more books!”
“You’re smart!”
Soon, the sound of books sliding and falling was heard continuously.
‘They intend to ruin all the books. I can’t let this go on.’
Freyer tilted his head toward the floor and cleared his throat.
Ahem.
“Have cats entered the office? I suppose I must go catch them immediately.”
Freyer placed both hands on the desk and stood up. Just as he was about to approach the lined bookshelves—Crash!
The sound rang out again. When Freyer rushed over, two small figures were tumbling on the floor behind the bookshelf.
“Ouch…”
“…It hurts.”
The silver-haired boy had fallen on top of the blonde girl. The blonde child clutched her reddened nose, having bumped it on the floor, while the silver-haired child rubbed his reddened forehead.
“Rio, Lily.”
The two “kittens” were Freyer’s twin children. At Freyer’s call, Rio and Lily bloomed with smiles like flower buds.
“Hehe, we’re busted.”
“Royal Father! Good morning!”
Freyer helped the fallen Rio and Lily up and dusted off their clothes.
“I’ll do it myself!”
Rio dusted his own clothes, while Lily knelt to meet Freyer’s eye level, grinning as she asked,
“Did you know we were here?”
“You were so noisy, how could I not? Isn’t it time for your morning lessons?”
“The teacher said he caught a cold, so class was cancelled!”
“The Education Hall?”
The weather was approaching early summer with little temperature fluctuation. The news that he caught a cold—something even dogs don’t catch in summer—was suspicious.
“He’s the one who always told us health comes first, isn’t it strange!”
“Exactly!”
“Yes! So we came to see you, Father!”
“I am happy that you found the time to come see me, though.”
Thinking it was lucky to see the children after so long, Freyer put aside his suspicions and ruffled their hair.
Freyer’s fingers gently swept through the long blonde hair and the short silver hair.
Children who resembled Lilithia, the person he loved. Seeing his son and daughter, all the fatigue from staying up all night seemed to vanish.
“Father! What documents were you looking at today?”
“Go for a walk with us now! Rio and I found really pretty flowers in the garden yesterday! We want to show you too!”
Before he knew it, they each grabbed one of Freyer’s hands and started chattering. Thanks to these troublemakers, the corners of Freyer’s mouth lifted.
“I have a lot of work.”
“We know that, but… can’t you do the work later and play with us now?”
“Do you realize? Father, we haven’t met in three days.”
To children growing up with love, the absence of their father must have felt like an eternity. There was a vow he made to himself when the children were born.
‘I will make sure they are never lonely and always happy.’
He wanted to provide a foundation where there was no competition or strife, where they could grow on their own and run toward their dreams.
However, after sitting on the Emperor’s throne, he hadn’t been able to keep that promise.
But now, all the important matters were resolved, and there was nothing urgent…
“Right. There is nothing more precious to me than you two.”
At Freyer’s positive response, Rio and Lily grinned, but then, perhaps sensing danger instinctively at the sound of footsteps from afar, their bodies trembled.
Soon, the office door flew open, hitting the wall with a tremendous noise.
“I knew you’d be here! Rio, Lily! Get out here this instant!”
Lilithia appeared, frowning with anger. The children immediately hid behind Freyer.
“Royal Father!”
“Father!”
“You two!”
At Lilithia’s rising voice, Rio and Lily clutched Freyer’s robes tightly. Feeling the tug on his clothes, Freyer glanced down at the children.
“Greetings to Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Behind Lilithia, an old man with leaves stuck in his hair bowed respectfully to Freyer.
“Head of Education.”
“…The Highnesses ran away during class.”
The hardship of running around everywhere to find the children was evident.
Lilithia’s anger was justified. From behind him, he heard the desperate whispers of “Father…” The children’s eyes sparkled moistly, like Puss in Boots looking up.
“Won’t you come here quickly? Making the Head of Education suffer like that, you two!”
“Father, help us!”
“Mother seems really angry…”
“Lilithia. Calm down a bit.”
Freyer reached out to stop the approaching Lilithia.
“Move aside, Your Majesty!”
“Mother, calm down!”
“Even Father says so. Please cool your anger!”
Despite Freyer’s attempt to stop her, the furrow in Lilithia’s brow showed no sign of smoothing out. She strode over and unfolded a bundle of papers she was holding.
“Your Majesty! Are you going to shield the children even after seeing this? They wrote this and ran away from the royal etiquette class!”
The unfolded papers were titled ‘End of Month Evaluation.’ A laugh escaped Freyer’s lips as he took the evaluation sheet.
“I’m serious, Your Majesty!”
“Well, it’s impossible not to laugh after seeing this.”
It contained simple questions about court etiquette, structured for answers to be written in the blanks.
Since they were only six years old and he didn’t believe in coercive education, he had been lenient, but he hadn’t expected such an absurd answer.
[Describe the most perfect court etiquette: One cannot master etiquette just by writing! We will go find people in the palace and apply the appropriate etiquette to each of them! – P.S. ‘Do not look for us!’]
“You don’t know how much we ran around looking for the children. To think they were in Your Majesty’s office…”
Lilithia had misjudged, thinking the children naturally wouldn’t bother Freyer.
“I believe diverse experiences help children grow more than writing things down.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Lilithia.”
At Freyer’s call, Lilithia hurriedly looked around, took large steps toward him, and whispered.
“You must use proper titles when others are present!”
It was because of the Head of Education standing awkwardly behind them. Freyer placed his hand on Lilithia’s cheek, caressing it as he feigned ignorance.
“I called Lilithia, ‘Lilithia.’ I simply don’t understand what you mean.”
“I have a title too.”
“Hmm…”
Freyer tilted his head, knitting his brows as if he had no idea. Lilithia raised her arm to remove the hand touching her cheek.
“First, this hand…”
Freyer’s hand, which seemed to obediently leave Lilithia’s cheek, suddenly wrapped around her waist. A playful smile toward Lilithia blossomed on Freyer’s face.
“The Master of the Baimery Guild?”
“You know that’s not the title…”
Their noses were close enough to touch. Hiding her face, which had turned red like a rose, Lilithia spoke to Freyer.
When Lilithia entered the Imperial Palace, the name of the Baimery Guild spread widely. The title of a drapery shop led by the Crown Princess of the Empire attracted the attention of not only the imperial citizens but people across the continent.
Since Lilithia had led the revival of the Baimery Guild, Baron Percival had handed the position of Guild Master over to her.
The Baron was now devoting all his energy to magic stone mining and sales, and was currently supplying magic stones to the Imperial Palace as well.
“Guild Master!”
“Mother is the Guild Master!”
Rio and Lily, who were hiding behind Freyer, poked their heads out and added their comments. It was like pouring water into boiling oil.
“I can’t think of any other title. Was there another one?”
At Freyer’s question, Rio and Lily grinned and hopped out to the side.
“There isn’t!”
“She is our Royal Mother!”
It was the image of a bickering but happy family.
“Before that, please let go of this. Your Majesty.”
Lilithia gestured with her eyes to the hand wrapped around her waist.
“I don’t want to.”
“The Head of Education is watching…! I told you. Such behavior is not good when others are present.”
“Lilithia. Don’t you think you’re restricting me too much since entering the Imperial Palace?”
“That is the etiquette and law of the Imperial Palace.”
“Who makes those laws?”
“…….”
The answer was set. Naturally, the one who established the etiquette and laws of the Imperial Palace was the Emperor.
“You must answer for me to know, Lilithia.”
“His Majesty the Emperor…”
“Who is that Emperor?”
“…….”
Lilithia, who had been opening and closing her mouth, closed her eyes at his intense gaze and cried out.
“Freyer… Your Majesty.”
“I never made such a law, Lilithia.”
“This is just natural…”
Freyer smiled faintly and kissed Lilithia on the lips.
Smooch—
Along with the sound, it happened in an instant, before Lilithia even had a chance to object.
“I’m going to kiss you too!”
“Me first!!”
The Head of Education, having witnessed the private life of a family full of love, quickly turned around and stepped out of the office.
“Mother is mine!”
“Lilithia is mine, you troublemakers.”
“Father!”
“Stop it!”
Beyond the closed door, the sounds of a happy family bickering rang out, filling the air.
[End of Story]
That’s the end folks! Did anyone else think this was both too long and too quick at the same time? Strange. Anyway as cute as the two were, I’m very glad to have finished this considering how much secondhand embarrassment Lilithia gave me. This was perhaps as much as Vivian from When a Recluse Lady’s Pretense is Exposed. Anyway. I’ll see you guys in the next book! Thanks for reading!
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