Special Story 9

“Did Teiro and Lyven really do that?”

Enria let out a small laugh as she took the teacup Caldeon offered, hearing the story of how the two boys had bickered over who would marry Heiji.

“I’m telling you. Their fathers were already marking Heiji as their future daughter-in-law, too.”

Caldeon, who found the whole idea absurdly presumptuous, stared intently at Enria as her laughter grew a bit louder at his grumbling.

“You’ve grown quite thin, wife.”

His voice was low and filled with concern as he tenderly cupped Enria’s cheek. Enria let out a soft sigh and shook her head.

“You’re being too sensitive. I’m perfectly healthy now.”

“Healthy? Where? You haven’t even returned to your normal appetite yet.”

“That’s just because my stomach shrunk a bit after being sick for so long…”

“Which is why my lady still needs to rest. For the time being, all outsiders are banned from visiting again.”

Adding that Heiji was also getting tired because Tearen and Rahar kept bringing Teiro and Lyven along, Caldeon declared that he had no intention of giving away his eleven-year-old daughter to be some rascal’s wife. Enria smiled softly at him and agreed.

“Some nobles arrange engagements from childhood, but Heiji has no reason for that. I don’t want to set a partner for her yet either.”

“Right. We can let her marry very late.”

Caldeon nodded, noting that as the child who would eventually take over the affairs of the North in his stead, she would be busy enough preparing for that. He even let out a bittersweet laugh, saying he’d honestly prefer if she didn’t marry at all.

“You can’t say that. She needs to meet someone she loves and live a happy life.”

Enria told him that the time she spent loving him was the happiest of her life, and she hoped Heiji would find a love just as profound. Caldeon nodded, admitting that was his wish as well.

“Selfishly, I don’t want to send her to anyone else, but for her happiness, she must find love. However, I won’t let her go unless the man loves her at least as much as I love you.”

“Word that carefully, dear. We aren’t ‘sending’ her; the other person is coming to her. Heiji is the one who must rule the North.”

Caldeon smiled proudly at Enria’s correction. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, letting her lean against him.

“In that sense, Hayden is more urgent than Heiji.”

“Hayden still doesn’t seem to have any interest in women.”

Enria thought back to the piles of love letters that had arrived at the Grand Duchy even before Hayden reached adulthood. Despite receiving letters from countless young ladies in the Empire, he never showed a spark of interest. Instead, he found them a nuisance and had the elderly Dale dispose of them.

“He’s still indifferent to romance, I suppose?”

“Well, what’s the rush? I think we’ve discussed this before—I wasn’t interested in that sort of thing at all until I met you.”

Caldeon remarked that since Hayden was his son, it was only natural for him to be cold toward others until he found his true love. Enria murmured that she hoped that was the case, watching the snow fall silently outside while leaning against his broad shoulder.

Snow was common in the North, but being in Caldeon’s arms made even the familiar sight feel like the most beautiful snow in the world.

A person who makes everything look beautiful just by being there.

Enria felt like the most blessed person in the world to have such a partner. There was Hayden, who was so special she had worried if he would adapt to this world; Heiji, who took after her father’s social awkwardness and cold demeanor but was still loved by many; and Caldeon, whose love for her hadn’t wavered a bit despite the years.

Enria felt as if it were all a dream—a happiness as wondrous and surprising as the day she first possessed this body long ago.

Hoping this happiness would last forever, she blinked slowly in his embrace. Misinterpreting her half-closed eyes as sleepiness, Caldeon spoke.

“If you fall asleep here, the cold you just got rid of will come back, Enria.”

At the shift from ‘My Lady’ or ‘Wife’ back to her name, the corners of Enria’s mouth curled up.

“I’m not sleepy; I’m just feeling mellow because this moment is so nice.”

“I like the time I spend with you best, too.”

“…Call me ‘Jagi‘ for the first time in a while.”

“Didn’t you tell me to stop calling you that because we’re getting older?”

“Right now, I want to hear it.”

At Enria’s playful, low request, Caldeon let out a small, rumbling laugh. He kissed the top of her head softly and whispered.

“I love you, Jagi.”

Enria looked up at him with a satisfied smile, a warmth spreading from deep within her chest.

***

“Then tell me the reason why you can’t.”

Princess Lirael spoke to Hayden with her arms crossed, her expression defiant. Hayden found her fair face, which he was forced to see at every major Imperial event, particularly grating today. The reason was likely her appearance; she looked as if she had spent several times more effort on her grooming than the already excessive makeup she wore for official ceremonies. It was an over-the-top look for someone who had come to complain about his refusal to send twenty magicians to the banquet.

Hayden stood up, looking displeased at the sight of the glittering Princess.

He turned a cold gaze toward his subordinate who had brought the Princess in and spoke.

“Is my office a place where outsiders can just enter as they please?”

“I am the Star of the Empire, so ‘as I please’ is hardly an appropriate term.”

Lirael cut in, taking a step toward Hayden just as he moved away from his desk toward the sofa.

“Then, what kind of tea should I serve the Star of the Empire?”

When Hayden gestured for her to sit, Lirael reflexively took a seat and answered.

“I’ll have whatever you usually drink.”

“Bring anything.”

Despite the dismissive ‘anything,’ Lirael stared blankly at the man sitting opposite her—a man with pitch-black hair and eyes who radiated a stoic, ascetic aura. It was rare to focus on the most handsome man in the Empire in such a private setting, and just meeting his mysterious black eyes was enough to make her expression turn ecstatic.

“So. Please continue what you were saying, Star of the Empire.”

When he added a dry joke about whether she had come for something other than just staring at his face, a blush instantly spread across Lirael’s pale cheeks. She didn’t seem to care that the joke was a mockery; she was simply thrilled that Hayden had joked with her at all.

“Just call me Lirael, like usual.”

“I don’t believe I have ever called the Princess by her name.”

“Other people do.”

“I don’t think that’s how the word ‘usual’ is used.”

“Whatever, just call me by my name. I’ll skip the stiff titles and call you Hayden, too.”

It was absurd to hear her offer this unwanted intimacy as if she were doing him a favor. However, he wasn’t entirely surprised, as he had dealt with her ridiculous personality since childhood at various banquets he was forced to attend. He remembered Heiji telling him that at the last coronation ball, the Princess had cornered her to complain that her brother was ‘rude’ simply because he hadn’t asked the Princess for a dance before leaving.

Even now, thinking of Heiji’s frustration back then made his head throb. Because of that incident, he viewed Heiji and the Princess as oil and water and had made sure to keep them apart.

‘I should have kept my own distance as well.’

Hayden swallowed a sigh and leaned back against the sofa. Lirael’s blatant gaze was piercing, but he was used to such looks wherever he went.

However, the fact that the Princess had personally visited the Magic Tower over the matter of inviting mages was both puzzling and annoying—especially since he knew exactly what kind of look she was giving him.

‘Well, looking at the Empire as a whole, there are few young ladies who don’t look at me that way.’

Though he was a part of God, he was born of a human body and was not ignorant of human emotions. In fact, he could read the goodwill directed toward him better than a normal human. At first, all the attention was bothersome and irritating, but he had eventually grown indifferent to it.

He was past the point of being moved by it.

That was why he felt nothing while looking at Lirael, who was blushing and trying to finalize what they would call each other instead of focusing on why she actually came. Of course, the fact that she had come in person despite numerous ways to communicate—like carrier pigeons or magic communication devices—was still tedious.

“Then, Hayden, from now on, we’ve agreed to call each other by name. Understood?”

This obsession with titles was the most annoying part of all.