Chapter 108
Translator: wuttisyun
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ I placed the quill down and grabbed his finger. He did seem to be holding back his strength these days but perhaps he got lazy this time round.
“Brother, stop it. You’re bothering me.”
Fleon tried everything he could to interrupt me as I wrote. I could not stand it anymore and stared at him.
“Why do you keep interrupting me?”
“You know, you’ve been working so hard at preparing your dance and what not but you’re not really interested in what’s really important, are you?”
“Something… Important? What will that be?”
“I’m talking about your patronus. All the bad ones are the ones who ask early. Didn’t you know? You’re rejecting everybody right now! When you don’t even know who might end up as your patronus!”
“Ah. Was that the problem? If it doesn’t work out, don’t worry, I already have someone in mind.”
“Who can that be? Don’t tell me, the duke…!”
“Granius.”
“Are you crazy?!”
We were talking about my patronus here. Who was he to make such a fuss about my patronus?
His reaction was more explosive than I thought it would be.
“What’s wrong with Granius? I like his beard. It’s cool.”
I rested my chin on my hands before teasing my older brother in earnest. I was only being mean because Fleon kept interrupting me while I was writing my rejection letters.
“You’re crazy. This brat must have gone mad! Hey, Dane. Say something. Does the aediles make any sense? Do you know how old he is? Or is he the problem? That old man and… my chick? Damn. This isn’t it. I’m calling those Templars of Vulcanus now.”
“Brother, calm down. Why are you calling for templars?”
“It’s an all out war!”
No one in the room was taking Fleon’s nonsense seriously.
“So what are you going to do? Are you heading to the colosseum?”
“That’s right!”
The colosseum was a place where templars would scuffle to settle their disputes but there was no way it would open for such a ridiculous reason.
“It sounds like an all out war will be starting. Don’t stop me and get out of the way.”
He then rubbed his hands as if he was about to chase down a mountain beast.
“Interrupt me one more time and I’ll pour all this ink down your cravat, brother.”
Dane lowered his head before knocking on the desk. Sir Ray had turned his head but his shoulders were clearly shaking. It looked like he could barely hold his laughter in.
Fortunately, that threat was enough for my overreacting brother to stop touching me as he grinded his teeth. He really acted like a big cat.
Frankly, I did not understand what was the problem with writing decline letters. Fleon seemed to think that writing replies to each one was an insignificant task..
‘One can only be as arrogant as him if they were as rich.’
I wanted them to know that I was a princess with no backing.
In the end, I managed to place the quill down without Fleon’s interruptions.
“Don’t pay too much attention to older brother’s words, Ashley.”
Grinning, Dane removed the parchment from my hands before stroking my head.
“It’ll only be a loss for you if you continue to listen to what he says.”
When I raised my gaze to stare at him, his beautifully curving eyes gazed back. His handsome smile was a treasure that could not be changed even if I was given hundreds of millions of dollars. I met his meticulous gaze.
This was the first time in a while that the three of us had gathered like this. These days, Danes, Fleon and Lord Ray who had been following Dane around were too busy so we barely got together.
“By the way, weren’t we all busy? Ah. Other than Fleon.”
“I’m not busy.”
Dane smiled gently before bringing my lightly clenched fist to his lips.
“Lies. Those scrolls are all yours.”
The scrolls scattered about the parlour all belonged to Dane. That was because Dane was currently working in the 2nd Administration, the busiest out of all the administrations.
On the other hand, Fleon had been sent to the 6th Administration, the Solecurator palace. I heard that work there was relatively simple since it was almost an affiliated organisation of the 2nd Administration.
If a prince was busy, that meant he had no power.
Just think about it. Who would make a decent prince do menial chores? In fact, it was normal to be as relaxed as Fleon.
‘Considering his personality, he must have threatened officials who were commoners.’
As I expected, this world was a place where people who were sweet and had good personalities only lost money.
I picked up one of the scrolls.
‘It‘s written in ancient language, isn’t it?”
I had heard that confidential documents were written in ancient language but this was the first time I saw one.
The scroll left my hands. In the space the scroll disappeared from, Dane’s smiling face appeared.
“I’ll help.”
Dane shook his head as he placed his finger on my hand to prevent it from moving. With our fingers intertwined, he whispered softly.
“To make it fair, I won’t look at it. So you shouldn’t either.” (1)
“Lies. It says here that you have to finish it by today. You think I wouldn’t know that much?”
Dane shook his head before hiding the scroll behind him.
“There’s nothing more important than you.”
Just as his lips were red, my heart was beating. As I stared at him while slightly furrowing my eyebrows, he smiled softly before loosening our intertwined hands. I then closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, the face that had disappeared in the darkness reappeared as warm and pretty as ever.
“Alright. I get it so don’t look at me like that. I won’t touch it anymore.”
I raised my white flag. For some reason, as years went by, the way he took people’s breath away was getting better and better. I understood why maids and young ladies were getting increasingly shaken by him.
“But I was just looking though.”
“What I mean is that when you look at me like that sometimes, I get strange thoughts.”
Who was the person blessed enough to snatch my brother away? Actually, Dane had been receiving courtship letters since a long time ago. He was friendly, thoughtful, good at his work and handsome. If Dane was to say ‘I won’t get a drop of water land on your hand’, there were girls who would willingly shout ‘I won’t let you touch water for the rest of your life!’
He was dressed in traditional Imperial attire today as well. His thin tunic that was exposing his skin gave him a reverent aura, like that of a young god in myths. I slowly scanned him before stopping at a particular place. I spotted a trinket I had never seen before.
“A necklace?”
“Ah. Yeah. This should your first time seeing this.”
Dane tapped on the necklace before saying.
“This was a gift from my maternal family.”
“Is that wheel?”
“Yeah. When boys come of age, they receive wheel-shaped ornaments.”
For a moment, his pretty eyes seemed to dim with a dark red glow. I wanted to assure him that he did not need to explain further but he shook his head.
“A long time ago, we were nomads. To us, this wheel represented fate.”
I blinked before touching the wheel. The gold wheels were thick and elaborately detailed and I could see small letters inscribed on it.
“… It’s called the [Wheel of Rom], after our family.”
I wondered why. Throughout his explanations, I could sense him feeling uncomfortable and exuding a slight gloom.
Before he could explain any further, Fleon interrupted.
“Hey. So who are you going with? Isn’t that enough of such talk?”
He uttered wickedly.
“Just tell me. I’m dying of frustration.”
When I looked back at Dane, the atmosphere I noticed around him earlier had disappeared. I alternated my gaze between the two brothers.
“Well, I’m still in the midst of considering.”
“Why are you even considering him!”
“Then do you want to accompany me?”
“You’ve gone mad?”
“Look at yourself. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you should force me to think the same.”
If we were to perform that passionate dance together, we could be the first in the Empire’s history where the patronus would display suich unnatural lifts and landings.
Or perhaps I could see Fleon collapse on the ground panting.
“Aren’t you being too much?”
“You’re right. What about him, Ashley?”
Dane had a playful smile on his face.
“Then, would you like to accompany me, Dane?”
Grinning, Dane lifted my hand before kissing the back of my hand.
“La Che Suerar.”
That was something one would only say when they agreed to be someone’s patronus. In our ancient language, it meant ‘Your one night is mine’.
“How long till we’re ready?”
“… Don’t react so seriously to my jokes.”
Dane then lowered his head before bursting into laughter. As he continued to let out the pleasant sound, he let go of my hand.
“And Dane’s not possible.Once he’s dolled up, I’m sure he’ll become prettier than me.”
“In my eyes, you’re prettier.”
“… Thank you for saying that but people won’t think so.”
I wondered if even half of his gentleness could be transferred to the other older brother I had. I was slightly worried that my other brother’s love life would be forever ruined.
There were countless people in the world and amidst the tens of thousands of different tastes, would there not be a good enough girl who would come to love Fleon? However,
‘What sin did that girl commit?’
I felt so sorry for her.
“Anyway, Dane, I hope you don’t laugh like that anywhere else.”
“I’m already doing that.”
“Lies. I saw you at the symposium.”
“Symposium?”
“Yeah.”
With a calm expression, I nodded my head. In the midst of the heat, his smile bloomed like a rose amongst all the women. It looked nothing short of a sultan’s harem.
Well, if he were to smile and whisper like that, who could resist?
Blinking, Dane then widened his eyes. Soon after, his eyes came sneakily close.
“I smile like this.”
He then kissed the back of my hand.
“And whisper like this only to you.”
Then, his gaze fell slowly. His silhouette remained in my eyes for a long long time.
“Brother and I both don’t have a patronus.”
Before looking back at me as if to tell me a secret.
“Ray too.”
“Lord Ray? I can tell he’s not popular.”
“Right? He doesn’t know any ladies?”
“Oh dear. Why don’t you introduce him to some? If not, perhaps Lord Ray is a… eunuch…”
“I can hear everything.”
The knight who had been leaning against the wall wordlessly till now spoke bluntly. Dane and I exchanged glances before laughing at the same time.
When it turned night, Fleon and Dane returned to their own palaces as I was left alone in mine.
“… Only a few minutes away.”
Steam rose from my teacup. I leaned against the windowsill and looked up at the sky. It looked like stars were poured into the night sky.
After waiting till midnight, I opened my diary.
“Is it finally restored?”
After meeting Castor that day, the diary had stopped foretelling the future as if it had broken down. It could be perfectly described to be ‘out of order’. The place at which Castor had touched had blackened.
I had worried over what I should do but the diary gradually restored itself as time went by. Even if I was curious as to how this diary had the ability to repair itself, I could get no answers from this indifferent diary.
When the clock struck 12, the diary emitted a faint light. I flipped it open to read my new future.
‘Let’s see.’
Flutter.
It flipped open as usual. However, just when I thought there were only one or two entries, more and more pages began to fill until I realised that we were already passing the 30th entry. I widened my mouth.
“… What’s going on? There’s too… many!”
Was it trying to show my longevity? There were too many!
I quickly turned the book over and opened it to the last page. It was going to write about how I died in the end anyways.
‘It’s more important to know how I died anyways.’
I swallowed my saliva.
Soon after, the diary fell onto my bed.
My smile that had been growing bigger little by little bloomed into an astonished expression by the end.
“I-impossible…”
I thought nothing could surprise me anymore after these two years. But this change was shocking.
Ignoring the unwritten rules it had been following so far, my future for the next two months were written before me.
[The 17th day of the month of Venus
(Omitted)
The desert princess and my first brother held their engagement ceremony today.
That night. Instead of inviting me to the Crown Prince’s palace, the prospective Crown Princess came looking for me. She said.
“I-I didn’t want to, eup. I’m sorry. I’m willing to do anything that person wants me to do.”
If I wanted to resent her, I should resent how tragic her love was. The lady in front of me cried so pitifully, I stopped myself from calling out to Hannah.
I should not have done that.
Because when I realised my mistake, a sharp piece of metal was already rushing towards me.
In the end, I was stabbed to death in the hands of Her Highness.]
“… What’s.”
This.
T/N:
(1): He’s saying he wouldn’t work so in exchange, Ashley should stop writing those letters.
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