Left alone in the throne room, Klifford looked up at the king sitting on the throne. He was ordered to stay behind by King Enoch himself.
Octavia had commanded him to “Come right back to me once you’ve finished speaking with Father. I’ll be waiting right here.”
That’s why he sensed a presence just outside the throne room. It was hers and a guard’s. She ought to be safe for the time being…
“What are you playing at?” the king snapped, his tone filled with irritation.
“What do you mean?”
“Ongarne, I’m speaking to you.”
He hadn’t heard that title in a long time. Perhaps he had gotten accustomed to the way Octavia called him Klifford over the past couple of weeks. It even made him feel strange, being called by another name.
“Well, we can’t just call you the Emissary of Ongarne… You’ll need a name.”
Strange, since the name Klifford was only given to him when Count Alderton adopted him.
What used to feel like a borrowed item, he now recognized as his name.
It probably began…the first time Octavia called him Klifford as his Sovereign.
“I find it hard to believe you are Octavia’s lover.”
“What led you to this doubt, Your Majesty? I showed you proof.”
A kiss…
That was meant to test him, not Octavia. If Klifford were the sort of person the king imagined him to be, he would not be able to go through with it. And indeed, the king was not wrong.
However, that was not applicable to him. It was as simple as that.
“Indeed, you did.” The king continued, “Perhaps one of my estimations was off. However, I said it then and I’ll say it again: You are not capable of loving another human being. What does Octavia think of this?”
Klifford answered, “I said it before, and I will say it again: It is exactly as Princess Octavia said during the presentation.”
“Hah!” the king scoffed. “I’m sure both you and Octavia have your own agenda. Unless they’ve converged?”
“You yourself blessed our relationship, Your Majesty.”
After a pause, the king said, “That I did.”
The king probably knew he was there and pretended not to notice. The man hiding behind the curtains in the throne room made himself visible. Klifford bowed.
With a soft tap of footsteps, Edgar, the king consort, stood before the throne beside his husband. “Are you going to rescind your blessing, then?”
“……”
Silence.
“You won’t do it… Can’t do it, rather. Isn’t that right? So if the relationship is to be overturned, it will have to be done by Octavia or Alderton.”
Stern lines appeared on the king’s face…then vanished.
“Come now, it’s obvious just by looking at them. They are attracted to each other, by every measure of the word. Even if they aren’t lovers now, it’s only a matter of time.”
By her command, Klifford played the part of Octavia’s lover. Kissing her was part of the command, nothing more, and yet Edgar’s words were strangely filled with conviction.
This realization made Klifford feel a little uncomfortable.
“Edgar, you only say that because you know nothing,” the king said.
“I don’t have to know anything; my merchant’s senses are keen as ever.”
As the two bickered, they looked a far cry from a king and his husband. The king consort turned to Klifford and said, “Alderton, you may go now. Go back to Octavia. I need to speak with Enoch.”
“Aye…” With a proper bow, Klifford turned on his heel.
“But, Alderton, I suggest you have a little more self-awareness,” a voice advised behind him. “Ask yourself why you were angry when I caressed Octavia’s hair.”
Why was I angry?
To be sure, he did feel uncomfortable whenever anyone else touched Octavia. It was the same at the side gate, and the feeling was getting stronger. But wasn’t that only because Octavia was his Sovereign, and he cherished her the same way he would a weapon?
Self-awareness…of what?
He kept walking, not turning back, and opened the door to leave the throne room.
Octavia was waiting for him. Blackfeather was open in front of her face and her eyes were sparkling. Feeling a smile form on his lips, the same doubt shot into his mind again.
The king’s reading of Klifford was off the mark.
But that still didn’t explain it. Why did he kiss Octavia?
He acted as her fake lover because she had commanded it, but wouldn’t a fake kiss have sufficed? It would have been easy enough to make it look convincing.
To begin with, his former self could not have even thought of it. Being close to another person produced nothing but discomfort.
His eyes fell to Octavia’s left hand. He often caught himself looking at it.
Her injury…
“Klifford?”
He was holding her left hand. The wound she had sustained in the Sky Chamber had not yet healed. It was still wrapped in a bandage and hidden by her glove.
Why won’t it heal faster?
It was his dagger that had hurt her. That was probably why it weighed on his conscience. Was it because the same dagger he had made his first kill with…hurt her?
Octavia did not resist his touch, which made another indescribable feeling well up inside of him.
“Did my father say something disagreeable to you again?”
“No. The king consort came to my aid.”
“Lord Edgar did?”
“Yes.”
“I just assumed Father would try to rescind his blessing…” Octavia shook the quizzical look off her face and continued, “Then we still have his blessing to be lovers?”
“Yes. As long as you or I don’t rescind it.”
“Then we have no problems there,” Octavia smiled.
He reached out to touch her cheek, then stopped himself.
“Hmm? Something wrong?”
Klifford shook his head. “No, Your Highness.”
This was not like the time when she was asleep in the carriage.
The urge to caress Octavia’s hair… It had become a strange new compulsion of his.
—Fin.