Damn you, father...
As usual, Arcrayne was swamped with office work pushed onto him by Sachis. He was currently choosing guests to be invited to a different event from the Summer Garden Party hosted by the king.
The earl-ranked House Poulett had had a change of headship the other day, and Viscount Stanley was supposed to be battling an illness at the moment.
Why hasn’t the register of names been updated since the last time? The king’s secretaries who prepared this must all be incompetent.
Inwardly hurling abuse at them, Arcrayne dipped his quill pen in the ink and added notes to the register. It was then that a shadow appeared over his office desk.
“Your Highness, may I have a moment of your time?”
Looking up, Arcrayne saw Claus standing in front of his desk with a document and a small velvet-covered box in his hands.
“Sure, but make it quick,” replied the prince.
“I have the results of the examination of that brooch Lady Estelle found the other day.”
“Well, that didn’t take long.”
It had only been two days since the cat had gotten into the exhibition room of the Libra Palace and run amok—and since Estelle had noticed that his mother’s cameo brooch displayed in the room emitted mana.
The brooch was unlikely to be anything strange since his mother had worn it, but Arcrayne had given it to the Royal Mana Engineering Research Institute to find out if it were mana-based or not. And if it were—what effect it had.
“It appears there was no need to examine it in the first place. The institute had made that brooch for Her Majesty Queen Miriallia on His Majesty’s orders,” said Claus, presenting Arcrayne with the document and the small box he was carrying.
The document was a report from the institute, while the box had the brooch in it.
“There is a trick to the bezel, which is what makes the brooch mana-based,” said Claus. “According to the report, this brooch automatically projects a mana barrier upon receiving a powerful impact, protecting its wearer. However, apparently it can only be used once, and will break and become useless once it fulfills its duty.”
“So it’s like a good-luck charm,” replied Arcrayne.
“Correct. I’ve been told they’re trying to make something that could be used more than once, but making it strong enough to be reusable leads to issues with durability, so they’re having trouble with it.”
“So that’s why mother often wore it...”
Opening the small box, Arcrayne gazed at the white rose cameo. He felt something bitter as he did.
The prince recalled the sight of his parents close together back when his mother had been alive. At the moment, however, Sachis cherished Truteliese so much one would think he had forgotten about Miriallia.
“Would it not be wise for you to wear it to avoid the sort of thing you recently went through?” asked Claus. He must’ve been referring to the time Arcrayne had been badly wounded at the Rainsworths’ mansion.
“I doubt that kind of affair will happen often, so if someone should wear it, it’s probably Estelle,” replied the prince.
She might be bothered if a piece of jewelry left to Arcrayne by his late mother with her initial on it broke upon fulfilling its duty, so perhaps it would be a good idea to remove the cameo and put something else in the bezel instead.
Sighing lightly, Arcrayne got up.
“Where are you headed?”
“I’ve lost my focus, so I’m going to take a break and tell Estelle about this while I’m at it.”
“Understood,” said Claus in a detached manner and returned to his seat.
✦ ✦ ✦
As Arcrayne got to the usual room adjoining his office, he found Estelle clinging to a window together with Leah.
“Lord Arc, come look! It’s here again!” exclaimed Estelle with a cheerful look on her face. She was pointing at a white cat that looked familiar.
The cat was asleep, curled up in a ball in a sunny spot in the garden.
Estelle had Neil guarding her today. As Arcrayne glanced at him, he averted his eyes, possibly feeling guilty about having fed the cat.
Checking the clock, the prince decided it wasn’t a problem to take a break for thirty minutes or so.
“How about we visit the garden?”
Estelle’s face lit up at Arcrayne’s suggestion.
Regrettably, Neil had snacks for the cat hidden on him—chicken meat dried as much as possible, apparently prepared by the cook. When he entered the garden with it in hand, the cat woke up, perhaps having caught the scent.
Slowly getting up and doing a wide stretch, it briskly walked to Neil. For a stray cat, it was chubby and its coat was in good condition—there was no doubt it had Neil and the cook to thank for that.
“It’s so cute...! Everything it does is simply adorable...!” uttered Estelle.
“I suppose so,” replied the prince.
Estelle wasn’t the only one who found the cat soothing to look at. Neil and Leah were all smiles at the sight of it too.
“Do you not like cats, Lord Arc...?” Estelle asked hesitantly. Perhaps she’d picked up on his faint sadness from his mana.
“I do agree that it’s cute.”
“But...” Estelle looked somewhat unsatisfied with his reply.
In order to prove he wasn’t lying, Arcrayne crouched and petted the cat after it walked over to him. The cat then looked up at the snack in Estelle’s hands, swayed its tail, and rubbed its head on Arcrayne. The smooth sensation of a cat’s fur felt pleasant.
When Estelle crouched, the cat slipped away from Arcrayne, put its forelegs on Estelle’s knees, and meowed.
“Looks like it wants a treat,” said Estelle. Giggling, she put a small piece of cut-up dried chicken on her palm and held it out.
The cat nimbly licked the chicken off her palm. It must’ve tasted really good, because once it was done eating, it started licking Estelle’s palm—maybe it smelled like chicken.
“Oh! Cats’ tongues are so coarse!” exclaimed Estelle joyfully. She gently patted the cat’s head with her free hand.
“If it’s gotten this deep into everyone’s hearts, it might be better to give it proper protection. Small animals might be targeted,” said Arcrayne, smiling to hide his bitter emotions.
Estelle looked worried when she saw him like that. She must’ve sensed his melancholy from his mana.
Arcrayne had once kept a dog here in the Libra Palace. He’d only just received this palace and had been seven or eight at the time. He’d happened upon a hound deemed unfit to be a hunting dog and taken it into his care.
He’d doted on it, but at the time, he had been unable to protect it. When he’d carelessly let it out into the garden...
Arcrayne directed his eyes to the garden’s gazebo. There was a yew sapling planted next to it. Yews had a long life span and were covered in green foliage all year long, which made them symbolize the immortality of the soul and its rebirth.
Those who’d been serving at the Libra Palace for a long time knew it was a grave marker.
I won’t make a mistake this time, the prince told himself, returning his gaze to Estelle whose attention was on the cat.