Our country had been closed off to the world for so many years. We had harbors, but they housed nothing but fishing vessels. Lance, Yohan, and I had never set foot on a ship before.
At my excited admission, Lance replied softly, “Me too.” He once told me he’d always yearned to go out to sea after reading about it in books long ago. Now he finally had a chance to make that dream a reality.
“I hear Prince Leon captains the ship himself,” I went on. “I hope he’ll teach me some basics.”
“Then ask him. Just make sure you’re not rude about it.”
I returned to the pile of paperwork before me. “Obviously.”
Even I had read about maritime voyages in books, but the accounts all took place in the past. Nothing could beat the real deal. I doubted Lance or Yohan would suffer from that ailment called “seasickness” either. Sailing couldn’t be that different from being in a carriage.
“I imagine we’ll reach Freesia six days before Tiara’s birthday, at the earliest,” I said. “It’ll give us a lot of time to speak with Pride and the others.”
Prince Leon had offered for us to stay with him for a while, but we declined due to the circumstances between Yohan and Anemone. Instead, we were granted five or six days to stay in the Freesian royal residence, depending on when we arrived. That would afford us plenty of time for meetings about the establishment of our international postal service.
“Let me remind you that just because we might get six days in Freesia, that doesn’t mean you’ll get to spend them all talking to Princess Tiara.”
I raised my head to find Lance smiling mischievously. “I know that!” I said with a huff, but he simply chuckled.
During our last visit, I’d finally managed to convince Tiara to accept me as a marriage candidate…yet the idea of getting engaged to me had apparently been horrible enough to make her cry.
Still, marrying me would give her a way to stay in Freesia as long as she wanted. If I could help unburden her of even the slightest bit of grief, I wouldn’t ask for anything in return. That just left the matter of who Princess Tiara actually loved. Perhaps there was another candidate outside of Prince Stale or Prince Leon. Or maybe there was no one she—
“Princess Tiara will be busy during her birthday party, so make sure you don’t bug her too much,” Lance said. “Princess Pride and Prince Stale wrote in their letters they were eager to see you, remember?”
Pride. I gulped, nervous at the mere thought of reuniting with the woman who was essentially a god in my eyes. But my joy surged past the anxiety. Pride had done so much for me, even after the defensive war. All this time, I’d been stuck on the receiving end of her mercy and goodwill, but I would finally get a chance to return the favor once I took on the role of postmaster general. I owe her everything. I’ll never be able to repay her.
If not for her, I would’ve lost every blessing I had in my life. I shivered just imagining her ditching me after I’d embarrassed myself and treated her so badly. My cheeks flamed as those scenes returned with perfect clarity. I tugged at the front of my shirt and took deep, calming breaths, but it was no use. The memories clawed their way into my brain and threatened to stop my heart.
I clutched my head in my hands, abandoning the documents before me, and Lance muttered, “Not again…”
“Pardon me. I couldn’t help myself. Your hair was simply too beautiful.”
“I have a feeling the three days I spend here will be very enjoyable.”
“I hate you!”
“What the hell do you know about any of it?!”
A yelp slipped from my lips as the memories sent me back to some of my worst moments. I’d trained myself to stay composed in front of Pride and Prince Stale these days, but at home, with no one but Lance, all I wanted was to slam my forehead on the desk. Steam might as well have been gushing out of my ears.
Once Lance finished changing, he came to my side to give my head a light smack. “Calm down, Cedric. Just be sure not to act like that once you’re the postmaster general.”
“I-I know that.”
I could control myself around other people, but my face was burning red with only him around. It would have been less painful to see portraits and descriptions of my own misdeeds instead of reliving these memories with perfect clarity.
I rubbed my head where Lance had hit me, and he set his hand on top of mine.
“Come, let’s get a move on,” he said. “We’ll need your help to finish up our work during the trip to Freesia.”
His encouragement convinced me to lift my head—but when I did, I found him grinning at me.
I offered him a smile of my own. “Right!”
Lance ruffled my hair in response. I let him go back to his desk, taking some documents to the sofa with me. He asked me about different countries as they came up in his work while I read through the batch of papers in my hands.
Tiara’s birthday was eleven days away. I could barely contain my excitement. How could I not be overjoyed to see the woman I loved making her societal debut? Queen Rosa would also use the occasion to formally announce the international postal service run by the United Hanazuo Kingdom and Freesia.
This time, I was going to stand next to Lance and Yohan with my head held high.