“You’re not the one who has to carry the can, young’un,” Celestine reassured her. “Don’t apologize for people you don’t even know.”
“E-Exactly!” Liffey chimed in. “It’s totally this old fogey’s fault for not having his wits about him in the first place!”
“Fwghh—!”
Just as Celestine gulped down the last dredges of his glass of water, Liffey slapped him on the back—hard. A spritz of water came rushing out of his lips.
“Ghhh…” he groaned. “I’m not particularly bothered about it, ya know? They’ll get their comeuppance.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Who knows?” he grinned. “That aside, we’re overwhelmed with guests today,” he commented, nodding towards an amber-colored pillar of light.
Once the intense gleam subsided, a man with swept-back, ashen hair was left behind, along with a few bodyguards. His dignified appearance commanded a heavy atmosphere upon the workshop that wasn’t there a few moments ago.
“Oh?” the man said, immediately noticing Marialite and giving her a gentle smile. “Might you be…the Jade Saint, Marialite?”
He moved to take her hand, but Sirius swiftly thrust his body between them.
“Brother, I ask that you don’t touch my fiancée so thoughtlessly. At least ask beforehand,” he said with a frown.
“S-Sorry, Sirius. I forgot myself. I was just thrilled to be in a saint’s presence…” the ashen-haired man replied, awkwardly taking a few steps back. Meanwhile, Marialite was looking him over from head to toe.
“Are you one of Lord Sirius’ brothers?” she asked.
“Indeed, my name’s Leonis. Sirius might have taken away my right to the throne, but I’m actually older than him.” He spoke softly, but there was a hint of spite to his words.
Even so, Sirius didn’t react—not with anger nor with sorrow. His expression was completely calm and showed no trace of the panic he underwent only a few minutes before, when he was nearly strangled to death by his own fiancée.
“What is your business with Celestine, Brother?” he asked plainly.
“I was wondering if I could ask him to make a device that can be used to keep divine beasts in check,” he smiled.
“And why would you need something like that?” Sirius deadpanned.
“No, no—it’s nothing suspicious,” he insisted. “I’m taking care of some injured divine beasts until their wounds heal. However, they keep struggling and trying to get away. It makes feeding them and treating their wounds rather troublesome,” he shrugged with a sigh.
As Marialite watched on from behind Sirius, she tried to think back to what she’d learned about divine beasts.
Like saints, divine beasts received their holy powers from the gods. They were a native species to Celaeno, and due to their dwindling numbers, people were banned from capturing them or keeping them. However, for that same reason, there was a rampant poaching problem.
Monsters were another race that existed within Celaeno, but although they were able to command magic in the same way as demons, many were ferocious beings. A demon’s eyes could determine divine beasts from regular monsters quite easily, just by seeing whether they possessed holy energy or magic. That was how they told the difference between them.
“It’s a large number of beasts, Sir Celestine,” Leonis implored him. “I could really use your assistance.”
“I don’t fancy it.”
It was an immediate rejection. Celestine sat back down in his chair and fished a large piece of hard candy out of his robe pocket before tossing it into his mouth and crunching down on it. Rather than Leonis, Liffey was the first one to take issue with his blasé attitude.
“Why not? You could help those divine beasts,” she reminded him.
“I know there’s nothing I can’t fashion, but what exactly do you hope to achieve by restraining those beasts? You’ll cause ’em stress, nothing more,” he grumbled.
“But they won’t listen to me,” Leonis interjected. “Poachers were the ones who hurt them, so now they think all people are out to get them.”
“So what if they won’t listen? Ya going to force ’em to? I don’t reckon they care a hoot about whatever the devil you want,” Celestine cackled. Leonis was less than impressed.
“It’s not like I want to add to their level of stress! But, sometimes, there are things you just have to do. Not that a stubborn old fool like you would understand that.”
“Stubbornness is a virtue, don’t you think? If you’re all soft like a piece of fudge, you’ll only wind up getting used,” Celestine quipped.
“I will take my leave!” Leonis barked, walking back to where his bodyguards stood behind him. The pillar of light appeared once again, then he was gone.
Silence filled the room. Sirius looked at Celestine inquisitively.
“That was strangely argumentative of you,” he said in surprise.
“Ah, I hate the stench’a beasts—and he stank. I was prompting him to leave the room at the earliest opportunity,” he said, wrinkling his nose.
“I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason to turn down a prince’s request,” Liffey sighed, feeling around in Celestine’s robe pocket for another piece of candy.
“Are you okay, Lady Marialite?” Sirius asked, realizing how silent she’d been. She flinched, suddenly brought back to reality.
“Sorry,” she said, shaking herself. “I was just thinking about something.”
“Is it about my brother?”
“Yes, but…how should I put this?” she hummed. “I got a strange feeling from him.”
For a moment—just a moment—she thought she saw a black, hazy mist clinging to his body. She pursed her lips in confusion, while Sirius studied her silently for a few seconds before deciding to open his mouth.
“My brother is very passionate about his conservation efforts. He has always harbored a great love for monsters and beasts,” he explained.
“I think that’s very admirable,” she smiled.
“As do I. Thanks to him, plenty of divine beasts have been saved,” he said softly, a certain melancholy to his tone.
“Lord Sirius…?”
“Yes?”
“It just felt like you were acting kind of different from usual…” she mused. She couldn’t explain exactly what was different, but she got the impression he was hiding something—and she was trying to figure out what that something was. Sirius chuckled lightly.
“I have nothing to hide from you, my love.”
“Oh, no—hide anything you like. I don’t mind,” she assured him.
“You don’t?” he blinked.
“Everyone has something they want to keep to themselves,” she nodded. Besides, Sirius was a good-hearted man; he would never hide something at the expense of others’ feelings. She believed that.
In fact, that was exactly why she suspected he was hiding something.
“Are you hiding something that you think would worry me?” she theorized.
“Of course not. There’s nothing at all that you should be worrying about,” he said gently, clearing his throat. “Let’s leave it at that.”