Once he was clear of Rosemarie’s bedroom, Claudio placed a hand wearily on his forehead and drew a long sigh.
“Never would’ve imagined Your Highness to speak to such great lengths. Weren’t you supposed to be playing the role of the kind husband?”
He heard the voice of Fritz, who had exited before him. And when he looked in the direction of the voice, he saw the clergyman grinning broadly, with the handle of the broom from their previous experiment balanced on his forehead.
“You think that I can play the part as a kind husband when I’m dealing with someone who is nothing more than a living mana vault? Preposterous,” he nonchalantly replied, proceeding to walk down the hallway.
“All that aside, who or what was on the roof?” Not even Fritz was devoid of enough common sense to go barging into a married couple’s bedroom without adequate reason.
Fritz threw the broom over his shoulder and followed along, humming like he was in thought.
“A spy, I’m thinking. I was able to nab them, so they weren’t a trained assassin.”
“Granted, you get assassins foolish enough to get caught by you every once in a while. So, what happened to said spy?”
“I turned them in to Alto and he hauled them away.”
“Ahh. That’s why you came back.” That explained why his knight aide was absent from his post outside the door. Fritz must have handed the captive off to his aide, then returned to the roof. There was no guarantee that the spy came alone. He had come back to keep guard just to be extra sure.
“I swear, those people never learn.”
“They will probably stop at nothing to figure out my weakness.” He sighed, murmuring his annoyance under his breath.
For a long time now, there had been some desperate to remove him from his position as Crown Prince of Baltzar. There was no indication of what they disliked about him, but they were persistent.
“They try to kill me from both outdoors and in, but I’m not taking my leave from this world so soon. I have this life of mine because of my parents and so many other people who have rallied to save it. I will not be killed without accomplishing anything.” From within, the Seed of Mana-Sealing; from without, the warped desires of humans. His life was at stake on two fronts, but he was in no way prepared to give it up without a fight.
“Standing strong as usual, I see, Your Highness. That is the quality that makes me want to lend you my help.” Fritz patted Claudio on the shoulder with a wry smile. “Well, seems we’ll manage this Seed of Mana-Sealing. I’ve collected intel at several different evening galas, but I never would have expected that the shut-in princess was the one who had your mana. Though, given her circumstances, I can see why she can’t be brought outside. If her fear back there was any indication, it’s going to be rough moving forward.”
“You’ve got that right. I’ve lost count of how many times she’s gotten under my skin.” Suddenly, Rosemarie’s pleased-looking expression from the wedding popped into his mind. Even though something had been threatening his life back then, her overly carefree, aloof attitude had disgusted him. It took all he could to suppress his rage. The same went for the three months prior, as he treated her with care leading up to their wedding day. The experience had practically been torture.
“Oh, our boy Alto’s made his way back, so I’ll mosey. I’ll keep trying to gather that information you asked for.” At the sight of a knight approaching them, Fritz waved good-bye and made his exit through the nearby window.
Claudio didn’t stop to see him off as he faded into the shade of night, and instead continued walking to meet up with his knight.