Chris stayed home to eat with us even after the prince returned to the academy. He’d apparently already gotten permission to eat at the castle before returning himself.
They had more freedom there than I’d expected. I’d thought that once you were in the dorms, you wouldn’t have much opportunity to leave.
“So you weren’t content enough with just Alan and me as your brothers? You needed to ask Andrew to become your brother too?” Chris asked, clearly unhappy.
“Given the way the conversation was going, it didn’t feel right for me to just shrink away from him.”
“Does it not bother you, Alan?” He rounded on our brother.
“You were the one who called him here,” Alan countered accusingly. “How else did you think the conversation was going to go?”
“I thought we could tell him directly that if they don’t want us to hold any more power, then they should stop trying to get close to Deir.”
“Chris, you’re just picking a fight at that point,” I said.
“Are they even capable of stripping us of our authority anymore?” Alan asked.
“Who knows?” Chris shrugged.
They were my brothers, but to put it bluntly, they were terrifying. Breakfast was the time for nice, peaceful conversation. Topics like this were bad for our digestion.
“We can only hold them off for one more year,” Chris continued.
“Hold them off?” I asked.
“More and more things are being added to your schedule for after you turn six.”
“What?! That’s literally next year.”
“You need to go to Noland, right? And Kolkett? And you have to go to the imperial palace as well.” Chris began counting things off on his fingers. “And then there’s the promise with Kohaku.”
Man, next year really was going to be busy. I was looking forward to it, though. I would get to meet a bunch of new people, right? And what if that meant meeting many wonderful people? Perhaps even someone I think is especially wonderful?
“The future of the empire hinges on what choices you make.”
“Don’t say things that’ll ruin my meal.” How was I supposed to know what I’d do until the actual time came? I just wanted to live peacefully with the people I loved. I wanted to live in harmony with the spirits too.
“The empire will be filled with people talking about you,” Chris said. “But you don’t need to worry. We’ll always be on your side.”
“We’ll deal with anyone who dares to make you sad,” Alan chimed in.
I was happy, but weren’t they the ones who would be changing the future of the empire at this rate? Could you both please not do anything too drastic? Let’s do this calmly and peacefully...
“I’ve heard that since nobody can defy us, some unhappy nobles have started harassing Counts Bliss and Edkins instead.”
“My, now who’s doing that?”
On the other hand, it’d be fine to kick those kinds of people right in the rear, wouldn’t it?