As the young lady and prince strolled deep into the garden, I suddenly sensed a distortion in the atmosphere.
When I went to investigate, I found a greenhouse. The prince stood in front of it, looking utterly stunned. “She...disappeared?” he muttered. I didn’t understand what had happened, but Lady Robur was nowhere to be seen. Could she have vanished?
Although he was clearly confused, the prince briefly explained the situation and told me to search for Lady Robur. But I was too shaken by the fact that she’d vanished in the church to nod immediately.
“Miss Faltan, the secrets of roses lurk and deepen, especially in shadows and deserted places,” Prince Regulus added. “In darkness, secrets from ancient times...bloom.”
What a splendid turn of phrase! Words that struck a chord, like opening a rosebud within my heart, yet threatening to sink me into obsession! They made me tremble with joy!
“Just in case, I shall cast an obfuscation spell upon you,” he told me. “Though you won’t be able to track Lady Robur’s magic, you should be able to follow the fading remnants of magic leaving this greenhouse. When you find her, use this.”
“A telescopic walking stick? Is that what that is?” I took the offered staff. It wasn’t a staff used for defense, but I sensed some magic had been imbued within it.
“Its origin is a secret, but it holds a onetime teleportation spell. If all goes well, you and Lady Robur will simply walk out of the church together. But strange behavior, including hers, sometimes defy my predictions. If you find yourself in any kind of trouble after you find Lady Robur, activate it at once. I promise I will save you. As long as you’re alone, though, try your best not to activate it: The chances of you facing a crisis on your own are low.”
I nodded at the prince’s words. I was confident only in my own inconspicuousness. Still... “You understand roses and fangirling, don’t you?”
“I’ve studied them thoroughly,” he replied. “You possess a fragment of that understanding too, but Lady Robur’s grasp is very refined. I’ve come to understand that it’s beyond the comprehension of an amateur like me.”
He’d studied roses and fangirling?! The first prince of the nation, the one whispered to be next in line to the throne?!
“So you really... Wait, but wasn’t Lady Robur supposed to be a candidate for engagement?” The image of the lady’s former fiancé lavishly praising the former foster daughter of the Robur family alongside Lord Heinz flashed through my mind. “Um... I know this is terribly rude... But... I mean, I hold Lady Robur in the highest regard! So, um...I wouldn’t do anything like her former fiancé did...”
“Do not misunderstand. I hold the lady in higher esteem than you do. I won’t tolerate being underestimated—do not imagine you could surpass my feelings for her.”
“H-How... How sorry I am!” My body stiffened at the murderous intent radiating from the prince. But wasn’t he missing the point? We weren’t really discussing who held Lady Robur in higher esteem, right?
“Hmph, my apologies,” he huffed. “That was childish. You needn’t concern yourself with prospective fiancés. Once you find Lady Robur, your first priority is to escape with her. Until then, feel free to explore the innermost depths of the church to your heart’s content.”
“But if we don’t hurry, she might feel... Well, not exactly lonely, but she could be in danger.”
“No, that’s unlikely. Whoever rigged that greenhouse... No, never mind.” The prince faltered. He seemed to have some kind of hunch about who the abductor was, but he didn’t reveal who he thought it was. “At the very least, it’s unlikely they’d kill her immediately. If they truly sought to cover their tracks completely, they wouldn’t have used teleportation. They would have devised some other mechanism to end the target’s life the instant they fell into the trap. I tracked the magic as far as I could, but I detected not a single trace of that sort of spell. Even with your heightened intuition, sharpened by the protection of the sacred beast, you sense nothing of the sort, do you?”
“That’s...correct. But how could you know such a thing?”
“You show it immediately in your demeanor. So far, I sense no panic from you.”
My word, his insight was sharp indeed. True, I sensed a twisted aura, but I didn’t perceive any danger. And so, I parted ways with the prince.
Now, thanks to my own naturally faint aura and the prince’s obfuscation spell, I was currently being treated to a BL paradise! Roses were blooming everywhere I looked!
“See, just hold your hand like this...”
“Ah...amazing...”
“Now you try it, Muzika.”
“Um...like this?” The boy called Muzika seemed a bit younger than Lady Robur. He must have been aiming to become a priest.
In the dimly lit room, not quite bright enough for the light to be coming from lamps, was a young man in his twenties. There was a blue stripe on the collar of the young man’s overcoat, which indicated a mid-level priest. He gazed at the backs of the various figures lined up before the altar with a dreamy, intense look in his eyes. Hidden in a corner of the cramped room, I silently offered my deepest gratitude to the divine protection of the sacred beast, Drogolena!
The priest had light brown hair tied back simply with a black hair elastic. The way he was teaching a boy with the same hair color, cut into a bob, looked incredibly intimate!
“Hmm...not quite. Relax your body more. Yes, try leaning lightly against my body as you stand. Let go of the tension in your shoulders...” The priest leaned over from behind the boy named Muzika... Oh no, a back hug!