The Kingdom of Fanoren was located in the center of the Agalean continent. Leorino Cassieux was born as the fourth son of August Cassieux, the Margrave of Brungwurt, a territory on the kingdom’s border.
Leorino’s mother, Maia, had come from the well-respected Wiesen ducal family. She met August—ten years her senior—at a royal ball and, after a passionate romance, married him at the age of eighteen. She blessed him with an heir, Auriano, the following year and with a second son, Johan, one year after that. The two boys looked just like their father, with dark-brown hair, blue-green eyes, and muscular physiques. They were perfectly handsome little boys.
Five years later came the birth of their third son, Gauff. Maia had secretly hoped for a girl, but Gauff was the spitting image of his father, just like his brothers, and was remarkably well-built for one so young.
Maia loved her sons dearly, but with her love for all things cute, she had the poor luck of having three sons, all bulky from a young age and tragically ill-suited to cute outfits.
Six years after the birth of her third son, the family welcomed Leorino into the world. At the time of his birth, the country was fighting with its neighbor, and the ravages of war were approaching the border province of Brungwurt. Maia was happy to have been able to bring new life into the world at such a tumultuous time.
As soon as she had learned this new child was another boy, she was prepared for another clone of her husband. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to dress him in frills, but she convinced herself that as long as he was healthy, none of that would matter.
And yet, when Maia first laid eyes on the newborn, she was enraptured to discover her long-held dream had finally come true.
Leorino Viola Maian Cassieux was practically a cherub, with snow-white hair and extraordinary violet eyes. Twelve years after the birth of her first son, the adorable baby clothes she had prepared saw the light of day at long last.
His pure-white hair gradually darkened with age, until it became a platinum blond that seemed to melt in the light. His violet eyes were like the sky at dawnbreak, the first rays of sunlight piercing though the indigo night. His nose had a lovely ridge to it, and his rose-red lips always appeared to be smiling. All of these features were perfectly placed on his round, doll-like face. There wasn’t a stitch of frilly clothing in all the world that did not suit him, such a frighteningly beautiful child he was.
This angel of a baby then grew into an angel of a boy. As the youngest child of the family, he had a gentle demeanor and grew up in good health, loved and protected by his parents, his three brothers, and the people of his land.
From his eleventh birthday onward, Leorino began seeing a boy in his dreams.
This boy was called…“Ionia.”
The dream began with him waking up in a modest bedroom. He would stand in front of the washbasin in a corner of the small room and peer into the mirror. Staring back at him was the charming face of a boy with red hair disheveled from sleep and a pair of rare violet eyes.
Oh…this is me…
The boy, Ionia, lived in the commoner district of the royal capital. Leorino had never actually seen the capital, but somehow he knew exactly where to find him.
Ionia’s family was made up of four people: Apart from him, there was his taciturn blacksmith father, his kind mother, and a newborn baby brother. Their house and his father’s workshop were both located in the commoner district, and although they were far from wealthy, they were content.
Ionia was tall for his age and a good fighter, so it was only fitting that he served as the leader of the local children, and he was recognized by his neighbors for his good cheer and mischief alike. Nevertheless, he cared deeply about his family. He would help out with the blacksmith business however he could, and he was often taking care of his little brother.
Ionia also attended the prep school attached to the local church three times a week and was looking forward to entering the elementary school open to commoners.
“Lord Leorino, may I ask what has put you in such a good mood?” Hundert, Leorino’s attendant, finally asked, having seen him smiling to himself all morning.
Leorino decided to let him in on his secret. “Recently, I keep having the same dream.”
“A dream? May I ask what sort of dream?”
“A very interesting one. I’ve been having it every night, like a story slowly unfolding before my eyes.”
“Why, that is quite strange indeed.”
Leorino nodded in agreement.
In truth, it was a very strange experience. Dreams were supposed to be fleeting and hazy, but dreams of Ionia appeared to him almost every night. Moreover, they seemed to follow his life in chronological order.
Leorino couldn’t tell if the bizarre dreams were just products of his imagination, but for a boy of noble birth who was living an uneventful life in the middle of nowhere, getting to relive the life of a commoner boy in his dreams for nights on end was the greatest adventure imaginable.
A significant portion of the dreams would fade from his mind as soon as he awoke, but he remembered the most noteworthy scenes. Every night, he went to bed giddy to fall asleep.
“In my dreams, I’m a commoner boy with red hair, but he has the same eyes as me! We’re the same age, but he’s much bigger than me. He’s almost as big as Gauff! Oh, and he’s looking forward to going to school.”
“Is that so? A boy as strong as Lord Gauff with the same eyes as you, Lord Leorino?”
The servant privately wondered if this dream was Leorino’s hidden desire to be as strong as his brother.
“His father is a blacksmith, his mother has black hair, and he has a baby brother. He’s adorable!”
His usually quiet master felt especially talkative, his eyes twinkling as he spoke of his dreams. This fact pleased the attendant, and he nodded along with great interest.
From then on, Leorino would dream of Ionia often.
It felt almost as if he would live another life in his sleep, and he could never quite shake off the strangeness of this experience. Leorino, of course, knew that he was Leorino Cassieux. Nevertheless, Ionia’s life slowly burned itself into Leorino’s memories.
One day, Leorino peered into the mirror and sighed. “Hmm…”
At some point, the reflection staring back at him had begun to feel somewhat foreign—even wrong—to him. Hundert inclined his head at his young master, who had been observing himself in the mirror ever since he awoke.
“…No, this isn’t right.”
“What seems to be the matter, my lord? Have you noticed something on your face?”
Leorino’s countenance was as flawless as ever.
“No, my face is fine. It’s just…”
I inherited my mother’s face, and that’s all well and good, but why does it look so…soft?
Puzzled by his master’s behavior, the attendant proceeded to show him his two clothing options for the day.
“Which of these would you prefer to wear today?”
His options were a day dress with pastel-pink embroidery or a day dress with a thin light-blue ribbon embellished at the hem.
Leorino finally understood the source of his discomfort.
“…May I ask you something, Hundert?”
“Of course, my lord.”
“Um…these are both dresses, aren’t they?”
“Indeed, they are.”
Now that he thought about it, Leorino had never seen his brothers or Ionia wearing dresses.
“Do boys usually wear dresses?”
“Not typically, no.”
Leorino inclined his head. “…Then why am I wearing girls’ clothes?”
“Why, because they suit you very well, my lord.”