After a poor night’s sleep—which should have been better given that he was alone and had a pillow—Seiichirou woke up the next morning, washed his face, got changed, and exited into the hallway. He looked at the neighboring room, but heard nothing beyond the closed door. He went down to the dining room, but didn’t find Aresh there, either.
“Good morning, Mr. Seiichirou,” said Milan, the plump and hearty maid.
He could only muster a half-hearted greeting in response.
“Um… Where is Aresh…?”
“He went to work early today.”
“I see…”
It seemed Aresh was genuinely upset.
Seiichirou sat down and took a bite of his breakfast, courtesy of Pavel’s cooking. Not even the fluffy soufflé omelets or Seiichirou’s favorite soup tasted like much of anything today.
Seiichirou and Aresh literally came from different worlds. It was why Aresh took steps to stave off their eventual parting.
Come to think of it, they should have discussed this issue when Seiichirou first decided to accept Aresh’s feelings, but it was hard for Seiichirou to imagine himself turning his back entirely on the friends and family he’d made over his first twenty-nine years of life. Not to mention that the idea of rushing straight into marriage after just a month of being in a relationship was ludicrous to him.
Crunch. He stabbed his fork into his salad with more force than necessary.
Oh yeah, he didn’t even apologize to me for the deception, did he?! He had plenty of time to tell me. It wasn’t right of him to keep me in the dark!
Seiichirou owed the world to Aresh. And there were romantic feelings on his end, too.
But that was beside the point here. No, trust was more important than anything in a relationship, in Seiichirou’s opinion.
That’s all I wanted to say. And how does he react? He locks me out of his room and doesn’t even show his face at breakfast… What is he, a child?!
This was starting to tick Seiichirou off. He decided not to say anything until Aresh broke the silence first.
Besides, he had to guide the Egorovan envoys around today. This was an important job with international ramifications—there was no room for error, and it certainly wasn’t the time or place to get mopey about his love life.
Seiichirou forced the last of his soup down his throat.
✦ ✦ ✦
I told him I had nothing…
“You see, I was thinking of giving Yua a gift, so I’d like to pick your brain,” said a handsome silver-haired young man in a tremulous voice, “as someone who came from the same world…”
Seiichirou could only look at him with a gaze that expressed that he felt dead on the inside. A knight from the Second Royal Order had accosted him the moment he arrived at the palace, and now here he was, languishing in a reception room.
It went without saying that the silver-haired man was Prince Yurius, first in line for the throne.
“Kondo, you ought to adjust your expression a little…” Commander Radim of the Second Royal Order warned in a whisper.
“I stopped trying for the impossible,” Seiichirou answered flatly. His range of expressions lacked the capacity to respond to the prince’s pining for the Holy Maiden. “I would like to mention that I came to the palace today to serve as a guide for the Egorovan diplomats.”
“How dare the prince of the nation get in the way of an important job,” is what Seiichirou was trying to say.
Yurius appeared to have heard his grumbling, because he lifted his head.
“Ah, worry not. The tour has been rescheduled to the Water Hour (2 PM) today. Some of the diplomats were up late at the dinner party last night, and they are also, of course, fatigued from their journey.”
It was still only Wood Hour (9 AM). The Light Hour (11 AM) was already a late start, but now the tour had been postponed further.
“Is that so? In that case, I have some things to do at the Accounting Department,” Seiichirou said as he tried to stand.
Naturally, Radim stopped him and forced him back onto the sofa. The sickly Seiichirou could never have hoped to overpower a distinguished military commander. It was the same song and dance as the day before.
The memory of it ticked Seiichirou off all over again.
Alas, he was in the presence of a prince. He couldn’t worm his way out of this one.
“I called on you because I thought your perspective would be useful. You and Yua are compatriots and have been in a similar position romantically,” said Yurius.
“………” Seiichirou said nothing.
By “similar position romantically,” was he talking about being proposed to by a member of this kingdom?
Wait. There was a more fundamental issue here.
Yua Shiraishi, who had been summoned alongside Seiichirou to this world (well, technically, she was summoned as the Holy Maiden and Seiichirou just happened to get caught up in it) did indeed get along with Yurius. But as far as Seiichirou was aware…that was about the extent of their relationship.
“Have you and Shiraishi started courting yet, Your Highness?”
“—!”
“—!”
Both Yurius and Radim froze.
No way…
“You do not have a romantic relationship, and yet you are planning on proposing to her…?”
The incredulousness must have shown on his face. Radim shook his head, his face deathly pale.
“He has not…confirmed Yua’s feelings exactly, but she surely feels the same way!” he insisted as his eyes flashed in warning. “And so the gift is to propose both marriage and courtship at the same time…”
“Yikes, that’s a big ask,” Seiichirou blurted out.
“—?!” Yurius’s eyes went wide.
“Kondo! Watch your tongue!” Radim barked.
“Oh, my apologies. I couldn’t help but say what I was thinking…”
“That’s not an apology, Kondo!” yelled Radim. “That’s not an apology at all!”
“I-is it my imagination, or have you been rather passive-aggressive toward me lately…?” said Yurius.
They could complain all they liked, but of course Seiichirou was going to be passive-aggressive when he’d been abducted to give dating advice right before an important job.
But still, between Yurius, who was trying to propose to a woman he wasn’t even dating, and Aresh, who declared that he and his partner were engaged without asking how his partner felt about it, who was being more ridiculous?
Maybe the prince was more put-together…for at least asking the other person’s consent.
“Firstly, I should mention that in our home country, sixteen is considered very early for a woman to get married.”
Yurius blinked. “…Truly?!”
Although it was legal to get married at that age, most sixteen-year-olds in Japan were high school students.
“In Japan, the majority attend school until they are eighteen. Furthermore, many affluent or passionate students choose to further their education until they are twenty or even twenty-two.” From what Seiichirou could tell, Yua came from a privileged household, so she would probably go on to college. “Many people only get married after they have joined the workforce and settled into their careers.”
He decided not to mention how women these days were putting off marriage for later due to advancements in women’s rights.
“Is…that so?” Yurius said shakily.
Seiichirou abruptly remembered that the prince was twenty years old. Given the similarities between the Romany Kingdom and medieval Europe, Seiichirou expected that the nobility would get engaged at a young age. His assumption seemed to be correct.
Sadly for Yurius, Yua was very much a modern Japanese girl.
“Honestly,” said Seiichirou, “I do not think she will take well to an abrupt marriage proposal…”
“But a member of royalty cannot frivolously initiate relations with a Holy Maiden,” Radim pointed out.
Seiichirou nodded, understanding the logic. It was a big deal for a prince to court a Holy Maiden—and not to mention that the two of them were of marriageable age in this country. Casual dating wouldn’t fly here.
“Well, just try to keep Shiraishi’s perspective in mind, I suppose.”
The rest was their problem to deal with. Seiichirou did not want to be dragged into it right before work.
“Did you accept Aresh’s proposal because of your age?”
Oof.
This time, it was Seiichirou’s turn to freeze.
There was silence after that, a very long silence indeed.
“……………I have no recollection of accepting a proposal,” Seiichirou answered finally.
Radim seemed to have figured something out, while Yurius cocked his head in puzzlement.
“What are you saying? Were you not wearing a sign of your engagement at the dinner party? I thought it was a deliberate signal to the foreign guests.”
Seiichirou was silent for a while again before saying, “……………I did wear that, but I did not accept a proposal.”
“What? Then how…?” Yurius frowned in puzzlement. “Oh, don’t tell me.”
Being the crown prince, he was by no means a dim fellow. As it dawned on him, his expression became one of comprehension. He shot a look over his shoulder at Radim, who nodded.
Yurius turned back to Seiichirou with a sympathetic gaze.
“So you didn’t know.”
“………” Seiichirou’s silence was answer enough.
Although he was a grown man, he had been in this world for less than a year. Yurius did not seem inclined to ridicule him for his ignorance.
But…
“Well…somehow, I can understand Aresh’s feelings.”
“…On what basis?” Seiichirou asked, glowering.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m the crown prince.” Yurius waved a hand to ward off Seiichirou’s baleful expression. “You and Yua are from another world. I suspect he fears that you will slip beyond his grasp if he does not latch onto you quickly.”
Seiichirou’s mouth drew into a tight line.
“Yua has declared publicly that she wishes to return to her world, and you are the very man who kickstarted research into movement spells for returning people to their worlds… You must wish to go back one day, yes?”
Yes. Yua and Seiichirou had both been dragged forcibly into this world. If they could return, they would. It was what they were working toward.
“………I do not have it in me to cast my homeland aside so easily,” Seiichirou said after a pause.
“Understandable. I owe you an apology for putting you in this situation.” Seiichirou’s eyes widened. It was expressed as an afterthought, but it was the first time one of the kingdom’s top brass had ever apologized to him. “What are you surprised about? I always… Well, not always. But I do recognize that I have done you and Yua wrong.”
But he did not regret it, because he had done it to save his kingdom. For all his youth, he was very much a future king in that sense.
“Although it was our wrongdoing that brought you and Yua to this country, you have formed bonds here. Aresh and I are afraid of losing those bonds.” And so they wanted to secure the one they loved before it was too late, even if it meant using force. “You might think it unreasonable, but that’s how desperate Aresh must be. And I, too. I hope you can see that.”
Seiichirou could not find the words to answer the prince, a young man in love. He could only respond with silence.