I don’t have the right to stop him.
“Huh? They want me to go to the dinner party?” Just when I was sinking my teeth into the work Sei left for me, I got a missive telling me to attend the welcoming party for the Egorovan delegation. “What about Father?”
“He’s doing a mandatory inspection in the hinterlands.”
“Where exactly?”
“A town called Agiral, to the northwest. It’s an isolated community that hasn’t had many dealings with the state. You know how it is.”
I’ve heard of Agiral. The region was boxed in by mountains and was more of a village than a town. Not that I’ve been there myself.
“But what about my brother and sister?” I asked, but my adoptive mother just responded with a smile.
That’s when I realized and thought Oh, this again.
I’ve been to many ceremonies throughout my nineteen years of existence. I’ve long since caught on to what they were about: making me serve as a retainer while teaching me about stuff “just in case” the worse came to worst. I sure hope that will never happen—I want Prince Yurius to have a nice long life. For both his sake and mine, I want him to be a great crown prince who doesn’t just exist to chase after Her Holiness Yua.
Activity Report No. 35
I participated in the Egorova welcoming party.
The envoys all wore distinctively Egorovan-style clothing. Although I merely watched them from afar, Lord Luciano walked over to the lowest seat at the end of the party and spoke to Qusta from the Sorcery Department. The young lord’s guard almost immediately ushered him away, but I got the impression from the short exchange that Lord Luciano was displeased about Qusta being his guide.
On that note, I must profess my own displeasure about Sei occupying the lowest seat. Why does he deserve that when he is overseeing the entire tour? Sei said he had no issue because he has a meeting tomorrow, but the kingdom should acknowledge his achievements better, in my opinion.
I was worried about the food served at the party because his tolerance for magicules remains low, but fortunately, there was a special menu just for him. I am grateful for the consideration.
Sei was wearing an outfit at the party that made it way too obvious that Commander Indolark was staking his claim on him. I burst out laughing when I saw that—you should’ve seen Sei’s face.
I’d asked my mother to prepare an outfit for Sei the last time there was a formal occasion. This time, Commander Indolark told me not to get involved, so I just waited to see what he would do for Sei. I’ve got to say, it was a riot. The color of his cuffs needed no explanation, and he was even wearing a mias lapel pin—the symbol of engagement or marriage. Once I got over my shock, I had to laugh.
It was made of super high-quality silver, and there was an amethyst in the middle referencing a certain somebody’s eyes. Anyone who knows how intimate Sei and Commander Indolark are would guess at a glance that they’re either engaged or married.
But judging from Sei’s reaction…he didn’t seem to know. It boggles my mind that he would wear such a luxurious item without knowing a thing, but then again, Commander Indolark prepared his outfit from head to toe. It felt like the commander had carved himself into Sei’s very being.
Anyway, Commander Indolark has to be serious if he’s sending an ignorant Sei off into a welcoming party for foreign envoys in that getup. I guess he really doesn’t want Sei to go home.
There’s only one person in this country who can implore Sei not to go home, and it’s Commander Indolark. Between him and Sei, I don’t know who I ought to support.
But anyway, my adoptive dad told me about the Egorovan delegation, but it turns out the third prince is leading the party. He’s very talented from what I’ve heard, although his mother came from a viscount’s house. Apparently, he was originally just meant to be a pawn to marry off for diplomatic relations, but he proved his mettle by working with the country’s major industries. People said he deserved better than to be shipped out to another country when there was a faction backing him to be the next king. That’s pretty darn impressive for a royal with a mother of low standing! Not that it is right of me to compare when I got adopted out to begin with.
I mean, Romany is fundamentally different because it’s unified under the support of Crown Prince Yurius (which is another reason why I want him to get together with Her Holiness already), while Egorova seems to have a lot of infighting. Apparently it’s a delicate issue, since the first prince is sickly and his mother comes from a count’s house. Meanwhile, the second prince comes from a duke’s family, which just makes things stickier. I hear the military backed him. On the other hand, Egorova derives its national identity from its technology, and it’s the third prince who has the technicians in the palm of his hand… Complicated, right?
Honestly, I don’t care much about foreign royal squabbles, but this was all drilled into me because of my role as a retainer. Their drama makes me appreciate how peaceful things are over here. We definitely owe some of the recent political stability and peace to Sei!
Anyway, I feel like I’ve seen that Luciano kid somewhere before, but where?
“Hey, Helmut, could you check this document for me?” I passed the document I made to Helmut, the director of the Accounting Department.
“Thanks, Norbert. You’ve been quick at your work lately.”
“Huh? You think so?” I still can’t hold a candle to Sei, but it feels nice to be praised.
Thanks to all the new staff, we can split a lot of work between multiple people. The guy in charge of it all juggles a lot of different stuff, but I want to help out with the Accounting Department and gather the paperwork about Egorova.