“Yes… I think I did hear something along those lines…”
“So are you trying to say that you wish to marry this otherworlder for the sake of the kingdom?” his mother said.
For a moment, Aresh frowned as if he did not understand the question.
True, Aresh did first take notice of Seiichirou because he found it puzzling that an ordinary person who was unintentionally summoned to the kingdom would work in the palace for the kingdom’s sake. But it turned out that Seiichirou had no lofty notion of serving the nation. He was just a workaholic.
“Well, no…” Seiichirou’s compulsion made him press on even as his body deteriorated from the world’s hostile atmosphere. He even relied on a life-threatening drug so that he could keep working, for pity’s sake. When Aresh tried to stop him, Seiichirou complained as if he was the bad guy. And yet… “I was just…helping him out because it didn’t feel right to let him out of my sight…”
He could not abide the thought of this unwitting victim of the kingdom’s machinations perishing in this land. And so he—quite physically—connected their lives. After that, he could not bear to watch the otherworlder’s body continue to weaken, but as he continued helping Seiichirou, he realized that he didn’t like it when other people did the same. It did not take terribly long for him to figure out that this feeling was jealousy.
Even after Seiichirou slowly yet surely built up his magic tolerance, he would push his body past the brink. Aresh knew quite well that Seiichirou would not listen to anything he said, and he understood that the man derived fulfillment from work, so he resolved to support Seiichirou in whatever way he could.
This caught Seiichirou’s attention in turn.
“My oh my!”
His mother’s high-pitched voice rang out just then, making his thoughts screech to a halt.
The lady of the house was genuinely blushing like a young girl. Her cheeks were rosy red, and her eyes sparkled as she peered at him.
“Finally! It’s finally happened for you! You’ve met your soul mate!”
“My…soul mate?”
“We never interfered, but your father and I always worried about how you never got emotional, even when you were very young. But now you’ve finally found somebody who stirs your heart! You cannot imagine my happiness!”
“Wait, you’re actually allowing this, Mother?!” Erene stood up and shouted at their mother, who looked like she was about to break into song and dance at any second.
“What are you talking about? Aresh has found someone he truly loves, and that person returns his feelings. What is there to object to?”
“You weren’t so lenient with me, remember?!”
Erene had harbored a crush on a sorcerer ever since her student days, but he never noticed her affections. Even when he finally reciprocated, his relatively lower status meant that it took quite some time before their union was acknowledged.
“We learned from your example,” said their mother. “Of course we want happy marriages for our children, but what matters most is that you chose it for yourself. Also, Aresh has never been interested in anyone until now, so just him finding someone is delightful.”
“I can’t believe this!” Erene still seemed affronted.
For a while, she and their mother continued to argue, but then the marquess coughed and spoke to Aresh.
“But I am dismayed that we heard about this secondhand. Make sure you tell us before you take action.”
“…Okay.” Aresh nodded obediently. As both parents and nobles, it stood to reason that they would be unhappy about being blindsided by their child’s betrothal. In truth, he and Seiichirou were not actually engaged, although sending Seiichirou to the dinner party with a mias flower accessory meant practically the same thing.
“Aresh.” Their mother must have finished arguing with Erene, because she beckoned to him. When he approached her, she whispered softly into his ear: “Valtom told me the story.”
Aresh gasped at this gentle utterance. So she knew that Seiichirou did not wear the lapel pin out of mutual knowledge and consent.
“You mustn’t be so unscrupulous with your methods. A soul mate is not so easy to come by,” she went on.
More surprises. Evidently, she supported Aresh’s relationship, but this did remind him of his earlier unease.
He had tried to bind Seiichirou to him quickly so he would not return to his world. But this meant disregarding Seiichirou’s thoughts and feelings. Part of the reason why Seiichirou threw himself into work was because he was a workaholic, but it was also so that he could secure a return route.
He wanted to go home.
Of course he did. Who wouldn’t want to go home after being forcibly dragged to another world? Getting clout or a romantic partner wouldn’t change that. Aresh wondered if his desire to tie Seiichirou to this world, heedless of the other man’s feelings, was pure selfishness on his end.
Then he remembered—that Seiichirou smiled when Aresh invited him to his family’s health resort once work settled down. The look on his face when Aresh proposed an idea with Seiichirou’s thoughts and feelings completely in mind.
“But this is some sensitive timing.” The marquess’s sigh snapped Aresh out of his reverie.
“What do you mean?” Aresh asked.
It was then that he learned that a letter had arrived from the third prince of Egorova just the other day.
“He is asking whether you would be a suitable match for the fourth princess,” his father said.
“The fourth princess…? I thought she was still of tender age.”
Anyone who belonged to a marquess’s house had the names of neighboring royalty and influential nobles drilled into them. The fourth princess was born out of wedlock only a few years ago.
“There are a lot of internal politics going on over there. It seems the plan is for her to take refuge in another country via marriage.”
Being a knight commander from a prestigious family, Aresh was the ideal man for the job, apparently.
“The prince will be visiting the day after tomorrow, as a matter of fact. That’s one of the reasons why I decided to call you here sooner rather than later. But given the circumstances, I suppose I’d better break the news of your engagement to him ahead of time,” said the marquess, who seemed to dislike the idea of the prince going on a fool’s errand.
Aresh raised a hand to stop him. “I might as well meet him. I’m not opposed to just having a chat.”
“What?! But you’re already—”
“You have a partner, Aresh!” his mother chimed in. “You shouldn’t be sniffing out other options!”
This went without saying. Aresh was completely uninterested in being with anyone other than Seiichirou.
But there were so many things he had to do if he wanted to respect Seiichirou’s feelings without letting go of him entirely. And part of that could be achieved if someone from Egorova gave him access.
“Don’t worry. I will speak to him the day after tomorrow.”
And that was how Aresh decided to meet with a prince of Egorova without asking Seiichirou—so that he could go to Egorova and find a way to travel between worlds.