SLDS 16

“What kind of letter has perfume sprayed on it?”

Cecil roughly wiped his palm with a wet towel, as if he had touched something dirty. Swoosh, the thrown towel was quickly caught by the attendant who had delivered the letter.

“Mr. Cecil… a reply.”

The attendant hesitantly started to speak, fiddling with the wet towel. He knew the atmosphere was not good, but he had to faithfully carry out his role.

Cecil bit his lower lip hard. As expected, a sharp glare shot his way.

“Do I look like I have enough free time to reply to a garbage letter like that right now?”

Cecil’s shirt was horribly wrinkled, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He looked too busy to even care about the state of his clothes.

“I apologize. Still, according to etiquette, you absolutely must send a reply….”

As he repeatedly bowed his head, a long sigh burst out. Right, what fault did the attendant have? Cecil ruffled his bangs, walked over to the desk, and picked up an ink pen.

“Take it.”

As soon as he handed over the hastily scribbled letter, the attendant’s complexion brightened. He bowed several times saying thank you and withdrew.

After that, letters continued to flood in. With the debutante ball just two days away, it was only natural for a stream of ardent courtship proposals to follow.

Cecil glared fiercely at the letter deliverymen who kept seeking him out and interrupting him while he was busy. Was everyone in their right mind? He couldn’t understand at all why they kept latching onto him, a man who had intentionally taken on the stigma of liking men.

In the end, it reached a point where he made a pile of replies with only an X drawn on them and told them to just pick one up for themselves.

‘I guess blood will tell, after all.’

Alexis observed this spectacle with great interest. The temper that flared up unwittingly was probably Cecil’s true nature.

Making that venomous face made him resemble Empress Elizabeth even more. There was no way he would look good in Alexis’s eyes.

Even as the sun set and the dinner hour was coming to a close, Cecil remained in his office, continuing his final checks. He was so absorbed, wrinkling his brow in concentration, that he didn’t even notice Alexis approaching his side.

Alexis reached a hand over the desk and began to read, one by one, the letters that hadn’t even been opened. With a consistently indifferent face, he skimmed the contents and then casually asked.

“Cecil.”

“Yes?”

Cecil, who had been perched on the desk, quickly raised his head at the sudden call. He looked quite flustered to see Alexis, who was suddenly right beside him.

Alexis held up one of the letters he had just read.

“Baron Raymond is a rather decent man. Although he comes from a commoner background, he is a self-made man who even obtained a title. I understand his appearance is quite handsome as well?”

Cecil was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t answer easily. He stared alternately at the letter and Alexis for a long while before letting out a weary sigh.

“I will choose my own partner.”

“The debutante ball is not far off.”

“Your Highness, do you wish to see me flirting with a male partner in front of everyone?”

“What’s the problem when His Majesty has given his official permission?”

“I have my own preferences too.”

“I’m curious. What your preferences are.”

Alexis gestured with his firm chin. It meant he should speak.

There was no way he could say. Cecil kept his mouth firmly shut and lowered his gaze.

“…I go by looks.”

“The baron is on the handsome side.”

“His build must be good too.”

“He’s also on the tall side.”

“And I like a gentle personality.”

“Isn’t that something you can only find out by meeting him?”

As he refuted him point by point, he could no longer retort. Cecil wiped a hand down his face, which was plastered with awkwardness.

The letter came closer to his face.

“This is a person recommended by the Crown Prince himself. It’s unacceptable for my one and only brother to attend the debutante ball and enjoy it all alone without a partner.”

“……”

Cecil snatched the letter dangling before his eyes.

“I didn’t realize you thought of me that much.”

His sharp eyes were directed at Alexis. Alexis, for his part, simply met his gaze with a cold smile.

In the end, he scribbled out a letter of acceptance right in front of him. Thud, tossing down the ink-stained pen, Cecil placed his palms on the desk and struck a defiant pose.

“I have done as Your Highness wishes, so let me ask for a favor as well.”

“What is it?”

“It’s hard to make a decision. I’d like to hear Your Highness’s opinion too.”

Cecil immediately started walking. When he pushed aside the partition screen set up behind the desk, another table, secretly hidden inside, was revealed.

On the reddish-brown maple wood table, there was a large wooden box.

Alexis approached and looked down at the box. The intricate model contained within it was unmistakably a scaled-down replica of the main palace’s grand ballroom.

“You’ve made something interesting.”

“There are limits to imagination alone. If you create a model beforehand, you can predict things more intuitively. You can also grasp the overall harmony at a glance.”

“It’s a really good method. How did you think of something like this?”

Alexis covered his mouth with his palm. A flash of unusual interest appeared in his blue eyes.

Until now, designs had only been done with things like drawings, but Cecil’s method was not just intuitive but even innovative. He thought he should try designing the Black Forest guard post by making a model like this.

Cecil moved the model parts placidly, as if he had no intention of showing off his wit.

“It’s about the grand ballroom’s entrance. I’m thinking of raising it high like this, what do you think?”

“The reason?”

“Currently, the ballroom entrance is on a flat level. If there’s a difference in height, the moment people enter, much more attention will be drawn to them. The number of attendees for the ball alone is five hundred. Since the main characters of this ball are those who have come of age, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to direct the gazes toward them.”

“This is a social banquet held at the Imperial Palace. Do you not know that whether a banquet is large or small, it must always be the imperial family that draws the attention?”

“That is why I am asking.”

Alexis scanned the model without a word. From the Imperial Family’s perspective, it was right to reject Cecil’s proposal.

However, when he pictured Yuria appearing on the platform covered with a red carpet, his firmly closed lips naturally formed a curve.

“It wouldn’t be bad. But the elders will dislike it.”

“That’s probably true.”

“I’ll approve it, so proceed. Even if anyone says anything, the Crown Prince is ignorant about debutante balls, so there will be plenty of excuses to go around.”

As if realizing an important fact, Cecil’s lips parted. Alexis had spent his coming-of-age in the Black Forest.

“Ah… This must be Your Highness’s first debutante ball.”

“That’s right. The rite of passage that everyone else goes through is a bit unfamiliar to me.”

“The debutante ball is no big deal. It’s just a typical ball.”

“You speak as if you’ve experienced it before.”

The elegant smile vanished like smoke the moment his eyes met Cecil’s. Alexis straightened his posture and spoke in his usual dry tone.

“You’ve worked hard. Time must have been tight, but you’ve finished splendidly. This should be fine. I will speak well of your efforts to His Majesty.”

“There’s no need for that. It’s not like I did it to receive praise.”

When Cecil replied listlessly, Alexis raised one of his straight eyebrows.

“You want nothing?”

“…It’s not that I want nothing at all.”

Cecil pointlessly rubbed his forearm. The person he wanted praise from was Alexis, not His Majesty, anyway. Couldn’t he be a little greedy?

“Do you remember your promise to teach me swordsmanship last time?”

“I do.”

“Please start right after the debutante ball ends. I’m mentally prepared.”

Alexis gave a faint smile. He must be quite eager to learn. He actually didn’t understand Cecil, who, despite having plenty of royal guards to protect him, was talking about brandishing a sword, which didn’t suit him at all.

“I will do so. A promise is a promise.”

At the perfunctory reply, Cecil’s fatigue flew right away. To the point where a proud smile formed.

✽ ✽ ✽

The day of the debutante ball. Under the clear morning sunlight, the Imperial Palace began its day as always.

The grand ballroom was in the midst of its final preparations. Courtiers moved about busily as soon as the morning sun rose. With a major event ahead, the entire place was overflowing with vitality.

Around noon, Cecil, who had gotten a good night’s sleep for a change, also opened his eyes.

While still half-asleep, he pulled the bell cord, and the attendants waiting outside the door rushed in like a pack of wolves to raise their lazy master from the bed and carry hot water into the bathtub.

They put in so much bath salt that the floral scent wafting into the bedroom was extraordinary.

“Please wake up a bit. Would you like some cold mint tea to chase the sleep away?”

“…Mmm, no, it’s fine.”

Cecil was pushed by his attendants and forced into the bathroom. As he soaked his body in the water while wearing a thin nightshirt, three or four attendants clung to him, diligently washing his body and shampooing his hair.

While others were busy waking up at the crack of dawn to adorn themselves, Cecil felt no excitement at all.

On the contrary, he yawned at length, as if he were still not over his sleepiness. As he wiped away a tear that had welled up in the corner of his eye, the gaze looking down at him from above was quite chilly. Cecil tilted his head back and looked at his head attendant.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Aren’t you nervous at all, Mr. Cecil?”

“What is there to be nervous about? What’s the big deal about a debutante ball.”

Cecil scooped up some water and washed his wet face one more time. He was a little more awake now, but his mood showed no signs of rising from the pits.

He had already been through a debutante ball once in his previous life, so it was only natural for him to be indifferent.

But it seemed to be different for the attendants. They were more sincere about grooming Cecil than ever before. After drying his wet hair until it was soft, they carefully combed his hair with an ivory comb generously coated in fragrant oil and applied rose water to his face.

His dark brown hair shone so much that it made one want to touch it, and his already pale cheeks glowed moistly as if they had absorbed water.

The dressing came next. Although he couldn’t have new clothes made because he had poured the entire clothing budget into the event funds, Cecil had a pile of formal wear among his clothes that he had never worn. The attendants picked out only the ones with bright and splendid colors and showed them to him.

“Hmm, I don’t like any of them.”

Looking at the clothes lined up in a row, Cecil shook his head back and forth. In his eyes, they were all just outdated clothes anyway.

“There’s something nice over there.”

“Ex-excuse me?”

“Bring it here.”

He pointed his finger directly at the clothes hanging in a corner of the dressing room. A white shirt and black trousers, which never go out of style. And finally, he chose a classic navy blue vest. The vest, which had a gold thread trim, seemed at least worth trying on.

Leo sighed openly while attending to him.

“Everyone else will come dressed so magnificently… why must you alone wear such drab clothes?”

“Nonsense. I myself am radiant, so it’s fine.”

In fact, Cecil, once dressed, was stylish. It seemed that anything would look good on his slender body.

“Isn’t that so?”

After the final touch of tying a light cream-colored cravat, Cecil smiled brightly, as if he were quite pleased with his appearance. A faint blush bloomed on his plump cheeks. His face was so pretty that the attendants could not help but agree.

“Of course. There will be no one as beautiful as Mr. Cecil today.”

Leo stealthily added a pearl bracelet to Cecil’s wrist.

The head attendant’s tireless efforts to make his master stand out the most were almost tear-jerking.