SLDS 22

“Your—Your Highness!”

The moment he saw the dazzling hair, Tristan realized his identity and hastily dropped to one knee. In an instant, those who heard Tristan’s voice also turned their heads. At the Crown Prince’s appearance, they dropped what they were doing and began to show their respects.

“We greet the great star of the Empire!”

Greetings washed over them like a wave. While everyone prostrated themselves flat, only Alexis looked over the assembly with cold eyes.

He could see Claude in the distance, looking distressed. He was urgently making his way through the crowd.

Alexis ignored him and started walking. He approached the velvet sofa and effortlessly slung the sleeping Cecil over his shoulder.

“I will take care of Cecil Adrian. You need not concern yourself.”

“I am sorry for not recognizing you. I have committed a great discourtesy.”

Draped over his shoulder, Cecil’s limbs hung limp, completely passed out. Tristan cautiously raised his gaze and looked at the white arm dangling and swaying. He could only hope that Mr. Cecil would wake up soon and speak in his defense.

There was no way Alexis would miss this. His icy blue eyes glinted like the sharp edge of a blade.

“I heard you were quite clever, but it seems you have a habit that needs fixing. Do you find it difficult to control your gaze?”

“M-my apologies!”

Alexis watched the top of Tristan’s head, which was touching the floor, before adding one more thing.

“Tristan Dyke is to come to the palace soon. Know that I have something to say to you personally.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Alexis gave a brief glance at the bowing Tristan and turned away.

Each time he took a long stride with his long legs, Cecil’s body, slung over his shoulder, swayed like a pendulum. For someone being personally taken care of by the Crown Prince, he was being handled as carelessly as a sack.

“Your Highness, please hand him over to me. I will carry him.”

Claude quickly ran up and extended his arms. With so many eyes watching, he couldn’t possibly let the Crown Prince do the heavy lifting.

But Alexis shifted Cecil once more. Firmly grasping the body that had grown heavier from being passed out drunk, he gestured dismissively with his chin.

“It’s fine. Go out and get the carriage ready.”

Claude immediately followed the dry command. As he walked away at a near-run, Alexis also set off. His glacier-cold eyes no longer paid any attention to the assembly. He simply stared firmly ahead and walked out with steady steps.

A long silence settled over the hall that they had swept through. Everyone was just staring blankly at the open door, dumbfounded.

One thing was certain: it seemed unlikely that Cecil Adrian would be seen at the social club from now on.

In front of the mansion, unlike before, a carriage sent from the imperial palace was waiting. The carriage, with its black exterior and its roof, trim, and even wheels all trimmed in gold, shone brilliantly even in the night. Even the person sitting in the coachman’s seat was a member of the Royal Guard.

The Alfonso family and all the servants of the mansion had come out to see the Crown Prince off. Alexis paid no mind to the bowing people and boarded the carriage.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves started, and the carriage began to move. Only after leaning his back against the comfortable backrest was Alexis able to catch his breath.

As he swept back his disheveled bangs, his gaze landed on Cecil, who was crumpled in a corner of the carriage, fast asleep.

Each time Cecil breathed, wheeze, wheeze, through his half-open mouth, the smell of alcohol grew stronger.

Alexis started to open a window but stopped and propped his chin on his hand instead. His head, tilted to the side, was intently focused on dissecting Cecil’s sleeping face.

His pale white face looked as serene as usual, but the rims of his ears and the area around his neck were flushed pink. With his arms spread out haphazardly and his body limp like jelly melted in the heat, he was the very picture of a drunkard.

Suddenly, Cecil furrowed his brows and groaned. Whether it was because of his uncomfortable position crammed in the corner, he seemed to be in distress like someone having a bad dream. Alexis, watching this sight with displeasure, clicked his tongue. Tsk.

The carriage seats were spacious enough for a person to lie down. It would take quite a while to get to the imperial palace, so he could have lent Cecil his lap and let him lie down comfortably, but Alexis was not merciful enough to bestow that kind of favor.

However, his awkwardly bent head was bothering him so much that he was about to reach out. Just then, the carriage rattled as it passed over a rough patch of road, and the jolt woke Cecil up.

“Ugh, mm.”

“Damn.”

At the sight of him slowly sitting up, Alexis withdrew his hand and sighed softly.

He couldn’t stand dealing with drunken antics and had hoped Cecil would stay asleep, but it seemed things wouldn’t go his way. It went without saying that his gaze toward Cecil grew even sharper.

Cecil blinked his eyelids, still steeped in a daze.

“…Where… is this?”

“Just go to sleep. Don’t cause any unnecessary trouble.”

Alexis warned him curtly. When a familiar voice came from his side, Cecil’s head creaked as it turned.

“……”

His half-lidded eyes looked at Alexis. At the expression that seemed soaked in a vague sense of longing, Alexis gave a bitter, incredulous smile.

“Don’t tell me crying is your drunken habit? That’s the worst.”

He was already twisting his brow, anticipating Cecil’s behavior.

“Alexis.”

But what came from Cecil’s mouth was, contrary to his expectation, a low voice. He had never called him by his name before, yet Cecil uttered it slowly and calmly, as if he had called him that many times.

“Are you… happy right now?”

“……”

“I want you to be happy. I… will make it so, no matter what it takes.”

Cecil was clearly drunk. He stared at Alexis with hazy eyes, and unlike his weak smile, his eyes were wet as if he were about to burst into tears at any moment.

“I’ll do my best. So this time, please live for a long, long time.”

“Why do you think I’ll die early? Who told you that?”

Alexis asked casually, crossing his legs. He didn’t know if it was nonsense or sincerity, but the current Cecil seemed like he would spill his guts if coaxed properly.

Cecil twisted his torso. He wedged his upper body into the corner where the carriage wall and the backrest met and leaned his dizzy head back.

He faced Alexis, who was sitting far away from him in an uncomfortable position.

“When all you have around you are traitors.”

“What?”

“What good is it to be meticulous? You have no luck with people, so you just get stabbed in the back all the time.”

“You have a nasty drunken habit. I shouldn’t have brought you.”

“You shouldn’t drink. Don’t just blindly accept what others give you. Especially things like wine—don’t even let them touch your lips.”

“Keep spouting nonsense. I’ll just throw you out on the street.”

Cecil pouted his lips. He was upset that Alexis wasn’t listening to him.

“You rotten bastard. You never say a single nice thing to me.”

He muttered the insult as if to himself. Of course, Alexis heard everything.

Alexis suddenly closed the distance. He stood in front of Cecil, who was barely holding himself up due to the alcohol, and interrogated him in a pressing manner.

“What did the Empress order you to do? Did she instruct you to interfere with my work from the sidelines?”

“Am I a hindrance?”

“Cecil Adrian, just answer the question. Do you want the position of Crown Prince?”

Since he kept talking nonsense, Alexis grabbed Cecil’s lower jaw and made him look at him. The face, held in a rough grip, was limp and was pulled along without resistance.

At that moment, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over him. He had only met Cecil’s eyes, but goosebumps spread down his spine and the hair on his head stood on end as if he had seen this scene somewhere before.

Alexis clenched his jaw tightly. To shake off the bizarre sensation he had never felt before, he glared at Cecil even more coldly.

“Even if I’m a hindrance, just bear with it for a little while. I’m not going to stay by your side for long anyway.”

Cecil raised his hand and touched Alexis’s right cheek.

“So careless, the Crown Prince, walking around with a woman’s lipstick mark on his face…”

He carefully wiped away the trace of cosmetics that did not suit the noble face.

After that, Cecil dropped his hand with a thud and closed his eyes. The effect of the alcohol was overwhelming his head again, and he had no strength to speak.

“I’m sleepy… I have to sleep.”

“You’re really so willful.”

“If you’re going to scold me… do it tomorrow. We still have a lot of time left.”

Cecil caressed his own chest. The area around his heart was aching, but perhaps because of the alcohol, it was easy enough to ignore. Then, his consciousness completely faded, and darkness fell upon his mind.

As Cecil’s face drooped listlessly, Alexis urgently caught his body as it leaned forward.

Without realizing it, he placed his index finger under his nose to check if he was breathing. Even though he knew he was just asleep from drinking, he strangely treated him like someone whose lifeline had been cut.

Only when a warm breath moistened his finger did a sense of relief finally well up.

“Haa…”

It was impossible. Why was he relieved, and why did he keep feeling pity for Cecil?

Alexis propped the sleeping man against the seat and sat at a distance. He deliberately avoided looking in Cecil’s direction and only gazed out the window.

He was acting foolishly himself after talking to a drunkard.

‘I want you to be happy. I… will make it so, no matter what it takes.’

Alexis stared out at the pitch-black scenery, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling.

But the more he mulled over Cecil’s drunken rambling, the more it troubled him. It seemed that bringing the man along had been a huge mistake.