SLDS 33

The servants of Peridot Palace were flustered and at a loss for what to do when the crown prince showed up late at night.

“Where is Cecil?”

“He is in his bedchamber right now… Your Highness! I will guide you to the drawing room first.”

“That won’t be necessary. I will go and see him myself.”

Despite the servants’ attempts to stop him, Alexis strode with his long legs straight toward the bedroom. The guard standing in front of the heavy double doors saw Alexis and saluted him smartly. He was about to announce his visit as his duty required, but Alexis pushed the door open and entered before he could.

“Cecil!”

Fortunately, it seemed Cecil was not yet asleep, as he was sprawled out on a long sofa.

It was rare for anyone to call his name so loudly inside Peridot Palace, so his limply slouched upper body shot up with a start.

“Your Highness.”

Alexis jutted his chin, giving a command without any explanation. Cecil, who had propped himself up unsteadily using the sofa, moved without hesitation according to the directive. His bare white feet landed on the carpet, and in his sleepwear, he staggered over to stand before Alexis.

“What brings you here at this hour?”

“There is something I need to check. Hold out your hand.”

As if he didn’t understand what was happening, Cecil held out his right hand. Alexis snatched it, pressed his own palm firmly against it, and intertwined their fingers.

A strange standoff ensued for a moment.

“…Why are you doing this?”

“……”

“Could you please explain?”

Cecil voiced his complaint with a long sigh. He tried shaking his arm slightly to break free from Alexis’s hand, but it only made the grip on his clasped hand tighten.

“……”

Alexis silently and meticulously tried to read the sensation being transmitted through their hands.

Having received divine blessings from Yuria several times, he could faintly discern the energy felt from people with divine power.

However, he could not feel any sensation from Cecil. It seemed it was a groundless fear after all.

The idea of Cecil having divine power was ridiculous. Although he knew this in his head, Alexis let out a hollow laugh at himself for coming all the way here just to confirm it.

Cecil, who had been staring intently at his face, wriggled his fingers, which were now tingling from the lack of blood flow.

“Is there still more you need to check?”

“Yes, we’re not done yet. Wait.”

With that, he gripped Cecil’s hand even more fiercely. Even though he had already concluded that Yuria was mistaken, he did not let go of his hand in order to eliminate even the slightest possibility.

They continued their meaningless standoff, holding hands. Cecil, who had no way of knowing the reason, could only let out one sigh after another.

It seemed getting an explanation from Alexis was a lost cause, and knowing his stubbornness, there was nothing he could do. He just had to stand there with his right hand given over, lost in idle thoughts.

About thirty minutes passed.

Cecil, who had been spending this pointless time standing, began to doze off. His head started to nod, and it wasn’t long before his knees finally buckled completely. Alexis reflexively caught the body that was tumbling toward him.

“Cecil?”

How tired must he have been to fall asleep while standing? No, it seemed more like he had fainted. When shaken, Cecil’s head lolled about limply. He had completely passed out.

“Oh my, dear me!”

The head chamberlain of Peridot Palace, who had been waiting in a corner, rushed over to help.

While Alexis supported Cecil’s body by putting his hands under his armpits, Leo cupped Cecil’s head, which was tilting to one side, with his hand, carefully making sure his neck didn’t bend too far. Even though the crown prince was holding Cecil himself, he could not dare let him use his shoulder.

Alexis calmed his startled heart and shot a sharp glare at Leo.

“Does he usually fall asleep like this?”

“No, it is because he took a sleeping pill just before.”

“A sleeping pill?”

“He has been suffering from severe insomnia lately. But he has never fallen asleep so suddenly like this before… It seems the medicine took a strong effect today, perhaps because he took a little more than the prescribed dose.”

Alexis let out a laugh that sounded similar to a sigh.

“He really lives his life so carelessly.”

Alexis adjusted the limp body in his arms and lifted him up.

Leo fidgeted, at a loss for what to do, feeling apologetic for borrowing the crown prince’s hands. He repeatedly said he would do it, but Alexis ignored him, walked toward the bed, and personally laid the sleeping Cecil down.

“It does no good to keep taking sleeping pills. Starting tomorrow, have him stop the medicine and give him tea that is good for insomnia instead.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Leo answered with a deep bow. He cautiously sized up the situation, but the crown prince showed no sign of leaving. Instead, he even pulled up a chair placed near the bed and took a seat.

Alexis crossed his long legs and rested his chin on his hand at an angle. A persistent gaze, one that could be either surveillance or concern, was fixed on Cecil’s peacefully sleeping face. Every time he saw him sleeping as if dead like that, his heart felt strangely uneasy.

“Since when has he been unable to sleep?”

“…That is.”

“Don’t think of making excuses and report in detail.”

Leo hid his trembling hands behind his back. For the sake of his master, it was right to hide his weaknesses, but the other person was the crown prince. Crushed by his intimidating presence, his mouth was becoming dry.

“It has been… a while. It started from the day he witnessed the assault incident involving the trainee knight.”

“Was that really something to be so shocked about?”

Alexis found it difficult to understand. With narrowed eyes, he peered at Cecil’s face, which was exhaling rhythmically.

He had thought Cecil would be arrogant and a self-centered egoist, just like the empress, but Cecil Adrian had a more delicate and complex personality than Alexis had imagined. So complex that it was difficult to comprehend within the bounds of common sense.

It didn’t seem like he had given much affection to Roco Maxwell. There must be circumstances that Alexis was unaware of.

“Cecil Adrian. You are the most difficult person I have ever known.”

“……”

The deeply sleeping man was silent. The sight of him, having cast aside all the difficult matters of the world and fallen into a peaceful slumber all by himself, felt strangely vexing.

Alexis reached out and stretched Cecil’s cheek. Perhaps because he still had some baby fat, his cheek was surprisingly soft and stretched out pliantly whenever he pulled it. What was this? The feeling of touching it was quite something.

“Uh… um, th-that… Your Highness. It looks like it might bruise…”

Cecil, passed out from the medicine, showed no reaction, and only the head chamberlain who was watching fretted, not knowing what to do. This was because, in Leo’s eyes, it just looked like the crown prince was tormenting the sleeping Cecil.

Only after pinching Cecil’s cheek to his heart’s content, as if venting his anger, did Alexis rise from the chair.

He tilted his neck back lightly. Contrary to the languid action, his gaze toward the head chamberlain was as sharp as a needle’s prick.

“Come to think of it, the servants of Peridot Palace all seem to be young. I believe it wasn’t like this before. Wasn’t Cecil’s head chamberlain also quite old?”

“Head Chamberlain Felix retired for health reasons.”

“Were the original servants also all replaced because they were in poor health?”

“I do not know the detailed reason either, Your Highness. I only know that the change was made under Mr. Cecil’s orders. Mr. Cecil also personally handled our selection.”

“He selected them himself, you say.”

Alexis muttered as if to himself. He slowly ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek and looked down at the sleeping Cecil.

He bothered to replace the servants the empress had assigned to him? Why on earth?

Since he couldn’t grasp the intention, the urge to split open that small head and look inside repeatedly arose.

Cecil Adrian was the most difficult problem Alexis had ever faced in his life. He had always confronted problems with cool reason, but when it came to matters related to Cecil, his emotions took precedence, and it felt as if his quick-witted mind became dull.

Another migraine was coming on, and Alexis pressed his forehead firmly. He couldn’t figure out how on earth he should deal with this person.

✽ ✽ ✽

Two months had passed since the knighting ceremony. During that time, the Verca Empire continued to enjoy peaceful days.

The demonic beasts of the Black Forest, which had always made the empire’s citizens anxious, had disappeared, and with the mining industry taking off in earnest, the empire’s economy was enjoying a boom like never before.

As the nation prospered, support and praise for the imperial family naturally deepened.

Thanks to Crown Prince Alexis, who was further solidifying the empire’s security by cultivating the Imperial Knights, and Empress Elizabeth, who was leading the nation’s revival, the empire had literally entered the greatest period of prosperity in its history.

However, the imperial family, which the citizens of the empire were praising in one voice, was currently walking on thin ice. It was enough to be compared to a battlefield, as meticulous schemes were being exchanged without a single day’s rest.

“Isn’t a hunting competition a bit much at a time like this?”