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Chapter 7.5

A black-haired, black-eyed man sat deeply in a leather chair that was not gaudy but refined, inside a narrow room without windows. The moment I reflected in those eyes, they softened slightly, narrowing with a hint of familiarity. I was probably making the same expression myself.

I knelt before him and lowered my head. The person before me was Kyos Ziggy Dithotonicus. The Crown Prince of this country. Etiquette had to be observed.

「It has been a while. Your Highness Kyos appears to be in excellent spirits today as well」

「That’s enough, stop. I’ve had everyone dismissed. When you talk to me in that tone it makes me itch」

「Even though I’m not your guard knight anymore. But if it’s a royal command, I guess I can’t refuse」

In truth, there’s no need for etiquette between Kyos and me at all. This is more like a set greeting when we speak together. You could call it a ritual necessary for a Crown Prince and an ordinary knight to talk as friends.

I stood up immediately and sat in the chair opposite him. Whenever we come here, we sit facing each other and just talk. We keep talking until our throats grow dry. During that time, we don’t eat or drink anything. If poison somehow got mixed in, I’d be the one suspected. Kyos avoids that possibility.

I have a good friend. My one and only best friend. …And now I’ve met someone else I want to become friends with.

「You seem to be in a good mood. What happened?」

「You can tell? Actually, I met someone I’d like to become friends with」

「…Oh? Tell me more」

He leaned forward slightly, and I smiled. When he listens to me like this, it means he’s interested.

I began telling him about Cyril, the pharmacist. Of course, I kept quiet about the part where she might possess some kind of special power. I promised her, after all.

So what I told him about was her blunt attitude toward me, and the fact that she sees through the expressions I put on. The second point especially is important. She’s the second person after Kyos to see through the true feelings I try to hide. Just that alone makes me unable to help being intrigued.

「She probably finds me troublesome. But somehow… I keep bothering her」

It was obvious from her attitude that she didn’t want to get involved with me. She often said things meant to push me away, but it never quite felt serious, because glimpses of her meddlesome kindness would appear.

If she really wanted to push me away, she could just stop selling me medicine. She could use the medicine as leverage to control my actions. She could stop risking herself gathering ingredients and stop making my medicine altogether.

If she did that, I’d quietly back down. And if she showed actual disgust, I’d limit our relationship to nothing more than buying and selling medicine. Because I know that nothing is more unpleasant than someone you dislike trying to get close to you.

(But she smiled like that… So she doesn’t hate me, probably.)

Just for a moment. Usually her face is either expressionless, or faintly shows irritation she can’t quite hide. But for a brief instant, a small smile appeared. The corners of her lips rose just slightly, and the edges of her eyes softened just a little. It was a tiny change. But it wasn’t the polished smile she gave other customers. It was different. That expression she showed while bowing her head stayed burned into my mind. When she raised her face again, it had returned to its usual expressionless state, but I still remember it.

…She smiles beautifully. Since she showed me that expression, maybe we’ve become a little closer. And maybe from here on, we can become even closer.

「I want to see more of her expressions. …If possible, I want to see her smiling」

Kyos listened to my story with amusement in his eyes and said, 「I look forward to hearing good news」

That concluded the story about Cyril. After that we talked about rumors from town, and I listened to things about Kyos himself. After about an hour, when he says, 「My throat’s getting dry」, our time ends.

「Well then, see you later, Kyos」

「Yeah」

We exchanged brief farewells and I stood up. I don’t know when we’ll meet again. It isn’t easy for him, the Crown Prince, to make time, and schedules can’t simply be set whenever we want.

Thinking about that makes me feel a little lonely. Time spent with a close friend is comfortable, and hard to leave behind. If I had remained his guard knight, we would probably have had more chances to talk.

「Hector」

「Hm?」

Just as I placed my hand on the door, he called out to me. I turned around. Still reclining in his chair, my best friend was looking at me with a thoroughly amused smile.

「Do your best. I’m looking forward to your report」

「Yeah, got it」

His words were few, but I knew he was referring to Cyril. I wondered if Kyos had become curious about her too, and something in my chest felt caught.

It felt similar to when someone tries to take away a toy you thought you’d found first.

Of course she’s not a toy but a person, and thinking that way is rude.

I’ve always shared everything I liked with Kyos. He’s the same with me. By showing each other the things we thought were good, we became best friends unlike any other.

Thinking that maybe I shouldn’t have told him about her is strange.

──────

Even after his long-time friend left, Kyos remained seated in the chair for a while, deep in thought. He was the prince destined to become the next king of this country, a position carrying enormous power and tremendous responsibility.

Because of that, he had grown up entangled in the schemes of adults since childhood, and thus had confidence in his ability to see through the true emotions hidden behind people’s expressions. Kyos couldn’t stop thinking about the behavior of the friend he had just spoken with.

(…That guy talking about a woman)

Hector Alderde, Kyos’ childhood friend and best companion. Since childhood he had possessed striking beauty, and Kyos’s first impression of him had been “a doll.” A face so perfectly formed it hardly seemed human, like a finely crafted doll.

If he had been a woman, that beauty might have caused countless conflicts among those who desired it, perhaps even bringing a nation to ruin. …There are already conflicts among women because of him, so it’s fortunate that women hold no political power in this country. If they did, war might have broken out.

In any case, Hector had been blessed with looks to an unfortunate degree. When they first met, young Kyos had honestly said Hector looked like a living doll, which angered him terribly. Even then he already attracted women, and had developed a strong discomfort toward his own appearance.

Of course it led to a huge fight afterward, but it wasn’t the same as an ordinary quarrel between children.

(That one was my fault. …It’s a good thing no adults were around)

One was the Crown Prince, the other a boy from a knight’s family. Even if his knight father was technically a noble, that didn’t mean his children were. If Hector or one of his brothers failed to achieve merit as adults, their family would lose its title.

If adults had witnessed it, Hector would likely have been punished. But by the time adults came to check on them, the two had already said everything they wanted and made up.

From that day onward, Hector became Kyos’s guard knight. They went everywhere together. He was an easygoing friend and the most trusted subordinate.

That all changed the day they encountered a monster.

(He was injured protecting me and can no longer hold a sword… and on top of that…)

Kyos knew. He knew Hector desperately hid the pain in his right hand. Even though he felt guilty about what remained in that hand, he made sure not to show it on his face. Because once, when he had shown that guilt, his friend had begun hiding his suffering behind a smile.

Six years have passed since then. During that time, Kyos knew Hector constantly took painkillers. Not only could his right hand not move, it hurt enough to require medicine. He knew, yet pretended not to know.

That was his atonement. This had happened because Kyos had secretly taken Hector out alone. It would be easy to regret and apologize for stealing his future, but because Hector did not want that, Kyos swallowed the words.

Continuing to bear that guilt was, in Kyos’s mind, punishment for himself.

(But he seemed to be in good condition today… he’s even using fewer painkillers)

And above all, Hector talking about a woman was shocking. Kyos knew well that Hector disliked women. He could easily imagine Hector refusing even a political marriage, so strong was his aversion toward them.

Yet that friend spoke happily about a woman who ran a pharmacy.

What on earth happened? That was the thought that came to him as he looked at Hector’s expression. The emotion floating in those honey-colored eyes was unmistakably,

(…He could probably charm any woman he doesn’t care about)

But maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t understand how to treat a woman he truly likes.

The more Kyos remembered Hector’s personality and behavior toward women, the more certain he felt of that.

Staring at the empty chair where his friend had been sitting moments ago, Kyos let out a small sigh.

「In your case, it might be better if you never realize it」

Those words echoed through the room and faded away without reaching anyone else.