Eve Festival (2)
Returning to my office, I let out a sigh at the unexpected guest following me from the banquet hall.
“Albedo. What are you going to do if you, too, leave the party?”
“Well, how are you? It’s not like I’m the main character of the party anyway.”
“Tsk.”
said the boy, holding back his laughter.
“Rather, shouldn’t we blame our brother, who is the number one contributor to the northern defense, for escaping?”
“It is a useless meddling.”
I said this, but it was also true that I was glad inside.
Before returning, did he disappear after his father’s death? It was the first time in 10 years that I faced this way.
I hope I can meet you in a place like this.
The boy’s mouth opened before he could even enjoy the emotion that came to him.
“You don’t even treat guests here, do you? I wish I had a cup of tea.”
“It’s not like I was expecting something like that.”
“That is what it means. By the way, is that man in the venue just now a new attendant?”
“He is the person who will become my aide in the future.”
Then, looking a little interested, Albedo stroked his roughly grown beard and said,
“Putting an unverified person as an aide? You don’t look like a big brother.”
From noble mtl dot com.
“I’ll need something like that to deal with the rats who try to hinder my movements.”
“Hoo.”
It was a very strange thing.
The expression of the guy who was rough in everything changed in an instant to serious.
“What kind of idiots tried to hinder the first prince’s movements?”
“There are guys like that. Since Asus, the head of the King’s faction, died at the hands of the first prince, fools who want to use this opportunity to burn their ambitions.”
It was just a little bit abstract, but it was natural for Albedo’s lips to curl up.
I said as I sat down at my desk in the office.
“How’s your maternal grandfather, Duke William, doing?”
Finally, Albedo’s lips, which had been curled up, bloomed brightly.
No further explanation was needed.
At least for the two of us here.
“May I ask how you knew that?”
“There is nothing that can’t be done. But I don’t like explaining very much.”
“I’m saying you can’t see it.”
After giggling for a while, Albedo put down the teacup he had been sipping on and leaned back on the sofa.
“older brother. I am not interested in the position of king. In the first place, I hadn’t even touched the royal studies… … But my mother and the old man seem to have different ideas.”
“Did you tell me to stop the concentration of power?”
“answer. My role is to destroy the structure where the first prince becomes the crown prince. After that, they said they would do it on their own.”
The words coming out of his mouth right now were not something that could be taken lightly.
A duke who covets the position of king by using the 2nd prince as bait.
It is a story at a level that could lead to a civil war if done wrong.
I laughed at the hypothesis that fit without filtering.
Guy Albedo also smirked, not caring about that.
“Even if things go wrong, he said he would give me the life of a commoner as he wished, and for me, it was a contract with no loss whatsoever.”
“Right. Did you step into a fight for the throne in exchange for freedom?”
“I should have just run away, but… … How could I abandon my mother who cries for her first and last request as a son?”
Albedo, the child of the concubine, was basically like this even before returning.
With a windy personality, he was extremely reluctant to stay in one place, and always sang that he wanted to abandon his status as Prince Shang and become a mercenary.
That’s why it was nagging to leave the duties of a prince alone, and he barely had time to even stay in the palace.
However, on the contrary, his mother, Queen Sarah, and his maternal grandfather, Duke William, had different thoughts.
‘They were greedy people.’
The check on the throne is a normal thing, and even after ascending the throne, he attacked me for an opportunity.
Even if it wasn’t for the second prince who ran away because he hated the weight of the crown, he probably thought that it was enough to get the king’s seat.
Would I have done this as soon as Asus, who was my guardian and the center of the nobility, was gone?
That must have been the reason Albedo suddenly disappeared.
anyway… … .
“Did you come here just to say that?”
“It’s just that. I came here to spill information to my older brother who probably doesn’t know anything about it. I would like to say my regards… … .”
That I already knew it, I just didn’t expect it at all.
Albedo swallowed the words behind him and got up from the sofa.
“Anyway, be careful. I’m on the same side, but I don’t know what to say, but the old man seems to have nothing to fear.”
“Why are you telling me, my competitor, about that?”
“… … .”
It was a more fundamental problem.
In the first place, even if the guy came to visit us like this and confided in the information about the Americas, there was nothing to gain from him.
Just as he said, the corners of his mouth were forced up as if bitter.
“That side… … Wouldn’t that be fun?”
I didn’t ask any more about that voice that was completely different from my true intentions.
So the guy left
Tick-tock-
Time passed, and the hands of the clock were moving toward midnight.
Baron Vidor approached me as I drank alone.
“majesty.”
“… … .”
“How come you are here and not at the banquet hall?”
Silence to soothe the quickened breath for a moment.
I smiled at the beads of sweat on his forehead.
“Have you been looking for me?”
“yes? yes. We arrived at the banquet hall after assigning the dwarves temporary lodgings, but His Highness was no longer there, so we went looking for him. George-kun, who was entrusted with training, is nowhere to be seen… … .”
“Right.”
I gently shook my wine glass and rested my chin on it.
“I had a brief conversation with Albedo.”
“Albedora Hashim… … Are you referring to His Highness, the 2nd Prince of Albedo?”
“okay.”
“Ha, but he instigated His Highness’s assassination… … !”
Aren’t you the grandson of Duke William?
… … It was Baron Vidor who had barely swallowed such gossip.
I didn’t nod my head, but I emptied my wine glass at once as if in affirmation.
However, he could not shake off the agony that complicates his mind.
“Can one who has no hostility be called an enemy?”
Right now, through the Northern Expedition, I was in a position where I no longer had to worry about their trivial checks.
Rather, to the extent that it harms the legitimacy of the forces that discredit me.
The more you move public opinion, the more you tighten your own neck.
The corruption circumstances of those who appear in that situation will be the driving force that makes my position more solid.
so that. The guy knew everything and came to me.
“… … I didn’t want to be king, so I stepped into the fight for the throne myself.”
“yes?”
“In exchange for saving the life of her mother, who dared set her sights on the throne, she must have thought that a guaranteed throne would be adequate.”
Today’s party was no longer a place to celebrate the historic success of the expedition.
The eve of the belated battle for the throne.
I was rarely troubled.
This was also an interesting story.
* * *
match!
At the same time as the sharp noise, the two princes’ heads swung back.
It was a bit bitter, it looked like it had been scratched by a fingernail.
Oh, it bleeds.
“majesty… … !”
“It’s okay, so let’s go.”
The startled voice of the attendant was heard, but the second prince smiled and bit the attendant.
Nevertheless, the expression of anger toward the second prince was not over.
“Two princes. Who told you to move like that?”
“hahahaha… … Still, he’s like two princes, so please look at his face.”
“Don’t try to go over like that again. Do you know what the situation in the palace is like now?”
Ha, trouble!
If you get angry like this, it’s clear that it won’t be resolved for a while… … .
Albedo’s shoulders shrugged at Queen Sara’s ferocious expression.
“I think I was wrong.”
Whiik-
“Oops.”
Mother’s hand swung again.
It was so sincere that I would never have thought of wielding it on my son.
But this time, Albedo, who succeeded in snatching it from the air, trembled.
“I told you. From now on, I will be standing at public events, but having scars is a problem.”
“… … I will tell my father everything about this.”
“Please also tell them not to throw broken glass.”
“joy.”
The back of Queen Sarah leaving the room with such distorted eyes.
In an instant, a feeling of loneliness passed over Albedo’s face.
But that’s for a while. In the face of the entourage who soon followed, he was wearing a flimsy mask as usual.
“Wow, are you okay? Where did you get hurt… … .”
“Ah, okay. It’s familiar.”
“but… … .”
It’s a familiar thing, but it can’t stop the heartbreaking.
Knowing this fact better than anyone else was an attendant who had been by his side for over 10 years.
of course. As always, the fact that the man standing in front of him would pass it off with a smile.
“Rather than that, I want to be alone right now, so can I go out?”
“… … All right. Please call me if you need anything.”
“thank you.”
The room of the 2nd prince was enveloped in silence as if there had been a commotion.
The only sound heard was the rustling of the clothes of the second prince as he cleaned up the messy items.
It was an act close to resignation.
“… … I can’t use this anymore.”
She pushes the sleeping lamp to one side of the room where she is sleeping alone with her neck broken.
After that, the feathers in the pillow were horribly scattered like intestines.
Then, his rather tidy room reappeared.
“… … .”
Finally, as Albedo picked up the pillowcase from the tip of her toe, her eyes turned to the small picture frame hanging above the bed.
The mother of a young day smiling happily and the face of himself playing without any worries.
A lonely smile was plastered on his lips at the fact that he was so contrary to his situation.
“Are you saying there’s nothing to worry about?”
Albedo had an old pendant engraved with the royal family’s pattern in her hand.
As if out of habit, as always, he put the hand holding the pendant to his chest and whispered quietly.
“Activate.”
… …
Nothing happened.
Even though the magical energy felt in it penetrated into the eyes clearly enough.
Albedo put down the pendant with a self-deprecating smile.
“also.”
There was no other way to explain the discovery of this artifact other than that it was luck.
It was an item that I found by chance in the library of ‘Father’ that I sneaked into.
As a clear Albedo, I was able to guess the identity of this thing.
An old treasure of a now forgotten kingdom.
Looking at the type of magic circuit, there must have been a spell to summon something.
And the triggering condition is definitely someone who inherited royal blood.
… … All of this was just speculation on his part.
Because I don’t remember ever having to activate an artifact.
“There’s no way I can be king.”
As a child, Albedo was clearer than anyone else.
To the extent that he could immediately notice what kind of situation he was in.