Chapter 33
1.
As I breathed in the fragrant scent of Doloris's palm covering my mouth,
I stared intently at the prince's necklace.
At a glance, it was a necklace with a moon-shaped design and a moonlight jewel that glowed faintly blue.
It was the first four-star piece of equipment I had seen inside the banquet hall.
But what did the stars matter right now?
‘What options can ordinary appraisers see?’
[It only shows as far as the ‘Origin Script,’ what Oppa calls the flavor text.]
Origin Script.
Then, in other people's eyes, that equipment would look like this.
─────────────────
[Essence Necklace of Moonlight][★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment]
─────────────────
『May the Moon Goddess caress you with Her benevolent hand.
May that blessing be eternal….』
── In the name of the Moon Goddess, Celea ──
─────────────────
Wouldn't it look like this?
[And I quickly searched it, and apparently Celea is a god famous for medicine and sorcery within the tower.]
…Then anyone who read that would have no choice but to think it was equipment that treated illnesses.
It said it bestowed blessings. And it probably did restore the wearer before all the essence was drained.
Blessing, my ass. Damn it.
I don't know who Celea is, but I think I should report her to the police.
I clutched my dizzy head and fell into thought.
Then another person beside him caught my eye.
She was just as emaciated as the prince, and she was passing directly in front of me at that moment.
The princess's eyes met mine.
─────────────────
[Sun Rising Pendant][★★★★☆]
[Unique Equipment][Compatibility][45 / 80]
─────────────────
『The descendant of the sun shall protect you with a blazing blessing.
May that light illuminate the path before you.』
── In the name of Solau, descendant of the sun ──
─────────────────
[Restores the wearer by the amount of sunlight essence contained within.]
[When the essence runs out, it draws energy from sunlight.]
─────────────────
Unexpected.
The princess's equipment was quite excellent, and its compatibility was decent too.
Then what on earth was wrong….
Why was this person so thin as well?
It was then.
- Crackle.
The perfectly normal equipment interface warped.
─────────────────
[Special: Solar Eclipse][Set Effect Activated]
[When equipment belonging to the sibling deity, Celea, is nearby, it forcibly switches.]
[Just as the moon devours the sun, the Moonlight Essence is consumed under Celea's pressure.]
[It also drains the wearer's vitality and offers it to the Moonlight Essence.]
─────────────────
『You're getting on my nerves with how dazzling you are…… Hey, do you want to die?』
『Ce…Celea, but I'm still your older brother….』
『Shut up. Either dim your light or go die somewhere. Choose one.』
── From The Reunion of Celea and Solau ──
─────────────────
…To summarize it simply.
Solau and Celea were sibling deities, but if the Moonlight Essence ran low,
Celea would bully and pressure her older brother Solau, even draining the wearer's vitality?
What kind of awful set effect was this?
I suddenly thought of Yuna.
Though she did siphon two hundred dollars from me, I was glad she wasn't this vicious toward me.
[…?]
Anyway.
That Essence Necklace of Moonlight didn't just torment its wearer.
It seemed to torment the princess's pendant beside it as well, lumping the two together….
The princess was proof of that: despite having decent compatibility, she was emaciated.
The ultimate culprit was the Essence Necklace of Moonlight.
[Essence][3/100]
There was still a long way to go before the essence was replenished.
If the prince didn't take it off, he would die.
“……”
By the way, Lady Doloris, when were you going to take your hand away?
My breathing was getting a little difficult, and I couldn't stay like this forever, so I discreetly stuck out my tongue and touched her palm.
“……?!”
The effect was immediate.
Doloris flinched and withdrew her hand….
What? Why wasn't she taking it away?
- Boom, boom, boom.
It was then.
- Boom, boom, boom.
In front of the banquet hall's dais,
the drumming died down, and the hall gradually fell silent.
When the emperor seated at the head table casually raised a hand, the already-quiet hall grew even quieter.
“ㅡ Everyone, thank you all for coming such a long way.”
His low voice reverberated throughout the hall.
“Today is a meaningful day, as we celebrate the birth of my two beloved children.”
The emperor's gaze turned toward the twin siblings standing beside him.
His eyes were filled with boundless affection as he looked at his children,
but somewhere at the edge of that gaze, a shadow lingered.
It was the look of a father watching his two children grow thinner by the day.
Unable to imagine what he must be feeling, I swallowed my bitterness in silence.
“But let us dispense with formalities here. For today, enjoy yourselves and leave comfortably.”
It was a remarkably brief and plain speech.
When the emperor finished and lightly raised his glass, the nobles throughout the hall all raised theirs in unison.
“To the glory of the Empire.”
“To the glory of the Empire!”
Only then did Doloris take her hand off me and return the emperor's toast,
and the banquet began.
2.
The beginning of a banquet probably varied depending on its type,
but since this was the twins' birthday, the first procedure was the presentation of gifts.
The nobles went up to the dais one by one and presented the siblings with the gifts they had prepared.
- Swish.
“This is snow ginseng, said to grow only in the northern snowfields. I was told there is nothing better for invigorating the body, so I humbly offer it.”
- Swish.
“This is an elixir made by grinding pearls from the deep sea. I have heard it is exceptionally effective at treating frail constitutions.”
- Swish.
“This is a fire crystal mined from the Lava Valley on the 53rd floor of the Inner Tower. It warms the body and circulates the blood, so I hope it will help preserve Your Highnesses' health.”
- Swish.
As I watched the gifts being delivered one after another without much interest, I suddenly noticed something they had in common.
They were all similar in nature: expensive tonics, precious medicinal ingredients, elixirs said to be good for the body, and so on.
Every single one was related to health.
In a way, they seemed less like gifts for the prince and princess than gifts for the emperor, who wished for his children's health.
According to Yuna, the two were sixteen years old.
They weren't yet at an age when they needed to worry about managing their health,
so perhaps that was why neither child's expression looked particularly pleased.
“Hmm.”
If I imagined someone giving thirteen-year-old me a gift of red ginseng, I supposed I would feel the same way.
I subtly leaned toward Doloris, who was sitting beside me.
“…Lady Doloris, might I ask what ails His Highness the Prince and Her Highness the Princess?”
Doloris did not answer my question immediately.
- Brush, brush.
She stroked back her hair, then slowly nodded.
I suppose that meant it was true—the illnesses of the two that were known to the public.
And the gifts concerning cures for those illnesses kept coming in.
I was watching the dais absently with that thought in mind when the host called the next name.
“The House of Doloris presents gifts to Their Highnesses.”
What? Was it our turn?
Doloris rose from her seat and walked gracefully to the front of the dais.
What she held was quite different from the items everyone else had presented so far.
They weren't medicinal ingredients or tonics, but two neatly wrapped books.
“These are collections of legends and adventure stories from a distant foreign land. I thought Their Highnesses might enjoy them, so I prepared them separately.”
Doloris's voice was calm.
“…When you feel stifled, I hope you can wander through the wider world, at least within these pages.”
At that moment, the expressions of the twins, who had been wearing nothing more than polite smiles, changed.
The prince in particular brightened for the first time, his eyes sparkling in his pale face.
He adjusted his glasses and opened his mouth.
“Is this perhaps the complete edition of The Voyager of the Great Sea?! I heard it had gone out of print…!”
“Brother.”
The princess gently admonished the prince, who had spoken in an excited voice.
She meant that he should observe proper decorum, but a faint smile had spread across her own lips as well.
As expected of Doloris.
She really was different.
Rather than trying to curry favor with the emperor, she had chosen to give them something they genuinely needed.
She was looking at them as sixteen-year-old children, not as sickly members of the imperial family.
After the gift presentation ended, the banquet entered its proper flow.
And before long, I realized one thing.
Banquets were more boring than I had expected.
Asking after one another's well-being,
listening to the orchestra's music, and half-heartedly eating food taken from the spread on the large table.
The end.
Before I knew it, the crowd had split into two groups.
One side consisted of the adults from each noble family,
and the other consisted of their heirs.
They divided into groups of people their own age and groups discussing politics and business.
- Poke.
Just then, Ruby poked me in the side.
“Hey, let's go. Just follow me.”
“Ooh.”
It seemed she was going to take me over to the people our age.
That was rather reassuring. It would have been a little awkward to stay glued to Mommy the whole time.
I obediently nodded, but before I could move,
I paused for a moment.
The prince and princess were seated in the middle of the space where the young people had gathered beyond us.
There was something I needed to say first.
I leaned toward Doloris beside me again and lowered my voice.
“…Mommy, you know I have good eyes, right?”
“Mm, of course.”
Her voice was affectionate and seemed to carry no particular thought.
“…But the prince's and princess's necklaces seem a little strange.”
“What do you mean?”
The first principle.
Always report to Doloris.
I knew absolutely nothing about politics, manners, or etiquette, so reporting first and acting afterward was the right choice for me, rather than acting first and reporting afterward.
I whispered what I had just seen, keeping my voice as low as possible.
The prince's necklace looked good on the outside, but it was actually draining his vitality,
and the prince's necklace was also consuming the princess's necklace beside him, drying them both out.
The longer I spoke, the stiffer Doloris's expression became.
“……”
She no longer questioned whether my words were true.
I wasn't a child spouting nonsense to get attention,
and she knew that far too well by now.
There was a brief silence.
Ruby also stopped the fingers that had been tickling my side and whispered.
“I'll be over there.”
After weighing something with a grim expression, Doloris opened her mouth.
“……We cannot know who gave that necklace to them at this point. But there is a high probability that it was someone's gift.”
“……”
“So it would be difficult to step forward right now and claim that it is a monstrous object.”
Doloris continued speaking calmly.
“That would amount to openly rejecting a gift someone had presented to the imperial family. And if it is equipment meant to be worn on a member of the imperial family's body… then surely the finest appraisers would have examined it several times.”
“……”
“It would be difficult to claim that such an item actually drains vitality when we have so little evidence.”
She had a point.
I could see it, but no one else could.
I alone knew the truth beyond the Origin Script.
If I stepped forward for no reason, I would surely be branded a crazy child while shouldering nothing but political risks.
Doloris might receive some benefit of the doubt, but I would fare even worse….
“…So,”
Doloris quietly looked down at me.
“If the setting had relatively few such obstacles—in other words, if it were a conversation among children—then perhaps it might be possible.”
She paused to choose her words, then asked quietly.
“Do you have a way to prove it?”
If she asked me that, then I naturally would…
“Of course.”
There was no way I couldn't.
Sorry, but tracing things to reach a conclusion was the difficult part.
Proving a conclusion I already had was incredibly easy.
And I sensed something in her words just then.
[One more thing]
[Lady Doloris seems to trust Oppa to an incredible degree.]
[She's trying to push Oppa into high society right now.]
Even Yuna had analyzed it that way.
Come to think of it, she was right.
Doloris believed everything I said, from beginning to end, and trusted me.
[She judged the likelihood of Oppa pulling it off to be higher than the risk of something going wrong.]
[Even if things go wrong, she seems confident that she can clean it up.]
When I nodded with a confident expression,
- Smack.
Doloris bent down slightly and lightly kissed my forehead.
“Do your best.”
She added in a gentle voice.
“Even if something goes wrong, don't worry too much.”
She met my eyes.
“Because I'm always behind you.”
……That was reassuring.
Even though I hadn't been all that burdened to begin with, those words made the remaining weight disappear too.
I nodded slightly and walked toward Ruby, who was waiting for me.
3.
Holding Ruby's hand tightly,
I quietly racked my brain as we headed toward the people our age.
And Yuna provided her full support throughout the process.
Kim Yuna, queen of high society.
Yuna surveyed the far side of the hall, opposite where the young people had gathered.
[Let me organize the situation first.]
[I'm not sure about the prince, but the princess is a little unusual.]
[That girl isn't mixing with the crowd right now. She's just circling around the outside.]
‘The outside?’
[Yeah. She's brushing off the nobles who come to greet her by using the excuse that she needs to read the books Lady Doloris gave her, and she's gradually edging toward the perimeter.]
[But it's obvious she isn't very interested in the books. She doesn't look like she's enjoying this gathering.]
Her health was poor, so it made sense that she wouldn't enjoy the noisy center.
[So here's what we do.]
[You also make only the necessary greetings while holding Ruby's hand, then naturally drift toward the outside.]
[Keep a reasonable distance from the princess—about five meters?]
[You're the most handsome and intriguing person in this hall right now, Oppa.]
Thanks for the compliment.
It was nice even if it was just lip service.
[But even so, the other nobles can't easily approach you. Do you know why?]
I had no idea.
[The stars of this event are the prince and princess. They can't let the spotlight shift somewhere else.]
[If everyone rushed over to some handsome little boy from an unknown ducal family, it would amount to sullying the protagonists' faces. All they can do is watch and read the room.]
I see.
So I should stand in a no-wind zone, attracting the princess's attention,
while making sure no one could actually approach me?
[Exactly….]
“Ruby, I'm going to rest for a bit.”
“Okay.”
Ruby must have noticed that I had received some kind of hint from Doloris too,
because the instant I finished speaking, she naturally stepped forward.
“Your Highness, I have an interesting story about the books… Would you perhaps like to hear it?”
Skillfully taking on all the aggro, she led the prince and the group of nobles toward the curtains.
Nice, Ruby.
[All right, now you….]
[Keep chewing chocolate five meters in front of the princess.]
[With a cool, haughty expression.]
It wasn't an expression I had ever made in my life,
but I decided to try it anyway.
- Munch.
I put a piece of chocolate in my mouth and casually took a seat near the edge of the hall.
And I kept chewing chocolate.
- Munch, munch.
…Five minutes passed like that.
The excessive sweetness had made my mouth numb.
‘Yuna, this is really the right move, isn't it…?’
[That's right. Keep chewing.]
[Pick only the chocolate and keep going, and going.]
I was starting to wonder what kind of strategy this was.
Even I would have tried talking to a child who had been chewing nothing but chocolate in front of me for five straight minutes.
Forget looking cool—this was just attracting attention.
[Absolutely do not look at the princess.]
- Munch, munch.
While I was wasting away chocolate like that, I felt a gaze from far away.
It was Ruby.
She was staring at me with an expression that seemed to ask what on earth I was doing.
This was so unfair.
I opened another piece of chocolate, pouring all my sense of injustice into it.
Just as I began to wonder whether I was about to pass out from a blood sugar spike,
- Munch.
“…If you keep eating only sweets like that, you might collapse.”
“……”
Someone spoke to me from behind.
It was a clear, gentle voice.
I knew who it was without even turning around.
I had her.
This little…
“You came at just the right time. I was about to collapse.”
The princess blinked lightly at my brazen reply.
[Oh, that's good!! Really good, but manners, manners, manners!!!!!]
Right.
As though it had all been part of my greeting, I naturally straightened my posture.
I lightly bent one knee and bowed my head.
“…I am Lionel, taken in by the House of Doloris.”
I made every effort to show that I had been properly educated and offered a respectful greeting.
The princess looked down at me for a moment, then.
- Pfft.
She let out a faint laugh.
And then.
"……I accept your greeting, Lionel."
After laughing for a while, she slowly wiped the amusement from her face.
Then she quietly looked down at me and asked.
“You must have something you want to say, if you went so far as to eat chocolate for ten straight minutes…?”
Her final words
hit the bull's-eye.