Chapter 35
1.
Ruby decided to draw attention to herself for Lionel's sake.
She wasn't really the type to enjoy putting herself forward, either.
It wasn't that she liked it; there was simply nothing she couldn't do.
Well, if it was to help Lionel.
- Click.
As Ruby walked toward the curtains in her adorable little shoes,
the children around her age began following her one by one.
It was only natural.
At this gathering, she was the highest-ranking child after the Imperial family.
The sole heir of House Doloris—no, now there were two heirs.
The scions of most families were careful even about approaching her first.
“Which ranker's tower-climbing lectures have you been attending lately, my lady?”
“My older brother always says you have to prepare diligently starting five years before climbing the Tower.”
Ruby fielded the words pouring in from every direction appropriately.
Ruby didn't attend any ranker's lectures, nor was she diligently preparing.
She had no interest in such boring talk.
She only intended to keep them occupied for a while.
But Lionel was just eating chocolate.
‘…Good grief, what would he do without me?’
He was quite a handful.
- Swish.
Just then, a boy pushed through the group and stepped forward.
He was the eldest son of Count Valmon, with his family's gaudy crest emblazoned across his chest.
“Lady Ruby. It is truly an honor to meet you like this.”
“…Yes.”
Her answer was short simply because she had nothing else to add.
But the boy didn't mind and continued speaking to her warmly.
"However, my lady. I heard that His Grace the Duke recently took in another child."
"……"
The eldest son's gaze shifted toward Lionel, who was sitting alone over there.
"Goodness… It seems a gathering like this is unfamiliar to him. Judging by how he's standing apart…"
Ruby's eyes narrowed.
His tone was polite—and the content seemed concerned enough—but
she wasn't young enough not to understand what he meant by it.
Ruby knew the best way to deal with a situation like this.
Precisely.
"……"
Indifference.
Not answering at all was also a good approach.
Talking about Lionel would only amount to dragging Lionel into the conversation.
Thus began the most exhausting kind of conversation at the gathering,
and just as Ruby was halfheartedly letting it wash over her.
“……?!”
A young lady looked toward the opposite side and covered her mouth.
Ruby turned her head to look that way, and
by then, Lionel had already coaxed the Imperial Princess into handing over her necklace.
Quite a talent.
How long had he even been here, and he had already extracted an Imperial possession.
Then.
After staring intently at Lionel for a while, the Imperial Princess turned as though she had made up her mind.
Then she walked straight over to the Imperial Prince.
- Whisper.
The Imperial Princess whispered something into the Imperial Prince's ear, and his face hardened.
The Imperial Prince shook his head, but….
- Clink.
In the end, it wasn't long before the necklace around his neck was taken from him.
The Imperial Princess held the necklace between her fingertips as though it were covered in something filthy, then returned to Lionel.
‘What?’
But before thirteen-year-old brat Ruby could even figure out what was happening,
the Imperial Princess, necklace in hand, took Lionel and
left through the back stairs of the banquet hall.
- Murmur, murmur.
The banquet hall erupted into commotion in an instant.
It wasn't just the heirs' hall that was buzzing; attention focused on the main hall as well.
The guest of honor today, the Imperial Princess, was leaving the banquet hall with a child from a ducal house.
“Her Highness….”
“Where is she taking the Duke's child…?”
Ruby deliberately withdrew her gaze and muttered inwardly.
‘It worked.’
But why was her head throbbing and her stomach churning?
Ever since she began living with Lionel, there had been nothing but incomprehensible incidents,
but of all of them, she somehow didn't want to understand this one.
2.
After hearing that the Imperial Prince's necklace was in an even more serious condition, the Imperial Princess suddenly ran off somewhere.
Where are you going?
For a moment, I wondered if she was going to report everything to the Emperor.
But then she approached the Imperial Prince and got the necklace from him after only a few words.
He seemed a little reluctant to give it to her, but she got it from him in an instant.
“The attention is making you uncomfortable, isn't it?”
“Yes, a little.”
In truth, it wasn't just a little.
The gazes converging on me had been oppressing me for a while now.
“Follow me.”
“Yes?”
“If we go out through those stairs, there's a hallway and a terrace. Let's talk there.”
As I watched her start to lead the way, I suddenly remembered something.
Was I supposed to escort her? I thought I'd heard something like that somewhere.
Apparently, when walking alongside a woman at a gathering like this, it was proper etiquette to offer her your hand.
I naturally started to extend my hand, but….
[Don’t hold out your hand!!]
Yuna's command stopped my hand.
But instead, the Imperial Princess lightly tugged on my wrist.
“?”
“Hurry. Follow me.”
Did members of the Imperial family usually drag people around like this?
[…No]
Yuna's answer was firm.
[Maybe it's because you're young, Oppa]
Anyway, I was led up the stairs by the Imperial Princess, who seemed to be in a hurry.
Since carrying the necklace looked inconvenient, I took it from her and carried it instead.
At the top of the stairs, a long corridor appeared.
It was a gallery lined with pillars.
Beneath them, lights cast their glow at regular intervals.
The sun must have set at some point, because moonlight streamed through the windows and illuminated us.
The noisy din faded the farther we walked.
And then, at the end of the gallery.
- Swish.
When I drew back the curtains, the night breeze brushed across my face.
It was a wide-open terrace.
Only then did I notice.
[Someone keeps following us from behind?]
An extremely tall man was quietly following us from behind.
It was really frightening. Walking in the moonlight's shadow, I felt intensely pressured.
“Don't mind him. He's my guardian knight.”
“Ah, I see.”
Perhaps noticing where I was looking, the Imperial Princess said calmly,
“Of course, provided that Mr. Lionel… doesn't do anything, that is?”
“Haha.”
“I'm joking.”
The Imperial Princess raised the corners of her mouth and made the joke.
Sorry, but if I had intended to do something bad, I wouldn't have told you about the necklace in the first place.
If I'd kept my mouth shut, the Imperial Princess would have withered away on her own.
The guardian knight crossed the entrance to the terrace and came right up beside us.
It was a little intimidating. It felt like having an exam proctor stand right next to me.
I didn't think I had to worry, since a guardian knight of the Imperial family didn't seem like the type to have a loose tongue.
He was just intimidating, that's all.
Only then did his face come into view.
His black hair had been swept back carelessly.
Perhaps because he was standing with his back to the moonlight, his face was shrouded in shadow, but his exposed eyes were sharp.
“Richard, don't tell anyone what you saw here.”
“…I shall.”
Along with the Imperial Princess's request,
the three of us walked toward the terrace railing.
A small table stood beside the railing.
I naturally set the two pieces of jewelry down on the table.
- Clatter.
“Now, would you explain? Exactly what is wrong with these two pieces of jewelry, and why is my brother's necklace in a more serious condition?”
“Of course.”
Though her tone was calm, the Imperial Princess seemed quite hurried.
I reached toward the necklace on the table.
Well, it wouldn't matter even if someone other than the Imperial Princess were here. If that made you nervous, it was because you were a fraud.
I only speak the truth.
“The principles behind the two pieces of jewelry are similar. They both restore the wearer's vitality.”
“Then why….”
“But, Your Highness, where does vitality come from?”
- Tap, tap.
When I tapped the Essence Necklace of Moonlight,
- Vrrr.
the necklace hummed as though throwing a fit.
“Let me explain in greater detail. The two pieces of jewelry use the ‘essence stored inside’ them to restore the wearer's vitality.”
“…….”
“And essence is bound to run out eventually. That's where the difference between the two pieces of jewelry arises.”
- Tap, tap.
- Vrooom!
This time, the necklace vibrated much more loudly than before.
“The Essence of Moonlight begins drawing out the wearer's essence and using it to replenish itself the moment its stored essence runs dry.”
“…My brother's….”
“If it merely took back as much as it restored, that would be one thing… but it drains the wearer's vitality as well, consuming every last bit of it.”
I paused to give her time to understand.
That sensation of being fine at first, then gradually getting worse.
Even though there was a difference between the Imperial Princess and the Imperial Prince, she had probably felt it too.
“Then what about the pendant?”
- Tap.
The Imperial Princess touched the Sun Rising and asked.
This one was a little difficult to explain.
To put it into words, I'd have to go on at length about the sibling gods, opposing natures, and so on. It would be boring and overly academic.
It seemed best to show her through action.
I quickly organized my thoughts and immediately began the experiment.
I picked up the Essence of Moonlight
and placed it directly on top of the Sun Rising, perfectly overlapping it.
I hoped there would be some immediate reaction.
As I waited for a moment.
- Vwoooooom!
Suddenly, the Essence of Moonlight began glowing blue,
- Shhhhkk!
and red energy unraveled from the Sun Rising like thread before being sucked into the Essence of Moonlight.
- Vwoom.
Soon, the Essence of Moonlight, having swallowed the red energy, vibrated once as though satisfied.
- Vwoom… Vwoom….
Meanwhile, the Sun Rising trembled violently.
Wow.
I hadn't expected such an obvious, easy-to-understand scene to appear.
It was incredibly intuitive. The essence from the Imperial Princess's pendant had been sucked into the Imperial Prince's necklace.
What further explanation could possibly be needed?
The Imperial Princess could do nothing but look down at the scene in silence.
She's quite an expressive person. It must be exhausting trying to hide it.
Unlike her, the guardian knight watched the situation with an expressionless face.
I couldn't tell what he was thinking, either.
“You said the two pieces of jewelry were siblings' accessories. That there would be synergy between them.”
“Uh… they are siblings, technically.”
I scratched my head and answered.
I don't have a younger sister, so I don't really know whether siblings are normally like that.
[????]
Ah, of course, Yuna is the exception.
[……ㅠ]
You're my soul partner.
[!!]