Episode 5

It's a given, but, no, was it a given?

Ines did not welcome them. If we recall that the Duke of Escalante had turned the entire mansion upside down a fortnight ago at the single visit of his nephew, the Crown Prince, then the current scene could hardly be called a snub.

"A thousand years ago, a thousand years ago."

Cassel made a bored expression as he muttered to himself one of the fancy words he had just learned. Oscar turned his head sharply and looked at him, as if he had heard him from afar.

He could not possibly have heard it, but he was a man who sensed the impure energy directed at him like a ghost. According to the words of the Duke of Escalante, who only his nephew knew, that was the quality of a king.

'…Aren't you just narrow-minded?'

Cassel rolled his eyes at his cousin and his fiancée, pretending to be indifferent, and looked out the window, which overlooked the vast gardens of the Duke of Ballestena's residence.

It is a composition that stands out with a different kind of grandeur from the splendid garden of the Duke of Escalante. In any case, the smell of money is the same, but he savored the fresh scenery as he looked around every corner of the garden.

It wasn't because I had any other reason or preference, but because it felt like an incredibly adult thing to open my eyes to things like this early on. It's something that adults often do without much meaning.

"The people were not prepared to welcome Your Majesty… What should I do with this shame?"

But no matter what Cassel does, he will never be able to match Ines's strange maturity. She sometimes speaks not so much as 'adult' as she simply sounds perfectly adult. As if she were a little girl in name only.

To be more precise, she was the epitome of an 'adult who hates children.'

She gestured to the maid with an annoyed expression, then wiped her hands, which were organizing the bookshelf, on the wet cloth she brought her.

"Normally, you should have given us notice at least a week in advance of your visit, but for some reason, Your Majesty felt overly formal about our residence and ignored the formalities, which led us to commit this rude act."

Babbling with a small mouth is not an apology for being rude to the crown prince. It is blaming others for the rudeness that came about because of your ignorance.

He had become somewhat accustomed to Ines's excessively fluent speech, and was no longer surprised that she did not at all look six years old. Only that she should be so blatantly disloyal to the Crown Prince… .

"What are you so sorry about? Between us."

Cassel sighed. He had assumed that the words his cousin had muttered inaudibly were his own curses, but he could not understand the disrespectfulness of Ines openly blaming him. At first glance, her voice sounded extremely polite, and the only words he could hear were dignified words like "normal" and "my room."

So, in the end, it was clear that he had simply assumed that he was receiving a formal apology after hearing the words, "I was rude." Judging from the way he smiled, as if he was satisfied with Ines's dignified attitude.

Oscar, who thought he was a very intelligent person and a fully grown adult, had never actually met an adult who was sarcastic to his face.

Ines gave Oscar a blank, insincere look, as if she knew full well that he would not understand a single word of her sarcasm. It was all the more disrespectful in that she was certain of it. All the more so in that she made no effort to improve the situation, despite her apologetic tone.

"We are not even ready to welcome His Highness the Crown Prince, and I am troubled by the absence of my father and mother. I am treating Your Highness like this."

What this means is, he doesn't have a father or a mother, so why bother him?

"It's okay if I'm not prepared. I'm not the Duke of Ballestena or the Buddha, I just wanted to see you after a long time."

"I remember seeing Your Majesty at the Osorno House two weeks ago."

This means that it hasn't been that long since we last saw each other and it's not nice to see each other.

Cassel had acquired Ines' language to some extent, just as he had acquired the language of another country. Cassel's smooth childhood was also not without its problems, as he never encountered adults who would mock him in person, but because he had Ines.

Soon after they got engaged, the exchange between the two families became more lively than ever, and they spent more terribly long hours together than ever before. He was no longer the Cassel he had been three months ago.

"We couldn't even have a proper conversation back then."

"It would have been better if we had met in a better prepared place."

So, that means not now.

But Oscar was extremely oblivious to Ines.

"The book you told me about four months ago. Andreas de Gonzalo's The Life of Don Juan. I read it for the second time a few days ago."

"I see."

"It was so impressive, and there were so many passages that came to mind that I couldn't bear not to read it again… My head is so stuck that I can't stop reading books that come to mind. Oh, I really love books so much that I'm in big trouble… … ."

It was an unbelievable story for Cassel, who had seen Oscar fall asleep several times while reading the book. He had even nagged Cassel to think of a curse word, saying, "It's so damn boring that I want to curse, but I can't even think of a proper curse word."

Oscar had a great talent for studying, but he had no literary talent at all, perhaps due to the influence of his maternal family, the Escalantes, who were honorable soldiers for generations.

And Ines, as if she knew it, would talk to the Crown Prince about literature he didn't know whenever they met. If she saw any sign of ignorance, she would say something like, 'I don't want to deal with an ignorant person who doesn't even know this,' and then, poking at Oscar's instincts as the smartest ten-year-old boy in the world, she would slowly move away again... ... .

Nevertheless, reading books was such a painful task for Oscar that it was always a long time before their conversation could resume.

Ines answered with an unpleasant expression.

"Literary knowledge is one of the things Ortega holds most dear. Her Majesty the Empress will be pleased. I once heard that she detests such books."

"That can't be. I like it too much, it's difficult. At this rate, I won't have enough time to study the art of kingship—."

In the meantime, he was talking about the study of kingship as if telling Ines to listen. Cassel watched his cousin's pitiful efforts while swallowing the sarcasm, saying, "Why don't you just write the word 'Crown Prince' on your forehead?"

"Then it would be difficult. If it were to interfere with your most important studies… Would I have introduced you to a useless book?"

"No, no. That can't be. You know I'm so busy studying that I don't have time to catch my breath. It's always a pleasure to discuss pure intellect with you."

And the fact that I'm trying my best to speak as adult-like as possible. Thanks to that tenacious effort, the results are also awkward, as if each and every word was cut from somewhere...

"It is the fate of smart people like us to be lonely. We always have to endure the ignorance of the crowd."

Fate, ignorance… This is really funny… … . As Cassel thought that, the question 'what is a crowd?' suddenly popped into his head, and Oscar pointed at Cassel with his chin.

"Your ignorant and young fiancée doesn't yet know the pain of people like us… … ."

"Well, that is."

"That's why, when I see you, I finally feel like I can breathe a little easier. You know? That feeling."

Ines looked at Oscar as if she didn't know him at all, and only then looked at Cassel.

It had been such a petty treatment until now, as if they didn't even know you were here, but now it wasn't even surprising.

"All the children around us are childish, foolish, and stupid, as if they have a brain injury somewhere."

As if to give an example, the chin that pointed to Cassel again was full of conspiracy to promote such an image. Ines did not agree and just quietly looked at Cassel.

"But we can have such high-level conversations… right?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."

"Even though you are only six years old, I have always respected your intelligence."

Is that how a foreigner would speak Ortega if he only learned difficult words? Oscar, who hated books, had a teacher who only taught advanced vocabulary.

Perhaps the side effect is at this moment. Cassel shook his head behind Oscar, then frowned again and turned his gaze to the bookshelf.

You once said, 'He's only six years old'... ... .

"It's hard to meet someone you can communicate with like this, even as an adult. It'll be hard to meet someone who's on the same intellectual level as you."

"I don't think that's the case, but…."

"Then why would you gamble on an uncertain future?"

"yes?"

"Ines Ballestena de Perez. I will give you a chance to turn back your wrong decision."

"...?"

"I will make this request formally in the name of the Ortega family."

"…yes?"

"Marry me."

With those words, a dead silence flowed. Cassel gazed at his fiancée's still calm face over the shoulder of his ten-year-old cousin who had betrayed the name of the Ortega dynasty without the Emperor's knowledge.

"I have a partner. She is someone Your Majesty knows very well."

"Kassel is my closest loyalist. I can compromise on something like my wife."

Me? Do I have to do something like that? Cassel tilted his head in confusion.

"do not like it."

"Do as I say, Cassel. I don't hate you… I'll be okay without you."

"No. I hate you, Your Majesty."

"… … ."

"So, I don't like it."