Chapter 12: RMLIP

Chapter 12

“...Ah, thank you.”

I casually reached out for the red flower.

Right now, the only thing on my mind was getting away from Seria as quickly as possible.

But at that moment, the Grand Duke whispered from inside the hat.

“Don't take it. Say it's a gift.”

Huh? Why...?

“Hurry.”

I didn't know the reason, but if Lishid said so, I had no choice.

There must be a reason.

“Please keep it, High Priest. It's a gift!”

I'm an avatar. I'm an avatar.

Repeating the mantra in my head, I placed the flower back into the High Priest's hand.

His golden eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Then he looked down at the flower, and a gentle laugh escaped his lips.

“...How strange. I keep wondering what's going on inside your head, Lady.”

The High Priest's golden eyes curved beautifully.

And his gaze rested on my hat.

Gasp.

I quickly grabbed the brim of my hat.

No. Don't get curious about what's inside my hat, you jerk...!

Lishid, sitting atop Irel's head, couldn't understand the situation.

She said she liked me, yet she's already fallen for the High Priest's face?

Slightly frowning, he watched the High Priest through one of the holes he had made in the hat.

Erkael.

The youngest High Priest.

He was already well aware of the man's beautiful appearance.

Wherever he went, people praised Erkael as the incarnation of an angel.

But Lishid couldn't believe that Irel Blandiche had taken an interest in someone like him while claiming to like him.

He doesn't resemble me at all.

Lishid had sharp eyes and a cold expression.

Erkael, on the other hand, had gentle eyes and a warm, cheerful smile.

In short, they were complete opposites.

Yet Lishid was certain.

The moment Irel saw the High Priest, her breathing became unnatural, and her body trembled.

Those were reactions she had never shown in front of him.

...Yet she yawns wide open in front of me.

The image of the Lady's wide-open mouth, clearly visible when she had been standing beneath the wardrobe, was still vivid in his mind.

And she makes those strange noises.

The bizarre groaning sound she'd made—as if a dead person were coming back to life—echoed in his ears again.

She even slaps her own face.

Remembering how she had repeatedly smacked her cheeks with both hands, his brow furrowed.

...If she really likes me, shouldn't it be the opposite?

Something's definitely strange.

Thinking back, the Lady seemed far too comfortable around him.

Wasn't she different before?

Irel Blandiche had always bullied others, yet whenever he merely walked by, she'd blush, pretend not to notice him, and gracefully wave her fan.

But the current Lady...

There wasn't a trace of that timid behavior anymore.

And naturally, becoming no bigger than a doll seemed to have played a major role in it.

I don't like this.

Of course, even now, whenever the Lady looked down at him, her sturdy nostrils occasionally flared in excitement...

She always chattered away with those bright, sparkling eyes...

And every now and then, she casually fixed his hair without permission...

I'd better make sure.

Just how shallow and insignificant was the Lady's love for him?

Well, even if it was, it didn't matter to him.

But if her feelings wavered, couldn't she throw him out overnight?

If that happened, it would become troublesome.

Yes.

That was the only reason.

So when the High Priest approached again to return the flower, Lishid had said this:

“Say it's a gift.”

Giving flowers to someone of the opposite sex meant you had feelings for them.

'I don't like the High Priest. The person I like is you, Grand Duke.'

If the Lady truly wasn't swayed by the High Priest's face, he expected her to say something like that.

Instead, she said—

“Please keep it, High Priest. It's a gift!”

Not only did she practically shout it for the entire banquet hall to hear...

She actually placed the flower into the High Priest's hand.

He was dumbfounded.

Who gave you permission?

The idea for the hat the Lady was wearing had come from Lishid himself.

He had even picked it out personally.

That meant the flowers decorating the hat were partly his as well.

And yet you dare give one of those flowers to the High Priest?

After giving me nothing but those flower-patterned pajamas?

An odd irritation filled Lishid as he ground his teeth.

Meanwhile, the Lady seemed completely oblivious.

“Grand Duke, where should we go now?”

“...”

“Grand Duke?”

“...”

“You're not asleep, are you?!”

She even started shaking her head while whispering that.

As a result, Lishid had to cling tightly to the hat to keep from getting dizzy.

Just you wait, Lady.

Steadying his upset stomach, Lishid peered through the holes in the now-still hat.

His crimson eyes burned fiercely.

Just then, he overheard a suspicious conversation.

“Hah... So the Grand Duke of Epenterion won't be attending the welcoming banquet...”

“Then I suppose he really was seriously injured during the Western subjugation...”

Lishid quickly placed a hand on top of the Lady's hair and whispered.

“Lady. Eleven o'clock.”

“Oh, you're alive!”

“Go around Baron Byers. Hide behind the third pillar on the right.”

“W-Who's that?”

She doesn't even know Baron Byers?

Just as the rumors said, she really has no interest in politics.

Lishid sighed and turned the hat.

As it moved, the Lady's head naturally turned as well.

“Can you not see that bald man?”

“Oh, I see.”

After that, the Lady faithfully followed Lishid's instructions.

Left.

Right.

Back again.

Then forward.

After wandering around the banquet hall for quite some time, secretly listening to people's conversations, Lishid pieced everything together.

So...

The rumor is that I was severely wounded during the Western monster subjugation and have fallen into a coma?

“Ridiculous.”

Letting out a cold scoff, Lishid tapped the Lady's head twice.

“Lady.”

“Yes?”

“I think I've figured out who cursed me.”

Irel's body stiffened.

What is he talking about?

He figured out who cursed him?

I froze and swallowed hard.

I was so tense that my fingers curled up and refused to straighten.

“W-Who is it?”

I managed to steady my voice as I asked.

The Grand Duke hesitated for a moment.

I could feel him shifting inside the hat.

I panicked.

Don't tell me... he's drawing his sword?

Is he about to stab me in the head?

Even if it was only the size of a toothpick, a sword through the top of my head would still kill me!

N-No...!

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the terrible pain.

Then—

“The Emperor.”

A short, decisive answer echoed above my head.

“...What?”

The Emperor?

I'd been terrified for nothing and was completely dumbfounded.

Um... sorry, but that was actually me...

Lishid, you're completely barking up the wrong tree.

He couldn't have been more mistaken.

“Do you think that's impossible?”

When I just stood there blankly, Lishid's displeased voice sounded again.

“N-Not at all! I was just... surprised.”

“Surprised?”

“Yes. What you just said was so...”

Wait.

I stopped in the middle of my excuse.

Now that I think about it... isn't this actually a pretty good opportunity?

If I agreed that the Emperor was suspicious, Lishid's suspicion toward me would be delayed.

Besides, it actually fits surprisingly well.

When Lishid was young, his uncle—the current Emperor, Ferdik—stole the throne from him.

Coincidentally, the previous Emperor and Empress committed suicide together on the very day before Lishid's investiture as Crown Prince.

Even though he had not yet officially been invested, Lishid was still first in line to inherit the throne.

Just when everyone expected him to become Emperor, the late Emperor's final letter turned everything upside down.

It revealed that Lishid was not the Emperor and Empress's biological child, but an adopted son.

Since some ministers had already questioned Lishid's crimson eyes, the throne was quickly passed to Ferdik.

The late Emperor and Empress both had striking blue eyes.

But Lishid possessed crimson eyes—something neither of their parents had.

The ministers, who had already doubted the prince's legitimacy, gathered the imperial physician and servants who had assisted with the Empress's childbirth.

Most of them had either died or disappeared by then.

Still, a few remained.

Those survivors confessed that the Empress's pregnancy itself had been a lie.

In the end, the ministers had no choice but to support Ferdik, the late Emperor's younger brother and second in line to the throne.

As a result, Lishid had no time even to mourn his parents' deaths before he was stripped of the throne and exiled to the Grand Duchy.