Chapter 25
#25
“To His Highness Crown Prince Aselblunt Cardiento, Bianca of the Croford Family, your loyal servant, greets you. I hope you have been well.”
I bowed more deeply than ever. I paid attention to my fingertips as I held the hem of my skirt, and though he couldn't see it because my head was bowed, I slightly raised the corners of my lips to form an elegant smile.
“I haven’t been well at all. I wanted to dance with you last time, but I was interrupted. So, I haven’t been well at all.”
Here we go again.
“If you’re done with the perfunctory greetings, why don’t you come over here and sit down?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
When I raised my head, I saw Asel leaning against the sofa, legs crossed, looking at me, just as I had seen him when I came in.
“What’s the matter? If you’ve come to see me, something must be up?”
That uncanny human.
“If the Marquess’s daughter of the Croford Family is coming to me because she can’t resolve something, it probably isn’t a matter of money.”
His purplish-blue eyes, as if searching, scanned me. There was a hint of playfulness in his narrowly opened eyes.
“If someone who is to become the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Wincaiser isn’t going to see her fiancé and is coming to see me… it must be a problem that only the Imperial Family can solve, right?”
As he tilted his head slightly and smiled, his pink hair fluttered slightly.
“That’s right.”
Even as I answered, my eyes were on his hair.
One of the main reasons I disliked him was that very thing. Pink hair, a trait inherited only by the direct line of the Empire.
Pink was my favorite color since I was young. It still is.
But why does that obnoxious human have pink hair? And why does it even suit him so well?
I really… hate it.
“What is it?”
“It’s about a simple document.”
“Ew~ Are you asking me to forge documents?”
He said, frowning.
As if I had said something very dirty and terrible.
“It’s not forging, I’m just asking you to make sure it gets processed a little faster.”
“Ew~ Are you telling me to wield the Crown Prince’s power to exploit the lower people?”
“…I’m just saying, you could just tell them to look at one document quickly, right?”
“Ew~ Are you bothering me with such things now?”
He never changes, this human.
It would be a really simple thing for him, but Asel was putting on a needless act.
I came to him because Asel was the person I knew who could solve the orphanage’s document issues the fastest, but at that moment, I was filled with regret that I should have looked for someone else, even if it meant waiting a little longer.
“I’m sorry. I’ve bothered Your Highness, who is busy, with a pointless matter. I hope you have a pleasant afternoon and will take my leave.”
“Ah, wait!”
As I was about to get up from my seat, Asel reached out and stopped me.
“Let’s hear the story first, shall we?”
Asel smiled brightly, as if bestowing generosity.
Skin as pale as if it had never seen a ray of sunlight, a face that I hated to admit was handsome, and even bright pink hair.
Asel, smiling, was like an angel.
“I’ll see about doing the difficult and bothersome processing later, but since you’ve come all the way here, let’s hear the story first.”
If only he didn't have that mouth.
“I’m trying to move an orphanage that I personally sponsor to a new building.”
“Oh! I’ve heard that story too. They say Bianca, the flower of Splendor society, has finally gone crazy and is taking the lead in good deeds, leaving behind her past luxuries and pleasures.”
I mean, if only he didn't have that mouth.
“But the orphanage receives funding from the Empire, so I heard that the paperwork is a bit complicated and takes a long time to move.”
“Ah, is that so?”
“So, I was hoping Your Highness would lend a hand. Since it’s for the children who will become citizens of the Empire to live in a better place, Your Highness, who will become the future Emperor, will surely help.”
“Sure. I’ll do anything for that.”
I knew Asel would be reasonable…
“But there’s a condition.”
“Yes?”
“There’s always give and take, right?”
Asel said with a bright smile.
I was reminded of another reason why I disliked him. That slimy human could smile more brightly than I, a woman, could.
“Yes. Then tell me the condition.”
I said, inwardly recalling the birthday gifts Asel had asked me for over the past time.
Asking me to have his shoes made at my favorite shoe store, which only handled women’s shoes, or finding a jewel that suited him and making a ring.
Until now, what Asel had asked of me hadn’t been that difficult.
It was just a request that bothered me a little and made me wonder, ‘Do I really have to do this?’ and feel a sense of self-doubt.
Wondering what kind of useless thing he would say today, I looked at him with a resignation that wasn’t quite resignation, and Asel smiled brightly, as if he had been waiting, and opened his mouth.
“Call me ‘Oppa’.”
Did I just hear something wrong?
“Call me ‘Asel Oppa~’ affectionately.”
Or has His Highness the Crown Prince gone mad?
“Go on, say it. ‘Asel Oppa~’.”
“I’ll be going now.”
“Ah, why! I am your ‘Oppa’!”
“Why is Your Highness the Crown Prince my ‘Oppa’? I’m an only daughter.”
“I’m older than you in age!”
“We’re not related by blood!”
“But it’s true that I’m a year older!”
Here we go again. I couldn’t understand why Asel was so obsessed with the fact that he was a year older than me.
“I’ve never once questioned that Your Highness is a year older than me.”
“But you’ve never treated me like an elder either.”
“What kind of treatment do you want?”
“For example……”
“For example?”
“…The same look of respect you give Ricardo?”
“……”
“Or respecting my opinion the way you talk to Ricardo?”
“…Your Highness is not Ricardo, is he?”
“But isn’t there nothing I lack compared to Ricardo?”
“Of course. His Highness the Crown Prince is of higher status than Ricardo, has more wealth, great learning, and is a future Emperor with a wonderful character.”
“…Why does that sound sarcastic?”
“Not at all.”
“It sounds a bit like that, though?”
“You’re mistaken.”
“But why didn’t you get engaged to such a wonderful me and get engaged to Ricardo?”
“……”
“Huh?”
Could it be that this Crown Prince had been sulking since then? Because I didn’t choose him?
Of course, that could be the case. It could be that the Crown Prince, who had nothing he couldn’t have in the world, was rejected for the first time.
But for a human being who is the Crown Prince of a country to still be acting so stubbornly about something that happened 10 years ago is too despicable and petty, isn’t it?
Even with such pretty hair, a pretty face, and a pretty smile!
“…I think I’ve taken up too much of Your Highness’s busy time. I’ll be going now.”
“Ah! No! Wait!”
Once again, as I tried to get up from the sofa, Asel hurriedly reached out again.
As I stared at him, Asel spread his palm upward, pointing to the chair, gesturing for me to sit down again.
“Okay. I’ll lower the obstacle a little, considering your personality.”
I sat back down on the sofa, thinking I’d hear him out, and Asel smiled brightly again, finally regaining his composure.
“Call me Asel.”
“……”
“You used to call me Asel, didn’t you? Not Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Well, that was when we were young. Everyone called each other by their names.”
“Right. So, call me that, Asel.”
As he said, the obstacle had been lowered as much as possible. All I had to do was call him by his name, like when we were young.
With the thought, ‘That’s easy enough,’ I smiled slightly and adjusted my posture.
“A……”
I had just opened my mouth to call his name. But the reason my mouth froze was because of the owner of that name.
His body, which had been leaning leisurely against the sofa, straightened up, and his arm, which had been resting on the armrest, was now propping up his chin. And his lips were biting his thumb.
The nonchalant look that had always been relaxed and sometimes teasing me had disappeared, and Asel, looking slightly anxious and only staring at my lips, was a sight I had never seen before.
Purplish-blue eyes, filled with feverish anticipation and terrifying concentration, were fixed on me.
Like an audience appreciating the last performance of a dying violinist.
Faced with Asel’s too-serious appearance, my lips, which had been about to call his name, froze.
“Hurry up.”
Asel urged me, flicking his fingernail against his teeth.
Even though he was the one who was keeping me from speaking quickly.
It wasn’t a big deal. All I had to do was call Asel’s name once.
If it weren’t for the dense atmosphere in this room, which seemed to have gotten strangely warmer, and if it weren’t for Asel, who was concentrating so intently on just calling his name, it really wouldn’t have been a big deal.
“…Asel.”
I called his name, as if exhaling a sigh.
Asel’s eyes, which had been staring at me, closed. As if to hide the scene of me calling his name deep within his eyes.
“Haa……”
A small breeze blew from Asel’s lips. It fluttered and flew, but it was a very small breeze that couldn’t even shake a strand of my hair.
Slowly, very slowly, Asel opened his eyes.
The purplish-blue reflected in my eyes seemed somehow darker than before. It was almost like looking at a starry night sky.
“It will be processed as you wished, Bianca.”
“…Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Asel smiled leisurely.
“Tell me if you need me again next time. I’ll listen anytime.”
“Do I just have to call your name then too?”
“Don’t be silly. I let you off this time because it was the first time. Next time, you’ll have to call me ‘Oppa’.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, and I’ll make sure I never come to the Crown Prince’s palace again.”
“I’m just kidding.”
Asel chuckled, and his pink hair shook. Like a pink flower swaying in the spring breeze.
“I’ll give you a magic spell, Bianca. If you call ‘Asel,’ everything you want will come true.”
This time, it wasn’t Asel’s hair, but Asel’s face that looked like a flower. He smiled.
Brightly.
