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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Taylor's Disciple (1)
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“Is that…?”
“Prince Idis?”
At Prince Idis’s appearance, the auditorium began to buzz with whispers from all corners.
The children of noble families belonging to the Cezaros Empire immediately bowed their heads upon seeing him, while others couldn't tear their eyes away from Prince Idis, eager to get even a glimpse of the man who would lead the next great empire.
“...?”
Of course, there were always exceptions. Kanto looked around with a puzzled expression when Sei-an, who had been standing next to him, suddenly disappeared from sight.
“...What are you two doing down there?”
Only after lowering his gaze did Kanto spot Sei-an crouching on the floor and asked him, bewildered.
“It’s nothing.”
“...?”
Sei-an answered Kanto’s question simply, then let out a short sigh inwardly.
‘Is the position of a prince really that idle?’
Surely he didn't come looking for me because he was angry.
Sei-an, feeling a slight pang of guilt for leaving without a word, lowered himself, trying to avoid his gaze and escape any troublesome situations.
“Hm?”
Wait, "you two"?
Sei-an then felt something was off about Kanto’s words and tilted his head.
Wondering why he’d referred to him as "two people," Sei-an casually turned his head to look around.
“...What are you doing?”
“...”
And then he spotted another person crouching on the floor just like him—Lark.
Lark, too, frowned slightly upon seeing Sei-an sitting in the exact same posture.
“What are *you* doing?”
“It’s best to avoid troublesome things.”
“...I agree.”
Lark quietly nodded, agreeing with Sei-an’s words for the first time.
“...”
“...”
With that, Sei-an and Lark looked into each other’s eyes for a moment without saying anything.
“Oh!”
The next moment, Kanto’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the two of them quickly dart past him, still in their crouched positions, and exit the auditorium.
“Hey! Where are you going...!”
Kanto, who had been urgently calling out to Sei-an, quickly clamped his mouth shut when he felt people’s gazes converging on him.
“Haha… haha!”
He forced an awkward smile at their stares, then subtly turned his head to avoid their eyes, searching for Sei-an and Lark again.
“...!”
But while everyone’s attention had been on him, the two seemed to have already slipped out of the auditorium, nowhere to be found.
‘The ceremony isn’t even over, where did they go?’
Left alone because the two had abruptly fled the auditorium, Kanto could only repeatedly scratch his head in confusion.
***
“Are you perhaps acquainted with His Highness Idis?”
Sei-an, who had left the auditorium and settled down in a secluded garden, leaned against a tree and asked Lark, who was sitting in front of him.
He had guessed as much, recalling how Lark had hidden himself at Prince Idis’s appearance, just like Sei-an.
“How could I possibly know a guy like that?”
Lark frowned slightly at Sei-an’s question, answering simply with an annoyed tone.
“It seems you’re close enough to call him ‘a guy like that’.”
But Sei-an seemed to have already concluded that he knew Prince Idis and instead began to ask about the extent of their acquaintance.
“Do I look like I’d be friends with someone so full of himself?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“What?!”
“Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘birds of a feather flock together’?”
“...Are you implying I’m also someone who lives for his own glory?”
“Well, something similar.”
“You!”
“You both seem like people who are used to standing in high places and giving orders from the moment you were born.”
“...”
At Sei-an’s continuing remarks, Lark looked at him in silence for a moment, his expression slightly hardened.
“That’s a misconception.”
“Is that so?”
“Don’t pretend to know things you don’t. It’s annoying.”
“My apologies for being annoying.”
“...”
Lark frowned slightly once more at Sei-an’s indifferent demeanor, as he spoke flatly without any change in expression despite Lark’s cold words.
“And what about you? What’s your relationship with that guy?”
Lark also asked, recalling how Sei-an had avoided Prince Idis’s gaze just moments ago.
It wasn't strange for a scion of a Cezaros Empire noble family to be acquainted with Prince Idis, but his act of hiding at the Prince’s appearance was incomprehensible.
Normally, one would want to gain even a little favor in the eyes of the man who would ascend to the highest power as the next emperor.
“Relationship…”
At Lark’s question, Sei-an pondered his relationship with Prince Idis for a moment.
“Someone I read books with in the library?”
“...”
And a moment later, at Sei-an’s answer, Lark had to stare at him with a look of utter disbelief.
***
“Your Highness Idis!”
After the ceremony, the auditorium was bustling with invited guests and students who knew them exchanging greetings.
Among them, the one who garnered the most attention was Prince Idis.
“It’s been a long time, Your Highness.”
Illnis, Duke Jaimel’s son, was no exception.
Although he had wielded power without fear and tormented Sei-an within the Academy, before Prince Idis, he bowed his head like an excited child and offered a polite greeting.
“Indeed.”
But Prince Idis merely responded to Illnis’s greeting with a simple, indifferent remark.
“I’m surprised you came all this way yourself.”
However, Illnis seemed pleased just that the Prince remembered him, smiling broadly as he continued to speak.
The fact that he was conversing with Prince Idis, whom others found difficult to even approach, filled him with a strange sense of pride.
“Are you displeased that I came?”
“What? Oh, no, Your Highness!”
But at Prince Idis’s next blunt remark, Illnis quickly became flustered and stammered out a defensive excuse.
“I was just so glad to be able to see Your Highness in a setting like this…”
“There’s no need to be glad. I didn’t come to see you.”
“What?”
However, even his defensive words were abruptly cut off by Prince Idis’s next statement, as if he no longer wished for a lengthy conversation.
“Are you perhaps here to meet someone?”
Realizing from Prince Idis’s words that he had come for some special reason, Illnis cautiously asked again.
“That’s right.”
“...!”
Illnis’s eyes widened in surprise as Prince Idis lightly nodded, as if confirming his guess.
And for good reason—he had never once heard that Prince Idis had personally moved to meet someone before.
Even if he didn't move, there was no one who would refuse Prince Idis’s summons. Who would dare to reject the call of the man who would become the next Emperor of the Empire?
‘Who on earth did he come to meet?’
Illnis couldn't hide his astonishment upon hearing that Prince Idis himself had come all the way here to meet someone.
And along with that, curiosity about who he intended to meet began to stir.
“If it’s not too rude, may I ask who you came to meet?”
Prince Idis seemed to ponder Illnis’s question for a moment before simply uttering a single phrase.
“…The guy who only reads books in the library.”
“Huh?”
At Prince Idis’s reply, Illnis’s expression went blank for a moment, then he repeatedly tilted his head in confusion.
“But you know what?”
“Yes?”
“What’s the best way to make the guy I’m looking for appear right before my eyes?”
“…Eh?”
Then, at Prince Idis’s next remark, which sounded like he was talking to himself, Illnis’s eyes went blank once more.
***
“I knew you two would be here.”
“Is the ceremony over?”
“Yes.”
After the ceremony, Kanto immediately headed to the garden, one of the places where Sei-an and Lark often relaxed, to find them.
And sure enough, he found the two of them leisurely resting there, approaching them with a somewhat displeased expression.
He felt a little left out that they had sneaked out of the auditorium together, leaving him behind.
“Why did you suddenly leave in the middle of the ceremony?”
“There were some circumstances.”
“Circumstances? What circumstances?”
“More importantly, have the invited guests left?”
“Guests? Left?”
“What?”
“They all said they’d attend the celebratory party this evening.”
See? I knew the Prince’s position was an idle one. If he has time to leisurely enjoy a party after coming all this way. I should have known from the moment we were practically living in the library, buried in books.
‘Haa.’
Sei-an sighed softly to himself as he heard Kanto’s answer that the invited guests would also attend the inauguration celebratory party.
