“Let go.”
“Let go while I’m still being nice.”
“Hey, will you two just stop—”
Snap.
Clatter.
In the end, the flimsy basket gave out under their strength, sending all the cookies tumbling onto the floor.
“My cookies...”
Julia’s eyes welled up as she stared at the scattered cookies.
“.....”
“.....”
The two men stopped fighting and looked at the mess. Then, sensing the ominous aura, they slowly looked up and noticed Julia was on the verge of tears.
“...Uh.”
“...Ceres.”
They cautiously called out to Ceres, who was staring coldly at the cookies on the floor.
“I...”
Ceres picked up one of the fallen cookies and clenched it tightly in her fist.
“I told you not to fight.”
The cookie crumbled into dust and slipped through her fingers. Cheion and Kainel both swallowed nervously without meaning to.
“Get out.”
“G-get out?”
“But this is my hou—Fine. We’ll leave.”
“.....”
The two men flinched again under Ceres’s fierce glare. Since she had told them to leave, they instinctively stepped toward the door.
“Don’t even think about coming back until this evening. And stick together. You’d better come back with as many pictures as possible.”
“Huh?”
“...Pictures?”
“While looking very affectionate.”
“That’s a little—”
Crush.
“.....”
“.....”
When another cookie crumbled into dust, the two men wisely fell silent.
***
“Damn it. Am I too late?”
Pols, a reporter for the Empire’s largest newspaper, sat in a café and let out a long sigh. He had rushed all the way to the Principality of Persia after hearing that a Saintess had appeared, only to find out that she had already left.
I should’ve gotten a picture.
The Saintess’s face was still largely unknown. A picture of her in the newspaper alone would be enough to cause a huge sensation.
“Sigh.”
He had come all this way and couldn’t even get one picture. Pols couldn’t help but sigh again.
Jingle.
Just then, the café door opened, and two people walked in. Since they had their robes pulled low over their faces, Pols barely gave them a glance. His only concern was that he was about to return to the Empire empty-handed. His editor was going to give him hell.
Rustle.
“...Pfft!”
But when the two removed their robes a moment later, Pols caught sight of their faces and spat out the tea in his mouth.
G-Grand Duke Persia?
The person beside him...?
The Tower Master?!
Pols quickly wiped his mouth. He turned his gaze away, pretending to drink his tea in case either of them noticed him staring.
Why are they together?
He stole another glance at them. Even after sitting down, the two remained silent for quite some time.
Could they be waiting for someone? D-don’t tell me... a woman?!
That would be a huge scoop! It was common enough for young noblemen to secretly meet women, but if it was those two...
This is a scoop!
Pols held his breath and discreetly pulled out a recording orb to capture the two of them. A camera was too risky since the flash or shutter could give him away. With a recording orb, he could simply pick out the important moments later and have them printed.
Even after getting everything ready, Pols couldn’t stop glancing toward the door. He was convinced that a certain woman would eventually walk through it.
“Hey, go order something.”
“Me? Why? You do it.”
The two had been sitting in silence for a while before finally glaring at each other.
“Hmm, fine. I’ll get the most bitter drink they have.”
“Ugh! I’ll order it!”
Cheion quickly got to his feet and headed over to the staff. Perhaps because the café was so large, the café had an unusual ordering system. Customers had to place their orders directly with the staff and pick up their own food as well.
A little while later.
“...What is this?”
“Cocoa with extra honey.”
“.....”
Cheion returned with two cups of the sweet drink. He hummed happily as he picked up his own cup.
On the other hand, Kainel looked sick just from the smell and leaned away from it as far as he could.
“Hurry up and take the picture.”
“No. I’m going to finish this first.”
“You want to die?”
“I can tell Ceres what you just said.”
“.....”
Kainel glared at Cheion’s smug grin and sighed heavily. Once Cheion had finished his drink, he pulled something from inside his robe. It was a camera.
“Hold up your cup.”
Kainel picked up his untouched cup. The two raised their cups so they would show clearly in the picture, then leaned their faces close together.
“Smile. Come on, smile.”
“F*ck this...”
“Watch your language.”
Click.
After taking the picture, the two quickly pulled apart and left the café as though nothing had happened.
“...What are they doing?”
Pols, who had watched the entire thing, could only stare after them in a daze.
***
Pols continued following the two of them afterward.
Eek!
Every now and then, he happened to make eye contact with them, but...
Just as Grand Duke Persia smiled and walked toward him, the Tower Master grabbed him and whispered something in his ear. The Grand Duke immediately turned away with an annoyed look.
“Ceres told me not to fight with anyone today.”
“.....”
After leaving the café, the two stopped by a clothing store and took pictures while holding up different clothes. They even stopped at a flower shop for more pictures.
Incidentally, flowers were ridiculously expensive in the Principality of Persia, since they were all grown in greenhouses with the help of magic.
“Let’s have this for lunch.”
“I don’t like meat.”
“Then how about this?”
“I don’t like hot food.”
“How about this?”
“You want me to eat something cold in this weather?”
“Then have this.”
“I hate anything that’s neither one thing nor the other.”
“...Oi.”
Just eat something already!
After going back and forth over lunch for a while, the two finally settled on some simple bread. Of course, Kainel didn’t touch his at all.
Click.
But he made sure to take plenty of pictures.
“Do we really have to pose like this?”
“Ceres said we have to look as affectionate as possible.”
With their arms around each other’s shoulders, no less.
After that, they stopped at every shop they came across, bought something from each one, and took pictures with it. They even went so far as to buy matching rings.
Click.
“That should be enough to make Ceres forgive us, right?”
“Probably.”
Kainel and Cheion didn’t make it home until late that night.
“.....”
Pols, the reporter who had followed them around all day, stood there with his mouth hanging open as the two entered the Grand Duke’s residence.
***
A few days later.
“Hmm.”
Emperor Devric looked intrigued as he read the newspaper that had arrived early that morning.
“So that’s why?”
“What do you mean?”
Crown Prince Aseraian, who had read the same article, sighed inwardly.
「Grand Duke Persia: Is the Tower Master His Lover?」
That was the headline in that day’s paper. The accompanying photograph showed Grand Duke Persia and Cheion beaming at the camera, both wearing matching rings.
Why on earth did they do something like that? And when did that idiot Cheion even go there?
“I once introduced Grand Duke Persia to Nailia as a possible match, you see.”
“Huh?”
“Perhaps this is why he didn’t show much interest in Nailia.”
“...What does that have to do with anything?”
Are you actually believing this article...?
“Hmm. If the two of them got married, what would they do about children? Would they have to adopt?”
“...Father.”
Why are you so open-minded whenever it comes to Cheion?
Aseraian sighed again as he watched Emperor Devrica seriously ponder the matter.
.
.
.
Chapter 48: New Prey
“Cough, cough!”
“How long have you been like this?”
“T-two days.”
A man in his early fifties coughed incessantly. The woman sitting across from him let out a heavy sigh.
“I knew it.”
“Pardon?”
What did she mean by that? The woman had suddenly shown up at his house and started asking about his symptoms.
“Isn’t it just a cold?”
He was prone to catching colds in the winter, so he hadn’t thought much of it this time either. A few days of rest should clear it up.
“There are two people next door, another person in the house behind yours, and even the man across the street.... So far, I’ve found thirty people with the same symptoms as you.”
“...What?”
“Don’t you know what’s been spreading through the Empire lately?”
“Through the Empire...? D-don’t tell me...!”
Only then did the man seem to realize what his symptoms meant. His face went deathly pale.
“H-have I been infected too?!”
An epidemic has spread to our village?! They say an epidemic can kill half the people in a village...
“Th-then what am I supposed to do...? Oh!”
The terrified man suddenly fell silent when the woman placed her hand against his feverish forehead.
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