“How embarrassing…”
Lev looked up at Marco and spoke in a voice that sounded close to tears.
The problem was that he had opened the door leading to the hallway out of habit. To think he had forgotten that the chief attendant, the attendants, and the knights were all there.
No, more than that, the bigger problem was that Marquis d’Albret had happened to be there. There were already rumors that he was vulgar and promiscuous, and now they had even seen him looking like that.
“What on earth happened to you?”
Lev being this flustered was both cute and amusing, so the corners of Marco’s mouth were still tinged with laughter.
“It was nothing… I just spilled an ink bottle on His Majesty’s clothes.”
Lev said quietly, rubbing his reddened cheeks.
“That kind of thing is, huh, what? In… ink?”
The chief attendant, who had gone into the office, had unusually failed to hide his flustered expression. Then, recalling the sight of Lev rushing out half-undressed right after that, Marco belatedly understood what Lev had said and opened his eyes wide.
“Yeah. So I was trying to wipe it off with my clothes.”
“And then?”
Marco asked again, as if he felt that somehow that was not the whole story.
“No. That’s all.”
What could he possibly say to that young attendant? Lev could not bring himself to meet Marco’s eyes, so he subtly avoided them and answered vaguely.
Marco wriggled under the blanket and quietly watched Lev, who was still acting unlike himself.
Looking at his flushed face, his eyes darting here and there without knowing what to do, and the way he was plainly showing how shaken he was, it seemed there really had been something more than just wiping off the ink.
But since Lev was trying to hide it, it did not seem like he would be able to learn any more. Marco, a veteran attendant, quickly gave up on matters where he could not get an answer.
“All right.”
Marco nodded as if generously letting it slide.
“Then please get some rest, Lord Lev. Shall I bring you some tea?”
“Yeah. Please.”
Lev, who wanted to be alone, answered quickly. Marco kindly pulled the blanket over him, then came outside.
The commotion had disappeared as if it had been a lie, but the many eyes looking at Lev’s personal attendant were full of curiosity. They seemed to wonder just what the two of them had talked about. With an innocent face as though he knew nothing at all, Marco approached the chief attendant standing guard in front of the office.
“Chief Attendant, would it be all right if we spoke for a moment?”
The seasoned chief attendant immediately understood what business Marco had with him. As though saying there was no need to go that far, he spoke briefly.
“The atmosphere seemed good.”
As expected, Marco, who had already been quick on the uptake but had become even sharper from life in the imperial palace, immediately understood what he meant.
“Thank you for saying so.”
Marco bowed deeply to the chief attendant and turned away. His steps as he walked down the corridor to bring Lev some tea were light, very light.
The two-story brick building used as the imperial palace’s flower garden was noisy from early morning.
It was because this was the first day of interviews after the notice had gone out two months ago recruiting painters to work at the imperial palace.
Originally, selecting painters who worked at the imperial palace had been done only through recommendation. But because of the Emperor’s special order to seek out talented people from all across the Empire, this unusual event had come about.
“Next, come in.”
A man with a splendidly groomed gray mustache said this as he swept his gaze over the many painters filling the hallway. At that, five of those who had been sitting or standing here and there hurried inside.
Inside, three judges sat behind desks, and all of them were elderly men. One wore a monocle, one a black hat, and one a red scarf.
“Who are you, and where are you from?”
The judge wearing the monocle asked the interviewee seated farthest to the left. He was a young painter with neat features, but poverty showed in a way his clothing could not hide.
“My name is Olivier Chilly, and I am from Tulung.”
“Chilly? Are you the son of the Lord of Tulung?”
This time, the judge in the flat hat asked in surprise.
“Yes, I am.”
Tulung was among the wealthiest regions in the Empire. It was considered one of the most famous resort areas because its beautiful beaches and natural scenery were renowned.
Many artists stayed there and worked on their art. So it was only natural to be surprised that the son of the lord who governed such a place was dressed so shabbily.
“I see, young Mr. Chilly. Then who is your teacher?”
Usually, the children of nobles would invite famous painters to teach them. So of course they had assumed that the lord’s son must have been educated that way as well.
“I have never had a teacher in particular. I learned the basics at a small academy, and after that I have drawn on my own.”
But when he said that not only had he had no teacher, he had not even attended a proper academy, the judges could not hide their disappointment.
“Then what sort of works have you been doing recently?”
This was not a question about personal work, but whether he had painted on commission for someone, or participated in exhibitions and the like. But Olivier could not properly answer even that.
“I have only been drawing a little on my own.”
“You mean you have never even received a commission? Nor sold anything to any gallery?”
“Yes…”
“I see.”
The judge shrugged and lost interest in Olivier, as though there was nothing more worth hearing. After that, the exact same exchange continued with the other painters.
Most of them had graduated from academies in the capital whose names anyone would recognize. One of them was even a painter affiliated with a gallery run by one of the judges.
Olivier instinctively knew that he would never be working at the imperial palace. So when the interview ended, he returned with weary steps to the cheapest and shabbiest inn in the capital and immediately packed his things.
He planned to go elsewhere as soon as day broke tomorrow. The interview result was all too obvious, and the capital was expensive.
Since he had come all the way here, he had thought about visiting a famous art museum or academy, but even that was honestly tight with the money he had right now.
He had only been able to come this far because his younger sister back home had sent him some money not long ago, so it was better in many ways to give up such pointless greed.
That was what Olivier decided, but even when the next day came, he was unable to leave the capital. It was because of the visitor who came looking for him early in the morning.
“I passed?”
Unexpectedly, it was a notice of acceptance. Olivier could not hide his stunned expression.
“But the interviews can’t even be finished yet…”
He had heard in the waiting room that, because this was the first public recruitment ever, there were hundreds of applicants. So the interviews alone would take a week.
“You passed through a special screening.”
“A special screening?”
Was there such a thing? Though Lev asked in puzzlement, the other man simply continued on with his own business.
“You are to report starting tomorrow.”
At the words telling him to come to work tomorrow immediately, Olivier looked even more unable to believe it.
“Then I’ll be going.”
With only that to say, the visitor from the imperial palace vanished as abruptly as he had appeared. Even then, Olivier was still standing in front of the inn with a dazed expression.
He did not even notice that an attendant from the imperial palace who had come out was watching him.
Guien put on the new shirt the chief attendant had handed him and looked toward the closed door.
“Lord Lev is resting in his room.”
The chief attendant, who immediately realized where the Emperor was looking, informed him as he helped him dress.
No other answer came from the Emperor. The chief attendant as well said nothing more, merely straightened his clothes and stepped back.
“Marquis d’Albret is waiting.”
“Tell him to come in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The chief attendant, having arranged the Emperor’s clothes, left the office. Marquis d’Albret looked at that chief attendant with a stiff face.
“Marquis, His Majesty is calling for you.”
“I understand.”
Marquis d’Albret, who still had not managed to relax his rigid expression, cleared his throat with a small “Hm” and entered the office.
The Emperor was seated at his desk with the pouring light at his back. His neat appearance, with nothing at all out of place, gave no sign whatsoever from which one might infer the situation from just earlier.
“What is it?”
Guien, pretending not to notice the gaze examining him from where the other man stood by the door, asked indifferently. Marquis d’Albret turned his hurriedly moving eyes toward the Emperor and approached the desk with an equally feigned expression.
“It is the finalized budget proposal for the harvest festival. Since this year’s tax revenue was high, we made sure to put more care into the ceremony as well.”
As Marquis d’Albret set the black leather-bound ledger down on the desk, he examined the Emperor’s complexion.
Guien lifted his eyes from the document he had been holding and looked up at Marquis d’Albret.
“Very well.”
That was the end of the response. Marquis d’Albret’s cheek twitched at the attitude that said there was no further interest.
From the start, the reason he had come here was not to receive approval. It was to understand the Emperor’s intentions, since he had not once sought out his son after the birthday banquet ended.
And yet, of all things, he had ended up seeing the Emperor’s lover rushing out of the office half-naked.
The sight of him running away without even properly greeting him after facing him made it easy enough to infer what had happened in the office.
‘Just what happened?!’
Surely the Emperor had no particular feelings for that lover. No, that was the rumor.
And yet not only had he brought him into the office, a place used thoroughly as a work space, he had even let him be seen like that. Was it not as if he were openly showing it to him on purpose?
‘Was the Emperor not supposed to have feelings for Michel? That’s why I thought he had him come to greet me.’
At the banquet as well, the two had danced affectionately together, and he had heard that the look exchanged between Michel and the Emperor when the Emperor withdrew had not been ordinary.
But the mood after the party was nothing like what he had expected, and Marquis d’Albret grew steadily more anxious.
“Your Majesty.”
“Do you still have business remaining?”
At Guien’s calm question, Marquis d’Albret lost the courage to keep pushing.
“No. Then I shall take my leave.”
In the end, Marquis d’Albret could not say a single thing and quietly withdrew.
“Your Majesty, we have received word that the matter you instructed has been completed.”
The chief attendant, who had stepped out briefly while Marquis d’Albret was there, came back in and reported.
“He seems as if he will leave room, then hesitates. How do you think he will move?”
At the Emperor’s question, the chief attendant glanced at the documents spread across the desk.
“He will not simply stay still. First, he will probably try to get rid of whatever becomes an obstacle.”
“Yes, the hunting tournament is never without incidents and accidents. If he is going to make a move, it will be then.”
“That day, perhaps it would be best if Lord Lev did not participate…”
The chief attendant, guessing what the Emperor was considering, spoke cautiously.
“No. All the more reason to bring him.”
The chief attendant merely bowed his head quietly. Guien closed the cover of the ledger and rose to his feet.
The place the Emperor headed after passing the desk was the door connected to the room.
The chief attendant quietly watched as the Emperor entered with his footsteps muted. The Emperor, walking soundlessly as if hiding his presence, looked like a beast moving to seize prey it had discovered.
Before long, the door quietly shut.
Guien immediately cast his gaze toward the bed. He could see that it was raised in a small mound. Unlike before, he did not hide his presence as he walked over there.
“Marco, leave the tea on the table.”
A mumbling voice came from beneath the blanket. It seemed he thought the person who had come in was an attendant.
Without answering, Guien crossed his arms and looked down below. Just now, Lev looked like a foolish little beast with nowhere to run, hiding in a patch of grass.
Then again, even if he ran, where in the imperial palace could he possibly go? So no matter how much he fled, it meant he was still entirely within Guien’s grasp.
Guien found himself looking forward to when Lev would finally open that and lift his face. And what kind of expression he would make when he discovered him.
Lev, who had pulled the blanket over even his head, felt something strange. It had seemed like someone had come over to the bed, so he thought it was Marco, but there had been no answer.
‘What?’
Lev pulled the blanket down to just below his neck. What met him immediately was a pair of golden eyes that seemed to contain not a single impurity.
“Gasp!”
Realizing that the person before him was the Emperor, Lev stiffened at once as he sucked in a breath.
He truly looked like prey standing right before a beast.
Guien quietly looked down at his lover, who could not hide his startled expression, then slowly curved the corner of his mouth.
It was clearly a smile. But it did not look gentle or favorable in the least.
“Your Majesty.”
Lev, belatedly realizing how serious the situation was, called out to him in an attempt to somehow resolve it.
No answer came back. No, Guien first cut off the escape route of the lover who had run away from him.
He bent at the waist and firmly planted his strong arms on either side of his lover’s face.
Even so, his gaze did not leave Lev for even a moment. Guien knew well that this allowed him to pressure the other thoroughly.
As expected, those brown eyes could not flee anywhere and were caught by Guien. The trembling pupils proved that Lev was extremely tense.
“Who said you could run away as you pleased?”
Only then did Guien answer the call.
“R-run away?”
Lev first tried to play dumb. At that, the Emperor’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. In the eyes within them, there was a look of considering what to do with this.
‘Why did you come all the way here just to scare someone?’
Only then did Lev regret having come back to the room.
‘I should have gone to the training garden!’
But in truth, since he had been half-naked, it was not as though he had really had any other choice.
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