The Apology Ceremony

Three days later.

We were once again inside the Tania royal palace.

Escorting Shitoen, dressed in the outfit and accessories chosen for her by Mone and Roze, I walked down the long corridor.

“Shitoen, are you all right?”

I leaned in close and asked softly.

Taking my arm, Shitoen gave a gentle smile and nodded.

“I am fine now. More importantly, are you all right, Prince Saryu?”

Shitoen softly brushed my right shoulder. I nodded and said, “Of course.”

“A wound like that is nothing. It’ll heal if I eat meat.”

“Right?” I called out to Raul behind us, but he only shrugged silently in exasperation.

“You were hurt protecting me… I am truly very sorry.”

Shitoen drooped again, and I panicked.

When she woke up and heard that I had been injured protecting her, she had furiously checked the wound at tremendous speed, but… ever since then, she had been like this.

It really was nothing, and if anything, all the fuss over the attack had blurred what had happened before and after, which honestly made me feel lucky.

Still, we needed to identify the attackers soon.

They were probably the same people who had been targeting Shitoen since before the wedding, but… they were absurdly persistent. I wished they would just give up already.

“This way, please.”

The chamberlain walking ahead stopped before the door and bowed to us.

It was that audience chamber again.

“Prince Saryu of the Kingdom of Tidros, Princess Shitoen.”

A guard announced our arrival, and the doors opened. When I glanced aside, it seemed Raul would be waiting here.

I entered with Shitoen.

The inside was the same as before.

A raised platform had been prepared at the far end, and today a bamboo blind had been lowered.

Once again, only chairs were arranged there. No table or anything of the sort had been prepared, and there were neither carpets nor floor coverings over the black walnut flooring.

“It has been some time.”

Shitoen stopped walking and bowed.

When I turned toward the sound of someone standing, it was Crown Prince Arios. The man who looked like a civil official accompanying him remained standing quietly by.

“It has been a while, Shitoen. I have made you come all this way and troubled you.”

As he fastened the buttons of his jacket, Crown Prince Arios lowered his eyes.

I definitely thought, Oh?

He felt very different from when I had met him at my wedding with Shitoen.

Back then, I had thought he was an insufferable man who could not read the room, but now he seemed aware of his own position and genuinely remorseful for what he had done. His expression and bearing showed it too.

He had been a frivolous man, flighty and seemingly obsessed only with superficial things, but now he wore clothing and a hairstyle fitting for his age and conducted himself appropriately for the setting.

“No, rather, it is we who should say… I hardly know how to express what it means that you prepared a setting such as this.”

Shitoen trailed off.

Yeah, that made sense.

It would be strange to say, Serves you right, and even stranger to say thank you.

“It is far too late now, but… I truly wish to apologize for the foolishness I committed. I did not think deeply enough about my status as Crown Prince, and I nearly endangered my country and burdened its people with suffering. I heard that you even spoke in favor of Luminous to the King of Tania. I am the one who has no words.”

At Crown Prince Arios’s words, I turned to Shitoen.

“So that was true?”

That really was very kind of her. She could have just left it alone.

“I did not think it was right for the people to become collateral damage…”

Shitoen lowered her long lashes.

Today she was not dressed in the clothes she usually wore in Tidros or Luminous.

She was wearing Tania national dress.

Since there was no petticoat or anything like that underneath, the skirt fell straight down. On top of that, the neckline was not as open as it would be in our country or in Luminous, so overall she looked more like a modest young girl. It made me feel a little down, thinking that this only made us look even more like Beauty and the Beast.

“I am truly sorry to trouble Prince Saryu as well by making him come all this way.”

Crown Prince Arios bowed his head to me. Whoa, he really had changed.

“No, no, not at all. This concerns both our countries.”

When I responded that way, Arios lifted his face and let his gaze flick briefly around the room. As I wondered what that was about, he took one step closer to me.

“Prince Saryu…”

“Yes?”

Since he was speaking quietly, I lowered my own voice too, but then—

“His Majesty the King of Tania enters.”

A guard raised his voice.

Hurriedly, Shitoen and I sat down. Crown Prince Arios did as well. It seemed the civil official would remain standing by the wall.

Shitoen bowed her head, so I followed her lead. For that matter, Crown Prince Arios seemed to do the same by imitation.

Amid that, I heard the footsteps of the King of Tania and several nobles entering the chamber.

The King of Tania walked straight to the raised platform and seemed to sit down there.

“All present, raise your heads.”

We lifted our faces when told, but it seemed there was no intention today of raising the bamboo blind.

The King of Tania was behind it.

Even if he was to receive an apology, it seemed he did not wish to see Arios’s face.

“Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Luminous, I hear you have something you wish to say to me?”

At that flat voice, Crown Prince Arios stood. Then he knelt on one knee where he was and bowed his head.

“It is beyond presumptuous, but I wish to offer a formal apology to His Majesty the King of Tania and to Princess Shitoen.”

“I permit it, so speak. Shitoen. Come here.”

It seemed he was beckoning Shitoen from behind the blind.

Shitoen answered and, without making a sound, approached the nobles waiting before the blind.

The nobles all bowed their heads in unison.

Though she was small, the sight of her attended by the nobles truly had the bearing of royalty.

To begin with, even among the royal family, the dragon crest was bestowed only upon a limited few.

It made me realize all over again that in this country, Shitoen was an exceptionally special person.

“Excuse me.”

Crown Prince Arios stepped forward until he stood before Shitoen and the King of Tania on the dais, then once again knelt on one knee and lowered his head. In that posture, he began to speak with sincere humility.

He spoke of how deeply disrespectful he had been toward Shitoen, how he had been granted a noble lady bearing the dragon crest and yet, out of ignorance, had shown the King of Tania an offensive attitude as well. He spoke of how, because of that, he had endangered his country and nearly dragged its people into confusion.

That all of it had been his fault, and that he wished to apologize for it with all sincerity.

That was the sort of thing he said.

There was not a single trace of falsehood in his voice or expression.

There was no pretense in it, nor any cowardice that sought to blame someone else.

The Crown Prince in my country would probably laugh and call me a simple bear-brain, but I was honestly a little moved.

If I had been king, I might have leapt out from behind the blind saying, “All right, that’s enough.”

“Please, with your generous hearts, forgive me.”

Crown Prince Arios concluded with that, still bowing his head.

“Shitoen.”

The King of Tania spoke.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The other day, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Luminous brought a personal letter and returned after making the same apology. And now today, the Crown Prince himself has come and apologized in this way… What say you?”

“To me, it is already something long in the past. I am now living happily in the Kingdom of Tidros…”

Shitoen bowed her head toward the dais.

“Your Majesty, I beg you to show the breadth of your heart.”

“Hm.”

The King of Tania grunted and let out a breath.

“I shall forgive him for the sake of Shitoen and her husband, Prince Saryu. A document shall be prepared. Take it back with you to your country.”

“Thank you…!”

After Crown Prince Arios said that in one breath, his shoulders trembled faintly for a while.

He looked relieved.