Vandel Arrives

The next day.

I dashed out of the knights’ barracks, kept giving Raul handover instructions even while riding on horseback, and somehow made it back to my residence inside the royal palace right on time.

My second older brother had returned to his in-laws’, so security duty around that had turned everything into chaos.

Why did Vandel have to come at a complicated time like this? I clicked my tongue.

As I strode quickly down the hallway, the head butler held out his hand. Without even looking, I handed over my riding gloves and removed my cloak. I tossed them behind me one after another, but the head butler caught them all without dropping a thing.

“Where’s Vandel?”

When I asked, the head butler straightened formally.

“In the guest room. He arrived precisely at the appointed time.”

That’s unusual, I found myself saying out loud.

Vandel and I had known each other since military preparatory school, but it was rare for him to show up on time.

“He has brought many gifts of congratulations. Young master, please offer him your thanks.”

“Got it. Where is Lady Shitoen?”

“She has already finished preparing, but I thought it might be best if young master met him first, and only after that had her enter the room.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

I nodded.

At any rate, I needed to warn him about a few things first. There was no telling what might come out of that man’s mouth.

“Thank you for waiting, Lord Vandel. The young master has returned home.”

As we approached the guest room, the head butler shoved all the luggage onto a nearby servant and stepped ahead of me.

He knocked swiftly, then announced my arrival in a voice that showed not the slightest trace of breathlessness.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting, my dear friend.”

That voice came from inside, and my face twisted at once.

“What do you mean, dear friend, you bastard.”

The head butler opened the door, and the instant I stepped inside, Vandel rose from the sofa.

With theatrical flair, he spread both arms wide and pressed me for an embrace, as if saying, “Come on, come on.”

No thanks.

I fully intended to ignore him and sit down across from him, but he suddenly latched onto me from the side.

“Get off. You’re annoying.”

I drove the heel of my palm into his chin with a thud, but he said, “Ha ha ha. You’re so shy,” and rubbed his cheek against my stomach. Disgusting. I shook Vandel off, then sat down on the sofa opposite him to put some distance between us.

“To think you’d get married before I do. Ah, life truly is unpredictable.”

Vandel let out a soft chuckle.

As always, he was a tall, lanky fellow.

He was shorter than me, but still tall by any standard.

With his slender frame and narrow eyes, plus the teardrop-shaped beauty mark under his right eye that gave him a slightly seductive air, this man who loved to dress in black had earned the nickname “The Vampire Count.”

He governed a margravial border territory and usually ought to have been guarding the frontier, yet his skin was pale, and despite possessing striking beauty that drew the eye, his ferocious fighting style made him seem as though he had a taste for blood.

Even back in our school days, the younger students had already been calling him “The Vampire Count.”

“You’ve got no intention of marrying, do you?”

Despite having his pick of brides, he kept finding one fault after another and rejecting marriage proposals. I truly felt sorry for the women. He ought to try being on the receiving end of rejection for once.

“Ah, those are the congratulatory gifts. I had no idea what would suit you, so I picked things more or less at random.”

Vandel sat down and pointed with his long, slender fingers toward one side of the room.

I followed his gaze and was stunned.

There were so many boxes piled up that I could barely see the wall, and on top of that, some enormous skeletal thing I couldn’t even identify was hanging from the ceiling.

“What’s that?”

“A whale.”

“In your region, do people give whale bones as marriage gifts?”

“I’ve never heard of it, but maybe they do where you’re from.”

He was as insolent as ever.

When I shot him a glare, Vandel brushed back his black hair and tilted his head slightly.

“What’s this? Were you in the middle of work?”

Since he pointed at my military uniform, I nodded. Naturally.

“My second older brother had come back because of the engagement ceremony. Right now, I’m moving the Royal Guard and the knights to the border.”

“Is Lord Mihaela well?”

“Thanks to your concern, yes. His father-in-law will probably retire in a few years… so apparently he’s busy with the handover now, together with his wife, the Crown Princess.”

Over there, the Crown Prince was a woman.

The first time I met her, I was nearly captivated by her crisp, dignified beauty.

My second older brother Mihaela had a rather feminine face, so I remembered thinking they looked like paired dolls with the genders reversed.

“But to be working right after your engagement ceremony… it must have been hard indeed to tear yourself away from the bridal chamber.”

Vandel crossed his long legs and smiled meaningfully, so I gave him a sullen look in return.

“I was told not to lay a hand on her until after the wedding parade in the royal capital. Until then, ours is a pure relationship.”

“Oh my. How tragic for you.”

He grinned smugly, and I had just started to rise from my seat to punch him when—

“It seems the Karaban Union Kingdom is in quite a state.”

Leaning his upper body sloppily against the back of the sofa, Vandel suddenly said it.

“In quite a state?”

I blinked.

Come to think of it, I had been so busy with my own engagement ceremony that I had completely forgotten about that country.

“It seems the King of Tania is absolutely furious with the Kingdom of Luminous.”

“Well, of course he is. That was awful.”

Even remembering it now left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Apparently, because the girl who bears the Dragon Crest was insulted, they have suspended the sale of mining resources to the Kingdom of Luminous.”

“What?”

Of course, the Kingdom of Tania was not the only place where mining resources could be obtained. They could seek resources abroad, but if one supplier stopped trade, they could hardly just turn around and immediately ask another.

Coal and steel.

All kinds of ore.

Those were supposed to have been shared among them under the unity of the Union Kingdom.

“King Noie of the Kingdom of Luminous has done nothing but apologize, and Crown Prince Arios is currently under house arrest, or so I hear…”

“Well, he’s probably just being shut up indoors. It’s not as if they’ve gone so far as to physically restrain him, have they?”

When I asked, Vandel smiled instead of answering.

“That king’s judgment clouds over the moment it concerns his son. Even that lax house arrest is supposed to be lifted in a few days. The other three kingdoms are irritated by how lenient the punishment is as well. There may even be a resolution to depose King Noie.”

If that happened, another election would begin, and a new Elect King would be chosen.

Hopefully, that would give the five kingdoms a chance to unite again.

“So? Where is this beauty who can bring down nations?”

With a deep sigh, Vandel slouched back against the sofa again.

I had always thought he looked pale, but somehow today he looked even paler than usual.

“Are you feeling sick?”

I asked without thinking, and he answered me with a grin.

“How nice. When a handsome man worries about me, it makes me want to bite him.”

“Save it for women.”

I regretted worrying about him. I turned away with a huff, and then—

“Excuse me, I have brought Lady Shitoen.”

After a knock, I heard the head butler’s voice.

“Oh? So at last I meet her.”

Vandel grinned, adjusted the knot of his cravat with exaggerated care, and stood up.

No—he stood up, but—

Then suddenly.

His pupils quite clearly started to roll back, and his upper body arched backward.

Whoa, what the hell is wrong with him?

Before I knew it, I had leapt up from the sofa, vaulted over the table, and caught Vandel in my arms.

“Hey. Are you all right?”

Still holding him, I shook him.

He was slender, but as expected of a warrior. Even though I had wrapped my arms around his waist and back, he was fairly heavy. Unless he regained his senses and straightened himself up, I felt like we were both about to topple over.

“No, no, sorry. Maybe it was a bad idea to ride my horse so hard just so I could be the first to congratulate you.”

His face was still pale, and greasy sweat had broken out across his forehead. But when I leaned closer, I saw the strength returning to his eyes. Our gazes met properly.

Vandel let out a small breath and lightly patted the arm that was supporting him.

“I’m fine now. Sorry.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Besides, if the two of us keep embracing in a locked room like this any longer, your wife may start imagining the wrong things, don’t you think?”

He gave me another wicked grin, so I instinctively whipped around.

There in the doorway stood Lady Shitoen, the head butler behind her, her eyes wide and round, and despair washed over me.

Seen objectively, this situation looked like—

two men, embracing, faces close together, just before a kiss.

“T h i s i s n ’ t w h a t i t l o o k s l i k e, L a d y S h i t o e n.”

With creaking sounds practically coming out of me, I spoke to her.