Chapter 16

A sweet scent of flowers pierced his nose. It was a fragrance that made him feel like he might sneeze, yet simultaneously left his mind strangely hazy. Arkin could barely tell the difference between roses and lilies. The scents of tropical flowers of unknown names mingled together, noisily overtaking his already dizzying vision.

“With romance!”

“And love!”

The people dancing and singing while tossing flower blossoms all wore clothing with ballooning, bubble-like sleeves that looked just like flower buds. The kaleidoscopic colors made his eyes hurt. The sound of loud music, the cheering and stamping of feet, and people dancing while beating small drums rushed in all at once, laughing merrily.

“Everyone, I love you!”

Atop the flower-cart, a girl entirely dressed in pink garments cupped her hands around her mouth like megaphones and shouted loudly. Her appearance was enough to make anyone fully aware of which country she came from without needing to state it. She was Princess Amalfi of the Floral Kingdom of Floria. Fluttering her pink hair, she waved passionately and smiled as she tossed bouquets to the people around her.

The cart procession continued endlessly, accompanied by those dancing and lifting the mood with sweet and high-pitched voices. Covered from head to toe in the floral rain scattered by the people of Floria, Arkin backed away in dismay.

“Prince! So you were here!”

Magnus came running up in a breathless rush.

“I have delivered the tribute. Let’s head inside now. They say the opening ceremony will begin shortly.”

“Right.”

Once the massive lump of flowers had passed by, the street was entirely filled with crushed flower petals. Nephitia and Draconis were nowhere to be seen.

“Did you see just now? Princess Amalfi has arrived.”

“…All I know is her name.”

“Oh, Princess Amalfi is popular everywhere you go. She’s cheerful and cute, and she goes, ‘I love you!’ like that…”

The strange sensation, headache, and nausea he had felt a moment before vanished without a trace the exact moment Nephitia disappeared from his vision. Strange. If this kept up, it would be troublesome. Arkin shook his head vigorously.

To the princess of Kepet, he was merely a fascinating spectacle or a pretty plaything she wanted to drag off to her bedchamber. It shouldn’t come as any surprise even if she showed that same interest in Draconis, either.

Whoever the Kepet princess met or whatever conversations she shared had absolutely nothing to do with him.

The training tournament. A place where the successors of the nations belonging to the World Alliance spent six months together to get to know one another and prove their qualifications through various tests. He merely needed to faithfully fulfill that role, and that would be the end of it.

Perhaps the symptoms from just a moment ago were simply an overreaction after all?

Whether it was because the aftereffects of the terrible seasickness still lingered, or because he had stood out under the hot sun for too long wearing thick clothing, or perhaps because he had slept poorly recently due to lacking the sleeping grass.

The broad courtyard of the sanctuary was chaos incarnate. Innumerable people hailing from various nations chattered away in different appearances and distinct accents.

Scenes were unfolding everywhere of attendants fanning their masters incessantly lest their precious bodies grow exhausted, or feeding them water and fruit. Right beneath the right-hand pillar, a tense battle of nerves was underway between workers attempting to erect an awning to create shade.

Arkin sat perched on the semicircular steps, gazing blankly down at the dizzying spectacle. Until a little while ago, he had felt a momentary streak of envy toward their lavish processions, but now that they were all gathered and he watched them, it didn’t look all that appealing. If anything, they looked a bit ridiculous.

“You lazy wretches! You idiots!”

What on earth had irritated them so? Seated upon a milky-white ivory chair, a certain prince had been shouting at the top of his lungs with a flushed face for some time now.

With skin as pale as pure white marble and hair—not to mention even his eyebrows—completely bleached white as if stripped of all color, he stood out quite prominently; every time he lost his temper, his hair, tinged with faint hints of pale yellow here and there, would spike straight upward.

“To think it takes this long just to bring a single cup of water! You’re all utterly useless pieces of trash! Move faster!”

Just what was the big rush? Arkin watched the stomping boy for a good long while, yet he couldn’t understand why the boy was raising his voice so viciously.

As Arkin moved to turn his head, he spotted another group this time. These were people he knew well. The sole individuals in the bustling, marketplace-like sanctuary courtyard who remained taciturn and quietly silent. They were the people who had come from the Lake Kingdom of Lakelium.

Even right beside them, where the white-haired prince was driving his attendants to the verge of devouring them and letting out thunderous shouts, they held their ground without a single twitch. Amidst a scenery that made one’s chest feel suffocated just looking at it, Arkin located the familiar, composed face of Princess Serena.

Princess Serena was seated upon a silver chair prepared exclusively for her. Within her deep greenish tunic, the silver beads ornamenting her lustrous black tresses gleamed like morning dew.

The maids surrounding the princess in a circle stood with lowered eyes in a rigid, motionless posture, devoid of expression and quiet as shadows, just as if their minds were connected to some unknown, mystical space.

The two nations, which shunned flashy and noisy atmospheres while pursuing maturity of the spiritual world and frugality, shared similar customs in many aspects. However, the people of Lakelium were far more introverted than those of Solinar, making it common to see Lake Kingdom folk lost in their own inner thoughts wherever they went.

…Of course, the actual reality of the royal family might be somewhat different.

Arkin scrutinized Princess Serena closely. Though it was a face he hadn’t seen in a long time, since they had known each other since childhood, he fancied he knew better than anyone what she liked and disliked. Even though they had now become a pair worse than strangers.

“Aah!”

The neurotic white-haired prince let out another seizure-like shout.

“Utterly useless wretches!”

Serena’s slender eyebrows, which had been gracefully lowered, twitched slightly. She opened her eyes surreptitiously, conscious of the maids around her, and glared with murderous intent at the white-haired prince who was shouting his head off.

She hasn’t changed a bit. Arkin watched the scene with a wry chuckle. She needed to maintain her dignity, yet annoyance kept bubbling up. Clasping both hands tightly together and letting out a sigh, the princess turned her head away stealthily and made eye contact with Arkin.

The gazes colliding in midair were tangled together for a long time, carrying numerous meanings.

Princess Serena of Lakelium was Arkin’s betrothed. No, she had been his betrothed. At least until a few months ago, that was the kind of relationship they shared.

The connection between the two dated back to when they were seven years old. Solinar and Lakelium, long-standing allies, had wished to forge a special friendship through a match of matrimony, and since their children happened to be of the exact same age, they had conveniently shaped a plausible atmosphere, claiming there could be no better compatibility than this.

“Even though they are still young, they already look like a wonderful pair!”

As was customarily the case with royal betrothals, it was a unilateral decision that completely cast aside any agreement from the parties involved. Before Arkin even had a concept of the opposite sex, he was informed of the fact that Serena was to be his future wife.

Even so, Arkin had never thought this strange. Since Arkin’s goal then and now was solely to become a splendid successor to Solinar, he had simply accepted it as a duty he ought to fulfill. He had figured it must be so because it was something done for the sake of the country.

As they grew older, a ceremony promising the future of Arkin and Serena was even held beneath a tree by the large lakeshore. “Water nourishes the tree, and the tree purifies the water”? Chanting plausible phrases, the high priests of both nations had placed tree branches upon the heads and shoulders of Arkin and Serena, sprinkled water drawn from the lake, and even recited incantations.

Every summer, Arkin attended Lakelium’s grand banquet, and every winter, Serena visited Solinar’s snow festival. A relationship without any major upheavals like a calm lake within a winter forest, periodically exchanging formal letters of well-wishes—precisely that moderate level of connection.

However, ever since that night when the elders of the Arrowwood Clan had sought out Arkin, the King of Lakelium had abruptly sent notice demanding the annulment of the betrothal. Finding fault with Serena’s lack of virtue was merely a front; to anyone’s eyes, the reason for the broken engagement was unmistakably clear.

My brother Seilir, it pains me to say this, but I would like us to indefinitely postpone the marriage between Princess Serena and Prince Arkin. I know that the Kingdom of Solinar wishes to hurry the marriage, but Serena is still insufficiently prepared and lacks virtue, making me, as a father, feel quite ashamed to present her yet.

I intend to take more time to properly educate my daughter, so I hope nothing is finalized just yet. I have already spoken well of this to my daughter, so please inform Prince Arkin as well.

Furthermore, I earnestly request that you make no mistakes in the upcoming World Training Tournament. Since the marriage has been postponed, in my view, there is no need for the two of them to deliberately reveal their betrothed status to one another.