After hearing words from Siyan that carried an indescribable sense of unease, Alon let it pass without giving any sort of reply.
Then the conversation about the eyes shifted.
“This ti, I have no intention of telling you.”
“...Excuse ?”
He couldn’t help it.
Alon looked at Siyan with a puzzled expression, but she still wore her gentle smile.
“Even if you look at like that, it can’t be helped. It’s already been decided.”
“If... it’s not too rude, may I ask why?”
“Why, you ask—”
Siyan gazed at Alon, thinking intently for a mont, then gave her answer.
“Because I was asked.”
“Asked, you say?”
“Yes.”
“By whom...?”
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to find them. They’re not from this place.”
At her playful words, Alon froze for a mont, but only briefly.
Soon enough, he was able to grasp what she ant.
“Is it a promise rembered from the past?”
“As expected, you’re usually rather dense, but when it cos to things like this, you can be quite sharp.”
“...Shall I take that as a complint?”
“Think of it as half complint, half mockery.”
Alon considered pressing her for more, but quickly gave up.
Since she had already decided not to answer, there was no aning in asking again.
“You don’t have to be too disappointed.”
Siyan still smiled brightly.
Alon clicked his tongue and asked,
“Did it show on my face?”
“No? You’re still expressionless as always.”
“Then how did you know I was disappointed?”
Alon, grumbling for no reason, imdiately realized he had just said sothing foolish.
“Because normally you would have been.”
That was what Siyan added.
***
In the end, all Alon gained from the conversation with Siyan was frustration and her last words.
“When the ti cos, I’ll tell you naturally...”
Recalling the mischievous smile she wore until the end, Alon tilted his head in curiosity.
“Normally, huh...”
He thought about it the whole way back to his room from her office.
But he couldn’t understand why Siyan had said such a thing.
“Hmmm...”
Why did she suddenly stop sharing information with him?
Why did she use the word “normally”?
As Alon pondered with a strange expression,
“My Lord.”
“Yutia.”
He encountered Yutia, who had been waiting for him to head to the ballroom.
“Have you been waiting?”
“Mm—what answer do you want to hear?”
“...What do you an, what answer?”
“Between ‘I wasn’t waiting at all’ and ‘I was waiting.’ Which one?”
As Yutia’s lips curved upward gracefully, Alon replied,
“Well, honestly, I’d prefer you tell the truth.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, I’m a little conflicted then.”
“...Conflicted about what?”
“The truth is, I was waiting. But it wasn’t difficult to wait. The thing is—”
Yutia leaned forward slightly and whispered.
“If I say that, I won’t have an excuse later to drop by. That’s why I’m hesitating.”
Whether to lie or not.
To her gentle smile, Alon responded,
“You don’t need an excuse. You can always co by.”
“Really?”
“As I’ve told you before, I don’t think we’re the kind of people who need formal excuses to talk.”
“Hmm~ but still, having an excuse makes it easier, doesn’t it?”
“...Would a wish coupon or sothing like that work?”
At those words, Yutia walked beside him toward the ballroom and said,
“Then that makes two now, right?”
“Two? Ah.”
He nodded.
He had already given her sothing like a wish coupon once before in the north.
“You rembered?”
“Yes, so it makes two.”
“That’s nice.”
Unlike her usual smile, Yutia chuckled mischievously.
Following her, Alon couldn’t help but smile too.
At last, Alon stepped into the ballroom.
“...Quite the crowd today as well.”
The place was even more packed with people than yesterday, and he felt a bit overwheld.
“Well, in truth, the ball starts in earnest from today.”
“True enough—”
Since the ball lasted five days, it could be said the real beginning was on the second day.
As Alon scanned the ballroom, his gaze stopped at one spot.
The place where countless nobles had gathered once more.
There stood Eliban.
“Once again, Eliban is surrounded by people.”
“Yes. Ah—it might be because of his birthday.”
“Birthday?”
“Yes. It’s soon, apparently. I heard he’s inviting nobles for a birthday celebration.”
Yutia pressed her finger lightly to her lips as she explained.
Alon slowly nodded.
“A birthday party, huh.”
It wasn’t sothing that existed in Psychedelia.
“My Lord.”
“What is it?”
“May I step away for a mont?”
When Yutia pointed to one side, Alon naturally followed her gaze.
There, cardinals from Rosario had arrived.
Flinch—
Surely they could see this way.
They looked as though they were deliberately trying not to et his eyes.
It was strange, but Alon nodded.
“Go ahead.”
“Then I’ll just be a mont. I should at least greet them.”
Watching Yutia head in their direction, Alon frowned in puzzlent.
‘I thought you needed a partner to attend this ball. How did the cardinals get in...? No, more importantly, isn’t it a little odd for cardinals to be here at all?’
Just as he was entertaining those thoughts,
“Ah, Marquis!”
A voice called out to him.
“Eliban?”
“Yes! You did co after all!”
Eliban had slipped away from the nobles and appeared before him, wearing his usual refreshing smile.
“Well, you look... quite busy.”
Alon glanced behind him.
There was still a line of nobles waiting to speak with Eliban.
Then, as if struck by an idea, Eliban smiled awkwardly and said—
“Ah. Do you happen to have so ti, Marquis?”
“Ti?”
“Yes. If you’re free, I thought maybe we could talk for a bit!”
“...? Well, I suppose that’s fine.”
At the sudden request for a conversation, Alon looked puzzled, but nodded nonetheless.
***
The two stepped out onto the balcony.
Under the setting sun, Alon glanced at Eliban.
With a calm face, Eliban simply gazed at the sunset.
Did he just want to rest for a mont? That was the thought that crossed Alon’s mind.
Indeed, Eliban had been surrounded by nobles since yesterday.
He hadn’t had a mont to breathe during the ball.
Still, he couldn’t just remain silent forever, so just as he was about to say sothing—
“Looking at it this way, it’s really been a long ti, Marquis.”
“...Hm?”
“Since the day you suddenly ca up to and handed so things.”
Alon recalled the mory.
“That’s true. It has been quite a while.”
“Right? Back then, when we first t in the empty forest, and you shoved all those items into my hands, I didn’t know what to think.”
Eliban laughed lightly, while Alon fumbled awkwardly with his words.
At the ti, he had only been focused on the purpose of giving him the items, so he hadn’t thought much of it.
But looking back now, it certainly might have seed a little strange.
As he was hesitating, Alon suddenly felt a sense of discord.
A very faint one.
But sothing that tugged at him nonetheless.
While staring at the sunset and pondering, Alon realized the source of that unease.
“A forest...?”
Eliban had said they t in the forest.
But Alon rembered eting him not in an empty forest, but in a bustling village—
“Marquis.”
Eliban’s voice cut through his thoughts.
“What is it?”
“Do you know what’s important when one becos a god?”
“...All of a sudden?”
“All of a sudden.”
It was such an out-of-the-blue question.
Alon couldn’t figure out Eliban’s intention.
“Why do you ask?”
“Mm—think of it like a kind of personality test.”
Though abrupt, Alon gave an answer.
“...Omniscience and omnipotence?”
“Well, that’s a quality a god possesses. I ant what’s important when one is ‘becoming’ a god.”
“Becoming a god, you an—”
As Alon pondered,
“Shall I tell you?”
Eliban spoke quietly.
“What is it?”
“Imprint.”
“...Imprint?”
“It’s about how one is perceived, as a being.”
Eliban’s low words made Alon stare at him intently.
“Eliban.”
“Yes?”
“...Didn’t you say this was a personality test? But the mont you talk like this, it doesn’t sound like one at all.”
“No, it’s fine. I already got my answer.”
Eliban let out a quiet laugh.
Alon couldn’t make sense of the exchange, but he kept the conversation going.
“Co to think of it, I heard you’re holding a birthday party.”
“Oh, you heard?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, I plan to invite so nobles. In Terea.”
“Terea, you an—”
“The central city. Fortunately, I received permission to use the venue.”
“If ti permits, I’ll attend as well.”
Alon nodded as he spoke.
But—
“No, there’s no need for you to co.”
“...Oh, is that so?”
“Yes. You’re a busy man, Marquis.”
Smiling, Eliban soon rose from his seat.
“Ahem, well then, I’ll be off first!”
And he briskly left the balcony.
Left alone, Alon thought to himself,
“What was that... did I just get rejected?”
He stood there dumbfounded.
Of course, attending a birthday party would have been botherso anyway.
In truth, it was better not to go.
He had only offered out of courtesy.
Still, regardless of the reasoning, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had just been brushed off.
Alon felt a strange sense of betrayal rising within him.
Not long after, as Alon left the balcony, he noticed nobles all turning their eyes toward one spot.
He wondered if it was Eliban, but even Eliban was looking that way, so Alon followed their gaze as well.
“...?”
He saw a woman approaching him.
Her attire clearly marked her as soone of very high status.
Alon, dumbfounded, suddenly realized that her face looked familiar.
“It’s been a while.”
At the sound of her familiar voice, Alon finally realized who she was.
“...Syrkal?”
“Yes.”
Syrkal answered with a smile.
And at once, Alon felt the nobles’ gazes focus even more heavily on them.
Feeling slightly awkward, he spoke.
“I heard the rumors. They say you beca a king.”
“Yes, that’s right. The forr king suddenly ran into... difficulties.”
“Difficulties?”
“Yes, difficulties.”
“Was he injured?”
“Not exactly, but sothing did happen. He hasn’t passed away, though.”
“...He hasn’t died?”
“No, he hasn’t passed away.”
A king replaced without dying...?
That thought crossed Alon’s mind.
But as he looked at Syrkal, smiling and nodding,
He quietly closed his mouth.
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