46.
The man, who was undoubtedly Ekian Mayous, wore a mask that obscured his entire head. Yet, instinctively, I knew him to be my old, dear friend.
Ekian was quite a bit younger than me. Nevertheless, he was wise, vibrant, and we communicated with such ease that I had always kept him close and trusted him implicitly.
“……Your Imperial Highness.”
Finally, a voice emerged from behind the mask.
Alteion let out a long, wheezing sigh. It was, without a doubt, the voice of the friend he had missed for so long.
“It has been a very long time.”
Ekian slowly offered a salute.
“I hope you have been well.”
His tone was both relaxed and aristocratic. Without a second thought, Alteion pulled Ekian into a tight embrace.
“Ha, truly…… It really is you. It really is you.”
“The Imperial Palace security is too tight. I wanted to visit sooner, but I couldn’t gain entry until the day of the banquet.”
That was true. The Imperial Palace was not a place one could enter easily.
However, on a day when countless nobles attended a banquet, the situation shifted. With so many servants accompanying the nobility, an outsider moving through the palace rarely stood out.
The security was indeed stringent, but as the Crown Prince, Alteion could make arrangements from within to ensure a smooth passage.
“Thank you for being alive.”
Alteion said, his voice thick with emotion as he patted Ekian’s back.
Though he masked it well, Ekian felt a powerful wave of sentiment. For the first time in five years, he had revealed his identity to an old acquaintance. It felt as if he had finally found a place he had long since forgotten.
According to what he had discovered in the interim, Alteion was even his half-brother. He was on the verge of expressing his genuine joy when Alteion pulled back.
“So, in the end, it means everything was true.”
Alteion said in a low voice.
“Pardon? If you mean true, what……”
“The rumors that you ran away after getting a woman with a bright future pregnant, without taking any responsibility.”
Alteion pushed him away and shook his head with a troubled expression.
“To be honest, I thought there might be a misunderstanding. I wondered if the Duke Mayous had lied—claiming he could feel your aura just to delay reporting your death.”
Alteion’s guess was unnervingly accurate. Seeing the flustered Ekian, he clicked his tongue.
“I thought that even if you were to die, you wouldn’t do something so irresponsible…… You’ve really become trash, haven’t you? You are no longer the Ekian Mayous I used to know.”
He looked at Ekian, sighing deeply as if at a recurring headache.
“You told me in secret that you had urgent business. Did you come here to borrow money?”
It was the tone of an old friend treating a common rake. Ekian’s sense of connection crumbled instantly.
“I don’t know how much you need, but if you intend to use it for something nefarious……”
“That is not the case.”
In the end, Ekian had no choice but to reply, deadpanning.
“It is nothing like that.”
“If not, have you perhaps entrusted yourself to some low-class cult…… or is this a situation where I need to buy something from you?”
“That is not it either.”
Ekian heaved a deep sigh.
“The reason I’ve been in hiding and came here is because I wanted to warn Your Imperial Highness of the danger that will befall you today.”
“Hmm?”
Alteion frowned and tilted his head.
“Today? At my birthday banquet?”
“Yes.”
Ekian nodded solemnly.
“After the speech at today’s banquet, one of your guards will attack you. I do not know the name, but I know it is the knight scheduled to stand at your back-right.”
“……You are joking, Ekian.”
Alteion replied slowly.
“Sir Secan is one who is loyal to the Imperial Family. He was personally bestowed upon me by His Imperial Majesty……”
“Hasn’t your body felt much slower lately?”
At Ekian’s sharp question, Alteion hesitated.
“It wouldn’t be your former swordsmanship. Perhaps today your vision will be even blurrier and your reactions slower.”
“……You……”
“You are being slowly poisoned. Once the banquet is over, secretly send some blood to a physician outside the Imperial Palace to have it tested and procure an antidote. Naturally, you cannot use the Imperial physicians.”
Alteion bit his lower lip. Ekian’s words pressed on.
“You must wear armor under your banquet attire. And keep watch on your right side; dodge as soon as you sense a surprise attack. If you stay alert, you will be able to evade even if your senses have dulled.”
“……”
“Listening to me is a zero-sum game. You understand, don’t you? If nothing happens, just consider it an old friend talking nonsense, and please, just exercise caution.”
As Ekian calmly entreated him, Alteion slowly bowed his head. After a long silence, he asked.
“……Is it His Imperial Majesty?”
The tone suggested he had already expected it to some extent. But because he knew well that Alteion had simply been pretending not to know because he couldn’t bear to face the truth, Ekian remained silent.
It was a knight directly bestowed by the Emperor and an Imperial physician personally assigned by him.
The fact that those two could not be trusted meant that the Emperor was behind it all.
“I learned this while hiding my identity and running an Information Guild.”
Ekian said in a bitter voice.
“Please, I beg you to be careful, Your Highness.”
“Ekian……”
“I shall take my leave now.”
Ekian still had no intention of revealing his full identity to Alteion. Or, to be precise, he felt no necessity to do so.
Admitting he was his half-brother would only complicate matters further.
In truth, Ekian had not yet made up his mind.
He had decided to keep his distance from the Mayous Ducal House even though he had been raised as the Young Duke Mayous, and not to get involved with the Imperial Family despite being a prince.
He had meant to live as a stranger, someone entirely unrelated to the machinations of the court. To harm no one, and to be a source of pain to no one.
And yet, everything began to waver because Judith appeared.
Yes, it was entirely because of that one woman.
Because she had become the woman of Ekian Mayous on paper, he wanted to stand by her side naturally, wherever she might be.
He wanted to help look after the family she was trying so hard to protect.
That was why he kept looking back at the life he had abandoned, and why he felt such hatred for those who forced him to turn back.
“I cannot stay long.”
Ekian looked at Alteion and said with a strained voice.
“You should be going soon as well, shouldn’t you, Your Imperial Highness? You are the protagonist of this banquet.”
“……Indeed. The banquet will begin soon.”
Alteion, however, could not take his eyes off Ekian.
“Ekian, is there no way for me to contact you?”
“I will reach out again once some time has passed.”
“When can I see you again?”
“It is hard to promise.”
“Then, I have one last request.”
Alteion took a step toward Ekian and said.
“……I want to see your face. Can you remove your mask, just once?”
Ekian sighed slightly.
He had expected this from the moment he arrived. He had been prepared to reveal his face if Alteion did not trust him.
As he removed the mask, brilliant blonde hair and red eyes were revealed under the night sky.
Originally, his hair had been black, but he had dyed it the former shade of gold for today. Expensive hair dyes were readily available in the Empire, making the change simple enough.
“You……”
Alteion muttered in a trembling voice.
“It’s been a while…… You’ve grown up to be truly handsome. I had wondered if you wore the mask because you had grown too ugly compared to your youth, but that’s not the case at all.”
Just as Ekian gave a faint smile and brushed through his hair, something caught his eye.
Even before the banquet had begun, he saw the figure of Judith, standing alone on the balcony in the distance.