Side Story Chapter 1. The Official Couple of the Worldview (Part 7)
Since things had come to this, he couldn’t ignore it. As he had always done, he decided to be swayed by the disciplines of the Seven Virtues and Seven Deadly Sins.
He displayed kindness without genuine feeling.
“Do you have business with me, Your Royal Highness, the Former Prince?”
“…”
The platinum-blonde royal, on the cusp between boy and youth, broke his breath. Then, he forced a smile onto his tearful face and spoke.
“As expected, you still won’t call me Liga.”
“…”
“It’s alright. At least you looked back when I called you ‘hyung’… That’s enough.”
He said it as if brainwashing himself that it was enough, despite his face clearly showing it wasn’t.
The one who was so utterly wicked in other timelines was now acting as if begging for Tesillid’s every word, every flicker of expression, every glance.
Tesillid still couldn’t adapt to this disparity. Nor did he intend to.
Such indifference, ironically, stemmed from Tesillid’s benevolent nature. How easy it would be to manipulate and toy with someone who would be ecstatic just by being called by their name.
If Tesillid hadn’t been good, he would have long since used his emotional leverage to drag Ligares through the mud.
“Pardon my bluntness, Your Highness, but I do not wish to face you for long.”
“I… came because I have something to deliver. My sister Celestid gave it to me.”
“His Majesty the King?”
Thinking it was official business, Tesillid immediately corrected his posture. Ligares thought he had done well to use his sister’s name and took out a luxurious velvet box from his pocket.
“You, hyung, deliver it directly to your wife. When you’re alone. Preferably dressed up.”
The answer to his rather serious request was simple.
“Understood.”
“You… aren’t going to ask what this is?”
“Is it something I need to know about?”
“Uh, it would be better if you did.”
Only then did Tesillid realize that this business was a little different from an official mission.
At Ligares’s nod, he cautiously opened the velvet box.
“This is…”
What was revealed under the sunlight was a ring set with a large pink diamond.
“It’s one of the royal family’s heirlooms. I thought it should be at least this much.”
“At least this much?”
“Your wife was really upset that you haven’t proposed to her yet.”
“…”
Tesillid flinched at two facts. That the fact he hadn’t proposed was exposed, and that Aillet was terribly upset, deeply stung him.
“Did Aillet… really say that?”
“Yes.”
Of course, Ligares was the kind of person who could lie without his face changing.
“So take this and propose, hyung.”
Tesillid gazed at the brilliantly shining pink diamond for a long time.
Not only did it look far more precious than the ring Moriphis had taken out earlier when he tried to flirt with Aillet, but the color of the diamond was a beautiful hue that instinctively brought Aillet to mind.
Even to Tesillid, it felt like there was no other engagement ring in the world quite like this. However…
“An engagement ring holds meaning if I procure it myself…”
“Hyung, you can’t buy a ring like this with a Holy Knight’s salary.”
“Even so, there’s no reason for me to receive an heirloom of the Winchester Royal Family…”
“There is! What’s strange about bestowing treasure upon a hero who saved the world?”
Ligares, being clever, didn’t say something as ridiculous as Tesillid deserved it because he was royalty.
“Think of it as a hero’s pension.”
“Ah.”
Even Tesillid thought it was a valid point, given its persuasive reasoning.
In the past, when he regressed endlessly, he, as a devout and ascetic Holy Knight, kept material desires as far away as carnal ones, but now that he had met Aillet, he was different.
The peridot-colored eyes that couldn’t hide their momentary sparkle when he said he would give her all his Holy Knight’s salary, and the deluge of praise she later showered upon him for earning 2.67 million gold, had taught him a lesson.
‘The more I earn, the happier Aillet will be.’
And as he continued to look at it, the pink royal heirloom seemed like a ring that existed solely for Aillet Rodelain. At this point, he felt a strong urge to slip it onto her finger.
“Please convey my gratitude to His Majesty.”
“Yeah, got it!”
He didn’t know why Ligares, acting as a messenger, was so pleased, but Tesillid didn’t pay it much mind and tucked the ring box into his pocket.
“It seems your business is concluded. Please go ahead first, Your Royal Highness, the Former Prince.”
“No. I’ll go after I see you leave, hyung.”
“I cannot allow that. Please go first.”
“You first, hyung…”
Tesillid sighed softly at the bickering situation.
“Ligares.”
“!”
His azure eyes widened. As if to confirm it wasn’t a hallucination, Tesillid’s calm voice continued to echo through the air.
“I’m sorry, but it will be difficult for me to become your brother. Even if I were to recover my childhood memories, it would be the same.”
“…”
“You might not understand, but the life I’ve lived makes it hard for me to accept you. So stop your futile efforts. You won’t be rewarded.”
“Hyung…”
A small whisper was all. Ligares stood rooted to the spot for a long time, unable to say anything more.
Tesillid bowed courteously.
“I’ll take my leave first, Your Highness.”
Tesillid turned away deliberately coldly and left the spot.
As Ligares, who was behind him, moved further away, the handsome man’s impassive expression slightly faltered, as if reflecting his complex emotions.
In this timeline, Ligares’s wrongdoings against Tesillid were objectively small. However, to treat Ligares while excluding the memories accumulated from living through dozens of timelines, the things Tesillid had endured were simply too cruel.
The sight of a brother displaying affectionate expressions before him was overwhelmed by the memory of the arrogant prince who had stabbed a sword into his heart in the past. To a hollow extent, easily.
Tesillid had suffered terribly, to the point where he couldn’t forgive Ligares, and yet, he was also so profoundly good that he didn’t want to inflict harm upon Ligares even after enduring such treatment.
So he set a compromise: to live as complete strangers, unrelated and unentangled.
He didn’t want to expend emotions. Even now, he felt a rapid weariness from just a brief encounter.
‘I want to see Aillet.’
He felt he needed to see her face soon and recover. Fortunately, unlike the fingertips that had drawn lots, his walking feet seemed to be imbued with the power of love.
Soon, he was able to encounter her in a garden.
“Terry?”
“Aillet.”
“What brings you here alone?”
Aillet, too, was alone. Bianca, who had left the banquet hall with her, was nowhere in sight. The fact that they could be alone brought him great pleasure.
Anyway, Tesillid answered her question without hesitation.
Stepping closer to her, he whispered.
“Because I missed you too much.”
He didn’t bother to mention the lengthy truth that he had followed her out from the banquet hall. That would seem too obsessive.
As expected, Aillet showed the reaction Tesillid wished to see.
At his words, which felt like a sudden confession of affection, her verdant green eyes widened. The sight of her gazing at him, having even forgotten to blink, was utterly adorable.
While he suppressed the urge to immediately kiss her eyelids, she also regained her composure.
“Ah, it’s the same trick, but why do I fall for it every time?”
“Trick?”
“Exactly. They’re just everyday words, but why do you say them with such fervent passion that they make my heart race?”
“Because the feelings I put into those words are fervent?”
“…”
“Of course, it is everyday. You are my life.”
“What is this… Is this a romance fantasy novel?”
He didn’t know what her dazed muttering meant, but judging by her flushed cheeks, it was clearly good for him.
“Anyway, Aillet, it seemed there was some commotion at your table.”
“Oh, that. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
How could he not worry when his lover had just received a proposal from some lunatic?
As he felt a slight sense of vexation, she tried to change the subject.
“And what about you, Terry, was there nothing unusual at your table?”
“Of course nothing unusual happened at a family dinner.”
“My brother suddenly seemed really friendly with you, didn’t he? How did you charm him… no, gain his favor?”
“Well…”
He merely offered a little help to Printz to make him accurately realize that, given his position, he couldn’t run for the position of Bianca’s husband.
That would have sufficed as a summary, but Tesillid still felt the lingering vexation from earlier. So, a tiny mischievous impulse arose within him.
Tesillid bent down towards Aillet.
“Terry…?”
As his handsome face drew closer, Aillet was slightly flustered. Just as the tension peaked, with him approaching kissing distance, Tesillid suddenly shifted his attitude and gently bumped his forehead against hers. Silver and pink hair mingled harmoniously.
“It seems to have turned out as you said. The whole world must love me.”
“…”
“Right? My world.”
“Ah, really, again.”
At the charming laugh that resonated from his throat, Aillet realized she had been teased.
Muttering softly, she soon reached out a hand towards Tesillid’s forehead.
After tidying his slightly disheveled bangs, some impulse seized her, and she gently brushed them back.
When Tesillid gave her a puzzled look, she offered her observation.
“You look handsome even with your bangs swept back.”
“You like it?”
“Yes.”
“Then look at me a lot, and like me a lot.”
This time, the laughter of both of them filled the air.
Just then.
<You two really have no sense of timing. If you lived together, you’d probably kiss every time you breathed.>
“…”
“…”
The two of them truly tidied each other’s hair and then stood up straight.
“Let’s go back, Aillet.”
“Okay, Terry.”
The protagonists could not be absent from the banquet. The two of them walked together towards the banquet hall.