Chapter 34

I found Fania holding a plate in one hand while his gaze was darting around the venue. When I saw him previously, he was wearing the uniform, but today he was wearing a near-white cream tuxedo. The tuxedo fitted him perfectly, he looked so adorable.

I had my close aides checked him out. Fania Arginia. A newly-enrolled student in Class 3. Perhaps he was a son of a Baron with a fief in a remote countryside faraway from the royal country. Why I said ‘perhaps’, this was because it was quite unclear.

When searching from his surname alone, only the House of Arginia, the Duke came up. However, from the fact that he belonged to Class 3, he could only be either a lower nobility or a commoner.

But his elegant demeanour erased the possibility that he was a commoner. When asking the academy, they only stated, ‘personal information is confidential’.

However, Fania’s behaviours were quite unrestricted, unlike people from the nobility. When I remembered about the incident under the tree, I broke into a smile. I could not forget the sensation I felt when I had that delicate body in my embrace.

‘Thud’, I patted Fania on his shoulder; he didn’t realize my presence at all.

“Yo-Your Highness….” It was refreshing to see Fania’s frozen reaction at seeing me.

When I called out to somebody, they would either butter up to me or try to gauge my thinking. It was very rare to have someone giving such an honest reaction like this.

“Is your body, alright now?” When I asked this, Fania’s expression was like having a question mark on his head.

Be it his facial expression, or his body language, every single thing of him was so adorable. I took Fania’s hand like how one would towards a noble lady and commented, “Oh, it looks like it didn’t leave any scars” and then I kissed that hand.

Fania’s hand was white and slender, and there was no scar from where he was pecked by the birds.

“Whoaaa. Your Highness, what are you doing!”

Fania who had his other hand occupied with the plate containing food could not make any major movement. He was conflicted whether he should pry his hand off or not, while I had no intention of letting go of his hand.

Fania’s appearance, personality, his everything: all struck my fancy.

Such an existence is a first in my life. I want this cute Fania by my side. I want to always see him. I want to hear his voice.

I don’t want to let him go.

“ughoghokho1, Your Highness, please release my hand, gukghiihkgiii” I had the urge to embrace that delicate body, so I kept holding that hand of his and pulled his closer to me. Fania was trying to resist desperately, yet it was fruitless in stopping me.

“Andrew-sama, what are you doing?” The voice I heard from behind me annoyed me. I should have given her the slip, yet she already caught up to me this quick.

The one who called out to me was Lucrecia Den Haag. She was the daughter of Duke Den Haag. She was my cousin who was of the same age as me, and also my fiancée.

We were engaged when we were eight years old. Of course this was out of political reason, and without caring whether we consented to it or not. When I was small, I thought nothing of this engagement, but now I could only think of it as something irksome.

From when we started to enrol in this academy, Lucrecia gradually turned into another person. Especially after we became second years, it was starkly obvious.

She was being snobbish and haughty, and started treating others like fools. Not only that, she even ruthlessly punished others without batting an eyelid. She had that kind of tendency early on, but lately it had only become much worse.

By now, there was no one around Lucrecia with a normal mentality anymore, yet she didn’t even realize that.

“So deplorable. It’s not good for you to mingle with such a low-born.”

Lucrecia was concealing her face behind the fan, but I knew she must’ve knitted her brows. Lucrecia had always been nosing around me, spreading out the fact that she was my fiancee. I suppose she must’ve investigated Fania who I started to have an interest in. Once she discovered that Fania belonged to Class 3, she must’ve looked down on him.

“Don’t meddle in my affairs.” Usually I didn’t pay any mind to what Lucrecia did, thinking she was only being a pest; but she just called Fania a ‘low-born’, so I could not stay silent.

Lucrecia opened her eyes wide hearing my strong rebuke.

“Ho, what was that? Are you saying, you’re backing that kind of person?”

“You have no right to look down on Fania like so. You’re an eyesore, you better go somewhere else.”

No matter how noble Lucrecia was, she could go against me, a royalty. Perhaps, she felt like she was humiliated, red-faced, she glared over here but still refused to budge.

“You…. Someone like you, until when do you think you want to bug Andrew-sama! Get away from him!” Lucrecia, who couldn’t vent his anger at me, lashed out at Fania instead.

Of all things, she used the fan she was holding to smack Fania.

One of Fania’s hands was in my grab, so in reflex, he used the other hand with the plate topped with food to protect himself against the assault. Lucrecia’s fan strongly hit the plate on Fania’s hand.

“Uwaaaah!” The fan, deflected by the plate, along with the food collided into Fania’s chest, making a loud sound as they fell to the floor.

“………Eh?” Fania was stupefied for an instant, clueless to what just occurred until he noticed his chest—his cream-coloured tuxedo was stained with sauce and cream which were dripping down to the floor.

“Lucrecia, just what have you done!”

“How absolutely deplorable, you’re saying I did what to this low-born? Isn’t it a mistake on his part to even appear at this place? Someone, please drive him out.” Lucrecia acted like she did nothing wrong; without any apology, she just looked the other way.

“Aaaa…. The tuxedo…. This was a present from Al, yet I…..” Fania kept looking at his stained chest area, and softly murmuring something.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry things went like this.” I released my hold on his hand, and was about to wrap my arms around Fania’s shoulder who had his gaze casted down.

“Don’t you touch Fania!”

My body shook from that sharp voice. My arm stopped halfway from wrapping around Fania, and I turned my face towards the voice.

A crowd gathered around the place where I quarreled with Lucrecia, and they separated at both sides, giving way to the latecomer—my younger brother.

The Second Prince Alfred. My biologically related brother, albeit with different mothers. He possessed a totally different look, and even the vibe he gave out was different from me. A beautiful and revered existence.

“Fania, are you okay?” Alfred who had a stern air around him, when he reached Fania, his expression softened as he opened both arms.

“Al~ Al, I’m sorry. Even though you gifted this to me….” Fania might’ve restrained it until now, but his tears trickled down as he hurried towards Al; he jumped into the other’s arms without hesitation.

My hand that stopped halfway from wrapping his shoulder remained floating in the air.

“Fania, don’t cry. I’m sorry I came late.”

“Wuuu~” When Alfred hugged Fania, he hugged the other so that Fania’s face was on his shoulder.

I was thrown into a panic. Just why is my brother—a royalty—hugging a lower noble Fania? Why did Fania dash to jump into Alfred’s arms without second thought? And why is Alfred kissing Fania’s wet cheek as he hugs Fania like Fania was his beloved?

“That woman over there. You dared to commit an outrage on Fania.” A low-pitched voice that was enough to intimidate anyone.

That refined face that nearly had no expression validated just how deep Alfred’s fury was.

“Owh, look here, it’s Alfred-sama. We haven’t met for a long while. Oh, how can this be, for Alfred-sama to mingle with some lowly commoner. Commoners should just hide themselves at some corners, laying low. To strut in the open like this, there should be a limit how shameless he could be.” Lucrecia showed her splendid courtesy towards Alfred, as if she felt nothing about what she had just done.

“Fania is no commoner, he’s my fiancé. I believe you also know this: a prince’s betrothed is half-royalty. A mere noble like you, not only were you disrespecting Fania as a royalty, you also used violence on him. Don’t think you could ever be forgiven. Zernite!”

“Ha!”

Alfred still had that frighteningly cold expression on his face as he issued his order regarding Lucrecia. His close aide who was on standby behind him swiftly restrained Lucrecia.

“Whaaaa! What are you doing? Release me. Who do you think I am? You insolent fellow, let me go! Andrew-sama, please save me, Andrew-sama~!”

Lucrecia tried to resist all she could, but she was still brought away from the scene. I had no intention to defend Lucrecia, or to save her. It was supposed to be my role to punish Lucrecia in the first place. On top of that, if Fania was truly Alfred’s fiancé, her punishment was justified.

Nevertheless…….

“Fania, is he your fiancé? I have never heard the news of you getting engaged….”

“Yup, Fania is undisputedly my fiancé. We have been engaged since we were twelve-year-olds, but it was a confidential matter, so I didn’t introduce him even to you, Brother.” He gently rubbed Fania’s back, but the gaze he bore through me had an ice-cold glint inside it. Alfred surely didn’t forgive me as well.

In this country, Frialist, same-sex marriages are acknowledged. However, same-sex marriages inside the royalty and high nobilities are things I’ve never seen, nor had I’ve heard about. It is even unthinkable for Alfred who has a succession right to the throne to be engaged to a male……

“It never occurred to me that you would be engaged to a male…. Is Fania really your fiancé?” I still couldn’t believe it, so I questioned him again.

Alfred and I were both put in awkward positions due to the matter of throne succession. My mother, the Second Consort Algarina who used to have a strong influence in the Inner Palace had retreated from appearing in public for about two years already. There were voices fearing about my losing position in the succession, but my grandfather, an archduke2 still held quite a strong authority.

Amidst that, now you tell me that Alfred is engaged to a male?

“He’s my most beloved.” Alfred uttered, and he kissed Fania who was still in his embrace on the head.

Like showing off how he was cherishing the other to death. In a way that implied that action was just something natural between them.

Why? Why does Alfred’s fiance have to be Fania? Why is it Fania? There’s no one like him that is so adorable and sees me for who I am without putting any pretenses. There’s no one like him who smiles ever so charmingly like that.

I looked at my hand that was holding nothing in the air. The hand that couldn’t even reach Fania.

Taking a male Fania as a betrothed is like a crushing blow to the succession right to the throne. Can I even do that? Am I capable of going against my supporters’ expectations……? I was reminded of the strong gaze of my younger brother’s. Just how did he obtain what I failed to get?

Alfred and the others had already gone, while Andrew stood unmoving at the scene.