Chapter 8

“Oi, release me already.”

“Eh, I don’t want to.”

“The heck with your ‘I don’t want to’.”

My shoulders were still in his hold, and I was about to blow up. I couldn’t raise my arms, but maybe I should give him a head-butt.

“Oh, yes, Alfred-sama. I received the invitation for the ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’. Thank you very much. I’ll be delighted to attend it.” While I was still quarrelling with Al, Bailard bowed his head to Al as if he just remembered something important.

“I’ll also attend.”

“Me too. me too.”

Jade and Zernite followed in answering the invitation.

In this country, when a boy turns 12, there would be a celebration called ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’. Hm, it was kind of like ‘Shichi-go-san’ festival1, it celebrates the growth and well-being of children.

It is a ceremony where a boy would wear a sword on his waist. Of course, the sword used in the ceremony would be small and edgeless, but after the ceremony, the boy would be allowed to carry a sword with him. Zernite already completed his ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’, thus he carried around a sword now.

Long time ago, it used to be a serious ritual, but as time passed by, it had been reduced to mere formality, and more and more households don’t do this ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’ anymore. Kids like Zernite who aspired to become a knight or military officer in the future would still hold this ceremony, but it was normal for common children to skip it.

By the way, the girls would have their own event called ‘Hair Tying Ceremony’. From that day onwards, their hair that had been let loose will be tied up, and they gradually would become an adult lady.

For the royal family, these functions were held in high regard, so ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’ is usually held in grandeur. In Al’s case, he was the Second Prince so it might not be extremely lavish, but still a lot of people were invited to his event.

On top of that, we, his ‘friends’ were also among the invitees. We were still children so we hadn’t been invited to any parties; this event was really something we look forward to.

“Right, during the ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’, I’ll introduce you guys officially.”

“Eh?” I was stunned by Al’s words.

Al said it nonchalantly, but to be introduced officially means a transition from Al’s ‘friends’ to Al’s ‘close aides’. Once this ‘Sword Bearing Ceremony’ was over, Al would move his residence from inside this Inner Palace with the Queen, to the Main Palace to live with his Father.

He would then have more roles to fulfill as a member of the royal family. He would no longer need ‘friends’ with whom he could play together merrily, instead he would need ‘close aides’ that would assist him as a royalty.

I, what am I going to do? Will I just go with the flow and be Al’s vassal?

After I realized that this world was a BL game, I had resolved to live just the way I am. Nevertheless, I hadn’t decided exactly what I wanted to be, or what I wanted to do in the future. Since I had memories from my past life, I only saw my 12-year-old self as merely a child.

I’m a child, so isn’t it too early to decide my future….

Jade, Zernite, and Bailard on the other hand were doing their best as they already had proper visions of their future selves. Only I hadn’t made any decision about my future……

Or should I say, I had no way to decide. The BL game would bother my mind no matter what.

At present, Al and I were not engaged to each other. Would we stay like this with no engagement, or would we still be engaged in the future? I remembered the details about the BL game so clearly, yet the background story of why Al and ‘I’ got engaged or at what time ‘we’ were engaged, I couldn’t remember them at all. I only knew that during the time in the academy, ‘we’ would already be engaged.

If I were to go to the academy, not as Al’s fiancé but as his close aide, the BL game setting would change. So would the story then change its course following that?

If, just like the flow of the BL game, the main character enrolled in the academy, and I, as Al’s close aide, would have no involvement with the main character. I would have no say in their relationship because I was not Al’s fiancé, and there would be no reason for me to get jealous. Even if Al fell in love with the main character, I could only watch it from the sideline.

My heart felt a stabbing pain.

If I became Al’s close aide, I would not get convicted. Since I would have no romantic feelings towards Al that caused me to drown in jealousy, then I would not be sent to the labour camp. This should be my wish since I started to remember about my past life.

Even then, I somehow felt a pang of pain inside my heart. Why was it hurting inside? In the end, I could only tightly shut my eyes.