Chapter 68
Claude doesn’t like Luigi. It’s not simply because of his high claim to succession. Though that’s certainly part of it, Luigi was the most uncomfortable among all his cousin siblings. This was true both when he was in Ionad and when he wasn’t.
His endurance of solitude in the royal family was admirable, but he looked down on others too much. Not just his siblings, but everyone. And he believed his position had been stolen.
In this case, it wasn’t stolen—someone else simply claimed it. Survival of the fittest, wasn’t it? Luigi had simply lost. He just couldn’t admit it.
Yuls arrived at the appointed time. While Southerners generally didn’t consider punctuality a virtue, Yuls was an exception. His personality demanded that he move according to given times.
Claude, on the other hand, was always late. He never kept time except when attending to the King. Because no one but the King was above him. And Luigi…
“Brother, it’s been a while.”
Was even worse than Claude.
Whether he’d left his sense of time in foreign countries or not, he was an hour late for the scheduled meeting. If not for Yuls, Claude would have stormed out long ago.
When told to wait since it was his long-absent cousin, Claude had opened a bottle of wine, and except for one glass given to Yuls, he’d emptied it himself. When Luigi still hadn’t arrived, he’d opened another and emptied half of it before Luigi finally appeared.
Watching Luigi approach with open arms, Yuls thought he resembled Claude. Both would be disgusted to hear that comparison.
“Who’s your brother?”
At Claude’s words, Luigi lowered his arms. Then he looked at the red-haired man sitting leisurely beside them. A new retainer? But his clothes were too fine for that, and he hadn’t stood to greet a royal’s arrival.
“Who’s this?”
“Haven’t heard the rumors, I see.”
Yuls said.
“It’s been a while, brother.”
“Yuls?”
Luigi looked surprised.
“You’ve grown?”
Luigi looked up in amazement at his cousin who hadn’t changed for over ten years. He hadn’t expected him to grow so tall. His presence was quite intimidating. Until now, Julius had been pushed aside or gone unmentioned despite his succession rights because of the curse.
“Has the curse been broken?”
“Who knows.”
“Haha, the succession fight will be harder now, won’t it, Claude?”
Luigi said, nudging Claude. Claude snorted. It was Luigi who feared Yuls. From the start, he had no interest in anything above the oak forests. As long as no one disturbed him.
Claude knew this well. Luigi wouldn’t know. He’d been wandering foreign countries all along.
“Well, if we’re talking legitimate succession, you have many above you.”
“Even so, I’m the Crown Prince now.”
At Claude’s words, Luigi added, “For now.”
“But why just you two? Aren’t the other siblings here?”
“Some are in foreign countries like you, and the Princess won’t leave Ionad, so we can’t see her.”
“Well, her. Who knows whose person she’ll become later anyway.”
At Yuls’s words, Luigi shrugged.
No matter how high a princess’s succession rights might be, this was a world where women couldn’t become rulers. Unless every man in the world became sterile. To Luigi, she wasn’t worth considering. He thought he only needed to defeat Claude. But looking at this now…
He felt he might need to keep Woodpecker in check too.
“I wanted to see His Majesty, but they say his schedule is full today and tomorrow. The chamberlain managed to arrange for the day after tomorrow.”
Even that was clearly arranged by shifting others’ schedules. Lowering the priority, excluding status, the earliest would be the day after tomorrow.
“It would be nice if someone could change the time.”
Luigi said, looking at Yuls. At his passive request, Yuls smirked.
“I have no intention of changing it, so look for someone else.”
“Is this how cousins treat each other?”
“Let me give you some cousin advice—it would be better to meet Lady Connolly, who’s the only one who truly cares for you.”
“…Yes, I should meet the Lady.”
“‘The Lady’? Aunt would be hurt to hear that.”
At Yuls’s words, Luigi closed his mouth. He hadn’t noticed until a few years ago, but now he saw that Yuls was quite difficult to handle. There’s a difference between taking sarcasm from a child and from a grown adult. Luigi turned his words toward Claude.
“By the way, still smoking? I brought some good ones from Türingen, want them?”
Claude’s expression hardened. At his look of ‘how did you know,’ Luigi quietly smiled. Yuls silently raised his wine glass. Toward him, Luigi said, “I brought wine for you too.”
“You didn’t know I’d grown but brought wine? What were you planning to do to that child?”
“You were only a child in appearance, not inside.”
“The body was still a child’s.”
“But you’re drinking now?”
“Because I’m grown now.”
“…Right. Anyway, coming to Palesa after so long, it feels like summer. This humidity is annoying. Türingen summers were drier.”
“You’re still attached above and below, what’s the difference?”
Claude grumbled.
“At least it was less humid than here. Is it because Dalkatir is in the south?”
As if. Anyone who studied geography would know that humidity is influenced by ocean currents.
“Stupid bastard.”
Claude muttered quietly. Luigi seemed not to have heard. In fact, all of Luigi’s words were just complaints. Claude couldn’t understand why someone who hated Dalkatir would want to be king here.
“Still, it’s nice to be home.”
“You’re from Ionad.”
“I was born in Palesa. The Queen gave birth to me here during the festival period.”
That Queen left the royal family after the King’s death. No one drove her out. Like Luigi, she too hated Dalkatir. The woman who had married into this small country found it dreadful, and after gaining freedom from the royal family through the King’s death, she soon returned to her homeland, Bellipera.
“This time of year is my birthday.”
Though no one in Palesa would consider Luigi a local, he didn’t mind. He was the type to use anything he could.
“While I’m here, I should meet Palesa’s nobles too.”
Claude frowned. Those words meant he would start moving. The sharpness could be felt from beside him. Yuls didn’t like the coldness felt between these two. More precisely, it was closer to finding it bothersome.
I should return to Woodpecker soon, Yuls thought.
He had already gotten what he wanted anyway, so there was no need to stay here any longer.
❖ ❖ ❖
Bang! A chair fell over with a loud noise. The servants and knights standing against the wall made no move to right it. Claude exhaled, seemingly unable to suppress his anger. Then he said, “Bring water.”
Claude drank the water the servant brought in one gulp. Still apparently thirsty, he shouted “More!” The empty water bottle he’d already been handed was thrown to the floor and shattered.
With no more water bottles in the room, the servant opened the door. As they were about to leave, they hesitated at the sight of someone standing there, looked up, then bowed respectfully.
Spencer Grimaldi entered. Claude’s gaze turned to Spencer Grimaldi. Spencer casually ignored the piercing eyes and said,
“I came at your summons.”
Claude didn’t answer. With the servant who’d gone for water not yet returned, he took out alcohol from the shelf on the wall and drank it straight.
“The alcohol is excessive, Your Highness.”
“I’m thirsty.”
Claude said, wiping away the flowing liquor. Golden liquid dripped down, soaking Claude’s white chemise. Claude threw the bottle to the floor. Once again, the bottle shattered and alcohol spilled onto the carpet. The smell of alcohol rose.
“It was the Count, wasn’t it?”
Claude said. His steps were unsteady as he walked toward Count Grimaldi. After moving back and forth before stopping in front of him, Claude pressed his finger into the Count’s solar plexus.
“It must be the Count, who else could it be?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Why else would Luigi, who was stuck in Konya, suddenly come here?”
Claude had expected the Count to be pushed back by his finger’s pressure, but he didn’t move at all. Rather, when his own finger started hurting, Claude withdrew his hand, turned his body, and collapsed onto the sofa, saying,
“Didn’t you call him? Aren’t you putting your hands everywhere?”
Speaking thus and breathing heavily, Claude covered his face with his hands and asked, “Why?”
“Is this because I asked for your son?”
“That couldn’t be the reason, Your Highness.”
Narrow-minded old man. Count Grimaldi was quite capable of such things. That’s why he tried not to send his son, and when that wasn’t listened to, he did this. Snake of an old man. He shouldn’t have trusted him.
“If you want my son, that’s not a problem. However, despite there being other methods, forcefully pushing only Your Highness’s will instead of choosing the better option is not good.”
Spencer Grimaldi spoke thus toward Claude. Claude lowered his hands and looked at the Count. Spencer made a small sound of laughter. His left corner of the mouth rose slightly higher than the right.
“Do you want to become like His Majesty?”
It was exactly the same smile as Adi Grimaldi’s.
