After all the scheduled inspection itineraries, Alicia and the others celebrated the day of their return.
On the morning of departure, it was a clear day with no clouds. Outside the castle gate, citizens gathered lightly double the day of arrival. As a final greeting before her departure, when Alicia appeared on the high ground of the castle with the Empress, she was cheered among the crowd.
"I guess it was a good idea to let the man used by the Unitarians go. Citizens know who the meritorious man who saved the man is. I'm not gonna let him live."
To Alicia, who rounds her eyes, the empress spoke that way looking out at the audience.
"It's not like the rest of the way. I don't choose. But surely this is one way, too"
Thus Alicia boarded the carriage, having broken up with the citizens. Shaken by the carriage that began to move, Alicia put her thoughts to the two figures she saw in the drop-off, - Fritz and Charlotte.
Fritz and I had the opportunity to exchange two or three words. But it was thus a superficial exchange, not like filling a ditch that was born that night.
It's not that I don't feel sorry for that. Though he is an incomparable thinker, he must go beyond establishing a good relationship with Aardhar.
However, even if we try to repair the relationship by force at this stage, we will reject it. We could have made a strong connection with the Empress, and the Prince should have set aside time and buried the ditch sooner or later. Because I think so, Alicia didn't take it that seriously.
What bothered me more than that was Charlotte. They're still avoiding themselves. It was just before I left that I was finally able to catch her.
When it comes to Charlotte feeling backward on herself, it's about something to do with Prince Fritz. I tried to get a hit and find out, but she just apologized and didn't talk to me. Sometimes the time for departure was imminent, and although I managed to promise to exchange sentences, I was not uncomfortable.
And, although I can think of a few things left to do, I would say that I have achieved more than that.
All in all, during this expedition, Alicia demanded of the Empress, by herself, almost everything she had discussed with King James before leaving for Aaldar, as well as an urgent and consolidated policy in the wake of a commotion with the Unitarian faction, and she passed through.
Not only was Alicia standing around against the Empress, but Clovis, who watched it up close, was just as tired. Sometimes they did, and they were terribly silent with each other in the car back home. The two gaze, without interfacing, each of them somehow reflected the view outside.
"I wonder if I'm moving forward properly"
Clovis turns his face here to the lid, to the pounding and zero falling voice. While she felt purple eyes reflect herself, Alicia herself was unable to look back at the front, looking at the view flowing behind her.
"I think that and this went well enough to scare me. That's why I get anxious. Is this path really right? Did I miss something definitive?"
After a little while, Clovis responded.
"This inspection, so to speak, is a seeding. Farming means cultivating the land, sowing it, growing it and then finally mowing it. Even if there's been a mistake, you can fix it. It's up to us to see if what we've done will bear good fruit."
"... right," Alicia felt as she answered, strong tension fell out of her entire body. "It's a waste of time to stop worried. We just have to connect our paths little by little in search of the future we want."
"It's okay. You have the power to exchange it."
"To me and you, right?
Alicia smiled and finally faced the aide. The light that plugs through the window makes Alicia's contours float. Clovis, who saw it, only breathed slightly, glaring and narrowing his eyes.
He frowned, however, to blame himself, turning away.
"What's wrong?
"I'm sorry.... a little, maybe tired"
Hardship seeps into the voices exhaled with sighs.
Oh, yeah, Alicia thought with a tightly painful chest.
I've been distracted for all the things that need to be resolved, but my relationship with Clovis remains too strong. Since that night, if there are just a few signs of the distance between the two of them approaching, he will build a thick wall right up and away from Alicia.
It still is. As he tries to hide his expression, Clovis turns to the window and covers half his face with one hand. The only thin lips you can see are slightly open, but don't tell me anything.
At this time, Alicia became angry with Clovis about the matter for the first time.
That night - the night Clovis was about to take my lips off me, indeed, the line of "master and squire" spanning the two of us swayed. It also confused Alicia, but at the same time it made her feel a small but warm joy bouncing with toctok in her heart.
Yet he wears the "aide" mask as hard as if he were trying to regain the equilibrium that was about to collapse once, building deeper and greater boundaries than before.
If you refuse to do so much, what was that night?
What happens to my heart that makes me happy?
"... sloppy. Neither can you, nor I can ask you anything."
I heard the cloth rubbing and I felt Clovis turn this way. But Alicia let her face down, so they never looked at each other.
"I know you've been avoiding me the last few days. I also know that it's something that bothers me. Naturally, we've known each other a long time."
I know, but I miss you.
The zero falling words slid through between the layered fingers on his knees.
"I'm my husband, and you're my aide. But that won't be all. More different... there would have been a much stronger connection between us, wouldn't there?
Strength sticks to fingers and grabs the hem of the dress.
Alicia's vision seeps into it.
When tears finally seemed to overflow, warm hands overlapped Alicia's. As I lifted my face, there was Clovis' serious face at the tip of his outstretched hand.
Outside the window a street tree flows behind. Each time, the wood leak gently illuminates his cheeks as smooth as ceramic, repeatedly strengthening or weakening.
The white cheeks were slightly red, and the purple eyes were shaking in tension.
"I've been thinking about it. I'm, uh... I'm an aide to Sousuke. Such thoughts should not be tolerated… such thoughts should not be allowed"
But he said he was wrong. Clovis frowned.
"I just got lost and missed the most important thing.... I made you look like this"
"Clovis......?
"- I love you"
Time felt like it had stopped.
It's supposed to be an eager word, - he said many times he wanted to be his' special ', but Alicia was stunned by the one Clovis gave me now. I have to say something, but I don't know what to say. The more in a hurry, the more thoughts become something that slips up and doesn't exchange meaning.
Clovis tangles his fingers on Alicia, just as he was in such a hurry with her. Put your hands together that way, it's been a long time since we first met, but his hands are still bigger than Alicia's.
But to Alicia, who stared at the front with her bright white head, Clovis tied her lips together. And as just a man scorching his chest, not like a faithful, competent, eye-catching and unbeatable perfect aide, Clovis grinned like he was about to cry out.
"I love you, Alicia. You. Just you."
"I..."
My heart rings an early bell and my chest is tightly tightened.
He said he liked it. Alicia wanted to scream that she liked Clovis too.
But the hesitant, empty eyes shook. Many of the thoughts that haunted her and made her cower again and again emerge one after the other. Naturally, it was because of them that Alicia had put a lid on her feelings long before she could remember them.
- So she tried to escape.
"In my last life, I drowned in love and destroyed my country. The same thing could happen."
"I won't let you do that. When you go the wrong way, I'll do everything I can to stop you."
"I am a princess. Even you would have kept me away, wouldn't you?
"I'll get over it. Even so, you're good at working out a plan."
"Aardhar will stare at you. And then..."
The voice broke off on the way. Because I couldn't say it till the end.
Clovis drew me, and when I realized it, I had a soft feeling that touched my lips. Peek into Alicia, whose head turns white again, so that Clovis, once away, can be sure from close quarters. The purple eyes, more beautiful than any gem, apparently found some answer in that meagre amount of time. Clovis, who gave himself up again, this time for a long time - much deeper than at first sight, with heat, and dropped his mouth.
Alicia felt her whole body numb by the dizzying sweetness that spread from the touched spot.
"Is there no excuse?
After the lips are separated, the forehead can be aligned with the crust. Clovis' hands, which pinch Alicia's cheeks with both hands as merciful, are rarely hotter. And yet I don't feel a little strange because I'm telling all over my body that if I don't let myself get away with it, I won't allow myself to pull back?
"- Let's start by making you get your feelings as much as you want to get over it all. Be prepared. I'm not running away from you anymore."
"... silly"
That's how she shrugged, and Alicia nodded her face on Clovis' shoulder.
"Silly. Really, silly. Until just now, you avoided me."
"Right. I'm an idiot. He's a big idiot."
But if I can get you, it's not too bad to be a little stupid. Clovis whispers as he embraces Alicia as she tries to fill all the distressed time without being touched.
And, even then, Alicia said she couldn't spare the blush, but as it was, he mouthed it to his ear. To Alicia, who stunned herself with surprise, he went on to say "so" as he dropped his mouth again.
"In reply, Alicia? I haven't had anything to say yet."
"Ha, yes!?"
Princess Blue Rose of Heilland. Alicia's voice flips, not even on its noble body. But whoever blames her like that can't be in this place, only Clovis looks down satisfactorily at her brightly dyed face.
"Heh, reply, you wouldn't have to say that!?"
"I don't know. I'm a hater and a fool right now."
Clovis doesn't always look like he's answering with a shiny face. Come on, hurry up. Looking to him, who complains only with his eyes, Alicia wandered her gaze, dyeing her cheeks to so much heat that she put meaningless words on her lips. It should be noted that it is a secret she does not know that for shame and grief the empty eyes nearly moistened and at least burned down Clovis' reason to be a gentleman.
A few dozen seconds or more. Alicia, who patrolled plenty, turned her hand around Clovis' neck like she had decided to. And when I put my lips to his ear, which rounds my eyes, I snuck up on something.
Whispered Clovis opened the slit's eyes, followed by a smile happily everywhere.
It gave him a full grin, like a swing.
Two of Heilland's chiefs finally let their minds go through, just about that time. In a paid private room, Prince Fritz had his beloved lover trapped in his arms.
"Let go of me. You shouldn't do this!
"It's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of, Charlotte."
"Wait. Talk to me..."
Cover your lips open to protest and block your words. After repeating it several times, Charlotte grew more and more popular when she was always there at first and tried to resist.
It will be okay about now. Looking down at me like that, I see her dyeing her cheeks in a cut and leaning down. His chest ached for its adorability, and the prince stroked Charlotte's cheek.
"If it's about identity, it's no problem. I haven't drawn blood, but you have a back shield called the Yugdrasil family. Besides, I am the authentic heir to Aardhar. I won't let anyone complain."
"It's not. Not really."
With tears across his eyes as he leaned down, Charlotte shook her head.
"Your Highness will be bound to Alicia, won't you? I like Alicia. I love it. I don't want to grieve those who are so kind and strong."
"You are misunderstanding. She doesn't like me, and neither do I. It's rumored that we're getting married only because His Majesty wants us to."
"Nevertheless, Master Elizabeth should not be forgiven for us"
"My mother has nothing to do with it!
Charlotte's shoulder bounces frighteningly in a strongly sounding voice. Immediately regretting it, Fritz softened his expression and stroked his lover's back so that he could deceive him.
"Born to be, I am given the right to everything. I'm finally ready for that. - Don't worry. I'll create a world where you can laugh next to me."
After a while, the prince left his room alone. As he left, he looked back, regrettably, at the door leading to the back. But the next time he looked forward, the prince looked cold at the path he was aiming for.
Unpopular corridors with regular footsteps. As he hurried ahead in his unmistakable footsteps, he opened the large room door used by the heavy towns of the country to gather.
Beyond the open door, Chancellor Yugdrasil, who apparently was speaking with several ministers, raised his face from all that spread out on the tabletop.
"This is, Your Highness. Be in a good mood..."
"Yugdrasil. I need to talk to you."
Yugdrasil, who extended his hand and greeted him respectfully, tilted his neck just to peek a little at the prince's offer. But he immediately turned his attention to the ministers and urged them to leave the room.
The Chancellor closes the door after he sees all the ministers have left the room. After making sure he was completely cut off from the outside, Yugdrasil smiled and looked back.
"It's unusual, such as calling from His Highness. Something bothering you? Or do you mean my daughter, who cares about you these days?
"... you knew"
"Rest assured. My daughter has a strong mouth. It's just that it's very rare that events in this castle don't get in my ear. Oh, of course, Your Majesty doesn't know. If this is known, my beloved daughter's position will be jeopardized."
"For each other, it's a hard decision"
Words are on the back, and the prince bitterly raises the edge of his lips. But eventually the Prime Minister will know. Fritz decided that he was so convinced that he was lucky to have saved the time to tell before the troublesome rush began.
So the prince spoke the truth.
"You told me before that there was a way beyond the great Empress. I want to know its sincerity."
"Sincerity, what is it? If you were suspicious, it's an out-of-heart thing. It is clear from everyone's eyes that His Majesty's talent is brilliant."
"I didn't come to hear you say a word. If you don't have any more content in your words, you won't need it."
The Chancellor just gave his mouth a quiet grin. Fritz found the answer to the Chancellor, who did not run away and showed no upset, lowered his voice.
"Help me, Yugdrasil. I take the throne with this hand."
"You say strange things. You have been promised the throne without taking it."
"Then I can't go beyond Your Majesty. I'm not going to live as a mother's pawn, Your Majesty."
For a while, they stared. Even though there was a glance, the Chancellor kept a calm air and a smile, and Fritz is a complete faceless expression that shrugged off the mask of a smile. All I can say is that the only thing the parties know about the exploration of the belly was exchanged on the spot.
It was Yugdrasil who broke the silence first.
"What would I gain if I abandoned my position as Prime Minister and took His Highness's side? You promised not to say anything about Charlotte. I should have kept her away from Her Majesty with His Majesty's will."
"I'll give you what you want. Status, property, fame. Whatever. Anything but the throne, I'll give you anything."
"Status, wealth and fame are at hand, even if you don't have them ready"
"It's a story in my mother's world! If I reign..."
"Without my help, His Highness's world is a while away. Until then, fortunately, no one will appear to threaten my position."
Fritz blushed. It's easy to break disrespectful remarks, but if you can't have Yugdrasil on your side, Fritz's ambitions will be crushed, too.
Somehow, can't you move his mind? Yes, Fritz turned his mind around, but the Chancellor opened his mouth before the next proposal came to mind.
"But your majesty won't get me what I want. And if His Highness can get it, let us make a name for ourselves in history as a feat beyond that great empress."
"What's that?"
On an accidentally eaten frizz, the Chancellor walked over to his desk in a relaxed foothold. At the end of the fritz following with his eyes, the Chancellor slipped his finger on a map spread over his desk, stopping at a certain point.
To a blindfolded fritz, the Chancellor deepened his graceful grin.
"We're taking Heilland, Your Highness. For the honor and pride of Aardhar."