Trembling with wet eyes, Dietrich resembled his father, the King.
Looking at her like that made Leechee feel restless.
(No, Your Highness Dietrich, you need to be more dignified at the party...!! Anyway, after the middle of the evening party, it is a violation of manners to be alone at the beginning....)
…………
I gazed at Arnold next door. Leechee, gripping Arnold's arm, was stunned by it.
(Yes, that's right! Currently, I'm not in a position to give a lot of advice to His Highness Dietrich.)
Receiving the meaning of Arnold's gaze, Leechee looked up and nodded.
(I understand. It's all right, Your Highness Arnold!)
…………
Arnold made a slightly rhetorical expression, but he didn't open his mouth there. Leechee recovered her mind and hung her voice behind the pillar.
“Good evening, Your Highness Dietrich. Thank you for accompanying His Highness Arnold on his official business today.”
"Uu, uuuu....."
“How was it? Your Highness Arnold, how have you been doing?"
"Um... how was it?" Bye-bye!! "
Dietrich came out of the shadows of the pillars and stuck up with a crying face.
"I-I-I-I...!!"
"Please wait! Let's move to the balcony for now, right?!"
The guests who saw Dietrich's condition looked at him in surprise.
He was in a hurry to get him out, and Arnold and the three of them went out to the balcony. If it were here, you wouldn't be worried about your surroundings for the time being.
But it didn't matter, and Dietrich started talking like he had cut the weir.
"Ah, Lord Arnold!! Do you always pack up your work with such a schedule!?"
"Yes, but..."
"It's stupid!! It can't be!! That must be the overcrowded schedule I was forced to build to scare me!!"
Leechee was surprised and looked up at Arnold next door again.
"Your Highness Arnold, have you been working so hard today?"
"No? You're more relaxed than usual." Oliver adjusted it on his own. "
Arnold's expression doesn't change at all in this situation.
Arnold was flat against Dietrich, who was holding his head in his arms.
"First of all, that man was so fussy that he couldn't bear to hear you say 'let him rest', so he let him take a break once."
"No, that's why I'm saying it's weird!!" There's only one time to rest in the evening during working hours!? Official duty, mobility, official duty, official duty, official duty! Paperwork in a carriage during the journey!! Don't you know the concept of "carriage sickness"!! "
"Enough. Your Highness Arnold..."
Leechee sighed and said to Arnold.
“No, we need to take regular breaks.”
"That's why I'm going to give you back the words."
"What are you talking about with your face like 'This is normal everyday'?!!"
Dietrich seems very tired, and he seems to have trouble breathing. Thanks to that, even if you seem to be raising your voice, it's not too loud.
"Is it human? Is it human strength...?"
(Dietrich might be frightened...... As far as I'm concerned, Lord Arnold's workload is unusual.)
Dietrich must have been scared to see what was going on up close. In general, Arnold and Dietrich were in the carriage alone, but it was too unimaginable.
Dietrich was breathing on his shoulder, but eventually took a deep breath, then looked at Arnold and asked.
"... have you ever wondered?"
The sound of Dietrich, who made a sinister face, creates a serious air somewhere.
"For the royalty, consider the people from morning to evening, and sacrifice time for the sake of the kingdom. Not everyone praises me for how much I've worked with my body powder. Self-sacrifice is normal, self-sacrifice is naturally scorned as unnecessary if you can't do it...."
"Your Highness Dietrich..."
Dietrich grabbed his eyebrows and continued to speak.
"You can't choose the way of life. Even though the people seem to be living in wealth, the reality is that there are many obstacles! Then you will be tied up by me, caught in the eye, and at the end of the sentence....."
"--What's the matter with that?"
Dietrich made himself stronger with Arnold's pale voice.
"Neither royalty nor royalty have the right to live as human beings."
"N-no, let's do it..."
(Your Highness Arnold?)
"Don't you see? The king's life has a far greater meaning than the lives of millions of people."
Leechee breathed a sigh of relief at the words.
"When a small country is invaded by a great country, even if it sends out a thousand people, the invasion will not stop. However, if only one of the kings of that country gave his life, the war would be over."
……
Arnold's middle finger slapped around his throat.
"The existence of one king bears all the responsibility of living in his kingdom. Whether you're aware of it or not, the life of a royalty is a pawn used for rushing."
"G-koma...?"
Neither I nor you have the right to live as human beings
(......)
Arnold's words froze Leechee's spine.
"Wow... but that's yours!"... it's as if you're too extreme an argument that you should be ready to die for your country someday!! "
And Arnold laughs in disdain, with dark light in his blue eyes.
"--It is my duty to be crown prince."
"...... Your Highness Arnold......"
Dietrich gnawed his teeth, turned his back on us, and rushed back to the venue of the party.
Leechee tries to follow it and stops a few steps away.
Only Arnold and Leechee were left on the balcony at night.
……
The summer evening wind blows through the silence of the place.
"... Leeche"
After being called by her name, Leechee raised her face.
At a distance of a few meters, Arnold's blue eyes overlap with his gaze. When Leechee couldn't say anything, Arnold sighed tinyly.
”Hmm.... how did you call out to that cat earlier?”
Your Highness?
He falls down as if trying to remember something.
"... oh. That's right."
After that, Arnold looks at Leechee again.
Then he reached out to me and said with a soft expression and a voice that was just as soft.
"......" "Come here" "
"Hyaa...!?"
Called by Arnold and the others in frank terms, his cheeks burned at once.