A throb.
My left arm complained of pain, but it was only momentary. I didn't even furrow my brow at something so minor.
"Greetings, Your Royal Highness the First Prince."
I replied in a calm voice and naturally slipped out of his grasp.
"Haha."
Arikx scrutinized my face, his golden eyes crinkling into half-moons.
"Do I have something on my face?"
"Hmm, no. It's nothing. Not appropriate to say here."
Arikx kept chuckling as he looked at me. It seemed he absolutely couldn't hold back his bursting laughter.
"Orabeoni, come on."
Beatrix pushed Arikx aside slightly and poked her face out.
A face with features similar to Arikx's but with finer lines smiled mischievously.
"Long time no see, Duke."
It was a stiff tone, forcibly maintaining decorum.
But as soon as our eyes met, Beatrix quickly winked and added in a small voice,
"...at least, that's what I should say to sound like a proper princess, right?"
I smirked and responded, pretending I hadn't heard her last remark.
"Greetings, Your Royal Highness."
Beatrix looked miffed at my polite distance—drawing a strict line between us.
"Hmph, so that's how you're going to play it."
Beatrix shrugged her sturdy shoulders, which looked more suited for armor than a dress. She looked ready to grab a sword and charge at me at any moment.
"Betty, mind your manners."
Unable to just watch, Arikx threw in a word.
"I am. Just not storming out of here right now is more than enough."
"I thought you were going to smash Dane's head in with a champagne glass."
"Hardly. We finally meet after so long, and you're just going to talk about Orabeoni? Let me get a word in too."
"You didn't even give me a chance to speak. Don't interrupt and then complain."
Arikx and Beatrix growled at each other with me caught in between.
Seeing them like that, it felt like two sleek, well-built black panthers were prowling around me.
It wasn't an inaccurate observation. Both siblings were licking their chops over the delicious prey that was me.
"Ahem."
"Hem."
The surrounding nobles didn't dare interrupt our conversation. They took a step back and politely turned their gazes away.
"Anyway, Dane, your body seems a bit stiff, doesn't it?"
Beatrix swept her gaze over my left arm with a meaningful look.
'Needlessly sharp.'
She must have already noticed that the movement of my left arm was unnatural.
"Dinner is over now, so pop over to the training grounds. Let's have a match to work off the food."
Her body must have been itching for action, as Beatrix started using her tone from our Academy days.
"It's too boring without you. I'm already sick of the top spot in the Swordsmanship Department."
"You should be precise. You're only first because Dane isn't there."
Beatrix didn't back down even under Arikx's scolding.
"Who doesn't know that? That's exactly why I want to practice against the first place."
Seeing them act like this, I felt more at ease too. The three of us being together like this made it feel like returning to our Academy days.
"I refuse."
"What? Why?"
Arikx chuckled and grabbed the shoulder of Beatrix, who was jumping up and down in protest.
"Calm down, Betty. Dane has somewhere else to exert his energy tonight, so you've got to give him some slack during the day."
"……"
When I just snorted as if it was ridiculous, Arikx's smile deepened.
"Anyway, glad you came, Dane. The sight of my mother and sibling running amok is quite the spectacle."
Arikx added in a much colder voice.
"I won't force you to take my side... but at least, I trust my friend won't make a stupid choice."
Arikx's hand lightly gripped and released my shoulder. It was a touch that conveyed both the friendliness of a friend and the pressure of a prince simultaneously.
"Ah, you're no fun."
Beatrix, who had been watching us, grumbled and turned her back.
"You won't even spar with me, and you two just have complicated conversations by yourselves. I'm bored to death, so I'm going to the powder room."
"...?"
That tomboy is going to the powder room?
That was the place where noblewomen touched up their messy hair and makeup. Beatrix was the type to strip off her dress and head to the training grounds rather than go there.
"Oh right, don't get the wrong idea later."
Beatrix smiled wickedly, gauging my reaction.
"I'm just going to rest, and the Duke's wife just happens to be there."
"...Wait."
As my expression hardened and I tried to stop her, Arikx subtly held me back.
"Dane, you aren't seriously thinking of going into the powder room, are you? No matter how much you cherish your wife, you must follow propriety. That's a space for ladies."
...These guys.
The two playful black panthers seemed to have stopped biting each other and decided to team up.
"Jeez, look at the look in his eyes. Do you think someone's going to eat your wife? We're just going to talk."
"Isn't it better to have Betty stick by her than to leave her alone and get bitten by other vipers?"
The siblings' back-and-forth as they subtly drove the point home was very natural.
Their intentions were highly suspicious, but regardless, there was no flaw in their words.
'I did keep Helena by her side just in case.'
If a high-ranking noble tried to pressure her with their authority, she would have a hard time dealing with them.
If I placed a wildcat and a panther by her side, Rose would be absolutely safe.
"Don't say anything unnecessary to my wife."
Beatrix wasn't someone who would harm Rose. The problem was that her overflowing enthusiasm could cause an accident at any moment.
"Ha, you can't stand it even for that short moment? You're really head over heels for your wife, aren't you?"
Beatrix let out a deflating sigh as if she was dumbfounded. Her two eyes sparkled with interest and curiosity.
"Ah, I'm so curious what kind of woman she is. Orabeoni, I'll go ahead and get a tas... no, have a lady's chat with her."
Beatrix kicked the hem of her dress and strode quickly toward the powder room, lest I try to stop her.
"Who's a lady?"
Arikx shrugged as if he couldn't help it, then,
"Shall we step out to the terrace for a bit? It's too stuffy in here."
He tossed a relaxed smile at me.
**
Clack.
As the heavy glass doors closed, the waltz music from the banquet hall became muffled, as if heard underwater. Instead of the bustling heat, a cool night breeze brushed my cheeks.
"Step back."
Arikx signaled the Royal Guards to step away, then leaned against the terrace railing.
"Haa, I can finally breathe a little."
The mask of the prince who had been laughing boisterously just moments ago was completely gone.
"The stench of those hyenas must be quite terrible."
Arikx looked at the crowd of nobles vaguely visible beyond the glass doors. Contempt flashed across his beautiful eyes, which looked as if they were sculpted from gold.
'Right, this was the kind of guy he was.'
He always faced people with a smiling face, but in reality, he was someone who couldn't easily trust others and only kept them close after testing them multiple times.
He hid his pessimistic inner thoughts with his boisterous laughter, and his abrasive intentions with a soft voice.
'Haha, Dane. I've never seen anyone like you.'
That was why Arikx liked me. Because I was consistent, with no difference between my exterior and interior.
The fact that I treated him carelessly without being constrained by authority or status rather won his heart.
"Now, it's just us, so we can speak comfortably, right?"
Arikx turned his head and stared at me.
An unadorned smile, one that only appeared when he was truly relaxed and revealing his inner thoughts, spread on his face.
"So, who was that earlier?"
"What are you talking about?"
When I replied with an unimpressed look, Arikx chuckled.
"I didn't see the ice cube I know, but a man melting warmly was standing there."
"Nonsense."
I tried to cut it short and move on, but Arikx didn't seem willing to let it go easily.
"I saw you holding your wife's hand earlier."
"When?"
"When my father declared the opening earlier. Seriously, you couldn't endure even that brief moment and held her hand?"
"You saw that?"
"Kuhahaha! Ah, I'm going crazy. Dane Schmaichel, you really..."
Arikx grabbed the railing, hunched over, and snickered. The way he was roaring with laughter, to the point where tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, looked exactly like an immature boy.
"Did you think I wouldn't see that? Just how deeply have you fallen for your wife?"
"……"
"Everyone was so bored they were desperately holding back their yawns, but you two were scattering pink fumes around—how could I not see it? You didn't seem to have any intention of hiding it in the first place. You two were sticking together openly."
"...Rose was nervous, so I was just trying to calm her down."
I made my excuse with a blunt tone, but it only made me Arikx's prey.
"Oh ho, calm her down? The Dane Schmaichel is caring about someone else's 'feelings'? The guy who scratched my arm during a sparring match and didn't even bat an eye?"
Arikx finally stopped laughing and leaned his back against the railing. He had the excited gaze of a scholar observing a rare animal.
"Everyone was terrified out of their wits and trembling, but you were completely calm. Well, it was a fresh experience. No one ever treats me with sincerity."
"It's also ridiculous for a prince to fuss over injuries sustained during a class sparring match."
"Right. But most people are cautious. They don't want to make things unnecessarily complicated. I only allowed you to do that, Dane."
Arikx lightly bumped my shoulder. It was a casual attitude, like one would have with a friend.
I thought the teasing was over by then.
"I should have seen your face during the tribute ceremony earlier."
Arikx still seemed to have more to say.
"What? 'You are absolutely right'? Hey, since when did you ever agree with my father's words like that?"
"……"
"The guy who stubbornly refused even when my father asked him to hand over the Magic Stone distribution rights. Did you come out to brag about the Magic Stone, or to brag about your wife?"
"It is true that my wife is beautiful. So I have no choice but to brag."
"...Wow."
Arikx blinked a few times, then,
Seuseuk.
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
"...?"
Then he pretended to pick his ears a few times and spoke.
"Say that again."
"What."
"No, 'my wife is'... what? Did I just hear correctly? Was that really something Dane Schmaichel would say?"
Arikx grabbed the back of his neck. He scanned my face up and down with wide eyes.
"Hey, you're really not Dane, are you? Huh? The Dane I know isn't this kind of guy."
"What a ridiculous thing to say."
"Wow, this is something."
Arikx let out exhalations of "Hah," "Haa," and "Wow" several times over. It was an attitude that made it hard to tell if he was admiring or mocking me.
'I'd rather have it this way.'
Than him showing interest in Rose.