1 • His Highness’ Moment of Brilliance

[The alike master and servant]

(※This short story timeline is around [Suspicious and binding]. Before the Knight’s punishment story)

“Al, it seems the chief of office protocol wants to ask you about the groups you will be inviting to the banquet.”

Laurenz, who entered the Crown Prince’s office without reservation like usual, said without looking up from the documents while busily flipping through the pages. 

“I heard the Suini group’s diva we called last year eloped. Well, no one beside her was a big deal, so it doesn’t matter to change it, right?”

“Hmm…”

“I was thinking about the recently popular Miraggio troupe as a substitute. What do you think? I heard their magic tricks are amazing.”

“Hmm…”

“Though it’s still pale in comparison without a geisha. I recommend the Corona troupe’s signboard actress and the Libre troupe’s young dancing girl. Which one do you prefer, Al?”

“Hmm…”

“Al, are you listening?”

“Hmm…”

When he heard the same reply repeatedly, no matter what he said, Laurenz noticed something wasn’t right and finally shifted his focus from the documents to his master.

Alphonso was sitting at the office desk in a ready-to-work posture, but his gaze wasn’t at the mountains of documents. Laurenz couldn’t see clearly because the desk was in the way, but it seems his master was looking at something placed on his lap.

“Are you wondering about your work at this shitty busy time?”

“Hmm…”

“I have been thinking for a long time. You are so pathetic and disappointing that you’re basically finished as a man.”

“Hmm…”

“I heard… Phily isn’t getting married.”

“What, really!?”

Alphonso was nearly scared when he raised his face excitedly only to meet his close aide’s gaze, who had a phantom of a blizzard behind him.

But he still asked without shrinking away.

“Is it true that Phily isn’t marrying?”

“It’s a lie, of course. Rather than that, what were you looking at?”

Laurenz used his long arms to probe over Alphonso’s lap through the desk and suddenly grabbed something. 

“Noo, that’s—”

“What’s this tiny portrait?”

It was a pendant with elaborate workmanship befitting the Crown Prince, Alphonso. The top was designed to open, and inside was a fairly made small portrait. 

“It’s Phily, isn’t it?”

“Well, yeah… I was just confirming the craftsmanship of the new work.”

“New work… then there’s also previous works?”

“Naturally. Seven years old, ten years old, twelve years old…”

“Enough, enough. You’re seriously a creep.”

Judging from this, he might have been hiding other portraits or photos. Laurenz was convinced, but he didn’t pursue it further. 

He had a hunch that he might not be able to respect his master hereafter, whom he will serve for a lifetime.

“Seriously, why don’t you just give up already. Not to mention being King, there are plenty of young ladies who would be ready to spend one night with you, so I think it’s about time for you to look at others…”

“I don’t want you to tell me that.”

Alphonso’s expression changed suddenly as he stared at the snatched pendant with lingering affection.

“Lau, you seem to be quite interested in the project related to d’la Love recently. You are also visiting the Duke’s mansion frequently.”

“Are you still eyeing Phily’s activities? I heard it’s a crime these days.”

“Don’t make fun of me… It’s my duty as the crown prince to keep the changes in the fellow aristocrat’s relationship in check. Even my foster siblings aren’t an exception to this.”

As he spoke, Alphonso’s amber color eyes tinged with golden radiance intensely stared at Laurenz. 

The Crown Prince, who bore the crest of “The moon devouring the wolf,” already had the King’s majesty there.

“I tell you, if anyone gets in the way of Philia’s happiness, I will not spare them even if it’s you.”

Truthfully, he would not be lenient to anyone, whether it was his close aid or his foster sibling, if they crossed the line.

The master he ought to serve exuded a sense of intimidation befitting his position. 

However, Laurenz, who had been accompanying him ever since he was born, wasn’t going to back down just from that much.

He, too, stared back with his shining ashen purplish eyes.

“You will not be lenient, huh? Is that the line a man should say who, although recognizing her marriage, intends to make her his future concubine?”

“I neither have the intention to do something which Phily doesn’t want nor push her to a dead end. It’s just no one knows what the future holds. If there comes a situation where she needs my help, I will make her mine without hesitation and without letting anything get in the way.”

“As expected, you, whom I suspected to be good for nothing, is secretly a devoted person.”

Laurenz said teasingly and fluttered both his hands as if giving up.

“It’s fine. Even I don’t think of getting in the way of her marriage with Luca, I am watching quietly until the wedding ceremony. Because you know…”

Laurenz smiled in what Philia appraised as “persistent.”

“Married women… are hot, aren’t they?”

Alphonso’s eyes became a bit distant as he started to imagine something, and then he looked away awkwardly.

“Well, yeah…”

In the end, some kind of empathy swept between the two, who were seemingly cut from the same cloth. 

2 • The Budding Friendship

Thanksgiving story 1 • [Dangerous friendship]

(The timeline is after the [Tea party, friend and a pure flower] and during the Knight’s punishment)

In the royal palace, Michela de Cross, a knight belonging to the girl’s camp of the First Division imperial guard, thought that being surrounded by youthful young ladies wasn’t unusual.

As a female knight with androgynous beautiful features, awe-inspiring gentlemanliness even more than your average man, and the bad reputation that never rose no matter how close you got, she was the perfect pseudo-romance target for the boxed aristocratic young ladies.

Intending on taking a break that day, Michela was surrounded by young ladies, but she cordially accompanied them without finding it annoying.

“Hi, Angelica, your hairstyle seems different from usual, but it’s still lovely. Fabia has become so pretty it’s almost hard to recognize her. Is it because she’s in love?”

Many of Michela’s followers were young ladies around 16 or 17 years old, the same age as her fiance Nicolo.

It wasn’t like she got along with them because she wanted to gather information about the young ladies from good families who might be interested in proposing marriage to the young count or the young ladies who approached him.

Unaware of the gloomy selfishness hidden under the vibrant, smiling face, the young ladies were frolicking and squealing around the beautiful female knight who showed a level of meticulous care a disinterested man couldn’t. 

A flower field-like scene was created with their giggling, but Michela suddenly turned her gaze to a man projected into the corner of her eyes.

“That’s… Everyone, please excuse me for a moment. I must have a word with my friend.”

“Friend?”

“Look, there.”

The young ladies’ expressions were immediately brightened when they looked in the direction Michela pointed at. 

“Well… if it isn’t Luca d’la Love…”

“Yeah, I recently became friends with him. Excuse me for a moment.”

Michela walked away gallantly, called out for Luca in a familiar tone, and began to chat with him.

Looking at the scenery of a tall and beautiful female knight with smooth silvery hair and the young nobleman with dazzling platinum blonde hair, reminiscent of an angel statue in the church with no touch of mundane dust, standing side by side, the young ladies were fascinated and sighed from a distance.

“It’s too beautiful to see Lady Michela and Lord Luca together.”

“Truly. I wonder what they are talking about…”

The conversation the beautiful duo were having.

“Hello, Luca, are you controlling yourself properly?”

“Can’t you even greet people decently? Besides, I don’t have an obligation to answer that.”

“Well, I understood from your haggard face that you haven’t.”

“So, what business do you have with me? I don’t have time to waste on you when Phi isn’t here.”

It was already annoying due to his almost expressionless face, and Luca wasn’t even trying to hide the aura oozing from him, saying, “Don’t come closer to me,” which he could control at will.

It was the special skill he had acquired since he was a child because of continuous pestering from the opposite sex due to his appearance. 

However unfortunate as it might have been, Michela belonged to the group who chose to ignore it although they could read the atmosphere.

Another reason was she wanted to talk about Philia.

“I was bothered about the story I heard from Philia, so I investigated it, but isn’t she being targeted by the lust demon?”

“Lust… Ah, you mean Cesari. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“You seem quite optimistic. He appears to be awfully meddling in house d’la Love’s projects. I know very well about him because of my long-term acquaintance with him. Even though I hate it, he’s not the type to give up just because the other party is married. Rather, it’s much more dangerous after marriage.”

“If you’re talking about his rotten preference for married women, I know about that.”

“Yeah, he’s rotten! He never had a shortage of women with his looks and social rank from his time at the Knight Academy. And yet he boasts that it’s good precisely because they belong to others, ogling at other people’s beautiful lovers and discarding them after thoroughly tasting the beautiful wives’ chastity.”

In contrast to Michela, who clenched her fist hard as if she remembered something loathsome, not a single ripple appeared on Luca’s expression. Whether Laurenz reached out his hand to other wives or rushed after a man, Luca looked as if there was no need particularly to care about him as long as he didn’t lay his own hands on Philia.

Michela had seen through Luca’s character in this short period and perceived that it was impossible to ask him to agree with righteous indignation.

“Anyway, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Philia, who is beautiful, has a good body, is just in the range of his favorite prey. And yet, aren’t your and Philia’s vigilance a bit lacking?”

“I don’t need to worry about that man anymore.”

“Like I was saying, on what basis…”

An unusual thing projected in Michela’s eyes, who shook her head in doubt.

With his emerald green eyes, Luca’s smile shined vividly. Usually, when Philia wasn’t by his side, his expressionless face was the norm. Michela rolled her eyes at his unusual expression.

“Because, if the thing that should erect doesn’t erect, he will not be able to do anything even if he wants to…”

“Huh?”

Although Michela didn’t have a shred of naivety, she couldn’t figure out what he was talking about for a moment.

Normally, it was not something to talk about before a lady. But it was useless to ask Luca for some modesty.

“Do you know about the story of how our wanderer’s family rose from nothing? It is said that the founding king was helped along the way by some secret medicines that no one in this country knew about.”

“You mean, you gave him a dose of that.”

“The current him isn’t any different from a castrated stallion. It’s a pity it’s unable to destroy the lust itself, but there is room for improvement.”

Like Luca, Michela was also fated to be someone without shame. With no surprise, she quickly caught up with the conversation.

“No… it’s much more wonderful like this. The best part is definitely that no matter how much you want to embrace someone, your prized possession is useless!”

As Michela made a fiendish remark with a refreshing smile, Luca also smiled, thinking, “That’s also right.”

The young ladies were spellbound as they looked at the spectacle of two angelic persons smiling at each other harmoniously.

“By the way, Luca, are there any side effects from taking the medicine?”

“There aren’t any side effects except the designated purpose, but why are you asking?”

“I was wondering if it could be improved to use on Nicolo to prevent him from cheating on me.”

The Young Count Nicolo didn’t know that a dangerous friendship was brewing in the dark.

3 • Thanksgiving story 2 [Discussion about the night]

(The timeline is after the [Game of deceit and various ends])

[The situation of the night after the original story]

Today was the day to say it.

Midnight, inside my room, I nodded as if to encourage myself.

The ladies’ maid had long since left the room. My room was lit up with only a few lamps, and the other half of the room was submerged in darkness.

Normally, it was my time to sleep, but I was not sleeping tonight with a book in my hand.

Just as I flipped over one-third of the book and my eyes felt a bit tired, my room’s doorhandle turned quietly.

“Welcome back, Luca.”

When I raised my voice to greet my fiance, who had been coming late recently, he stopped as if surprised.

“You’re still awake at that late, Phi?”

Luca was dressed comfortably in the nightwear, and his platinum blonde hair was still wet, its quirkiness becoming even more resilient.

Maybe because he had just taken a bath, his fair cheeks were dyed rosy which snatched away my attention.

“Phi?”

“I-I’m sorry. I kept you waiting.”

Before I could continue, thinking I had to talk somehow, Luca approached me with his gently seaming expression.

“Were you waiting, sister?”

“Wait… Stop!”

He closed the gap between us with swift but elegant movement and climbed up on the bed in the blink of an eye. When I came to myself, I was being pressed down by him, so I hurriedly stretched out my hand to stop him.

But the reach was overwhelming in favor of my opponent. His big hands wrapped around my breasts and squeezed them lewdly through the nightgown.

“No… Luca, don’t… “

“Sister… You were waiting for me, right? I’m so glad. I haven’t been able to do it properly lately…”

Certainly, Luca was very busy these days, and he would come home late at night. 

But hold on, I wanted to protest here. It was not an exaggeration to say that he did everything except insert it in me, just because he was trying not to wake me up when I was sleeping.

It had been an everyday occurrence I found myself waking up to feeling an ache similar to the urge to urinate and stark naked while Luca’s body was lying in a delicate position. Of course, when I woke up, I couldn’t be hard on him.

But his remark wasn’t completely correct at all. 

Although I want to emphasize that, the executive movement of Luca’s hand wouldn’t let me do it. 

“You’re cute, sister… Let me hear more…”

I hated my oversensitive body as usual. My arms were already devoid of strength, and Luca’s sweet voice poured in my ear as his body was covering me.

“It smells nice…”

“Ahh… Wait.”

“Relax. I will be gentle.”

My thoughts, which were drowned in pleasure, held their ground for a moment. 

I didn’t want to hear Luca’s words right now.

“L-Luca… Wait!”

Luca raised his face up when I stopped him with all my might and words. He blinked in confusion and tilted his head.

S-So cute… His actions were so cute I would have swept away like normal, but today was different. 

I was truly determined tonight.

“Hold up for a while. I was waiting to talk to you about something. Is it fine now?”

“You want to talk? Of course, it’s fine.”

I wondered why he was still rubbing me even after saying that.

“Hnn… Luca!”

“I really like to hear my sister’s voice… Please, you can talk as much as you want.”

“N-No… Listen to me properly.”

I lifted my drooping arms, clasped Luca’s face, and stopped him.

“I want to talk, so stop touching… I-I am just saying to listen for a moment!”

I wondered if it was because I was soft that I accompanied Luca on his selfishness when his face showed blatant sadness.

“Let’s talk without doing anything just for a while, okay?”

“Very well…”

When Luca nodded, albeit reluctantly, I took a relieved sigh and got up.

Just as I wondered if I should sit back on the chair, Luca sat down while leaning on the wall and held me so closely that I was sitting sideways on his thigh. It was my favorite position.

I really liked the feeling of snuggling in his arms, but I also wondered if this was really fine, thinking about the kind of thing I would talk about.

It was not like we were talking across the table but was this posture proper? 

No, I thought it was strange that I would talk about something like this in the first place. 

“Is something wrong, sister?”

Just as I was winding around and worrying about what I should say, he urged me, and I decided to talk for the time being.

“Well, Luca… Can’t you stop saying and moving like you will be gentle?”

“Was it… bad?”

Luca raised his brow in confusion. His face was drenched with depression as if he was told of something terrible and harsh.

“Do you like the pain, sister?”

“Huh?”

“I read somewhere that there are people in this world who derive sexual pleasure from pain.”

Luca looked at me with his emerald green eyes dripping with distress.

“You did get wet when I was a bit violent… But I can’t think about hurting you… But if that’s what you want, then…”

“No, you’ve misunderstood!”

Please, I really hoped you could stop thinking that others were masochists of your own accord. 

Besides, what did you mean by you read somewhere? I’d been wondering about the source of Luca’s sexual knowledge for a while now, and I was very curious.

I hurriedly grabbed Luca’s shirt, who had a look as if to say, “Although I don’t feel like doing that, I’m prepared”, and shook my head as hard as I could.

“I wasn’t talking about that when I said that I want you to give me pain, Luca.”

“But you said that I shouldn’t be gentle. You don’t need to worry. I still love you no matter what your preferences are.”

“As I said, you’re wrong. I mean about teasin— Ah no, wait and let me find the appropriate words.”

I wondered what a better way to say I hoped you could stop the teasing play amiably was. No, to begin with, this situation was like a shame play. 

Touch me properly wasn’t good. I had said it many times, but it just became a trigger to let him act recklessly.

Make me feel good was also dangerous. I was brave enough to risk being pestered to the point that pleasure became pain.

I had a headache when I thought about why I must’ve been worrying about something like this so seriously. Still, the sense of value was much more important for the married couple than sexual compatibility. I had to be firm with my words, given how Luca’s common sense in some areas was quite abnormal…

After worrying about many things, I concluded that I would say it directly without decorating my words.

“What I mean is, you should not tease me like that and quickly insert… Huh?”

I felt like I had created an even bigger misunderstanding.

I had an unpleasant hunch and was about to gently take my distance from Luca when his arms suddenly wrapped around my waist and hugged me tightly.

“Sister…”

I felt a chill running down when I heard his hoarse voice filled with passion.

“So you wanted me so much… I’m sorry I didn’t notice that.”

“M-My words just now were a bit— ahh!”

Just when I thought he made the posture to lift me lightly so that I could straddle his legs, his hands slipped inside my nightgown from below and fumbled around the place between my thighs.

“Ah, really, it’s so wet already. Sister, I will soon do as you wish…”

As he said that, his green eyes were moistened feverishly, and he smiled devilishly.

“If it’s what you want, I can do anything… Please have your full, okay?”

The next day, I sank into my bed while Luca was energetic and sparkling intensely.

This also made me realize the meaning of the proverb, “the mouth is the source of calamity.”

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