The King of Armenia and Crown Prince Raymond.
─ From the beginning, he didn’t like them. Luciano had an ominous premonition from the country’s seal written in his personal letter, the national emblem composed of a hawk and snakes.
It was difficult not to get angry at their eyes accustomed to controlling people and their behaviour that did not hide their arrogance. He knew they would not treat Serrat on an equal footing because of the difference in power between the nations. But he could not forgive their rudeness towards his father.
Since the arrival of Armenian people, the country was in turmoil. What they asked for in Serrat was a national feast. The beginning seemed to be a decent start, but the banquet was held every day, and the nights were chaotic. Armenia brought in about twenty prostitutes and had them deal with the nobles of Serrat, and the king and prince over there had poisoned Serrat’s daughters one after another.*
*something like fall victim to 毒牙にかけていた
Luciano was even suggestively invited to act. As soon as he was thrust into the scene, he was whispered to by the drunken Prince Raymond. “Prince Luciano, you’re defending your chastity.”
Raymond laughed lowly; the smell of alcohol wafted around him. “A lady named Flavia, wouldn’t accept me no matter how many times I invited her. She’s beautiful. You should be happy that such a busty beauty is your fiancée. But poor thing. She was a virgin, even though she’s eighteen years old. Perhaps I was frustrated, I wasn’t satisfied with just one time, and I’ve been doing it every day ever since. That way of swinging the hips is pretty good… Oh no, I was told to keep it a secret, but I inadvertently talked about it.”
“She’s not my fiancée. She’s a woman who has nothing to do with me.”
Raymond an eyebrow. “You’re sixteen years old, but you’ve never embraced a woman. Isn’t it meaningless to be born a man, yet not know such pleasure? It’s like possessing treasure. Or you’re interested in men, not women. If so, that’s easy. I like men better. Especially young people with good looks like you. Don’t you think a forbidden relationship that doesn’t fear God is immoral and irresistible. Is it?”
Luciano blatantly took a step away as Raymond spoke. His disgusting mouth was close to his ears. “Prince Raymond, I haven’t heard what you’ve just said. I won’t forgive you next time.”
Raymond crumpled his freckled face. “That fire in your spirit is more and more desirable. I’ll give you notice. You will be embraced by me.”
“Shut up, drunkard.”
“Huh. Be rude to me. But I like you very much. I’ll keep you out of my father’s sight. I’ll love you to the fullest until I get tired of it.”
When Luciano touched the sword at his waist, Raymond grinned and left.
─This behaviour was not directed at an ally. It was like the relationship of a subordinate country. Angry, Luciano rushed through the corridor, frustrated and impatient to see his father.
“The foolish king and the foolish prince, better than what I heard. Pieces of sh*t with no shred of intelligence.”
Luciano’s father was a dark and cool figure, and responded to his son. “It must be rough. Don’t wrinkle between your eyebrows. It’ll become a habit.”
“Father, don’t worry. Why are you alone without a companion?”
“Well, don’t say that.” His father placed his hand on the shoulder of his son, and stood next to him.
“You’re alone, aren’t you? My son, you grew taller again. You’ve finally surpassed me.”
“I’m not talking about that right now.”
“That king is a fool. Because the Chancellor of Armenia is in charge of politics, that king isn’t interested in politics… I didn’t think the Chancellor wouldn’t come, but it can’t be helped.”
“Father, can’t you kick them out? This is going on for a week,” he shuddered saying that.
His father dropped his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s unbearable. It’s as if Serrat is being polluted by trash.” Luciano continued without hearing his father’s self-reproach.
“Everything about this country is strange. I’ve already had Frian, and Leandro look into it, but I’m sure there’s something wrong with it. Conrad is in Armenia right now, but I wonder if he’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry, we’re allies.”
“If this is the case, we don’t need an alliance. Damn it. Mostly Father is too good. You believe in the theory of good nature. Originally, people are evil creatures. Humans inherently have immeasurable ambition and can easily trap people. Isn’t that exactly what their Millennium Empire was like?”
Luciano found it more difficult to accept the present situation because Serrat had a long history of being dominated by the Millennium Empire. The massacre at that time was said to have reduced the population to one-third.
“The current Armenia and the Millennium Empire are different. You know too. Calm down.”
“It is impossible to calm down. Do you want me to tell you how I was treated by Armenia’s garbage earlier? It’s an unbearable humiliation.”
His father stopped Luciano’s spinning words with his hand. Then, he quietly looked up at the night sky. There was no moonlight there, and many stars filled the sky. “Do you think fate exists, Luciano? I don’t think I can go against it.” The King said softly, gazing up at the carpet of glittering luminous stars.
“What are you talking about suddenly? Father, I-”
His father slid his gaze from the sky to Luciano. “The sun never disappears even if it sets. It will continue to be like these stars. No matter how deep the dark night is, the sun will surely rise again someday. And it will illuminate you warmly.” Luciano didn’t understand what his father meant.
“Will you tell Mileia to go back to her room? She should be looking at the stars in the courtyard now. That child is not good with the dark. Hold her hands firmly so that you don’t get lost.”
His father stood calmly against the background of the night sky. He was smiling, but for some reason, he looked incredibly lonely and sorrowful.
That expression burned deep into his mind, and Luciano couldn’t move until he was told to go.