Weeping Men: The Innocent Princess's Secret Delight - Chapter 2.7
‘…She gave me the overly generous position of friend, so shouldn’t I at least give her a gift of friendship…’
Wouldn’t that be right? Kaizen began to ponder what item to choose.
‘Tea leaves? No. Food items have personal preferences, and it would be a burden if I give her something she doesn’t eat. …Earrings? No. Jewelry seems too personal… A dagger for self-defense? …Would she even be able to wield that in an emergency?’
After countless thoughts, Kaizen realized:
‘…What does her Highness like?’
He actually knew very little about the princess. Then, a desire welled up.
‘Should I ask her… What would make her happiest to receive?’
A desire to know more about her. A desire for her to smile at him even once more.
For the first time, he harbored a longing for another person. And so, without even being aware of his own feelings, he was lost in thoughts of her.
Knock knock.
There was a knock at the door. The adjutant who entered was even more rigid than usual.
“…The young duke has come to see you, Captain.”
At his report, Kaizen’s back also stiffened.
Froyzen, standing a couple of steps behind the adjutant, smiled and nodded slightly.
“…Let him in.”
Kaizen gave permission as he returned to sit at his desk. The door opened, and Froyzen entered.
“Hmm. So this is Kaizen’s main space.”
Until the door closed, he acted the part of a gentle, affectionate older brother with a soft smile, but once the door shut.
“What are you doing?”
“……”
“Stand up.”
Immediately, a sinister light fell across his face. He motioned to Kaizen with his chin.
Kaizen obediently stood up. Froyzen, taking the seat of honor where Kaizen had just been sitting as if it were natural, asked with an apparently delighted smile.
“Do you know what rumors are circulating about you and Her Highness the Princess these days?”
He had no idea. Kaizen silently lowered his head.
Seeing this, Froyzen’s smile deepened, filled with clear intent. It was mockery.
“It’s an embarrassing matter.”
“……”
“For brothers to be involved in a scandal with the same woman at the same time.”
Even Kaizen knew that publicly greeting someone with their parents and asking for the first dance was tantamount to an informal marriage proposal.
So, he immediately understood who the ‘one woman’ at the center of the rumors was.
Unable to add any words to the subtle reproach mixed in the statement, Kaizen felt as if he had committed a crime.
“The ducal family being embroiled in a scandal must be the fault of the one who belatedly joined in.”
“……”
“Especially if he coveted that person despite knowing his brother’s intentions early on.”
Froyzen intensified his sense of guilt. Kaizen finally bowed his waist.
“I’m sorry.”
In reality, the relationship between Froyzen and the princess hadn’t even reached the level of a scandal. He had only been blatantly obvious and ridiculously ignored, earning nothing but mockery, but Froyzen hid that part completely and spoke authoritatively.
“Even you should know how to wash away this dishonor.”
“……”
“You just need to distance yourself from the princess.”
That’s right. That’s the correct path. Isn’t his mere existence a concern for the ducal family? A nuisance like the second son shouldn’t stand in the way of the first.
Kaizen, who had been conditioned into helplessness over a long period, was about to accept it willingly. But.
“……”
The words wouldn’t come out. Every time he tried to answer, her afterimage choked his throat.
“L-Lord Pentmian……”
Her, wearing tattered clothes, hoping only for his salvation.
“Lord Kaizen. You’re cute.”
Her, staring intently at him with smiling eyes.
“I don’t know. I’m saying I like Lord Pentmian.”
Pouting, for the first time prioritizing him over his brother, making him think presumptuously that perhaps she needed him, not his brother.
Watching Kaizen like this, Froyzen gritted his teeth.
‘How arrogant.’
Their rumored affair wasn’t a baseless story.
‘He has feelings for her.’
He returned alive from the battlefield where he was sent to die, and now he’s reaching for the woman long intended to be his. It was irritating.
‘I need to strike him down somehow and crush his spirit from the start.’
Froyzen scanned the room looking for leverage. His gaze stopped at the oven above the fireplace. He also recognized that what was being dried inside was jerky.
Knowing well what kind of being Kaizen had been obsessed with as a child, Froyzen immediately understood who that jerky was for.
“Still hung up on four-legged beasts, and yet?”
“……”
“If you’re concerned with such lowly creatures, how could you possibly handle the highest position in this empire?”
He was about to advise him to set his sights on a woman befitting his station.
“Does that apply to me as well?”
If someone with a gentle voice hadn’t barged in.
“How on earth do you manage the security of the captain’s office… …!!”
While scolding, Froyzen habitually turned with a smile. And then he froze completely.
Because the person entering was Princess Judith, her pink hair swaying.
‘Did she hear? How much?’
That was his first concern. Hadn’t he implicitly mentioned aiming for the princess’s marriage? A sensitive princess would be upset at the idea of her marriage being manipulated by political logic.
He decided to probe first.
“I greet Your Highness the Princess.”
He immediately knelt before her and brought her hand to his lips.
‘If she’s upset, she’ll pull her hand away impatiently.’
If not, she would quietly accept the greeting.
“We meet again, young duke.”
Judith went a step further, returning the greeting with a pretty smile.
‘It seems she didn’t hear everything.’
That was a relief. As Froyzen stood up, Judith demanded an answer again.
“Then would you mind explaining what you were saying earlier? Is it really difficult to endure royal life if you care about animals?”
He wasn’t sure why she was persistently digging into such an insignificant point, but he realized he shouldn’t make definitive statements. Froyzen answered with a lukewarm explanation.
“Well, my brother doesn’t have much work, you see. It’s inefficient for him to personally make snacks, so I was going to advise him to delegate it to someone else…”
“I see. So such tasks are useless, trivial, and not worth doing personally.”
“No…”
The princess took it to the extreme. Froyzen’s mouth closed as he tried to deny and smooth things over.
Behind the dejected princess, a white dog appeared.
“But I want to love this child. It’s already been abandoned once…”
“Huff, huff.”
“You might think that homemade treats are useless, trivial, and not worth existing, but I want to feed it even one snack made with care…”
“……”
“Lord Kaizen, I’m sorry. I ended up asking for your help with the useless, trivial, and unnecessary task of making dog treats.”
‘It was for the dog the princess is raising…!’
