”{I need to check out who that fire magician was because, from your description, it wasn’t anyone I am aware of… which is odd since I thought I know every family member from my mother’s side… But that will require messing with a lot of people. Just stay in the Banemor territory for a while longer, sorry, I swear that I will visit you with Miriette as soon as the situation allows for it.}”

”|Allright, I understand – and that would be nice. How is she?|”

Horeo’s thoughts were transferred straight into Zoemi’s mind and vice versa.

”{She became more approachable, believe it or not. She interacts with other students a lot more and she constantly hangs out with the commoner girl. It got to the point that Miriette’s fan club had officially accepted Burushi as her acquainted.}”

The gold-haired boy smirked and his amusement was transferred thanks to the modified message spell used by Zoemi.

”|Sounds so nice… Say… do you think that I was always an obstacle preventing her from being more open to other people…?|”

The black-haired boy asked with hesitation, slightly worried to hear the actual answer.

”{As if.}”

Horeo scoffed in disbelief and must have shook his head too, but it wasn’t something that Zoemi could actually see.

”{Since the change was rather jarring, I asked her about it, and she said that she’s acting in such a way so that you wouldn’t have to be worried about her. I am not sure why you both decided to not contact each other like we are doing right now, but she asked me to tell you that she is missing you but she will manage on her own for a bit – at least just enough so the situation would settle down for you, and there will be no more danger.}”

The first prince explained, ending up playing fair and actually conveying Miriette’s words instead of keeping it all to himself to mess with her.

Zoemi realized that the dark-haired girl must have still been a little angry at him for trying to use the message spell with her at an unfortunate time, but he certainly was relieved to know that she was doing alright.

”|I wish I was that composed – truth be told, I almost teleported back to the capital because of something that was most likely a misunderstanding, or rather an overreaction, on my part and only failed to do that because of mana depletion knocking me out.|”

The black-haired boy breathed out and revealed feeling slightly ashamed.

”{I bet it was about something that had to do with fighting – even during training you are so ridiculously cautious it’s hard to spot an opening, so I am not even surprised that you did that… Still, it’s incredible that you only have the overreaction mode and the ultra-dense mode and nothing in-between. You are a fascinating person, my friend.}”

Horeo only scoffed and dismissed that information without pressuring Zoemi for details – they knew each other so well that the gold-haired prince knew that if the black-haired attendant actually wanted to share more because he thought it was important, he would have done so on his own.

”|Oh, and that reminds me – my prince, did a dark-blue-haired guy with misty-gray eyes showed up around the capital?|”

Zoemi smiled to himself and asked with a bit of hesitation.

”{I… did not hear about anyone like that – but also I am at the Aspakeony academy currently, so you know, I can’t be too obvious with gathering intel… for now… So, who’s that guy anyway? Was he the reason you almost changed our perfectly functional and working plan to move you out of sight of the pests trying to mess with me?}”

Horeo denied Zoemi’s question and then responded with one of his own.

”|Maybe. Although, as I said before, everything could have been just a misunderstanding on my part and nothing else. I’ll let you know whether it was like that or not as soon as I figure that out for myself… Oh, and if I am mistaken, then that original plan might get altered a bit…|”

*thump*

The black-haired boy smirked to himself at the thought of actually being the heir to the Banemor territory and the possible pros and cons of that outcome, when suddenly something bumped into his shoulder, making him glance to the side.

”…oh…?”

As it turned out, Reo, who refused to return to the room that Benevirau had let him stay in, ended up falling asleep and ended up leaning against Zoemi’s shoulder, causing the black-haired boy to smile looking at the peaceful face of the green-haired capture target.

Still, since even Reo was already out like a light, the black-haired attendant ended up checking the time on the clock at the opposite wall, realizing that it was already more fitting to say that it was early in the morning than it was to try and say it’s late into the night…

”|Oh dear, excuse me, my prince – I have been keeping you up for too long already – I will contact you again with more information regarding the subject.|”

Zoemi’s eyes widened and he apologized to the first prince, who unlike him had to worry about attending lectures in the morning – and there wasn’t all that much time before the sunrays anyway…

”{Oh, don’t sweat it – I needed a distraction anyway, helps me keep my composure.}”

Horeo responded dismissively, sounding slightly embarrassed which had honestly surprised the black-haired boy.

”|Goodnight, my prince.|”

”{And same to you too.}”

Still – he wasn’t surprised enough to bother asking for clarification and ended up cutting off the connection of the spell.

———–

”You are all really putting me to a test, aren’t you…?”

The gold-haired first prince asked while half-sitting on his bed, and looked down, where Veo was sleeping soundlessly with her head on his lap – while facing him – and Patishi was cuddling up to his side.

Somehow sleeping together had become just as much of a habit as eating together for the first prince and his two attendants…

The part that was bothering Horeo the most in all of that, was that he didn’t actually mind that, despite knowing the risk of a possible rumor starting if anyone notices it.

”…seriously… what am I supposed to do with the two of you…?”

He asked, carefully moving his hands to not wake up either of the girls and gently patting their heads.

———

”Reo… if you don’t wake up on your own, I will have to princess carry you to your bed…”

”…mhmhm…”

Zoemi lowered his head towards the green-haired boy’s ears and whispered, but that only resulted in Reo giggling softly in his sleep, tickled by the breath of the black-haired boy.

”Well – if you want it that way so if… oh…?”

Zoemi shrugged his shoulder and moved, fully intending to pick up Reo just the way he warned him about when the green glow showing from his inner pocket got his attention.

”…?”

Although he knew that it was quite rude, Zoemi ended up slightly moving his vest and checking for the source of light, slightly concerned that the green-haired oy might be using spells in his sleep.

But as it turned out, that wasn’t the case – interestingly enough, inside the inner pocket, Reo had stashed a little rune-covered box and a few green mana crystals.

”…and what are those supposed to be…?”

Zoemi furrowed his brows, intrigued.

The mana crystals seemed to be at least similar to the ones that Ririe had on her before…

|Wait… could it be that the chore she was talking about was running an errand for him…?!|

Zoemi leaned back, raising his brows in surprise.

Oh? Sound’s like someone had realized that he really was overreacting this whole time. Aren’t you relieved, the cute girl wasn’t actually anyone dangerous – good for you!

|Shut up! You know it’s not like that!|

Ludier’s shadow decided it was the perfect moment to call out to Zoemi and snicker at him, causing the black-haired boy’s blush heavily from the embarrassment, as the comment had got him out of the blue.

”…ekhem… I wonder what’s that artifact doing though… Wait… This is the actual source of box-shaped unique shadow… Where is Reo’s unique shadow then…?”

Zoemi ended up tilting his head in confusion at the sudden realization, furrowing his brows and glancing at the peacefully sleeping boy.

”…”

The black-haired boy ended focusing, and reached his shadow towards the small artifact intending to check its properties without messing with it in any way, but then…

*BHHHRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOGHHHHH*

”!!!!”

”…!”

A rumbling of outlandishly loud thunder made Reo woke up and jump in shock, which also ended up startling Zoemi who instinctively retracted the shadow.

”Eh? Ah? Eh? Z-Zoemi…? What… when did I…? What was that noise?!”

The green-haired boy panicked and started looking around completely disoriented, before managing to focus on the black-haired boy and asking.

”I…”

*WHAM*

”I SWEAR IF YOU DARED TO MESS WITH THE SCULPTURE OF THE YOUNG LADY LEA…! Ah…!”

Zoemi opened his mouth to express his cluelessness, the dark-blue-haired young-looking butler busted in the dining room growling furiously – but ended up freezing in place with a shocked expression, facing the taken aback boys.