This Kind of Thing... Is the Latest Craze in High Society? (2)
This Kind of Thing... Is the Latest Craze in High Society? (2)
The moment I saw the garment with an attached "codpiece," I chose to flee.
My escape, however, ended before I could even clear the threshold of the Head of House's Office.
Why?
—Snatch.
"Yune. What do you think you are doing."
Mother crossed the room as though teleporting and hoisted me into the air.
My legs dangled pitifully in midair. Sir Max blinked, eyes wide, a hand covering his mouth as an "oh my" slipped out. Mother stared down at me, her expression blank with a trace of disbelief.
Silence settled over the office.
It was summer.
* * * * * *
A short time later, I was seated beside Mother, launching into a heated tirade.
"There is no way I can wear something like that!"
"Yune. I am hardly well-versed in fashion, yet even I can see it looks rather dashing."
"To hell with dashing! It's mortifying and embarrassing! Why would anyone emphasize that?!"
"...So you do possess feelings such as mortification and embarrassment. Given the way you parade around every day in that outfit, I had wondered if shame simply did not exist in you."
Mother shot a sidelong glance at my attire. But I pounded my chest in rebuttal.
"This just has short sleeves! It's a manly man style, if anything! Not embarrassing at all!"
"Young master? What do you mean by 'manly man'...?"
"A manly man is a man among men... in other words, a man who is more womanly than a woman!"
Despite my impassioned oration, neither of them looked convinced. Seriously, why didn't they get it?
...Hah. I really hadn't wanted to use this. But there was no helping it.
"Anyway, I will absolutely never wear clothes like that! I'd rather die!"
"Wouldn't you like it once you tried it on?"
"I——won't——wear it!!!"
My persuasion having failed, I had no choice but to deploy my hidden technique: the tantrum.
A childish method wholly unbecoming of an intellectual and a manly man such as myself. It was a desperate measure that would definitely get me scolded by Mother later, but...
Getting scolded was a hundred times better than wearing that thing. Yep.
As I thrashed about on the sofa, flailing my arms and legs, Sir Max's expression grew darker by the second.
"It's worse than I thought. Before even a noble's proper mindset, he seems to genuinely think of himself as a woman."
"...Sir Max. Let us adjourn for today. I will call for you again at this time tomorrow."
"I suppose there is no helping it. Very well, then. I leave him in your hands."
"Mm."
* * * * * *
—Creak. Thud.
After Sir Max had left.
The moment the office door closed, Mother fixed me with a stare. As a bonus, the expression she had spent the past year softening beyond measure had gone slightly cold again.
"...Yunes von Nordkirchen. What in the—"
"Maman~!"
The instant I saw her face, I threw myself into her arms. My instincts screamed that if I didn't redirect her attention immediately, catastrophe was assured.
'Gotta defuse this by acting cute, fast! If I stay still, just getting scolded won't be the end of it. I might actually get spanked.'
What I had just done was, by Mother's standards, completely out of line. Throwing a tantrum in front of another noble. That was surely unforgivable for Mother, who placed such weight on a noble's dignity.
Worst case, I might well end up getting spanked the way I'd heard my older sisters had suffered from Mother, so my actions were swift and bold to the extreme.
—Snugly.
"I really hated that outfit so much that I acted like a child for a moment. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."
"Yunes."
"Aah~, if I just married Maman, I wouldn't have to wear clothes I hate and go out into high society. I only need Maman. Do you hate me?"
"...Don't change the subject."
"Subject? Yune is too little to understand hard words like that~."
"......"
Clinging to Mother, I set aside all talk of subjects or whatever and apologized for what I'd done while acting cute.
Honestly, I was a bit embarrassed myself, but I soothed my conscience by telling myself I still looked young on the outside, so this was barely safe.
But.
"I will not overlook it this time. It is for the sake of your future."
'That didn't work?!'
Usually, by this point she'd pretend she'd lost and let it go. Today, Mother was obstinate. It was as if...
"Yunes."
As if she intended to say something she'd been holding back for a long time today of all days.
* * * * * *
Mother peeled me off of her, held me by the shoulders, and met my eyes. Her eyes were deeply, profoundly still.
The moment I looked into those blue eyes, whose depths seemed unfathomable, tension rushed over me all at once.
'Am I really about to get it? Is this the time I finally get it?'
But contrary to my expectations of a scolding, Mother slowly parted her lips.
"I am aware that your sense of values closely resembles that of a person called 'Ryu Si-u.' Such knowledge flowed into you while you lay confined to your sickbed day after day as a child, so it was inevitable that you would be influenced."
"...?"
"Still, I paid it no mind. You were still my son. And you were still too young to correct your values. So until now, I sought to respect you as much as possible and to wait. For your sense of values to change naturally within this world. For you, Yune, to find values of your own."
In a grave voice, Mother had brought up my secret, the memories of Ryu Si-u.
After that, she seated me across from her and continued the conversation, her eyes fixed on mine.
"Yet these past two years, you have placed excessive faith in that set of values and shown not the slightest sign of changing."
"..."
"No matter how miraculous the knowledge of Ryu Si-u may be, no matter if it seems akin to seeing the future—that memory is by no means all-powerful. The laws of the place where Ryu Si-u lived do not apply to this Empire. Ryu Si-u's values are alien in this world."
"That, I know...."
"No. You do not know. You are being swept along by memories that are far from perfect, defining yourself by them, and I can tell just from hearing that chant of yours about 'manly men' or whatever it is."
"..."
"That your values were changed by those memories could not be helped. But treating those values as absolute—and not even attempting to change—is the problem."
After that, Mother propped her arms on the table and gazed at me steadily.
"Listen carefully. You are not Ryu Si-u. You are Yunes von Nordkirchen. My son."
"...Yes, Mother."
"Good. And for you to live in this world as my son, as the noble young lord Yune, you must substantially pare away the values of Ryu Si-u, patch in new ones, and make them wholly your own. If your present state continues, you will simply end up unhappy."
Mother's words went on at length. My head grew complicated as I heard them.
'She's definitely right from her perspective, but...'
Mother said that clinging to such values in this world would only bring me unhappiness. I actually felt the same way on that point. If I grew up as a noble just as I was, my current values would surely burden me with nothing but unhappiness.
But there were two things Mother didn't know.
The first was that I hadn't the slightest intention of changing my values.
Changing my values felt, to me, like killing off the existence of Ryu Si-u, so I had zero intention of forcing that change.
And the second was...
'I'm going to be an adventurer, so it doesn't really matter.'
The fact that my dream for the future was to become an adventurer.
I'd already found my own solution regarding my future and happiness. If living as a noble would only bring me unhappiness, then I could just live as an adventurer.
So Mother's words didn't hit me all that hard. I was merely newly moved by just how much she worried about me.
That said, I couldn't exactly declare, 'I'm going to run away and become an adventurer later, so it's fine!'
After hesitating briefly over how I might convince her, I gave up and let my head drop low.
"I'll try."
...Right. I wouldn't abandon my values the way Mother wanted, but I'd stop pushing only my own values and acting brazen about it.
Of course, there was absolutely zero chance I'd ever wear clothes with that codpiece attached like some dandy...
But aside from things I absolutely could not accept, like that, I'd make an effort. Instead of saying I hated it and running off while raving about manly men.
"Good. I'm proud of you."
The words "I'll try" were rather uncertain, but Mother hugged me tight as if that alone was enough.
"Now that I think of it, I didn't answer what you said earlier. How could I ever dislike you. No matter what happens, I love you. Yune."
"...Yes! Me too!!"
* * * * * *
The next day.
"I apologize for yesterday, young master. Seeing only the garment, it certainly could look rather bizarre. I was thoughtless."
"No, Sir Max. I'm sorry for acting impertinently yesterday."
Today Sir Max came directly to my room. The two of us first exchanged apologies for the previous day.
Sir Max soon handed me a bundle of papers.
"What is this?"
"These are portraits of young lords actually wearing garments with codpieces. How about it? Dashing, aren't they? Seeing them worn in person gives a rather different impression, doesn't it?"
"...Ah."
'Aaargh! My eyes!!'
I flipped through them rapidly and scanned the contents. They were crammed with pictures of men wearing outfits with codpieces attached—clothes that prominently emphasized the bulge of the crotch.
A single glance was enough to trigger an instinctive revulsion, so I merely pretended to look them over before handing them right back.
Then I spoke the words I'd spent all yesterday thinking over.
"Ahem. So what you're saying, Sir Max, is this: it's the fashionable garment these days, and I must wear it to be acknowledged in high society."
"That is precisely what I'm saying! If you don't wear this nowadays, people point fingers behind your back and call you a bumpkin who doesn't know fashion, you know."
"But I won't be wearing it."
"Pardon? But young master, in that case...."
No matter how much I thought it over, wearing that thing was out of the question, so I boldly declared my boycott of the codpiece.
Sir Max's eyes went round. He probably thought I was just being immature again.
But... today I had come prepared quite thoroughly. He wouldn't find it easy to counter.
"I detest the very reason I'd have to wear it. Emphasizing the crotch just to look good to others? Dressing in fashionable clothes because you're conscious of other people's gazes?"
"...?"
"I am of Nordkirchen. A bloodline of the Northern Grand Ducal House, which can shine brilliantly regardless of how others see us. For someone like me to pick clothes while worrying about other people's eyes is nonsense."
"But young master, if you simply wear just any clothes, you'll become a laughingstock."
"Who said anything about wearing just any clothes? I'll wear magnificent clothes. Magnificent enough to be seen not as a backward Northern bumpkin lagging behind the trends, but as a manly man—no, a stylish gentleman—who pays trends no mind whatsoever."
"There are no such clothes, young master. If you've been reading fairy tales...."
"No. They exist. In reality."
At my self-assured answer, Sir Max looked taken aback.
But I grinned up at him, brimming with confidence.
"Would you care to make a wager on it? If I bring you an outfit so outstanding it leaves you, Sir Max, utterly astonished, then please refrain from interfering with my attire from now on. If I lose, I'll wear every single thing you tell me to wear."