That's the Crown Prince, All Right (2)
Audrite hurriedly called over Baroness Osmond, who was mingling among the noblewomen.
The two of them leaned close and whispered into each other's ears.
"What is it, Your Highness?"
"Baroness. Go outside and look for Sir Maru for me."
"Why on earth would I go looking for him? He'll come on his own."
"Go anyway, please."
"This is a critical moment, I'll have you know. I have to see the Crown Prince's face with my own eyes!"
The baroness waved her hands in refusal and scurried back to her spot.
"A married woman gawking at the Crown Prince's face—honestly, the nerve of her. Maybe I ought to replace her with a maid younger than me."
While Audrite was grumbling, Edward, seated beside her, struck up a conversation.
"Odris, what do you suppose the Crown Prince looks like?"
"Like a person, presumably."
"Hoho, well, obviously. But my guess is he's probably bald."
Edward slicked back his glossy blond hair and crossed his legs.
"I hear the men of the empire lose their hair in droves. Bet you anything the Crown Prince is bald too, and the moment he lays eyes on me, he'll be green with envy over my flowing golden locks. Ahh, how dangerous. He might try to steal them. I'd better take good care of my hair."
"Don't say such absurd things."
"It's not absurd at all. As everyone knows, hair is a noble gift from the gods that even the Crown Prince's mighty power can never acquire. Unless one is reborn, it's impossible to have it in this life. Which is why he can't help coveting what belongs to others."
"Even if he stole it, could he actually implant it?"
Audrite scoffed and turned her head away.
Her gaze, sweeping across the assembly, began darting about restlessly once more.
Far off at the entrance, the master of ceremonies was leading a tall, muscular woman into the hall.
"It is an honor to welcome you back to our kingdom, valiant warrior who journeys alongside the Hero. This way, please."
Natalie followed the master of ceremonies, glancing around with a bewildered expression.
The interior was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, not an inch of floor to spare.
"Is there an event on today?"
"Yes, yes! There's a welcome ceremony for the Crown Prince. If you would lend your welcome as well, Lady Natalie, His Highness will be greatly pleased."
Natalie snorted inwardly.
The Crown Prince of the empire? Hah. So some lazy good-for-nothing who'd been coasting in his cozy little hideaway has finally shown up, has he? Well, whatever. I'll take it. Thanks to this crowd, sneaking into the palace was easy.
She asked, "Then is Sir Maru here as well?"
"The Guardian of the Royal Banner, you mean? Naturally, he must be here too. He'll be standing at the front, in the place reserved for the principal ministers."
Natalie immediately turned her gaze toward the front of the hall.
The hall was vast and the distance considerable, making it difficult to pick out anyone who might be Maru.
"Here we are. This is your place. Foreign guests may watch from here."
The master of ceremonies stopped and indicated her spot.
The people around her were mostly merchants and adventurers.
"One small request, if you would—give a loud round of applause. His Highness is very fond of applause."
The master of ceremonies smiled and took his leave.
Natalie stood quietly, staring at the front of the hall.
"Maru, I'm here. Come out here quick. I'll hug you until your bones break."
Behind her, grinning ear to ear, two women in hooded robes stood side by side, their faces hidden in shadow.
They radiated a gloomy, ominous air.
The taller of the two was Luciella; the one a full head shorter was Lucy.
"Watch with both your eyes, and watch well. Behold how great a man your master truly was—the master you both tormented."
Luciella had known beforehand what was about to happen; Maru had told her everything before the ceremony.
That was the depth of the trust that had settled between them.
She curled her lips—moist with violet lipstick—into a smile and glanced at Lucy.
Lucy stood staring straight ahead, blank-eyed.
Her eyes were dull and clouded.
Her expression was hollow and cold.
She answered in a low murmur, "...Yes."
At that very moment, the crowd outside the entrance surged with a great commotion.
Some were screaming themselves hoarse with cheers.
The master of ceremonies standing by the entrance boomed out, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince now enters!"
The chattering hall fell silent in an instant.
Everyone held their breath and looked toward the entrance.
And there, at last, the Crown Prince revealed himself.
It was Maru—dressed to the nines, draped in a golden cloak.
He walked slowly down the red carpet spread through the center of the hall.
"Th-that man—!"
"The Crown Prince... was Sir Maru all along?"
"No, it can't be! He was right here among us this whole time!"
As the crowd recognized Maru, they could hardly contain their disbelief.
"We spent months beside him—how could we not have known? We were such fools!"
The light returned to Lucy's startled, vacant eyes, and her pupils began to move.
Following Maru as he walked deeper into the hall, she muttered in a trembling voice.
"...He was the Crown Prince? H-how...?"
Natalie, standing in the very front row, had likewise frozen stiff, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Am I drunk?"
She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
The figure walking the red carpet was Maru, no matter how she looked at him.
"Am I dreaming?"
She smacked her own cheeks with her palm.
Smack! Smack!
It hurt.
She wasn't dreaming.
"What the hell is that sight. What the hell is it, dammit."
Audrite, seated in the seat of honor at the very back of the hall, shot to her feet before she knew it.
Her eyes, fixed on Maru, trembled violently.
"That story... it was true...?"
Shock and joy collided within her, and a gasp of wonder burst from her lips.
She had revered and admired Queen Alexandria of the Ra Iskandaria Empire since she was a child—and now, right before her eyes, Maru was walking toward her carrying that very queen's aura.
He wore a gentle smile, yet it didn't look like his usual expression at all. He seemed, somehow, immeasurably grand.
Her lover was the son of Queen Alexandria. At this unthinkable combination, propriety and dignity alike went straight out the window—she could not stay composed to save her life.
The urge to run to him right now and throw her arms around him boiled up inside her.
Beside her, Edward was beaming and shouting with delight.
"You were the Crown Prince all along! I knew it! If anyone was going to be, it was you—I'll grant you that!"
Before long, Maru came to a halt.
Not at the center of the dais, but directly in front of Audrite.
Too overjoyed to hide her smile, Audrite beamed up at him, and he spoke.
"I hid for four years because I didn't want to live as Crown Prince. And because of you, it's all come to light. So tell me—what do you think I should do now?"
"You never even told the Hero?"
"No."
"You wanted to hide it that badly?"
"Yes."
"And it's my fault it came out?"
"It came out because of you. So I'm asking. What should I do now?"
"How about... nagging me in my chambers later?"
At her absurd reply, Maru burst out laughing.
"Don't be ridiculous. We're getting married, obviously."
Maru took her hand and turned to face the crowd.
Raising their interlocked fingers high, he called out to the entire hall.
"Everyone! I, Han Maru, will soon wed Princess Audrite!"
The moment the Crown Prince announced his marriage out of nowhere, the hall plunged into stunned silence.
People looked at their neighbors with dazed expressions.
"D-did he say... marriage? He said marriage just now, didn't he?"
"That's what I heard. He raised their hands up high and declared he would marry the Princess."
The announcement was so sudden that everyone wore doubtful, half-believing faces.
Then a single pair of clapping hands rang out through the hall.
It was the King.
He stopped clapping and spoke.
"Hear me, all of you! I have promised to give my daughter, Princess Audrite of this kingdom, in marriage to the Crown Prince of the Ra Iskandaria Empire!"
"Ooooh!"
Cheers and applause erupted from the ministers' section.
"A most wise decision, Your Majesty!"
"You have done a great service for the realm!"
"And instead of some portrait stranger, we get the Crown Prince himself—what a bargain for the kingdom!"
The applause that began with the King spread outward until it swallowed the whole hall.
"Why would you decide that without consulting me even once?"
"Well... you see... there wasn't time."
"Excuse me?"
Amid the crowd's cheers, the King was drenched in cold sweat under the Queen's scolding, while Prince Edward happily congratulated Maru and Audrite.
"I thought you two couldn't stand each other—when did you get so close?! What a shock! Well, either way, Maru, with your... abundance, you'll have no worries about heirs!"
Maru and Audrite exchanged a few brief words with him, then turned and met each other's eyes.
Honey dripped from the gazes the two lovers traded.
"You will marry me, won't you?"
At Maru's proposal, Audrite nodded, her face radiant.
"I already ordered you to become mine. So my answer is an unconditional yes."
The two of them fell naturally into an embrace and kissed.
The crowd's cheering grew louder still.
And in the midst of it, Lucy stood rooted to the spot, gazing at Maru from afar with a hollow look on her face.
"...Kiera. That bitch was a complete idiot."
Thinking of Kiera—all the two-faced fawning she'd done to secure Duke Toledo's patronage, all while failing to see the treasure right in front of her—Lucy couldn't help but laugh.
She cackled like a madwoman for a long while.
There was self-mockery mixed into that laughter, too.
At some point, Natalie had made her way outside.
The night wind was cold.
"Maru was the Crown Prince."
A hollow laugh escaped her at a reality she simply could not believe.
She stood in the garden, staring up at the building where Maru was.
Light spilled from the windows of the grand, imposing structure.
She could hear the applause of the crowd, and the music of the orchestra playing within.
That place glowed endlessly bright, while this one stretched on into endless darkness.
Like light and shadow, the two of them.
"Did we bully him into hiding it?"
She didn't want to celebrate Maru's marriage.
Because compared to him, she was nothing—small and shabby.
Jealousy gnawed at her, and anger flared.
Then a question surfaced.
If we hadn't thrown him away.
If we had wrapped him in warmth instead.
Would Maru have revealed who he really was?
She didn't know.
Her head was so thick that thinking complicated thoughts felt like it would crack her skull open.
In the end, the words that came out of her mouth were these:
"I want to apologize to Maru. Right away."
She wanted to go on adventures with him again.