First Date in the Principality
Marei couldn’t forget the memories of the church he had shared with Labella and Erden. They flickered endlessly before his eyes—the sticky, intense party the three of them had held in that vast sanctuary.
It was incredible.
No other words came to mind for that weekend. Labella and Erden had taken turns playing the role of pets, competing to seduce Marei. Later, he had led both women by their leashes, strolling through every corner of the church while indulging in acts too scandalous to ever speak of.
What kept the lingering regret at bay were Erden’s plea for him to return the following weekend and Labella’s fierce competitiveness toward the Saintess. Instead, his chest swelled with anticipation, the restless excitement leaking out with every shallow breath. Just imagining how the two women would serve him next sent heat rushing downward.
What am I thinking about out here? He shook his head quickly, trying to clear the flood of color from his mind, and brought the disposable coffee cup to his lips.
A sweet caramel scent brushed his nose. Beneath it lingered the rich aroma of chocolate pressing down on the savory smell of milk. When he touched the tip of his tongue to the liquid, the bitter taste of hot coffee stung his tongue. Soon the sweetness gave way to the deep, nutty flavor of milk, and before he could fully savor the faint sweetness, it ended with a slightly salty aftertaste.
“How is it, young customer? Good?”
“Yes, the first sip is a little bitter, but…”
The owner of the mobile café smiled softly as Marei continued sipping.
“It’s because you’re still a kid~. I’m glad you like it. First time in the principality?”
“Ah, yes… Is it that obvious?”
“When I see the way people keep glancing at you as they pass, it’s easy to tell. Especially when the locals are the ones looking, not just other tourists.”
After warning him to be careful because there were people who wouldn’t like him, the stall owner turned his attention to new customers. Marei carefully lifted the now-full coffee cup again. Though the surroundings were entirely unfamiliar, the excited atmosphere of the crowd carried a sweet fragrance.
The capital of the principality felt even more exotic than Valter. Here and there, people were performing small street shows, and men and women so beautiful they could only be called ideal passed through the streets. Most of them had skin as white as jade, giving them a slightly alien appearance.
“You’re from the Empire?”
“Ah, yes.”
Even the café owner selling delicious coffee had that same exotic, mature charm. Skin white as jade. Fangs that looked sharp when he smiled.
“Every year during the festival, I watch the crowds grow. It’s something I never could have imagined before. It feels strange… but strangely pleasant, too.”
Marei couldn’t find anything to say in reply. The owner didn’t seem to expect one anyway.
“One more cup… No, three might be too much for a child. I’ll warm up some milk for you. Want some? Of course it’s free. I’m not running this stall to make money.”
“Then I’ll take you up on that.”
He didn’t particularly want more to drink, but it felt awkward to refuse the man’s kindness. Watching the owner return to the mobile café after telling him to wait a moment, Marei looked back at the passing crowds.
“Here, I brought the milk. Drink it while it’s warm. More and more people are visiting this city these days.”
Unlike Marei’s gaze, the owner’s eyes stayed fixed on the people walking by. His faint smile held a relaxed warmth that put others at ease.
“Um… What does ‘Blood’ written there mean?”
“Hm? Ah, that? That’s a menu the locals order. It might be a bit much for someone from the Empire to hear about. Want me to explain?”
“No, it’s fine…”
He had already guessed, but hearing it confirmed would make it irreversible, so Marei shook his head. Rumania was a principality of vampires. Naturally, there was only one thing that came to mind when thinking of food the locals would eat. For some reason, the friendly uncle-like owner suddenly felt distant.
The owner patted Marei’s back lightly with a laugh and let out a small sigh as he saw the line of waiting customers begin to form.
People continued rushing past. The sound of instruments echoing through the streets left him feeling slightly dreamy. The bracelet Erden had given him emitted a faint warmth. Is it playing with magic stored inside? As he watched the distant performer, he noticed pointed ears. An elf? Or a vampire? His thoughts flowed freely, refusing to stop.
While he was closing his eyes and focusing on the music, a commotion broke out on the opposite side. It wasn’t loud, but because the performance had just ended, the subtle murmuring caught his attention. Curiosity getting the better of him, he bid the owner farewell and carefully made his way toward the center of the disturbance.
“……you!!”
“We are…”
A sharp voice carried over the wall of people. The murmuring of the onlookers made it impossible to tell what was happening beyond. Since he was holding a disposable cup full of milk, he couldn’t push through the crowd. He stood on tiptoe to see, but the densely packed people blocked his view.
“Uh… uh…! W-wait… D-don’t push me…!”
Like moths drawn to flame, the crowd surged forward to get a better look, pushing Marei from behind. His center of balance, already precarious on his raised toes, collapsed in an instant, and he was sucked into the throng.
The young boy’s desperate pleas melted away uselessly into the noisy crowd. Even as he was jostled, he clutched the milk tightly to keep it from spilling. Before he knew it, he was shoved all the way to the front. The disposable cup he was holding tipped over, and the half-full milk danced through the air.
“If you were trying to ruin my mood today… then congratulations. You get full marks.”
A girl holding a red spear larger than an adult man growled lowly while crumpling her milk-stained hat. The men around the girl, who wore a bread-shaped hat with a deep brim, took several steps back at the low voice that reminded them of a beast’s growl. Her red eyes flashed dangerously, and her trembling body let out an involuntary sound.
“I-I’m sorry…”
When Marei apologized in a hurry, the girl’s fierce expression softened slightly. She wore a white jacket and jeans that looked easy to move in. If not for her modestly swelling chest and the face that couldn’t be hidden even by the long brim of her hat, one might have mistaken her for a boy.
“You. I’ll see you later.”
The girl pressed her crumpled hat back down as far as it would go and shifted her gaze. Beneath her silver bob that reached her shoulders, the white nape of her neck was visible. She gripped the spear shaft with her index finger while the other fingers repeatedly opened and closed around it like waves. It looked like nothing, but strangely, his body stiffened and refused to move. It was the killing intent in her red eyes as they swept over him that truly paralyzed him.
Suddenly, he remembered the time he had encountered a wolf in the mountains years ago. Even though she was a small girl whose head barely reached his lips, the image of a wild beast rose from her figure. And then a red rose. Beautiful, yet something that would hurt if touched.
“I clearly warned you this morning that I wouldn’t participate. There won’t be a next time, so if Father wants to send me to that unpleasant gathering, tell him to seat Mother beside me instead of a prostitute.”
At the girl’s warning, the men who had been crawling on the ground helped each other up and disappeared. Like a rose blooming alone in a garden, she was the only one standing in the space enclosed by the wall of people, like a white fence surrounding the garden.
“Hey, snap out of it. I was trying to subdue them properly and just toss them aside, but of all times… Augh… Now it’s awkward to even get angry.”
The girl let out a small sigh and pulled Marei, who still hadn’t regained his senses, to his feet. The front of his clothes was covered in dust. One of the men she had lightly flipped with her spear had fallen on top of him.
“If we stay here, it’ll get annoying. Let’s go somewhere else and talk, okay? Follow me.”
“…Yes.”
As she parted the crowd without letting go of his wrist, Marei stared blankly at her back and followed as if being led.
“There, this should be fine now. You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
After forcefully pushing through the crowd and walking for a long time through narrow alleyways, the girl suddenly spoke.
“No, aside from my clothes getting a little dirty… I’m sorry about the milk. I got pushed by the people and fell…”
“It’s fine. I was a bit rough because I couldn’t control my anger when the milk hit me. I’m the one who should be sorry. I don’t usually lose my temper this easily.”
The girl casually tossed her stained hat into a trash can. Then she sniffed her jacket once and threw it in as well, adding another item to the bin.
“First time in the principality?”
“Ah, yes…”
The girl let out a small laugh. She bought a hat and clothes from a street stall, put them on, and began walking slowly. Marei followed her as if entranced. There was a faint milk scent, but it wasn’t the fishy smell typical of milk. Instead, a soft fragrance like milk-scented cosmetics drifted gently to his nose.
“Where are you from? The capital? The border?”
“I came from Valter.”
The girl’s steps suddenly stopped. She turned around and lightly scanned Marei’s body.
“Valter? Hmm…”
Then she nodded lightly to herself. One eye, half-closed, sparkled dangerously like a cat that had found a toy. Realizing his gaze had been caught by the girl’s slightly upturned red lips, he quickly looked away.
“First time in the principality, and you’re from Valter… Then you probably don’t know much about the principality’s specialties, do you?”
“No, not really…”
“Then as an honorable member of the vampires, it would only be proper to introduce this city to a visiting guest~.”
The girl covered her mouth and giggled as if she found her own words ridiculous. Unlike the wild beast and solitary rose she had reminded him of when they first met, she now approached him and stirred a strange excitement.
“Do you have enough money? It’s a bit cheaper than Valter, but it’s still a famous tourist spot, so the prices are pretty high, you know?”
“I… have some…”
Thinking of his thick wallet, he nodded. Thanks to the money Erden had given him at the end of the weekend to buy something delicious and the allowance Ilien had secretly slipped him right before departure without Labella knowing, his wallet was quite well-stocked.
Of course, neither of them had given him an unreasonable amount. It wasn’t enough for high-end restaurants or famous eateries, but it was more than enough to buy plenty of street food.
Still, for Marei who had lived in the countryside, it felt like a lot of money, and he would be startled every time he looked at the bills in his wallet. For some reason, the card Labella had tucked into the inner pocket in case of emergency felt strangely heavy.
“Then what should we eat first…”
The girl’s words were suddenly cut off as cheers assaulted their ears. Both their gazes turned toward the source of the sound, and in the distance, an imperial delegation with the Empire’s flag hanging was slowly passing by.
“The Emperor came this year too…”
At the girl’s murmur, Marei’s eyes moved to the center of the delegation. The Emperor—the title referring to the Empire’s empress, though most people simply called her the Emperor. The person he had only seen on television or in newspapers was lightly waving at the crowd from the center of the procession. The Empress wore a white silk dress embroidered with a dragon pattern in gold thread.
Her face was stiff, her expression cold even from afar. Though she was waving at the imperial citizens, she maintained an expressionless face. With each movement of her hand, her golden hair, shining like the sun, reflected the sunlight. Should he call it doll-like? Though it felt unfair to Erden, whom he considered the most beautiful woman he had ever met, the Empress’s beauty was so striking that he stared blankly until the delegation had passed far enough that only her silhouette remained visible.
Her expression was stiff like a doll’s, but how beautiful would she be if she smiled like a real person? The thought stretched on. What pulled him from his drifting thoughts was the girl’s voice beside him.
“If even half of her face matched her personality, how nice that would be.”
“Huh? You know the Empress?”
“A little.”
He looked at the girl again. Though Marei himself was still small enough to be called a boy, the girl before him was so petite her head barely reached his lips. Yet the reason she felt difficult to approach wasn’t because she was cute or pretty, but because the word that came to mind was “beautiful.”
“What kind of person is she?”
“An incredibly strong person. Steel that wouldn’t bleed even if you stabbed it. The kind of person who makes you think she’s cool even when you’re looking at her as a fellow woman. Come on, let’s move. The delegation is heading to the castle in the center anyway, so we won’t see much even if we follow. Let’s just keep sightseeing.”
Seeing how well she seemed to know the Empress, he suddenly became curious about the girl’s identity. Come to think of it, he didn’t even know her name. Realizing once again that she was a girl he had met less than an hour ago, he felt an inexplicable distance.
“Follow me… Huh? Are you looking for something?”
“Ah, I just wanted to see the Prince once too.”
At Marei’s words, the girl let out a deep sigh for some reason. The heavy breath that clung to the ground carried a damp, weary feeling.