"So, I'd like to hear the rest of your story. You said you went to a strange castle."
"Ah, yes."
Hugo brought back to the table the conversational timing that could have been glossed over. His determination to hear his partner's story was evident. Knowing this, Leonardo also pondered whether he should talk about this topic before finally making up his mind and opening his mouth.
"That castle's shape resembled a turtle. The castle's name was 'Romance.'"
"Romance? That's a romantic name."
Hugo scooped up some octopus dish he had served on his plate with the spoon he had been using. Then he naturally brought it to the lips of Leonardo sitting across from him.
"But was that castle also within my territory? It's a word mainly used around here."
Leonardo, whose eyes had followed the spoon, pulled his chin back with a troubled expression. However, when Hugo gestured for him to open his mouth and urged him by shaking his wrist, he slowly parted his lips.
"That's not it..."
Two pieces of sliced octopus tentacles were pushed into his narrow mouth during the pause in his speech. The spoon that had gone deep enough for him to properly taste the sauce swept across his upper lip following the curve of his mouth before slipping out.
Hugo, successful in hand-feeding him, smiled with satisfaction. Leonardo, who had inadvertently been fed, covered his mouth with the back of his hand and chewed the food in his mouth.
While feeling the chewy and savory flavor of the octopus, he stared with sarcastic eyes at his partner who was stirring the plate as if to feed him again.
"I prepared it with care, but I was worried it might get cold. So?"
When Hugo asked with a small laugh, Leonardo, who had swallowed the food, cleared his throat with an "ahem."
"In what situation do you think the phrase 'my romance' would be used?"
"My romance?"
"Yeah."
At the unexpected question, Hugo's hand stopped.
"...Since the castle's name was Romance, did the owner express affection for their possession?"
"Ah, that's possible but..."
When an answer different from his expectation came out, Leonardo belatedly added some information. Actually, that castle seemed to be a gift from someone to someone else. Inside and outside the castle were stone tablets that could help guess the circumstances of when the castle was built, and the content written there was like a kind of letter, and among them the phrase 'my romance' seemed to refer to the other person in context - he explained abstractly, leaving out sporadic facts.
"Gifting a castle named Romance while calling the recipient of the letter 'my romance'..."
Hugo pondered Leonardo's explanation while extending the spoon with food once more. Though the servants were far away, Leonardo, who had been concerned about their attention, hesitated again before awkwardly accepting the food. Only then did Hugo put down the utensil and answer carefully.
"It seems to have a double meaning. It's too intimate to be said to a friend with the same meaning, and there's distance for it to be poetry dedicated to a lover. Is it something said to someone who holds admiration and ideals?"
"There's distance for it to be between lovers? Why?"
"'Romance' means a wish one wants to realize. To be precise, it's closer to a romantic ideal that hasn't been achieved yet. If they were lovers, they would have already borne emotional fruit, so I don't think they would express someone they gifted a castle to as 'romance.' Well, that's just my opinion though."
"Hmm..."
Having already heard from Sister Signe that the stone tablet's content seemed like a love letter, Leonardo made an ambiguous expression at the conflicting opinions.
Hugo, who had been observing the unconvincing reaction, casually added.
"If we focus on a romantic relationship, it could have been a cautious relationship where feelings couldn't be easily expressed, or it might have contained the lingering attachment of a love that ultimately couldn't be fulfilled. Whether separation or death by separation. ...Now, I answered sincerely, so will you tell me the answer? At this rate, twenty questions won't end."
Leonardo flinched and raised his eyelids. His Grace seemed to have already noticed that he was only revealing partial information. He let out an awkward laugh and bit and released his lower lip before answering.
"I speculated that the person who received that castle as a gift was the first emperor of Raina Logia. The one called 'my romance.'"
"The first emperor? Theodore?"
The unexpected names made Hugo's eyebrows rise. Leonardo nodded after moistening his mouth with juice.
"It's been a while so I don't remember the details, but all the phrases carved on the stone tablet seemed to point to him. The reason I asked you about the turtle was because I thought the castle I saw might be connected to this villa. If this place was built at least a few hundred years ago, the timing would be roughly similar."
"...."
"If at that time there was someone with enough wealth and power to gift a castle to the first emperor, close enough to him, and if there's also a connection to your family..."
At the continuing speculation, Hugo fell into thought for a moment.
Was it because he had come out after asking about the peninsula's secrets related to the first emperor before His Majesty? Leonardo suddenly bringing up a related topic and digging into it seemed both puzzling and worrying as it seemed to cross dangerous lines.
When such concerns were inadvertently revealed in his gaze, Leonardo, who had been listing things under the guise of pure curiosity, trailed off.
"...Well, we might learn something new. Most records related to the first emperor were lost, after all."
His golden eyes glanced around nervously. Hugo, who had been listening, rubbed his lips and answered.
"Aetas Agrizendro Logia. Only him."
"Aetas?"
"The last king of Logia who made the peace treaty with Theodore. After the Raina Logia era opened, he's also the founder of our Agrizendro family."
Leonardo's eyelids slightly parted. Not because it was the first time he heard that name, but because he had thought the one who gifted the castle to Theodore must have been his lover. But according to His Grace's words, the two kings who made the peace treaty,
"Were they lovers? Those two?"
It wasn't an entirely impossible hypothesis, but it wasn't easily convincing either. The established theory was that until just before the two countries unified, Raina and Logia had been in fierce opposition.
The reason the tranquil path from the eastern gate of the imperial capital to the western gate of Agrizendro territory remained as both a massive tomb of ancestors and a place of harmony was because of this. Since that place had been entirely a battlefield over a thousand years ago, it was hard to believe that the kings of two enemy royal families had harbored romantic feelings.
"Thinking about those two people, it would be a more complex relationship than lovers."
However, Hugo brought up a slightly different perspective.
"Historians from my family have long questioned the founding of Raina Logia. Not just our family, but anyone who could view the situation objectively would have had similar thoughts at least once. Why did Logia, which was far superior to Raina in both territory and military power, become merely a duchy in the treaty process?"
"...."
"According to records remaining in the mansion, our king was extremely wise and a promising monarch who combined civil and military talents. Sometimes he cared for all his people with wisdom and gentleness, but other times he straightened state affairs with cold reason and clear judgment. For such a person to make a treaty with Raina's king and become not an emperor but a vassal, his descendants couldn't understand at all. No matter how powerful the Sun King was, our founder's power and influence were no less, and above all, the military strength of the two countries was incomparable. But if those two were in a loving relationship, it becomes somewhat understandable."
Hugo said that when a country that won through force attempts absorption and merger, the first step is to behead the fallen country's king to uproot the foundation and also eliminate the bloodline of their descendants to prevent future troubles. Though it would be called inhumane treatment now, that was the natural course back then. Leonardo was about to add that it's not much different now but stopped.
So if Aetas had harbored any emotion toward Theodore - whether romantic love, sympathy, or admiration - he would have avoided the method of waging war to unify the countries. Hugo expounded this opinion of his.
"Perhaps he gave up the opportunity to become emperor, abandoned hegemony over the world. For Raina's king."
Leonardo nodded while listening to the quite convincing words. Under such an assumption, it would be closer to the 'lingering attachment of unfulfilled love' that His Grace had given as an example. Like Romeo and Juliet, the interests between countries beyond both families would have blocked their emotions with the wall of reality.
'But ultimately, wasn't the founding of Raina Logia itself the fruit of those two's love? Then why couldn't it be fulfilled?'
Did Theodore die first? Or did he have to leave heirs?
Leonardo's eyes wandered through the air as he expanded his imagination. Then Hugo casually cautioned.
"Leo, it's good to have interest in history, but don't carelessly enter places like mysterious castles. You never know what dangerous magic might be cast there. And the fact that historically important records were lost means there's a good reason for it."
"...There's a reason?"
"I'm telling you not to dig too deeply. I'm worried about you. There are many truths in the world controlled by invisible hands. If you really want to see related historical materials, come to my mansion. Of course, if you promise me not to take any newly learned facts outside."
Hugo poured orange juice into Leonardo's empty glass while continuing.
"We keep what appears to be left by Aetas... a handwritten letter. Of course, this is also my speculation, but I felt that way the moment I read it."
"You have such a thing at your house?"
He had heard that secrets and ancient documents that couldn't come out into the world for various reasons lived long years together with the mansion... but he didn't know there were relics from that era. As amazement spread in Leonardo's eyes, Hugo placed a large piece of steak on his plate instead of answering.
"I'll tell you the rest after you finish eating. Everything has an order, doesn't it?"
Leonardo blinked as he looked down at the plate being pushed toward him again. Soon he chuckled softly and picked up the neatly arranged utensils. He had forgotten while continuing to talk, but thinking about it, it was also impolite to neglect food like this in front of the person who had prepared the meal.
Leonardo, who had chosen appropriately sized fork and knife, began skillfully cutting the steak. Hugo placed creamed spinach and pickled tomatoes on one side of the plate.
Hugo, who had been watching the quite precise knife work, asked.
"I've thought this before, but you're extremely skilled at dining etiquette. Have you learned it before?"
Leonardo shrugged nonchalantly.
"When you're a soldier, there are times when you have to dine with important people. Attending such occasions, I just naturally came to do it."
* * *
Tick, tick—
The sound of the second hand passing echoed through the heavy air. The tensely nervous servants of the ducal house stood in rows, silently bowing their heads and waiting. Even Flynn and the head butler could only modestly clasp their hands and read the situation.
In the center of the dim interior where not even a breath could be heard, a plush and dignified velvet sofa was placed. Sitting there with steely blue eyes open, staring straight ahead, was Gladias Agrizendro.
With arms crossed, she counted the flowing time with her fingertips as she stared at the clock hanging on the wall.
Even assuming he was handling what she thought was an explosion incident, it was an excessively late hour. It had already been four hours since she arrived at the mansion under Flynn's guidance after hearing the Duke's orders.
Gladias, who had been waiting for the Duke all along while pondering the last words he had left, gestured with her eyes for the highest-ranking butler among those lined up beside her to come forward.
"Yes."
Soon, caressing the jewels covering her fingers, she recited coldly.