I wanted to ask Xavier why he and Claude had such a fraught relationship, but I soon gave up on the idea. That was probably too personal for me to pry. I didn't like it when someone asked me about my relationship with Dorothea after all.
"I see," I said briefly, then kept my mouth closed.
Xavier stared at me, then spoke again a moment later. "You won't ask why?"
"…Ah." I looked at him curiously. "Am I allowed to ask about it?"
"Hahaha."
When Xavier heard my question, he suddenly started laughing instead of answering. I was taken aback by his unexpected behavior, and I wondered if I had done something wrong.
After a while, his laughter faded away. "I'm sorry, Lady Maristella. That was rude of me."
"No. Did I…did I make a mistake?"
"No, My Lady. That is not why I laughed." He cleared his throat and then continued talking again. "I just didn't expect you to do that."
"If you don't want to talk about something, you don't have to, Your Highness," I reassured him. "Doesn't everyone have something they don't want to talk about?"
"For you, that is Lady Cornohen, correct?" he asked.
"You're not wrong. Clearly, she's not the most pleasant conversation topic for me." My lips twitched upward. "Does the Duke have the same kind of existence to you, too?"
"You are not wrong." He continued with a smile. "But perhaps it's alright to speak of him if my conversation partner is you."
"What do you mean?"
"When you first visited Thurman Palace, you promised to sometimes be my conversation partner."
"Yes, Your Highness. I remember."
"There's really only a few people I can talk to openly. You're one of those few. So I thought it would be alright to talk about the subject to you."
"It would be an honor," I answered, but I remained puzzled.
"Of course, only if you're curious," Xavier added.
"To be honest…I am curious," I confessed.
"Though when you hear it, you might think it's actually nothing. Like I said before, the Duke and I were rivals." He continued with a smile on his lips. "We first met at Yonas Imperial Academy at the age of nine. Claude was a very arrogant and proud boy."
Xavier naturally called Claude by his first name, not by his title of 'Duke Escliffe'. I was surprised by the sudden change of address. Perhaps Xavier said that unthinkingly because he was talking about the old days.
"I don't know if he was like that because it had been drilled into him since he was a child—since he was the next Duke Escliffe—or if that was his true personality. Anyway, he was the most outspoken of all the new students."
I guessed it was probably both. Personality was very much influenced by position.
"Amusingly enough, I didn't hate Claude. And I don't know if it is because I'm the Crown Prince, or perhaps because I was the top student on the entrance exam, or for another reason, but Claude didn't hate me either. We were inseparable. If I had to define our relationship…we were like best friends."
After speaking, Xavier must have been thirsty, so he took a sip from the glass of water next to him before continuing.
"We were like that for almost five years. He was my best friend, but he was also my friendly rival who alternated between first place and second place. Then in the summer of our fifth year, when I returned to the Imperial Palace to spend my vacation as usual…"
Xavier's words trailed off, and a frown creased his forehead. He seemed to have touched on a bad memory. The atmosphere, which had been a calm green, suddenly turned black, and I felt intimidated.
"Your Highness," I ventured cautiously.
"…"
"Are you alright?"
"…Ah." His forehead relaxed and he looked at me.
"You don't have to continue," I said, anxious. "I guess it's not the time for this yet."
"…I'm sorry, Lady Maristella. I have been rude."
"No, Your Highness. It's alright," I said, gently shaking my head. "I don't want to rush you. I guess it's still too early for you to tell me about it. Later… Tell me about it later."
"…Yes. I will do it someday."
Just in time, a servant brought a platter of deep-fried piglet, and the topic fortunately ended there. I cut the meat with my knife. From what I saw, Claude's and Xavier's relationship seemed to run deeper and was more complicated than I thought. I shouldn't try to pry when Xavier still hadn't finished processing it yet, for both his sake and mine.
The main courses continued to appear in a steady stream. During that time, Xavier and I struggled to shake off the awkward atmosphere from earlier and only spoke about personal matters.
By the time the meal was over, what happened before was completely forgotten. When I was about to dig into the homemade almond biscotti and strawberry sorbet for dessert, I remembered the handkerchief.
"Ah, Your Highness. I have something to give you."
Xavier looked up at me, and with a smile I snuck out the box that I had brought.
"I didn't think it was polite to come empty-handed…but I didn't think you'd like an expensive gift either."
I passed the box to Xavier, and he accepted it with an unreadable expression. When he opened the gift box, his eyes widened.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked worriedly. His reaction was worse than I expected.
"Pardon?" he said, as if startled. "Not at all, Lady Maristella. I really like it."
"Really?" I said doubtfully. "I thought you didn't like it."
"Not at all," Xavier denied with a shake of his head. I was strangely relieved by his emphatic response. "It's a very thoughtful gift. Did you embroider it yourself?"
"Yes," I answered with a shy smile. "But I'm not very good at it."
"No, Lady Maristella. This is amazing. Thank you very much. The crest of the Imperial House is not a simple design. You must have worked hard on that."
"I'm glad you like it."
My chest swelled proudly at the acknowledgment of my hard work. I took a bite of sorbet, feeling much better than before.
Then, the least pleasant topic popped into my head.
'Ah, tea leaves.'
That was the main reason for my visit to Thurman Palace. The thought of Dorothea made me frown.
Why was I doing this? I felt regret over it. If I could, I wanted to turn this situation upside down and let it go, but it was even more annoying because I knew better than anyone else that I couldn't not do it.
'It was all my fault.'
I didn't deserve to be angry about anything else. It was my fault anyway.
"Y-Your Highness," I said, carefully bringing up the topic.
"Yes, Lady Maristella." Xavier looked at me with the sincerest expression. "Do you have anything to tell me?"
"It's about the Nilgiri tea that you sent me when I was in the sickbed." I hesitated. "Can I buy some extra?"
"Pardon?"
"I…I mean, I made a mistake, and I'm in a situation where I promised to give someone the tea leaves you gave me." My face burned with shame, but I forced myself to say everything I wanted to say. "However, it is rude for me to give away the tea leaves that you gifted me, and I don't want to do that."
"…"
"So if you don't mind, I want to purchase it separately. Is that possible?"
"Hmm…" Xavier remained in quiet thought for some time. As his silence stretched on, so did my anxiety. When I got too tired of waiting, I almost apologized for asking too big of a favor from him. Then, Xavier spoke.
"Is it Lady Cornohen?" he asked.
"Pardon?" I blurted, panicking at the sudden mention of the name.
"Was it the daughter of Cornohen who wanted the tea leaves?"
How did he know that?
I stuttered, stunned by his words, and Xavier guessed the answer from my face.
"I see," he murmured.
"H-how did you know?"
"Because she is the only one who would request something like that from you."
It may have been the trick of the light, but somehow Xavier looked upset.
"Please don't think too much about what I just said, Your Highness. I'm sorry I asked you for too much," I said humbly.
"No, Lady Maristella. It wasn't too much at all." Then, Xavier added casually, "I will just give it to you."
Oh no.
"I would feel bad about that," I protested.
"I would be more sorry if you paid for the tea leaves I gave to you as a gift. Please accept my sincerity. I will take care of it for you."
Xavier spoke in a firm tone. I hesitated, then gave a nod.