That meant he couldn’t enter Lysith’s room for that reason.

Both Seraphiel and Camael knew that on such days, the door really wouldn’t open unless it was quite an urgent matter. The dads…… loved them no less than they loved their mother, or perhaps they liked their mother even more.

Camael, who heard the story from a maid in front of the firmly locked door, drooped his small shoulders and returned. He asked if any other dads were around, but there was only the sad news that they were all away.

“What about the other dads?”

“Uung, they’re all gone……”

Days when absolutely no one was around like this weren’t common, but unfortunately the day Camael didn’t want to sleep alone became that uncommon day.

Seraphiel, who was looking at her twin who had quietly entered the room, got down from the bed with no choice.

“Sigh. Come here, then.”

When she grabbed Camael’s hand as he stood hesitating by the door and led him toward the bed, Camael’s steps became lively, seeming happy that he wouldn’t have to sleep alone.

The wide bed was spacious enough for several more people to lie down even after two small children lay down. When they climbed up together and lay facing each other, red eyes and sky-blue eyes met.

As soon as their eyes met, Camael giggled. Though they often bickered usually, at times like this it was good to be twin siblings.

“Why are you still a baby?”

“You’re exactly the same as me.”

“No, I can thleep well alone but you can’t thleep alone.”

Whether she was displeased that her pronunciation slipped due to excitement, deep wrinkles formed in Seraphiel’s brow.

Though Seraphiel, who asked ‘Why are you still a baby?’, was still a baby too, in her own eyes she seemed all grown up, and her twin brother felt like a baby.

“Even so, we’re both five years old!”

“……”

There was nothing wrong with Camael’s words. Since they were born together, naturally they were the same age too. Having no words to refute, Seraphiel just pouted her lips.

How much time had passed as they lay together and bickered? Despite time racing toward midnight, the siblings’ eyes were still bright and alert without a trace of sleepiness.

Then Camael, who had been moving his lips as if he had some worry while looking down, carefully opened his mouth.

“Say, do you want to do it?”

“Do what?”

“Dad’s next position.”

He meant the position of crown prince, and furthermore, emperor. The two children hadn’t taken lessons related to that yet, but they inevitably came to naturally know how heavy that position was as they grew up.

Living in the imperial palace, they inevitably encountered various nobles naturally. While some people genuinely adored them, there were more who treated them purely for political purposes.

When he saw those gazes that wanted to choose between himself and his twin, Camael felt burdened and sometimes unpleasant.

“Mommy said she’d let whoever wants to do it do it.”

Whether knowing Camael’s feelings or not, Seraphiel answered peacefully. That wasn’t the kind of answer he wanted to hear right now.

“Uung, but what about you?”

“I am……”

Did she want to be emperor? Both Seraphiel and Camael were still too young to think about that.

Naturally, Lysith and the four men knew this, so none of them had ever said anything that might feel like pressure to the twins, but it was words that came out due to the atmosphere created by the nobles.

Seraphiel, who postponed her answer while remaining silent for a while, eventually asked Camael back.

“……What about you then?”

“I…… hate it. I don’t want to do it.”

When he shook his head while burying his face in the pillow, Camael’s platinum hair that had been neatly arranged became disheveled in an instant. Seraphiel, who had been staring at it intently, nodded. Calmly, as if she had expected such an answer.

Because they were blood relatives, because they were twins, she couldn’t help but know. Whether her younger brother liked or hated ‘that position’. Even at banquets, he hated that there were many people and would only stick close to their mother or dads.

In contrast, Seraphiel was more active and spirited. She liked meeting people and rarely got discouraged. Even if they were high-ranking nobles.

“I…… don’t really know yet.”

Maybe she would know once she grew a little more. There was nothing a child who was only five years old could say definitively right now about such a serious and heavy matter — whether she wanted to do it or didn’t want to do it.

Camael nodded as if he understood Seraphiel’s answer, then said let’s sleep now, and really fell asleep in an instant.

Seraphiel glared at her younger brother who had complicated her mind then fallen asleep as if it was none of his business, clenched her fist, and gave him a light flick on the forehead.

“Uung……”

She hadn’t even hit him that hard, but perhaps her hand stung, as Camael touched the spot where he was hit even in his sleep. What did I do to such a gentle child who doesn’t even wake up when hit like this and is only docile? Seraphiel muttered, rubbed the spot she had hit as if sorry for hitting him, then lay down properly and looked up at the ceiling.

The princess, who blinked her sky-blue eyes that looked exactly like her mother’s, suddenly recalled for some unknown reason a conversation she had with her mother not long ago.

“Sera, if you ever see something strange, you have to tell me, okay?”

“Something strange? A ghost?”

“No. Something translucent with writing on it. But it should only be visible to you.”

“……?”

“You’ll understand when you’re a little older.”

“But I’m already really big now!”

For young her, it was still words she couldn’t understand. Since it was none other than her mother who said she would understand when she got older, she had no choice but to wait, counting on her fingers for when that might be.

Using the sound of her younger brother lying beside her making chomping noises as if eating something in his dreams as a lullaby, the princess who had been pondering for a while fell asleep like that.

* * *

About two weeks after that incident, the five people were gathered together for dinner for the first time in a while. The meal time that had been continuing without major disturbance changed when Lysith opened her mouth, saying come to think of it, as if something had occurred to her.

“Even after getting married, there’s really nothing special.”

At Lysith’s sudden words, the gazes of the four men instantly converged all at once. Though she had received such gazes more than once or twice, she couldn’t help but hurriedly open her mouth each time, flustered despite herself.

“No, I don’t mean it in a strange way. You get married, spend the first night, and that’s just the end. Where I used to live, there was a concept called honeymoon……”

Well, it might be difficult for ordinary noble families, but for imperial family, a honeymoon would likely be quite unrealistic. Of course, it wasn’t that, but rather there simply wasn’t a concept of honeymoon to begin with.

At times like this, she was newly reminded that this was a completely different world. Though she had felt it when seeing the various colored hair at banquet halls too…….

After finishing her words, Lysith, who was cutting her steak while lost in other thoughts, missed seeing the wavering in the four men’s eyes. If their eyes had met here, she might have asked why they were like that and learned the reason, but unfortunately when Lysith raised her gaze, that wavering had already stopped.

After that, the word honeymoon never came up between them again.

That is, until Lysith was kidnapped.

A month later, when Lysith, who had been sleeping soundly without a care in the world, opened her drowsy eyes, she was inside a rattling carriage. Still in her sleepwear, wrapped up in white, fluffy blankets.

Waking up to find herself not in her room but in some carriage? Her brain, which had frozen for a moment, declared a very brief strike.

‘What?’

When she came to her senses and quickly looked around, she could immediately tell it wasn’t shabby or suspiciously made. Though it shook slightly, the ride was comfortable, and above all, the seats were clearly top quality at first glance.

The gold-painted reliefs and intaglios carved here and there, the curtains with glossy sheen flowing. Such carriages weren’t used just anywhere. You had to be a high-ranking noble or imperial family…….

‘……Don’t tell me.’

Did they bring her out without even asking her opinion? If so, which of the four people? And what were they thinking leaving the children behind like that?

The moment she was about to sigh and pull back the curtain to look outside, the carriage slowly stopped and a familiar face entered the carriage.

“Are you awake?”

“What is this right now……”

It was none other than Penchev. They say the axe you trust strikes your foot! It was exactly that situation. Lysith’s attempt to get angry, asking what kind of behavior this was, ended in failure.

Not for any other reason, but because of the other three husbands visible behind him and the two children held in their arms.

“Mommy woke up!”

“Woke up~”

When she looked at her husbands with an expression demanding explanation, they avoided her gaze and began explaining the situation while hesitating.

To summarize their words simply, they had secretly planned a belated honeymoon after hearing her talk about honeymoons a month ago.

They had already finished dealing with any problems she might worry about while away from the imperial palace, and had concluded the matter as simply going on a brief vacation.

‘No wonder their behavior has been strange lately.’

Lysith, who was finally relieved, relaxed her shoulders that had been slightly stiff with tension. Though it was somewhat absurd that she came still wearing sleepwear and only wrapped in a blanket, she felt good thinking they were going on a family trip.

Actually, it was natural, but looking at Lysith’s received memories, her range of activity hadn’t been that wide. At most the family’s territory and the capital, and she had never been to other regions.

Though she had briefly stopped in other regions on the way to the Magic Tower with Ashites later, that was a bit different to call a trip.

Originally she wasn’t particularly fond of travel…… but when they brought her as a surprise like this for her sake, there was no reason to dislike it. Above all, they said there were no problems to worry about.

“I understand, but I need to put on some clothes first……”

“I’ll help you.”