Chapter 23 – The Party and the Prohibition of Words (1)

“He’s just a foreign businessman, nothing more.”

The words from the beautiful young man’s lips were full of malice. Most people would have shivered and bowed their heads at such sharpness, especially since the speaker was none other than Prince Reyes Brinita—a sensitive beauty with imperfect power.

But his opponent simply moved a chess piece and laughed heartily.

“You’re right, Rey. Why are you so worked up over some foreign businessman?”

The two were a perfectly mirrored pair. There wasn’t a single difference between the brothers, except that Reyes wore no crown, and his brother—

The two were perfect mirror images of each other. Of everything formed in their mother’s womb, there was not a single difference between the brothers. And yet, there was no crown above Reyes’s head—while there was one on his brother’s. That fact sometimes drove Reyes mad.

Kenneth rested his chin casually on his hand and looked at his brother with a smile in his eyes.

“Brother, why are you so angry? Did you want to keep such an interesting fellow all to yourself? While I sit stiffly in the palace, keeping up appearances? That won’t do. Absolutely not.”

Reyes tightened his lips and moved a chess piece.

“I’ve told you again and again. He wasn’t interesting.”

“That’s because you didn’t know how to make the situation interesting!”

Clack!

A piece snapped smartly across the board. Reyes’s bishop was mercilessly struck down by Kenneth’s knight. The prince crushed his lips against his front teeth. A crease formed between his brows.

“If it were me, I’d have kept bidding just to see how high that fellow would push the numbers. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch his face twist in embarrassment after all that bluster?”

“And if he stops bidding and the treasury runs dry?”

“Then I’d pay.”

Reyes looked at his brother with eyes full of incredulous contempt.

“That’s something only a king could say, Kenneth.”

“Oh, please. Even if it were you, I’d have approved it without question. Do you think I would be stingy about such amusements?”

Unlike Kenneth, Reyes could not take that moment as amusement at all. The bold, refreshing voice that came through beneath the mask. The likable attitude. The numbers climbing without hesitation. All eyes turning toward him—while all Reyes could see were the backs of other people’s heads.

Until he interfered with Sabina’s bid, those eyes had been fixed solely on him.

That feeling of becoming a mere extra the moment someone else stepped into the spotlight.

Something he had felt throughout his entire life.

A misery Kenneth would never know.

Reyes carefully moved his rook.

“Anyway, whatever he’s hosting isn’t some grand party worth the king himself making an appearance.”

“Then what, you’re backing out now?”

Once again, the opponent’s chess piece roamed the board on impulse, without hesitation. As though Reyes’s deliberation were meaningless.

A dead end.

“Wouldn’t that be even more undignified?”

Reyes racked his brain, trying to improve the situation on the board somehow. It was always like this. Reyes was the better chess player than Kenneth. An old minister who often alternated games with the two had said as much. Yet whenever the brothers faced each other, it was always Reyes who lost.

As Reyes bowed his head low, showing only the crown of it while struggling desperately to find a way out, Kenneth watched him with a gentle smile.

“Rey, you don’t have to go.”

At that, Reyes jerked his head up.

Kenneth telling him not to attend the party hosted by Ashton Bryant was not because Reyes himself didn’t want to go.

“That’s not what we’re talking about right now, is it?”

Reyes, about to pour out everything on his mind without a filter as heat rushed to his head, faltered. Because he could see what Kenneth’s smiling eyes were saying.

‘I know.’

That was what Kenneth was saying.

‘You just don’t like the idea of me getting close to someone you dislike, right? If he has my backing, you won’t be able to treat him lightly. But can you say that honestly, Rey?’

The twins knew each other’s thoughts even without speaking.

Reyes bit down on his lip and turned his head away. Did he really have no choice but to watch Ashton Bryant, that slippery loach, swim about at the bottom of the lake? The murky water was already spreading to the surface.

Just one of those so-so ‘Sabina’s men,’ and yet to think he would interfere in Reyes’s affairs at every turn and be this much of a nuisance. Of all the men associated with Sabina, Ashton Bryant irritated Reyes the most.

‘That snake bastard.’

“Oh, right. Rey, did you know? The young lady D’Vialis you’re so obsessed with is coming to the party.”

Kenneth yanked Reyes out of the depths of his thoughts. The prince stared at his brother, at a loss for words.

Sabina’s attendance was unexpected. Reyes knew Sabina well. She never attended parties to which Reyes had received invitations. One could say never, without exaggeration.

“Unfortunately, her partner is already decided. Ashton Bryant, apparently.”

Even the host’s partner? Reyes was speechless. Just what on earth had Ashton Bryant said to entice Sabina?

“That businessman seems quite proactive. I heard the two of them went to a tailor together yesterday and then to see a performance. How about a wager, Rey?”

“…About what.”

“Whether Miss Sabina D’Vialis will finally settle down.”

“Why would I bet on something like that with you?”

“If this man falls by the wayside too, then….”

The configuration of the chessboard before them changed from moment to moment. Reyes, too focused on his brother’s words, couldn’t concentrate on the game at all. Meanwhile, Kenneth wore a mischievous grin, clearly amused by Reyes’s reaction.

“I’m thinking of sending Miss D’Vialis a letter of selection. It’s about time I got married too, don’t you think? No—actually, I’m already late. Isn’t that right, Rey?”

Reyes sprang to his feet. Kenneth had always naturally enjoyed everything Reyes yearned for but could not have. He ought to feel apologetic. And now he was talking about taking even a woman from him?

Reyes forgot, in that moment, that his interest in Sabina stemmed from impure motives, and reacted as though he truly loved her.

“How could you—how could you say something like that…!”

The prince, soaked in inferiority, burned with rage. That rage was all he could manage, which made it all the more miserable. And yet, the fact that he could rage at all was a small mercy. Reyes sometimes forgot, from gazing too much at the heavens, that he possessed the tremendous privilege of being able to feel anger even toward the sovereign.

“I’m joking.”

Cool laughter burst from the king’s lips. Kenneth laughed, throwing his head back.

Reyes stared at Kenneth with a blank expression. There were dozens of reasons he disliked his twin brother, and this personality of his was one of them. His heart thudded violently. He forced himself to calm down and looked at the chessboard.

With a trembling hand, the prince moved his queen. It took time before his hand left the piece sliding across the board. In a voice heavy with waves of emotion, Reyes said,

“…Checkmate.”

Kenneth had let him win.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Reyes committed the rudeness of standing up without a word and leaving the room.

***

In front of a neat, splendid mansion, a small young lady stood alone, hesitantly. As always, she held a cane engraved with an albatross’s head, and after wavering with a sigh, she lingered before the gate.

She had already let the other party know she would visit today. Still, for some reason, she felt reluctant to ask, and so kept dawdling.

But she couldn’t stand there forever. Sabina rang the bell by the door. At the clear chime, a couple of maids who had been waiting hurried out.

“Welcome, Lady Sabina D’Vialis.”

They naturally guided Sabina into the mansion. It seemed the garden landscaping had been finished just a few days ago; seedlings were beginning to bloom. By the time of next week’s party, they would likely be in full flower.

As soon as she entered the foyer, Ashton came out to greet her. His hair fell loosely over his forehead, and he wore only a white shirt and black trousers. Sabina extended her hand. Ashton kissed the back of it.

“So you’ve finally decided to hire me?”

At his heavily joking tone, Sabina merely shook her head.

“It’s something else.”

“What kind of thing?”

“Let’s go upstairs and talk first.”