Timid and Shy - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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79.

Robert’s face flushed as he spoke.
“I am not a man like Gareis or Oberon. I too keep my feelings close. I’ve had little leisure to indulge them. But I… I wish to be at your side, Sophia. For your sake as well, I believe becoming Crown Prince matters. And… I hope you want more. If I later give you the chance to seize all of Uranos, I hope you’ll have the ambition to take it.”
Sophia shook her head.
“I’m not so bold a person. I’m timid and petty—content merely to gather money and small advantages. Having gained much benefit through my connection with you, that alone suffices.”
Robert rose and spoke.
“No. You will come to want more. I will create the conditions for you to covet them. Wait and see.”
Sophia watched as Robert left the Greenhouse without waiting for her reply, heading toward the castle, and murmured to herself.
“Though it’s truly lovely not to be the only one nursing secret pains. Still, I don’t think we can continue this way.”
Sophia hummed softly, pulled her gloves back on, and took up the shears.
She believed what she desired was sufficient already.
Robert’s sweet words were pleasant, but Sophia did not trust them.
“But jealousy… how adorable.”
That day, Sophia wore a smile the whole while, recalling how Robert had concerned himself with Gareis.

***

The envoys from Saturn who had volunteered to come amounted to precisely two. Robert’s brow deepened in a frown at the sight of them.
The first to step forward before Robert had bright golden hair and pale green eyes that resembled some gaudy serpent. After bowing respectfully to Robert, he introduced himself.
“I am Anselladus, an envoy sent to convey the will of Saturn’s king. The man beside me is Dione, both envoy and my adjutant.”
Robert regarded Dione, who also possessed bright golden hair and green eyes and a delicately refined appearance, and spoke.
“The two of you resemble each other somewhat.”
“You have a keen eye. He is my cousin.”
Robert spoke.
“We intend to depart for the Capital of Uranos today. Since the envoy party consists of only two, it should be possible to move quickly without inconvenience.”
As Anselladus began to speak with a forced smile, Robert cut him off.
“Is there business the envoys must conduct in Ariel? You’ve brought the king of Saturn’s letter, surely?”
Anselladus spoke with absolute confidence.
“That goes without saying for an envoy. Here!”
He tapped his flank proudly.
A sharp snort echoed through the hall.
Gareis’s scoff rang out so loudly it shook the entrance. Sophia, who had come to see them off, and Helen, who had come to head to the Capital, burst into laughter despite themselves.
Dione, the adjutant, turned to protest but held back upon seeing both were young women. Baron Ariel spoke.
“Do hasten your departure. The road to the Capital is long.”
There was a brief farewell from Parma and Gareis. Pina continued fussing over Sol and Helen with admonitions disguised as concern about caution on the road.
In Robert’s eyes, Sophia was laughing as she conversed with Gareis—doubtless speaking of that snort from moments before. Though Parma stood nearby, she remained slightly apart, watching the two of them speak with an equally gentle smile.
Robert’s blood boiled again.
The two envoys from Saturn bowed respectfully to Baron Ariel before boarding the carriage, where Robert was already seated.
Anselladus spoke.
“How exceptionally gracious that the Prince of Uranos himself accompanies us to the Capital.”
Robert answered coldly.
“I’m sure.”
Robert’s mood was far from pleasant. He had to go to the Capital while Gareis remained at Sophia’s side.
Robert made no effort to hide his displeasure with the Saturn envoys. Whatever pretense they managed, they were invaders from Saturn.
It mattered not what station they held in Saturn. They had sought to invade Uranos, and having failed, now turned to deception.

***

Throughout the journey to the Capital, Robert treated them with an unrelenting chill. Even Anselladus, envoy from Saturn and commander of the Titan Knights, was forced to remain subdued.
He wasn’t so much leveling accusations as openly displaying contempt through piercing stares—making clear his disdain. With each word spoken, Robert’s gaze grew so intense it seemed to bore through them, and Dione and Anselladus spoke less and less.
When Dione stepped down from the carriage to rest, he spoke to Anselladus.
“Wasn’t Prince Robert supposed to have a quiet, composed temperament? Why is he so frightening?”
“Perhaps Saturn’s surprise attack wounded his feelings?”
Hmm.
Parma observed the two men standing and pacing outside the carriage. Despite the rest period, Robert’s entire entourage remained tense, maintaining their vigilance around Parma’s carriage. Parma spoke.
“That useless deadweight is preventing my attendants from relaxing.”
Helen and Sol too peered out from the carriage at Saturn’s envoys. Sol found the Saturn delegation strange, yet his curiosity kept drawing his gaze toward them.
But seeing how Parma treated them, she couldn’t bring herself to approach and could only watch nervously from a distance.
Helen spoke.
“What do you think they’ll say once they reach the Capital?”
Parma called for Asher, who served as the Crown Prince’s attendant.
“Would you fetch the Crown Prince for me?”
“Yes.”
Asher hurried to deliver the message to the Crown Prince. He returned moments later with a frown creasing the Prince’s brow.
Parma spoke.
“I trust you’re having a pleasant time with the envoys from Saturn?”
“Hardly. Since my own mood has been poor, I’ve made certain they experience equal discomfort. I’ve been rather deliberately curt with them.”
“Oh, how perfectly reasonable. Then I won’t suggest sharing a carriage. Do continue to make things difficult for them.”
The Crown Prince nodded and returned to his carriage.
“Is it really because of Saturn’s attack? He seems sharper than before, doesn’t he?”
Parma watched the Crown Prince’s departing figure and reflected.
‘Sophia seemed fine enough. But did Robert care more than I thought? I assumed he was just dressing up Sophia as the rational choice, but was it all a facade? Did he attach plausible explanations because he actually cared for her?’
Throughout the journey to the Capital, the two envoys from Saturn rode in growing discomfort, exactly as the Crown Prince had intended, watching every word and gesture.

***

Only after they finally arrived in the Capital and settled into the delegation’s quarters did Anselladus and Dione breathe sighs of relief. Dione at last looked as though he could breathe.
“That was truly tedious and unpleasant.”
Anselladus spoke.
“Our job is to stall and deflect as much as possible. We’ve done nothing, no matter what anyone says. It’s all a misunderstanding between Ariel and Umbriel. Honestly, what have we actually done?”
“But while we drag things out, won’t Umbriel and Ariel also be preparing their defenses? No matter how much we deny involvement, even if they nod along to our faces, they’ll be making their own arrangements behind closed doors. And this time, the Central authority will surely offer support. I’m certain of it.”
“Perhaps. But we’re regrouping while they’re only now beginning war preparations. We need to demonstrate our utter incompetence and harmlessness as much as possible. We must obstruct any Central support at every turn.”
“Will they believe us? Uranos himself knows the reputation of the great Titan Knights.”
“Cousin, that’s true—but we couldn’t even succeed in a surprise attack against tiny Ariel and Umbriel. Think of what happened with Ariel. They were already anticipating our next move before it came. You can see it just from the fact that Gareis is there. But they can’t know how extensively we’re preparing. They’ll assume the next attack will be similar. How much can the young Gareis actually accomplish if they’re hanging onto him?”
“Still, I’m uneasy. The surprise attack was meant to fail, true, but our losses were heavier than expected. Meanwhile, we dealt almost no damage to Uranos.”
“That was unforeseen. How could anyone predict an avalanche? Ariel’s luck seems to be exceptional. A salt mine, and then an avalanche on top of it. Their fortune is almost unbelievable.”
Dione twisted his mouth slightly.
“If luck is that good, then perhaps it counts as skill.”
“Is that so? Prepare a report on that matter. But there’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“I have a task for you. What did you make of Parma Gareis?”
“Beautiful, certainly. As proud and aloof as the Gareis name would suggest. Why do you ask?”
“Do you think you could seduce Parma Gareis?”
Dione recoiled in alarm.
“No. Absolutely not. Didn’t you see how disdainfully she looked at me? While the Crown Prince watched us with suspicion, she dismissed us with pure contempt.”
Anselladus spoke.
“Why are all the young people of Uranos so arrogant? The best way to remove Gareis from Ariel would be to spread rumors linking you and the young lady together.”
“Why don’t you try it yourself?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Forget Parma Gareis. She seems to find our claim about being a delegation more contemptible than the failed attack itself. Playing the fool would probably work best.”
“Still, make the attempt. If you fail, you’ll look sufficiently foolish. That’s also a viable strategy.”
Dione frowned but nodded nonetheless.

***

The day after Saturn’s delegation arrived in the Capital, articles about them began appearing in profusion. Questions erupted over their failure to send any formal notification and their crossing of the Titania Mountain Range at night.
While not stated outright, most articles suggested that Saturn’s invasion of Titania was about to enter a serious phase.
They hadn’t even been granted an audience with Uranos’s Emperor yet. Dione and Anselladus shook their heads, having clearly underestimated the reach of Uranos’s press and newspapers.
Dione spoke.
“I don’t understand how the surprise attack and our personal information both became news. Don’t border conflicts make people anxious? Yet the Emperor of Uranos simply allows this.”
Anselladus also shook his head.
“Perhaps we’ve been too careless. Information of this caliber must come from the Emperor himself or the Administrative Bureau. Look at how our family lineages appeared in the newspapers. Even if we lodge a protest with the Emperor, he’ll claim there’s nothing he can do. They’ve deliberately leaked these articles to prevent us from winning over the Capital’s nobility and forming friendships.”
Dione shook his head as he spoke.
“How shameless. This is why we must control the bourgeoisie firmly. Publishing information so carelessly as news. I’ve heard Uranos’s class system is collapsing, and now I see it’s true.”
While they remained in their quarters, articles about the delegation continued to flood not just the Capital’s magazines but the cheapest newspapers as well. Meanwhile, Saturn’s name was being invoked in connection with events in Oberon too.
Now the newspapers and magazines had begun reporting on Saturn’s King and his inner circle. Anselladus found he could no longer dismiss Uranos’s press so easily.
‘Saturn will soon be reading Uranos’s articles too. This is maddening.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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