As a grounded spectator, Ciel took out his boredom by watching his two parental units trying to become a couple.
Actually, scratch that, it was Jadiel who decided to screw it all and one-sidedly chase Lanae.
Munching on his breakfast, Ciel poked Erin, who, for once, was reading a book beside him.
"Brother, don't you think dad's OOC-ing too much these days? When we came, he was still a cold faced captain."
Erin didn't reply, but his ghost of a sister did.
/Sigh. Don't you know love changes people? He must have been holding back for too long, I bet he was hiding his feelings in fear of ruining his relationship with her. Then, when organizing the family registry, he accidentally blurted it out, and now…/
Ciel understood.
"And then he'll be chasing mother around with flowers in his hands, offer her a candlelit dinner, have a one night stand, before she gets up the next day to run with our youngest unborn sibling…No wait, isn't this a marriage before love situation? Can she still run with the ball without divorcing?"
Erin flicked Ciel's head speechlessly: I think you're confusing genres here.
Before the siblings cooked up a 35 episode drama of love and tragedy for their parental units who were a couple but not yet a couple, Jadiel noticed the idlers hiding inside the storage room.
The door creaked open, a smiling face peeked in, the man was still holding the bouquet of herbal blossoms he had failed to give away.
"You two are very bored?"
Ciel froze, still rubbing the doll's fluffy ears, and chuckled nervously.
"N-not bored. We were just checking out what was in here!"
"In the dark?"
Ciel pointed to his blindfold and nodded.
Jadiel smiled kindly.
"Ivan is out negotiating with eve tribes at the moment, so you won't find anything new here. Kierra and Mason are also out with the rest to escort the new batch of eves back home. Why don't you two bother our crown prince?"
Ciel's eyes lit up.
"Really? What about Uncle Lilian?"
Jadiel smiled.
"I already talked him into it. He'll be taking you there."
Stepping aside, he let the two children go out, before turning around with a smile in his eyes.
Now, there was only Lanae and himself at home~
…
"Dad's planning something for mother."
Erin nodded seriously.
Lilian, pushing Ciel's wheelchair, stopped abruptly.
"What?"
Ciel looked at his uncle pityingly.
"He tricked the brother in law, and the kids out of the house. The rest of Fatalite are out escorting the eves and negotiating trade. The two of them are alone at home. What do you think he'll do?"
Hearing this, Lilian calmed down.
"Nevermind. Jadiel's been us for most of our lives, I trust him with my sister. It's better than her marrying an outsider."
Although he said this to comfort himself, as he went on, he was actually reassured. Ciel watched his gentle face twist into a smirk as he continued the walk.
"Besides, with his personality, at most, he'll cook her food with his limited skills. He won't have the courage to do anything else."
Ciel recalled his memories of Jadiel.
Haha, his uncle's impression of his dad was pretty accurate.
Lilian stopped at the gate of the palace.
"The knights have been almost completely reshuffled, so you two better keep your family emblems on you until they recognize your faces. And you."
He poked Ciel's forehead.
"Don't get out of your wheelchair. This time, I'm not letting you get out until your legs are completely healed."
He looked at Erin.
"You better keep an eye on him. Don't let your brother become a cripple."
Erin nodded solemnly.
/Don't worry Erin, I'll keep an eye on him too!/
Ciel tsked. These guys worried too much, even his capricious sister was affected.
(Theresa: Wow, talk about a pot calling the kettle black. (￢_￢) )
"I love my health and I know my limits."
"..."
Lilian chose not to respond, turning away.
"I'll come pick you two up later around dinner time. Have fun."
And so, with free access to the palace, the two ended up at the tree right next to Dominic's window.
Erin looked at Ciel.
"This isn't the tree from last time?"
Though Erin couldn't see it, Ciel still winked under his blindfold.
"The last time was outside his office. This time, we're outside his bedroom. Look, there's even a balcony!"
Erin: …
Ok, he won't ask how this guy knew where their friend's bedroom was—it was definitely Theresa who told him anyway.
Looking at his unmoving brother, Ciel waved his hands.
"My brother, it's time!"
Erin sighed, it's a good thing he didn't wear one of his good shirts today.
Large black wings spread out, covered in gleaming feathers.
Flapping them gently, Erin picked Ciel up along with the wheelchair and placed him right in front of the balcony door.
As Erin landed and retracted his wings, Ciel peeked curiously inside.
"Aw, why are his curtains drawn so tightly so early in the morning?"
Then, he proceeded to demonstrate his lockpicking skills, opening the curtains himself, before effectively freezing at the sight before him.
"Eh?"
"Ah?"
"?"
Erin wheeled Ciel backwards, poking in his head. Then, as if he was shocked, he quickly drew his head out.
"...Apologies for the interruption."
He also politely closed the curtains Ciel had opened earlier, looking at Ciel.
"Since when did Dominic have a sister?"
"An illegitimate child?"
"But why is she in his room..?"
"An affair…?"
"What?"
/Incest? How intriguing, is this why the nobles didn't want him to be crown prince?/
The trio didn't bother lowering their voices, and Dominic, who could hear them loud and clear through the closed balcony door, sighed.
How did these crazy people become friends with him again…?
Ah right, it was Cedric.
"Come in."
Hearing Dominic's voice, Ciel adjusted his expression, opened the door, and wheeled himself in, Erin and Theresa close behind him.
Opening the curtains to let just the right amount of light in, he cautiously took off his blindfold, rubbing his eyes. Opening them, he properly recognized the girl in front of him.
"...Your highness?"
She still had short, ear length hair, but her features were delicate and pretty, so feminine that no one would think of her as a boy.
Erin blinked, looking around for another figure. Meanwhile, Theresa's eyes practically sparkled, like a little girl who had just seen the cutest and best-dressed doll.
/Wow, Dominic's sister is so pretty!/
Dominic sighed.
"Stop looking around, I'm in front of you."
Three gazes were fixed onto him.
'What the f*ck.'
Ciel rubbed his eyes again.
"So this is why Archduchess Athne wanted her daughters on the throne."
Because there was already a precedent.
F*ck. If he trusted that damn novel's words again, then the thing in his head wasn't a brain.
Looking at Ciel, who was in shock, Dominic felt a rare sense of victory and laughed.
Her laughter was light, perfectly befitting of a noblewoman.
Ciel held his head, why hadn't he noticed before?? Did his brain degenerate to a child's?
His fingers rubbed his soft wavy hair, a sharp contrast to the rough, spiky hair he had before.
Um, it probably did.
"In fact, I never actually tried to hide it. Though I usually make myself appear more masculine, it's a public fact that I'm the first princess. "
"Ah?"
Ciel looked at Erin.
How come he'd never heard others mention it?
Erin held his head.
They spend their days either outside Anatol finding trouble, at home watching trouble, or at the black market causing trouble. Of course they wouldn't have heard of royal affairs.
/Hahahaha, Ciel, you're really not reliable are you?/
Ciel knew what she was referring to, but in front of Dominic, who could actually see ghosts, he could only give a weak protest.
"It's not me…I just didn't notice."
F*ck. If he ever met that damn author, he would be sure to give them a good punch in the face! Wasn't it supposed to be a reverse harem!
Why! Did! A! Harem! Member! Become! A! Girl!
Dominic smiled.
"Just call me your highness as usual. Being crown princess isn't an official title in Anatol. So, even if I'm a girl, I'm still called the crown prince."
It was like when she was first born, her mother, refusing to back down, had given her a boy's name for this very intention.
Erin didn't have an expressive face in this life, but Ciel perfectly expressed his shock.
Wow, he didn't know Anatol had been such a feudal kingdom. No wonder Dominic wanted the system to crash and burn.
Ciel blanked out. Did the author of the novel know this? The settings in the novel had always been sort of vague, so he wouldn't be surprised if the author didn't know about Anatol's traditions.
Then, Dominic, Erin, and Theresa watched as Ciel's brain turned until they felt that steam was rising up from his ears.
Dominic: Pfffft....
"I'm usually overlapping my brothers' faces on my own to give a more authoritative feeling to the rest of the subjects, so it's natural for those not in the know to make a mistake."
"Ah?"
Ciel's eyes widened with curiosity.
He—no she could do that, but she couldn't summon Cedric's dead soul in the novel?
Wait a minute.
"Your highness, how do you contract with souls? Are there any you can't see?"
"I can only see souls if they die with regrets, the stronger their attachment to life is, the stronger their energy. However, they can only affect the physical world under 3 circumstances, when they're under a contract with a mage, if they gather enough energy to become a demon, or if they possess a living being."
As she spoke about her attribute, a strange light ignited in her eyes.
"To contract a ghost, there are two methods, to force them into submission or to reach a mutual agreement. A contract ghost rests in their contractor's shadow, and uses mana to manifest themselves. A manifested ghost can only be seen if they want to be seen, and the range they can stray from the contractor plus the powers they can exert from their lifetime depends on the contractor's mana…"
Looking at her rambling, Ciel silently glanced at the doll in his arms.
Was it him, or did Dominic resemble Theresa in her research mode?
Luckily, although Dominic liked talking about her magic, as a qualified royal heir, she could see when her audience's eyes glazed over and stopped promptly.
"Anyway, gender is an objective thing. Let's move onto another topic. For example, I don't recall ever telling you where my bedroom was."
The trio: …
Theresa and Erin silently turned to look at Ciel.
Ciel looked away.
He really wanted to place the blame on Theresa, the ghost who could walk through walls, but the kid in front of him could hear and see her…
Screw that.
"Theresa walked around and found you."
Sister, just take the blame this one time, thank you~!
/…/
Theresa really didn't want to take the blame for this heartless younger brother.
Dominic looked at the young woman shaking her head in front of her: …
You know what, for the sake of the comedy, I'll let it go this time.
"Nevermind, let's talk about official subjects."
"Talk about that with our father. You'll just bore us out."
Dominic quickly lifted the head that was going into napping position.
"Nope, this involves you two. No, if you're going to sleep, go home, what did you come here for?"
Feeling Ciel resolutely lower his head, Dominic gritted her teeth.
"I'll send some new sweets the chef developed earlier to Fatalite later!"
The fluffy black head went up instantly.
"Yes, my highness? What were you saying before?"
…You foodie.
Dominic was speechless.
Well, it was nice seeing this guy acting his age for once.
"It's about your positions. Your statuses have risen. You can't stay in the capital as simple children anymore."
Ciel looked up.
"If we settle down in the western territories, won't you be alone here?"
Dominic shrugged.
"I'm not alone. My brothers will support me whether they like it or not, and all the nobles now support me. Without the Athne family's support, the abolished nobles can barely pool enough money to hire a decent assassin as revenge, not to mention most of them have been executed. All that's left to do is to enforce and stabilize the new structure."
Though she looked quite light saying it, both brothers knew it wouldn't be that simple.
How heavy was the burden of a kingdom?
This question had no answer, because only those who wore that crown knew—not the crown worn on the head, but in the heart.
And people who wore the crown in their hearts disdained to speak out on how heavy the burden was.
In a thorny environment, children really grow up fast.
Ciel sighed, his eyes drifting between the doll in his arms and his brother standing next to him like a knight.
Wasn't that the case for all of them?
He really was lucky to be picked up by Jadiel and the others in this lifetime of his.
Dominic patted the doll's head.
"What about Cedric? Isn't he always with you?"
Dominic shrugged.
"The Norama family resides in the east territories, though it seems like we're close, I only see him every few weeks. This time, he had to stay for a longer time because of the messy succession."
"Is he still following Fatalite? Did his parents agree?"
Although Dominic was technically considered an orphan, Cedric still had a healthy relationship with his family.
Dominic smiled.
"His parents are quite happy to send him out of the capital to avoid the mess here. In fact, they will also be leaving soon, the eastern territories can't stay unmanaged for long."
Cedric's role in the old noble's abolishment hadn't been small. Though many high aristocrats had committed sins that had given them the death sentence, many had slipped through the net with minor crimes and only had their wealth confiscated before being demoted to being a commoner. With so many people seething in resentment, even if they were exiled to different parts of the kingdom, who knew what they would try to do to Cedric.
Compared to the scholarly Norama family with a retired knight as its head, Fatalite was now one of the few high ranking noble houses allowed to have its own knight squad, not to mention Fatalite's aristocrats themselves were former knights and mercenaries. Adding on to how they would be spending most of their time moving around, it was much safer for Cedric to go with Fatalite.
Ciel nodded thoughtfully.
"Also, the old man from the bombing last time, he disappeared from prison."
Ah, Beelzebub finally came up. He had been wondering when that terrorist would be brought up.
Erin nodded.
"We met him in the mountains causing trouble for an eve tribe."
Dominic touched her forehead, feeling a headache coming.
"What?"
Ciel twirled his hair sheepishly.
"They got away, but we can confirm that the old man is the guy who kidnapped us before."
There it was, the headache.
Dominic finally started massaging her head.
"You guys have been back for almost a month, and now is when you decide to tell me?"
Ciel shrugged, his pretty face
"We were busy with your succession issues."
"It's almost been a month! How am I supposed to track him down now?"
Ciel sighed.
"Your highness, even if we told you earlier, do you have the manpower to investigate them?"
Erin continued Ciel's words heartlessly.
"Would you have sent the rebellious first division formerly under the first prince? Or the few individuals in the second division that Fatalite resigned from? Or the public militia who already have their hands full with public security? Even now, all your people have their hands full with reformation. Who can you send to investigate? What—"
Before Erin could continue, Ciel quickly covered his rambling mouth.
"Brother, don't make our prince stress so much at such a young age."
Dominic's sore spot was struck successively and she fell into a daze.
'Damn, was Erin so direct before?'
The worst part was that she couldn't refute anything because Erin only spoke the truth!
The new system had been implemented against the protests of many nobles, and the current fragile stability in the capital was due to the efforts of the close to nonexistent royal guards having to work together with the Public Militia. In their daily meetings, the 1st division's knight commander was on the verge of resigning, the second division's knight commander's eyes were blanker than Erin's, and the Public Militia's knight commander's dark circles almost reached his cheeks.
If she piled more work on them, whether they resigned or died of overwork, both would result in a shortage of manpower.
Damn it, why didn't her kingdom establish a secret force dedicated to royalty like the Acyuta Empire? Anatol had clearly existed before Acyuta!
Ciel smiled, patting Dominic's shoulder.
"Don't worry, after all, Fatalite is a business who wouldn't have existed without you, and father has already sworn Evanair's fealty to the crown. We'll keep an eye out for them when traveling. You focus here on your kingdom. Those terrorists shouldn't touch Anatol for the time being."
Theresa looked at them, rolling her eyes.
So when she wasn't here, Ciel took her role in the good cop bad cop routine huh?
Unfortunately, Dominic decided to focus on the wrong thing.
"How do you know this?"
It was the same with the bombing when he had clearly pinpointed all of the bombs.
Ciel's smile twitched, but he reacted quickly, putting his fingers to his lips.
"Trust us. When have I lied to you?"
Dominic narrowed her fox like eyes.
But how did they know?
Although they were technically his subordinates, due to the business-like relationship she had established with Fatalite, most of the work between Dominic and Ciel took the form of a 'transaction'. Clearly, the price for revealing this information was to not ask about its source.
Though Dominic couldn't help but be curious, she decided to forget about gaining an answer.
The information was certain, so it was better for all of them to leave things be.
Now, and in the future.
Mini Theater:
Ciel: What the f*ck, how did a perfectly good crown prince become a princess!
Theresa: You indecisive person, trust the novel or don't trust it, choose one—pfft hahahaha!
Ciel: You think I don't want to? The novel's accuracy fluctuates too much! My father and brother are correctly shown, that Apache kid's mansion burned down according to the novel, and Cedric and Dominic are childhood friends! That all matches up!
Erin: But Dominic is a girl.
Ciel: Did the novel tags include yuri???
Theresa: You're acting shocked and confused, but isn't your smile getting a little too wide?
Erin: Your smile isn't much smaller than his. (￢_￢)
Ciel: Hahaha, I love this surprise! If a key character in the novel can change genders, I can avoid death from a demon horde! (⊙▽⊙)