There was only one person in the palace who could make such a loud entrance and break the peaceful conversation between Helios and Raphael.
“Jean Bronte, didn’t I tell you several times by now that you have to be quiet in the presence of His Majesty?!” Raphael spoke with an annoyed voice without looking back to see who had arrived.
Jean Bronte was also a childhood friend of Helios and Raphael. He was supposed to be the Emperor’s personal knight but recently, he was ordered by Helios to guard and stay by the royal twins Rosé and Ferre. He was to monitor Rosé and Ferre at all times.
“Ah, I’m sorry… Raphael! You’re here too?!”
He was about to apologize but was deeply shocked after finding out Raphael was there as well.
“Is it strange for the Secretary of the Emperor to not work and stay here?” Raphael was irritated.
“Whenever you are in the office, you treat me like a stranger. Do you still remember the last time three of us went for a drink, you were shouting ‘Healer, Healer, my lovely Healer.’? You were friendlier back then.”
*Cough *Cough *Cough *Cough
Raphael’s face went red in embarrassment after listening to Jean’s words and started to cough unnaturally.
They had gathered privately for a drink to cheer Helios up. It was an event they had not done for a very long time. That day, Helios told the others that he could not stay for long because he had to look after his dongsaeng. Maybe it was because of his low alcohol tolerance and maybe it was the fact that they had chugged down their alcohol faster than usual for Helios, Raphael had gotten really really drunk that day.
“Alright. Let’s stop that topic right here. What had happened to you, Jean? Were you rolling on the ground?” Helios asked with a chuckle on his handsome face. His expression was not fitting for his age, but was filled with the mischievous grin that his dongsaeng had when they were up to no good.
Jean was a mess. The Royal Knight’s uniform was unrecognizable and covered in all kinds of mud and grass. There was dirt and grass on his hair as well.
Jean frowned and pleaded with an aggrieved look.
“It was the twin Highnesses Rosé and Ferre! They were tormenting me. No, rather than talking about myself, the whole palace is in turmoil because of them. I have to come here as the representative of the palace staff. You must come and save us.”
Raphael gave Jean a sharp look.
“…Yoo…. yoo… Your Majesty. “
Jean avoided Raphael’s piercing glare and spoke with a low voice. Raphael had insisted they took special care when speaking to Helios ever since he ascended the throne.
Helios on the other hand grew up together with the two of them, and he was not concerned at all with how they address him.
“So what had happened at the palace? Sir Jean Bronte, can you elaborate the situation please?” Raphael redirected the direction of the conversation back at him like an overly-vigilant dormitory inspector.
“Ow. Okay, I got it. I got it.”
Jean raised his hands and surrendered.
“Your Majesty. The other palace where the twin Highnesses Rosé and Ferre reside is now covered in dirt. The two Highnesses had announced this morning that they wanted to build a sand castle using Mana and they subsequently dug up the grass field in front of that palace… For now, they are throwing all the mud and dirt onto everyone and the areas around the place.”
Helios shook his head. He looked at Jean’s appearance, his ruined clothes and sword were in a mess. He could tell what had happened when he listened to his report.
‘They couldn’t control their Mana properly, so they couldn’t make a proper sand castle. Because they didn’t like what they’d created so decided to throw a fit and created trouble for everyone else.’
* * *
Helios, Raphael and Jean quickly made their way to the twin’s palace. Their increasingly fast pace was not due to the palace grounds being far and wide, but it was driven by their fear and concerns over the awful things that might have happened to the royal twins. Because of Rosé and Ferre, the staff of the Royal Palace looked flustered and helpless.
‘What had happened to the twin’s palace…’
It was easy to notice even before arriving at the palace that there was something different about the palace. As they approached the palace, the voices of dissent increased dramatically.
It was easy to spot Rosé and Ferre. The two of them were being chased around by maids and knights, and considering the fact that there were also people with shears and boots in the group, it seems that the gardeners had taken part in the chase as well. It was estimated that there were more than 40 people.
“Your Majesty, what had happened? What had the two Highnesses done this time?”
Raphael who was standing next to Helios opened his mouth wide in shock. He stared at the scenery in front of him in disbelief.
The cultural heritage of the Adelio, the magnificent Royal Palace built using thousand years old Imperial architecture. The damage done to it cannot be described using words alone… to the point where it is even possible that the Adelio ancestors would crawl out of their grave. (T/n: This is an expression similar to “something was so bad that someone’s ancestors would roll in their coffin”)
Much of the Palace Garden’s lawn had been dug out just like a barren hill, with all its flowers and grass being pulled off. The Palace’s yellow tiles and large windows were covered with mud and grass from the garden.
The same was true for the ancient tree located in the middle of the Palace Garden, The ancient tree that was the pride of the Royal family had stood firm with grace throughout all these years, but now some of its branches had broken in a strange way after being hit by one of the dirtballs thrown using Mana.
“Raphael, were we like this when we were young?” Helios asked as he saw Rosé flinged a dirtball larger than his head.
Rosé, who was in a messy state, was sitting on the ground with a gleeful expression. Her beautiful pink dress was now a mix of unrecognizable colors.
“No, we were gentle and quiet kids. But of course that’s different for Jean Bronte. He was an exception.”
“I wasn’t that bad! Well not to this degree…” Jean cried as he tried to explain himself, he was in a worse condition than he was when he visited Helios earlier.
“That’s right, no matter how naughty Jean was back then, he was definitely not capable of such mischief. Your Majesty.”
“Hahaha…”
Helios, Raphael and Jean… The three of them could only laugh helplessly as they watched the events unfold from far away.
Looking at Rosé’s sorrowful face smiling brightly must be the only silver lining out of this mess. Helios started to have contradicting feelings about the matter upon hearing Rosé’s joyful laughter.
A knight who was trying to stop the mischief ran toward Rosé from afar. He moved with great vigor and managed to catch her.
Everyone there paused for a moment, expecting all the chaos to finally stop. Helios, Raphael and Jean took a deep breath as they watched it happen.
“We did it!” They shouted out in joy! Right at that moment, Ferre’s counterattack began. He ambushed the knight and threw a volley of dirtballs right at his face.
The knight took a direct hit and it looked extremely painful. He couldn’t open his eyes but he continued to grab onto Rosé who was struggling frantically.
If this continues on, the knight might fall down along with Rosé. Everyone gasped and started to run toward the knight and the twins.