Too Stupid To Live or The City's Destruction

“Hmm hmm! So that’s why nobody answered when I knocked!”

In the midst of their embrace, there was a knock at the door in which Celena and Kei hadn’t noticed. The knock went on for a few times before the person on the other end opened the door. A lady with long, silver hair resembling Celena was now standing at the door of the room observing the spectacle in front of her. When Celena realised that Lucia was at the door, she immediately panicked and bounced off Kei.

“M-mother! What are you doing here?!”

“Well, I wanted to check up on dear Kei’s condition but was told by the maids that you were already on the way to do so. But after several knocks, nobody answered so I decided to check if anything had happened.”

“Umm… this is…”

“HOWEVER.”

“!!”

When Lucia’s tone of voice suddenly shifted into a very strict one, Celena instantly knew that she was in trouble. She bounced up and sat in a Seiza position (proper sitting) in front of her mother. Lucia was now donning a rather terrifying smile directed at her daughter.

“I know you’re fond of him. But you are still a lady of a ducal house. Physical familiarity is discouraged.”

“Eeek!”

“Do I make myself clear, my dear?” Lucia’s smile was in fact, not reaching her eyes at all.

“Y-yes, mother!”

“Good! Breakfast is ready. Please go ahead of me.”

When Lucia told Celena to go ahead of her, it was more of an order. Understanding that, Celena immediately nodded and ran past her mother out the room towards the dining hall. Watching her daughter run past her, Lucia’s terrifying smile from earlier turned into one of amusement when she looked at her. One look at the situation earlier, she could tell what was happening, and how her daughter felt. In fact, she even let out a slight chuckle at the sight.

“How are you feeling, dear Kei?”

“Umm… fine… I guess…”

“Hmm… Listen, it’s not in my place to pry, nor am I going to. I’ve gotten the gist of the situation when I was informed of what happened. But at the very least when you are here, I would hope that you’d rely on us, even if just a little.”

“... Why didn’t you stop me? If you knew about where I was headed… Shouldn’t you have tried to prevent the death of a foreign prince in your land?”

“Hmm? Ah… I figured if you were bold enough to go after 12 armed men and a Prince with a high blessing, then you’d either be too stupid to live or too much for us to handle without the city falling apart. Besides, Prince Sylas was trespassing in the first place. Anything happening to him after he violated a clause that huge would probably be justified.”

In truth, Lucia already guessed that there wasn’t much she could do even if she wanted to, judging from the encounter with Kei’s Lady Goddess. Besides, she wasn’t going to risk the lives of her men for an idiot foreign prince who didn’t know his place.

“Huh…”

“Well, less about that. I won’t talk about what I saw earlier with you and my daughter. But I do have to ask, what do you think about Celena?”

“What do I think about her?”

“Well, as long as I’ve raised her, I have never seen her give a single care in the world for a boy. Not until you came along. Now, I do have to ask.”

“... I don’t know… For as long as I have lived, I have tried not to get attached to anything. So I don’t really know how to answer that question…”

“Hmmhmm! You talk as though you’ve lived for a very long time. But, I won’t press further. I do, however, hope you can find an answer to the question I asked you.”

“I’ll… I’ll try…”

“Good! Now let us have breakfast, shall we?” Lucia said with a smile.

As Lucia closed the door behind her, Kei proceeded to get changed before moving to the dining hall to have breakfast with the Lestia family as well. When he entered the dining hall, Eric was seated in the middle as usual, but this time, Celena and Lucia were seated to either side as Charlotte directed Kei to sit beside Celena. Shortly after they had finished their meals, the Lestia family were having casual conversation before Eric looked like he had realised something.

“Ah, it’s that time of the year again, right?” He looked at Lucia when he said that.

“Ah… yes it is. Looks like things will get busy again.” Lucia replied.

“The paperwork… it’s going to start piling in…”

When Kei started wondering what was being discussed with a confused look on his face, Celena who was seated beside him noticed. She had leaned in close to his ear to speak softly so she didn't interrupt her parents’ conversation.

“They’re discussing an annual festival we hold in our town.”

“An annual festival?” Kei replied.

“Ah… not many towns really celebrate it but in the Kingdom of Babel, we honor this tradition.”

“I see.”

‘So it’s that time of the year again…’

Now that Kei thought about it, it was also at this time every year where he would stay away from any kingdoms and settlements to be alone. When Celena mentioned that there was a festival being held at this very time of the year, it had to be a festival that he’d never attended before. Just as he was about to ask Celena what the festival was and what it was about, it was as though she had already figured out what his next question was.

“It’s the Festival of Remembrance.”