Gillen, who had expressed his inner thoughts in a roundabout way, glanced at Yuan's face.
However, Yuan was snickering obnoxiously, shaking his head. It was obvious that even without having to hear it, he was having annoying thoughts like, 'So you were attracted to me because I'm not an ordinary man.'
"Haa… Anyway, I only suggested teatime because I could naturally send you on your way once we finished the tea. It wasn't something shameless like… like you're thinking."
Gillen calmly finished his explanation. Fortunately, Yuan seemed to be convinced as he nodded his head and then glared sharply at Marius.
"Be careful of that man's glib tongue."
At those words, Gillen let out a small laugh. Then, he asked, a little slyly.
"Are you worrying about me right now?"
"Wh-what…! Why would I be worried about you, Your Grace? It might be your lifelong wish, but for me, that's a preposterous thing to say!"
Yuan got so angry his face turned beet red. At the loud voice, Marius turned his head with interest. Yuan, who had been huffing and puffing, clamped his mouth shut, spun around, and went back inside the mansion.
Gillen tried to hold back the laughter that kept leaking out, but in the end, he burst out with a "Hahaha."
He's an annoying brat, but he's surprisingly fun to tease.
That's why he felt rather human and a little cute. Gillen chuckled and returned to Marius.
"It seems you had a pleasant conversation with Yuan."
Marius said with a bright smile. However, Gillen read a certain wariness and jealousy hidden within it. He looked like someone who had just missed out on an item he wanted.
Hoo, interesting.
Something he wanted to do more than just separating Yuan from Cecilia had come up. Gillen, likewise, put on a smiling face and sipped his tea.
Why was High Priest Marius so interested in Yuan? It didn't appear in the original novel, but there was clearly something between the two of them.
'I didn't have anything to talk about during tea anyway, so this is good.'
Gillen thought as he set down his teacup. He tossed out a question casually.
"By the way, what is your relationship with Marquis Hampton? You seemed to be close."
He had intentionally used the word 'close,' and just as he expected, Marius was immensely pleased with the word.
"Yes, Yuan and I have a very close relationship. I was the very first person to recognize Yuan's incredible magical power."
Marius smiled gently.
He said he had met Yuan in a village he had gone to for volunteer service. At the time, the village had been swept away by a typhoon, everything had collapsed, and there were many casualties.
Yuan was squatting in front of a collapsed house, and even at a young age, his beauty was so outstanding that it earned the admiration of all the priests. He was five years old at the time, he said.
'When Yuan was five, that must be the year I was transmigrated.'
Gillen thought to himself and silently listened to Marius's story.
"We were dispatched to help rebuild the village and treat the injured, but Yuan, in particular, kept weighing on my mind. As soon as I saw him, I could feel that his magical power was as outstanding as his looks."
In this world, white hair signified that one possessed powerful divine power. It meant that the breath of God had touched them, or something like that. That's why respect and courtesy for the elderly were also thorough, and many people dyed their hair white.
Yuan's hair color was a beautiful silver. At first, Marius mistook Yuan's hair for white hair and tried to recommend him as a priest. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out that Yuan was a child born with magical power, not divine power.
"Still, it was self-evident that he was a child overflowing with talent, so I brought him to the temple first. As you know, mages treat divine power as something like a subordinate ability to magical power, and they look down on the great Lady Retina, don't they? So I thought I should teach him the doctrines of the Retin faith early on."
But Yuan could not adapt to the strict temple life and one day ran away from the temple. Then, he entered the Magic Tower on his own.
"I was really surprised when Yuan showed up at the meeting with the Magic Tower Master. Sure enough, I heard he was being called the next candidate for the Tower Master position. He's truly a sparkling child."
Marius smiled with satisfaction.
"If I get the chance, I still want to bring Yuan back to our temple. Now that he has left the Magic Tower and is living as a nobleman, there will be more opportunities to meet. I believe this, too, is a path set by Lady Retina."
Gillen played along with a smiling face, saying, "I see," and "It seems so." However, inwardly, he was once again realizing just how much of a madman Marius was as well.
He's a mage who ran away because he hated the temple and has now become a nobleman, but you're saying you'll drag him back to make him a priest? What a relentless religious fanatic…'
"Your Grace the Duke and the young lady are also famous for not coming to the temple. We have our temple in Capelli as well, so how about it, if you have time today, would you like to go and offer a prayer together?"
This was not the time to be worried about Yuan. Gillen and Cecilia were in the same boat, on the verge of being dragged off to the temple right now.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! We would love to do so as well, but we must attend to His Highness the Crown Prince. You know how it is. His Highness is in a position where he must fairly balance the scales between the imperial family and the temple."
The current emperor, in particular, had a great aversion to the temple. The power of the imperial family and the temple was in a tight back-and-forth struggle, and Hexion, as a member of the imperial family, was in a situation where he had to be careful about even the direction he coughed.
"It is truly a pity. In the love of Lady Retina, we are all but one, yet what is power and what is honor…"
"You are right. Hahaha."
Gillen nodded his head perfunctorily and slurped his tea. His intention was to end the meeting quickly, as the topic was what it was.
"But Your Grace the Duke, it seems you are not treating Yuan as harshly as the rumors say."
"Pfft, cough cough, keuk, pardon me?"
Gillen, who was drinking his tea, coughed loudly.
"I read the newspapers too, you see."
Marius said with a gentle smile. In other words, he was saying he had read the article about Gillen loving Yuan so much that he was pressing him down with pheromones and courting him to accept his feelings.
"Cough, ahem, do you believe such a ridiculous article?"
"Of course, I don't believe it. But since you are sticking together even here in Capelli, I was just asking just in case. You seem quite flustered."
Marius looked Gillen over as if he found it amusing.
This sly old fox.
Gillen thought he understood why Yuan had reacted so aggressively the moment he saw Marius. He had forgotten because he hadn't seen him often, but Marius was another type of annoying human being, different from Yuan.
"You're teasing me."
Gillen retorted in a voice mixed with laughter. If he showed any more signs of being flustered or got angry here, Marius would bite and tear into Gillen as if pouncing on prey.
As expected, his prediction was correct; as Gillen casually brushed it off, Marius set down his teacup.
"I should get going now, Your Grace the Duke. It would have been nice to have seen the young lady as well."
"Hahaha, I'll visit the temple when I get a chance later."
"You've been saying that for 20 years."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You must be joking."
Of course, both Marius and Gillen knew that Marius's words were no joke. But Gillen had absolutely no intention of letting Cecilia be seen by this pretty-faced old man.
He sent off Marius, who said he would greet the Crown Prince and Yuan before leaving, as if shooing him away, and came back inside with a tired expression. However, Hexion, who he had expected to be in the drawing room, was not there, and only Yuan was sitting alone in front of a chessboard.
"Where did His Highness the Crown Prince go?"
When Gillen asked, Yuan answered coldly.
"He went up, saying he would take a nap."
"Mm, I see."
Gillen answered with a hum. He debated whether to just let it go or not, then called out to Yuan.
"Hampton, I have some advice for you―"
"Haa… Yes, I'm sure you do. Go on, give me that advice."
Yuan crossed his arms and lifted his chin. His tone was as if Gillen was just trying to strike up a conversation under the guise of giving advice. That guy's narcissism was truly hopeless.
"'He went up, stating he would take an afternoon nap.'"
"What did you say?"
"When you speak about His Highness the Crown Prince, if you don't use honorifics correctly, you'll be in big trouble someday. If you make a slip of the tongue in front of His Majesty the Emperor, you could be punished, and even if not, you could be humiliated for not being noble-like. You can be like this in front of me, but be careful in front of others."
Gillen held up one hand.
"That was all I wanted to say. Well then."
And before Yuan could grab him, Gillen swiftly left the drawing room. If there was no need to greet Hexion, Gillen also had no reason to stay here alone with Yuan.
"How utterly absurd."
In the drawing room Gillen had left, Yuan let out a sneer by himself. It was the nobles who would even curse the emperor when the person in question wasn't present. Yuan also used proper honorifics in front of others and had perfectly mastered court etiquette.
"You can be like this in front of me?"
Yuan repeated Gillen's words and then gave a short laugh, "Ha!"
In the end, that was what His Grace, Duke Blake, wanted to say. Yuan, who was naturally highly intelligent, with great comprehension and keen insight, immediately understood the meaning behind Gillen's words.
'It's all okay in front of me. I like you, so I can turn a blind eye. I can even hide your weaknesses.'
What else could it mean but this? He was truly an annoying person. He seduced as if he were breathing, leaving no room to let one's guard down.
He had thought it was strange that the Duke had quietly let it pass even after witnessing him hyperventilate due to his dreadful trauma. To think he would bring up that weakness from back then while pretending to subtly point out his way of speaking…
"I guess he isn't Duke Blake for nothing."