房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

With how things looked, it really did seem that something will happen during the celebration, the question was when exactly, though...?

Zoemi was carefully watching the entire ballroom seeking unique shadows that would reveal the hiding enemies, but unfortunately, the number of people present was making it unbelievably troublesome.

There were a few times when the black-haired boy was about to alarm the others about a person who might have been possessed by Kiorterell because of the elements of their unique shadow not matching most of its structure, only to realize a second later that it was simply a part of another person's unique shadow sticking through.

The situation wasn't improved by all of them gathered there either.

Miriette with her magic switched into the time attribute mode had her unique shadow completely block over a quarter of the ballroom, things were the same with Benevirau too.

It was a bit better with Elsby, Ettemi, and Oemir – those three could influence their shadows to some degree, making them stick together, and giving Zoemi the chance to properly observe.

It wasn't the perfect choice, but the decision had to be made between expecting someone to show up but not have everyone on hand and ready or having everyone ready and expecting something to happen.

"..."

"...?"

Zoemi felt someone's eyes on him and when he turned around he saw the brown eyes of Teo looking at him longingly.

It has been quite a long time since the two of them had the chance to even see each other, not to mention talk – or a least it felt like it.

The short brown-haired girl in the butler's uniform seemed to be so keen to come up to the black-haired boy that it wouldn't be odd if she just left her group and sprinted towards him.

Thankfully that did not happen.

"Ettemi, tell Teo that we will meet up afterward, so she better behave well and acts according to plan."

Zoemi smiled and waved his hand at the short brown-haired attendant while tilting his head towards the first of his corpse puppet sentinels and whispering.

"Okay~!"

Ettemi perked up and declared with confidence, relaying the message without showing it in any way whatsoever and keeping things conspicuous.

After that Teo gulped down her saliva and backed off, and even started talking with the other two as they followed Miriette.

Truth be told, all three so-called attendants were getting quite troubled because Miriette wasn't just politely queuing up but going straight towards the very front as if everyone else was simply beneath her.

...which was what she did think – she wasn't as bad as Horeo, but she certainly didn't see herself as being on the same level as the other nobles.

"Lord Banemor, it's a pleasure to see you, as always."

The only stop that she made on her way to Horeo was Zoemi – the dark-haired girl simply couldn't stop herself and spoke up boldly, reaching out her hand for the black-haired boy to kiss in an official greeting while the rest of the distraction group was fidgetting nervously behind her, trying to make eye contact with Zoemi to make sure that it was okay.

But even as they did, Zoemi was looking only at Miriette.

"My lady. I am bothered by your surname – we need to make sure you change it fast. Mine would suit you much better."

"!!!"

This was certainly not a part of the plan, but similar to Miriette, Zoemi just couldn't stop himself and declared with an extremely evil-looking smirk while bowing down towards Miriette's hand and placing a light kiss on top of the green velvet glove she wore.

The disturbance that this phrase had caused made such an impact on the other guests that for a moment both Miriette and Zoemi's groups thought that the Ghosts of Bellcephora showed up.

"Who knows? The king had a previous reservation though, you might want to discuss things with him first."

Miriette responded playfully, immediately shutting everyone up.

Not because her words were all that shocking- she did seem to lead the young man on, but she didn't confirm nor denied anything – it was just that everyone was holding their breaths waiting for the response that Zoemi would give her.

Will he be upset?

Worried that his joke didn't land properly?

Get excited and do something unbelievably stupid like challenging the young monarch for a duel over the girl's hand.

"Why won't we do that just now? Wouldn't it be splendid? Getting a blessing from my cousin on that joyous occasion would double the reason for festivities~"

|...and would certainly make things more fun for Horeo too...|

Neither of the choices was picked by the black-haired boy, and instead, he straightened his back without letting go of the dark-haired girl's hand and moved, guiding her towards the spot where she was already going in the first place.

"You could have pulled me over and steal a kiss – it would be just like a scene from my romance novels"

Miriette managed to control the smile forcing its way on her face but didn't try to stop the blush while pointing out in an excited whisper.

"Miri, if I did that then Arisu and Ghosts of Bellcephora would not be the first to blow up the royal castle – the guests here would do that for them from collectively losing their mind."

Zoemi snickered in response, leaning close and whispering into the dark-haired girl's ear.

"Not to mention that I prefer that author's other book. The one you referring to is a tragedy."

He added playfully while moving forward.

"Hmph~! Maybe so."

Miriette puffed ut her cheek slightly embarrassed, but her expression changed almost immediately.

"Is it really okay for you to touch me like that? Wouldn't that mess up your mana?"

The dark-haired girl muttered in a worried voice, glancing down at their locked hands.

"You received those gloves, especially for that reason but you are still worried? It's okay, I promise. See?"

For a moment Zoemi's evil smirk turned into a happy smile and he raised their locked hands and gently kissed the tips of Miriette's fingers.

"...tease..."

The dark-haired girl muttered and faced away bashfully, tightening the grip on Zoemi's hand with their intertwined fingers.

With their respective entourages following them with varying degrees of being troubled varying from person to person, the pair got in front of the line.

"Thank you for your kindness."

Zoemi nodded at the definitely not happy lord Derizno, who honestly looked as if he was being slipped in the face where the group cut into line right in front of him just about when it was his turn to officially greet the new king.

"Calm down, child."

"...!"

It really did look as if lord Derizno would try to say something about the rude actions, but Benevirau used the chance and shut him up – many people gathered in the ballroom knew that the dark-blue-haired young-looking butler actually wasn't just a simple head butler of the Banemor family and immediately swallowed whatever words he wanted to use and backed off slightly green in the face.

Lord Victureo and his wife – the pair that just finished the greeting - glanced back and nodded at Zoemi and Miriette without even attempting to get mixed in the situation and left off in the general direction of the buffet where most of the normal conversation and greetings were taking place.

"I see that while I was about to die out of boredom you found a nice way to keep yourself entertained while we wait."

Horeo greeted them with a benevolent expression that hid the real amusement that he felt after witnessing everything that occurred up until that point.

"Always doing our best, your majesty."

Miriette sickered and curtsied politely while everyone except Zoemi kneeled on one knee as was the custom.

"You weren't supposed to bring them though, remember?"

The black-haired boy wasn't nearly as amused though and stealthily motioned at the two girls behind the young king.

The first one was Veo, the older twin sister of Teo, the attendant who always stayed by Horeo side, while the other one was Patishi, the girl who turned from a kitchen hand to the personal cook of the future royal couple and then to the prince, and now king's other personal attendant.

Neither of them wore their usual maid's attire and instead wore proper ballroom dresses fitting them so well that it was unthinkable to even consider they weren't custom-made.

"It's best if people will get used to seeing them as much as possible, not to mention that I only said that I would not bring them if I will not be absolutely sure to keep them safe. I have no doubt about that though."

Horeo shrugged his shoulders and pointed at two halos composed of twelve golden orbs each hovering over the two attendants.

"Tell me if he is working you too hard, deep within he is a good person, but he also can't understand people less talented than himself."

Zoemi leaned to the side and spoke to the two girls who both looked at their young king, then at themselves, and then snorted at the same time.

"Lord Zoemi, I am pretty sure that by this point we know more about master's soft and hard sides than you."

"..."

Veo allowed herself a rather sleazy smile and Zoemi noticed that Horeo had to brace himself to not react in any way to her words, which in and of itself made him think...

...a lot...

"Big brother Zoemi...!"

On the other hand, Patishi fidgetted, playing around with the longish hair she painstakingly cared for and was growing out for over a year already.