* * *

[You were sponsored at such a party?]

“Yes.”

[Why?]

Watching my hand slow to a near halt, I asked, unable to fully process what Kaindel had revealed.

I knew the Duke of Schudelgarten’s family wasn’t wealthy, especially after Kaindel had to repay debts even after quelling the Great Catastrophe.

But I never imagined he’d have needed sponsorship.

The Duke Schudelgarten, of all families! I’d naïvely assumed all their debts were incurred in the process of supporting Kaindel.

It wasn’t until after I’d asked that I wondered if my question was impolite.

Perhaps I’d touched on something sensitive.

Worried, I quickly added a belated clarification.

[What I mean is…]

“I understand. You want to know why someone from a ducal family needed to seek sponsorship.”

[…Yes.]

“Have you heard of nouveau nobles?”

[You mean nobles who were originally merchants?]

“More precisely, nobles who were originally commoners. Those who bought their titles with the wealth they amassed through trade. The polar opposite of them is what we call the pureblood nobles.”

[Pureblood?]

“The term might sound odd, but it simply refers to noble families untouched by common blood.”

Kaindel calmly explained, brushing a hand through his hair.

Despite his measured tone, there was a faint sense of excitement, as if he were relishing the opportunity to recount this story.

Pureblood nobles.

As I processed his explanation, I pressed the pen tip firmly onto the paper.

During my time in the capital, I had occasionally heard about nouveau nobles—former merchants who had used their immense fortunes from trade to ascend into nobility.

Their boisterous behavior at banquets often gave them away as nouveau nobles immediately.

But this was the first I’d heard of pureblood nobles.

I hadn’t even known such a distinction existed.

While it was no surprise that nobles disliked mingling with commoners, I hadn’t realized the divide was so pronounced.

“Pureblood nobles, unlike the nouveau nobles, derive their wealth from taxes collected from their territories or profits from mines they own. Or rather, they used to. Times have changed.”

[Things are different now, I take it?]

“Yes, as the trade markets grew, the flow of money began to change. It was a fatal mistake of the pureblooded nobles who believed that trade was only for lowly merchants. Now, even new nobility has emerged through the very trade they once despised.”

I understand that even the pureblooded nobles are now involved in trade.

At the end of his statement, Kaindel added a faint laugh. It was a scoffing laugh, almost self-deprecating in nature.

I let that laugh pass through one ear and fell into a moment of thought.

The idea that countless pureblooded nobles were being overshadowed by the new nobility was both absurd and strikingly realistic.

After all, as the Pope once said, the golden era always comes to an end.

No matter how noble and lofty they considered themselves, the aristocrats could not resist the direction in which money flowed.

“So, the pureblooded noble families that couldn’t adapt to the rapidly changing times inevitably fell into decline. My family, the Duchy of Schudelgarten, is one such family.”

“…….”

“Do you now understand why I had to seek sponsorship from other nobles?”

It was then that I fully grasped why Kaindel had brought up this story.

Even the self-deprecation in his voice when he mentioned the failures of the pureblooded families in belittling trade made sense now.

When I thought about it, the Schudelgarten Duchy was undoubtedly a pureblood family, one known to have existed since the founding of the Hadelber Kingdom.

Therefore, if the Schudelgarten Duchy had been outpaced by the new nobility and no longer earned money as they once did, everything fit together perfectly.

It was no wonder Kaindel had to attend sponsorship parties as a beneficiary.

But even with reduced income, accumulating that much debt didn’t seem like a simple matter.

As I organized the newly learned information, a sudden curiosity bubbled up within me.

I tried to suppress it, remembering a conversation I had overheard earlier between Viscount Chernian and his companions.

“Everyone knows he was once a mere boy-servant.”

“Well, not exactly a boy-servant. He was still a child of a noble house.”

“But selling smiles and moments to sponsors—isn’t that no different from a boy-servant?”

“Well, when you put it that way, yes.”

Viscount Chernian had clearly implied that Kaindel was a boy-servant, someone who sold smiles and fleeting moments to his sponsors.

Based on what Kaindel had just shared, that wasn’t entirely accurate.

[Did you sell smiles?]

“Smiles?” Kaindel tilted his head slightly, as if caught off guard by the unexpected question.

“Well… it’s not completely wrong.”

“…….”

“To secure sponsorship, I had to stay in their good graces. If they demanded smiles, I probably sold them. I don’t remember it clearly, though.”

It was such a long time ago. Kaindel murmured as if excusing his unclear memory of those sponsorship parties.

Then, he let out a low sigh.

“Now that I think about it, some sponsors even asked me to pretend to be their lover. Of course, this was when I was older.”

[A lover?]

“Escorting them, kissing them… things like that.”

As the examples continued, I couldn’t help but frown deeply. It was beyond my control.

When Kaindel was with me, he never attended sponsorship parties.

Moreover, he left the capital immediately after his coming-of-age ceremony to deal with the Great Calamity.

That meant those sponsorship parties must have occurred before then.

How young had he been when he attended them?

How young had he been when he had to pretend to be a lover?

“I don’t want to go there, Fairy.”

Suddenly, a child’s voice echoed in my ears, and my head throbbed.

Was that back when he was on his way to one of those parties?

[Were you okay?]

Biting the inside of my cheek, I pushed a slip of paper past the screen dividing us.

Even though it was a pointless question now, I couldn’t help but ask.

Even if he hadn’t been okay, there was nothing I could do for him now, but I wanted to hear it.

Kaindel stared at the paper with my question for a long while.

Then, he covered his face with both hands. His hunched silhouette wavered uneasily.

“No, it was revolting. But I didn’t know what was wrong. I thought it was normal. I thought it was what I had to do.”

[How could that ever be normal?]

“……You’re right. I guess that’s why I didn’t know. There were problems that shouldn’t have been solved that way, but I didn’t realize it.”

That could never be normal. It should never be considered normal.

Although I had no sympathy for Kaindel’s suffering when he hurt me, this part of his past didn’t feel satisfying.

It was unsettling.

The idea that someone so loved could have such a dark past left a bitter taste in my mouth.

It was unpleasant.

As I lightly tapped the spot on my chest where I felt stifled, Kaindel slowly lowered his hands from his face.

His eyes, now unobstructed, locked onto mine through the partition.

His piercing gaze felt as if it would bore through my skin.

“All this time, I thought my way was right. I believed that the other person was too kind to endure such things, so I had to protect them.”

“…….”

“Even if it started for their sake, it would be a lie to say I didn’t feel possessive. When someone so loved by everyone chose to stay by my side alone, I felt a shameful thrill.”

“…….”

“But I was wrong.”

I pressed my lips together tightly and set my pen down.

There was nothing left for me to say to Kaindel. Instead, I stared at the partition between us.

This time, Kaindel’s shadow had entirely disappeared from view.

He must have curled up beneath the table.

“That’s why I’m afraid I might be wrong again this time, Priest.”

With those words, Kaindel let out a soft, hollow laugh.

The faint sound of laughter soon turned into weak trembling.

* * *