Chapter 105: What Happened at the ball (2)

Chapter 50: What Happened at the Ball (2)

Kai had never expected to receive another marriage proposal that soon.

He hated marriage proposals. That had become a reliable internal rule after Eldoria, after Lucien, after the public weight that came with people trying to bind his future in front of witnesses. Coming from Caelum, though, the reaction refused to follow the usual pattern. He was fine. Strangely calm, even. Some part of him was already turning the idea over instead of rejecting it on contact, and that unsettled him more than the proposal itself.

What was wrong with him?

"Hey. Hey. I said I want to marry you."

Kai blinked behind the mask and realized he had drifted out of the conversation and into his own head. Caelum was still in front of him, posture straight, eyes fixed on him with no interest in retreat.

"Yeah... yeah. I heard you."

"So what do you have to say about it?"

Kai studied him for a second before answering.

"Why?"

Caelum stiffened and rubbed the back of his head, the gesture brief and uncharacteristically awkward on a man who usually carried himself like a finished blade.

"I may have run into a bit of trouble with the kingdom."

Kai’s attention sharpened at once.

"What? Are you okay?"

"Yes. Yes. It is not that kind of trouble." Caelum lowered his hand. "There is something called the marriage clause in the knights’ association."

"And?"

"Basically it says unmarried knights are limited under certain restrictions in the cadet and command tracks. Advancement caps. Assignment prejudice. Closed routes that remain closed until the clause is satisfied."

Kai turned the explanation inward.

System. Confirm that.

[Confirmed.]

[The Marriage Clause is an internal restriction under the Knights’ Association.]

[Unmarried knights face formal limits on promotion ceilings, high-security command appointments, and certain elite cadet transitions.]

[The restriction is political and institutional rather than magical.]

"And who set that system up?" Kai asked.

The System and Caelum answered at the same time.

[The knights.]

"The knights, of course."

Kai rolled his eyes so hard he almost gave himself a headache. Of course the institution had built a cage and then called it structure. Of course Caelum’s answer to a career wall was to place a marriage proposal on the table like a practical tool with emotional consequences attached.

He looked at Caelum again and forced the answer into clean lines before the conversation could deepen into something harder to leave.

"Look. I am not exactly looking for marriage, but I will think about it."

The words came out flatter than Caelum clearly wanted. Kai did not stay long enough to watch the full reaction settle. He excused himself with a short nod, already turning back toward the main floor, anxious energy and irritation sitting too close together under his ribs. He needed distance. He needed ordinary noise. He needed to stop standing in a quiet annex while another future tried to attach itself to him.

Neet was waiting near the edge of the colonnade with his eyes already locked on Kai’s return path. The moment Kai reached him, Neet leaned in slightly.

"Master, is anything wrong?"

His gaze shifted past Kai toward the annex entrance, clearly searching for Caelum. Kai lifted a hand, caught Neet’s cheek, and redirected his face forward until their eyes met properly.

"I said I am okay. Just look at me."

Neet stiffened at the contact. Color rose under his skin at once, sharp and obvious even under the ball’s formal lighting. Kai held the redirect a second longer, then released him and exhaled through the familiar absurdity of it. Men. One direct sentence and a hand on the face, and the composure cracked.

He was just about to settle back into the safer rhythm of the crowd when the System pushed a recommended action through his mind with no interest in his current mood.

[Recommended Action.]

[Remove your mask.]

[Climb to the upper section.]

[Do not take your butler with you.]

Kai’s mouth tightened.

"What? Why?"

He already knew why. The System had registered Crown Prince Evander as Candidate 007. This was no longer subtle route guidance. This was a direct push.

Fine.

If the System wanted him on the upper section, he would go. He adjusted his cuffs, gave Neet a short order to remain on the main floor, and began cutting toward the ascent route alone. Getting there was a hassle. The hall had grown denser since the twin royals’ introduction, and every polished body on the floor seemed determined to stand in the least helpful place possible. Kai slipped between conversation circles, avoided trailing gown hems, ignored more than one curious attempt to stop the man in white, and kept climbing until the upper section opened out over the ball below.

The air was thinner of bodies there, but heavier with status. From that height the main floor looked arranged rather than crowded. Kai stopped at a controlled distance from the twin royals’ receiving area, lifted both hands, and removed his mask.

The change was immediate.

Several nearby guests faltered mid-sentence. A server nearly redirected into another tray. Kai kept his face calm and his posture exact, giving the room nothing beyond the fact of his features. He did not need to call for attention. The face did that work on its own.

Crown Prince Evander noticed him in no time.

The shift in the prince’s attention was clean and obvious. One moment he was engaged in formal acknowledgment of another guest. The next, his eyes locked on Kai and stayed there. He excused himself with practiced efficiency, left the tighter royal cluster, and crossed the upper section with a directness that made the people between them move without needing a command.

He stopped in front of Kai, took Kai’s hand with unhurried certainty, and kissed it.

Then he looked up through the polished noise of the ball and smiled like the rest of the room had become secondary material.

"Hi, gorgeous."