The Golden Carriage and the Song of Immortality

It was a highly sensitive question. Digging up a past that was difficult to speak of was an act that could cause significant trouble within aristocratic society.

However, I knew Seamus was asking out of pure innocence because he was young and felt comfortable around me, so I answered him just as comfortably.

“No.”

“…”

“I don’t regret it.”

To the ‘me’ of that time, those actions were only natural. Had I not remembered my past life, I certainly would still be tormenting him. While I didn’t feel regret, I no longer had any desire to bully him; having realized that he was someone I once loved, I simply wished for him to do well. That much was sincere.

“That’s strange. Anyone else would have said they regretted it.”

“I am the man who will become Emperor. I cannot be like everyone else.”

“That… is true.”

As I spoke with a slight arch of my brow, Seamus let out a small laugh. The anxiety cleared from his face. The burden of potential failure seemed to have lessened.

“Even if it’s strange, I envy Chase. To have Your Highness take his side.”

“….”

“I’ll try. Since Chase is indeed younger, it’s only right that I be the one to step forward first.”

He didn’t seem offended that I had intervened in their business; instead, he chose to understand my position. As he stood up, offered a polite bow, and walked away, there was no longer any trace of unease in his stride.

I watched his retreating figure for a moment before getting up to head toward the room where Ethan was sleeping, hoping to catch a short nap myself.

I had barely closed my eyes when a knock on the door woke me. When I gave the command to enter, a swarm of servants and maids poured in. In their hands, they carried wash water and ritual vestments.

I shook Ethan, who was still buried in sleep. He rubbed his eyes, struggling to open them.

“Brother…”

“We have to get ready now.”

“Mmmgh.”

A servant wiped Ethan’s face with water as he leaned against a cushion, half-asleep and nodding off. The wash seemed to bring him back to his senses, as his eyes looked clearer than before.

He tried to approach me, but he couldn’t get through the wall of servants and maids surrounding us. I was in the same predicament.

“Your Highness, we shall escort you to the bath.”

Led by them into the bathroom, I was submerged up to my scalp in a tub covered with aromatic oils and flower petals—ensuring that even the crown of my head would exude fragrance.

My nails, which received daily care, were treated with even greater devotion today, and my hair was trimmed to perfection.

I was essentially pickled until my very body radiated scent. I managed to fill my stomach by snacking on fruits and sweets brought by the attendants, and after several hours of this, I was finally allowed to leave the bathroom.

“Your Highness, please hold this in your lips.”

I bit down on a paper-like strip stained with the pigment of crushed petals. I wondered how many people would actually be looking at my face closely enough to justify all this, but despite my thoughts, I followed their instructions without a word of complaint.

They added shadows to my face, applied a reddish shadow to my eyelids to make me look vibrant, and dusted on sparkling gold powder. Thanks to that, my eyes shimmered every time I blinked.

After donning my robes, they placed a net-like ornament made of thin gold chains over my head. Coins and jewels hung from the edges, jingling with every movement.

By the time the preparations were complete, it was nearly noon. As I stepped out, fully adorned with the rest of my jewelry and shoes, the people waiting outside turned to look at me.

“Uh…”

“Brother!”

Ethan tried to run and hug me out of habit, but the maids restrained him. He clicked his tongue, though he had enough sense left not to shove past them.

Chase’s complexion was still poor today, and Seamus stood staring at me with his mouth agape.

‘Have they still not reconciled?’

As a third party, I couldn’t meddle any further, so I simply hoped they would make up soon. I told them it was time to go and led the way, the group following in a procession behind me.

As I boarded the carriage prepared for the parade, I gave a brief greeting to the Emperor and Empress. I then turned to Seamus, who still wore a dazed expression.

“Are you alright?”

“Eh… Yes? Yes!”

“Are you still nervous?”

“Ah, no. It’s just…”

Snapping out of it, Seamus’s face turned beet red. He flustered about for a moment before finally calming down enough to speak.

“…You look truly beautiful today.”

Wait, why are you telling me that here? Flustered, I instinctively looked back at Chase. However, Chase only tilted his head, wondering why I was looking at him. Then, he let out a small “Ah!” of realization.

“You are beautiful, Your Highness.”

He seemed to mistake my look for a request for his own opinion.

‘I don’t have a prince complex…’

Just how did they view me for such answers to come out so naturally? My eyes twitched.

Though Chase’s reaction was baffling, he didn’t seem sad or angry, perhaps because Seamus had complimented me first. It was a relief.

“Y-You rascals!”

The one who was actually angry was Ethan. He was fuming, jumping up and down. He complained that he had wanted to be the first to say I was pretty, but these two had stolen his words.

Fortunately, he exercised enough judgment not to commit the outrage of grabbing Chase and Seamus by their hair. For some reason, I felt exhausted even before we started.

“Let us depart.”

At my word, the carriage began to move slowly. The golden, open-top carriage was pulled by six horses. I had worried it might be too heavy for six, but the carriage itself had weight-reduction magic cast upon it, so they seemed to have no trouble.

Just as the superior technology of my past life made living convenient, this life was convenient in many ways thanks to magic. Magic was useful enough to replicate items from my previous world.

‘But even so, I still have to ride a carriage pulled by horses.’

I had once created a carriage that moved without horses using magic—a magical version of a car, so to speak. Everyone found it fascinating, but no one actually used it.

It wasn’t for safety reasons. In fact, it was safer than a horse-drawn carriage.

‘The nobles wouldn’t even look at it because they deemed it undignified.’

Raising a single horse cost a fortune. First, the breed had to be excellent, and it needed strength to pull a carriage. Lower-ranking nobles wouldn’t even touch a horse that looked unimpressive, calling it “unrefined.”

And they didn’t just keep one or two. To pull a carriage, one needed at least four to six to maintain face.

Each of those horses represented the dignity and status of the nobility—so a carriage without horses? In the long run, magic cars were far more economical than carriages, but nobles detested the word “economical.”

They believed that considering cost-effectiveness was a sign of low breeding. It was something to be mocked: “Are you so poor that you can’t afford even that much?”

It wasn’t as if commoners could use these magic cars, either. It wasn’t that mages refused to sell to them; they were simply too expensive.

While maintenance costs were almost non-existent in the long run, as a magical item, the initial price was astronomical. Thus, the magic car was eventually discarded. It was truly a foolish reason.

‘Perhaps the very thing hindering progress in this world is nothing other than aristocratic elitism.’

Normally, demand drives sales, and the money earned is used to develop technology and lower prices. But since the nobles with purchasing power refused to buy because it lacked “dignity,” the technology never advanced.

After all, they loved things that were conspicuously flashy and extravagant.

The carriage I was riding was the same. Six high-blooded horses, too precious to be mere beasts of burden, were pulling a golden carriage enchanted with weight-reduction magic.

Every time I saw such things, my past self and my current self clashed. While I lamented the absurdity of it, another part of me accepted it as natural since it was for the Imperial family.

This world would likely remain unchanged forever. Since God protected the Empire. I felt a twinge of pity.

As the carriage began to pick up speed, the main gates of the Imperial Palace swung open, and we passed through. After a short drive over the smooth stone-paved road, I saw crowds of people lined up on both sides, waiting for us.

“Your Imperial Highness!”

“Your Highness!”

As the rarely-seen Imperial family appeared on the streets, the people welcomed us by scattering colored paper and flower petals. Among the elderly, some were even seen collapsing in tears.

“May the Empire be eternal!”

“Your Highness! Your Highness!”

In the midst of the noisy roadside, someone began to sing a song of praise to God. Starting with that, everyone joined their voices to sing a single anthem.

O Emperor, descendant of God. Lead us so we do not lose our way and wander. Defeat all evil that threatens the Empire. Place the golden fields and all things bestowed by God at your feet. We shall believe in and follow only you, Ah! Empire. Be eternal.

The lyrics of that song lingered in my ears as I drove past the people. They stayed for a long time, as if they had been stuck there with something sticky.