“I thank you for your valuable time.” (Alexei)
“Now that there is no one to bother us, make yourself comfortable. You must be very busy with your studies in addition to your duties as a duke, and yet you have something you wish to present to me.” (Alexei)
Constantine returned the salutations in good faith. When he was still the crown prince, he used to come and visit his son Mikhael and teach Alexei and Vladimir, who were studying with him, how to study and also swordsmanship.
Alexei smiled.
“Yes. I am sure that your Majesty will be pleased with the results.”
“Hoh.”
Constantine thought while returning the smile like a hawk. He wondered how many years it had been since he had seen such a soft expression on this child’s face.
Every time Constantine sees Alexei, he thinks he looks more and more like his womanizing father; Alexandre, and yet he has grown up to be the complete opposite.
Constantine and Alexandre had been friends since childhood, just like Mikhael and Alexei are now. And then there was Giorgie from Yurimagna. However, Constantine didn’t really get along with Giorgie, and was closer to Alexandre. Alexandre was charming and well-liked by everyone, and as a child, he had considered him his best friend.
However, when he entered the Academy of Magic, he began to distance himself from him. The reason for this was because Alexandre’s promiscuity in women’s relationships became too much for Constantine himself to ignore, and partly also because Constantine realized that the essence of the man who had a great intellect and could easily handle anything, even martial arts, was nothing but emptiness.
When Emperor Constantine opened the purple velvet box that the young Duke, Alexei had presented to him and saw the offering, he tilted his head first.
Beautiful. There was no doubt about it.
Securely fastened to the silk lining were three long, thin glass artifacts. Each of them had a beautiful spiral carved into the tapered transparent glass at the tip, and the rest of the glass product was elaborately decorated and etched.
One was made of purple colored glass with gorgeous gilding and enamels depicting the winged serpent, the symbol of the god of thunder. Purple is the color of the emperor, and the god of thunder is an auspicious design, especially favored by the imperial family since the founder of the empire, Peter the Great, possessed the magical power of thunder.
The second one was also made of purple glass with a lion’s head design on the back end. A lion is, of course, a symbol of a king. Although it was only the size of a fingertip, it was so beautifully formed that the emperor, who was already accustomed to seeing fine artifacts of various shapes and sizes, could not help but admire it.
The third one was simpler than the others. Two colors of glass, one blue like the summer sky, the other blue-green like the Southern Ocean, were twisted together.
It clearly represented the color of Emperor Constantine’s and Empress Magdalena’s hair, and Constantine chuckled to himself as he thought of his wife when he untied her hair, which was always tied up, and combed it through his fingers.
It was a secret scene in the bedroom. It was not something he should be thinking about in a conference room, and in front of a child no older than his son.
“Beautiful, but what is this?”
“Your Majesty, it’s called a glass pen. It is a revolutionary writing instrument that not only looks beautiful, but it is also easier to write with than a traditional quill pen, and it can absorb a lot of ink and write a lot of words at once.”
Alexei’s voice sounded like he was trying to contain his pride as he explained.
