Karia tapped Vix’s shoulder with an elegant gesture and smiled. Yet her eyes did not smile at all. Standing so close that their breaths nearly touched, Vix could feel her anger as clearly as if it were a physical weight.
“What are you waiting for? Run.”
When Karia lightly pushed his back, Vix dashed out of the room at full speed. It wasn’t until the heavy thuds of the large knight’s footsteps faded down the corridor that Karia finally started walking.
Whether this fact would comfort Vix, who was running until he nearly collapsed, was uncertain. Even for Karia, this outing was not particularly pleasant.
“Late!”
Servis was standing at the townhouse entrance, tapping the floor with her shoes: tap, tap, tap, tap. Her blatant discomfort made the staff visibly nervous.
Karia clicked her tongue at Servis, dressed in a loose, comfortable gown, and behind her, Higon, as usual, wearing the royal guard uniform and sporting his usual dark expression.
“I’m not late. You just got here too early. If you’ve arrived, why don’t you go inside the reception room instead of standing there rushing people?”
“I wanted to greet my friends and check the actors before the performance starts!”
Karia sighed deeply, shaking her head at Servis’s self-centered behavior. Recently, the princess often requested outings with her. After Servis’s secret was discovered, she could finally relax around Karia.
Of course, accompanying the princess to public events had its advantages for Karia as well. The emperor, who cherished the princess, would not act recklessly toward her, and she could easily make acquaintances among prominent figures in society.
Moreover, Servis’s pretended support would have dramatic effects in any future scandal. Karia found Servis’s naive defenselessness quite endearing.
“By the way, how are things with Crown Prince Robert these days?”
“-How do you mean? As you said, I’m keeping my distance.”
After Higon came to her to confess and report, Karia advised Servis to keep her distance from the crown prince. Though the emperor was busy, Crown Prince Robert often interacted with Servis, dining and going out together. Originally, even today’s opera was supposed to be attended with him.
According to Higon’s report, some servants in the princess’s household even regularly reported her daily schedule to Robert. While outsiders might have considered this surveillance for succession purposes, Karia recognized it as an excessive and disturbing obsession directed at her sister.
“He’s quite perceptive. Even a small mistake might alert him, so be careful, very careful.”
“Got it! Stop nagging me!”
Servis, claiming she had already heard that advice twelve times, covered her ears and spun around to walk off. Karia asked Higon with a glance if that was true, and he silently nodded. Only then did her lips relax into a small smile.
Of course, keeping Servis’s pregnancy a secret was important, but it was also a small form of revenge. Recently, Robert, unable to speak directly to Servis, seemed impatient. He even sent letters requesting to spend time together.
It was baffling that he hadn’t realized this sooner.
“Lady.”
As Karia reached the carriage and lifted her dress slightly to step in, Aquil extended a hand with a stoic expression. Higon, who had been waiting by the door after escorting the princess in, furrowed his brows slightly.
Karia ignored it, taking Aquil’s hand and boarding the carriage. Soon, the driver guided her extravagant carriage toward the townhouse’s threshold.
“-What’s going on?”
Strangely, the area in front of the gate was chaotic. Just when the troublesome visitors seemed to have decreased, familiar uniformed knights and household guards were causing a commotion. The blue uniforms marked the “Blue Wolves” of the Pandeon knights.
Amidst the chaos were children, smaller than the adults but untouchable by them: a blue-haired girl and a blonde boy. The girl was Pandeon Princess Lamia, and the boy across from her was Andion.
Just as the servants running to the carriage for help noticed the children, Lamia raised her hand and slapped Andion across the face. Karia’s vision blurred with anger, and her voice thundered.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Grandmother…”
Her grandmother had gone far away. Lamia had begged her father not to let her go, but he turned away firmly, saying it was a deserved punishment.
Afterward, a tutor came. She explained that everything Lamia had heard from the duchess about Karia was untrue.
Karia was a legitimate grand duchess in the imperial line, and her entry into the Pandeon family was not abandonment but a lawful change through marriage. There was no procedural issue in her becoming the duchess.
“On the contrary, by rank, she, a direct royal, is above the duke.”
“Don’t lie! Then why did we always bow and stay silent to grandmother? Even the stepmother had no power over Lamia!”
“That… it was out of respect. Because she was family, she loved and considered everyone.”
The duchess respected the matriarch as a daughter-in-law, but the matriarch did not reciprocate. This had persisted for a long time, leading to the current situation. The tutor explained calmly.
Of course, there were other complex circumstances, but it was impossible to explain harsh truths like illegitimacy or embezzlement to a seven-year-old princess.
“Step-mother tolerated it because she loved Lamia?”
Lamia did not immediately believe the tutor. It was hard for a single statement from a stranger to overturn a lifetime of ingrained prejudice.
But with her grandmother gone, a new nanny in place, and the servants who bullied Karia dismissed, Lamia began to reconsider.
Love and respect? She shook her head, thinking it impossible. Yet, recalling her memories, Karia never got angry at her. Always troubled, yet always smiling at Lamia.
Even when her grandmother seemed annoyed by her, Karia never avoided Lamia.
“Yes. Stepmother loved Lamia.”
Lamia remembered the gentle touch of her stepmother, even if she sometimes called her a bad child. The touch had always been warm.
Even though Lamia had never spoken kindly to her…
“When will stepmother return?”
From that moment, Lamia waited eagerly for Karia’s return, intending to treat her well. Yet, day after day, she did not come back to the ducal mansion.
“She… the duchess will not be returning home.”
“What? Why?”
Ansen Miller, walking inside the mansion, was caught by Lamia and struggled to answer such a difficult question.
He wasn’t used to euphemistic noble speech, and Lamia’s question was about the most controversial issue in aristocratic society, beyond just the duke’s household.
“Well… the adults decided. They think it’s best for the duke and duchess to live separately.”
“Why do only the adults decide? Why not ask Lamia?”
“Why are you asking such things? Didn’t you dislike the duchess?”
“No! I don’t dislike her!”
Lamia shook her head vehemently, but Ansen could hardly believe it. Until recently, she had thrown a fit before the duke, claiming she disliked Karia.
She had shouted, insulting her silently, yet now—
Seeing his doubtful expression, Lamia blushed and shouted,
“She’ll apologize! Stepmother loves Lamia, so if she apologizes honestly, she’ll return!”
Lamia’s outrageous claim made Ansen thoughtful. Surely, Karia was weak only when it came to children. She was devoted even to children at the orphanage she occasionally visited, so how much more would she care for the princess she had raised?
‘The duke’s envoys are rejected, but maybe she’ll allow a visit from the princess.’
The Duke of Pandeon had not given up on this marriage. Perhaps he still hoped the duchess would return. But Karia was refusing both conversation and visits.
Could the princess truly turn her mind around?
Even if it didn’t work, there was nothing to lose. Surely, she wouldn’t turn away a seven-year-old girl at the door. With that thought, Ansen, accompanied by a few Pandeon knights, headed to Karia’s townhouse.
