CHAPTER 13………………………………………..
“…Yes?”
“This is for your sake, so listen carefully.”
If she heard the title “Princess,” it was certain that April would throw a fit of all sorts.
“I’ll rest for a while, so make sure no one enters the room.”
The maid, looking bewildered, slowly nodded.
“Yes, Princess.”
Even now, the child’s words addressed me with the title “Princess.”
‘Why is he acting like that today?’
Unable to focus on work, Rian appeared absent-minded, and Avid, who was in the same office, tilted his head in confusion.
Since it had been a while since Rian returned to work, Avid had expected him to handle tasks quickly—but the paper in Rian’s hand hadn’t moved past the first page in twenty minutes.
There were only a handful of people who could influence Rian this much…
Judging from the rumors spreading throughout the capital, it seemed that the commander’s current state was because of his youngest sibling, the Princess.
The rumor that “Princess April has returned” was circulating throughout the capital. Naturally, one would expect a cheerful face, but that wasn’t the case.
Instead, he looked even more downcast than when he first received news of Princess April’s accident.
Anyone observing might think he was a man who had just been given a breakup by his lover.
Avid knew that disturbing the commander in such a state would be pointless, but just as he was about to speak cautiously…
Knock, knock.
The door opened from the outside even though no permission had been given.
“Commander Rian.”
A clear, pleasant voice echoed through the commander’s heavily silent office.
Rian, who hadn’t been looking at the paper, snapped his head up and saw Adonis Betriche.
Like Rian, she wore the uniform, but the golden knight attire signaled that she was part of the Crown Prince’s personal guard.
At her appearance, Avid lightly saluted and left, closing the office door behind him.
“Lady Betriche.”
Rian let out a heavy sigh and awkwardly stood.
“What brings you here?”
“It’s just the two of us, so speak freely.”
Adonis gave a faint smile and poured herself a glass of water from the table in the commander’s office.
Rian, the youngest commander of the royal knights, and Adonis, the first woman to join the knights and a member of the Crown Prince’s personal guard, were also senior and junior from their academy days.
To Rian, Adonis was both a junior of his second younger sibling and a talented subordinate.
“You too.”
Adonis shrugged lightly, seemingly unconcerned about speaking casually herself.
“Did His Highness summon me?”
“No, it’s nothing like that.”
Her expression was completely different from the Rian he had anticipated.
Seeing him look more troubled than ever, a wrinkle formed on Adonis’s smooth forehead.
“The Princess has returned, hasn’t she?”
The rumor had spread widely within the royal court.
From the lowest-ranking officials to the high nobles, everyone had heard it, so surely even Crown Prince Perfone knew.
Of course, Perfone hadn’t mentioned even the word “Princess April” in front of Rian or Adonis.
“She’s already reached your ears, then?”
“Anyone in the capital would know. It seems the gossip papers already have stories about the Princess.”
“People really are fast.”
“And she is His Highness’s fiancée, isn’t she?”
Rian gave a bitter laugh and took the gossip paper that Adonis handed him.
Seeing gossip papers speculating about how the engagement with His Highness might go made his mouth dry.
Unable to even turn the first page, he tossed the paper onto the desk and washed his dry hands.
Some nobles in the royal court had congratulated him, saying things like, “It seems the Princess has fully recovered, congratulations,” but he couldn’t accept it at face value, because the person currently at the duke’s estate was Irina.
Perhaps, as the gossip and tabloid papers suggested, the engagement between April and His Highness Perfone might be broken.
“So, is this different from what I expected?”
“What do you mean?”
Rian, having barely looked away from the gossip paper, gazed into Adonis’s clear green eyes.
“I thought you would be genuinely happy that the Princess has returned.”
True to her straightforward and honest nature, she asked without beating around the bush.
“So I don’t seem happy, huh?”
“Yes.”
Rian gave a bitter smile at Adonis’s honest reply.
Of course. Since Adonis knew nothing, it was natural for her to feel that way.
Irina was pretending to be April at the duke’s estate—nothing had truly changed.
April, who was recovering at the villa, wasn’t actually in better health, nor had the relationship between Irina and the duke’s family returned to what it had been.
Though she hid it, if Irina had returned with even a sliver of hope, it meant that Rian and her father had once again hurt her.
It was like sprinkling salt on a deep wound.
“You really do live up to being from the Rize family.”
Irina’s hostility toward the duke’s estate was greater than he had imagined.
Perhaps the shock of being cast out three years ago had been that severe. Certainly, it must have been shocking, since she had accepted them as her family.
No one in the household had ever called Irina by her true name.
“April… oh! My child. My baby.”
The extreme obsession Irina’s mother had for her daughter changed drastically with April’s arrival.
During those two years, Irina couldn’t belong anywhere in the household.
“Then I’ll be going, brother.”
So why had Irina returned to the duke’s estate?
Knowing she might be used, she had come for a reason.
The Irina who smiled at him wore the face he remembered from the past.
As if she had forgotten the past, as if she hadn’t been hurt at all.
Her smile was identical to the one he had always known, making it impossible to treat her as simply April.
Irina was pretending to be unaffected, but she truly was not.
‘Still…’
He didn’t care if others scolded him for being naive, but his father had truly… truly shown that he missed Irina.
He knew well that Duke Alexis’s steps still lingered in the garden Irina had cared for during her days as April.
Even if there was no natural affection, the eight years he spent raising her couldn’t be ignored.
Irina’s traces embedded throughout the house weren’t easily erased.
The maintained garden was one thing, and the villa they visited every summer was another.
Though now colored with April’s presence, the eight years were long enough that her traces could still be found in the duke’s estate.
‘Still…’
Even if she came for the estate’s money, there was still a chance.
If he spent the coming year truly apologizing and caring for her, perhaps she could forgive him.
“Since she’s back, does that mean she’s fully recovered?”
“…Yes.”
Rian gave a faint smile in response to Adonis’s question.
What on earth was his father thinking?
Was he not considering the time a year from now, when Irina leaves the duke’s estate and April returns?
If by chance April returned without fully recovering, everyone would think it strange.
“His Highness must know that April has returned, right?”
“Yes. Probably, he was the first to hear the news.”
“But it’s strange that there’s been no sign of him.”
Rian kept quiet about the fact that she had asked him about Barak.
Perhaps now she understood why Rian had worn a face as if the world were ending in front of someone.
‘It was because there was no contact from His Highness.’
It was common knowledge in society and at the royal court that Princess April expected a state marriage with the Crown Prince.
That love had blossomed between childhood friends was the kind of story often seen in romance novels.
Though she knew the same facts as the Crown Prince’s personal guard, she didn’t mention them.
In the royal court, the most important thing was caution with words and eyes.
One must see but pretend not to see, speak but not blurt things out.
Rian also understood this well, so he had no intention of asking her directly.
“Still… something seems off.”
“What do you mean?”
Rian, having washed his hands, looked up at Adonis.
As Adonis tilted her head, her short red hair brushing her ears moved slightly.
“I mean Barak Hill Rize.”
“Barak? Why?”
Adonis asked as if surprised he didn’t know.
“The Princess has returned, but Barak Hill Rize hasn’t shown his face.”
That foolish younger brother of hers.
