CHAPTER 06………………………………………………….
“Sir Vetrice.”
As the inner door opened slightly, the voice of the Crown Prince’s secretary reached him, and for the first time, Adonis—the Crown Prince’s direct guard—lost his composure.
“Yes.”
“Please, come inside for a moment.”
Lerbien’s face was worn, fatigued, a testament to his insomnia.
He had looked quite polished over the past month, but seeing him like this, someone sensitive as Lerbien, there could only be one reason.
Princess April, the Crown Prince’s fiancée, had returned.
“Yes.”
Though it was an order and he had to enter the office, Adonis Vetrice hesitated to step into the Crown Prince’s office.
He often received sharp, criticizing glances simply because a woman entered the office.
“Did you call for me?”
Lerbien wouldn’t have summoned him just to talk.
Adonis looked straight at Perfone, seated directly across from him.
Being under Perfone, Adonis realized for the first time that the saying “you act as you look” wasn’t an insult.
Perfone’s personality matched his gentle, kind face.
In the two years he had worked under Crown Prince Perfone, Adonis had never seen him angry.
“What is it?”
“I got bored just working.”
Perfone, fiddling with an envelope while looking down, lifted his head and gave a light smile.
“I thought we could talk a bit, take a breather.”
Could it be that Lerbien’s fatigue wasn’t from insomnia… but perhaps from Perfone?
The thought slipped out as a sudden question.
“Sir Adonis, did you see Sir Barak today?”
“No, not yet.”
“Really? I heard people in the capital saying they saw him. Some say he seemed unusually irritable.”
“Unusually irritable…?”
Adonis tilted his head in confusion, and Perfone confirmed.
“Your Highness, Barak Hill Rize has always been that way.”
Perfone, moving his lips to say something, paused and then pressed them together.
“That’s true enough.”
Even if he wanted to argue, there was no point. He had seen it himself since childhood and heard plenty from others.
“I’m also curious why he hasn’t returned to work even though the princess is back.”
“…….”
“They were classmates at the academy, so I wonder if he knows anything.”
Being called the best of their respective departments, there must be some connection.
“Everyone in the royal family knows about Sir Barak’s temper… though I don’t know what you want to know.”
Adonis agreed, but also thought differently.
Could anyone call Barak merely temperamental? If there were a stronger word, he would use it.
“It is strange, though. The princess has returned, yet Sir Lian seems subdued, and Sir Barak hasn’t returned to the palace.”
Perfone’s expression showed strong agreement.
“Surely the news reached our cousin, too?”
“I’d imagine so.”
The Northern Grand Duke family’s intelligence was formidable, and April Hill Rize had been in the capital for two days already.
“I wonder how our cousin will react.”
“Cousin?”
Lerbien’s face openly showed displeasure.
“He is a cousin.”
Seeing Perfone blink his golden eyes as if he knew nothing made Lerbien’s stomach twist.
Yes, formally, Damian is the child of his aunt and uncle, so technically a cousin—but in reality, they share no blood. Cousin, indeed!
Being an adopted child of the Grand Duke family, his position among the nobles was weak, which was fortunate.
If Perfone even showed the slightest resemblance to the emperor, nobles would flock to the Grand Duke family.
If the emperor were sane, he wouldn’t even worry about such matters.
Lerbien swallowed a sigh he almost let out.
“So, will you invite him?”
The sudden word “invite” made Adonis’s green eyes twitch.
It was then he noticed the envelope in Perfone’s hand.
A letter stamped with the Duke family’s seal.
“One must extend an invitation.”
A faint smile appeared on Perfone’s lips.
“There’s something I need to say.”
Something to say?
While Adonis looked puzzled, Lerbien, who knew what Perfone intended to say, froze and gestured for her to leave.
As Adonis quietly left the office, Lerbien asked cautiously.
“Will he accept it?”
“What choice is there?”
Perfone’s gaze, which had been gentle on Adonis, returned to the envelope.
“Even if he doesn’t want to, he has no choice.”
The words were firm, cutting, despite the gentle tone.
Lerbien exhaled a worried breath.
Perfone, pen still moving, gave a brief smile.
“You look worried.”
“Of course. The princess won’t accept it easily.”
“…….”
“You know how protective the Duke family is of the princess.”
People often murmured about their excessive protection, but it was routine.
All parents love their child, but the Duke family’s caution was exceptional. Especially near the Duchess’s death, the princess was treated almost as if left alone by the water.
Some elderly nobles whispered that such behavior would ruin the child.
“But what can be done? He has no intention of marrying the princess.”
Perfone, seeming indifferent to his own marriage, made Lerbien click his tongue in disappointment.
Aside from the princess’s discomfort, it was unfortunate.
No one could support Perfone as much as the Duke family could.
If the Crown Prince married into the Duke family, they could ensure he inherited the throne.
Even if Rozian, the emperor’s favorite consort, tried to intervene, the Duke family’s backing would prevail.
Lerbien, giving up on persuading Perfone, wore a gloomy expression.
Though the royal family thought Perfone Dineia Daus soft and gentle, he was more strong and resilient than soft.
In a royal family full of lunatics, he was the only one with a sound mind.
“You got along with the princess in the past?”
“Yes, we did.”
“Then why are you keeping your distance now?”
Perfone’s hand froze mid-motion.
Whenever he faced Adonis or Lerbien, a gentle smile lingered, but now it was gone.
Why distance now…?
If he spoke, would anyone believe him? He glanced at the invitation the princess had sent.
“Curious even about that, Sir Lerbien?”
“Huh?”
Perfone’s teasing smile made Lerbien shake his head in dismay.
He knew well how Perfone reacted when difficult topics arose.
It was also how Perfone survived in a royal family full of madmen.
“I’m not really curious.”
“Good. I hope you’re not very curious about me either.”
The Crown Prince’s blunt reply made Lerbien pout silently.
Even as his right-hand man for years, always close, Perfone never gave him any affection—it stung a little.
“Sir Lerbien, if you have no work, would you draft the invitation instead?”
“To send to the Duke family?”
“Yes, to ask if they could attend tea in two days.”
“……Understood.”
He bowed slightly and left the office quietly.
Only after the door clicked firmly closed did he lift his gaze from the mountain of work.
Leaning back in his chair, he looked up at the antique chandelier and slowly closed his eyes.
“Then why distance yourself now?”
The answer was simple.
“…Because she’s not the April I knew.”
The air surrounding April Hill Rize didn’t feel like the April he had known.
“She seems like a different person.”
With a self-deprecating smile, he leaned back, then checked the Duke family’s invitation again.
—To my beloved fiancé, Perfone.
Condensed: though she had returned to the Duke family, why hadn’t he contacted her?
Saying she seemed like a different person was simple, yet impossible to voice in the royal court.
Even to Lerbien, who had been at his side for years.
“It’s obvious I’d be treated as crazy.”
Perfone buried his face in his hands to hide his fatigue.
If he spoke, people would declare that the royal family had no sane members—only lunatics.
‘The emperor raised him; the crown prince can’t be sane either.’
‘It’s amazing he’s remained sane this long.’
Thinking of nobles gossiping, and his father’s consort smiling at rumors calling her insane, made his stomach twist.
The corners of Perfone’s lips tilted slightly.
“So, I couldn’t possibly say anything.”
Perfone trusted no one in the royal family.
