CHAPTER 23……………………………
The duchess felt as if she were a completely different person—but the only reason Adonis thought that was purely his intuition.
If someone asked why he thought so, it would be difficult to give a logical and convincing answer.
“It’s just… a bit strange.”
“Lady April?”
Adonis’s silence was effectively an affirmation.
Strangely, she didn’t seem like the April Hill Rise he had known in the past.
Her gaze had always been sharp and irritable, but earlier it had been indifferent—like she was looking at a stone rolling along the roadside.
She didn’t seem like the weak and gentle lady he had briefly seen during their academy days, nor like the one who clung to Barak and never left his side.
“She just felt… different than usual.”
If Lerbian had seen her too, perhaps he might have had a clearer answer.
But Lerbian gave no reply to Adonis’s words.
Instead, he quietly stared at the green handkerchief in his hand.
“I’ll ask you directly.”
He remembered April from a few months ago, standing before him with tears hanging in her eyes.
“Your Highness is said to hold someone else in your heart. Could that person possibly be—”
“Adonis Beatrice… is it you?”
The one who asked that question probably had no idea how unpleasant it had been.
“A knight shouldn’t refuse a lady’s goodwill.”
The April of today, who regarded him not as a “woman” beside the crown prince but simply as a “knight,” was different from before.
“Has she finally matured or something?”
An inexplicable uneasiness settled deep in his chest.
When Lerbian stared at him quietly, Adonis changed the subject and asked,
“By the way, Sir Lerbian, weren’t you with His Highness?”
“Ah…!”
Only then did Lerbian seem to remember why he had come out of the building, and he hurriedly turned his gaze toward the rear garden of the palace.
“I should go first.”
This was not the time for Lerbian to be held up by Adonis and chatting like this.
“Lord Rozian is in the rear garden…”
Those were the words spoken by the maid who had come to his office with an anxious expression.
Rozian—who normally never set foot in the Crown Prince’s palace—had suddenly come without notice.
The reason was obvious.
He must have heard that April Hill Rise had arrived at the imperial palace.
Although it was called the rear garden of the Crown Prince’s palace, it wasn’t directly attached, so Lerbian had to practically run to get there.
The sound of the wind rushing past rang loudly in his ears, and only when the entrance to the garden came into view did he slow down, catching his breath as he approached.
“Please think about what I said comfortably, Your Highness.”
A soft voice struck Lerbian’s ears.
Rozian—who had brought even more maids than the late empress used to—was leaving the garden when his eyes met Lerbian’s.
Those clear teal eyes briefly swept him up and down after noticing him arriving late.
The look seemed to scold him for daring not to greet an elder of the imperial family.
An elder of the imperial family? What nonsense.
A mere concubine who hadn’t even been given a proper rank acting like an elder—it was ridiculous.
No matter how much the insane emperor cherished his concubine, Rozian was someone who officially had no authority to carry out any public duties for the imperial family.
“So today, I wondered why the knight who always sticks close to you wasn’t around.”
“……”
Lerbian simply bowed his head without saying anything.
Rozian looked openly displeased before passing by him.
Clicking his tongue, Lerbian entered the garden and saw Perpone sitting at a table.
“Your Highness.”
“Ah, Sir Lerbian.”
Perpone had been staring downward with a stiff expression, but at Lerbian’s voice he broke into a deep smile.
Judging by how the smile gradually deepened, something unpleasant must have happened.
Whether it was because of Lady April or because of Rozian who had just left—there was no way to know.
“Are you… alright?”
“When has it ever been unusual for that lunatic to spout nonsense? There’s no reason for me not to be fine.”
Normally Perpone never forgot his courtesy, but there were times when he spoke bluntly without any filter.
And those times were always when Rozian was involved.
In the Daus Empire, Rozian’s existence was a disgrace.
The emperor had taken not just any concubine, but a male one—and brought him into the palace the very day after the empress died.
It had shocked everyone working in the imperial palace.
For the young crown prince, it must have been an indescribable shock.
So much so that the young prince developed mutism.
“What did he say…?”
“He asked whether it was really necessary to form a marriage alliance with the ducal family.”
Perpone lifted the teacup in front of him and took a sip.
Since Rozian was even speaking about the imperial marriage, it seemed he had grown quite arrogant thanks to the emperor’s favor.
“Insolent bastard.”
Perpone let out a short, mocking laugh.
It seemed Rozian still thought of him as the weak and fragile crown prince from that day.
The day his mother’s funeral was held.
He still vividly remembered what his father and Rozian had been doing in the empress’s bedroom.
“Ro… Rozian…! Rozian…!”
His father had been sobbing while calling Rozian’s name beneath him for quite some time.
There had not been the slightest sign that he was grieving his wife’s death.
“Your Majesty, it’s Her Majesty the Empress’s funeral. Is it alright for you to keep leaving your seat?”
And that was what Rozian had said while looking straight into his eyes after discovering him.
“It’s fine, it’s fine…!”
“Damn it.”
Remembering that wretched past, Perpone cursed harshly and rubbed his face.
Just thinking that the same pathetic man’s blood flowed through his body made him want to tear it all out.
Sometimes he felt tired of even being alive.
Clicking his tongue once, Perpone lifted the teacup to his lips.
“So, what did you find out about that bastard Rozian?”
“He continues to donate to temples and orphanages. He also keeps bringing orphans into the orphanage.”
“And?”
“The strange thing is… he never actually visits the orphanage.”
“…Really?”
“And the only other thing we know is that he himself came from the temple orphanage, and that’s where His Majesty first noticed him.”
It was a story everyone in the imperial palace already knew.
Rozian Stariyeu had been abandoned in front of the capital’s temple orphanage and lived there his entire life, until the current emperor, Vius, noticed him and brought him into the imperial palace.
“I’m sorry. I’ll investigate further.”
Seeing Perpone’s displeased expression after hearing nothing substantial, Lerbian lowered his head deeply.
“Hurry and find something—anything that could become that bastard’s weakness.”
The delay of Perpone’s succession ceremony was also entirely due to Rozian’s interference.
To Perpone Dinea Daus, Rozian Stariyeu was an extremely unsettling existence.
No—everyone in the imperial family likely thought the same.
How many years had it been since he entered the imperial palace?
He had spent roughly the same amount of time there as Perpone.
Yet his appearance had not aged at all.
“It feels like he’s hiding something.”
At Perpone’s words, Lerbian quietly nodded.
Rozian Stariyeu had lived in the imperial palace for nearly twenty years, yet his face showed not the slightest sign of aging.
According to him, he simply took great care of his appearance out of fear of losing the emperor’s favor.
But…
“That’s impossible for a human.”
Perpone murmured softly.
Rozian’s youth looked as if it had gone beyond the bounds of humanity.
And it would have been impossible for him to maintain such a state without the help of the temple.
“You’ll have to work a little harder, Sir Lerbian. Or perhaps…”
Perpone tapped the table lightly and muttered a name.
“Tamitarte, was it?”
“Rozian’s personal priest?”
“Yes. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to dig into him as well.”
Lerbian nodded.
He wished that Perpone would quickly inherit the throne and become the emperor that the empire proudly spoke of.
Licking his dry lips nervously, Lerbian carefully spoke.
“Your Highness.”
His voice was heavy and serious.
