CHAPTER 62…………………………………………..
“If it’s not rude to ask, may I know whose recognition Your Highness wished to earn?”
“Likewise… my family.”
“…You wanted Barak’s recognition, then?”
It wasn’t only Barak whose approval I had sought, but since he was part of the Rize Ducal House, it wasn’t entirely wrong to say so.
“In the narrow sense, yes. In the broader sense, not really.”
Even with my affirmation, Lady Adonis simply looked at me with an expression that seemed only partly understanding.
To lighten the slightly heavy atmosphere, I clapped my hands sharply.
“By the way, if you win the sword tournament, His Majesty will be overjoyed.”
“I suppose he would be, if his own protégée wins.”
I wasn’t under the impression that Perfone would have any clue about how Lady Adonis was treated within the household.
Given his naturally kind personality and the desire for her happiness, he would likely want to give many gifts.
“By the way, Your Highness, are you doing alright?”
“Pardon?”
I brought the now-cooled tea to her lips. Lady Adonis, hesitating briefly, bit the inside of her cheek before speaking.
“You’ve been spending time with Damien. I thought it might be uncomfortable for you.”
“Ah…”
“You reconciled with Damien, then?”
It was hard to even call it a reconciliation. Damien had realized that I wasn’t April, which meant April had essentially spread baseless rumors about me.
Those rumors—that Damien had confessed to me—were just that: rumors. And April, hoping to become Perfone’s partner, wouldn’t hear any good of spending time with Damien while sorting out those rumors.
“I will break off my engagement with His Majesty.”
It was Lady Adonis who seemed surprised. Her eyes widened, and she looked around nervously, unsure of what to say next.
“Not immediately, but in a year. So there’s nothing odd about staying with Damien for now.”
“That’s so sudden… why?”
Hesitant, Lady Adonis asked carefully.
“Is it because His Majesty has feelings for someone else?”
“Not at all. It’s a disengagement for my own sake.”
Her eyes betrayed disbelief. She didn’t expect to hear such words from someone like April, who had always been at Perfone’s side.
“There’s something I want… and the only way to get it is to break off the engagement.”
If it had been April, she likely would have stayed by Perfone’s side until the very end, refusing to break off the engagement no matter what.
The silence that followed was complete; no one dared break it. It was, after all, a strange statement coming from April, who had obsessed over Perfone so intensely.
“Lately, Your Highness doesn’t seem like the person I knew.”
Naturally, I expected her to ask what I wanted. Instead, Lady Adonis said something else entirely.
Her usually rigid tone had softened slightly.
“Who… exactly are you?”
At my words about the disengagement—and that it wasn’t what she thought—Lady Adonis looked utterly confused.
“You went out, I see.”
Returning from an outing, I handed my coat to Amber as I heard Rian’s voice.
My face felt coarse, as though I hadn’t slept properly for days.
Since I hadn’t been seen at the ducal residence for several days, I must have gone on a long trip—but now I had returned.
“I heard you met with Adonis. Did you meet with His Majesty as well?”
“If so, does that mean you’re like Barak, Rian? Trying to tell me not to see His Majesty?”
“Does Barak say that?”
“Since this morning, he’s been bringing gossip articles and making comments. I thought he would be happy, so I acted accordingly.”
Rian’s face looked tired. I couldn’t tell if it was exhaustion from me or from Barak.
“If Barak treated you harshly, I apologize on his behalf. Since you won’t be seen around the ducal residence for a while, it should be fine.”
“Perhaps he went because he was worried about Lady April. What if he gets dismissed from the Imperial Alchemy Office?”
Even though I had returned, he still kept taking leave. One could wonder if he’d soon be removed from his deputy position.
Why did God give someone like Barak abilities beyond his capacity?
From the looks of him in the hall, he seemed to be waiting for me. Did he have something to say?
As I hoped he would speak up if he intended to get to the point, Rian carefully spoke.
“Go see Father. There’s something you need to know.”
“Me?”
Not something he wanted to say, but something I needed to know?
Nobles never spoke a word without purpose, so “something you need to know” sounded suspicious and vague.
Perhaps because Barak wasn’t there. The silence of the empty ducal residence felt odd as I went upstairs to the duke’s office.
I knocked twice on the firmly closed door and opened it carefully.
“I heard you have something to say.”
“Come in.”
Like Barak, the duke might talk about the knights.
Even as a stand-in for only a year, it might have been presumptuous to appear so familiar with the crown prince. If so, I would have had to respond like a parrot: “I expected you’d like it.”
That was all I could possibly say.
I followed the duke’s gesture to the sofa opposite him, smoothing my skirt as I sat.
As I waited patiently, he looked at my face carefully.
Though the duke and duchess had no blood relation to my parents, I had once wondered how April and I could resemble them. Now, for the first time, I thought my biological father and the duke shared some resemblance.
After a long silence, the duke, covering his mouth, spoke.
“I know you don’t want it, but I tried to have Rian bring Alicia to you.”
Unlike Barak’s gossip or discussions about the crown prince, this caught me completely off guard.
Did I just hear that right? He tried to bring Alicia? My calm composure faltered at just her name.
“What do you mean? You tried to bring Alicia?”
“I heard you regard her as family, so I wanted to bring her to the ducal residence for your sake.”
Ha. How could he say it so boldly? How could he claim with such shamelessness that it was for my benefit?
So that was why Rian had been absent from the house—to bring Alicia.
As my anger surged, Duke Alexis straightened his posture.
He seemed determined to continue, as if this wasn’t about gauging my reaction.
“But I couldn’t bring her.”
“….”
“Because Alicia wasn’t in the village.”
“Alicia wasn’t there?”
“Yes. I’m telling you because you need to know.”
I couldn’t hide my confusion at the duke’s consecutive statements.
Alicia leaving the village was something I couldn’t have imagined. Even on the day she decided to go to the ducal residence, she insisted she would stay at the treehouse in the mountain, her home, and that I could return anytime.
Duke Alexis’s blue eyes, lowered slightly, flashed sharply. His gaze, like a finely honed blade, was mixed with genuine concern.
“Irina.”
His voice was heavy, like wet cotton.
The fact that he had gone to the village to bring Alicia, and that she wasn’t there—this wasn’t really what I needed to know.
If those were the points he wanted to make, he would have said “something I want to tell you” rather than “something you need to know.”
It was clear that the fact they went to Alicia wasn’t the important part; the real point would come after calling my name.
“Does this have anything to do with the temple?”
The words reminded me of Father.
The story of how Father fled from the temple, and how Mother had fled alongside him.
If I were honest with Duke Alexis, he could learn more about my parents.
But it would also give him leverage over Rosian. My fists clenched and unclenched as I stared into his piercing blue eyes.
Would he protect me if I spoke honestly? Was there any guarantee the ducal house wouldn’t abandon me again?
“This is a question asked because I want to protect you.”
