Chapter 65
Whenever Nina happened to meet her father—who only dropped by on a whim—she always greeted him with a smile.
Even when he left again, she waved with a cheerful face until the very end.
Was it because of that, that he misunderstood?
That Estella alone was enough for her now… that Nina could wait… that she would wait.
That she would always remain the same, always be there… and that if a destined moment arrived someday, by her own will or against it, she would choose him regardless of everything else…
What a tremendous delusion that had been.
Because Nina—who resembled Anna, but unlike Anna—always smiled brightly whenever she looked at him.
He thought she would never look at him with the cold, distant eyes that haunted his dreams.
Because of that foolish delusion, he left her to spend even New Year’s Eve alone…
“If I had gone to see you that day, would I not have lost you…?”
Now, it was nothing but a meaningless question.
The Carnival Festival lasted for two whole weeks.
During that grand season, when not only citizens but also tourists from abroad poured into the empire, it was tradition for the Imperial Palace to host a dazzling seven-day banquet.
Given the scale of the event, even those who usually pretended to be too busy to mingle would at least show their faces once.
Naturally, the Cerny family—kin of the Empress—were present, as well as the Marquis and Marchioness of the Frank family who rarely visited the capital.
Archduke Arlot, the Emperor’s second brother, and Geoffrey, the youngest sibling who had married into the Norman royal family, also arrived with their families.
And of course, foreign royals from all over gathered as well. Yet, the social world’s greatest attention centered on only two topics:
One, the Daut family who had suffered through the Hameln incident.
The other, the dethroned prince, Rabian.
Since rumors spread that both parties might attend the banquet, everyone was keeping sharp watch.
The curiosity toward the Dauts mostly came from married women and husbands with families, whereas interest in Rabian spanned unmarried men and women as well as noble ladies alike.
Women dreamed of a passionate night with the infamous gang leader and notorious womanizer. Men—mostly those cut off from inheritance—dreamed of being scouted into the continent’s largest gang.
Yet by the third night of the banquet, neither the Dauts nor Rabian had shown up.
“Do you think Rabian will actually come this time?”
“Who knows? Our younger brother is so unpredictable.”
As Geoffrey asked, Bentley Arlot unconsciously touched his cheek—the very one Rabian had slapped during last year’s founding banquet.
His ear still didn’t feel quite right.
“Damn it, I must be the only one in the world who went to greet his brother and ended up slapped so hard his eardrum burst.”
“It wasn’t for greeting him—it was because you grabbed his shoulder, remember?”
“How was I supposed to know that? It’s not like he always reacted that way!”
“That’s true. But… what’s wrong with Duke Cerny?”
Geoffrey tilted his chin toward the glitter of pink hair, the same shade as the Empress’s.
It was Duke Dmitri Cerny, Minister of Foreign Affairs and brother to the Empress.
As always, he strutted about, yet he couldn’t quite hide his discomfort throughout the banquet.
“Probably upset his stomach with too much wine. Anyway, when our younger brother shows up, things between him and our elder brother will be… quite a sight.”
Bentley clicked his tongue, while Geoffrey blinked his ruby-colored eyes distractedly.
Though the same shade as Leopold’s, Geoffrey’s eyes combined with his mother’s platinum-blond hair gave him a completely different image.
Bentley, on the other hand, had inherited their mother’s green eyes and Leopold’s jet-black hair—similar enough to make him suspect that the reason Rabian slapped him that day was precisely because he resembled Leopold.
“I still don’t understand why Rabian changed so much.”
At Geoffrey’s subdued tone, Bentley gave a bitter smile.
Though Geoffrey was now a royal consort of Norman and had even become its national son-in-law, around his brothers he still carried a boyish air.
“What happened back then is in the past.”
Unlike the eldest, Leopold, who clashed bitterly with his brothers, Bentley and Geoffrey had no real conflicts with anyone.
And when they were young, it was not Leopold but Rabian who often played with his little brothers. Geoffrey especially had trailed after Rabian relentlessly since he was a toddler—so much that Rabian found it bothersome—yet Geoffrey still cherished those memories.
“Do you think it’s because of our sister-in-law? Rabian and her were lovers, and while he was away at war, our elder brother…”
“Our younger brother had plenty of women back then besides her. Honestly, I think it’s because of the original sister-in-law.”
Between the two, “sister-in-law” and “original sister-in-law” were a sort of code.
The former naturally referred to Empress Diana.
The latter, Anna Cerny—Diana’s older sister and Leopold’s late fiancée.
“The original sister-in-law was really close with our younger brother. Even that stiff, unfeeling elder brother of ours showed obvious jealousy. Weren’t you jealous back then, too?”
“I was, but unlike our elder brother, I was jealous of her. …If I’d known she would leave us so soon, I would’ve treated her better.”
“Don’t dwell on it. She never paid us much attention anyway. The only one she ever wanted was our younger brother.”
Just then—
“His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor, arrives!”
“Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress, and Her Highness, the Second Princess, arrive!”
The unexpected announcement startled everyone enjoying the banquet.
Normally, the Emperor only appeared at the Carnival banquet on the first and last days.
The rest of the time, he was busy personally receiving domestic and foreign dignitaries.
The Empress, too, was usually occupied hosting gatherings with noble ladies and in-laws.
For them all to arrive suddenly together was highly unusual, but everyone quickly scrambled to bow.
“Carry on.”
At Leopold’s short command, the banquet, which had fallen silent as a grave, slowly regained its energy.
“Oh my, Princess Estella grows lovelier by the day!”
“She’s so adorable, like a tiny fairy!”
Amid a flood of flattery surrounding the Emperor’s beloved second princess, Bentley and Geoffrey exchanged wary glances.
“If our elder brother showed up like this…”
“Could it mean Rabian…?”
The Archduke of Systania and Norman’s royal son-in-law scanned the hall with expectant eyes.
That was when the sound of shattering glass rang out.
“Oh dear, Sara!”
“Are you alright?”
It seemed a child wandering among the adults had broken a plate.
The flustered mother scolding her daughter was none other than the Countess of Daut.
No one had noticed their entrance—clearly they had slipped in quietly, hoping not to draw attention.
Unlike their usual refined yet conspicuous elegance, today they seemed intent on blending in.
“…They must be struggling.”
Bentley muttered unconsciously.
With a young child of his own, he couldn’t help but sympathize with the Dauts.
After enduring such a horrific incident, showing their faces here at all must have required no small amount of courage.
“True. But the young lord seems more composed than expected.”
Geoffrey murmured as he gazed at the boy standing quietly behind his scolding mother.
The young Count of Daut looked so neat and unruffled that the horrific stories in the papers felt like lies.
He did wear children’s gloves on both hands, but so did several other children.
For now, all eyes were on his younger sister, who stood teary-eyed after breaking the plate.
