~CHAPTER 32~
The Emperor is acting strange.
Dianu dipped her quill into the ink bottle and lifted it again in a daze.
She heard Elpenlira’s voice from across the desk, where the young princess had been struggling with her Arasas vocabulary book.
“Teacher.”
“Yes, Lady Elpenlira.”
“That looks a little dangerous.”
Following Elpenlira’s gaze, Dianu looked down.
Ink was running down her fingers.
Startled, she set the quill down at once.
A moment later and the new lace on her sleeve would have been ruined forever.
“Thank you. I got distracted for a moment.”
“It’s because of my brother, right?”
“What?!”
Unlike Dianu, who almost jumped out of her seat, Elpenlira looked unimpressed.
“Why are you so startled?”
“No, I just… why would I be distracted because of His Majesty…”
Even as she muttered, Dianu glanced sideways at Sir Roysen, who stood guard by the library door as always.
He pretended not to hear the ladies’ conversation and stared blankly out the window.
“Sir Roysen will misunderstand.”
Elpenlira ignored her urgent whisper.
“Misunderstand what. My brother hasn’t come near Oak Palace for a week, and you glance at the door every ten seconds.”
There was nothing to say.
Ten seconds was an exaggeration, but she had perked up every time she heard footsteps outside.
Elpenlira pointed straight at her with her index finger.
“You fought with my brother, didn’t you?”
Dianu buried her face in both hands.
“Fight? Lady Elpenlira, no…”
“You didn’t?”
“Of course not. That would be unthinkable…”
A fight requires equal footing.
No one in this land is equal to Rision.
Still, Dianu almost wished they had fought.
If they had, she could have gone to the Imperial Palace, thrown herself at his feet, and begged for forgiveness.
“If you didn’t fight, why would my brother suddenly stop visiting when he used to come every day?”
This question was aimed at Sir Roysen, not Dianu.
Startled by the princess’s sharp stare, Sir Roysen swallowed hard.
“Maybe… His Majesty is simply busy?”
“Busy?”
“Y-yes. His Majesty is always… very busy…”
His voice was careful, like someone trying to soothe an agitated hunting dog.
It was obvious he wanted to show he had nothing to do with this.
Elpenlira didn’t buy it.
“I’m going to see my brother today. If he won’t come to me, then I’ll go to him.”
“Then I will escort you to the Imperial Palace…”
“Teacher is coming too. That’s fine, right?”
Sir Roysen pressed his lips together.
Elpenlira looked at Dianu, as if to say “see?”
Dianu covered her face with one hand and sighed.
She didn’t know why, but Rision was avoiding her.
Very obviously.
* * *
On the night she had last said goodbye to Rision, Dianu asked Cora to sew the new lace onto her blouse sleeves.
‘It’s beautiful lace, Lady Dianu. It must be expensive.’
‘It’s very rare now, but soon it might be common.’
When Elpenlira married Labelan Arasas and the border opened between Catalos and Arasas, trade would become free.
If Rision’s dream came true…
To Dianu, this lace was like a symbol of playing even a small part in that dream.
Feeling her sleeve brush against her arm always made her heart lift.
Maybe it was because she was in such a good mood that Dianu ended up saying more than she normally would.
‘It’s crocheted with a technique passed down in only one convent in Arasas.’
‘A convent…?’
Cora looked more surprised than necessary.
‘Why?’
Cora muttered that it looked familiar.
When Dianu pressed her, Cora explained:
Bertona Aldebaron had spent months boasting to everyone in Oak Palace about the new dress she was having made.
It was meant for the Founding Day ball, and its entire skirt was covered in lace.
And according to Bertona, that lace was *also* “from the one convent in Arasas.”
But because she had been punished for badmouthing a fellow lady-in-waiting and Dianu, she couldn’t attend the ball.
The dress she had bragged about was now doomed to rot in her closet.
It was a pathetic story, but that wasn’t what bothered Dianu.
‘You’re sure it was the same lace?’
‘Yes. The maid showed us the scraps left over from making the dress. It looked exactly like this.’
‘That shouldn’t be possible…’
Covering an entire ball gown in this lace?
She had paid a gold coin for just enough to decorate her sleeve.
If Adelaissa had worn such a dress, it wouldn’t have been surprising.
The Duke of Belua was second only to the Emperor in wealth.
But she had never even heard the name Aldebaron before coming to the palace.
‘It can’t be smuggling… right.’
They wouldn’t dare wear smuggled goods openly at a royal ball.
It was strange, but Dianu soon forgot.
She had too much noise in her heart.
Because of Rision.
He had neatly removed himself from her daily life.
As if nothing they’d gone through together mattered.
Without explanation or apology.
Dianu was angry.
She couldn’t describe it well, but it felt unfair, even humiliating.
‘You said we’d make good partners…’
She thought it was nonsense at the time, but maybe she wanted to believe it.
Annoyed, she shut her book.
Lady Karelina had sent her the side story to *Princess Oliana and Sir Giles*, just as promised.
It had come through the Erbinjel Grand Duchy, and it was her job to translate it into Arasas.
But she had made no progress.
She couldn’t focus indoors, so she had come out to the garden, but even the sunlight and fresh grass weren’t helping.
Sir Giles tasted Oliana’s soft lips.
‘Ah, Sir Giles!’
Oliana’s eyes grew moist.
Her body flushed with heat…
The section she was working on was practically glowing pink.
With a troubled sigh, Dianu shut the book.
‘Can I even show this to Lady Elpenlira?’
The girl was only eighteen.
Normally she would adjust the content after getting parental approval.
“Parent…”
From Dianu’s perspective, Elpenlira’s “parent” was Rision.
And asking a parent whether she could give their child a steamy love scene was a reasonable question.
Any parent would expect their tutor to check first.
Dianu stood up.
Rision would be in the east wing of the Imperial Palace at this hour.
If she hurried, she could see him, even briefly.
Even if she had to wait hours…
Her brief excitement faded.
‘I could see him whenever I wanted before.’
She didn’t even have to seek him out; he came to Oak Palace on his own.
Only when he stopped visiting did she realize how unusual that had been.
Truthfully, this was normal.
Ordinary people needed excuses to see the Emperor even once.
‘That’s what my place always was…’
It hadn’t been long since she’d wandered the rose garden for hours just to speak with him once.
Yet now she felt miserable.
* * *
Since Sir Roysen was clearly on Rision’s side, the first step to reaching the Imperial Palace was shaking him off.
“Leave it to me.”
“Will you be alright?”
“I learned how to shake off Sir Roysen and Edric faster than I learned to walk. My nanny kept assigning them to watch me.”
Dianu flinched without meaning to.
Elpenlira laughed at her.
“Where’s the woman who lectures everyone about survival? Why that face?”
“No… I’m just surprised.”
This was the first time Elpenlira had mentioned Edric since the standoff at the Hall of Knights.
They saw each other every day, chatted often, but never spoke of Edric or the Conifer Palace incident.
It was an unspoken rule between them.
Elpenlira frowned.
“Seeing my brother act like this made me think I should pull myself together too.”
“What?”
“Don’t get ideas. I’m not getting married.”
Elpenlira grabbed Dianu’s wrist.
Dianu was too stunned to resist as she was half-dragged out of the music room.
They had hidden there to escape Sir Roysen’s watch.
He approached immediately when they reached the door.
“Shall we return to the library now?”
“My legs hurt.”
Both Sir Roysen and Dianu looked at the princess’s legs.
They couldn’t see anything under the long skirt.
Sir Roysen’s expression darkened.
“I’ll call a physician.”
“I’m not injured.”
“Then…”
“Muscle pain. I rode too much this morning.”
That part was true.
Elpenlira had ridden her beloved white horse all morning.
“Then I’ll ask the maids to prepare warm bathwater…”
“No. I want fresh air. I want to take a walk.”
This part was pure nonsense.
Sir Roysen definitely realized it, but he had no choice.
Dianu watched Elpenlira’s performance with awe.
“Carry me around the garden.”
“…Pardon?”
“There’s no other way. I can’t walk, but I want to take a walk.”
Sir Roysen looked helplessly between the two women for a long moment.
But the ending was already written.
“Then Lady Ortensa…”
“Oh, I have to translate Lady Elpenlira’s textbook.”
Dianu smiled shamelessly.
Sir Roysen looked terribly worried, but he finally crouched in front of Elpenlira.
Perched on the back of the imperial guardsman, Elpenlira waved merrily at Dianu, who slipped away like the wind.
