[CHAPTER 121]
Harvich extracted Lincia from the crowd with surprising ease.
“I said I wanted to spend some quiet family time after so long, so I yielded.”
“I did not expect such misunderstandings.”
Harvich, who had slipped between them like that, responded with considerable brazenness.
When asked why he had arrived separately at the imperial palace, he replied that she wanted to see the southern sea, so he let her.
When it was pointed out that there had been no news of the Grand Duchess from the duchy, he sneered and asked whether they were showing excessive interest in another nation’s internal affairs.
When questioned about whether the Grand Duke personally took care of the child, he countered by asking if it was strange for a husband to raise his own child.
It was clear enough why Yulias disliked him, and yet still brought him up.
The two, now distant from the center of the banquet hall, stood near the wall.
Harvich took the empty glass from Lincia’s hand and called over a server.
The gesture was so smooth and natural that Lincia looked up at him.
Just moments ago, he had refuted and argued every point without consulting her, and now he was watching only her mood.
“……You looked troubled, so if I overstepped, I apologize.”
Seeing Lincia’s impassive face, Harvich grew tense.
I overstepped.
“It is not a topic I particularly want to discuss.”
“If you intend to completely separate from the Grand Duke, do you have any intention of remarrying?”
Though it was already over between them, the word “remarry” made her vision spin.
She ended up saying things she did not need to say.
“It is quieter now, which is nice.”
“If you were considering remarriage, please tell me.”
“I will clarify things.”
“No, thank you for helping me.”
After calling a servant to clear the empty glass, Harvich picked up a new one.
“Would you like another drink?”
“I am fine.”
Calling the servant with a gesture, he drank greedily, his throat parched, without a trace of elegance.
For a while, the two stood there in silence.
Harvich looked down at Lincia.
It had been so long since he had seen her so adorned that he could not take his eyes off her.
She was dazzlingly beautiful.
A vivid image of her former self overlapped her current, vibrant 모습 like an afterimage.
That illusion ended with her becoming a corpse.
If Lincia had been in the north, she truly might have died.
Feeling nauseous, Harvich called a servant and drank another glass of wine.
“What about the child?”
At the small but clear question, he turned his head.
“He dressed early this morning and met many people, so he must be tired.”
“He is sleeping.”
Harvich turned his head toward where the child was.
At the end of his gaze was the child being held in the nanny’s arms.
“If you are tired, do you want to go back?”
“No.”
“I want to stay with Dad.”
The child, sensitive to presence, was sleeping amid the murmuring crowd, clearly exhausted.
Lucas was perceptive and sharp beyond his age.
Yet whenever he showed moments that betrayed his true age like this, she was reminded how small he truly was.
“You smile a lot now.”
……Smile?
At Lincia’s words, Harvich raised his hand and touched his mouth.
The corner of his lips beneath his fingertips was lifted.
“I did not mean that it looks unpleasant.”
Seeing Harvich stiffen instantly, Lincia spoke as if explaining herself.
“You just look… good.”
“Like you are doing okay.”
No.
That could not be true.
Just moments ago, he had been wallowing in misery, recalling how she had been ruined because of him.
Harvich nearly protested that he was not okay at all, but instead shut his mouth tightly.
“I am glad.”
“I truly hope you live well.”
Just then, the music ended.
A gentle melody flowed before the next dance began.
“……I also sincerely hope that you become happy.”
Listening to the soft melody, Harvich extended his hand.
He thought that today might be the last time he would appear in the banquet hall with Lincia.
“We should dance as well.”
At the implicit invitation, Lincia took his hand.
Before the full music began, the two moved to the center and exchanged a light greeting.
Their hands, clasped together after so long, were warm.
Even as he danced, Harvich worried the entire time that he might make a mistake.
“If you are not uncomfortable, let us pretend we are not separated during the Founding Festival.”
“……Would that not confuse the child?”
“It will be fine.”
With a faintly hardened expression, Harvich spoke like a sigh.
“The child knows that you are his mother.”
She felt their clasped hands stiffen.
“I could not bring myself to say that you were dead.”
“I am sorry.”
“No, you did well.”
At Harvich’s words, Lincia recalled that the child had not called her aunt.
Once the banquet began and people started whispering, it was news everyone would learn anyway.
She had never thought it could truly be hidden.
She had simply been too flustered by the unprepared encounter at first.
“I hope the child does not get hurt.”
As she said that, Lincia mocked herself inwardly.
The one hurting him the most is me.
Even while thinking so, she found herself unable to consider leaving, which felt disgusting and dreadful.
* * *
That evening, the child came to Lincia’s bedroom after she returned from the banquet hall.
“Your Highness, let us go to the festival together.”
Harvich was not with him.
Instead, the nanny and a knight were standing there.
Their expressions looked slightly troubled.
“The festival?”
“Yes.”
“Let us play with Lus.”
Lincia hesitated slightly.
Her body, active after a long time, complained of fatigue, and the makeup she had yet to remove felt heavy.
Still, she could not bring herself to be harsh to the child.
“Alright.”
“Will you wait just a moment?”
“Yes.”
In the end, Lincia and the child did not go to the festival.
The biggest reason was Yulias’s opposition.
“No.”
“It is dangerous outside.”
“But our knight is really, really strong.”
“Even so, it is not allowed.”
“It is dangerous on days like today when there are so many people.”
Instead, let us play inside.
“Wow, I like that.”
Yulias abandoned his work for the day and immediately opened a meeting room.
In the room where ministers usually gathered to handle agendas, he was teaching the child card games.
Lincia looked at Yulias with a somewhat dubious gaze.
She had expected something light and cute like Old Maid or One Card, but…….
Yulias was teaching the child gambling.
What on earth is he teaching him?
“If your card is higher than your opponent’s, you win.”
“I cannot look at my own card?”
“That is right.”
“Then how do I know?”
“Well, you read your opponent’s expression and cards.”
“It is psychological warfare.”
“Psychological warfare?”
Struggling to explain, Yulias groaned before clapping his hands once.
“Let us try it once.”
After a few rounds, the child seemed to grasp it quickly.
“Hehe, my card is higher, right?”
Yulias deliberately lost a few times, then lost even more earnestly after the child told him to play properly.
It felt just like when Lincia used to play with Yulias when they were young.
Watching them blankly, Lincia eventually joined and sat down as well.
“Shall we stop this and play Old Maid instead?”
“What kind of game is that?”
“The person holding this card at the end wins.”
Originally, the one holding the joker would lose, but it felt better to have a winner than leave someone losing.
“Is three people not a bit too few?”
At Yulias’s words, Lucas called over the knight and the nanny.
“Let us all play together.”
Thus, five people ended up enjoying the card game together.
The winner was obvious.
The child’s expressions were vivid, and he could not hide them.
His pouting and joy, so reminiscent of Harvich, were adorable, so they let him take the joker several times before eventually giving it back.
The child was fun to watch because of his expressive face.
As they sat enjoying the game, the child began to nod off.
“Hold me.”
When he whined to Lincia, she had no choice but to lift him into her arms.
“I will take him back.”
Leaving the meeting room, Lincia walked with the nanny and the duchy’s knights.
On the way to the guest room, the child gently opened his eyes.
“Your Highness.”
Carefully grabbing her collar, the child whispered softly to Lincia.
“Can we sneak out without my uncle knowing?”
“Where to?”
“My dad is the strongest in the world.”
“So let us go outside and play.”
