Chapter 52
……What’s going well?
Lincia felt uneasy whenever the man acted like this.
She grabbed his hand.
“Don’t.”
“This is for you.”
The man’s red eyes, which she faced, were extremely resolute.
It was as if no matter what she said, his mind would not change.
What Lincia needed most right now was not anything else, but his warmth.
She felt a little frustrated, thinking maybe she was meant to just remain still this time as well.
But she did not want to ruin the current atmosphere.
She parted her lips but closed them again without saying a word.
“Then, what did you want to talk about when you came to the castle?”
Harvich looked down as if troubled.
His hand touched Lincia’s ankle.
“…Please wait just a little longer.”
“Then when can I leave the bedroom?”
“Sleep, shall I put you to sleep?”
Harvich did not give any clear answer to Lincia’s question.
Then, without hesitation, he reached over her shoulder.
His hand began awkwardly patting her back.
“Don’t.”
All Lincia could do was hold her brush, since finishing the painting was all she could manage.
Yet, feeling uncertain, she postponed completing the painting… again and again, leaving only the final brushstroke.
Last night, she had only had a fruitless conversation with Harvich in the castle.
Lincia gave up speaking with him altogether.
She had hoped he would say something with his kindness, but except for the fact that their relationship wasn’t bad, nothing had changed.
Being able to do nothing, knowing nothing, it was the same as before.
She felt empty thinking about what she had hoped for.
And a week passed like that.
For nearly three days, she pretended to be asleep even when Harvich came, but the man seemed to know she could not sleep and gently stroked her back.
With a touch filled with affection.
***
“I want to take a walk.”
Erna’s eyes trembled violently.
She had endured it for about two weeks.
Lincia knew that whenever Erna wanted to go outside, she always came up with all sorts of excuses to force her to stay.
At first, Lincia had let it slide, pitying her for the reasons involving the child’s health, attention on the Grand Duke, and the lack of guards.
But now, it had reached its limit.
Why on earth was she not allowed to go out?
“Wouldn’t it be fine if it’s just a walk around the garden?”
“….”
“Let me help you get ready to go out.”
Erna bit her lips hard and eventually looked down before speaking.
“The Emperor came to visit.”
“…What?”
Lincia’s eyes trembled violently.
The faint scar remaining at the corner of his mouth must have been from facing Yulias.
Her heart fluttered with unease.
“When?”
“About two weeks ago. He tried to return to the palace three days ago… but they say too much snow had fallen, so he couldn’t go.”
Probably just an excuse.
Lincia remembered Yulias making all kinds of excuses to summon Harvich even during the season of low snow.
Looking out the window at the accumulated snow, it seemed that a grown man could easily bundle up and leave on horseback.
The only reason Yulias stayed at the Grand Duchy was one thing.
To see Lincia.
“…Alright. I won’t go out.”
Realizing this, even her light desire to walk vanished.
It was better this way.
“What about the regular check-up? Isn’t it about time?”
“This time, the regular check-up won’t happen.”
“Why?”
“Uh… well…”
***
Recently, Anna could not serve Lincia for a few reasons.
First, Anna caught a sore throat.
She could still move around, and it was a mild cold, but she was waiting for a full recovery to avoid possibly passing it to the pregnant princess.
Her room had been moved to the patient rooms in the outer castle.
Finally, today she received the full recovery verdict, and she could escape the awful medicine room.
Living primarily in Oberok’s space had been miserable, and the outer castle had Tereo as well.
“Has the princess been well?”
“The Emperor is coming to the north.”
Anna asked every time, curious about the princess’s well-being, and pretended to worry.
Anna had ignored whatever he said every time.
That act was now over.
Her broken arm would take about three more months to heal, so for now, she had no need to face him.
For some reason, he had gone to the training hall early every dawn, so now, when he was absent, it was the right time.
Before Tereo returned to annoy her, she needed to go to her usual place.
Humming, Anna packed her things.
Just as she was about to leave the medicine room, the door suddenly swung open.
Anna came face to face with Yulias, who barged in as if it were his own bedroom.
“Anna?”
She had heard that Yulias was coming to the north, but she did not expect him this early.
Moreover, Anna still had not decided how to talk to Yulias about the princess.
She froze.
Did she missee him?
Should she close her eyes and run away?
While Anna hesitated, Yulias grabbed her shoulder tightly.
“Anna, is it true your sister is avoiding me?”
Yulias asked abruptly, and Anna’s eyes went wide.
A man naturally sharp in perception had always seemed strangely oblivious to the princess’s matters.
There was no way he could have noticed on his own that she was avoiding him.
‘Could it be something the princess said?’
Anna turned her head to avoid Yulias’s persistent gaze.
“Why? Did I do something wrong? Could it be that my sister…”
No, he must not have realized that.
Muttering quietly, Yulias made Anna unconsciously speak.
“Your Majesty, you didn’t… order Oberok to hit the princess…”
The sentence Anna originally intended to say was, “You didn’t order Oberok to hit the princess, right?”
But she couldn’t finish it.
The sudden arrival of the Grand Duke made her face pale.
“Did you just say…”
Why was the Grand Duke here now?
Thinking carefully, there was no reason he could not have come to the medicine room.
He might have come to check her car after hearing Oberok’s medical report.
After all, Anna was the only servant of the princess.
Yet, why now…?
From the way he treated the princess to this inconvenient timing, there was nothing about him that pleased her.
“Did you, by any chance, order Oberok to hit Lincia?”
Just as Anna tried to retract her words.
Both men immediately swung their fists at each other.
Though the conversation was too heated to catch everything, it was clear both considered the other a bastard.
Honestly, this was somewhat expected.
They were both angry at him for making the princess appear ridiculous and for neglecting her.
Yet, they certainly did not want the two of them to fight.
The true source of all evil was elsewhere, and why waste their strength on each other?
Moreover, it was absurd for an emperor and a grand duke to resort to fists.
As Anna stomped her feet, unsure of what to do, the medicine room door opened and Oberok entered with Tereo.
“What’s going on…?”
“Your Majesty? What is this…?”
Both men’s sharp gazes turned toward Oberok.
Tereo’s gaze naturally followed him as well.
