“I’ve come to escort Your Grace.”
“I see you’ve somehow found out I’m here again.”
The Duke clicked his tongue loudly enough for everyone to hear.
As soon as they came outside, Carol stammered in surprise at the sight of the carriage adorned with brilliant gold embellishments.
“W-w-what is that?”
“Something you can ignore.”
The Duke’s nonchalant attitude made Carol look again at the emblem on the carriage.
It was a symbol no citizen of the Empire could fail to recognize. The emblem featuring both an eagle ruling the sky and a lion ruling the land was the symbol of the royal family.
“Ignore it?”
Carol blinked, repeating the word as if she’d never heard it before.
“Yes.”
“…But don’t you have to go?”
“My prior appointment with you comes first, naturally.”
“Come to think of it, I think I need to stop by the tutoring center briefly.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I have some things I didn’t finish organizing yesterday, so I’ll wait for you.”
“I made dinner reservations at a restaurant.”
“Oh! I’d like to change my clothes too.”
“We can just buy clothes.”
“I’ll look forward to our dinner date.”
Pressured by Carol, the Duke reluctantly said,
“You take my carriage then.”
“I will.”
Seeing that he wouldn’t leave otherwise, Carol had no choice but to agree.
“Then I’ll come to pick you up in three hours.”
“Alright.”
Only then could Carol breathe a sigh of relief.
Realizing anew that her lover was someone who could find even a summons from the royal family bothersome made her feel strange.
“Why that expression?”
“…Aren’t you going?”
The Duke asked, watching Carol from inside the carriage. When Carol asked in a flustered voice, the Duke said confidently,
“It seems my lover doesn’t know the romance of a farewell kiss.”
Carol couldn’t help but smile at the Duke’s words, which made her earlier sense of distance seem meaningless.
****
The Duke, who had always refused the Crown Prince’s summons, visited the Royal Palace for the first time.
“You’ve come!”
The Crown Prince personally went out to greet the Duke upon hearing news of his visit.
The Duke, stepping out of the carriage, seemed unimpressed even by the Crown Prince’s welcome.
“I didn’t expect you to come to where I am.”
He expressed his earlier displeasure with a rather prickly attitude.
“I’ve heard you were in the capital for a while, but you never agreed to meet.”
The Duke entered the reception room with the Crown Prince and replied with an indifferent expression.
“I was busy.”
“I understand completely.”
The Crown Prince said generously.
To the Crown Prince, the Duke was a very important figure.
‘I heard the Duke never returned after going back to his territory.’
The House of Winternox had always been neutral. But now that the Duke was frequently visiting the capital, other families were on edge about his actions.
While the Duke had little interest in power, it was clear that if he sided with the nobility, the carefully balanced power structure would crumble in an instant.
‘Staying in the capital might make him develop ambitions unlike previous Dukes.’
In other words, if the Crown Prince could win him over, no noble would dare challenge the royal authority.
The Crown Prince served tea to the Duke in the largest reception room in the palace.
“I was curious when I heard you didn’t attend the banquet alone, so I looked into it.”
“The Crown Prince prying into personal love affairs? Unheard of.”
“Haha. Such jokes.”
Although strict security meant he didn’t know who the Duke went with, the Crown Prince laughed it off as a joke.
“I heard your business is doing well.”
“It’s too early to call it a success.”
“Are you planning something bigger than I thought? Actually, the Empire is planning to start a national project.”
“Is that so.”
It wasn’t surprising news.
“Yes. I’m curious about your expert opinion, having already succeeded in business.”
The Crown Prince continued excitedly. The Duke slowly raised his teacup. In his mind, he was calculating when Carol’s tutoring center would close. He would need to leave in at least an hour to meet her after work.
However, the Crown Prince was more talkative than expected.
“So, what do you think?”
“It seems like a good idea.”
“Right?”
The Duke stood up from his seat.
“Leaving already? I had dinner prepared.”
The Crown Prince, who had planned to discuss the project in more detail today, expressed his disappointment.
The Duke replied to the Crown Prince’s words with a face that showed no regret at all.
“I have a date.”
At these words, so incongruous with the Duke’s solemn face, the Crown Prince responded like a malfunctioning machine.
“I see. If it’s a date…uh…what did you just say…a date?”
“Yes. A date. If Your Highness hadn’t interfered since morning, I would have been on it already.”
“…A date?”
The Crown Prince repeated the word like a parrot, chewing over the term.
He was shocked to see the Duke looking strangely proud after mentioning a date.
The Crown Prince knew well that most romantic rumors about the Duke were just that – rumors – due to his appearance.
So he hadn’t believed the marriage rumors either. He had even nodded when he heard about the broken engagement.
“You have someone you’re seeing?”
“Yes. Didn’t I just say so?”
“…Wasn’t it a joke?”
“We’re not close enough for that kind of joke.”
Good looks, a bit stern in personality but diligent, good title.
It was actually strange that he didn’t have a partner.
The Crown Prince, who had secretly planned to introduce his own sister, pressed on.
“Which family’s young lady is it? I can’t believe I’m behind on the news.”
He was curious about which noble daughter could make the ascetic Duke happy at the mere mention of a date.
The Duke furrowed his brow at the Crown Prince’s question.
“…”
“If you can’t say, is it just a casual relationship?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then?”
Though he had resolved again and again not to rush things, he had no intention of breaking up.
No matter how slowly they progressed their relationship, wouldn’t the outcome be the same? The Duke didn’t want to make her worry for external reasons, not because her feelings had changed.
Even if he had wrested power from the Council of Elders, those stubborn old wolves were always trying to find fault with the Duke.
‘The Crown Prince would be a good backing.’
Instead of directly answering the Crown Prince’s question, the Duke changed the subject.
“It’s at a delicate stage to reveal yet.”
“…I see.”
“I thought I might see her siblings who work in the Imperial Knights while I’m here, but it seems I won’t have time.”
Carol had said it wasn’t that she didn’t want to reveal it, but that she hadn’t found the right timing to tell her siblings. The Crown Prince asked in response to the Duke’s words.
“Which knight order? I can look into it for you.”
“I believe it’s the 3rd Knight Order.”
Realizing what the 3rd Knight Order meant, the Crown Prince nodded, resting his chin on his hand.
“…I’ve wasted your time. I’ll look into it for you.”
“I’ll consider it positively as well.”
With these final words, the Duke left the palace. His steps towards the carriage were a bit faster than usual.
As the door closed, the Crown Prince rubbed his forehead.
“I wondered why he finally responded to my summons when I called for help.”
The Crown Prince stood up and approached the window, gazing at the vast garden.
After serving in the Imperial Knights for a year, one could be officially knighted and given the opportunity to be appointed as a baron by a member of the royal family.
Many knights who had distinguished themselves in the war to establish the Empire had received baronetcies.
But the war was over, and knights were no longer as necessary, so noble appointments had become the exclusive domain of the 1st and 2nd Knight Orders, comprised of nobles’ children.
Knighthood was no longer about confirming ability, but about politics between the royal family and the nobility.
It was more like a transaction devoid of romance.
“He means for me to bestow knighthood.”
There weren’t many places where commoners could have the chance for social advancement and high pay. They willingly stayed even without being knighted.
Mostly it was for the high pay, but some couldn’t let go of the hope of being knighted.
Though called the 3rd Knight Order, the 1st and 2nd Orders called them a pack of strays.
If a knight from the 3rd Order were to be appointed, it was obvious there would be talk.
“The Duke must have asked knowing this.”
The Crown Prince had also received reports on the situation in the North.
If the Duke’s partner was a commoner, the Council of Elders wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Then just having my sisters or brothers appoint her won’t be enough.”
If the problem was talk, then it could be suppressed with greater power.
The Crown Prince became determined to bring the Duke to his side.
He called for the chief attendant standing like a shadow behind him.
“If they entered the 3rd Knight Order on their own merit, it wouldn’t be too strange to give them a title, right?”
“The skills of the 3rd Knight Order are certainly worthy of recognition.”
Meaning there wouldn’t likely be controversy due to lack of ability.
“Find siblings with the same surname among the 3rd Knight Order members on duty today.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Even if he gave them the rank of baron, there was no need to give them land, so it wasn’t a losing proposition.
