“Since several issues remain unresolved, the Empire will soon send someone. My personal guess is that the Empress won’t travel all this way again. I suspect the Empire’s newly appointed regent might come instead.”
Jeremiah extended his words, subtly trying to gauge Sienna’s reaction, but her expression remained unreadable.
“Are you telling me this because I need to attend the meeting?”
“No, that’s not the case.”
It was Jeremiah who was taken aback by her indifferent response. As he hesitated, unable to find appropriate words, Sienna callously turned her gaze away.
“If Your Majesty permits, I plan to stay in Ricata during the festival. There’s also the matter of the Duke’s residence. I’ve found there are still many issues I need to check personally. I intend to stay there and assess the situation—would that be acceptable?”
Jeremiah’s brow slightly wrinkled as he watched her. He couldn’t read her intentions.
When no answer came, the blue eyes that had been fixed on the book’s text turned back to Jeremiah. Only then did he lower his gaze and respond.
“…Do as you wish.”
“Thank you.”
That concluded their conversation. Once Jeremiah gave his approval, Sienna rose from her seat.
Gathering the books on hygiene and history she had been reading, she didn’t forget to pay proper respect to the King. Jeremiah nodded reflexively, but his eyes remained fixed suspiciously on Sienna’s retreating back.
Though he should have felt relieved by her lack of emotional response, her clean-cut attitude seemed more abnormal to him.
****
Despite the fact that the distance from the Imperial capital to Parma’s capital wasn’t particularly far when traveling through Ricata—the shortest route connecting them—the Grand Duke arrived in Parma several days later than they had expected.
Though preparations had been made well in advance, when news spread that the Grand Duke had crossed the threshold of the Parma court, an unexpected commotion erupted in the palace.
The King, who had been moving about the court normally until the previous day, suddenly took to his bed, declaring that he wasn’t feeling well and would postpone all scheduled events.
No matter that this wasn’t officially announced to the public—this was a matter personally communicated by the Empress herself.
Strictly speaking, this wasn’t just about discussing business but a meeting with underlying intentions to build friendly relations between the two countries, moving past previous incidents and entering a new phase.
Despite clearly knowing this, the King covered his eyes and ears, feigning an obvious illness. Even when Lady Kershaw frantically protested by his side, he refused to yield.
He insisted that if his illness were to spread to the Empire’s regent, it would become an even bigger problem—and in the end, it was Lady Kershaw who gave up, exhausted by the King’s stubbornness.
And so, the situation had come to this.
Left with no choice but to attend in the King’s place, Lady Kershaw focused all her attention on managing her expression. Since her early teens, she had heard notorious tales of the murderous fiend of the Kralto continent.
Though she didn’t know for certain, in her imagination the Grand Duke was a brutish man. Someone monstrous, capable of crushing an enemy commander’s neck with a mere squeeze of his hand.
So, when the door finally opened and the man entered, Lady Kershaw, already tense, froze for an entirely different reason.
What appeared before her was not a red-skinned, brutish giant, but a slender, handsome man with golden hair.
When their eyes met, he gave a slight nod. Yet in that brief moment, the gray eyes revealed no trace of human emotion.
While momentarily captivated by the man’s beauty, she then found it even more chilling to imagine this face mercilessly killing people.
Inwardly shuddering, she outwardly forced a smile and maintained impeccable courtesy.
“The King is unwell, so I’m here on his behalf.”
“He must be quite ill to be unable to move.”
Though the tone was without malice, for a moment Lady Kershaw wondered if the man was mocking her.
After all, the current situation could certainly be interpreted in a strange light.
Kershaw avoided answering and vaguely examined the documents. While pondering an appropriate subject to change the topic, she suddenly recalled what the King had said that morning, stretching with a yawn:
[It’s probably nothing important anyway, so just send him to the estate owner. Aren’t there plenty of empty rooms in the capital residence?]
Lady Kershaw blinked glumly.
[What?]
Words she had barely registered then due to her anger now suddenly made sense.
The King’s absence from this meeting was clearly intentional. But why?
If it was truly as she suspected—to make the Princess and the Grand Duke confront each other—she was genuinely curious about his motives. Wasn’t this meddling going too far?
Even as she pondered this, she concluded that it wasn’t her place to judge the King’s thoughts.
“As I mentioned, since the King is unable to attend, I wonder if it might be better for you to stay at the central city residence where distinguished guests usually lodge, rather than at the royal palace. That would be better for avoiding the attention of others.”
That much made sense. Staying at the royal palace might inadvertently draw the eyes of others.
Declan’s gaze quietly swept across the interior of the reception room.
The scenery was nothing special. The only noteworthy point was that the person before him was not the King.
Yet why did the atmosphere feel somewhat chaotic?
The fact that Jeremiah, who was never careless about official matters, didn’t show even a strand of hair at this meeting felt suspicious—too suspicious to dismiss as merely being overly vigilant on his part.
****
After the brief audience ended, Lady Kershaw headed to Jeremiah’s quarters with suspicions close to certainty.
Sure enough, the King appeared completely at ease, making his earlier commotion seem ridiculous.
He sat peacefully by the palace pond with a fishing rod cast into the water, showing no sign of illness whatsoever.
The fishing rod trembled as something took the bait, but Jeremiah seemed to have no intention of pulling it in.
Approaching the King, Lady Kershaw narrowed her eyes at him. As Jeremiah continued staring blankly at his fishing rod without showing any interest, Lady Kershaw spoke with increasing suspicion.
“I simply cannot understand the current situation, Your Majesty.”
Only then did his vacant gaze slowly turn toward her. After acknowledging her presence, his dazed expression returned to the pond.
“I’m not in the mood to argue with you today…”
“I thought Your Majesty had feelings for the Princess.”
Cutting off his words abruptly, Jeremiah’s face subtly hardened. The change in his expression was minimal, but not to her eyes, which had observed him for many years.
Sienna seemed to regard Jeremiah as merely an ordinary friend, but… well.
From Lady Kershaw’s perspective, Jeremiah’s side could hardly be described as pure friendship. She knew this from having observed him closely for a long time, and it was also partly instinctual.
He was naturally warm-hearted by nature, which had often earned him criticism from Lord Philip, but when it came to Sienna, his feelings seemed to exceed those boundaries considerably.
“…It’s not like I’m doing this because I want to,” Jeremiah said with a hint of irritation in his voice.
But there was no point in denying it now. It was an undeniable fact that Jeremiah had, albeit briefly, harbored personal feelings for her.
Looking back, it had clearly begun as curiosity. A woman who might have become his wife. But a woman who ultimately turned their promise to nothing.
While there had been some resentment, the truth was that her existence had always intrigued him.
‘But what good would that do?’
Even though the Princess wasn’t as evil as he had heard, and even though breaking their promise hadn’t been her choice.
Sienna’s gaze had been persistently fixed in one direction. While pretending to be uninterested in people, her eyes always returned to the man standing tall in the center of the crowd—it was impossible not to notice.
He thought the man didn’t suit her.
However, the Grand Duke of the Empire was truly a man of exquisite appearance. Though his magnolia-like beauty was contrasted by a sharp aura that put Jeremiah on guard, it seemed that women found even that aspect captivating.
Was the Princess any different?
Even if there was something subtle about it that made it difficult to see as simple affection—even if it had a tinge of melancholy—the essence of the emotion was clear.
So his resignation had come quickly as well.
Jeremiah had given up without even making a proper attempt. Yet, after Sienna decided to side with Parma, he couldn’t help but maintain an optimistic outlook.
That had been the case until just a few days ago. The burgeoning feelings were completely uprooted by a single remark that the healer who had examined her had casually mentioned to him.
Thank you very much