“Why do you keep following me?”
At the familiar voice, Declan’s gaze shifted from the will towards the window.
“Our paths merely overlap. This is my way back to my quarters. If you’re uncomfortable, Your Highness should be the one to leave.”
His gaze, which had been directed at Sienna, soon moved to the man standing beside her.
He was a delicate-looking man. Judging by his Parma attire, it wasn’t difficult to identify who he was.
As Declan stared blankly out the window, the Baron called out to him carefully.
“Um…Your Grace.”
Only then did Declan turn away from the window.
“If you’re done with your questions for me, I wonder if I might leave now. Since I haven’t been able to complete any work today… I can’t afford to waste more time.”
Declan, who had been staring at him with an uncharacteristically vacant expression, belatedly lowered his gaze to the will in his hand.
When he suddenly let out a hollow laugh, the Baron sitting across from him flinched. Worried he might have made a mistake, his mouth went dry.
Declan himself was unaware of what expression he was wearing. He placed the stack of documents on the desk almost throwing them down, and spoke irritably.
“Thank you for your time despite being busy. Thanks to your cooperation, things should proceed smoothly.”
“Yes… please call on me anytime if there’s anything I can help with, Your Grace.”
As the Baron gave an awkward smile, Declan lifted the corners of his mouth in response.
As soon as he was dismissed, the Baron hurriedly gathered his documents and left the Grand Duke’s office. Only after the door firmly closed did he let out a long breath.
‘Such a difficult man, as always.’
The Baron glanced back at the office door, shuddered his shoulders as if in exasperation, and walked down the corridor with quick steps.
Declan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.
The Baron, who had been put forward by Joseph to announce the will, didn’t have the nerve to orchestrate something like this. Moreover, he had no motive. Though he had risen from a lower nobleman to become the Imperial legal specialist through his intelligence alone, he was far from ambitious.
And the same was true for the chamberlain. While the chamberlain was certainly diligent and loyal, he wasn’t the type to boldly tamper with a will.
Declan put a cigar in his mouth with a tired expression.
‘If the announced contents are false, the manipulated parts would be obvious.’
The thing Emperor Joseph wanted to avoid even if it meant altering his father’s will. And the particularly suspicious part of the will.
The part that differed from the original was most likely the inheritance that should have been distributed to Sienna.
If it was worth forging the will, it couldn’t have been simple property like Marianne’s or Dahlia’s.
If it had been merely about inheriting a castle or villa, Joseph wouldn’t have taken such a risky measure. Even for the Emperor, tampering with his father’s will would have entailed considerable risk.
The reason he manipulated the will despite all these risks must have been because there was something that could interfere with his succession to power.
Whether it concerned the imperial throne or was limited to Ricata was unclear, but with this assumption, Joseph’s actions made perfect sense.
Calling his half-sister from the northern frontier to the capital only to send her away as a figurehead queen of another country was ultimately a plan to completely remove Sienna from his sight.
So that she would leave the empire forever without knowing about the existence of the real will. The attempt to eliminate those who possessed another copy of the will was also for this reason.
Declan leaned back in his chair and looked out the window again.
He had two paths before him.
Whether to side with the Emperor or stand against him. Perhaps the outcome was already determined, regardless of taking sides. And the same went for his choice.
Though the two had already disappeared, Declan’s gaze remained fixed in the direction where Sienna had been.
Hadn’t it always been this way?
When it came to matters concerning her, he had never once followed reason.
****
The training that began at noon as usual was somewhat disorderly. This was because the Grand Duke, who normally only observed, directly participated in today’s training.
However, the problem was that his participation went beyond merely being a moderate sparring partner.
As the last soldier fell, he tossed the wooden sword to the ground. Even after taking down masses of soldiers with just a wooden sword, he remained perfectly fine. He showed no significant signs of fatigue even after facing dozens of opponents.
His brow slightly furrowed as he confirmed there were no more soldiers left to face. With a dissatisfied expression, he said one thing to the instructor standing at the edge.
“They’re all terrible.”
The instructor, with a stiff face, seemed to have much to say. The words that the Grand Duke’s skill was simply too superior nearly reached the tip of his tongue.
But unable to voice it, he simply bowed his head.
“I am ashamed, Your Grace.”
Though it wasn’t spoken aloud, both Gaius and Count Monches watching from the platform seemed to clearly see the instructor’s thoughts. Though unsaid, both men thoroughly understood the sentiment.
Just then, Gaius suddenly nudged the Count’s side. When the Count turned, Gaius gestured somewhere with his eyes. Looking in that direction, they could see a tall man standing there.
He was a pretty-faced young man. His bright golden eyes and the beauty mark at the corner of his eye gave off a somewhat sensual atmosphere.
Count Monches narrowed his eyes and turned back to Gaius.
“Who is he?”
Gaius slightly frowned.
“He’s the Prince of Parma. Don’t you remember he was supposed to come to the training grounds?”
“Ah.”
The Count nodded with a face of sudden realization. Then he frowned.
“Then instead of telling me, shouldn’t you go inform His Grace? What are you doing?”
Despite his previous confidence. At the Count’s rebuke, Gaius avoided the matter and stepped back. As the Count’s frown deepened, he offered an excuse.
“I think it would be better if you went rather than me. His Grace seems to be in a particularly bad mood today…”
In other words, he meant he didn’t want to risk facing the Grand Duke’s displeasure when he was in such a foul mood.
“Still, His Grace holds you in quite high regard.”
Gaius winked. The Count looked at him with exasperation before finally sighing and descending from the platform.
“Your Grace, it seems you need to go up for a moment.”
When Count Monches approached and spoke, Declan turned his head. He could see a man standing on the platform with an imperial servant, arms crossed.
It was him.
The Prince of Parma who had been walking and chatting with Sienna at the imperial palace recently.
Declan slowly began walking. As he stepped up to where the prince was, the servant beside him whispered to the prince.
“Your Highness, this is the Grand Duke of Monferrato, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army.”
As the golden eyes turned directly toward him, Declan slightly bowed his head.
“It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness.”
Instead of returning the greeting, Jeremiah continued to stare at him expressionlessly with his arms crossed. The servant standing nearby was flustered by his arrogant and rude attitude.
“Well, um…”
But even if he was a prince from a powerless kingdom, a mere servant couldn’t dare tell him to mind his manners. The servant looked at Declan with an anxious expression, but Declan’s face showed no particular sign of displeasure.
After staring at him expressionlessly for a while, Jeremiah suddenly smiled.
“I’ve heard rumors that the hero of the continent is an exceptionally beautiful man, and I see they weren’t exaggerated.”
Then he turned and briefly surveyed the direction where the soldiers were.
“It seems I might be interrupting while you’re in the midst of training.”
“Not at all,” Declan replied curtly. Though he was clearly being polite, there was an unmistakable impression of indifference. Jeremiah looked at Declan with a dry smile.
The reason he had told the Emperor he wanted to see the imperial army’s training was purely out of curiosity about this man.
While the Grand Duke was certainly a hero to the Empire, conversely, he was an object of fear to kingdoms outside the Empire. Jeremiah’s homeland, Parma, was no exception.
What did the murderous maniac who had commanded all of Kralto look like? What kind of voice did he have? He had always wondered.
He had heard all sorts of rumors – that he was such a stunning beauty he might be the Sun God descended to earth, that he was a monster with four arms. Despite hearing all kinds of rumors, it had been hard to imagine.
Somehow, it hadn’t seemed possible that the mass murderer who had terrorized the continent could be human like himself.
Yet face to face, he was just an ordinary human. Though he was indeed a rare beauty as rumored, what Jeremiah had really been curious about wasn’t the man’s looks.
“In that case, might you indulge my humble shooting skills?”
At this unexpected request, the servant responded instead of the prince with an uncomfortable expression.
“Um, Your Highness. It would be problematic to do this during training.”
“Ah, was that too unreasonable a request?”
Jeremiah’s eyes drooped.
“I was just curious. Surely your lofty reputation wasn’t created for nothing – I wondered just how exceptional your skills must be to cause such a commotion among everyone.”
The somehow sneering tone was so blatant that everyone present could feel it.
He slightly shrugged his shoulders with a regretful expression.
“I apologize if I was out of line.”
“How could that be possible, Your Highness?”
Declan said with a bright smile. Though his lips drew a clear arc, his eyes weren’t smiling at all.
He ordered the Count standing beside him.
“Bring the guns.”
