Still, as if he had no intention of eating, Declan continued to watch the food with his arms crossed, simply staring at it.
Sienna picked up her fork again with a resigned expression. As she started eating fruit again, he slowly picked up his cutlery.
Without saying anything, he began neatly cutting his cutlet with his knife. Only after cutting it into uniform pieces did he put one in his mouth. Even the act of eating a piece of meat was full of grace.
After finishing one of the three cutlets, he suddenly spoke.
“To help Your Highness, we should have no secrets between us.”
Sienna looked up at this unexpected comment. He had been watching her for who knows how long, and now fixed her with a direct gaze as he asked:
“Are you hiding anything from me?”
“…What do you mean, hiding something?”
When she asked back with a puzzled expression, Declan twisted his lips in a mocking smile. Then he took something out from his breast pocket and held it out in front of her. As Sienna looked down at it without thinking, she unconsciously held her breath.
“You could have chosen a more convincing pen name.”
“…..”
“Perhaps it’s for the best that I discovered this.”
Declan said mockingly.
What he held out before Sienna was none other than the letter she had sent to Jeremiah.
The sender’s name read Anne Yenolam. It was a pen name she had confidently scrawled, thinking no one would figure it out.
Even though it was merely her first and last name spelled backwards, she had chosen it thinking that even if the letter was inspected, who would pay attention to the spelling of a name?
Her mind went blank with shock. How did he find this? How did he figure out it was her? Such questions were meaningless now.
Suppressing her internal turmoil, Sienna tried to explain.
“It’s not that I didn’t trust you, I just wasn’t certain yet.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
Declan let out a bitter laugh.
Truth be told, the letter itself wasn’t a problem. She had apparently been careful, as there wasn’t anything particularly problematic in its contents, and the pen name itself wasn’t conspicuous. If it had successfully left the Grand Duke’s residence, it likely would have passed the border inspection smoothly.
The problem was that she had kept secret from him until the end the fact that she was in communication with Jeremiah of Parma.
Here she was, demanding his life as collateral while secretly corresponding with another man. This was far from fair.
Nevertheless, he had initially waited for her to tell him herself. He understood it wouldn’t be easy to speak openly about corresponding this way with a foreign king.
He thought that since he had shown all his cards, she would likewise keep faith with him. But as Sienna’s silence lengthened, his patience rapidly wore thin.
“If I had ulterior motives, I would have already informed the Emperor about Your Highness having intimate meetings in bedrooms with Parma’s royalty.”
Caught off guard, Sienna couldn’t say anything. He twisted his lips in apparent derision.
“And that’s not all. I haven’t told anyone about the outrageous claim of your engagement to the Prince of Parma, but is that still not enough to prove my loyalty?”
His calm, measured words carried a subtle sharpness. After silently glaring at the paper held before her, Sienna looked up at him.
“There was nothing worth hiding. They weren’t particularly significant matters.”
Sienna raised her chin as if in defiance.
“Since we’re on the subject, let me be clear – my meeting with Jeremiah was simply to discuss my father’s will, nothing personal. It was no different from meeting with you now.”
“You’re saying a foreign prince knew about a will that can’t even be found within the Empire?”
Despite his sarcastic tone, Sienna firmly maintained her position.
“He says my father commanded him to marry me before he died. I suppose he thought that would be the smoothest way to pass Ricata to me.”
Declan frowned harshly.
“And you believe that?”
“I have to believe it because there was definitive proof. Jeremiah had my father’s personal effects.”
Though she was simply stating facts, Declan’s expression grew increasingly severe. Finally, a laugh closer to a sneer escaped his lips. His eyes turned to her with a slanted look.
“Then please allow me to join in your grand plans as well.”
At his subtly mocking tone, Sienna slightly raised her eyebrows. Declan’s face returned to its humorless state as he continued.
“To be frank, Your Highness and the King of Parma have extremely low odds of success. Moreover, if it becomes known that the King of Parma is actively involved, in the worst case, it could escalate into a major war.”
“I plan to avoid that direction as much as possible. But as you know… that depends on Joseph’s mindset.”
“Then all the more reason my presence would be helpful to Your Highness.”
Sienna looked at him, but when she met his serious gaze, she quickly averted her eyes again.
“That’s all in the past. I remember already giving you my answer.”
“You still don’t trust me, do you?”
He added quietly.
“Even though I staked my life.”
Though his words close by were clearly reproaching her, his voice held no edge. As Sienna fell silent, somewhat deflated, Declan got to the main point.
“We don’t have much time. The Emperor will soon find another way to persecute Your Highness, and we need to finish everything before then.”
The sooner the better. After the death of the King of Parma, the Emperor had stopped harassing Sienna and turned his attention to finding a match for the Lady Lowell.
While the situation had become complicated in many ways, the Emperor was equally pressed for time. Right now, he desperately needed every ally he could get.
Therefore, everything needed to be finished before the Emperor’s attention turned back to Sienna.
They needed to find the will, expose the Emperor’s misdeeds for everyone in the Kralto continent to see, and then Sienna needed to head to Parma. Only upon reaching there could she reclaim what she had lost in her previous life.
It would be best to get everything done before next spring arrived.
“The Hunting Festival will be our opportunity.”
The Hunting Festival was the largest annual event hosted by the Imperial family.
In the first month of winter, during the second week, not only the Maloney Imperial family but also the continent’s most prominent nobles gathered at the imperial-owned Sendelk Mountain villa. They would hold a grand eve celebration, and on the hunting day, they would hunt beasts in the mountains from sunrise until sunrise the next day.
The remaining days were spent feasting on the hunted meat and enjoying their exclusive festivities.
While it might seem barbaric in some ways, it had long been the Maloney Imperial family’s method of building strong relationships with the continent’s great nobles.
“Since all influential nobles will gather there, it would be appropriate for exposing Joseph’s wrongdoings.”
Sienna agreed with his words without much doubt. But there was another problem.
“Even so, it’s obvious I won’t be invited.”
“You can accompany me, so don’t worry about that.”
Declan answered as if it were nothing. While he too wasn’t on good terms with the Emperor, being invited to the Hunting Festival was a separate matter from such facts.
Regardless of the Emperor’s feelings, Declan was still the highest-ranking noble in the Empire and held the highest military position, so it was impossible for the Emperor to disregard him.
The Emperor too would know that publicly showing discord with the Grand Duke wouldn’t be good for himself either.
But Sienna’s mind was caught on something else.
As he said, while it was possible to participate by accompanying someone who received an invitation, that was generally limited to specific cases.
For instance, being blood relatives, or being engaged…
When that thought occurred to her, their eyes met. Feeling her face flush, Sienna deeply despised herself.
“Moreover, it’s appropriate for preparing for any contingency. If the Emperor acknowledges it peacefully, there won’t be a problem, but if he tries to use this to attack Your Highness, we’ll need to escape immediately.”
Sienna took a deep breath at his following words.
“Escape…? Are you suggesting I go straight to Parma?”
“Wouldn’t heading straight to Parma be better than remaining in the Empire? You just said it yourself earlier. Whether this ends peacefully depends on the Emperor’s mood.”
Declan looked at her as if this should be obvious.
“And I thought we had no disagreement about the prospect that the Emperor won’t leave Your Highness alone.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
“There is no legal way to reach Parma, Your Highness.”
Though it was a reasonable argument, Sienna simply stared at him instead of nodding. Her blue eyes showed undisguised uncertainty.
“…What about the soldiers guarding the border?”
Behind the Sendelk villa where the Hunting Festival was held, massive mountains rose layer upon layer. Beyond them lay the territory of Ricata, and continuing east would lead to Parma.
Even if they were lucky enough to cross the Sendelk mountains and enter the closed-off land, they would eventually have to face the border fortified like an iron fortress.
