I walked straight up to the woman who had just spoken and slapped her as hard as I could.
“Lady Mellin, what are you doing!”
“Lady Mellin, are you alright?”
The princess shouted at me in reprimand while Dertis expressed his concern. But I had no time for pleasantries with the imperial family.
“Do you think you can get away with insulting the head of the Mellin family? And at his sacred wedding, no less?”
“La-Lady Mellin… It was just a mistake. I misspoke without realizing…”
“Mistake? You utter such disgusting words, and now you call it a mistake?”
“That’s not it, I mean, it just came to my mind suddenly because of something a merchant from Mellin’s territory said…”
“So you just repeated what a merchant gossiped about?” I couldn’t help but laugh, though there was nothing funny about the situation.
This woman wasn’t someone I knew well. It was partly because I didn’t socialize much but also because she had her own close circle. She was one of the Princess Diana’s minions. Her role was to spread all sorts of social rumors, using her connection with the princess to shape society’s opinions. In other words, it wasn’t this woman who truly wanted to say those words. It was the princess, who was now pretending to mediate the situation with a serious face.
“I…”
“Apologize. Now.”
“Lady Mellin.”
At that moment, Diana stepped forward, her lips curling into a sly smirk as if she had already achieved her goal. Her twisted smile showed she was barely holding back her amusement.
“I’ve heard those rumors too,” she said.
“Sister! What are you saying?” Dertis protested.
“Oh my, Dertis. You’ve heard it too. The words that Viscount Kainum, the uncle of this lady, said to the crown prince.”
Ah, so that’s how it all connects.
A cynical laugh escaped my lips, more of a sigh than anything. Dertis glanced at me, his expression full of guilt, which only irritated me further. Still, I took a deep breath to calm myself. Getting worked up and fighting over such ridiculous claims would only fuel the rumors. Reacting in anger would give them exactly what they wanted.
“Of course, I trust Lady Mellin completely,” Diana added.
Diana’s goal was probably to humiliate me anyway.
“Thank you for your trust, Your Highness,” I said with a bright smile.
Diana seemed to expect me to cower in fear, but instead, my cheerful smile made her brow twitch.
“However, that doesn’t change the fact this lady insulted the head of the Mellin family. Isn’t that right, Your Highness?” I said, addressing Dertis and deliberately ignoring Diana.
“La-Lady Mellin, I was just—”
The woman practically admitted with her eyes that Diana was behind it all, trembling as she glanced at the princess. Anyone with sense could see what her gaze meant.
“What do you plan to do, Lady Mellin?” Dertis asked.
“What else? To restore my family’s honor, I may have to request a territorial battle with the imperial family’s permission.”
Territorial battles were an outdated custom, practically obsolete. The last one had taken place over 200 years ago.
“Of course I’ll request it from His Majesty, but I thought it would be better with the support of a member from the imperial family, so I’m telling you in advance,” I said, smiling brightly.
Dertis’s eyes widened, and then, like Kasion often did, he wrinkled his nose.
“Hmm, I see no reason to oppose it.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
As soon as Dertis gave his approval, I turned back to Diana, still smiling.
“What do you think, Princess?”
“…”
“Surely, you wouldn’t pretend not to know the insult to the Mellin family, would you?”
I had no real intention of starting a territorial battle. My family had only enough knights to protect our merchant guild, though we could afford to hire mercenaries. But smaller families didn’t even have that much. Still, there was a reason for my threat. Serhen always said, and Kasion agreed: to catch a real enemy, go after their lackeys first. Make them run to their master.
“Your Highness, please!” the lady begged immediately, proving Kasion and my brother’s advice had been right.
If I had known it would be this easy, I might have gotten more involved in high society. I think I could handle being a fighter after all.
“You know it’s not my fault, right, Your Highness?” the lady pleaded with Diana. That was practically an indirect confession.
I narrowed my eyes, looking back and forth between the lady and Diana. Dian bit her lip, realizing she had underestimated me. I could tell she hadn’t expected someone she thought was a social novice to react this way.
“The emperor values peace, and so does the crown prince. So perhaps it would be better to just apologize,” Diana suggested, trying to regain control.
“An apology won’t be enough. I intend to demand compensation to prove my innocence.”
“I agree, Ariel,” Kasion said as he approached, parting the crowd and taking his place beside me. With little effort, he nudged Dertis aside, leaving him looking rather helpless, pushed around by both his sibling and Kasion.
As I looked at Dertis with a pang of sympathy, Kasion stepped in, blocking my view.
“Since His Majesty himself acknowledged the marquis and her as my people, if they’re being insulted, the duke’s house will join the territorial battle.”
To an ordinary noble family, such a declaration was akin to a death sentence. Immediately, the lady’s husband rushed over and fell to his knees.
“P-Please forgive us. My wife was only following the princess’s orders!”
* * *
Kasion, Serhen, and the three imperial siblings gathered in the large meeting room provided by the temple. Aenix, the crown prince, had drunk far more champagne than Serhen, his face flushed red as if he were the star of this celebration. He glared sharply at Diana, who had caused the mess.
“Marquis, it seems Diana made a mistake…”
“Your Highness, there’s no need to defend her,” Kasion growled.
“We will proceed according to the emperor’s decree.”
Aenix’s lips twisted. He glanced at Dertis, silently urging him to do something.
“It’s true that my sister spread unfounded rumors and disgraced the marquis’s family. It will be hard to clear her of guilt.”
“That may be, but Lady Mellin’s behavior must have been questionable to cause such rumors,” Aenix retorted.
Diana quickly chimed in. “T-That’s right, Brother! You saw the marks on her skin, didn’t you?”
“Your Highness!” Serhen shot up from his seat.
But Aenix continued, his smirk widening as he looked at Kasion. “I treated her like a noble lady, but who knew she was such a woman? I could have called her into my cage anyti—”
Before he could finish, a dagger landed right in front of his nose. Kasion had thrown it.
“Y-You dare throw a dagger at me! Is this a treason, Duke? Do you intend to break your oath?”
“Treason is only committed when one kills the emperor.” Kasion’s voice was devoid of emotion. He didn’t sound particularly angry or menacing, but his tone was chilling, like a sudden splash of ice water down the spine. “And if I had broken the oath, I’d already be dead.”
That’s why he told them to study before. This foolish crown prince had no idea how to properly wield the power of the Pertelian oath, not realizing the strength flowing through his blood and heart.
Kasion offered the crown prince a cold, humorless smile. “So, if you intend to torment my people again, be prepared to face me in a duel.”
Kasion stood up, and Serhen followed. He glanced at Dertis and shook his head in disappointment.
“I’ll formally protest to the emperor.”
As soon as the two men left, Aenix grabbed a glass and hurled it at Diana. The glass flew toward her forehead.
“You fool. How dare you eavesdrop on my conversation and mess things up?”
However, Dertis intercepted it, taking the blow himself. Blood dripped from his forehead.
“Calm down, Your Highness.”
“You’re just as useless as she is,” Aenix spat, calling for one of his attendants—a man sent by the Bayonne family, Dertis’s maternal grandfather. Seeing the blood on his master grandson’s forehead, the old man flinched.
“Is everything in place?” Aenix asked.
“Yes, as planned.”
“Good. Make sure it’s discovered tomorrow morning near the duke’s estate.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Once the attendant left, Aenix turned to Diana. “If you mess up my plans again, I won’t let you off.” With that, Aenix dragged Dertis out of the room.
Left alone, Diana trembled, her clenched hands bleeding slightly. “I need to have the duke,” she muttered. It wasn’t that she particularly liked him, but she knew she needed him. His actions had only confirmed it today.
The result of her dedication to studying the Pertelian pact at Kasion’s harsh advice was clear. Kasion was the only one who could protect her from the ruthless crown prince, the only one who could help her take the throne. But she couldn’t target Lady Mellin directly again. That would only backfire, as it had today.
“Yes, I need to make that woman leave him on her own.”
Diana had overheard something in the lounge earlier. She knew what that foolish woman was worried about. So, she would have to use that against her.
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