“When are we leaving again?”
“Early in the morning! You said you already paid your respects to Her Majesty the Empress, right?”
“Yeah. I also met with the Crown Prince and His Highness the Prince in advance.”
“If there’s no one else to say goodbye to, then we can leave right away! That way, we’ll reach the territory before it gets too late!”
Letier slowly nodded.
So it’s tomorrow… the return I had longed for so much…
“Aren’t you excited? We’ll be in the carriage for a long time tomorrow, so you should get some sleep!”
Lucy, sounding more excited than Letier herself, walked to the door and dimmed the main lights for the night.
Darkness quickly settled over the spacious room.
In the silence, only Lucy’s light footsteps could be heard as she quietly moved back to her place—and then even that sound disappeared.
‘…Excited?’
Letier blinked quietly in the pitch-black room.
From the moment she arrived at the imperial palace, she had been counting the days until she could return to the Lenever territory.
But at some point, she’d long forgotten about that wish.
Honestly, ever since His Highness mentioned the Kingdom of Eustian, her mind had been so wrapped up in that she nearly forgot tomorrow was the day she was leaving…
She let out a small sigh.
She felt… disappointed.
And she couldn’t understand why she felt that way at all.
Why her heart kept drifting toward the Kingdom of Eustian—the place the prince had said he was going…
****
“This is going more smoothly than I expected.”
“She probably didn’t think I’d speak up at the council meeting.”
Dante leaned back in his office chair, flipping through a thick report as he spoke.
Standing across the desk, Reuter wore a slightly uneasy expression.
Seeing his face over the top of the report, Dante spoke again.
“For the renegotiation of the alliance terms, royalty from both countries must be present. But with my father bedridden like that, the Empress can’t leave her post, and between Aiden and me, I’m the one who should go.”
“That’s true… especially since he is in the Kingdom of Eustian.”
At Reuter’s comment, Dante frowned slightly and flipped another page.
“Still, things are going too smoothly. That’s what’s suspicious. Could they have already made contact with Eustian behind the scenes…?”
“I’ve considered that too. But we can’t delay any longer. They’ve probably already received the goods and are waiting for us.”
“That may be so, but…”
Reuter bit his lower lip, frowning.
This visit to the Kingdom of Eustian had been something Dante had spent years preparing for.
It wasn’t something they could cancel now. Still, now that His Highness had even removed his mask, they needed to proceed with extra care and caution—there was no question about that.
“They probably don’t know that we’re aware the Empress is originally from the Kingdom of Eustian.”
“But they might have noticed that a negotiation is in the works.”
“As I said before, even if she suspects something, she can’t act openly. And officially, we’re going for a negotiation to amend the alliance terms. Frequent meetings for that reason aren’t strange.”
“…Still, please be careful.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Dante swept his tousled hair back and lifted his gaze.
He glanced at Reuter out of the corner of his eye and said,
“You’re from the Kingdom of Eustian too, aren’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Are you really okay not going this time?”
“I think it’s better for me to stay here and monitor the situation from this side.”
Reuter answered firmly.
“In that case.”
Dante nodded and looked back down at the documents.
Truthfully, it made him feel better to leave at least one trustworthy person behind in the palace.
“When you go, please treat him well.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“I mean be proper. Strange rumors have already started circulating.”
“Strange rumors?”
Dante lowered the stack of papers slightly at Reuter’s nagging.
What kind of rumors?
Even after removing the mask, was he still doomed to deal with gossip?
Reuter hesitated, unsure whether to bring it up—but then he seemed to make up his mind and spoke.
“…There’s a rumor going around that Your Highness and the Lady who was in charge of your skin treatment are closer than expected.”
“Really?”
“Really? That’s not the point! This baseless rumor is even more dangerous for the Lady than for you!”
“Why?”
Dante asked.
“What do you mean why? Lady Letier is going to have to find someone to marry once she returns home! What kind of disaster is it if she comes to the palace and ends up caught in a scandal like this? She’s being dragged into something she never even imagined!”
Marriage…? Scandal…?
His blank stare slowly twisted into a deep scowl.
“Reuter.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you think calling it a ‘scandal’ is a bit much? Why would being associated with the prince be considered a scandal?”
“…”
Reuter said nothing.
A rebuttal that said How could a pure, unmarried young noblewoman be tied to a prince who already has a fiancée and not call that a scandal? rose all the way to his throat—but he barely held it in.
“…I misspoke. My apologies.”
“Good.”
Dante nodded calmly.
He picked up the thick report again, but not even a minute passed before he suddenly threw it into the air.
He scowled fiercely at Reuter.
“The more I think about it, the more it annoys me. Why is that a scandal?”
“Excuse me? I said I was sorry…”
“And what? Marriage? Letier said that?”
“Pardon?”
“She said she’s going to find someone to marry when she gets back?”
Reuter finally realized which part had struck a nerve.
He began to stammer, thinking to himself that perhaps the rumors weren’t so baseless after all.
“O-of course! Lady Letier is at the age where marriage is expected!”
“She’s still young.”
“She may not get married right away, but at the very least, she’ll probably get engaged. Didn’t Your Highness get engaged at an even younger age?”
“What a pointless thing… an engagement with no meaning.”
Dante clenched his fist on the desk as he muttered bitterly.
Reuter flinched and glanced around the office as if worried someone might have overheard.
“Please don’t say things like that! His Majesty the Emperor personally arranged that precious match!”
“…”
At the mention of the bedridden Emperor, the tension in Dante’s clenched fist slowly eased.
Noticing it, Reuter quickly began to think.
He decided to test his theory—to see if it was true.
He cleared his throat and looked at Dante’s face before speaking slowly.
“…At the last banquet, there were quite a few nobles and young heirs who took an interest in Lady Letier. Once she returns to the Lenever duchy, I’m sure she’ll be greeted by a pile of marriage proposals.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Dante clicked his tongue and shook his head.
Reuter, seeing that stronger reactions worked, pushed a little further.
“Why not? Lady Letier is someone anyone would take notice of. She comes from a great family, she’s beautiful, well-mannered, calm—”
“…”
Dante scowled, silent.
Everything Reuter said was true.
And perhaps that’s what made it more irritating.
“I’ve heard that Sir Kalline in particular has taken a liking to Lady Letier. Count Coild’s only son even spoke to her directly in the hallway, and Sir Denien from the Lutrien territory is reportedly planning a visit to the Lenever duchy soon—”
“Get out.”
“…Pardon?”
“I said get out. Enough with the useless talk. You said you need to finish these reports by tomorrow. You’re distracting me—get out.”
Reuter stared, speechless, at the prince’s glare.
The look in his eyes clearly meant Do you want me to say it again?
His red eyes practically sparked with fury.
“…Understood. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
As he walked slowly toward the office door, Reuter shut his eyes tight.
He was doomed.
Our prince really does like Lady Letier…
****
The next morning, Letier woke up at dawn, nudged awake by Lucy, and rubbed her sleepy eyes as she finished getting ready to leave.
“Lucy, what time is it? Why are we in such a hurry?”
“There’s nothing more for you to do at the palace anyway. We need to hurry back and check on the Lenever estate’s first cosmetics shop. I got a letter a few days ago saying there’s been an issue with inventory management.”
Letier didn’t have anything to say to that.
She threw on a thick robe and stepped out into the chilly morning air, heading toward the carriage parked at the palace gates.
The carriage, bearing the Lenever family crest, was already loaded with luggage.
So fast and thoroughly prepared, as always…
“Hurry and get in!”
Lucy urged as she finished loading the remaining bags.
Before climbing into the carriage, Letier looked back one last time at the massive palace building.
Thanks to the past two months of walking around non-stop, she could now easily spot which of the many buildings and windows belonged to the prince’s office.
“Did you forget something, Lady Letier?”
Efron asked as he tucked a soft blanket into the carriage.
“No.”
Letier shook her head and climbed in.
Once she was seated, Efron closed the carriage door firmly.
It instantly became quiet, though outside there were still muffled sounds as the departure preparations continued.
“Phew…”
Facing a long journey, Letier let out a sigh and leaned back comfortably into her seat.
There would be no reason to return to the palace again.
The past two months felt both like a long chapter and like a short dream.
“We’re departing!”
After a bit of noise, the carriage slowly began to move.
Letier pulled back the curtain slightly and looked out at the palace buildings, growing smaller in the distance.
Once I’m back, I should add a line to the shop wall saying I was the royal palace’s skincare specialist…
And that I eventually succeeded after countless attempts…
Skreee—
Just then, the carriage, which had only just started picking up speed, came to an abrupt stop—before even leaving the palace grounds.
