Chapter 21

“Uh……”

I had not expected him to ask so directly.

If possible, I had wanted to avoid this subject entirely. Before I realized it, I had already averted my eyes.

Of course, at first I had suspected it.

I wondered whether Vincent was manipulating House Paneschula from behind the scenes and spreading all these rumors through them.

I had even considered the possibility that the countless scandals surrounding Lucian had been fabricated for the same reason.

“Until I heard Your Highness speak on the terrace, I thought that might truly be the case. Even now, I suppose it’s still possible… Though if I answer like this, does that make me guilty of treason as well?”

“Ah, at the moment I’m not a prince but merely a passing Sword Master, so speak comfortably.”

Honestly, that was ridiculous.

Without realizing it, I let out a small laugh before continuing.

“Yes, anyway… after hearing Your Highness speak on the terrace, I began to think that possibility was less likely.”

“Why?”

“Because the justification Lady Paneschula presented to the Crown Prince was concern for Your Highness’s health.”

The claim that Lucian’s health might be endangered.

The fact that such reasoning influenced Vincent’s decision.

Whether it stemmed from political calculation—thinking Lucian still had value—or simply the minimal affection and courtesy owed between brothers, it ultimately meant only one thing.

Vincent had no intention of directly harming Lucian.

If anything, he seemed closer to trying to protect him.

“I also don’t believe my brother is behind it. Paneschula may support him, but supporting someone and swearing loyalty are entirely different things.”

I had expected him to feel troubled.

Instead, Lucian accepted my opinion far more easily than anticipated.

If anything, he seemed rather pleased that I had deduced this much on my own.

“Now it’s my turn to ask a question. How exactly did Your Highness discover all this?”

“Simple. I merely asked my brother. I asked him why House Ginevra hadn’t received an invitation this year.”

The answer sounded absurdly simple.

But I knew the reality behind it was anything but simple.

“Your Highness asked him personally?”

“Well, I couldn’t exactly send Haston to do it.”

“And the Crown Prince answered you?”

“Quite willingly.”

“And Your Highness trusted his answer completely.”

“Without the slightest doubt.”

“And in the end…”

“Lillian Paneschula panicked and confessed almost immediately. She even admitted to kidnapping and hiding the servant midway through the scheme.”

I was happy my guess had been correct, though I wondered whether it truly deserved such an approving expression from him.

“There must be some history between the two of you that I do not know.”

“Probably.”

“Will there ever come a day when I can hear that story as well?”

“Is this a question necessary for our political alliance?”

Lucian lowered his head slightly toward me as he asked.

The distance between us suddenly shortened, and his silver hair glowed white beneath the moonlight. The eyes that had long been hidden beneath blue magic slowly returned to crimson.

“Your Highness.”

“I know. There are no human presences nearby, so I released the spell for a moment. There’s no need to worry. More importantly, my lady, you should answer my question first.”

His eyes were strangely mesmerizing.

So much so that I kept forgetting the topic of conversation entirely while staring into them.

“It’s simply curiosity. I just want to know more about Your Highness. It has nothing to do with our alliance.”

“Then is this friendship?”

“If we must define it… perhaps it’s closer to that?”

“For us to become truly close companions, I suspect we still have a long road ahead.”

Lucian teased me by repeating the words I had spoken earlier on the terrace.

“And that statement was also deliberately made to create rumors, wasn’t it?”

“To some extent, yes. If society starts believing Hayley Ginevra and Flotie Rosena are extremely close, the noble circles will descend into chaos.”

“If the Empire begins believing Lucian Edvain and Flotie Rosena are extremely close, then the entire Empire would fall into chaos.”

Trading jokes back and forth, both of us burst into laughter at nearly the same time.

* * *

“I’m going to start a rebellion.”

“Unni!”

It was not the Empire or the social circles that exploded first.

It was my sister.

“I already destroyed this Empire once before, so tearing it down a second time won’t be difficult. Tie, you don’t need to worry about anything. Your unni will handle everything herself.”

“The fact that you keep saying things like that is exactly the source of every problem!”

How on earth had things become like this?

After the auction incident, the capital remained chaotic for quite some time while everyone dealt with the aftermath of Lillian Paneschula’s actions.

House Delphoi intended to bring Lillian Paneschula to court for attempting to stain their family honor with scandal.

‘A knight who pledged his life to one woman and personally chose his own lord deserves no such disgrace! Regardless of the reason, this cannot be forgiven!’

To be honest, I had been slightly curious.

Why had Lillian become so obsessed with Jade Delphoi that she tried to separate him and Hayley?

I had considered the faint possibility that perhaps she truly loved him.

But the truth was utterly pathetic.

‘That arrogant man refused to escort me at the ball. Every other man there was waiting desperately for the chance to take my hand.’

Lillian had apparently never intended to marry Jade in the first place.

If she managed to break Jade and Hayley’s engagement, she planned to use various pretexts to ruin Jade’s reputation and drive him away entirely.

And in order to preserve his honor, he likely would have taken his own life.

Even until the very end, Lillian’s furious face remained that of someone who understood absolutely nothing.

‘Father! Why must I go to a monastery? I truly didn’t do anything wrong! This was something people always do, and besides, no one even died! Father!’

Did she even realize that only the immense power of House Paneschula allowed the matter to end with mere confinement in a monastery after daring to deceive the Crown Prince?

Probably not.

‘Hayley, House Ginevra didn’t take any action against Paneschula in the end.’

‘Yes. Because doing so would not truly lead Lillian toward reflection.’

Hayley answered quietly while watching Lillian depart for the monastery in a shabby carriage.

There was nothing more she could really do anyway.

Even if Lillian’s intentions had been malicious, Hayley herself had not been the one who started comparing herself to Lillian. Nor could she punish every person who had spoken such words.

Still, she said it was enough that she had escaped the false accusations that nearly destroyed her.

‘And thanks to all this, I was able to meet someone as precious as Lady Flotie. If it meant meeting Lady Flotie again, I think I could endure even greater humiliation. That’s how valuable this became to me.’

‘No, if you’d have to endure humiliation like this again, then please just don’t meet me…’

After some compromise, Hayley decided to call me “Lady Flotie.”

Afterward, she and Jade departed for House Ginevra’s villa in the south to finally spend time together alone for the first time in ages.

Jade struggled terribly with leaving his lord behind.

‘Once you return, you’ll be too busy to rest, so while you’re away, finish making all your wedding plans. There are many things that need preparing in advance, so think carefully.’

Only after hearing that did he finally leave, his face flushed bright red.

At last, the matter seemed settled.

Before departing, Hayley insisted on rewarding me for saving House Ginevra by transferring half of her personal share of their mana stone mine profits to me.

She stubbornly refused to accept payment for the mana stones themselves, which left me deeply troubled.

Meanwhile, Serphina unni formally finalized contracts with the Mage Tower regarding magical tools and planned to soon meet with House Violet regarding magical tool distribution.

If the Mage Tower—which openly opposed Vincent—recognized Lucian’s legitimacy, it would become an enormous source of support.

And unni agreed it would be wise to build friendly ties with the Violet family, who possessed extensive knowledge of magical devices.

However, it remained undecided whether they would first approach the sickly Aubrey Violet or the married-out Genesia Violet.

Either way, unni would probably handle it personally.

So I spent my days imagining my sister awkwardly trying to make friends by initiating conversations and acting gentle toward strangers.

And then—

Everything began with a luxurious gift that arrived one morning.

“Tie, a gift arrived for you. I checked it already—there’s no curse or poison whatsoever. In fact… there are traces of divine blessing on it instead.”