* * *
Michael, having been granted an audience with the Crown Prince, finished reporting the results of this delegation.
Adrian’s expression as he examined the documents Michael had submitted was, as always, rigid.
A face indifferent to everything, as if he held no interest in anything at all.
“The distance was great, so you must have suffered much in coming and going. Well done, Michael.”
At the Crown Prince’s formal commendation, Michael bowed his head.
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
“By the way, if you returned today, you could have rested for a day before reporting.”
Michael was somewhat surprised by Adrian’s behavior—words he would never have said under normal circumstances.
Normally, Adrian would have said, “Then you may go,” the moment business was concluded and sent him straight out of the office. Why was he acting like this all of a sudden?
Michael quickly regained his composure and looked at the Crown Prince.
“I find it more settling to rest after finishing my report.”
“I see. Then you may go.”
Michael gave his respects and headed for the door, feeling puzzled.
The time he had spent leading the delegation abroad was only about five months.
In that short time, the Crown Prince had changed from before. At first, he hadn’t noticed the difference, but upon careful observation, he could detect subtle changes.
For instance, during conversation, he would very briefly drift into other thoughts. Or he would check the other person’s expression.
They were changes that had not existed before.
Michael suddenly turned his head and looked at the Crown Prince. Even as Adrian looked down at the documents, he was frowning relentlessly.
As if something was not going well.
Michael turned back to face forward and slipped out of the office.
If Gabriel found out, there would be quite an uproar.
That was Michael’s brief impression of the Crown Prince’s change.
* * *
“Isn’t that just him having fallen for someone?”
Marie responded lightly. Adrian’s expression crumpled miserably.
Fallen for someone? Say something that makes sense so I can go, ‘Ah, I see,’ and accept it.
At Adrian’s gaze, which immediately looked at her as if she were insane, Marie shrugged and elegantly set down her teacup.
He had come to pay his respects to the Empress and happened to run into Marie, and was now having an unscheduled teatime with her.
I’m an idiot for consulting her. Just as Adrian was shaking his head in exasperation—
Marie asked seriously.
“What is it this time?”
“What?”
At the unexpected question, Adrian retorted reflexively. Marie looked at him as if asking why he was so surprised and added.
“Oppa, whenever you find something you want to have, you mope around and suffer like this. What is it this time? Is it that? The Popfter you tried to raise but it died?”
It was a deeply shocking statement.
It’s not a horse.
I was like that when I wanted a horse? Was I? He tried to recall but nothing particular remained.
Even so, his clouded mind cleared. He felt as though he had regained his senses.
Did I really do that?
“Or what? Is there anything besides horses, oppa, that makes you like this?”
“Just be quiet for a moment.”
“Ah, seriously. Why again!”
He needed time to think. Marie’s voice was interfering with his thoughts.
“Anyway, just give me back my maid, will you? Wow, look at this. The moment maids come up, you ignore me! My maid!”
Whether Marie was throwing a tantrum or not, Adrian grabbed his head and thought deeply.
Fallen for someone? He’d fallen for someone?!
“That’s absurd.”
Me, for that idiot?!
Even now, the memory of that day vividly rose in one corner of his mind like a fantasy.
He had come to Grace Palace to pay his respects, partly because work wasn’t progressing. Adrian’s face crumpled miserably.
“Oh my~. My son, my daughter. What brings you here waiting so obediently for me?”
The Empress, having finished a meeting with officials regarding the construction schedule of a detached palace specially granted by Emperor Carlo for this birthday, looked at the two with a fresh smile.
The two rose to greet the Empress.
“What brings my son, who wouldn’t come even when told to come first, to visit me?”
“It’s nothing like that. I came to pay my respects.”
“Is that so~? Hmm. You’re not here to protest about the party last time?”
The Empress cast a pretty sidelong glance at Adrian as she took her seat.
Even in Ludmila’s eyes, Adrian had been unusually preoccupied with looking after his fiancée that day.
She had been anxious that he might grow up to be a tyrant who knew only himself and cared nothing for those around him, but it seemed she could set that worry aside.
Marie’s eyes went wide.
“Oppa did that?”
“He did. The way he glared at me for bullying his fiancée. Haah, the ancestors’ saying that bearing children is useless is never wrong, Marie.”
“Wow, oppa, that was really mean of you. Well, I suppose. You’re not exactly a filial son on a normal day either.”
‘I knew it,’ Marie looked at Adrian with disdain. At that, Adrian glared at Marie.
“Shut up.”
“Don’t want to.”
Marie stuck out her tongue and promptly attached herself to Ludmila.
The Empress smiled, looking back and forth between them with a gentle expression.
“You two still get along so well.”
“…….”
The two wanted to protest, but swallowed the words they wanted to say.
A maid brought fresh tea. The Empress took a sip of the clear black tea and turned to Marie.
“Why did my daughter come today?”
“Ah, Mother. I want to go outside the imperial palace tomorrow. Please allow it!”
“No.”
“…….”
The Empress, who had answered firmly, elegantly set down her teacup.
“Marie, I understand you want to go out, but right now the capital is especially chaotic. What if something happens to you at a time like this?”
“I’m confident I can go and come back without any problems……!”
“Marie. Do you not remember going out with only your maid and no escort last time?”
Marie hung her head sullenly.
Tomorrow was the day the new work by her favorite author was being released, which was why she wanted to go out, but it seemed her plan was ruined.
“Yes. Try to be more aware of yourself as a princess.”
Adrian, who had been silent, added a word. Sparks flew from Marie’s eyes. That jerk!
Paying her no mind, Adrian serenely drank his tea.
“If you really must go out, how about going with Lady Gabriel?”
At the Empress’s gentle suggestion, unable to bear watching any longer, Marie’s expression stiffened.
Suddenly, her desire to go out vanished completely.
“No. I should live with more awareness as a princess. Right now, the capital is somewhat chaotic because of Mother’s birthday party, so once things settle down a bit more, I’ll go out with an escort knight. You’ll allow it then, won’t you?”
“If that is your opinion, there’s nothing to be done. I’ll permit it then.”
“Thank you, Mother!”
Marie smiled and bowed her head. Empress Ludmila nodded with a somewhat lukewarm expression.
She couldn’t understand why both her son and daughter avoided Gabriel so much. In any case, it didn’t seem they disliked her, so it must simply be that they didn’t get along.
Without thinking deeply about it, the Empress smiled.
“Come to think of it, before I arrived, the two of you seemed to be having a very interesting conversation. What were you talking about?”
At Empress Ludmila’s question, Marie’s eyes sparkled.
“Mother, it seems oppa has become fixated on a new horse again.”
“A new horse?”
“He’s been suffering and writhing all day, tormented by a figure that keeps floating into his mind. It’s definitely about a new horse.”
Empress Ludmila looked at Adrian with a worried expression.
“Adrian, you already have two thousand horses of your own in the stables. A new horse again?”
“It’s not that.”
Adrian replied with an uncomfortable expression. But neither woman believed him.
“From what I can see, he’ll buy it before long. He says he thinks about it all day even when he tries not to? That’s definitely him having fallen for it. Lovesickness.”
“You don’t even ride all those precious horses, do you? And you don’t grant them to anyone either. The cost of maintaining the stables is enormous. Do it in moderation, Adrian.”
“I told you it’s not that.”
Adrian denied it, but the two reacted the same way.
“Oppa, you’ve fallen for it, haven’t you? Tell me. What kind of horse have you fallen for this time?”
“I said no.”
I wish it were a horse. If only it were a horse.
Why, of all things, that idiot woman!
Fallen for someone? Fallen for someone—that’s absurd. Adrian clutched his head in anguish.
“Look at that, look at that. He’s truly experiencing true love. He’ll definitely buy a new horse within the next month.”
“To suffer like that……. He really does love horses excessively, even if he is my son.”
“He doesn’t even ride all of them. It’s a waste, a waste.”
“Still, it’s the only thing Adrian treasures and collects, Marie.”
“Yes, shut up.”
At Empress Ludmila’s defense, Adrian immediately snapped at Marie.
Marie, of course, did not listen. She stuck out her tongue and shook her head at Adrian’s words.
The Empress, watching her children with a pleased expression, gently coaxed and asked.
“Even if you do buy it, what on earth is it this time? Won’t you tell me?”
“I told you it’s not that.”
“What do you mean it’s not, oppa, it really is exactly that.”
The two women nodded.
The more curious gazes turned on him, the more Adrian suffered.
There’s no way I’ve fallen for a woman like that!
This was all because that strange woman was playing the part of his fiancée.
Adrian vowed that upon returning, he would immediately order Terni and Diano to find Essen.
It was important, so he vowed twice.
“I will definitely catch him.”
This was all because Essen had run away.
Once Essen returned, this strange phenomenon would disappear as well.
Of course. Absolutely!
Adrian’s resolve blazed fiercely.
