Chapter 20

“Count Weiss!”

People cried out as if in alarm.

Christine had seized the Empress’s riding crop in mid-swing. The long leather lash whipped savagely around his hand, and blood sprayed from the grip.

“Would you care to explain what’s going on, Your Majesty?”

But he asked it politely, his face utterly composed.

It was the Empress, crop still raised, who went pale with fright before him.

“I was speaking with the Marchioness. It’s none of the Count’s concern.”

“It didn’t look much like speaking to me.”

Christine’s expression stayed indifferent, but his blue-gray eyes had gone cold enough to raise gooseflesh.

Behind him, Zimmer and the dozen-odd men at his back wore the same chilling air. Every one of them was White Ghost Knights — men who, it was said, would throw away their lives without hesitation for the Count’s sake.

“Are you daring to interrogate me right now?”

The Empress shouted, unable to bear the pressure any longer, and —

Snap!

— in the same instant, Christine’s men stepped forward as one and formed a wall in front of her, a warning not to lay a hand on him again.

“Enough. All of you, stand down.”

At Christine’s order, they withdrew without a sound. Even that much had been more than enough to overwhelm the Empress.

“If you’re finished, may I take the Marchioness with me?”

The Empress had no choice but to let Adele go.

“Do be careful. Even the hero of the Empire can be brought down by one cup of that woman’s tea.”

But she did not forget her parting venom.

“I appreciate the concern.”

Christine inclined his head, courteous to the last.

---

“Are you all right? Where’s the palace infirmary? Let’s go there right now.”

The moment they were out of the Empress’s sight, Adele hurried him along.

“Don’t make a fuss. It’s less than a mosquito bite.”

He glanced down at his own hand without much interest and sat down on the edge of a garden flower bed. Zimmer, quick as ever to read the room, had already sent everyone else away.

“Let me see.”

Adele came closer to check his hand and froze in shock.

His broad palm was soaked in blood — it looked less like the mark of the crop and more like a wound he’d already had before this.

“Did you hurt your hand before you came?”

“Sword practice.”

He answered carelessly, as if it were nothing.

“Then why did you step in? It was between me and the Empress.”

Adele looked like she might cry from sheer frustration as she pulled out a handkerchief and wound it around his wound. But she didn’t know — to Christine, this alone had been more than worth stepping in for.

“If I hadn’t, you’d be the one like this right now.”

“Not a chance. I’d have dodged in time.”

“So you’re saying I helped for nothing?”

“Of course I’m grateful you helped. But from now on, I handle things like that myself.”

I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.

Adele swallowed the rest of that thought.

“Speaking of which — this handkerchief is mine. Have you been carrying it around this whole time?”

Christine asked, lifting the handkerchief tied around his hand. It was the one that had bound her injured hand at Madame Hans’s party.

“I was carrying it to give it back.”

Adele answered quickly, making an excuse of it.

“You could have given it to me at home.”

Christine stared at her so intently as he said it that Adele grew flustered. At times like this, his eyes seemed to read straight through to what she was really thinking.

“I forgot. Do you think I spend my days thinking about nothing but returning your handkerchief? I have plenty to do!”

“Then why are you getting so worked up?”

“When did I get worked up!”

The more she protested, the more wickedly Christine grinned.

“Your voice keeps getting louder. And now that I look, your face is turning red too— ow!”

Adele had stomped firmly on his foot.

“What was that for?”

Christine arched an eyebrow, scowling, but Adele gave him a stern warning.

“A warning that I won’t sit still if you keep teasing me!”

He only laughed, at a loss for words.

“You really do have a temper. No wonder you went after the Empress with that kind of nerve.”

“Today was just the first time, so I let my guard down. Next time I won’t get caught off guard at all!”

Adele clenched her fists, making it sound like a grand ambition, but he looked thoroughly unconvinced.

“Not a chance, against the Empress.”

“I mean it. Do you think I’ll get caught again? I already got a good hit in on Seira today too.”

“Seira Oswald?”

“Mm, there was a bit of a situation.”

Compared to what she’d nearly suffered at Madame Hans’s party, today’s business was nothing at all. Still, remembering Seira doubled over and groaning as Madame Hans dragged her away, Adele felt a small flicker of satisfaction.

Thanks to the Empress, though, she hadn’t had much time left to enjoy that satisfaction.

“Well, I’m cheering for you either way.”

“Then I’ll head off now. Tanya should be finished with the delivery and waiting for me.”

“I’ll walk you there.”

Christine rose from the flower bed, but Adele waved him off.

“Go get that hand treated first. If you leave a wound like that alone, it’ll turn serious. We’ll see each other at home later, and—”

Adele trailed off mid-sentence. The words see each other at home had come out far too naturally.

He was a man who would be leaving before long, and she wasn’t supposed to let herself grow any closer to him — and yet she kept forgetting that.

“What’s wrong?”

Christine looked puzzled as Adele suddenly turned gloomy.

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I should get going.”

He caught her arm as she tried to hurry off.

“When I get home later, you’ll put the medicine on for me, won’t you?”

“Isn’t there an infirmary right here in the palace?”

“I doubt I’ll have time to get it looked at, with how busy I’ll be.”

“Even so, that’s no excuse—”

“I got hurt because of you. So you’re responsible for me.”

At moments like this, he seemed exactly like the boy he’d once been — the one who used to trail after her, pestering her until she gave in.

Adele gave a small, helpless laugh and nodded.

“Fine. I’ll have the medicine ready.”

“See, there’s no one but you, Adele.”

He gave her a sweet, crinkling smile, the kind meant to melt her resolve — the same smile he used to give her as a boy.

“Don’t smile like that. People will get the wrong idea about us.”

“This much, and that’s all it takes?”

Christine brushed his fingers through a strand of her hair and pressed a light kiss to her forehead.

“—!”

Adele looked up at him, startled, and he winked.

“Might as well give them a real reason, if we’re going to be misjudged anyway.”

With a broad wave of his hand, he strode off.

---

Honestly, what am I even trying to do…

Even after Christine had gone, Adele stood rooted to the spot for a while, dazed.

Her heart kept fluttering, unsettled.

Every time she looked at him, she wanted more than she should.

In her mind, she knew she ought to wish him well with April. But her heart wouldn’t let him go so easily.

Whenever she thought of him marrying another woman, her chest tightened, and her thoughts twisted into something ugly.

She wanted him for herself. She wanted to stop his marriage.

“By whatever means it takes—”

Adele caught herself muttering it and shook her head, startled.

What an idiotic thing to even think!

She spun around in a hurry, only to come face-to-face with Seira, walking toward her from the other direction.

In that short span, Seira seemed to have aged ten years. Doubled over, clutching her stomach, staggering along with Madame Hans holding her up — the sight of it was almost comical.

“What did you do to that dessert, you vicious thing!”

The moment she spotted Adele, Seira lunged at her as if she meant to tear out her hair, but another wave of trouble in her stomach made her clutch it again instead.

“Nnngh!”

Adele approached calmly while Seira was still doubled over.

“You’re the one who did something, Seira.”

“Nngh— what nonsense are you spouting!”

“Now who was it that dumped a whole pile of strange powder over the Princess’s dessert, instead of powdered sugar? All I did was switch it out.”

Seira’s face went rigid. Adele had caught her out.

Not that she was the type to back down quietly just because of that.

“Don’t twist this around! You’re the one who poisoned the dessert. I’ll go tell everyone, every bit of it!”

Adele shrugged, unbothered.

“Go right ahead. Everyone else is perfectly fine, and you’re the only one in this state — I doubt it’ll be hard to guess whose word people believe. And I intend to tell them exactly what I saw, too.”

Seira had nothing left to say to that.

Not long ago, nobody would have believed a word out of Adele’s mouth. No matter how much truth she spoke, a few words from Seira and her hangers-on were all it took to make their version the truth instead.

But things were different now. Count Weiss stood behind Adele. If he took her side and looked into it even a little, everything Seira had done would come to light. If the Count set his mind to it, he could just as easily pin on Seira things she hadn’t even done.

After all, in this palace, he was the second most powerful man after the Emperor himself.

“You filthy woman! How long do you think you can keep hiding behind the Count and laughing?”

“I’ve never hidden behind the Count. You’re the one who’s spent your whole life hiding behind your family name to get away with rotten things.”

“Why, you—!”

But Seira could evidently bear it no longer, and with a groan, she clung to Madame Hans.

“I have to go again… ngh… aaah…!”

“Need to go again, do you?”

At Madame Hans’s blunt question, Seira snapped irritably.

“What a vulgar thing to say! I just left something behind, that’s all!”

“Ah — I see, I see.”

Madame Hans held her up again and led her back the way they’d come.

Watching them go, Adele smiled bitterly.

Not so long ago, just the sight of Seira would have made her shrink back without meaning to. However composed she might have looked on the outside, the Oswalds had always felt like a threat looming over her. Even after they were gone from sight, the tension used to leave her whole body aching.

But now was different from then. Without quite realizing it, she had come to rely on Christine as a sturdy pillar to lean on. Maybe, just as Seira said, she really was hiding behind him and putting on airs.

And on top of that, she had no business wanting him for herself — yet she did.

Adele, you really have no shame.

But maybe it would be fine, as long as no one found out how she felt.

Maybe it would be fine to simply stay by his side like a good elder sister, only watching from where she stood.

As long as no one got hurt, no one got wounded…

“My lady, you were here? I’ve been looking everywhere.”

Just then Tanya’s voice reached her. She must have been searching all over for Adele — she was out of breath, gasping for air.

“Sorry, you must have been waiting a long time. Let’s head back.”

“By the way, where’s your ribbon?”

Hadn’t Adele been fussing over it the entire ride in the carriage?

“Hm?”

Startled, Adele reached up to check her hair. Sure enough, the green ribbon that had been tied there was gone.

She’d definitely still had it on when she went to see the Empress.

She must have dropped it sometime after leaving the Empress — which meant it was lying somewhere in the palace garden.

“Wait just a moment. I’ll go find it quickly.”

“My lady!”

Tanya called after her, but Adele was already dashing off into the distance.

It was a gift from Christine, of all people.

Something she wanted to keep not just for ten years, but for the rest of her life.

---

“You’re being awfully leisurely about this, Your Majesty!”

“About what, exactly?”

“Are you really going to just leave Count Weiss and the Marchioness be, the way things are?”

Adele, retracing her steps as she searched for her ribbon, came to a sudden stop.

From behind the tall hedge of shrubs in the garden came the voices of the Emperor and Empress in conversation. No one else seemed to be nearby — as if they were trading some private, secret talk — and their voices were lower than usual.

But Adele couldn’t bring herself to leave. They were talking about her and Christine.

“Didn’t I tell you, they’re like brother and sister.”

“Ha — brother and sister? If they’re brother and sister, then Your Majesty and I are too. The air between him and the Marchioness was nothing so innocent.”

“Ha ha ha!”

“Don’t just laugh it off — tell the Count to get out of that house already. What will you do if he loses his head over that dreadful woman and can’t think straight!”

“As it happens, it was I who told him to get close to the Marchioness in the first place.”

“Your Majesty did?”

“There’s something I need found.”

“Found — from that woman, you mean?”

“Mm. There’s a document the late Marquis left behind, and it seems the Marchioness may well be the one holding on to it.”

“So the Count only approached her on purpose, to find that document?”

“Just so. So pay it no mind. Within a month, he’ll have found the document and be holding a grand engagement ceremony with April.”

“Oh — and here I was, worrying over nothing…”

Patter! Patter! Pitter-patter!

Just then, raindrops began to fall, all at once.

The sound of the Emperor and Empress hurrying away reached her.

But Adele, her face drained of color, could not move from where she stood.