Chapter 12

“Looking here, you preserved the original elevation of the land. I wonder—would it not have been better to level the hill or bury the pipes deeper…?”

“I did not want to destroy the hill’s terrain. Besides, digging through stony ground requires a great deal of manpower. And I could not judge how long the material making up the pipes would hold up in the soil.”

“So you intended to bury them shallow and replace them often.”

“Not that often.”

“But how does the water climb uphill? And repeatedly, at that.”

Jacques realized that he had, at some point, become absorbed in her explanation. When he first came here, he had thought only of some political calculation; he had never imagined he would truly become interested in the waterway system.

“For that, I used the principle of a well.”

“A well?”

“As you can see, this place is covered with earth around it like a well, applying a constant pressure. Then, regardless of the height of the pipes themselves, the water finds a way through and flows. It maintains a constant water level at all times.”

Adel, too, found herself absorbed in the conversation without realizing it. Though the sun beat down on their heads now that it was midday, both were so deep in the work that neither noticed. It was as if only the two of them existed on that vast plain.

Jacques was a very clever man, and he quickly understood most of what Adel said.

Compared to how hard it had been to make people understand when she first began this work, his speed of comprehension was almost unbelievable.

Moreover, he immediately pinpointed the very part Adel had been struggling with. And he even offered a solution for it.

“In that case, you could artificially supply a little water to this part here, and it would regain pressure.”

“That is true. I had not thought that far.”

At his muttered words, she forgot even that he was a duke and clapped her palms together with a bright smile.

Jacques looked at her in silence for a moment, then asked a few more questions before coming down from the hill.

Once the whole party had returned to the count’s mansion, they gathered and sat in the drawing room.

“It was very interesting, Countess.”

“You flatter me. Besides, the one who deserves praise for the merit is not me, Your Grace.”

“Ah, yes. That woman. Was her name Annaston?”

At the Duke’s question, Annaston sprang from her seat and bowed her head.

“I am Annaston Lowell.”

“I heard you were a maid in this household….”

“Pardon? Yes, yes, that is correct.”

“It does not seem so now.”

Ethan, who had worn a displeased face all this time, had kept silent throughout. Then, as if deciding it was time to step forward, he straightened himself.

“Sit down, Anna.”

Jacques watched Ethan call the maid by her pet name and raised a single eyebrow with a smile.

“Annaston Lowell is the woman who bore my son before she was a maid. As she has become the greatest contributor to this waterway project and will receive the Medal of Merit, I ask that you convey to the imperial house my request that she be granted noble status personally.”

“That is something fixed by the laws of the Empire, so it is not that I cannot grant it, but… Countess.”

“Speak, Your Grace.”

“Is this something you agree to as well?”

Unable to discern the Duke’s intent, Adel took a moment to choose her words.

“Yes.”

“I see. So that is how it is.”

When Jacques tilted his head slightly and let his words trail off, Ethan let out a heavy breath and spoke again.

“This is not a matter on which I need my wife’s permission, Duke.”

“Yes, the Count is right. Since it is something achieved by the family, it is not strange for the one chosen by the head of the family to be the greatest contributor. And yet.”

When Jacques’s voice suddenly dropped low, an uncomfortable silence fell over the drawing room.

“I think I understand now why Her Highness the Crown Princess told me to hurry so.”

“What do you mean….”

But in that moment, Adel urgently cut off Ethan’s words.

“You met Her Highness the Crown Princess in person?”

Jacques felt that Adel’s voice was wet with emotion. That his eyes glinted mischievously after a brief pause went unnoticed by anyone.

“Count Devryan, I have something to discuss with your wife alone, so please leave us.”

At his words, Adel’s eyes went wide, and soon Ethan’s sharp voice followed.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, do not misunderstand. Her Highness the Crown Princess instructed me to convey something to her in confidence, that is all.”

Jacques deliberately pressed the word “in confidence” slowly on his lips. At his tone, laden with intent, Ethan tried not to show his displeasure but did not leave his seat at once.

“I heard House Devryan has been a family loyal to the imperial house for generations, but I did not know they would refuse an imperial command like this.”

An order from the Crown Princess was no different from an order from the imperial house. Yet still, the answer that should have come did not come.

“Count?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Ethan, barely managing a reply to Jacques’s prompting, glanced at Adel and slowly rose from his seat. Soon everyone had left, and only Adel and Jacques remained.

“The tea has gone cold, so I will have it brought again.”

“That is all right. I will be leaving soon….”

Adel could not help her heart pounding. There were many things she wanted to ask, but she could not bring herself to ask outright. News of whether the Crown Princess was ill had not yet reached the estate, but when a Millium’s power manifested, the Millium’s body weakened rapidly. She had always worried whether her sister was in too much pain to even reply to her letters.

“What was it that Her Highness the Crown Princess told you to convey to me?”

“To be honest, there was nothing in particular she ordered me to convey.”

In truth, he had thought that if he met the Countess, he would be able to understand why the Crown Princess had sent him to Herbron. But that had been a mistaken assumption. This woman was simply the perfect mistress of a provincial manor who knew nothing of politics.

“I simply… thought you might have many things you wished to ask me, so I made time alone with you. Things like Her Highness the Crown Princess’s health, or why on earth she sent me here.”

When he broached the subject, Adel’s lips moved. That brief moment of hesitation before a woman begins to speak seemed to pass more slowly than usual—though that was probably Jacques’s imagination.

“Is she… well?”

She asked cautiously, as if she herself had done something to harm Rene’s health. So he decided to tell her the truth, without embellishment.

“She coughed rather badly, but she looked healthy.”

Watching Adel’s eyes grow wet with longing, Jacques was swept by a strange sensation. So he added words that had not been part of his plan.

“She worried about her younger sister a great deal….”

At his words, Adel’s head bowed at last. Her white, slender nape, deeply bent, caught his gaze.

A Millium so delicate yet possessed of such boundless emotion, so full of life. He had heard this woman’s name in his days as crown prince. The second daughter, born unexpectedly into the precious Millium family.

While he was lost in sentiment, the woman suddenly raised her head brightly and looked at him.

“Her body—has she not grown much thinner?”

“She looked thin, fundamentally, but she was beautiful.”

“Was there color in her skin?”

“She was pale, but beautiful.”

“Was there strength in her voice?”

“Her voice was….”

He trailed off and gazed at her intently.

“If you are so curious, why not go and see for yourself?”

“Pardon? Me?”

“I imagine Her Highness the Crown Princess would be very glad to see you.”

In that moment, Adel recalled that day. At twelve, at such a young age, riding in the carriage to Herbron. Back then, her sister had told her that if it ever became unbearably hard, she should not hesitate to come to her. As if those words were the key to a final refuge, Adel had buried her sister’s words deep in her heart and taken them out whenever times were hard.

But she shook her head. Now was not a time so hard that she could not endure it.

“If I went now, my sister would be disappointed in me.”

Jacques could not agree with her words, but he did not voice his thoughts aloud. Instead, he decided to ask what he had been curious about for some time.

“Why did you give up the merit?”

“Pardon?”

At the sudden change of subject and the question, Adel clenched her fist in the air.

“Wh-what do you mean….”

“Even in the midst of all this, are you still worrying about whether it will harm the family?”

“Your Grace, please say it in a way I can understand.”

“A young wife who gives up the merit of a Medal of Merit so that her husband’s woman can become a noble….”

“Duke!”

“Truly befitting a woman of the Hessenia Empire.”

He watched the woman’s fist trembling faintly in the air and lifted his now-cold cup. He thought about why he had taunted her more than necessary, then soon shook his head and set the thought aside.

“Well, it is not really my concern.”

“Are you thinking of telling my sister—of telling Her Highness the Crown Princess?”

Instead of covering his eyes, Adel decided to cover his mouth. It was strangely terrifying to think her sister might learn of her foolishness.

“It is not for me to step forward and tell her. However….”

“….”

“A woman of House Millium would know even if no one told her.”

With those words, he rose from his seat. Adel could not even muster the courage to compose her expression. His attitude upon learning that she had given up the merit was hardly reassuring.

Pretending not to know her feelings, he strode over and opened the door himself. When Adel rose to stop him, her eyes met Ethan’s, who had been lingering before the door, unable to leave the drawing room.

But she had no leisure even to see the wavering in Ethan’s eyes. Nor did she have the courage to follow the Duke and plead with him once more not to tell.

In the end, she let out a long breath and straightened herself. Then she called the head butler and ordered him to prepare to see the guest off.

Soon, everyone in the mansion came out before the main gate and bowed their heads to see the Duke off.

“As soon as I arrive at the capital, I will petition His Highness to enter Annaston Lowell’s name in the noble registry. After that, the matter of your son can be resolved by the family.”

“I am grateful for your consideration.”

He met Adel’s eyes in farewell, then mounted his horse and soon disappeared from sight. Ethan, who had worn an unpleasant expression all day, went back into the main house before the Duke had even fully passed through the gate.