Chapter 19
* * *
“Was there anything particular the prince said to you?”
“What kind of thing?”
“Just, anything.”
“There wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy…”
Helena tilted her head, and suddenly, Lucien’s words flashed through her mind like a passing shadow.
“You seem much more… cherished by the duke than I thought.”
“Pardon? What do you mean…”
“It’s nothing, madam. Just that your marital harmony looks good.”
The red gladioli that the prince had given as a gift came to mind. Out of all the many beautiful flowers, why specifically choose gladioli, famous for their flower language of ‘warning’?
Wondering if she was reading too much into something trivial, Helena hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“His Highness said that our marital harmony looks good.”
“Harmony?”
“Yes. He added that Your Grace seems to cherish me more than expected.”
“…….”
Kavil’s expression turned peculiar. The comment that they seemed to get along well was certainly a compliment, but coming from the lips of Prince Lucien, who was more cunning than a serpent, it somehow felt unsettling.
“Anything else? Nothing more?”
“There wasn’t anything else noteworthy… Oh, he gave me a bouquet of gladioli as a gift.”
At the mention that the prince had given Helena a gift, Kavil immediately wore a displeased expression. But Helena, misinterpreting his look, hurriedly continued.
“The flower language of those flowers is warning. It’s not a flower one typically gives as a gift because of its somewhat negative connotation. Of course, His Highness probably gave it without any special meaning…”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“What you felt is probably right.”
Helena looked at him with a face that begged for explanation.
But instead of kindly elaborating for her, Kavil sank into quiet thought alone.
He slowly rolled the wine glass in his hand, then abruptly issued an order to her.
“It would be best if you don’t attend tomorrow’s lunch. I’ll convey that you suddenly came down with a fever last night and unfortunately can’t make it.”
“Pardon? What do you…”
“Just stay in your bedroom for the day tomorrow and rest well. You haven’t had a proper rest since the birthday party, so this might actually be good for you, isn’t it?”
“…….”
Kavil, having arbitrarily reached his conclusion, now wore a much more relaxed expression. However, Helena’s face was frozen in bewilderment. She couldn’t understand the flow of the conversation at all.
The prince’s sudden visit without notice, and Kavil seeming to be on guard against Lucien for reasons unknown to her. Even assuming there was a reason she didn’t know for Kavil’s wariness toward Lucien.
What she couldn’t comprehend was Kavil unilaterally canceling an appointment she had made directly with Lucien, without any explanation or even asking her opinion. Helena let out a small sigh and set her fork down on the table.
“Your Grace.”
“……?”
“Please explain why I shouldn’t attend tomorrow’s lunch.”
“…What?”
“If you can’t explain, and if you can’t convince me, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said. As I mentioned before, I’m your wife, not a subordinate who must obey your commands.”
“…….”
Faced with Helena’s firm gaze, Kavil wore a rare dazed expression before suddenly furrowing his brow deeply.
The prince was a man with many shady aspects. He had been unwillingly overshadowed by the crown prince, who received the empire’s undivided respect, for over ten years.
After crouching in the shadows all that time, now that the crown prince was dead, he had finally emerged into the world. It was as clear as day that he would do anything to claim the next throne.
Kavil had not the slightest intention of being used by the emperor without a shred of his own will involved.
The reason for the prince’s sudden visit to the ducal residence was likely high that it was to extend a final act of mercy to Kavil.
And Kavil had blatantly slapped away the prince’s hand. Of course, he had no intention of taking the prince’s hand in the future either.
Strangely, Kavil felt an inexplicable bad mood whenever he stood near the prince. It was like an animal instinctively sensing its natural enemy; a sensation he felt automatically.
‘For such a man to suddenly show interest in her.’
Recalling the prince’s languid gaze on Helena, Kavil’s frown grew even more menacing. Helena, who had been silently watching the changes in Kavil’s expression, called him as if urging him on.
“Your Grace?”
“…….”
I don’t like the prince taking an interest in you. I’m afraid his gaze might touch even a single strand of your hair. Kavil was startled by the words that nearly burst from his mouth and hastily closed it.
What on earth is this thought? Before he could even reflect on it, the situation of having to explain the reason for his order felt frustrating. The strong command, and the weak obey. That had been the absolute principle governing Kavil’s world until now.
After he became strong, no one asked for the reason behind his commands. No, they couldn’t ask. He was the strong one, and it was natural for him to give orders.
Yet the woman before him kept asking for the reason behind his commands, starting from last time. It irritated him, yet made him uncomfortable.
More precisely, it wasn’t Helena demanding an explanation that made him uncomfortable, but his own unfamiliar and bothersome efforts to somehow explain things to her.
In the end, giving up on explaining, Kavil gulped down his wine and spoke.
“I can’t explain.”
“…Pardon?”
“So do as you wish.”
“…….”
“I don’t have the confidence to convince you, nor the skill to explain.”
At the unexpected response, Helena looked up at Kavil with flustered eyes. Noticing him about to rise from his seat, Helena quickly spoke.
“What you said earlier, that what I felt was right. What did that mean? Are you saying His Highness deliberately gave me those flowers?”
“More precisely, the meaning was probably directed at me, not you.”
“…….”
The flower language of gladioli is warning.
‘Why would the prince warn Kavil…’
“Ah.”
After the crown prince’s death, the position of the next heir was unusually vacant.
From what Helena knew, the prince and princess’s influences were roughly equal.
To seize the throne, the easiest and most certain way would be to draw in the power of a strong neutral faction that belonged to neither side.
And the Duke of Destrian, that is, Kavil, was the most powerful neutral force that both the princess and prince would covet.
As Helena lifted her head from her thoughts, her eyes met Kavil’s. After holding his gaze for a moment, she cautiously spoke.
“His Highness the Prince needs Your Grace. Well, since Destrian has been the sword protecting the emperor for generations, anyone coveting the throne would need it.”
“…I thought you were only interested in lakes and trees. I didn’t know you were well-versed in politics too.”
“What on earth do you take me for? Of course, I keep up with basic political situations.”
Helena’s brow furrowed slightly.
“It wasn’t meant to belittle you, madam. It’s just novel because this is the first time we’ve had such a conversation.”
“…….”
“I’d like to hear more of your opinion. Go on, you have more to say, don’t you?”
At the unexpected words, Helena blinked in surprise before speaking half a beat late.
“If His Highness gave the flowers with the meaning of warning to Your Grace… then you’ve refused to stand on His Highness’s side. Is my guess correct?”
“Yes. I suspected the prince wasn’t pleased with me, but without you mentioning the flower language, I wouldn’t have been certain.”
Kavil’s eyes sank low. In Kavil’s view, the prince was someone who would stop at nothing to obtain the throne.
“Even to protect the madam, wouldn’t it be better to act a bit more cautiously?”
Claude’s warning suddenly came to mind, but Kavil deliberately ignored it. It was already too late to don a fox’s skin in front of the prince anyway.
If the prince tried to forcibly collar him, Kavil was ready to gladly bite the prince’s throat. As always, he was confident he would win this time too.
While he was lost in thought, Helena was organizing her ideas, recalling her conversation with Lucien. Once she had somewhat formed her judgment, she spoke.
“Let’s go to tomorrow’s lunch as planned, Your Grace.”
“Ha, you…”
At the completely unexpected response, Kavil rubbed his face with a tired expression. Helena stated her opinion calmly but clearly, in a soft yet distinct voice.
“I directly promised His Highness that I would attend. If I, who was perfectly fine until this afternoon, suddenly say I’m ill, he won’t believe it. No, it might even cause unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“What do you mean by that? Unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“Think about it, Your Grace. If I, who was fine until the day before, suddenly don’t attend… it might look like Your Grace is trying to hide me from His Highness.”
“…….”
“But that’s not the case at all.”
Kavil’s eyes noticeably hardened at her composed voice filled with conviction. Unaware of the change in his expression, Helena continued in a coaxing tone.
“I mean that I shouldn’t appear as Your Grace’s weakness. In a situation where His Highness has sent flowers meaning warning to Your Grace, such a misunderstanding would be disadvantageous to you.”
“…….”
“Of course, don’t worry. I’ll never become Your Grace’s weakness. I promise.”
Kavil stared blankly at Helena with a face as if he’d been struck hard by something.
Wondering why he wasn’t responding, Helena tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“Your Grace?”
“…Let’s do that.”
“…….”
“As you say. We’ll do it that way.”
Helena smiled faintly, as if she had expected as much. She nodded and rose from her seat.
“Yes. Then I’ll take my leave first. See you tomorrow, Your Grace.”
After gracefully bidding farewell, Helena exited the dining room. Kavil’s gaze followed her retreating figure before fixing on the empty seat across from him.
“It might look like Your Grace is trying to hide me from His Highness.”
Kavil drained the remaining wine in his glass and irritably yanked at his tie.
Not a single word was wrong. As she said, fretting like this and trying to hide her would only add unnecessary misunderstandings to the prince.
“Don’t worry. I’ll never become Your Grace’s weakness. I promise.”
Everything she said was correct. Yet why did it feel so stifling? Even after loosening his tie, the feeling of his chest being tightly blocked persisted, and Kavil eventually tossed the tie onto the table.
After fuming for quite a while, Kavil looked at the seat where Helena had been sitting. It was a considerable time later when he finally left the dining room.
* * *
The next day.
Having risen early and finished dressing, Helena gazed at the mirror with a somewhat stiff expression. It was her first time ever going to the imperial palace.
In her childhood, she had been left at home alone because of her frail health, and later, her world had been confined to the annex of the count’s residence.
As she vaguely pictured in her mind the image of the palace she had read about countless times in newspapers, Helena turned her head at the voice coming from beside her.
