Riersha stared at the man visible just beyond the carriage door.
He was strikingly handsome, with red hair and golden eyes.
When their gazes met, he smiled warmly.
“Hello there. You must be Riersha — I’ve heard so much about you.”
“…H-hello.”
Riersha returned the greeting and stepped down from the carriage.
As she descended, the entrance to the estate came fully into view, and a familiar crest caught her eye.
Wait — that noble house crest is…
Riersha’s eyes went wide.
Even she, who knew very little about noble families, recognized this one.
“Lovely to meet you. My name is Kaisen.”
The house that had commanded the empire’s culture and arts and ushered in its golden age.
The Marcella Ducal House.
⁂
Riersha stepped inside the Marcella estate and gazed around with undisguised wonder.
The manor was so dazzlingly grand it nearly tipped into extravagance.
To think I’d ever set foot in the Marcella Ducal House.
So this was the kind of person Pernoa called a friend.
“A maid will show you to your room.”
“Okay.”
“I need to have a word with Father, so would you mind going ahead with your brother?”
“Yes!”
Riersha nodded eagerly to show she understood.
Her wide, guileless eyes were strikingly clear.
Duke Marcella smiled faintly.
It had been so long since someone had approached him with such pure, unguarded sincerity — without a single ulterior motive.
“What a polite, sweet little girl.”
The duke raised his hand to pat Riersha on the head.
Thwack.
“Don’t touch my daughter.”
“How petty.”
Pernoa had slapped his hand away before it could land.
The duke pulled his stinging hand back and grumbled under his breath.
“Honestly, the nerve. Do you have any idea how pitiful it is to be a man without a daughter?”
Pernoa’s crimson eyes cut toward him, and Duke Marcella shut his mouth.
For a moment, Risideon watched the two of them with an odd expression.
There was something deeply strange about seeing Arachrene — the pillar of the empire’s battlefields — standing alongside Marcella, the sovereign of the arts. It stirred a feeling he couldn’t quite name.
It was hard to believe that two people who seemed so completely mismatched had been close friends since their academy days.
“Ah, it’s been a while, Risideon. We saw each other at that party, didn’t we?”
“Yes.”
“You must be worn out in all sorts of ways, practically raising the crown prince on your back.”
Duke Marcella turned to Risideon and spoke with easy familiarity.
He was one of the few who knew exactly what Risideon’s life inside the imperial palace had been like.
“Then let’s send the children up first and have ourselves a proper conversation. Pernoa.”
The two men stayed behind as the waiting maid stepped forward.
“Right this way, if you please.”
⁂
“The two rooms are adjoining — these will be yours during your stay.”
They had come up to the second floor and turned right down the corridor, and the rooms appeared almost immediately.
“You’re welcome to explore the estate freely until dinner.”
“Thank you.”
“Please don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”
The maid left down the hallway, and Riersha looked around her room.
The guest chamber had been tidied with meticulous care.
“What am I supposed to do now?”
The thought of spending the entire day shut inside felt terribly dull.
But going to find Risideon didn’t feel quite right either…
Is Risideon-oppa resting?
The room next door was quiet.
It seemed like Risideon intended to spend the time until evening alone.
Perhaps it was because he would soon have to return to the imperial palace, and his heart was heavy with it.
Why does Risideon-oppa want to stay in the palace?
Was something happening there?
Riersha sat on the edge of the bed and turned it over in her mind.
No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t find an answer.
After tomorrow’s palace party, she might truly never see Risideon again.
Maybe Father knows the reason.
Riersha’s head snapped up.
Where had Pernoa and Duke Marcella gone just now?
Enough time had passed by now — surely their conversation would be winding down.
Riersha quickly pushed her door open and stepped out.
She made her way into the estate gardens and retraced her memory, moving briskly in the direction the two men had disappeared.
Before long, she spotted Pernoa and Duke Marcella not too far away.
“Ah—!”
“By the way, Pernoa. Now that you’ve seen your daughter — how do you feel? Are you still of the same mind?”
The words Riersha had been about to call out died in her throat.
Now that you’ve seen your daughter?
What did he mean by still of the same mind?
As if pulled by some invisible force, Riersha slipped behind a thicket of bushes.
She drew her knees up and settled into a crouch, folding both hands neatly in her lap.
Her fists clenched tight with tension.
They’re talking about me.
Her heart pounded. She knew that eavesdropping was wrong.
And yet — Riersha held her breath and listened.
⁂
The garden of the Marcella Ducal Estate.
Once they had confirmed that the children had gone inside, the two men made their way to the garden.
“How long has it been? Since your daughter was born, I suppose?”
“About that long.”
Pernoa answered with indifference.
“Time passes so quickly. I can hardly believe your little girl is already old enough to walk around on her own.”
Duke Marcella’s expression turned faintly hollow.
“Four nieces and nephews born while I’m still unmarried. Oh, the tragedy. What a waste of this face.”
“If all you’re going to do is talk nonsense, I’ll be on my way.”
“At a time like this, a real friend would offer a little comfort.”
“Have you considered that your problems are simply too trivial to merit any?”
Pernoa fixed him with a look of profound exasperation, and Duke Marcella let out a long, heavy sigh.
“This is an extremely serious matter, I’ll have you know. The empire suffers a great loss every day I remain unmarried.”
“Are you actually serious right now?”
“I’m always serious.”
Pernoa decided to respond to this worthless topic with nothing but silence.
It was a genuine tragedy that a man like this was counted among the most respected nobles in the Declair Empire.
It was fortunate, at least, that no one knew Duke Marcella was this sort of person.
And it was equally fortunate — for the sake of public peace of mind — that no one knew it was the young lord of Arachrene who had to sit here and listen to these complaints.
“Control your expression, Pernoa. It’s embarrassingly obvious what you’re thinking.”
“I did that on purpose.”
“I’m capable of being hurt, you know.”
Duke Marcella said it while smirking continuously.
“Tell me why you wanted to speak privately.”
“Ah, right. That.”
At Pernoa’s prompt to get to the point, Duke Marcella shifted his demeanor and turned serious.
“You asked me, didn’t you? To look into how Risideon was getting along in the imperial palace.”
“What did you find?”
“…There are whispers that Risideon goes down to the basement frequently. Even that much was difficult to uncover.”
The crown prince’s wing was managed directly by the empress, and the silence kept there was absolute.
Even before the full weight of Duke Marcella’s influence, very few had been willing to speak.
“The basement?”
“It seems the crown prince has been taking his frustrations out on Risideon.”
Pernoa’s expression hardened into something cold.
The crown prince was still young — he wouldn’t be capable of any serious punishment — but still…
“Apparently he has subjected Risideon to verbal abuse throughout his entire two years there as a swordsmanship instructor.”
“…”
“You know as well as I do. The empress didn’t bring Risideon in as a genuine instructor.”
It was no secret that the empress had taken Risideon in as a trophy — something to flaunt before those around her.
The swordsmanship passed down within House Arachrene to its heirs was kept under the strictest secrecy.
Furthermore, those permitted to guard members of the imperial family were required to belong to the Imperial Knight Order and to have passed its formal examinations.
There was very little that Risideon could actually do within the palace with regard to the crown prince.
He had followed the prince around under the pretense of being a guard, but he had never been granted the status of an official escort knight.
“That he was kept around like a dog — that much I already knew.”
“It’s Risideon’s mental state that concerns me.”
No matter how mature Risideon seemed, he was still only fifteen years old.
Enduring that environment entirely on his own must have been an unbearable burden.
“So the empress has made it her intention to break Risideon completely?”
“That’s what I believe.”
Duke Marcella continued, his expression grave.
“If word gets out that the family heir is psychologically damaged, it will cause no end of talk. You know that as well as I do.”
“That doesn’t mean I can simply leave him there.”
“But what will you do if the empress starts spreading rumors?”
Pernoa clicked his tongue. If that happened, Risideon’s position would become deeply precarious.
Duke Marcella shook his head, baffled.
“Why does the empress hold such hostility toward House Arachrene?”
“I don’t know. Not really.”
But in truth — if pressed — he could have named any number of reasons.
