Troublesome Prince (3)
“Duke, you don’t look well. Are you feeling unwell?”
With the man who beat his wives to death sitting right in front of him, it was no wonder Leonhardt’s expression wasn’t good, but Justin looked at him with an innocent face, as if he knew nothing.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Then, since it seems we’ve finished our meal, shall we move?”
“You must be tired from your journey. I’ll escort you to your room.”
“The journey was indeed rough. Now I understand why Esbaden Castle is called an impregnable fortress, haha.”
As the two men stood up, a small sound of footsteps was heard from outside the door.
It was a sound so faint that only Leonhardt, with his keen senses, could hear it.
“What’s the matter, Duke?”
Leonhardt, who had been looking towards the door for a moment, turned his head back.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
When he and the prince stepped outside, the hallway was empty, filled only with silence.
*** *** *** *** ***
“My Lady, why did you come back so suddenly?”
Leila tilted her head in confusion as Duha, who had returned to the bedroom just before achieving her goal, seemed strange.
It had only been 30 minutes since she ignored the Duke’s advice and left the room to greet the prince.
It was odd that she had just stood in front of the dining room door for a long time and then returned.
“My Lady, you said you had to greet that scoundrel prince. So why…”
“There’s no need to greet him anymore.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Duha leaned back in her chair, lost in thought.
She recalled the conversation she had overheard from inside the dining room.
“So, what does our Duchess look like? Is she as hideous as the rumors say, so much so that you can’t even look at her?”
The Fourth Prince was curious if she was as ugly as the rumors said.
“Still, I couldn’t refuse a woman who is practically a symbol of the alliance in a fit of anger.”
The statement that he couldn’t kill another woman in a fit of anger implied that he had done so before.
Duha frowned.
“Leila, didn’t you say the Fourth Prince was known to be a devoted husband?”
“Yes? Ah, that’s what the rumors say.”
“…Is that so?”
Sometimes rumors are more accurate than the truth, but usually, rumors are just that—rumors.
It seemed that the rumor about the Fourth Prince being a devoted husband was just a baseless rumor.
After all, how could someone who tortures people for no reason be a devoted husband?
Duha suddenly recalled what Vail had told her when he was expelled.
He had said that he was rejected by “those above” and taken in by the Duke.
“Those above” likely referred to the Fourth Prince.
Duha’s eyelashes drooped, casting a shadow under her eyes.
So, her original marriage partner was the Fourth Prince.
“…It couldn’t have been out of consideration.”
She thought that the reason Leonhardt had told her not to leave the bedroom today couldn’t have been to prevent her from meeting the prince.
After all, the Duke had no reason to be that considerate of her.
In her view, the Duke was not a man delicate enough to consider the difficult situation of a marriage partner accepted for the sake of an alliance.
Meanwhile, Leila tilted her head and asked again at Duha’s muttering.
“What? What isn’t considerate?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Duha tapped her fingers on the table in silence before speaking again.
“Leila, could you tell the head maid to come to my room when she’s done with her work?”
“Yes, my lady.”
It seemed necessary to find out more accurately and in detail about the Fourth Prince.
*** *** *** *** ***
“You called for me.”
“Come in, Sylvia.”
That evening, the head maid came to see Duha with a weary face.
It was fortunate that the Fourth Prince had gone to bed earlier than usual; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to come at the Duchess’s call.
Meanwhile, Duha greeted the head maid with a welcoming face.
“You must have had a hard time welcoming the Prince on my behalf.”
“No, I was just doing my duty.”
“Please, have a seat.”
Duha offered her a seat and handed her a cup of warm tea that had been prepared in advance.
“I’m sorry to call you when you must want to rest. I have something to ask.”
“Please, ask away.”
“It seems there is something related to me between the Fourth Prince and the Duke.”
At the Duchess’s words, the head maid’s face stiffened.
“I called you because I thought you might know what it is.”
“I… “
“I’ve found out that I was originally supposed to marry the Fourth Prince. What I want to know is why the Duke is preventing me from meeting the Prince.”
The head maid looked at Duha with surprised eyes.
Her gaze seemed to ask how she knew that fact.
“It’s not difficult to deduce when you combine the things I’ve heard since I came here, Sylvia.”
At her answer, the head maid lowered her gaze, looking uneasy.
“…Since you are now the Duchess, it is not an important matter. Do you still wish to hear it?”
“Whether it is important or not is for me to decide. And judging by your reaction, it doesn’t seem like a trivial matter.”
At Duha’s question, the head maid stared at her teacup for a while before finally speaking with difficulty.
“I only found out recently myself. The Duke told me when he ordered me to welcome the Prince on your behalf.”
The head maid revealed two facts to her.
First, that the Fourth Prince and the Duchess were once in marriage talks, and if the Duke had not accepted the Emperor’s order, they would have been married.
Second, that the two princesses who had married the Fourth Prince had been beaten to death by him for very trivial reasons.
“So, it wasn’t an accident that those women died.”
“You had already guessed that?”
“Actually, I overheard your conversation with the Prince at the dining room door earlier today.”
At Duha’s words, the head maid’s face turned pale.
“Madam! If you had run into the Prince…!”
“I don’t understand, Sylvia.”
“What do you mean?”
“What does the Fourth Prince beating his wives to death have to do with the Duke preventing me from meeting him?”
“That, that is…”
The head maid hesitated for a long time with a troubled face before finally answering with a sigh.
“I don’t know if you are aware, but the Fourth Prince is very fond of women. Especially beautiful women.”
“Yes, and?”
“And the late princesses were also very beautiful.”
Duha’s expression grew more puzzled.
“So what does that have to do with…”
“The Fourth Prince is someone who must have whatever he desires. How do you think he would react if he met the woman who could have been his wife?”
“Obviously, he would have no reaction. I’m not a beauty.”
“…Pardon?”
“You said the Prince only likes beautiful women. Even if he met me, what kind of reaction would he have?”
Duha let out a laugh of disbelief.
“Don’t tell me, you’re preventing me from meeting him because you’re afraid the Prince might take a liking to me…”
“……”
“My goodness. Did you really think that?”
At the head maid’s continued silence, Duha’s face unconsciously hardened.
“…Really?”
“…Duchess, you seem to have a very harsh assessment of your own appearance.”
“No, I…”
At that moment, Leila, who had been quiet behind Duha, chimed in.
“See? I told you! My Lady, you’re extremely, extremely, extremely beautiful by Imperial standards!”
“Indeed, ‘extremely’ is hardly sufficient to describe it.”
Duha blinked her eyes, seemingly bewildered by their praise.
She cleared her throat awkwardly before seriously asking:
“Even so, I’m already married to the Duke. What problem could there be if the Prince takes a liking to me?”
“The problem is, if it’s made into a problem, it becomes a problem,” the head maid calmly replied.
“Madam, in the Krone Empire, the Emperor’s word is law.”
Unlike the Bashar Kingdom with its five-tribe alliance system, in the Krone Empire, the absolute monarch’s authority took precedence over everything else.
“If the Fourth Prince were to plead with the Emperor for you, and if His Majesty were to grant that request, the Duke would have to hand you over to the Prince.”
“No way, how can asking for an already married woman make any sense? What kind of nonsense is that?”
As Leila got heated on behalf of her mistress, the head maid replied calmly once again.
“It’s possible if it’s the Fourth Prince. He’s second in line for the throne, the third highest authority in the Empire.”
“Huh! That’s absurd!”
Unlike her constantly angered maid, Duha seemed lost in quiet thought.
Observing this, the head maid spoke again.
“The Duke wanted to prevent such a worst-case scenario. He knows very well how hard you’ve been preparing to host the Prince for two weeks.”
She bowed her head to the Duchess, almost pleadingly.
“Despite that, for your safety, he had to make this difficult choice. I hope you understand…”
“I understand. You can go now.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I understand the Duke’s intentions now. As he wishes, I’ll stay put here. Tell the Duke not to worry.”
“Ah, yes. I understand. Then I’ll take my leave.”
Not expecting the Duchess to understand the situation so easily, the head maid left the room with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
“Still, it’s good that the Duke seems to care a lot about you. At least he’s not completely tasteless…”
Duha ignored Leila’s chattering beside her and thought about her husband.
Despite his sharp words, he showed consideration she had never asked for.
What exactly were Leonhardt’s true feelings?
“…Strange man.”
“What did you say, my Lady?”
“Nothing. It’s late, so you should go to bed too. I want to sleep now.”
Duha ended her day by almost forcibly pushing her maid out of the bedroom.
Although she disliked moving according to others’ intentions, she thought that just this once, she might follow the Duke’s wishes.
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