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Chapter – 15
“Naive young master, you say? Hearing that from Your Highness is honestly rather unpleasant.”
Marin made a face, but Kalysion paid it no mind and asked his next question.
“Is the observatory coming along?”
To invite the Mage Princess, it was necessary to restore several floors of the observatory—recently repurposed for other uses—back to something resembling its original state, an undeniably troublesome task.
Marin answered reluctantly.
“Yes, well… I believe we’ll be able to receive her within a few days.”
As the conversation seemed to end, servants approached to help him prepare for bed.
While letting them attend to him, Kalysion absently clenched his fist.
After dancing the April and the Waltz with her, and then—out of courtesy—dancing with other ladies as well, the warmth that had filled his hand still seemed to linger.
So that was the body heat of a mage.
Kalysion let out a small, amused snort and closed his tired eyes.
“Really? Seriously? You’re telling me the Crown Prince danced with you for two whole songs?”
After the ball ended, I muttered in exhaustion under Chwibangi’s relentless pestering.
“Yes, two songs. Not one, not three—two. Even if I’m an idiot, I can count to two, so please stop asking.”
“But why? Why on earth? Did he like you that much? In just four days? Ah—was it because of the golden eyes?”
I was massaging my poor feet, abused by tiny shoes, when I suddenly yelled.
“Hey! Is that really so upsetting to you? I did everything your precious master told me to! What’s the problem now?!”
“N-no, who said I was upset…?”
Only then did Chwibangi read the room, scurrying over to crouch in front of me.
“Is it because I dressed you up so nicely? That must be it, right?”
The way it rested its chin in its tiny hands on that pea-sized face was infuriating.
I raised a finger and pressed it firmly against Clementine’s round, adorable forehead, pushing it away.
The fragile fairy toppled backward with a thud, then sprang back up in a huff.
“Hey! Do you have any idea who you owe it to that you caught the Crown Prince’s eye? Show some gratitude!”
“The only reason I have to catch the Crown Prince’s eye is because of your oh-so-great master, okay? Otherwise, why would I care about the Crown Prince at all?”
I snapped back just as angrily.
“And another thing! Why didn’t you tell me the atmosphere in the imperial palace was all weird lately? You did that on purpose to mess with me, didn’t you?”
“The atmosphere is weird? What do you mean by ‘weird’?”
How could I coax the fairy into giving me something closer to the truth?
I chose my words carefully.
“Well, you know… I heard there’s some kind of factional divide among the nobles? That the Archduke—what was it, Artsen?—seems to have the upper hand over the Crown Prince and all…”
“Ugh!”
“Damn it, that’s disgusting! You’re always retching at the worst times!”
Pretending to be annoyed, I closely observed Chwibangi’s suddenly pale face.
Was Clementine unable to speak about matters involving the Crown Prince and Archduke Artsen?
Why?
Could the Archduke be the client?
Archduke Artsen.
According to the information Chwibangi had gathered, he was the emperor’s younger brother and the true power behind the current imperial family—a loyal servant to the emperor.
He was also known as an exemplary royal: highly competent and blessed with outstanding connections.
Yet this Archduke Artsen hadn’t even made it onto the list of potential clients Rafael and I had compiled, for the following reasons:
-
Archduke Artsen was openly working to make Vivian Hilais the Crown Princess.
Rafael had confirmed this clearly through documents remaining within the Hilais family.
If so, commissioning someone to turn me into a princess and disrupt the balance of high society would clearly hinder his efforts.
-
If Archduke Artsen had wanted to push aside his nephew and claim the throne himself, now was plainly the worst possible time.
For the past twenty years, he had overseen state affairs as a shadow behind his sickly elder brother, while caring for a nephew who hadn’t even reached adulthood and was likewise frail.
In other words, he’d had more than enough opportunity to seize the throne from both brother and nephew.
And yet—
“Here it is!”
Nina suddenly shouted while peering out the carriage window, forcing me to halt my thoughts.
Following the plan we’d made the day before, we had come out to stroll along Princess Alexandra’s Street, each of us introducing the other to our favorite shops.
The place Nina wanted to show me was the leather workshop now visible outside the window. The one I planned to show her was, of course, Jane’s lace atelier.
“Wow, the leather colors are gorgeous! Let’s go in already!”
As I stepped down from the carriage, I cast a quick sideways glance to make sure Jane’s lace shop was doing well.
It stood diagonally across the street, several dozen steps away. From afar, I could see Jane, her auburn bob fluttering as she busily attended to customers.
Reassured, I turned back to Nina—just in time to see her urgently beckoning me over.
“April, come look at this. This is what I really wanted to show you. They engrave names right on the spot.”
On the counter she pointed to, small leather goods suitable for name engraving were neatly arranged.
Every piece looked refined enough to satisfy even a count’s daughter.
“Oh, they’re beautiful.”
When I said it sincerely, Nina continued her explanation.
“Even in the capital, there aren’t many places that do such delicate stitching. I stop by here every time I come to the imperial city.”
Judging by the way she greeted the craftsman familiarly, it was true. She picked out a pair of coin purses.
“Shall we engrave A and N and take one each?”
I genuinely loved the idea. Name engraving would take time, after all.
“That’s a wonderful idea, Nina.”
“So we ended up coming out again, huh? I didn’t expect the leather workshop to be that backed up with orders.”
In truth, I’d secretly paid extra and asked them to delay on purpose, but I answered with a wink.
“What’s wrong with that? We have to pick up the lace we ordered anyway. I don’t mind coming out again.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
Nina easily agreed, twirling her newly bought parasol as she examined it.
“This lace shop is new to me. It doesn’t seem like it’s from the capital.”
Right—it’s from the countryside of Basewater.
And the owner’s from the island of Sopra, so her craftsmanship is excellent.
I swallowed those thoughts.
While Jane’s colleague stuck close to Nina, enthusiastically praising their lace quality, I slipped what I’d brought into Jane’s hands and whispered,
“Get me something exactly like this. By the day after tomorrow.”
Jane quickly took the item, then—rather than giving me a direct answer—said something unexpected.
“She’s still fine.”
It was Rafael’s message: Millicent was safe.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Anything Jane didn’t explicitly confirm was nothing to worry about.
It meant she’d met Rafael after my visit two days ago—just as planned—so he’d be nearby.
Rafael would see this through no matter what. Both Millicent’s life and mine were on the line, and I knew that better than anyone.
Which meant Millicent would be waiting for me too.
Suddenly, my appetite vanished, and the sugar rose in my hand felt embarrassingly out of place.
Nina noticed my expression right away and asked,
“What’s wrong, April?”
“It’s nothing… I think the rose candy just stuck to my teeth.”
Nina shuddered.
“Ugh, I know exactly what you mean. You really have to be careful with those.”
The next day, in the imperial gardens.
“Striiike!”
Samuel shouted loudly and clapped his hands.
“Your Highness, you finally did it. I told you—you’d manage eventually.”
Well… could this really be called “managing”?
After aiming at the same set of ten bowling pins five times in a row, I had finally managed to knock them all down.
In other words, while others enjoyed betting and bowling merrily in the middle of the garden, I had peeled off to receive private instruction from Samuel.
Perhaps still shaken by what happened at the ball two days ago, Hilais—the queen bee of high society—was nowhere to be seen.
The reason I was engaging in such a pointless pastime—setting pins up, knocking them down, then setting them up again—despite my heart burning with worry over Millicent?
I wanted to gauge the movements of noble society through someone other than Nina.
And Samuel Hübner, standing before me now, was the Crown Prince’s friend—and the heir to Duke Hübner, owner of a major newspaper.
In short, he was the perfect target for my purposes.
