Chapter 3

“Prince Julien, if you keep leaving your carrots behind, you’ll never become a knight who can rescue princesses.”

Tehez spoke with deliberately stern expression.

She had come to Julien’s palace for the first time in quite a while.

Prince Julien was Queen Marianne’s second son and the youngest member of the royal family. Born frail and sickly, he had become the sole recipient of the King’s affection and attention. Paying visits to Julien and making herself known to him was also part of Tehez’s strategy to win the King’s favor and secure her position in the line of succession.

As usual, Julien was lying in bed, dressed in his nightclothes.

His pale face, which rarely saw sunlight, his slender arms, and the dark shadows beneath his eyes were all evidence of his poor health.

“Tehez, I’m weak and sickly. Can I really become a knight?”

The child looked up at her with tearful eyes.

She gently reassured him.

“Of course you can. I heard that Lord Denis was just as small as you when he was young. But he trained hard and eventually grew strong and healthy.”

“Really?”

The child raised his voice, clearly unable to believe her.

“Of course.”

“But, Tehez…”

When Tehez nodded, Julien called her name and trailed off, as though he had something he wanted to say.

“Yes, my dear prince? What is it?”

“Why hasn’t my older brother come to visit me lately? He always used to ride horses with me…”

Julien’s voice faded before he could finish.

The older brother he was referring to was Fabrice.

Julien was close to Fabrice, who shared the same mother, but his relationship with Denis, his half-brother, was rather distant.

Of course, Denis did visit Julien’s palace once a week. But those visits were nothing more than an opportunity to maintain appearances before the King.

“The palace servants talk about my brother, but they never tell me anything.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Julien burst into tears. His large eyes, already glistening with unshed tears, spilled over. His little hands looked so delicate as he wiped his cheeks.

Tehez reached out to him.

“Oh, Julien. Come here. Let Tehez give you a hug.”

She easily lifted the child into her arms.

Despite being fed all sorts of nutritious food, Julien was still light enough for her to carry effortlessly.

Tehez gently stroked the back of the child’s head as he buried himself in her embrace.

His sobs only grew louder.

Julien was still prone to behaving like a baby, and soon the front of Tehez’s dress was damp with his tears.

She calmly comforted him.

“My sweet Julien. That’s enough. Don’t cry anymore.”

As she spoke, she softly caressed his head.

“Lord Fabrice has been very busy lately. But you have Tehez here, don’t you? You wouldn’t mind going horseback riding with me instead, would you?”

“Really? Will you ride horses with me, Tehez?”

Julien looked up at her, his face covered in tears and snot.

She gave him a gentle smile, took out her handkerchief, and carefully wiped his runny nose.

“Now, blow your nose.”

At her prompting, the child obediently blew his nose, clearing away the sticky mess.

“Of course. But first, you have to get better. Once you’re healthy again, we’ll go horseback riding together.”

“Tehez is the best! Thank you so much!”

The child smiled, though tears continued to stream down his cheeks.

She gently wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes.

Children outside the palace were already beginning to earn their own living at his age. Yet this frail little boy still carried the soft, powdery scent of a baby.

“Tehez.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Can’t you be my mother?”

“Oh, Julien. Wouldn’t Queen Marianne in heaven be sad to hear that?”

“But…”

The child looked ready to burst into tears again.

“But I don’t remember my mother. I heard people talking about her. They said she died just one week after giving birth to me. Maybe it was my fault that she died.”

As he spoke, his tiny fingers fidgeted restlessly.

“What are you saying, Your Highness? You must never say such things! Queen Marianne must have been overjoyed when she gave birth to you. I’m certain of it.”

“How do you know, Tehez?”

“Well…”

Tehez fell momentarily silent, unable to answer his question.

“If it were me, I would have been overjoyed. I would have been so, so happy to give birth to a precious little prince like you. I would have felt as though I could fly with happiness…”

As Tehez gently patted the child’s back, an indescribably complicated expression settled over her face.

She continued comforting Julien for some time.

After crying so much, the child seemed to have exhausted all his strength. Before long, he had fallen asleep, breathing softly.

When Tehez stepped outside, Mrs. Emily, Julien’s nursemaid, who had been sitting near the door, rose to her feet.

Tehez informed her that the prince had just fallen asleep.

“Thank you for always taking such good care of Prince Julien.”

“There’s no need to thank me. You’re the one who goes through so much trouble. As the prince’s wife, isn’t it my duty to look after the royal family?”

“…”

Mrs. Emily recognized the self-mockery hidden in Tehez’s words, and a sorrowful expression crossed her face.

Yet she also seemed determined not to offer her sympathy too hastily.

Tehez pretended not to notice and turned away.

“Mrs. Emily, I’ll be leaving now. Please take good care of His Highness.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will.”

Mrs. Emily stood awkwardly, unsure whether she should offer words of comfort or simply pretend she hadn’t noticed anything.

Leaving her behind, Tehez stepped into the corridor.

The palace of the sickly prince was exceptionally quiet.

Outside, the sunlight was dazzling, but inside Julien’s palace, there was always a subdued, almost melancholic atmosphere.

Tehez walked along the long, spacious corridor.

Her own mood had sunk after the words she had spoken.

How foolish of me.

She had known that saying something like that would only make things awkward, yet she had said it anyway. At that moment, she simply hadn’t been able to help herself.

It was almost as though another personality hidden inside her had surfaced just to act out of spite.

How stupid.

She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

A princess consort who couldn’t have children.

That was the greatest distinction she held.

Five years had passed since her marriage, yet there was still no child between Denis and her.

Their physical relationship itself was not particularly problematic. Denis often sought her out because of his insomnia. And yet, there had been no news of a pregnancy.

At one point, rumors had even spread that an evil spirit had possessed her.

Tehez paid little attention to what other people thought of her.

Ever since becoming a princess consort, she had never once been free from the judgment of others.

What mattered most to her, however, was Denis’s true feelings.

He had never once brought up the matter of having children.

Did that mean he was perfectly content with things as they were? Or did it mean he simply didn’t care whether they had children or not? Perhaps it meant he wasn’t interested in her enough to care in the first place…

Sometimes, Tehez wanted to ask Denis how he felt about having a child.

But she was afraid of the answer he might give her.

Afraid that hearing his true feelings would shatter her.

If he looked at her indifferently and asked why they needed a child in the first place, she wasn’t sure she could bear it.

And so, while she wavered between asking and remaining silent, one day after another slipped by.

Before she knew it, five years had passed, and she still hadn’t managed to take either step.

If they continued to have no news of an heir, she would eventually be divorced.

After all, there was no need for a princess consort who couldn’t produce an heir.

Whenever that fear came over her, Tehez became unbearably anxious. Most of the worries that kept her tossing and turning at night were related to the matter of having a child.

During the day, of course, she rarely had the luxury of thinking about such things. She was constantly occupied with work, leaving her little time to dwell on anything else.

And so, she usually managed to push those worries aside.

But why?

Why had she said something like that today?

Anxiety and fear slowly crept over her.

Perhaps it was because of the child’s innocent question.

How do you know?

His words had somehow felt like an accusation.

As though he were asking her how a woman who had never given birth could possibly know such a thing.

Of course, Julien hadn’t actually said anything of the sort.

Still, Tehez couldn’t help feeling that she had taken out her own frustration on Mrs. Emily for no reason.

She felt terribly sorry about it.

I must be more careful. I am the prince’s wife, after all.

Tehez clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palms.

Then she drew in a deep breath.

She needed to bury these thoughts beneath other matters and forget about them as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, she would be swallowed whole by her own negative emotions.

“Welcome back, Your Highness.”

Daniel was waiting for her in her office.

Tehez handed him the handkerchief, now thoroughly soaked with tears and mucus.

“Dispose of this.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Tehez glanced down at the front of her dress, which was a complete mess, and let out a sigh.

She knew this always happened whenever she visited Julien.

She should have known better than to schedule another appointment so soon afterward.

“I suppose I can’t meet that fellow Jacques looking like this, can I?”

Daniel seemed well acquainted with Jacques’s temperament, too. He merely frowned without offering much of a response.

Jacques was an unpleasantly finicky and sensitive man, but when it came to getting things done, he was undeniably reliable.

“Postpone the appointment by two hours. I’ll change my dress before going.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I have brought the information on foreign affairs that you requested last time.”

“Is this everything?”

Tehez sat at the head of the table, sipping coffee from her cup.

“Do you have any idea how difficult it was just to obtain this much?!”

Jacques, reminded of all the trouble he had gone through, bristled at what he perceived as Tehez’s dismissal of his efforts.

But she didn’t even bat an eyelid, seemingly accustomed to his complaints.

“You’ve worked hard.”

With those few words, she neatly brushed aside all of Jacques’s grievances.

He had been about to protest further, but when he noticed how intently she was concentrating on the documents, he closed his mouth.

Tehez was seated in an office deep within the hammam, a foreign-style public bathhouse.

The hammam had recently become a fashionable gathering place in Valois.

On the first floor stood a central bathing pool, surrounded by tall columns of fine white marble. Beneath the magnificent ceiling murals, plush cushions had been arranged between the pillars, providing a comfortable place for guests to sit and converse.

Unlike the lavish interior of the hammam, the office where Tehez sat was a modest, undecorated space.

Aside from Tehez and Jacques, no one knew of its existence.

It had been built as a separate space, complete with its own entrance, when the hammam itself was constructed.

Tehez had been carefully examining the information hidden between the lines of seemingly ordinary reports when she finally raised her head.

The back of her neck had begun to ache.

Her gaze fell upon the ceiling mural above the central bath.

The exotic painting, lavishly decorated with generous amounts of blue pigment, looked extravagantly luxurious.

“It seems business has been booming lately.”

At her remark, Jacques brightened and eagerly replied.

“Of course! Word has spread that this place offers valuable information you simply can’t find anywhere else. The nobles are lining up every morning just to get inside!”

A merchant by nature, Jacques began enthusiastically listing the influential figures who had visited recently.

Many of the high-ranking nobles who came here even concealed their faces.

That was precisely why Tehez had chosen the hammam as her meeting place with Jacques.

It was one of the few places where disguising one’s identity wouldn’t attract suspicion.

Even so, no matter how carefully she disguised herself, there would always be people capable of recognizing the princess consort.

Her well-known face placed considerable restrictions on her freedom of movement.

Even the tea sets she presented at tea parties were analyzed for their political implications, with the findings appearing on the front pages of newspapers the very next morning.

And yet, she had no choice but to move around personally.

Ever since Remy Evry had been dismissed, the handling of her affairs had slowed considerably.

I need to find someone to replace him as soon as possible.

With that thought in mind, Tehez turned to Jacques.

“What has the Marquis of Ingeliger been up to?”

“Nothing unusual. He’s currently conducting armistice negotiations with the Ho Eunan Kingdom at the Valois border.”

That was something she already knew.

“Do you foresee any problems with the negotiations?”

“Ewai Island is the sticking point.”

To be continued…