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Chapter 80
The Devoted Husband
Giscar’s violet eyes fell on Diana. For some reason, just being under his gaze made her face sting with heat. Diana rose from her seat.
“I greet Your Majesty.”
At her polite greeting, Giscar stepped to stand beside her. Ribus frowned deeply as he followed behind Giscar.
“I asked you why you were here, didn’t I?”
Just that alone brought a tense, chilling atmosphere. Diana watched the confrontation between the two men.
“I understood that Your Majesty had stepped out today for the inspection of the great magical tools…”
Ah, so Giscar had gone out for a magical tool inspection. She had only heard he was away.
“I asked why you were here.”
Though Giscar’s voice was threatening enough to make the skin crawl, Adelheid still looked completely relaxed.
“Isn’t it obvious? At an audience, a queen is always accompanied by her supporters among the nobles and knights.”
“……”
“And yet, there was no one by the noble Queen Consort’s side. Watching a knight bark orders at her to hurry because a guest was waiting in the back, my heart hurt for her.”
He clutched his chest in exaggerated sorrow. Giscar’s eyes shifted to the knights. The knight who had spoken to Diana earlier flinched and avoided his gaze.
“The Ducal House of Blake would naturally like to provide support, but unfortunately I am the only one left of that house. With no one to act as her lady-in-waiting, I must do it myself. And besides, I’ve been knighted by the royal family—so there’s no problem with me protecting Her Majesty the Queen as a knight.”
“……”
“Is there some procedural issue with that?”
Giscar said nothing. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Ribus interjected.
“Your Majesty, this isn’t the time. You must discuss with the nobles the monster that appeared in the middle of the city today—”
A monster? In the capital’s heart? Hadn’t he just said it was for magical tool inspection? Diana kept silent.
“No. I’ll be the one standing by my wife’s side.”
“But only Duke LeBian remains—”
“Exactly!”
Giscar snapped, his expression irritated. Ribus let out a quiet sigh. He gestured to the attendants, who quickly placed a chair beside Diana.
“Isn’t a husband supposed to be his wife’s greatest supporter?”
Giscar shamelessly declared. Duke Blake spoke up.
“Isn’t it a little late for that, Your Majesty?”
“Perhaps.”
With that cryptic answer, he took Diana’s hand. He looked at her as if demanding a reply, but Diana said nothing.
“I’m sorry I was late, Ann.”
“……”
“I wanted to be with you all day, but something urgent came up this morning.”
His voice softened as he caressed her hand.
“I’m sorry I left you alone.”
At that moment, Diana couldn’t tell what Giscar wanted from her.
“Even without Your Majesty, I did my best not to bring shame upon your honor.”
“……”
“To put the country before myself is the more righteous thing, so please don’t take it to heart.”
Her words brought an abrupt silence. Adelheid, Giscar, and even Ribus looked at Diana with hard expressions.
Each emotion must have been different: displeasure, resentment, pity for a woman who spoke empty words of resignation without revealing her true feelings, a chill, or even anger born from frustration.
But Diana could not understand their reactions.
***
“How did it go?”
Lady LeBian, waiting outside the castle, asked. Her long braid of pink hair, bright as cherry blossoms in spring, made her breathtakingly beautiful. But her green eyes were clouded with displeasure.
The Duke, looking at his daughter, answered.
“It was nothing.”
“Did that woman say nothing to us? Did she even greet us properly?”
“Well…”
“Father, you said she would act stupidly. We should have put her in her place—!”
The Duke sighed.
“Child, it wasn’t that easy.”
“……”
“There were no Varghati knights, but six royal knights stood there. And His Majesty the King himself, along with Duke Blake.”
“What…? His Majesty?”
She ground her teeth. Nobles often held audiences with their vassals like the royals did, but usually their spouses did not attend. They had their own duties. That the king himself was there? She had heard of some nobles being devoted husbands.
But the king? A devoted husband? The king? Impossible. That cold-eyed man, standing beside the daughter of the house that once enslaved him?
“I saw it with my own eyes. That woman was once His Majesty’s master—”
“……”
“Insane. A devoted husband? Ridiculous.”
Lady LeBian gave a bitter laugh. And what of Duke Blake? The man said never to leave Neustria Academy—why was he standing beside the queen?
“Child, it seems the queen is not someone to be trifled with.”
“What are you saying? You said no one would want an inferior from Panborough as queen.”
“No, she’s not easy prey.”
The Duke shook his head.
“Did Duke Blake and His Majesty really support her so strongly?”
“No.”
He sighed.
“That queen… she doesn’t seem like an ordinary person.”
They had expected her to look frightened like a captive, or else force a smile to gain favor. But Diana Brienne looked different.
Whether born of resignation or not, she carried herself with a strange languor and composure. An air that seemed to say, you are nothing to me. Not desperate—sometimes that kind of attitude carried great power.
The Duke was sure of it. Even if he insulted the queen, she would not care. Was it because she had strong backing? After all, those standing beside her were no ordinary people.
Rather than being confident, her strangely relaxed manner itself created tension.
“That’s why you won’t succeed.”
Unlike the languid queen, his daughter looked far too desperate. The Duke sighed.
“What do you mean, I won’t succeed? She’s stupid!”
She shouted furiously. He had bought her Panborough dresses, instruments said to be divine, jewels made from mermaids’ tears, even gems mined from exploited dwarves.
And yet, his daughter still cried that it wasn’t enough.
“If not for that woman…”
Lady LeBian remembered her first defeat—at the Festival of Taliah, when everyone mocked her as an outsider. If not for that woman, she wouldn’t have called Giscar a slave and humiliated him. Giscar had used that to declare he would never marry her.
Though it was entirely her fault, Saruvia LeBian always pushed blame onto others, living as if she were spotless.
She had even tried to ruin their wedding, bribing a new maid to trample the bridal crown.
But nothing worked.
“The other nobles are the same. In the end, won’t you be the real power of the palace?”
“I don’t want to be her lady-in-waiting! Why should I serve that wretched woman?!”
She screamed. The Duke clicked his tongue and walked ahead. He, too, had plenty to say.
Giscar Lodbrok—the man he had placed on the throne—had spurned his daughter. If he had just married her, it would have been simple. Why go around in circles?
The Duke of LeBian would not forget this slight.
***
Diana sat down. With her tension released, her shoulders ached.
“I’ll prepare the bath right away,” Mabel said.
Diana nodded. Once Mabel left, she wondered why the maids had all gone out. She was still wearing her tiara.
The tight braid pressing her head felt suffocating. Diana thought of calling the maids back but decided to wait. She removed her cloak and draped it over a chair before sitting again.
The blazing fireplace was warm and comforting. She sat watching the flames.
Then she heard the sound of a door opening. The maids must have returned. Footsteps approached, and the heavy tiara was lifted from her head.
“Undo my hair quickly,” Diana said.
As she rose from her chair, the maid carefully undid her hair. Her touch was cautious rather than skilled—was this perhaps a new maid?
Could it be the one who had once told her she was beautiful?
Once her hair was undone, she felt much lighter. But then, the maid didn’t move. Diana felt annoyed at her hesitation.
“Undress me, won’t you? This is uncomfortable.”
At that, the ruby ornaments decorating her gown fell away. As the back of her dress loosened, Diana glanced aside—and realized the figure behind her was far too tall for a maid. She turned to look.
Whoever it was, it was indeed the one who had called her beautiful.
But as soon as she turned, red lips pressed against hers.
“Your Majes—mmph!”
A tongue forced its way in, wet sounds filling her ears. Diana looked at the man stealing her lips. His hand caressed her waist hungrily, his thick tongue teasing her lips, his large palm roaming her body.
When she finally pulled her lips away and looked, Giscar whispered breathlessly.
“Isn’t that what you meant when you told me to undress you?”
“……”
He brushed her reddened lips. Though swollen from the kiss, they were still beautiful. Lit by the firelight, her face made him smile with almost ecstatic delight.
“Ann, you disobeyed my warning.”
His hand teased the thin fabric of her dress. Hot breath burned against her neck.
“I told you—don’t even glance at other men. Look only at me.”
“I… ah—!”
He squeezed the tip of her breast lightly, making her body jolt with sharp pleasure.
“And if you don’t… I’ll go mad.”
He pressed his lips to the nape of her neck as he spoke.
