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Chapter: 11
That Man’s Circumstances
Luca stared at Karl with an expressionless face. However, Karl knew that Luca was irritated—and that it was because he had carelessly mentioned the late Marquis Lemaxin. Quickly, Karl raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Ah, sorry. But isn’t that what everyone says? I admit the Marquis Lemaxin was impressive. But that woman… how should I put it? There wasn’t an ounce of nobility in her.”
Karl spoke with a grin. It didn’t seem like he intended to insult the Marquis—he simply seemed amused by Luca’s indignation. And indeed, Luca Schaud was colder and more composed than anyone else, rarely swayed by emotions. Karl was always the one being teased. Not wanting to miss the chance, he spoke again.
“How could anyone like a woman like that?”
Luca gave him a look of utter disdain.
“It seems Your Highness considers noble those who sit together, drink tea, and fret over next season’s fashion trends, or which teacups are the priciest imports. If that’s the case, then the Marquis certainly was not noble. Marquis Lemaxin was a man who set the trends for the next season.”
Luca tapped the documents in front of him and continued.
“He had foresight about what could turn a profit. Was he only like that regarding money? Fashion, international affairs, changes in weather and climate—he was sensitive to everything. I believe that the Emperor should be the same.”
Having finished speaking, Luca organized the documents requiring Karl’s signature. The thick stack grew considerably. The playful smile on Karl’s face vanished, replaced by a furrowed brow.
“You… you can’t be!”
“Didn’t I tell you to hurry?”
Luca stacked the documents neatly on Karl’s desk.
“If the Marquis had not been so busy, I would have wanted to sit down for tea with him and converse. I almost wanted to take him as a mentor.”
Even if Karl’s father, Duke Schaud, had not leapt in protest at the thought of him having such ideas, Luca would have done so. But the Duke considered Marquis Lemaxin nothing more than a street thug, and strictly prevented his son from even uttering anything similar elsewhere.
“I hope Your Highness can emulate even half of his qualities. If you process all the documents on that desk today, you might reach even the tips of the Marquis’ toes. Moreover, the empire will remain peaceful tomorrow as well.”
“You brat!”
Karl muttered curses under his breath as he compared the shrinking pile Luca had assembled with the overflowing stack on his own desk. He sighed quietly.
Since childhood, he had thought Luca was a harsh one. He had assumed that age and the hardships of the world might soften him, but somehow, Luca’s temperament only seemed to sharpen with time. No wonder the crown prince himself had to partially back down.
Karl’s curses went unnoticed; Luca remained calm, focused on the documents. Karl groaned and picked up his pen. If it meant the peace of the empire was preserved, what did his own human comfort matter?
“No!”
With a scream, Yvon snapped awake. Another nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.
She brushed back her damp brown hair, revealing a fair, smooth forehead. Below it, an elegant nose and red lips—somehow decadent compared to her forehead and nose—were set in place. Even in ragged clothing and with untamed hair, her beauty, praised by all as the finest, shone through when she removed her glasses.
Yvon’s anxious eyes scanned her room as the remnants of the dream lingered. Then she glanced outside, judging the time. It was still before dawn. Seeing the chill in the air, she realized she would soon need to light a fire.
Unable to fall back asleep, Yvon threw off the covers and sat at her desk. She found the key, opened the drawer, and removed its contents, feeling along the bottom with her hand. Her fingers touched a thin notebook.
‘Leonardo Toulouse.’
Beneath the small, black leather-bound notebook, her real name was embossed in gold.
‘Leonardo Toulouse.’
Vivienne was desperately searching for Toulouse’s crown prince. In fact, she was not the only one. From the King of Toulouse to his younger sister Ines, and even the stepmother, the Queen, everyone was searching for him in Valua for their own reasons. How they had discovered he was here, no one knew. Outwardly, the Toulouse royal family seemed harmonious and peaceful, yet they were frantically trying to find Leo.
For now, however, no one seemed aware that Yvon was Leo. Compared to his time as crown prince, his current life was filled with trivialities, a repetitive cycle like a hamster on a wheel. Even if the servants or aides who once attended him would have been aghast, Yvon was content.
Knowing he would eventually have to return, he still thought he might be happy to stay by Iana’s side forever if he could.
As the cold sweat from his nightmare cooled, Yvon lit a fire in the hearth. After several failed attempts, he managed to kindle it, then sat in front of the fireplace and opened his diary. It was a diary he had only ever written in when he had particularly vivid dreams—the dreams of Crown Prince Leonardo, or records of his abilities.
He had his first dream at age four: his mother, while strolling in the garden, was suddenly killed by an assassin. Crying, he clung to his mother, and the Queen gently stroked his head.
“The prince must be growing so quickly,” she said.
The surrounding servants and maids laughed and echoed her words, laying out delicious desserts to comfort the frightened prince. But soon, Leo’s dream became reality.
It was a sunny day. His mother had set a table in the garden to enjoy tea with her attendants. Sweet, chilled tea, freshly baked financiers, and madeleines were beautifully arranged on the table. Roses and nameless white wildflowers decorated one side. Nothing appeared dangerous.
But Leo, interrupting his lessons, suddenly felt unease. The chilling sensation from his dream crawled along his spine. Rising from his seat, he ran, and the surprised teachers and guards followed. They soon encountered a horrifying scene.
The Queen’s once-beautiful garden was awash in blood, and the bodies of the slain lay twisted between the blocking knights.
“Your Highness!”
A guard quickly covered Leo’s eyes and scooped him up, but it was too late; he had already seen everything.
“It’s my fault…”
Leo stammered.
“I! It’s because of me! I could have stopped it!”
Then he fainted. He was only four—far too young to process such trauma. The King, deeply grieving for the Queen, ordered the assassins’ backers thoroughly investigated, while ensuring Leo would not return to the Queen’s palace for the time being. He himself never went to the scene, unable to bear witnessing the horror.
A month later, the King, unwilling to leave the Queen’s seat vacant, issued a selection decree and soon brought in a new Queen. The daughter of a countess rumored to be the King’s mistress became Queen, bore Vivienne immediately, and three years later gave birth to Ines.
Despite the King’s orders, they failed to uncover the truth behind the former Queen’s murder. Leo became isolated within the palace. Had the Queen borne a son earlier, Leo might have been expelled entirely.
After Ines was born, the King gradually withdrew his attention from the Queen, taking new concubines. The Queen, unable to gain the son she had desired and witnessing the King’s waning affection, trembled in fear.
Her anxiety was fueled further by Leo’s coronation as crown prince. The King sought more freedom, assuming Leo could share some of his responsibilities, yet he granted no true military or political power.
With Leo becoming crown prince, the gifts to the Queen were halved. The prince who had seemed destined for exile now became crown prince, and would one day be King. The Queen, deprived of the King’s love, could bear no heir. Only a Queen who ascends by love is cast aside when love fades. The calculations were swift, the actions even swifter. Nobles who once queued before the palace vanished.
“Ines, your beauty will save me.”
It was then that the Queen’s peculiar obsession with Ines began. Vivienne was beautiful, but no match for Ines.
“Ines, try this.”
“Beautiful Ines, how does this dress look?”
While Leo grew up alone in the secondary palace, Vivienne and Ines also endured a challenging upbringing.
Meanwhile, Leo dreamed again. Vivienne became Crown Princess of the Valua Empire. That might have been a welcome vision, but in it, Vivienne used her power selfishly. She framed and killed her rival, Princess Iana of Marseilles, and eventually sought to eliminate her own sister, Ines, out of distrust. She incited Emperor Karl to wage war on the Toulouse Kingdom.
Soldiers suddenly attacked, and Toulouse collapsed. The grand castle was consumed by fire, countless innocent lives lost. Imperial generals wagered over who could claim the most Toulouse royal lives. Leo’s dreams always ended with his own head rolling across the floor.
‘It’s just a nightmare.’
Awaking, Leo murmured to himself, trying to reassure himself. Yet the dreams repeated, growing more vivid with time—Vivienne’s expressions and voice becoming clear. His abilities had manifested.
Upon realizing this, Yvon meticulously recorded every dream in his notebook. After confirming that Vivienne acted exactly as he saw in his dreams, on the dawn of his twentieth birthday, he secretly left Toulouse and boarded a ship to the Valua Empire.
On that ship, he met a Valua noble—the Marquis Alisa Lemaxin.
