Chapter 5

‘If I had known this would happen, I would’ve just gone home!’

Kaiden had definitely hidden that information from me on purpose.

A private blind date with the Fourth Princess must have been uncomfortable for him too. And since I, another Swordmaster, happened to be nearby, he probably thought:

Perfect. I’ll make Marion stay at the castle so this awkward situation becomes easier to deal with.

Because Swordmasters were required to greet any royal family member who came nearby!

And now even the more troublesome Second Prince was coming too!

“Damn it, that bastard…!”

“That ‘bastard’ isn’t referring to our Grand Duke, is it?”

“…Ahahaha. Of course not.”

Madam Marché smiled kindly while pressuring me at the same time.

I had seen Second Prince Lucas Gratier once every year during the Emperor’s birthday banquet.

The male lead of the original novel was a pitiful man constantly facing assassination attempts because of the Empress and Crown Prince.

Fourth Princess Serena Gratier was Lucas’s full sister.

Lucas and Serena were half-siblings to the Crown Prince.

In other words, the main story of the novel was:

Because the Emperor had many women, his children fought over the throne.

And while all that happened, there was romance, political conflicts, and various incidents.

Honestly, it was a pretty entertaining romance fantasy novel.

It would’ve been even more entertaining if I wasn’t trapped inside it.

…I want to run away.

“You are not allowed to run away.”

Now Madam Marché was reading minds too.

Feeling a headache coming, I asked,

“When are they arriving?”

“Three—”

“Three hours?”

“You slept in, so what are you talking about? Thirty minutes.”

Ah, seriously!

* * *

Kaiden had a headache.

After rejecting every marriage meeting for an entire year, his grandfather had exploded.

“What? Is only royalty good enough for you?!”

And now the old man had truly arranged a blind date with a princess.

The two royal siblings coming all the way to the Grand Duke’s castle was another problem entirely.

Normally, royal marriage meetings happened inside the imperial palace under the Emperor or Empress’s arrangement.

Meaning nobles were expected to visit the palace themselves.

Yet the Fourth Princess insisted on personally coming to the Grand Duke’s castle.

And she even brought the Second Prince with her.

No—

Actually, the Second Prince was clearly trying to push the Fourth Princess onto Kaiden.

‘Their situation must be that desperate.’

Even lowering their royal pride, they were determined to gain the support of the Baltstein family.

‘Troublesome.’

Kaiden was wondering how to refuse politely when—

“Grand Duke Ka! Are you serious right now?!”

Marion hurried down the stairs after rushing to prepare herself.

She was wearing her formal uniform.

“Sir Marion! A lady should not run! And how dare you call His Grace ‘Grand Duke Ka’!”

Madam Marché chasing after her at power-walking speed was also quite impressive.

“Have you ever seen a lady wearing pants? And ‘Grand Duke Ka’ is short for Grand Duke Kaiden! It’s a trendy abbreviation among young people these days!”

“A proper knight does not care about trends!”

The aide and butler standing nearby carefully glanced at Kaiden.

Anyone could tell Marion’s behavior was excessive and too noisy for receiving important guests.

But Kaiden couldn’t help letting out a small laugh at the sight of Marion and Madam Marché bickering.

It felt like the mess in his head suddenly cleared.

Marion stomping over angrily definitely looked far from ladylike.

‘After causing me so much trouble yesterday, this feels like proper revenge.’

Kaiden opened his mouth.

“You’re late.”

“I got ready as fast as I could!”

Marion grumbled as she stood beside him.

Without looking at her, Kaiden spoke.

“As Madam Marché probably told you already, the Second Prince and Fourth Princess will arrive soon. Behave properly once they come.”

“You told me to stay here on purpose yesterday.”

Marion accused him through gritted teeth.

Inside, Kaiden found this extremely amusing, but outwardly he remained expressionless.

“No. I was worried about you.”

“Don’t lie! You just didn’t want to deal with the royals alone—!”

“His Highness Prince Lucas and Her Highness Princess Serena have arrived!”

A servant shouted from outside the door.

Kaiden glanced down slightly at Marion and said,

“Half lie. Half truth. Let’s go.”

“Grrrr!”

Ignoring Marion’s frustrated growl behind him, Kaiden opened the door.

* * *

The lunch was painfully uncomfortable.

Kaiden sat at the head of the table.

Lucas and Serena sat on each side of him.

Marion sat beside Serena.

Before the meal began, Kaiden had quietly instructed Madam Marché to cook Marion’s steak well-done.

If Marion fainted from seeing bloody meat, that would be disastrous.

Marion seemed to notice.

Her eyes widened slightly before she secretly gave him a thumbs-up while holding her fork.

Kaiden barely stopped himself from smiling.

“So, Grand Duke, what do you think of our Serena?”

“Cough!”

Lucas smiled gently at Kaiden as he asked.

Marion, who hadn’t expected the conversation to become direct so quickly, nearly choked.

Kaiden signaled for a servant to refill Marion’s glass with water.

“S-Sorry.”

Marion quickly apologized and drank water.

Lucas smiled while watching her.

“It seems Sir Marion is curious too.”

By openly asking, “What do you think of my sister?”, Lucas cleverly removed Kaiden’s chance to reject Serena too harshly in front of everyone.

Of course, even Kaiden wasn’t the type of man to treat a princess ten years younger than him coldly.

“I haven’t spoken much with Princess Serena because of our age difference.”

Not cruel, but clear enough.

Kaiden was subtly implying that the age gap made him uncomfortable.

Lucas smiled brightly.

“A younger bride is even better, isn’t it? Besides, a ten-year difference isn’t that much.”

Clang!

The fork in Marion’s hand snapped in half, the upper piece falling onto her plate.

“Huh? Why did this break? Sorry. Servant, another fork please…”

Kaiden quietly covered his mouth, barely stopping himself from smiling.

As Marion busily moved around, Serena frowned beside her and muttered,

“This is why lowborn people…”

The surroundings instantly became silent.

Marion looked startled and darted her eyes around nervously.

Clank.

Everyone turned toward the sound.

Then their eyes widened in shock.

Kaiden’s fork had also snapped in half.

In a cold voice, he said to Serena,

“Sometimes Swordmasters accidentally fail to control their strength. Princess Serena is still young, so perhaps you wouldn’t understand.”

In truth, Swordmasters were masters of control.

Their ability to handle swords delicately was exactly why they stood at the peak of swordsmanship.

Which meant Kaiden’s words were openly defending Marion while criticizing Serena.

Serena trembled in anger before suddenly standing up.

“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll go rest!”

Then she stormed out.

Only awkward silence remained.

The meal had barely started twenty minutes ago, but nobody seemed interested in eating anymore.

“Serena was rude. As her older brother, I apologize in her place, Sir Marion.”

Lucas broke the silence.

He looked sincerely apologetic.

Marion only shrugged once and said it was fine.

For some reason, seeing that made Kaiden’s chest ache slightly.

“Someone like Your Grace probably doesn’t care about people like me who crawled up from the bottom. A filthy commoner should just be grateful for a knight title beyond her station and obediently wag her tail, right?”

It was the first time Marion had ever spoken so directly about her birth.

They had known each other for ten years.

Yet she had rarely spoken about it before.

And for the past three years, they had barely talked properly at all.

‘It started when Marion moved out of the Grand Duke’s castle three years ago and got her own house.’

Their relationship had worsened since then.

Only yesterday had they finally spoken a little again.

While Kaiden was deep in thought, Lucas spoke to him.

“As the Grand Duke said, Serena is still young. She only recently became an adult at eighteen. She’s immature, not bad-hearted, so I hope you’ll continue speaking with her. I’ll make sure to scold her properly.”

Kaiden stared quietly at Lucas before looking at Marion.

When their eyes met, Marion simply shrugged again.

Finally, Kaiden reluctantly spoke.

“…Understood.”