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Chapter : 47
“Elder sister, there are so many people around. You shouldn’t ask something like that so openly.”
“Why not? I think it could actually be a good opportunity. There are a lot of negative opinions about the relationship between those two right now, and especially nasty rumors about the young lady of House Valce. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could clear things up here?”
“Even so, that would put pressure on the Duke of Betelheim and the young lady of House Valce…”
“I mean it.”
Raiden cut Jeyros off. Freya’s gaze turned to him as he stepped forward without hesitation.
‘He’s about to do something.’
It seemed like now was the time for the move he had mentioned last time. She didn’t know exactly what he planned, but for now she decided to watch.
After briefly meeting her eyes, he opened his mouth again.
“Lady Freya Valce. She is the only person who has ever had my heart.”
“…Is that true, Your Grace?”
“Is there any need for me to lie? It is the truth without a shred of falsehood, so please put your doubts aside. I no longer wish to hold back the feelings I’ve been hiding.”
“What you mean is…?”
“She is my first love. For the past seven years, I’ve thought of no one but her.”
“My goodness! Really?”
Helena couldn’t hide her surprise. At the same time, the young ladies and gentlemen who had been listening all drew in a sharp breath.
“D-did you hear that just now?”
“Yes, yes. The Duke of Betelheim’s first love is Lady Valce!”
“We didn’t mishear, did we? H-how could that be?”
Raiden’s shocking words spread through the ballroom in an instant. It was hard to believe, and everyone was thrown into confusion.
Who was the Duke of Betelheim? Among the men of the Empire, he was the most admired, the darling of all, the number one groom sought after by young ladies and noblewomen alike.
And that man’s first love was Lady Valce?
The House of Valce had a certain reputation, but it was on a completely different level from the House of Betelheim. The young lady herself wasn’t unattractive, and though she headed the Imperial Palace Administration, she wasn’t considered such a valuable bride.
No matter how one looked at it, the duke seemed to be the one settling. So why? The murmur of doubt among the crowd wouldn’t die down.
“Seven years is a very long time. Is that really true?”
“Yes. From the first time I met her at the Academy, I felt drawn to her, and it soon grew into something special. Those feelings have continued to this day.”
“Ah, I did hear that you two attended the Academy together. You were even in the student council, right? I see.”
The Academy’s term was four years. If they studied together for that long and even served on the student council, it was only natural they would grow close.
Of course, spending time together didn’t automatically mean special feelings would develop. But from the start, Raiden had been fond of Freya, which made it possible.
‘And it was Lady Valce who made those feelings grow. To think she has such charm that could make a duke fall head over heels—how surprising.’
Helena and Freya had occasionally met at social gatherings, but they weren’t close. She had always thought Freya was quiet, composed, and dignified.
Since Freya had never done anything particularly irritating, they’d remained on polite terms. That was why Helena was even more curious—what kind of side Freya had that she didn’t know.
“Then were the rumors about you being lovers with the young lady of House Binok really just rumors?”
“Yes. It’s true that I got to know her casually through Freya’s introduction, but we were never lovers. In the first place, I never received a confession from Lady Binok, nor did I ever propose to her.”
“If the duke himself says so, it must be true.”
“I never expected such a twist. So you waited and endured for seven years and only just managed to be with Lady Valce, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. I was finally able to convey my feelings to her not long ago. I was so happy when she accepted them.”
As Raiden spoke with a bright smile and slightly reddened cheeks, Helena and Jeyros stared at him in a daze. Seeing the duke so clearly in love was strangely unfamiliar.
“I had no idea you were carrying such heartfelt feelings, Your Grace. That’s truly amazing.”
“I only regret that I couldn’t confess sooner. There was an unexpected obstacle in the way, so opportunities just wouldn’t come.”
“An obstacle?”
At Jeyros’s question, Raiden composed his voice and said,
“The young lady of House Binok.”
“…Lady Binok, you say?”
Jeyros asked with a stiff expression. Somehow, Raiden’s atmosphere seemed to change the moment he said that name.
To call the young lady of House Binok an “obstacle.” His voice carried a sharp edge that felt unsettling.
Though there was a deep smile on his lips, his eyes weren’t smiling at all as he waited for their response.
“It doesn’t sit well with me to say this. After all, she is Freya’s cousin.”
“Just what did Lady Binok do?”
“Well…”
Raiden hesitated, lips parting but no words coming out. He glanced at Freya, as if concerned about her.
“It’s fine, go on! There’s no way His Grace would make things up out of nothing.”
“Elder sister…”
Jeyros tried to stop Helena, but his eyes showed the same curiosity as hers. Pressed by both of them, Raiden finally made up his mind and slowly began.
“When I was first introduced to her, I thought she was a bright and lively young lady. Despite coming from a very different background, she wasn’t shy at all and spoke to me quite familiarly.”
“That’s right. You’d think she’d be intimidated, but she was surprisingly confident and bold. I remember being a little shocked.”
“She seemed to have a friendly nature. Even though she was shy, she liked chatting about this and that.”
In high society, Astella’s image was generally positive. Having spent a long time in an orphanage, she had some rough edges, but people said her overall air was surprisingly noble.
Perhaps it was thanks to her lovely appearance that covered up all her flaws. Otherwise, the impression might have been the complete opposite. In the end, it was the heroine’s blessing.
“I could see she was trying, and since Freya cared for her, I did my best to help her adapt. But at some point, she started acting strangely.”
“In what way?”
“She began coming to the Imperial Palace often, following Freya. Usually with excuses like having meals together or going shopping. Except for weekends, she came almost every day.”
“Every day? But Lady Valce has work to do—was it really that often?”
“Yes. It was usually during lunch or after work that they spent time together, but the frequency was too high. And strangely enough, from then on, I started running into her ‘by chance’ more and more often.”
Freya, who had been listening, calmly rolled her eyes. It was actually something she had done herself, but since it seemed Raiden was pinning it all on Astella, she stayed quiet.
“Whether I was out for a walk, going to eat, or heading home after work—every two days, without fail, I’d run into her. Would you believe me if I said it happened over thirty times?”
“At that point, you can’t really call it a coincidence, can you?”
“There’s no such coincidence in this world! That was totally deliberate!”
Helena cried out in shock. Jeyros, following her lead, wore an incredulous expression.
“Every time we met, Lady Binok emphasized that it was a ‘coincidence.’ She’d say things like, ‘Meeting you here is such a coincidence,’ or ‘Running into you like this feels like destiny.’”
Astella saying things like that? Freya looked at Raiden with slight surprise, having had no idea.
When their eyes met, he smiled as if to reassure her.
“Hah, honestly. Anyone could tell those were contrived coincidences, yet she said things like that so shamelessly.”
“She was bolder than I thought. And quite persistent, too. I guess she wanted to grab hold of a thread of destiny with the duke, no matter what.”
“Since I had not the slightest romantic interest in her, I rejected her every time. But I never imagined she would go so far as to lie and say we were lovers. She even spread rumors that I had proposed to her.”
“How could anyone in their right mind do something like that?”
Helena burst out angrily, her face full of disbelief. Everything Raiden described about Astella was hard to swallow.
An obsession disguised as coincidence, and on top of that, lies. Even for someone lacking in common sense, wasn’t that too much?
The room buzzed with shock and outrage.
