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Chapter 52
“Hahaha, Alisa. Our young prince is bursting with energy first thing in the morning. What brings you two in together?”
Mikel asked, gently slipping my hand out of the Duke’s grasp.
A faint crease appeared on the usually smooth forehead of the Duke. It seemed the title “young prince” rubbed him the wrong way.
“Mikel, could you use the proper title?”
“Ah, I’ve been disrespectful. What brings Your Grace the Duke all the way here…?”
When I corrected him, Mikel immediately adjusted his words, glancing subtly at the Duke while adding polite honorifics at the end.
“I didn’t come to see you. I’m just curious about the conversation between the Duchess and her long-time friend.”
Mikel flinched. It seemed the Duke’s Levantean was unexpectedly fluent.
“Ahahaha, so you came to eavesdrop. I was going to inform Alisa of something important, but shouldn’t one respect the privacy of one’s wife?”
Mikel bowed politely, though his eyes were wide open, betraying his true feelings.
The chief servant standing next to Mikel assessed the mood, then tiptoed out of the room.
Hmm. Today, Mikel did indeed come to talk to me about something important. He had gathered the information I had requested and came to report it.
Still, it wasn’t something the Duke couldn’t hear.
“Enough. Both of you, sit on that sofa. Duke, you may listen if you wish.”
The two men eventually sat side by side on the sofa opposite me.
The Duke sat upright with perfect posture, while Mikel leaned comfortably against the backrest.
Mikel straightened his back, conscious of the Duke beside him. The Duke seemed irritated by the uninvited guest, rolling his eyes slightly for a while.
“Don’t waste time. Speak, Mikel.”
“Ah, yes. As you said, someone anonymously bought a building in a corner of Yorka. It’s like a safe house… but every night, they secretly brought men there to play. They were young men from Dvorka who had just come of age, and it seemed only the attractive ones were chosen.”
Mikel spoke, omitting the subject.
Most men from Dvorka were either very young or elderly. The former were underage during the war, so they hadn’t served, and the latter were too old to fight. Most men of middle age had perished during the war.
“…They even acted like that on Dvorka soil. I suppose they were restless because their parents wouldn’t let them come to Levantea.”
“Alisa. Do you know how much trouble I went through pretending to be a Dvorkan man to sneak in there? She stammered so much because she could understand Levantean.”
Mikel shivered visibly, running his hands over his own wrist.
“Are you crazy? Why did you have to sneak in? You could’ve just spied from outside.”
I had only asked him to find out the building’s purpose. I never asked him to go in and serve as Princess Lieselotte’s plaything.
“Sigh, I almost died trying to dodge the weird things she kept trying to give me.”
“Weird things? What was she trying to give you?”
“…This.”
Mikel rummaged inside his jacket and placed a small vial on the table.
“You brought that from the site?”
“Who do you think I am? I’m the son of Dias, a western merchant. You have to acknowledge skillful hands. Oh, but don’t drink it. If you do, you’ll… really change.”
Mikel made a gagging sound, as if disgusted.
“Mikel. Don’t ever do undercover sneaking again. Why do things you weren’t asked to do?”
“So what? I was young and handsome, so it was possible. Though it was annoying that the noble kept clinging to me and touching me.”
He said this while puffing out his chest and shoulder muscles. He looked like a male pigeon in mating season—both funny and absurd.
Judging by his display, he wasn’t showing off to me.
“How many times must I say it? Don’t do it. It’s dangerous.”
“Alisa, don’t worry. Nothing serious happened. I kept my purity intact.”
“…What are you saying?”
“And I told you, I can do anything for you. Offering my body is nothing.”
Mikel winked at me, then turned his confident smile toward the Duke.
I realized he wasn’t speaking to impress me.
The Duke merely listened to Mikel, his expression strangely dark, staring into the void and brushing his bangs aside.
Was he bothered that Mikel openly expressed his feelings toward me?
No, he seemed deeply lost in his own thoughts.
I shifted my gaze to the vial on the table.
“Enough. Can I at least smell this potion?”
As soon as I asked, Mikel quickly uncorked it and handed it to me.
The translucent liquid gave off a sharp herbal scent, strangely reminiscent of both healing herbs and poisonous plants.
So Princess Lieselotte shared a similar habit with her father: using artificial means to weaken someone’s mind and body to control them.
This potion may have come from Crown Prince Daimon, who is always absorbed in experimenting with mysterious drugs.
“Alisa, I’m afraid I don’t know anything about this potion. You’ll have to investigate it yourself.”
“Of course. Thanks for going to all this trouble.”
I closed the vial and pocketed it.
Mikel chatted a bit more in the office before leaving. The Duke didn’t say a word until Mikel was gone, lost in thought.
After Mikel left, I asked the Duke,
“What are you thinking about?”
“…That I’ve been too selfish.”
I asked casually, expecting little, but he answered without delay.
“Selfish? What do you mean? Are you saying Mikel acted selflessly?”
Could it be he was thinking about the joke Mikel always made about giving his body to me?
“No, I just realized I valued only myself too much.”
“Hm, it’s natural to value oneself. If it doesn’t harm others, acting for oneself is normal.”
“…Even though I could have sacrificed myself, I tried to run away. My body was too precious. I didn’t want to break my will.”
“Sacrifice?”
Why is he suddenly talking about sacrifice?
He must be speaking about someone else. The Duke has nothing to sacrifice for me.
“It’s painfully clear to me what kind of human I am. That’s just bitter.”
He smiled, but it looked sad.
I had nothing to say, not knowing what he meant.
The Duke bowed politely and left the office.
I was left alone in an instant, staring at the closed door.
Perhaps he’s not as young as I thought. Surely there’s a past I don’t know about.
Some time later.
A luxurious floral-patterned envelope arrived from Pardon Island. It was a letter addressed to both the Duke and me.
“Not a wedding invitation, but why so fancy?”
I opened it, and indeed—it was a real wedding invitation. I unfolded it quickly.
“Prince Bruno… is marrying the daughter of a baron.”
Bruno was the Duke’s older brother and likely the last child of Queen Elizabeta.
The invitation politely requested our attendance at the wedding, accompanied by the Queen’s elaborate signature.
Probably hoping for a lavish gift. I’d better bring some gold.
Holding the freshly received invitation, I headed to the Duke’s study.
In the hallway, I ran into Sir Julio, who was also carrying an envelope.
“Oh, my lady. Are you going to see the Duke?”
“Yes.”
“Then could you deliver this for me? He’ll appreciate it more if you do than if I tried.”
…Sir Julio grinned slyly, pushing the task onto me.
“Alright.”
I took the envelope from him and entered the Duke’s study.
The Duke had just finished his royal studies lesson.
He had called in a former teacher to supervise his education. The teacher bowed politely to me before leaving.
The Duke’s study was impeccably organized, down to the pencils. The space itself was as neat and tidy as him.
“Duke, a wedding invitation has arrived.”
“From Pardon Island?”
He closed his book and asked, seemingly expecting this.
“Yes. So Prince Bruno really does have a fiancée? I thought the Queen was just using the excuse of a fiancée to prevent my generation from marrying him off.”
“Exactly. It was an excuse.”
The Duke answered dryly.
“Ah, so it’s a marriage forced by circumstance. They claimed he had a fiancée, but since the wedding isn’t happening, the lie would be exposed. Right?”
“Yes.”
The Duke slowly rose from his seat and approached me.
We stood quite close, within reach. The distance between us had significantly narrowed compared to before.
His broad arm reached toward my face, startling me slightly. But his hand wasn’t heading to my face—it went to the back of my head.
He adjusted my neatly tied hair and lightly tugged the ribbon to check its color.
Seeing it was the usual silver-gray, he gave a faint smile.
“You tied it with this ribbon today as well.”
“It suits me best. I never get tired of it.”
“…Then how about this color?”
The Duke rummaged inside his jacket and pulled something out.
