TRFDTV ~ 11

Chapter – 11

The only sound in the quiet study was the occasional hiccup.

The three aides were drowning in silence so suffocating that it made them want to dunk their faces in a bowl of water just to escape the awkwardness.

After what felt like an eternity, Ludwig finally looked up and fixed his gaze on them.

At once, the aides glanced sideways at each other, silently fighting a desperate battle over who would put the bell on the cat.

The loser, inevitably, was the youngest aide.

“Your Grace, regarding tomorrow’s party to find a candidate for the Grand Duchess…”

Without realizing it, the young aide’s eyes flicked toward Asili.

Her clear blue eyes, like glass, reflected his figure right back at him.

His mouth went dry, and he swallowed hard. How could he possibly bring up the Grand Duchess selection party in front of someone who so obviously looked like the duke’s lover?

If she were to become the Grand Duchess someday, he could already imagine how she’d remember him.

He cast a desperate glance at the other two aides for help, but they both stared off into the distance, pretending not to see him.

“That party,” Ludwig began.

“Yes! That party!”

Startled, the young aide jumped to his feet as Ludwig’s calm voice cut through the silence. He had no choice but to push ahead, like swallowing mustard through tears.

“I–I just need your signature on the documents… regarding the accommodations for the candidates…”

His voice grew smaller and smaller until, by the end, it was barely audible.

The other two aides folded their hands on their knees, solemn-faced.

Even though His Grace hadn’t said a word yet, it was obvious to everyone that she was going to be the Grand Duchess.

The oppressive silence thickened until their heads drooped so low they were almost touching their knees.

Then the senior aide, with a determined expression, suddenly lifted his head.

“Is the party to be canceled, then?”

The other two aides looked at him in shock.

What—just straight to the point like that? No buildup? No context?

Their astonishment only deepened when a dry voice followed.

“If she is to become the Grand Duchess…”

Ludwig and Asili’s eyes met.

The aides’ eyes widened like saucers, and their clenched hands began to sweat. Ludwig reached out and gently took Asili’s hand.

A soft smile, so perfect it looked almost drawn on, appeared on her lips.

Without taking his eyes off her, Ludwig spoke.

“She is the only one.”

“Of course! I knew—mmph!”

The youngest aide, overcome with joy, started to leap from his seat with a fist pump—only to be pulled back down by his colleagues.

Even with his mouth covered and his breathing cut off, his face radiated nothing but happiness and triumph.

“But the party will proceed as planned.”

“Right! As expected, cancellation—wait, what?”

The young aide’s elated expression froze mid-celebration.

“Hold the party as scheduled,” Ludwig ordered evenly.

And so, with that calm command, the party to “find” a Grand Duchess—when the position was already clearly taken—was set to take place.

Imperial Year 532, May 24th

The day after the Grand Duchess Party

Inside the Crown Prince’s palace—

“What? Ludwig has a woman?”

The Crown Prince’s eyes went wide. He tossed the sword he’d been swinging carelessly to the ground and strode toward his aide.

“Tell me everything!”

His eyes sparkled like a mischievous child’s. The aide narrowed his own eyes and replied dryly.

“Your Highness. First, he is the Duke of Caliente. Second, you should not refer to him as ‘brother.’ And third, that is all the information we have.”

At his aide’s prim tone, the Crown Prince laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Don’t be so stiff! He is like an older brother to me! I just have to make sure not to call him that to his face, right? Actually, maybe this time he’ll finally let me call him by name!”

“Your Highness!”

The aide’s composure snapped, and he yelled before he could stop himself.

This was the Crown Prince—the future Emperor, the only heir to the entire continent’s empire. For a mere aide to glare and raise his voice before him was practically begging to be dragged out and flogged.

But the Crown Prince only laughed.

“Ah, don’t get so worked up. You’ll strain your neck again. If something happens to you, I’m the one who’ll be in trouble.”

“Ahem. Your Highness knows you mustn’t depend on others.”

Even so, the aide’s scolding tone had softened.

“You’re my aide and my closest confidant. You don’t count as just ‘someone else.’”

The Crown Prince grinned and slung an arm over the man’s shoulder.

“So? What are the details?”

The aide sighed deeply. “Very well. Yesterday, His Grace the Duke of Caliente held a party…”

While the Crown Prince was eagerly soaking up every detail of the Grand Duchess party, the woman at the center of it all—Asili—was slumped on the sofa in Ludwig’s study, limp as a drenched cotton rag.

Her pale lips, tinted faintly violet, parted with a sigh.

“It feels like it happened ages ago.”

It was a sudden, contextless remark, but Ludwig replied naturally, as if used to such things.

“You mean the time we met in your dreams?”

“Mm. It was only a few days ago that I met you there for the first time… but it feels so far away now.”

The whirlwind of events over the past few days had swept her along so completely that the dream already felt like a distant memory.

Rustle.

Before she realized it, Ludwig had moved closer and was gently tucking a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear.

Kneeling on one knee, he leaned in until their foreheads almost touched, their breaths mingling.

“Checking for a fever?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Well?”

“A slight fever, but nothing serious.”

“Figures. Just stress.”

“Stress—as in the root of all illness, like you always say?”

“Yeah, that. And probably a bit of information overload, too.”

Though she had only been in this world for a few days, Asili had been absorbing everything she could like a sponge—its written language, etiquette, social systems, even the structure of its economy.

She hadn’t given her brain a moment’s rest.

Part of it was to live up to the title of a duke’s fiancée, yes—but mostly, it was an escape.

If she let herself stop and think, even for a moment, if she ever lay in bed fully conscious and alone… she was sure she wouldn’t be able to handle the reality she was living in.

“At least I’m getting used to reading your language quickly.”

They spoke quietly, still resting forehead to forehead.

“If it’s too hard, you don’t have to master everything,” he said softly. “Even if you were standing before His Majesty himself, acting as you did at the party would be more than enough.”

“No way. I don’t want to give the Emperor any reason to find fault. And besides, the idea of being an adult who can’t read makes my skin crawl.”

The irritation in her tone carried a clear, unhidden hostility that made Ludwig frown slightly.

“I told you not to smile like that,” she muttered, pressing her forehead against his and rubbing roughly.

“You don’t have to look at me with such a worried face. I’m not going to go around saying this stuff in public, you know.”

“No,” he murmured, straightening up. He lifted her effortlessly and set her on his lap.

With her head resting against his solid chest, she looked up.

“No?”

“Why do you harbor such animosity toward His Majesty?”

“Well, obviously—”

Asili started to say it was because the Emperor was his enemy, but caught herself just in time.

She couldn’t exactly say, Because you’re the villain, and he’s the protagonist’s father!

In this world—the world of the novel that had become her reality—the Crown Prince was the hero, and Ludwig, the Duke of Caliente, was the “final boss,” the shadowy antagonist.

Naturally, the Emperor, as the Crown Prince’s greatest ally and Ludwig’s greatest opponent, was her lover’s enemy as well.

And disliking the Emperor, to Asili, felt as natural as breathing.

“Obviously?” Ludwig prodded. “Because he’s the Crown Prince’s father?”

“Why are you ending your sentences with a question mark?”

“I don’t know. You don’t need a special reason to dislike someone. I just… do.”

Even though her answer was forced, Ludwig didn’t press her further.

Instead, he tightened his arm around her waist, drawing her closer, and murmured,

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Even if you said publicly that you disliked His Majesty—it wouldn’t matter.”

“What?”

Her eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s as she stared up at him.

“You wouldn’t be in danger for it. Not while you stand beside me.”

His tone was calm but resolute, leaving her speechless.

Well, yes—he was the Duke of Caliente. The man who bowed to no one but the Emperor himself. One of the strongest men on the continent.

But still—he was technically beneath the Emperor in rank.

Surely he wasn’t implying…

“Are you planning to rebel or something?” Asili asked bluntly.

The word rebellion was one no one would dare speak in front of the Duke of Caliente, the second most powerful man in the Empire.

Merely uttering it could be taken as treasonous, enough to get a person quietly “removed.”

Even as a joke, it could land someone in a dungeon for interrogation.

But Asili didn’t hesitate for a second—and Ludwig didn’t so much as flinch.

He simply replied, calmly and matter-of-factly—