🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 05
“Don’t worry, Dahlia. Just stay close to me!”
Cesar’s booming voice echoed throughout the carriage.
“You can count on your big brother!”
Looking at Cesar, who was pounding his chest with a serious expression, I nodded.
“Okay. I feel so reassured.”
I knew Cesar was a scholar through and through, with no talent for fighting whatsoever, but just for today, I thought I’d lean on his dependable “big brother” act for a few minutes.
‘Anyway… I’ll be seeing him soon.’
As I stared blankly out the carriage window, my mind was completely occupied by the man I was about to meet.
‘I wonder what the Duke is like now.’
Even back when all my attention had been consumed by Delos, I had still heard countless rumors about Duke Ballestein. That was how famous he was.
A monster blessed with overwhelming martial prowess, matched only by his foul temper.
Some nobles called him nothing more than a beast behind his back, yet not a single one dared utter those words in front of him.
‘If I speak to him first, will he answer me? He won’t get angry just because I greeted him, right? Surely saying hello is harmless enough.’
As the time to meet him drew closer, my thoughts spiraled through endless possibilities.
Before I knew it, our carriage had arrived at the Imperial Palace.
“Come, let’s head inside.”
With Father leading the way, Cesar and I entered the banquet hall.
The moment we stepped through the entrance, I could feel every eye in the room turn toward us.
“So she really came. Then the rumors were true…?”
“They were inseparable. Why did they suddenly break up?”
Just as I had expected, all those stares were directed at me.
It wasn’t just one or two people. Everyone nearby was whispering about the same topic, making it impossible not to hear.
“Tsk. My daughter certainly seems to attract a great deal of attention.”
Father spoke with obvious displeasure as he glanced toward the gossiping nobles.
“Ahem…!”
The guilty nobles immediately shut their mouths and quietly drifted away.
Just as the oppressive attention eased enough for me to breathe again—
“Greetings, Your Grace.”
Several nobles spotted Father and approached with warm smiles to greet him.
Given his position, Father naturally had no choice but to excuse himself and join their conversation.
As soon as he left, curious gazes began gathering around me once more.
Every one of them looked as though they were dying to ask why Delos and I had broken up.
“Dahlia. Let’s go over there.”
“Okay.”
Noticing all the attention, Cesar led me to a quieter corner where fewer people were looking.
Soon he spotted a table lined with bottles of wine, and his face immediately brightened.
I had only recently learned that Cesar was such a lightweight that a single glass of wine was enough to make him drunk.
Despite that, he absolutely loved drinking. Leave him alone for even a moment, and he’d end up stumbling around like a newborn foal.
“Cesar. Just a little, okay? Don’t drink like you did last time.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Watching him answer absentmindedly, I let out a faint sigh of resignation.
Just a few days earlier, at the party held to comfort me after my breakup, Cesar had gotten so drunk that he clung to my shoulder, sobbing loudly while declaring he could die without regrets now.
It was while we were leisurely sipping our drinks together that—
“Do you think His Highness the First Prince will attend today?”
“Who knows? Didn’t he skip last year’s banquet too? The two of them have never gotten along…”
The excited voices of several young noble ladies nearby reached my ears.
The instant I heard the words “First Prince,” the strength left my hand.
The wineglass slipped from my fingers.
“Ah! Dahlia, are you okay?”
“…”
Cesar’s voice snapped me back to reality.
By then, the hem of my dress had already been stained crimson.
“So you told me not to drink too much, but were you planning to get drunk first?”
Despite his grumbling tone, Cesar gently pulled out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the wine from my hands.
Forcing a smile, I pretended everything was fine.
“I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m a little tipsy. I’ll go clean up my dress for a minute.”
“Sure. See you in a bit.”
Turning around, I headed straight for one of the lounges attached to the banquet hall.
Fortunately, since my dress was a dark color, the stain became barely noticeable after blotting it a few times with a cloth.
Instead of returning immediately, I sat down in a chair to catch my breath.
“…Ha. Just hearing his title was enough to make me like this.”
Ever since returning to the past, I had deliberately avoided thinking about the First Prince.
Yet simply hearing someone mention him made every hair on my body stand on end.
The sensation of a sharp sword piercing my chest was still so vivid that a chill ran down my spine.
“I hope I don’t run into him today.”
There could hardly be anything more unpleasant than facing the man who had killed me.
Of course, now that I had broken up with Delos, there was no reason for such a meeting to happen.
After calming myself down, I returned to the banquet hall.
By then it had become so crowded that I couldn’t even spot Cesar anymore.
As I wandered through the hall, craning my neck and searching for him—
“Oh my, is that man really Duke Ballestein?”
“He has quite the presence, just like the rumors say.”
‘Duke Ballestein?’
The moment I heard his name, my head turned instinctively.
But all I could see were clusters of elaborately dressed nobles blocking my view.
‘He’s just beyond them.’
Through a brief gap between the crowd, I caught sight of the back of a man dressed in a jet-black military uniform.
He towered over everyone else by at least a head.
Even standing perfectly still, he radiated an overwhelming presence unlike anyone around him.
At that moment, the nobles gathered in front of him began whispering again.
“I still can’t believe His Majesty granted that man the title of Duke.”
“Indeed. Hero or not, isn’t a dukedom far too prestigious for a barbarian whose origins are completely unknown?”
Listening quietly, I let out a small sigh of realization.
‘Come to think of it… he’s only been a duke for three months at this point.’
A barbarian of unknown birth.
That was how the nobles currently viewed him.
A mysterious man whose past was completely unknown.
The nobles clearly resented the fact that someone of uncertain origin had received a title higher than theirs.
‘Though not one of them dares say it to his face.’
As I watched the man’s unmoving back, I recalled the story of how he had become a duke.
The war between the Empire and the Kingdom of Kleitz had dragged on for over five years without either side gaining a decisive advantage.
Both nations continued fighting a war that brought them more losses than gains.
Then one day, rumors spread from the northern frontier—the region most vulnerable to invasion—about a soldier who repeatedly repelled enemy offensives through brilliant tactics.
Upon hearing the reports, the Emperor immediately transferred the soldier into the Imperial Central Army.
That decision produced astonishing results.
Within just one year, the man not only reclaimed territory that had been conquered, but ultimately beheaded the enemy’s commanding general, turning the tide of the entire war.
In recognition of his extraordinary achievements, the Emperor granted him the title of Duke.
That man was none other than the current Duke Ballestein.
“I’ve also heard that His Majesty is planning to arrange his marriage soon. If it’s true, I really feel sorry for the young lady who’ll have to marry a commoner.”
As I reflected on the Duke’s remarkable accomplishments, the nobles’ incessant chatter once again reached my ears.
Listening to them reminded me of another detail I’d nearly forgotten.
‘That’s right. Around this time, the Duke got married.’
Only a few months after receiving his title, Duke Ballestein entered into a political marriage with the daughter of one of the noble families aligned with the Emperor.
However, that marriage—ordered by the Emperor himself—didn’t even last a year before it fell apart.
‘If I remember correctly… the wife had an affair and even demanded the divorce herself.’
The count’s daughter had never wanted the marriage in the first place.
She was a woman who believed in noble superiority to the core.
Not only did she openly look down on the Duke for being born a commoner, but the rumor that they had slept in separate bedrooms throughout their marriage spread so widely that even I heard about it years later.
“Well, at least his appearance isn’t bad.”
“I’ll agree with that. If he hadn’t become a noble, he could’ve made a very comfortable living as some noblewoman’s handsome kept lover.”
Even as I lost myself in memories of the past, the mouths of those nobles, filled with nothing but jealousy and inferiority, never stopped moving.
