Chapter 15

For having maintained the royal capital’s sewers and successfully suppressing the epidemic of the deadly plague, the Gazard household’s reputation around the royal capital skyrocketed.

As expected of a house among houses, once counted among the pillars of the Five Great Noble Families.

Even as other prestigious noble houses fell from grace, the glory of the Gazard family continued to illuminate the kingdom.

The more the common people praised them, the more a knot of pain twisted in Diana’s stomach.

Her father, Wesley, was undoubtedly feeling the exact same way.

Once upon a time, there had been five ducal houses within the Rutledge Kingdom.

The Rutledge Kingdom had been safeguarded by these ducal families, known collectively as the Five Great Noble Families.

Yet, only two ducal houses remained in existence today.

Two of the families had already been extinguished, and the remaining one had been demoted all the way down to a viscountcy—its peerage stripped away.

The higher their renown climbed, the greater the royal family’s vigilance would grow.

What became of a noble house that drew too much attention—history itself told that tale.

The maternal family of the king’s younger brother, Alan, had once boasted immense prosperity as part of those very Five Great Noble Families.

The former Duke of Pennington’s household had since been dissolved.

Hardly anyone took the stated reasons for their dissolution at face value.

To the royal family, a house wielding excessive power was nothing more than an obstruction.

Knowing this all too well, the steps Diana took as she entered the castle felt agonizingly heavy.

If her father Wesley had been by her side, she would have felt far more reassured.

However, once again, only Diana had been summoned.

Whether they believed a lone young maiden would be easier to manipulate—without knowing their true intent, Diana stepped into the den of demons.

“To think we would meet here again so soon.”

“I am deeply honored.”

At Crown Prince Lawrence’s words, Diana bowed her head deeply.

The Rutledge Royal Castle, Audience Chamber.

Having been honored for her military achievements following the magical beast subjugation, Diana was now once more being praised for her exploits in subduing the plague.

“Tell me, how on earth did you deduce that the sewers were the source of the infection?”

“When I heard tales of the epidemic and went to inspect the area, I happened to witness rats wreathed in black mist fleeing into the drainage system.”

To the Crown Prince’s query, she smoothly recited the explanation she had prepared beforehand.

“Hmm, come to think of it, you excel in the magical arts, do you not?”

“You are too kind.”

She kept her head bowed low to prevent him from reading her expression.

The enemy was not Crown Prince Lawrence alone.

The nobles lined up around them were likewise eyeing the overwhelming influence and vast territories held by the Duke of Gazard’s household.

Show the slightest opening, and they would sweep your legs out from under you.

This was that kind of world.

“Still, to pour the private wealth of the Duke of Gazard’s household into quelling the crisis… You could have relied on the royal palace for a matter like this, you know.”

(It’s coming…)

At the Crown Prince’s sarcastic tone, voices of agreement rose from the surrounding nobles as well.

“Indeed. After all, the Duke of Gazard’s household has monopolized all the glory of this achievement.”

“A magnificent display of seeking fame!”

“Now, now, to say such things is rather harsh on her. Even if one thinks it, silence is golden.”

She had already steeled herself for disparaging remarks from both the Crown Prince and the nobles.

Retaliating here would play right into their hands.

If she foolishly raised her voice in anger, it could be interpreted as treasonous intent, leading to a formal investigation.

“It was entirely due to my own shortsightedness, failing to consider matters to that extent.”

“Ho, is that so? Youthful folly, perhaps?”

The Crown Prince’s laughter echoed through the hall.

(What achievement? This is nothing more than picking at flaws to make a mockery of us.)

She thought it, yet she had no choice but to endure it in silence.

For the sake of her father, who governed sincerely as a duke, she could not afford to draw the royal family’s hostility.

“──Allow me to explain that matter.”

At that moment, the doors swung open, followed by a familiar voice.

Heavy footsteps strode across the long-piled carpet of the audience chamber.

Though a man had entered unannounced, not a soul dared to censure him.

Neither the king seated upon the throne nor the Crown Prince beside him uttered a word.

Naturally so, for the man who had entered was someone who ought to have been permitted in this place above all others.

A figure intentionally left unsummoned by someone’s design.

He was the personage holding the second greatest authority in the kingdom, next only to the king and the Crown Prince—the king’s younger brother, Alan Rutledge himself.

(Lord Alan──?!)

At the unexpected appearance of the man, Diana stared at him in a daze as Alan offered a reassuring smile.

She had believed there was no one left to help her.

Yet in this royal palace where she had steeled herself to sit alone upon a bed of needles, the single greatest ally she could have hoped for had appeared.

“Lady Diana came to the Third Order’s barracks seeking our cooperation. We were the ones who turned her down.”

“Uncle, what on earth are you…?”

At Alan’s sudden arrival, Crown Prince Lawrence’s voice pitched upward in surprise.

If cooperation had been requested and refused, that constituted a flaw on the royal palace’s part.

With an expression that seemed to say he couldn’t fathom Alan’s intentions, he wondered why an officer belonging to the Third Order would publicly disclose such a thing himself.

“Lady Diana holds no fault. If blame is to be cast, we of the Third Order shall bear it.”

“Lord Alan, that is—”

As Diana raised her voice, Alan silenced her with a look.

It wasn’t Alan who had turned her down.

Diana understood that better than anyone.

Yet Alan was the only one who could enter this place without prior permission.

That was precisely why Alan had come to publicize the facts, willing to take the blame upon himself.

“…It seems my uncle has quite lost his head in anticipation of marrying a young woman. To fail at discerning a matter of such gravity.”

Hearing Alan lower his head must have brought the Crown Prince somewhat back to his senses, as he curled the corner of his lips into his usual mocking smile.

“I have nothing to say in defense.”

Alan intended to shoulder the blame himself and bring the matter to a close.

He did so to prevent any further scrutiny from falling upon the Third Order’s vice-commander, its members, or Diana.

Because she understood those feelings, Diana could say nothing in return.

“I am sorry for putting you through that, Lady Diana.”

After leaving the Audience Chamber, Alan offered a straightforward apology as they walked together through the royal castle’s gardens.

“Please don’t apologize.”

“No, I subjected you to a great deal of unpleasantness.”

Was he referring to what happened at the Third Order’s barracks?

Or perhaps to the scene in the Audience Chamber just moments ago?

“Why on earth must you apologize, Lord Alan…?”

Whether she herself had been subjected to unpleasantness mattered not in the least.

To Diana, only that single concern weighed upon her mind.

“Handling it this way will smooth things over best. My personal reputation is of no consequence even if it takes a hit.”

If he explicitly brought up the Third Order’s vice-commander, it could easily develop into a question of accountability.

As Alan, he likely wished to avoid stirring the waters to that extent.

She understood that.

She understood those feelings all too well, and yet—

(Is Lord Alan… shielding Vice-Commander Monique Goddard?)

That lingering unease could simply not be brushed aside.

She didn’t know how Alan truly felt about Monique.

Yet the hostility Monique had displayed.

The barbed words.

And the remark about being “led around by the nose by a little thing like this…” felt as though it spoke volumes of Monique’s extraordinary feelings toward Alan.

“Lady Diana…?”

Noticing Diana’s troubled expression, Alan peered closely into her face.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing at all.”

Though Diana slowly shook her head, her gaze remained averted.

“The royal capital is still rather unsettled for now. We shall go shopping for the rings once things have calmed down a little more.”

“Yes, indeed…”

The matching rings they had promised to buy together.

Even though she ought to have felt overjoyed, a sharp pang pinched at her chest for reasons she couldn’t name.

Nodding along to Alan’s words, Diana found herself unable to lift her gaze to meet his directly.

“Damn it all──!”

Meanwhile, within a chamber of the royal castle, Crown Prince Lawrence hurled a glass filled with wine, sending dark, unsightly stains spreading across the expensive carpet.

“Weren’t you supposed to be the one holding the reins on that woman?!!”

In the direction the Crown Prince glared, Miles sat with an expression as sour as if he had bitten into a bitter bug.

His long legs, stretched out wide, trembled with nervous agitation.

“I intended to be. If only that old dotard hadn’t interfered…”

“Hah, to have a woman you thought you had tamed snatched away right from under your nose—your finishing touch is pitifully weak.”

At Lawrence’s words, Miles bit down hard on his lip.

All of the cogs had slipped entirely out of alignment ever since the graduation commemorative party.

Why did Diana choose that man?

Why did she become engaged to him?

No matter how many times he turned it over in his mind, an answer would never appear.

“Those two are merely betrothed for now. I’ll have you clean up this mess, so deal with it properly!”

He didn’t need Lawrence to tell him that.

The one who wanted to deal with it most of all was Miles himself.

At this point, he could no longer afford to care about his pride or appearances.

The eyes staring fixedly into empty space were brimming with a dark, ominous light.