Chapter 8

When Diana returned to the Duke of Gazard’s mansion in the royal capital and reported the outline of events to her father, Duke Wesley Gazard, he knitted his brows and let out a deep sigh.

There was no doubt that someone was attempting to murder his old friend Alan.

Considering Alan’s background, the identity of the enemy was easy to guess.

While he did not want to let his old friend die, and possessed enough a sense of justice to be angered by such unjustifiable actions, acting carelessly against this particular enemy could prove fatal.

How, precisely, should they move?

What could be done to save Alan?

Though he was in front of his beloved daughter, a naturally gloomy and suffocating sentiment slipped out in his breath.

“How should we handle this, Father?”

“No, leave this matter to me.”

“However, Father…”

Diana, for her part, likely wanted to do something for Alan.

Yet, that determination was firmly brushed aside.

“You are not to get involved.”

Faced with her father’s sharp words, Diana swallowed the words she meant to say next.

Her father was not the sort of person to say such things out of malice.

Since her father said so, it undoubtedly carried danger.

Which meant that Alan was likely right in the thick of that danger at this very moment.

“I cannot afford to expose you to danger…”

At her father’s murmur, faintly tinged with bitter anguish, Diana felt a tightening in her chest.

Lacking a peerage of her own, she possessed no political power.

Diana understood that leaving it to her father was the best course of action.

Even while thinking so, she still wished to do something, to take action.

She had no choice but to desperately suppress the surging anxiety and impatience within her.

The following week, rewards were to be granted to honor the achievements of the magical beast subjugation. Representing the Gazard Knighthood, Diana entered the castle to receive her reward.

Unlike the king, who remained expressionless and entirely indifferent throughout, Crown Prince Lawrence cast a mocking, teasing gaze toward Diana.

“To achieve military distinction despite being a woman. Truly, as expected of the academy’s premier talented lady.”

His sarcastic tone seemed to say, ‘To dare show off like that when you’re just a woman…’

Faced with the Crown Prince, Diana bowed her head deeply.

“As one entrusted with the knighthood in my father’s stead, I consider it an honor to have demonstrated our unwavering loyalty to Your Highness.”

She maintained that she was merely a proxy for the current Duke of Gazard, and that the military achievements belonged to the Duke of Gazard’s knighthood.

By taking a step back and framing her argument that way, he naturally could say no more.

He merely muttered a single line:

“If it had been Cordelia entering the castle, I would have invited her to a tea party.”

Though it sounded like a monologue, the intention was clearly to let Diana overhear it.

The Crown Prince’s attitude plainly conveyed that she was different from her sister Cordelia, and that she lacked Cordelia’s charm.

The Crown Prince’s arrogant attitude was something she had anticipated all along.

Diana could not fathom for the life of her why Cordelia was so fond of a man like that.

A man who believed everything went the way he wanted.

A man who believed women should quietly obey whatever men said.

A man who openly looked down on Diana for standing out despite being a woman, and sought to humiliate her in public.

To him, a docile Cordelia who always deferred to his wishes was likely the ideal woman.

Even so, the Crown Prince already had a woman to whom he had been betrothed since childhood.

The date of their wedding was already set, and his intended, Lady Kayley Eldred, had spent years receiving an education specifically to become the future queen.

Yet, despite holding that status, he still showed interest in Cordelia for no other reason than that she possessed utility.

Poor Cordelia.

Though she felt that way, she simply could not bring herself to deny her younger sister’s romantic feelings.

Diana, too, was someone who had continued to harbor a long-standing yearning for someone.

Her chest ached with a tightening pang.

“Lady Diana, so you really did come.”

“Lord Alan!”

When she visited her beloved at the royal guards’ barracks, Alan welcomed her with a smile.

Assuming that receiving a reward from the royal family meant Alan would also be present at that assembly.

However, Alan had not been called to the Audience Chamber.

Despite being of royal blood, he was not treated as royalty.

His title of royal uncle was nothing more than a name, and he seemed to be intentionally excluded from important affairs.

That reality made her heart ache, but at the same time, Diana felt a rush of relief that such unpleasant talk had not reached Alan’s ears.

At the barracks of the Third Order, the knights lined up were entirely favorable toward Diana.

And naturally so, for they were all well aware of Diana’s prowess during the recent expedition.

“Lord Alan, do you remember our promise about a date?”

“Th-that, of course…”

As Alan momentarily stammered and averted his gaze, the surrounding knights watched with suppressed smiles.

“At times like this, you ought to be the one asking.”

“Indeed, leaving it for a lady to bring up is quite out of the question.”

“And he’s a former commander of the knights?”

“Silence, all of you!”

Alan’s wry smile was accompanied by ears dyed a bright red.

With a single deliberate cough, he turned back to face Diana once more.

Today, Diana’s attire differed from the female knight’s uniform she wore during the expedition.

She wore a billowing, deep-blue-toned dress, draped with a shawl made of pale blue lace.

The silhouette highlighted her slender, feminine waist, causing Alan to involuntarily catch his breath.

“Give it your all, Your Highness!”

“Now, stop teasing.”

The knights were watching Alan’s every move intently.

Directing a momentary, irritated glare at them, Alan extended a large hand toward Diana.

“We can scarcely talk at length here. Lady Diana, if you are willing, what do you say we head out to the city for tea…?”

“Yes, gladly.”

A flower-like smile blossomed on Diana’s face as she took Alan’s hand.

Pretending not to notice the surrounding knights pumping their fists in victory, Alan led Diana out of the barracks.

“Ah, would it be better to secure a carriage?”

On the way to the stables, realizing that Diana was in a dress, Alan came to a halt.

One could hardly mount a horse while wearing a dress.

Wondering what to do, he glanced at Diana’s expression.

If she were to ride a horse in a dress, her only option would be to ride side-saddle behind the horse Alan controlled.

That single thought alone made Diana’s heart leap and her cheeks grow warm.

“Either way is fine by me.”

Though she replied feigning composure, her heartbeat accelerated all the more under Alan’s steady gaze.

“I-I see. Then…”

The sturdy warhorse that Alan personally cared for.

After gracefully mounting its back, Alan reached out to support Diana’s slender waist and lifted her up into the saddle.

Settling into a close-knit posture on horseback, Diana realized her face had turned bright red.

“Even though I’m accustomed to riding horses, sitting like this somehow feels rather unsettling.”

“I feel the same way.”

The low voice echoing from behind made Diana’s heart race even more wildly.

“Hold tightly onto me.”

“Yes!”

The horse began to walk forward slowly.

Their heartbeats resonated as though they had merged into one, and a gentle breeze cooled away the lingering heat.