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Tap, tap, tap, tap.
The duke’s study was so quiet that the light tapping on the desk with a fingertip was the only sound.
It wasn’t for lack of people who could make noise.
A place that was usually empty nearly all year round, save for less than fifteen days, today hosted its lord and several guests.
Newton looked at Commander Kamel, who sat opposite him at the table.
He sat with a faint, unreadable smile, maintaining perfect posture as if the silence did not bother him at all.
It seemed true that the duke, having taken control of the lord’s castle training ground before dawn, personally dealt with every knight who came for early training. Precisely, he taught them off like catching vermin, and he had even faced the commander afterwards.
The castle’s commander, who had crossed blades with his lord for the first time in half a year, looked faintly exhilarated as if having just embraced a long-cherished lover.
Meanwhile, Damon, quietly pouring tea beside them, looked no different than usual.
The clear fragrance of tea finished by his calm hands cleared the headache from too much work.
“Newton.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
After a long silence, the duke spoke.
“We must revise the plan entirely.”
Newton looked at Kaiston, puzzled.
What could possibly have changed overnight?
“For what reason?”
Kaiston withdrew his hand from the desk and lifted a folder.
It was the marriage notification document he had given to Liris to sign yesterday.
“My wife’s origin is the Crown Princess.”
“What?”
Kaiston repeated himself to Newton, who stared back dumbfounded.
“The woman who will be my wife is the current Emperor’s daughter. The Crown Princess with the long name that begins with Liriana.”
“Ah. Do you mean Liriana Louise Lucrecian de Aikadum, the Crown Princess?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Newton stared at him for a moment, then asked again.
“Pardon?”
Seeing a crease form between Kaiston’s brows, Newton shook his head to snap himself out of it.
“So you mean the woman who will be the duchess is Crown Princess Liriana?”
“Yes.”
“The woman Your Grace personally carried to the bedchamber yesterday is the Crown Princess?”
“Yes.”
Newton looked at Damon.
“Damon, am I asleep right now?”
Damon shook his head.
“It’s not a dream but reality, so you’d better pull yourself together. You’re facing His Grace, after all.”
“Ah… yes. Right.”
Damon shook his head a few more times, then looked at Kaiston.
“Do you have anything else to say about this utterly unbelievable situation?”
The fact that a woman’s status changed from slave to Crown Princess in a single night was something that would have required hours of explanation to accept, yet his lord answered with an impassive face.
“No.”
Newton, forcing himself not to show it, asked again.
“When did you learn this fact?”
Kaiston, who had been silent at Newton’s question, finally replied after a long pause.
“Last night.”
A simultaneous sigh escaped both Kamel and Newton, who had been equally stunned.
“Did you hear anything else from her?”
Kaiston shook his head at Damon’s question.
“I didn’t ask. Nothing.”
“Your Grace…”
Damon looked at him with a pitying expression.
Damon knew that Kaiston was in a dangerously precarious state.
He could neither speak of his suffering nor show his anxiety, so he merely feigned composure.
Damon could not help but speak.
He knew Kaiston would not be able to properly ask Liris what he should.
So he told everyone exactly what he had discussed with Liris the previous day.
“Then.”
Kamel asked Damon.
“Are you saying the Crown Princess intends to take Your Grace as consort and place you on the throne? To remove Duke Raiden and Commander Millen?”
Damon shot a resentful look at Kamel for bluntly stating the facts.
But it was the truth, so he couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
“What do you plan to do then, Your Grace?”
Newton looked at Kaiston.
“Will you do as the Crown Princess wishes? Frankly, the marriage paperwork hasn’t even been sent to the imperial court yet. If you don’t want it, you can still cancel.”
Kaiston gave a wry smile.
The ‘abandon’ Liris had mentioned meant exactly that.
Even after sharing his body with her for over a month, and even having had her confess ‘I like you’ several times.
Was Liris worried he’d abandon her without taking responsibility?
His chest ached.
Kaiston took a sip of tea.
The scratch in his throat settled a little.
“My decision remains unchanged.”
“Your Grace, then…”
“Raiden and Millen are men who covet my wife, so I’ll see to removing them by any means.”
At the murderous intent in Kaiston’s voice as he spoke their names, Newton and Kamel felt a chill run down their spines.
“However, the rest will be decided after I meet the Emperor.”
Matters concerning the throne were not to be decided lightly.
It could easily be construed as treason if handled carelessly.
“Understood, Your Grace. I will prepare everything with that in mind.”
Kaiston nodded at Newton’s words.
“And if Liris gives an order independent of me, issue instructions to follow it immediately.”
He allowed preemptive measures with delayed reporting because the situation could become urgent at any moment.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Having finished speaking, Kaiston leaned back in his chair.
“There will be much to do, so you may go.”
Newton and Kamel rose from their seats.
“Your Grace…”
Newton couldn’t help worrying that the duke’s position, who only yesterday had expressed a wish to spend his remaining days in the Red Moon with his ‘lady,’ had been upended overnight.
“Your Grace, please look on it favorably. You will be the imperial consort, won’t you?”
Kaiston gave a wry smile at Newton’s words.
“Yes. It’s a good thing.”
Damon swallowed a sigh.
How many could understand what the duke must be feeling?
After Newton and Kamel left the study, Damon also made way.
There was, in any case, no one who could truly help the duke now.
“Liriana Louise Lucrecian de Aikadum.”
Kaiston quietly repeated the Crown Princess’s name as he stared at the part of the document in his hand where her name was written.
Fragments of the past floated into his mind.
[Do you know why your kingdom fell?]
The Emperor’s relaxed smile, with the corners of his mouth raised, looked no different from an evil demon.
[If you behave obediently and nicely, not only your people but even your parents will live comfortably.]
With some hidden grievance, the man who had shattered his world had said it all so matter-of-factly.
Was the Emperor’s first decree merely to arrange a state marriage with an eight-year-old Crown Princess?
He had thought the Emperor had abandoned the plan after locking him in the Red Moon for over a decade, but in the end the Emperor had achieved his will.
His anger rotted him from within and everything turned hollow, and just then, as if waiting for the moment.
It would have been better if she had been merely a punished slave fallen into his arms.
There was no way the Crown Princess had approached without intent.
[Why would I make you the next sovereign if you harbor hatred for the Empire? Think carefully, Kai.]
It was more than a decade ago, but General Luther’s advice remained valid even now.
Kaiston now knew that the Emperor wanted to mingle the bloodline of the Baras imperial family into the Aikadum dynasty.
It should’ve become clear the moment the spiritual beast, White Tiger, appeared before his eyes.
How much did the Crown Princess know?
To what extent did she share her father’s intentions?
His chest ached again.
Even though he could plainly see the semblance of happiness he’d thought he’d secured vanish like a mirage, his inner self screamed that it was not so.
She had said she liked him.
She said it was sincere.
Truly.
She said she liked him very much.
Even recalling the voice that said those words sent his heart pounding, and he laughed hollowly.
“You said you’d trust me, so I must trust.”
Who could he blame if he were used and discarded and then laughed at?
Foolishly, it was his own fault for letting his guard down because he had nothing left to lose.
He had reserved the partner’s place for that one person in the world who would stand by him forever.
It was his first love.
And so, naively, he gave his body and heart completely.
It was already too late, judging by the murderous intent already rising toward Millen and Raiden.
He would raise every power and authority given to him—things he had never once used for himself—to their limits and fight for her.
‘Liris, if that’s what you want.’
‘If that’s all you want from me.’
Having sorted his thoughts out, his tangled emotions calmed.
As long as what she desired remained in his hands, her heart would stay with it.
He could consider what came after once he had granted her wish.
His chest would ache whenever he saw her, but excluding Liris now would make happiness impossible.
Kaiston drained the cooling cup of tea and summoned a retainer.
“Your Grace.”
It was not a retainer but Damon who entered the study.
He confirmed that the turmoil was already gone from his lord’s dark violet eyes.
“Damon, what time is our appointment with Master Gern scheduled?”
“The appointment time is still some way off, but he has entered the lord’s castle to inspect the banquet hall’s security. Shall I summon him now?”
“Do so.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Not long after Damon left on the order, Master Gern of the Mage Tower stood before him.
“Have you been well, Your Grace?”
Gern bowed.
The position of Master of the Mage Tower was comparable to a high noble, but not to the master of the Grand Domain Sinal.
“Long time no see, Gern.”
Kaiston rose from his seat.
Though it was only a simple rise to his feet, Gern had to restrain himself from gasping under the oppressive presence.
“The Emperor.”
Despite being clearly an agent of the Emperor, he didn’t even use the least honorific for him.
“He must have told you to deliver something to me.”
Gern inwardly resented his lord in the Isles.
He hadn’t expected to be commanded to be so blunt.
“Here it is, Your Grace.”
He respectfully handed over the highest-grade magic bag that the Emperor had instructed him to deliver.
After placing the bag on the desk, he leaned against it and watched him.
Gern felt chills as a strange smile played on his lips.
“For the time being, we’re in the same boat.”
Kaiston handed him a folder from the desk.
“Deliver this to the Emperor.”
Gern’s puzzled expression turned to shock as he took the documents.
“Th-this is…”
It was the marriage notification bearing the Crown Princess’s clear, handwritten signature.
While he scrutinized the document’s contents, Kaiston rummaged roughly through the bag he had received from the Emperor and pulled out a brooch.
Gern’s jaw dropped again as Kaiston nonchalantly removed the pin fastening his cloak and fastened a lavish brooch set with a dark gem.
The symbol of supremacy, that which elevated one above all others, had fallen into the duke’s hands.
It was the moment the imperial succession order was clearly changing.
“Until the Emperor and I achieve our shared purpose, the Mage Tower will lend its support, won’t it?”
Gern hastily bowed his head.
“Of course, sir.”
“Good.”
A distinct smile formed on Kaiston’s lips.
“Then, shall we discuss our first quarry?”
“Mmm…”
Liris, who had curled up trying to avoid the pouring sunlight, opened her drowsy eyes to the gentle fingers smoothing her hair.
“Master…”
“It’s already noon, Liris.”
Kaiston whispered softly as he watched her blink slowly.
“You must be tired, but there is work to do. You should get up now.”
He placed a chocolate from a small tray on the nightstand into her mouth and then lifted Liris into his arms.
The melting sweetness brought a smile to her face.
“Ah… it’s sweet.”
“Is it?”
“Master, you should try some too.”
Kaiston gazed at Liris, who pointed to the remaining chocolate on the tray, and then stole a kiss on her lips.
“Mm…”
He cupped the nape of her neck and in an instant stole her breath away.
As he persistently licked and sucked away the remnants of chocolate in her mouth, her body responded first.
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