Who Said Such A Thing?!

This was a mistake, I thought, and I was already on the verge of sighing before even ten minutes of the evening party had passed.

The location was Count Theodore’s residence.

Twenty days had already passed since the day Vandel brought engagement gifts and said, “Come to my territory.”

As for me, just as I had originally told him, the handover itself could have been done in five days, but by the time I had arranged the travel route and communications for taking Lady Shitoen along, obtained Father’s permission, and explained things to the Crown Prince, this much time had passed.

After all, even Lady Shitoen and I did not really understand why we were going to Vandel’s place in the first place.

The Crown Prince had asked, “What is the purpose of this outing? Why are you going?” but there was no way to answer him.

Because all Vandel had said was, “Just come, for now.”

However, it seemed Vandel and his father, the Count of Sheen, had properly explained matters to Father.

Apparently it concerned confidential matters, and though the Crown Prince had hesitated, Father explained it to him directly, and he seemed satisfied.

So, after sending a letter apologizing that our departure would be much later than planned, I received a reply from Vandel saying, “It can’t be helped. Even if you’re the third son, you’re still a prince leaving the royal capital.” That eased me a little. He understood that he was asking for something unreasonable himself.

And so.

As for the journey, if it were just me, I could have managed it however I liked, but traveling with Lady Shitoen made things far more complicated.

I had planned for us to move from one royal villa to another, the ones the royal family used each season, but the various lords all started saying, “By all means, please stay at my residence,” and in the end we wound up visiting the estates of the lords whose lands lay along our route.

They probably wanted to see Lady Shitoen.

What kind of bride the king’s third son had taken.

For lords who usually stayed far from the royal capital, it was ideal gossip material.

“It seems we will also be presented there when we stay at these residences. Will that be all right?”

I had asked Lady Shitoen for her consent, but she agreed at once without hesitation.

Still, well.

I had thought it would be nothing more than sharing dinner with the lord’s family.

So, while riding in the carriage, I had given Lady Shitoen a brief explanation of the names of the lords where we would be staying, their family structures, and the characteristics of their territories, and she had committed them all to memory so she could respond appropriately, but— never did I imagine that we would be welcomed this grandly at the very first residence.

“Well now, once word spread that a prince would be staying here, everyone said they simply must have an audience with Your Highness.”

Count Theodore was laughing as his great belly shook. I too put on a smile as flattering as his and tilted the glass in my hand.

It was quite a strong distilled liquor. Apparently it was a famous drink of this region. Without any flattery at all, the barrel aroma lingering in the nose was excellent. It was the sort of liquor my second older brother would probably like.

I took another sip and looked around the hall.

Screens and decorative flowers had been arranged near the center of the hall that occupied the entire first floor of the mansion, dividing it into a men’s side and a women’s side.

Around me were Count Theodore, our host, his father, and then sons-in-law and distant this-and-thats, all surrounding me, having just finished their greetings. As expected, the older nobles had then tottered off to the chairs, where they now sat smoking pipes.

By the walls, there were still children of noble families who looked to be in their early teens, fidgeting as they watched me. Whenever our eyes met, they gave the sort of bow they had only just learned, which was incredibly endearing. They seemed desperate to speak to me, but perhaps their parents had stopped them, because they would occasionally come near and then be pulled back by their attendants. That too was adorable.

Would Lady Shitoen be all right? Pretending to survey the hall, I searched for her figure.

Apparently, over there too, conversation was centered around Countess Theodore, the hostess.

I was not worried about Lady Shitoen’s language skills, which were excellent, but the problem was whether she could keep track of names and ranks. I found myself worrying in a way that felt almost parental, hoping she was managing well.

For security, the men I had brought with me were stationed both inside and outside the hall.

If anything happened, they would report it, but…

Later, I should casually send Raul over to her side.

“Well then, Your Highness.”

Yes, yes, I turned my face back toward the circle of conversation and smiled pleasantly.

The one smiling at me with broad composure was a middle-aged man. Was he the count’s cousin?

“When I heard that Your Highness carried off Lady Shitoen at the engagement ceremony in the Karaban Union Kingdom, I could only nod and think, As expected of the Winter Bear of Tidros.”

I nearly spat out the liquor in my mouth. Reflexively swallowing it instead, I ended up coughing violently.

“Are you all right?”

“Your Highness?”

Hands hurriedly patted my back, but I stopped them with a gesture and handed my glass back to a servant. Wiping my mouth with a handkerchief, I somehow restrained the urge to shout, “What?!”

“It seems a rumor quite far removed from the truth is circulating.”

Well, the “Winter Bear of Tidros” part was accurate, though.

“Oh my, is that so?”

Every man in the group looked surprised, and that left me astonished. Just what sort of rumors were going around out there?

“Well… I did attend as the queen’s escort… but I happened to witness a scene in which Lady Shitoen was treated with great discourtesy… and so, as a knight, I merely demanded an apology on Lady Shitoen’s behalf…”

When I explained it briefly, everyone let out sounds of understanding.

“Well, and from that came the connection… Her Majesty the Queen became extremely fond of Lady Shitoen, and things proceeded to this point.”

“My, rumors truly are unreliable things.”

“Now that we have heard the truth this way, it was entirely different.”

Everyone looked at one another, said so, and laughed. Well, a rumor of this level was almost cute.

“Speaking of rumors, Lady Shitoen herself is also completely different from the rumors.”

Count Theodore let out a heavy breath through his nose. His large belly swayed ponderously.

“Rumors?”

I tilted my head.

The first time I ever saw Lady Shitoen was at that engagement ceremony with Crown Prince Arios.

Before that, had rumors about her already been circulating? Unfortunately, I knew nothing, since I was not familiar with high society.

“This was back when she was engaged to Crown Prince Arios, but I heard she was proud of the fact that she came from the Kingdom of Tania and bore the Dragon Crest.”

“I also heard that the reason she never appeared in society was because she looked down on the royal family over there.”

Count Theodore and his cousin nodded to each other as they said this to me. Beside them, the higher-ranking nobles of the territory opened their mouths as if reluctant to speak.

“That is… it was also said that she struggled with language. That because she could not speak foreign languages at all, she could not come out into society.”

“And that she was extravagant, or bullied servants, and all sorts of dreadful things…”

“Who said such a thing?!”

The words burst out of me before I knew it. The nobles around me flinched, their shoulders jolting. Behind me, Raul quietly said, “Your Highness,” and I hastily smoothed things over.

“My apologies. I reacted without thinking…”

But the nobles answered my rudeness with embarrassment of their own.

“No, we are the ones who should apologize.”

“Of course, after greeting Lady Shitoen and seeing what kind of person she is, we understand that these are malicious rumors.”

Count Theodore let out a sigh as though speaking for them all.

“No doubt they were slanders spread by Crown Prince Arios, who did not desire any bond with Lady Shitoen. In truth, Lady Shitoen is highly proficient in foreign languages, and she shows no sign at all of boasting of her birth.”

Without anyone prompting it, everyone somehow turned to look at Lady Shitoen in the hall.

At that moment, she was listening intently to a young noblewoman close to her own age, then said something in reply. At once, soft laughter enveloped the girls, and even the servants nearby could be seen smiling.

Naturally, the language being spoken there was probably Tidrosian.

Not Lady Shitoen’s native tongue.

And when I first met her there, she had spoken fluent Karaban Common.

She was a gifted woman.

Beautiful, and yet possessed of an easy warmth as well.

Simply because Crown Prince Arios had disliked Lady Shitoen and had not brought her out into society, strange rumors had probably arisen and then grown ever more embellished.

A thought came to me.

How long had it been since she last spoke her native language?

I had heard that she left her homeland two years ago so she could grow accustomed to the royal family of Luminous. And after that, she married into my household.

Three years in all.

She was living in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language, and wearing foreign clothes.

Thinking of that history left me with feelings I could not quite put into words.

That white veil.

To me, it had looked like a white cocoon.

And if that were so— then was she wearing it and making all this effort in order to become someone different from the person she had originally been?