A Day In The Grand Duchess’ Life (5)

“Y-You ran….”

“Ran what, exactly?! Go back! Why are you doing this?”

Alicia realized that Reichardt really had bolted in the middle of his imperial duties at the palace.

Not only that—she was now fleeing with him, which meant she too had abandoned an audience in progress.

The Grand Duchess and the Grand Duke’s close aides would have panicked.

“Because I wanted to play with you. Look ahead. I’m going to speed up.”

Reichardt pressed his chest flush against Alicia’s back.

Alicia naturally leaned into the man’s embrace from behind, then realized this was not the time for that.

But she had no room to look back.

The Lusa tore through the wind and ran fast.

A fierce gale shoved into her face.

Her hair whipped wildly in the air.

Reichardt buried his face in her flying hair and let out a laugh.

Her first escape was a success.

A heavy silence fell over the Emperor’s office.

The Emperor, who had been listening to the Chief Steward’s report, lifted his gaze.

He closed the document he had been reading.

“What did you say?”

At the sharp voice, the Chief Steward bowed deeply.

“The Grand Duke of Tessen has taken leave.”

“Who?”

“His Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen—”

The Chief Steward’s gentle words did not make it to the end.

“A bastard who’s never written the word ‘leave’ in his life suddenly takes leave—right when it’s the busiest?! I’d believe it sooner if you told me he broke something! Say it again. Who did what?”

The Emperor’s anger was terrifying.

He was someone who could order a person dragged out and killed simply because he was in a foul mood.

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. We have been informed that His Highness the Grand Duke of Tessen is absent on leave. He left his post today at noon, and we currently do not know where he has gone.”

At the Chief Steward’s words, the Emperor’s beautiful face crumpled.

“He didn’t request it and just went, didn’t he?”

“That seems to be the case.”

“And you call that leave?”

At the Emperor’s stunned words, the Chief Steward read the room and poured tea into the cup.

“His Highness has an excess of unused leave, so it appears his adjutant processed it on his own. One cannot fault a count who serves his superior so faithfully.”

Listening to the Chief Steward’s soft, even tone, the Emperor made an ugly face.

“You really don’t know where he went?”

“We are ascertaining it now.”

The Emperor gulped down his tea, his brow twitching.

“He gets married and goes soft… He made a whole spectacle because he started dating late, and I thought he’d get better once he married—but no, he missed his wife so much he flat-out ran away…! He bolted because he was worried someone might get in the way!”

At the Emperor’s heated outburst, the Chief Steward refilled the cup again.

“Isn’t this the time when everything feels sweet?”

The Emperor shot him a fierce look.

The Chief Steward did not flinch in the slightest.

“His Highnesses the princes are adorable when they babble. Shall you go see them for a moment?”

“…Maybe I should.”

At the Chief Steward’s suggestion, the Emperor sighed and rose as if reluctantly giving in.

After standing, he grumbled again.

“Running off with his own wife—of all things! What does he think he is doing?”

“He will be a good husband, I’m sure.”

The Chief Steward received the Emperor’s flare-up with the same gentle composure.

And the Emperor was not the only one stunned by Reichardt’s departure.

The entire palace stirred at the Grand Duke of Tessen’s sudden absence.

Reichardt brought Alicia to Haime.

A mansion with lilac-petal-colored gates and rounded, flowing curves welcomed her.

“Your Grace!”

A stern-looking woman who had been inspecting the garden cried out with delight.

“Camille!”

Alicia recognized her too and shouted back.

Camille hurried to the gate. Her hands moved briskly as she opened it.

Alicia stepped inside the moment the gate opened.

Camille seized her in a tight hug.

Alicia clung to Camille in return.

“Congratulations on your marriage, Your Grace. If Ingrid had heard the news, she would have been so startled. How are you, Grand Duchess?”

“Camille….”

“I saw Ingrid off safely. After finishing the manor in Orie, I have been staying here for a short while. It hasn’t been many days since I came here, and it makes me so happy to see someone dear. You must come in.”

Camille led the dazed Alicia inside.

Alicia looked back at Reichardt.

“This is where Ingrid used to stay.”

Reichardt said it with a quiet smile.

“Your Highness, please come in. But you two—what on earth did you ride here? If people see it, they’ll faint from shock.”

Walking arm-in-arm with Alicia, Camille glanced at Reichardt and the Lusa as if they were hopeless.

Reichardt and the Lusa looked just a little sheepish.

Reichardt, however, marched in confidently with Lusa.

He did not forget to lock the gate behind them.

“I plan to stay here a few days.”

At Reichardt’s words, Camille’s eyes widened.

Her startled expression faded as she turned to Alicia.

“I will show you to your bedroom.”

“Thank you.”

Alicia looked around as she thanked her.

Her face, which had been brimming with tears, had settled noticeably in the brief span of time.

Camille pretended not to notice Alicia’s wavering voice and said she had just finished preparing the room.

“Your Highness, is that creature going into the stable?”

As Camille entered the mansion, she kept Alicia close and looked back at Reichardt with clear disapproval.

It was the attitude one used toward a naughty child.

“I’m going to let it loose in the rear garden.”

Reichardt accepted Camille’s strict stare without a hint of concern.

His reply was calm.

“Yes.”

Camille looked like she had a lot to say, but she only made a briefly exasperated face and closed her mouth.

She thoroughly pretended she did not know about the Lusa and guided Alicia to the bedroom.

Reichardt did as he said and released Lusa in the rear garden.

After showing Alicia the room, Camille went out.

She said she was caring for the young students at the Prayer House in Haime.

Among the students was a priest who had once tended to Ingrid here, at the Lilac Manor.

The bedroom Camille offered Alicia was the room prepared for Reichardt whenever he visited and stayed at the Lilac Manor.

Camille said Reichardt could count on one hand the number of times he had stayed here.

Yet for someone who did not come often, Reichardt moved in and out of the bedroom with familiarity.

“Are you all right?”

Reichardt approached Alicia as she stared out the window.

Because of Ingrid’s memory, Alicia’s expression turned sad at odd moments.

Whenever she thought of Ingrid, Alicia also found herself thinking about her father—someone unrelated to Ingrid.

So much had happened in such a short time.

“I’m fine. Are you all right, Rei?”

“No. But I’ve come and gone often enough that it’s not unbearable. I thought it would be better to come after more time had passed, but there was nowhere else that felt right besides here.”

Reichardt said as he wrapped an arm around Alicia’s shoulders.

From his words, Alicia pieced together several things.

That he had come here quite often.

That with the Lusa, getting here would not have been difficult.

That when he once told her to send word to Turen, he must have come here to see Ingrid.

To him, this place carried meaning as special as Tessen itself.

“What do we do here?”

Leaning into Reichardt, Alicia whispered.

She looked genuinely curious.

“We loaf around.”

Reichardt answered with a small smile.

“…What?”

Alicia’s eyes went round.

Reichardt reached out and lightly tapped her soft cheek.

“You’ve been doing far too much.”

Despite his dazzling smile, Reichardt spoke seriously.

Alicia understood what he meant.

“It’s not that—”

“There has been too much happening.”

At Reichardt’s continued words, Alicia closed her mouth.

“You can rest a little. You need time to loaf around, too, so you can handle what comes next even better. So come on—let’s play.”

Reichardt ruffled Alicia’s hair and fled.

His large hand messed up the hair she had just carefully arranged to one side.

“Hey, Rei!”

Alicia, who had been moved by his gentle rebellion, swept her messed-up hair back into one fall and raised her voice.

Reichardt laughed and climbed out through the window.

Alicia hesitated, wondering if it was really all right to do this, then snarled, “You think I’ll let you get away?” and vaulted out after him like a fighter.

The two of them ran and chased, laughing and shouting like childish kids.

A cool autumn was passing.

Baron Henrik of Rens left the mansion with a worn-out face.

The life that had been enjoyable day after day suddenly hit the brakes.

Alicia’s audiences had been suspended.

As a result, about eighty percent of his joy in life had vanished.

What shocked him most was that the one who had stolen his happiness was Reichardt—the man he had trusted.

In truth, it was not the first or second time Reichardt had left Henrik lonely.

But it was still shocking that he would throw Henrik into hardship through an act like running away—an escape, a desertion.

“Who, you said?”

Henrik headed for Adelheid House in a gloom.

He made sure to send letters to everyone whose audiences had been scheduled.

It was Henrik’s first time in his life canceling so many appointments at once.

It was humiliating.

He instructed the attendants that if guests arrived for their scheduled audience because they had not received the letter, they were to be received with the utmost courtesy.

The attendants offered kind explanations to those who had come in vain.

Most guests withdrew without complaint after hearing the explanation.

That was likely due to the Grand Duke of Tessen’s power.

On rare occasions, some guests asked to see Henrik himself.

Those were usually people who knew the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Tessen well.

“High Priest Banie has arrived.”

Juan said as he opened the door to Adelheid House’s audience room.

“So she’s here.”

Weariness rose in Henrik’s already gloomy face.

“But wasn’t our appointment with the High Priest ten days from now?”

Henrik moved with a sulky murmur of complaint.

“That is correct.”

Juan smiled bitterly.

Henrik patted the shoulder that must have borne the brunt of the trouble and went inside.

As expected, High Priest Banie sat there as if it were only natural—planted firmly in the seat of honor.

“High Priest.”

Henrik did not even look surprised.

He had expected this.

“Baron of Rens.”

Seated in the place of honor, High Priest Banie possessed the face of an angel that belonged on a ceiling painting.

Radiant blond hair and sky-blue eyes.

The woman, who resembled the Emperor closely, also resembled him in that there was nothing she would not do to achieve her aims.

“My apologies, High Priest. For what reason have you come here in person? You have received word that Her Grace the Grand Duchess has suddenly become absent, yes?”

Henrik scolded the High Priest’s visit with impeccable courtesy.

Put plainly, it meant this:

High Priest, why are you here?

Beside the High Priest stood large figures in cloaks, guarding her.

They were not likely knights of the Great Temple’s Priest-Knight Order, who valued etiquette and discipline above all.

The fact that they wore large cloaks with hoods pulled up indoors was an ominous sign.