Confession (14)

“Your… Your Highness.”

“Don’t you know my name?”

“I do.”

Alicia instinctively leaned back as she spoke.

Her back sank deep into the plush backrest of the chair.

“What is it?”

One must never casually call a royal by name.

No matter how close one might be, if they were not of royal blood themselves, they could not address a royal by name.

Calling a royal by name with ease was an act that could cost one their life.

“I… I know it.”

Alicia opened and closed her mouth, then muttered weakly.

“From now on, call me by name.”

Reichardt straightened up from his slightly lowered stance as he spoke.

It was phrased like an order, but didn’t quite feel like one.

“…Pardon?”

But the request was absurd.

If the mood had been lighter, Alicia might have grumbled, asking if this was his way of declaring he’d kill her.

“I asked you to call my name, Alicia. Don’t you know it?”

“I do. I know it, but…”

Alicia felt wronged.

The only kind of person who could immediately follow such a command would be someone with ten lives to spare.

She suspected this might be some clever trick he’d come up with just to torment her.

“If you know it, then say it.”

Reichardt leaned his face toward her chair as he spoke.

The slight upward curve at the corners of his eyes made him look amused.

So he really was trying to kill her.

Alicia’s suspicion deepened.

Leaning in so close with that gentle smile felt as wicked as asking her to call a royal by name.

“Your Highness, that’s…”

“Are you pretending to know when you really don’t?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then say it.”

Alicia wanted to shout.

How could she possibly call a royal’s name so easily?

Even if a royal gave permission, if their mood changed, they could just as easily have her beheaded for doing so.

But that wasn’t the only reason she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Reichardt—

For anyone in the Empire, it was a name everyone knew, yet it felt impossibly heavy on her tongue.

It was like her voice refused to come out.

Every time she tried to call it boldly, her tongue stiffened and she faltered.

It was only a name.

Yet calling that name was so difficult.

“…Re…”

She barely managed to get one syllable out before closing her mouth again.

“So you do know it.”

Reichardt whispered brightly with a cheerful smile.

“Of course I know it.”

Flustered, Alicia quickly spilled the words out.

Seeing her urgency, Reichardt’s smile deepened slightly.

“Practice.”

Reichardt spoke with unapologetic certainty.

Alicia wanted to protest—what kind of thing was worth practicing just to call someone’s name?

But she said nothing.

“……”

She simply stared blankly at Reichardt’s face as he smiled more comfortably than she had ever seen before.

It was the first time she’d seen him smile without the slightest restraint.

He had smiled before, or at least shown traces of amusement, but never with such openness.

“The most recent prophecy is void. Even if it might come true, it wasn’t one I requested. Also, treating a prophecy that an engaged couple will marry as a promise is unreasonable, in my view.”

Alicia nodded at his words.

“In that case…”

She too had no intention of treating it as a prophecy.

She had spoken the words confidently enough at the time, but they were more uncertain than anything else she had said.

There was no way to know if it would come true.

Which meant it wasn’t a prophecy at all.

“Is there any place that will have a rainy season this summer?”

“Rain will fall around Mount Kaip all through July. In August, there will be multiple landslides, both large and small.”

Alicia predicted the disaster with a blank expression.

“Next week, the Imperial Spring Hunt will be held. Please accompany me. I brought you a gift in preparation for it.”

“A gift?”

“I have to look my best. I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Reichardt left her with a bright smile.

He gave her a brief glance before leaving the audience chamber.

Thanks to that, Alicia could mutter under her breath, I’m pretty even without gifts,—the sort of foolish comment one might want to slap themselves for.

Sven’s sleek carriage, carrying Reichardt, sped toward the castle gates.

Daisy watched the Grand Duke leave with a beaming smile.

She was about to head straight to the audience chamber to speak with Alicia when Annie called her.

“Daisy.”

Annie’s expression was puzzling—half pleased, half frowning.

“What is it, Annie?”

Though Daisy was eager to go to Alicia right away, she hid it well.

“His Grace left a gift for you, my lady.”

Annie said this with a faint crease on her brow, looking troubled.

“A gift?”

Daisy’s smile bloomed without her realizing.

“Yes, but…”

Annie looked at the beaming Daisy with a touch of pity.

She herself had been just as delighted when the Grand Duke had asked her earlier to pass the gift to her lady.

“Where is it?”

Daisy’s eyes sparkled.

“Sir Juan put it in the hall. Could you check it and tell the lady?”

“All right.”

Daisy lightly headed for the hall.

As Annie had predicted, exactly one minute later, Daisy’s wide smile turned to deep puzzlement.

It even darkened a little.

The only one looking perfectly content was Juan, who had placed the gift in the hall.

Daisy was a diligent maid who faithfully fulfilled her duties.

She steadied her expression and headed straight for the audience chamber.

“My lady.”

Alicia sat in the audience chamber chair, staring blankly.

It was strange.

From what Daisy had just heard, things between the Grand Duke and Alicia had seemed to be going well.

Yet the look on Alicia’s face held none of the joyful flutter of a budding romance.

“Daisy.”

“My lady, His Grace has left a gift for you. Would you like to see it?”

Wary of disappointing her, Daisy spoke without fuss.

“A gift?”

At Alicia’s curious look, Daisy kept her face calm, as though it was nothing special.

“Yes, it’s in the hall.”

Daisy had intended to suggest she finish reading the book she had been holding earlier.

But before she could continue, Alicia rose from her chair.

“Let’s go see.”

“Yes.”

It was hard to read Alicia’s expression. But since it was a gift from her fiancé, she was surely expecting something nice.

Daisy led her toward the gift with a slightly pitying feeling.

She only hoped Alicia wouldn’t be too disappointed.

The hall contained only Juan and a large chest.

Stamped in gold with the crest of the Grand Duke of Tessen, the chest gleamed brightly.

Alicia approached it.

“My lady, His Grace has sent you a gift. Would you like to see it?”

Juan addressed her with formal courtesy.

Daisy had been signaling him to stop since coming down the stairs, but the oblivious knight ignored her entirely.

She could only give him a discreet, pointed glare.

“Open it.”

Alicia gave permission.

“Yes, my lady.”

Juan opened the gleaming chest with a pleased expression.

“…This is—”

Inside was a thick, gleaming axe, even brighter than the chest itself.

It was a weapon Alicia recognized.

Aside from a few decorative differences, it was identical to Reichardt’s own axe, its blade gleaming with a new weapon’s sharp edge.

“Yes, it’s the same as that one.”

Juan spoke with pride, as though he were the Grand Duke himself.

“……”

Though Daisy found Juan’s obliviousness irritating, she barely refrained from giving him a contemptuous look.

“I’ll have to send His Grace a letter of thanks.”

“He will be pleased. Where should we put the axe?”

Alicia’s polite remark made Juan’s face light up.

Daisy thought so too—

But something about the atmosphere felt off.

Juan seemed genuinely delighted with the gift, and Alicia didn’t seem displeased either.

It seemed Daisy was the only one staring blankly at the hulking, glittering axe in bemusement.

“Hang it on the wall in the library.”

Alicia addressed Juan.

The library was her most frequently visited and carefully tended space.

“My lady?”

Daisy called to her with a puzzled look.

“Yes.”

Alicia turned toward her.

In her violet eyes, which had just been fixed on the shining weapon, was a mix of anticipation and excitement.

“…It seems His Grace thinks of you often, my lady, to send such a gift.”

Daisy said it almost in disbelief.

“Perhaps.”

Alicia replied evenly.

But the warmth and satisfaction in her gaze toward the axe was clear.

Daisy felt an odd sort of despair.

Was any gift good enough simply because it came from the one she liked?

Or…

“Put it there.”

“Yes.”

Juan carried the axe upstairs to hang it in the library.

Alicia followed him there to write her thank-you letter to the Grand Duke.

Only Daisy remained in the hall.

She finally spoke once everyone else had gone.

“Lately she keeps collecting strange things. An axe as a gift for your fiancée… really…”

She felt a pang in her heart as if she had been the one to receive it.

She resented the Grand Duke for such an ill-chosen present, and pitied Alicia for pretending not to notice.

All she could hope was that next time, His Grace would send something more appropriate.

Though Reichardt had said he would come again tomorrow to look his best, he couldn’t keep that promise.

The next morning, at dawn, he entered the palace under imperial summons.

The Emperor tasked the Grand Duke with preparing for the Imperial Spring Hunt.

Unable to come to Luderne in person, Reichardt sent a letter.

Along with the letter came a massive chain scythe.

It was designed to pair with the axe.

Alicia instructed Juan to hang the chain scythe beside the axe.

Juan, admiring its weight and craftsmanship, did as told.

Daisy, however, found herself rubbing her temples at the sight.

Pleased with the gift, Alicia promptly wrote both a thank-you letter and a reply.

The thank-you letter, which could have been a single sentence, filled nearly two pages.

The reply to his letter, however, was only one line:

Busy with official duties, Reichardt continued sending letters to Luderne without fail.

Each one came with an additional gift that left Daisy, Annie, and Lise in despair.

Day after day, one letter and one weapon made their way to Luderne.

Alicia decorated a wall of the library with Reichardt’s gifts.

Once filled with elegant rare books, that side of the library now looked more like a weapons shop.

Alicia never forgot to send a reply.

The thank-you letter was always nearly two pages long; the reply, always exceedingly brief.

It was now two days before the Imperial Spring Hunt.