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“Will you kneel?”

“You mad…!”

“Prince!”

At the successive loud noises, the servants outside opened the door. They were at a loss for words at the unfolding disaster. The food sent to be eaten lay miserably scattered on the floor.

I never intended to feed him from the start. I wished this bastard would just disappear right in front of me — why would I soothe him with food?

“That wench must think she’s someone because she got a title and her father’s favor. How dare she act so arrogantly toward an imperial prince…!”

Lawrence sprang up and raised his hand toward me. I looked him square in the eyes without fear. That seemed only to provoke his anger.

“How dare you… where do you get off!”

His large palm moved. I braced for the incoming blow, but suddenly another hand stopped Lawrence.

“Stop it.”

None of Lawrence’s retainers would be the sort to do this, right?

It was someone I had never seen before. A fairly handsome man, seemingly just entering middle age — yet there was something oddly familiar about him…?

‘Who is he?’

Lawrence looked utterly startled to see him.

“G-Grand Duke?”

‘Grand Duke?’

My head snapped around. Wait, wait — could this person be…

‘Ren’s father?’

My earlier taunting, telling Lawrence to kneel, flashed through my mind. Ah — without context, I must look like a demon.

‘First impressions ruined from the start.’

He must already be displeased by the sudden engagement announcement; my heart sank.

‘Calm down. The Lawrence in front of you is more important. It already happened; explain things to the Grand Duke later.’

The Grand Duke released the hand that had held Lawrence and asked sharply.

“Did the Prince just lay a hand on the lady?”

Strangely, Lawrence seemed to be at a loss in front of him.

“N-No, that’s not it! This wench dared to say things no noble should say to royalty! Telling me to kneel!”

For a moment I sorted out the ranks in my head. Even among royalty, the Grand Duke seemed to outrank the Prince. The Grand Duke turned his head toward me.

“Why did you do that to the Prince? Chancellor.”

I told the truth as it was.

“Because the Prince threatened my younger sibling’s life to force the Supreme Justice and me to kneel. You may not have known, Grand Duke. It’s not something publicly known.”

In truth, I had only lowered my head, but even if I embellished it, nothing would change.

“Prince, is this true?”

“…”

Lawrence only scowled and could not speak. If he admitted it, there would be an uproar; if he denied it, the involved parties could be asked and it would quickly be revealed.

“Fortunately the matter was settled. But I came because the Prince, who threatened a noble life, refused to eat.”

The Grand Duke stared at me for a moment, then extended his arm.

“For now, leave, Chancellor.”

What did that gesture mean? I obediently followed his instructions.

“I will discuss this matter again with His Majesty the Emperor.”

“G-Grand Duke!”

The Grand Duke led me with a stern expression.

How on earth did he get here? No, when did he come to the capital? Would Ren know? Questions kept piling up, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask.

‘From the very first meeting I showed an unpresentable sight. Ugh.’

I had meant to meet Ren in a professional social manner at first, but this was a complete disaster.

The Grand Duke learned things he didn’t need to know. As a parent, knowing your child knelt would be unpleasant, of course. Still, I needed to properly explain things there and then. I didn’t want to gild over Lawrence’s face in front of him.

‘Still, ruined is ruined. I don’t know what to do now.’

There’s a 99% chance he’d dislike such a ferocious daughter-in-law. Is there any point in putting on airs now?

Then the Grand Duke spoke.

“Why did you act so recklessly? What if you’d been struck?”

I hesitated, but I hated the idea of appearing as an indiscreet Chancellor who didn’t know rank even more.

“Ah, actually it was intentional…”

“What?”

“If I’d been struck, Lawrence’s arrogant behavior would have reached His Majesty the Emperor’s ears. After facing such behavior, the Chancellor went to bring food because he was worried about a Prince refusing to eat — and yet suffered an assault. That’s the only way to read the situation.”

The Grand Duke walked in silence for a while, yet did not withdraw his outstretched arm.

“…Do not respond like this again.”

“Yes.”

“Would Vespera stay silent knowing this?”

“…I’m sorry, but please keep today’s incident a secret, Grand Duke.”

“How brazen.”

“Hehe…”

I wanted to say that in a palace rife with scheming, a Chancellor must do this much to survive, but his expression was as severe as a lion’s, so I kept my mouth shut. I felt thoroughly scolded.

Leaving the palace and heading toward Prince Raven’s residence as intended to finish with greetings, I saw a silver wolf sprint toward us fiercely.

“Father!”

He looked noticeably flustered unlike usual. Seeing me with the Grand Duke, Ren went pale and couldn’t bear to look at my face properly.

“Father, you should have at least notified me you were coming!”

The Grand Duke clicked his tongue at his son.

“You don’t need to explain to me first?”

“…”

“Both of you, come with me.”

Both Ren and I had nothing to say and couldn’t claim we had errands, so we followed the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke took us to his residence. His servants bustled at the long-awaited visit. While the Grand Duke changed and the servants prepared the meal, Ren kept checking if I was alright.

“Nothing serious. Perhaps it was more of a help to me…?”

“Helped you?”

“There was. But why are you so surprised? This is rather mild. Your cherished son abruptly got engaged without a word — and you didn’t even hear it firsthand.”

“I informed you the day after the banquet with a long letter. I clearly wrote I would come to visit soon…!”

It seems he couldn’t wait and came up sooner than planned.

There were so many incidents right after the banquet that visiting immediately wasn’t possible. The ‘Three Temple Corruption’ — secretly called the Lawrence Gate — was a major reason.

“Perhaps you came partly for that as well. It was a rather big affair.”

Ren nodded in agreement.

“I heard you were the one who first audience’d His Majesty the Emperor. I heard he was very angry. In any case, did Father treat you discourteously?”

He seemed continuously worried. I felt the need to be honest at this point.

“Ren…”

“Why do you look like that, Ria?”

“I think I ruined my first impression completely. What should I do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Actually…”

I told the whole story except that the Crown Prince tried to strike me. I wanted to keep that hidden, but if the Grand Duke grew to dislike me, Ren might feel excessively sorry to me, so I had no choice. Even now when the Grand Duke hadn’t done anything to me, what would happen if I said more? Also, if Ren later only heard what the Grand Duke had seen, he might misunderstand.

“You went alone to such a dangerous place. Ria, are you really going to do this?”

As expected, his expression hardened. I tried to smooth things over.

“I hadn’t eaten for three days and was sprawled on the couch. My swordsmanship is terrible. In the current situation he couldn’t recklessly harm me. Anyway… the Grand Duke heard me saying something villainous like ‘Will you kneel?’…”

“Pfft.”

When seriousness was called for, he instead snorted with laughter at me. He even shook his shoulders.

“You’re laughing now?”

“Sorry, sorry. But you don’t need to worry about that.”

“What? What do you mean by that?”

Before I could press him on his cryptic words, the Grand Duke’s steward announced that preparations were complete. We had no choice but to postpone the conversation and head to the dining room.

The Grand Duke changed into house clothes and sat at the head seat.

‘I thought he looked familiar… seeing him like this, he’s a dead ringer for Ren.’

The Aurelius Marquess I had called a handsome middle-aged man would have to yield a step to this man. His stature and looks were almost unbelievable for someone with an adult son this size. Ren’s civil and martial talents seemed inherited from his father.

“Come in.”

I awkwardly looked around and picked up my spoon. With my ruined image, I couldn’t bring myself to speak first. Ren, accustomed to this mood, naturally cut his food and ate.

“This is the house specialty. Try it; it will suit your taste.”

Thinking I hadn’t been eating well, Ren cut the large joint at the center of the table into bite-sized pieces and offered one to me. I felt like I might choke on what I was eating because of the Grand Duke’s piercing gaze watching this intently.

‘You can do it! You beat the plague once!’

“Thank you, Ren.”

“Ahem!”

It would have felt easier to curse him out.

Then, having eaten a bit, the Grand Duke broke the quiet and spoke.

“Actually, after audienceing His Majesty yesterday, I was curious who my son was seeing and went around the central ministries to observe the Chancellor. I didn’t expect to run into you like this today, though.”

Only then did I realize whose gaze I had been feeling.

‘It feels like being a teacher doing a parent observation class.’

If you add it up to today, it must have been almost a day — impressive stamina. Since he did nothing but work, I felt it must have been more boring than unpleasant for him.

‘If I’d known in advance, I would have shown him how I’d have rousted those idle officials.’

“I used to be a first-class secretary at the Chancellery when I was young, so there were many interesting parts. That said, if it’s alright, may I observe one more day tomorrow?”

He meant he wanted to see how I handled affairs more comfortably. He seemed intrigued by the many changes since I joined the Chancellery.

‘Wait, he used to be a first-class secretary?’

The Chancellery is currently suffering from overtime and understaffing due to sudden events. I would welcome even a helping hand. A former first-class secretary would be more than qualified.

I couldn’t miss this opportunity!

“Instead of observing from afar, why not experience it yourself? Come to work with me tomorrow. As a day-long first-class secretary.”

And I also want to get to know what kind of man my father is.