Chapter 2. The Negotiation
I still remember the day Isabel came to me, shedding tears of sheer joy on the day of her engagement. She had fallen in love at first sight with Duke Prodiad when they first met at her social debutante ball, and from that day on, she had contacted me daily to chatter about just how charming and wonderful he was.
I was eighteen at the time and attending the academy, yet I indulged all her chatter. In my eyes, she looked so thoroughly like a girl head over heels in love that I found her utterly adorable.
Isabel was a girl whose mere existence was lovely. At least, through my younger eyes, she was. And so I strove all the harder to preserve that childlike innocence of hers. How laughable.
Duke Prodiad, who had remained cold and distant despite Isabel’s persistent courtship, went off to the battlefield the very year after their abrupt engagement. Although noblemen who were betrothed were clearly entitled by regulation to return from the battlefield within an agreed timeframe, he did not return until the war was over.
“First, I offer my deepest respect to the glory of Winchester. It is because of all of you that Winchester stands strong today.”
Why was that?
Seeing Isabel waiting for him all alone, I had never understood it. Isabel was so lovely, yet he had left such a beautiful fiancée behind.
Lifting the slightly creased hems of my dress, I bowed to the knights lined up before me. They were Winchester’s knights and this country’s soldiers. It was the highest praise I could offer the men who guarded our nation. I held profound respect in my heart for them, and pleased by my reverence, the knights returned my greeting by placing their hands over their chests.
As I caught the hems of my dress that touched the ground and rose again, my eyes inadvertently met Duke Prodiad’s.
For an instant, an indescribable something seemed to flicker through his gaze. But it vanished so quickly that I could not pin it down. His conduct was courteous to a fault, yet his eyes were entirely marked by cold detachment and indifference.
Still… it was a strange sensation. It felt as though I was missing something. Even so, looking at those eyes that continued to gleam with a frosty chill, I could only conclude that I had imagined it.
Yes, there was no way any other emotion could be carried in those eyes. None at all. In the first place, could eyes so cold even have room for anything else? No, surely not. I must have seen wrong. Erasing it from my mind, I deliberately met his gaze head-on without looking away to get a better read on him. And then, quite unexpectedly, I found the answer to the questions I had harbored for so long.
The man who never responded to Isabel’s unconditional devotion, the indifferent man who never once returned to the capital where his fiancée waited.
His cold, settled eyes shone bleakly. They were eyes that held nothing, eyes that possessed nothing.
There was not the slightest spark of passion left in his gaze. Not a single trace.
“The first round of negotiations will take place in three days.”
“Where will it be?”
“At Sorel Castle.”
At Duke Prodiad’s words, I nodded. Only his adjutant, Celine, and my ministry colleague Korkel remained in our presence. Settled deep inside the large tent, we sat across from one another, quietly exchanging terms and information. The entire process went on without a single wasted word, which made it quite comfortable for me, but Celine, sitting beside me, seemed less at ease.
There was no way the rigid, disciplined austerity typical of soldiers would feel comfortable to someone as talkative as her.
“Then that will be all for today. I shall take my leave to confer with my colleagues.”
“You may do so.”
The moment we stepped away from that icy air, Celine drew a deep breath. Once we entered our assigned tent, her tension seemed to drain away, and she flopped onto the bed.
“What’s the matter?”
“With what?”
“His Grace the Duke. He’s just… so intimidating, he makes you nervous, and, well, everything about him is like that.”
I smiled at her words. Good for you, Celine, knowing how to read people now. It was a relief that she hadn’t been utterly dazzled by that handsome face of his like Isabel. In truth, there were quite a few women in high society who harbored feelings for him.
To be frank, I had to grant that he was extraordinarily handsome. Yes, that much was undeniable. I could easily swear he’d take first place among all the handsome men I’d ever seen—truly, credit where it’s due.
Even so, I was too old to be enchanted by that face and wear an ecstatic smile like Isabel, and above all, he was far from my type. Not a shred of emotion could be seen on his face. That fiercely restrained countenance showed not even a speck of passion.
I liked passionate people. Whatever that passion might be directed toward, I favored those who showed zeal for something, who pursued it, worked for it, and reached out toward it. Naturally, passion directed at me mattered most of all, but in Khalid, passion was utterly nonexistent, making him profoundly uncomfortable to be around.
“You said we’re heading to Sorel Castle tomorrow, right?”
“Yes. Go to sleep quickly.”
“Ugh, we traveled by carriage for days on end, and now it’s back to the carriage again.”
Seeing her shudder in dread despite having been thrilled at first to travel comfortably by carriage, I chuckled.
“Go to sleep first.”
“Where are you going this late?”
“Pardon?”
I merely offered a faint smile in return.
Stepping outside the tent, a few knights caught my eye. Exchanging brief nods with those who recognized my station and paid their respects, I walked on.
“Where might you be heading?”
“Just to get some fresh air. Is there a good spot for a stroll around here? Somewhere safe, that is.”
“If you head this way, you will find a small lake. The evening breeze is quite refreshing.” A wave of unease came washing over me. In a sense, my stomach churned, though it was certainly not physical motion sickness. Something was threatening to spill out.
I had to admit it. After everything I had been through over the past three weeks, I was endlessly anxious. The unease I had buried beneath work, buried beneath negotiations, and ignored with all manner of excuses was now creeping back to the surface.
Being human, I had an emotional side too. Of course, there were times when I wished I were a person of perfect reason and discipline—a cold-blooded creature or ruthless negotiator like those in novels—but that was easier said than done.
I was sentimental, loath as I was to admit it. Not that being emotional was inherently bad. Yet my feelings had a way of igniting the restless stirrings in my chest, shaking and tossing my resolve whenever I tried to focus on a single point. If there was any saving grace, it was that I could focus entirely when working, but conversely, when there was nothing to do—during idle moments—it frequently tore my heart apart.
Comically enough, the feelings I had locked away so tightly for three weeks, the dam I had painstakingly built, seemed to be developing slight cracks.
After a few steps, the lake the knight had mentioned came into view. Staring blankly at the water shimmering with reflected moonlight, I sat down along its edge.
Ah, how peaceful.
Yet now that I felt settled, all sorts of thoughts began to flood in.
It would have been wonderful if I could completely shut out the world, but God did not seem inclined to allow it. Seeing Khalid Prodiad brought Isabel to mind, and thinking of Isabel brought back a cascade of memories. And amidst them all, there I was.
I had been friends with Isabel. I was glad I could finally use the past tense. I first met her when I was five, and back then she was just a waddling toddler, so endlessly pretty and sweet in my young eyes that I always dragged her along to the Lilias Salon made for children.
By rights, the Count of Wither was far removed from the royal family, so she and I—born to a former princess for a mother and a father closely kin to royalty—should never have crossed paths in the first place, but because I had been so stubborn about taking her with me, my family had indulged my stubbornness.
Looking back on it now, the people around me had always been so generous to me. My mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, Violetta, Olivia, and Carlyle, Seth…
Isabel alone had not been among them.
“Lady?”
It happened right then. Just as my mind was drifting away, steeped in sentimentality, a voice suddenly reached me from behind. I whipped my head around at once, only for my eyes to widen at the unexpected figure standing there.
“Uh… Duke Prodiad, Your Grace?”
Standing behind me was Duke Prodiad. Finding such an unexpected figure who seemed as though he would never set foot in a place like this, I blinked and stared at him blankly.
His hair was slightly disheveled as though he had rushed over in haste, and he approached me. Dressed in his uniform, his bearing was as disciplined and polite as ever, yet I was so startled that I could not even think to rise to my feet.
“What are you doing at this late hour?”
“Taking a walk.”
“While sitting down?”
“Well, when people go for walks, they might get tired and sit down, or even lie down—”
Wait, lying down might be a bit much…
Wait, why am I making excuses in the first place?
Looking up at this man who stood far taller than me, I got to my feet. Though I dusted off my dress with my hands, I paid it little mind and looked at him, opening my mouth.
“Did you come here for a walk as well? You hardly look like the type to visit a place like this.”
