Chapter 19
“Did she eat something wrong? They say people do things they never do right before they die, but did she actually die? No, that doesn’t seem right either. And why did she look strangely pretty?”
Lisianthus slapped his own cheek. A sharp smack rang out.
“No, damn it, no matter how starved for women I might be, that’s just completely out of the question…. It’s definitely me who’s gone crazy. Hyung, hyung, do you want to try hitting me once?”
“…It seems you’re the one who ate something wrong, Lisianthus.”
“No, you were the first one to see that crazy girl, hyung! You’re the one who froze up after hearing about the deal and Gloriana’s Insignia and went to fetch the Duke, so why aren’t you empathizing with me! I’m telling you, this isn’t something we can just brush off!”
“If you keep interfering like this, I won’t be able to finish my work today. That means I won’t be able to accompany Bibi to the Imperial Palace tomorrow, which will disrupt the entire schedule. That’s enough….”
“Huh? You’re really taking Bibi to the Imperial Palace tomorrow?”
“It’s Father’s decision. There’s no reason not to. Besides, she only ever begs for something when there’s a good reason for it.”
“Well, that’s true. Our Bibi is quite sharp!”
His mood improving instantly, Lisianthus grinned from ear to ear.
‘Bibi,’ who had officially become part of their family, was quite literally the Castline family’s lucky charm.
She provided the catalyst to round up the arrogant scum who dared to use the family’s bloodline for black market dealings and trade.
She would approach the Duke of Castline—whom everyone feared—without any hesitation, smiling and sending him handwritten letters, and even offered him flower tea she’d picked with her tiny, fern-like hands so he could rest—and strangely enough, that flower tea was instantly effective in soothing the pain of the Duke’s old wounds that had been gradually worsening.
She exposed the Head Maid’s schemes of extorting money and valuables from maids who had committed minor infractions, relying on the strict internal discipline of the Duchy of Castline.
She even managed to voluntarily draw out Rasper, who used to spend every day buried in books alone in the library.
Most precious of all was the fact that Bibi truly cherished everyone.
She never ignored a small kindness, returning it with sincerity and wishing for everyone’s happiness.
Because they could feel that, the members of the ducal family—who were dismissed by outsiders as mere bloodless, tearless villains—had already melted into soft mush for this young lady.
The Duchy was ruthlessly efficient.
The three brothers of the Duchy had no aegyo. They possessed no affectionate warmth. Even though they weren’t yet of age, all their words and actions were already more mature than most adults.
The Duke was not a tender father, either. Even servants who had served the Duchy for many years couldn’t bring themselves to speak to him casually because of his intimidating aura.
It had been a long time since the Duchess passed away after giving birth to Rasper, but the Duke had never sought to fill that void with anyone else.
The butler and the head maid tried their best to fill the gap, but cracks inevitably formed.
The fact that the head maid had recently pulled such a ridiculous stunt to pocket money was, in the end, because there was no one at the top to oversee and manage those ‘internal affairs.’
In the Duchy, a cold wind blew through every matter. It might have been because they carried so much work, or because every member was a terrible workaholic.
It was partly because there were no children who acted like children. And partly because the servants were intimidated and didn’t dare act friendly toward their superiors.
But then, out of nowhere, a cute child like a rabbit princess popped out of a fairy tale book and rolled into the Duchy as the youngest daughter.
The servants were ecstatic.
She’s so cute! Her actions are cute, her way of speaking is cute—everything about her is just lovely!
In all their years, they never thought they’d see a dessert party in this desolate Duchy. Or a line of tailors and merchants carrying bundles of lace and silk fabrics being summoned one after another. Or a path of flowers being laid out on the terrace.
Spring has finally come to this bleak Duchy!
“…Would Rasper have been that cute if he’d been a girl?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Bibi is cute because she’s Bibi. Yeah. So… are we seeing that crazy girl’s face tomorrow?”
“Refrain from using derogatory terms and address her by name, Lisianthus. And no matter how the Imperial Palace is, they don’t inspect the companion list of the Young Duke of Castline when he’s simply on his way to see an acquaintance in the First Royal Guard.”
“So you’re saying you’ll make sure Bibi’s identity isn’t discovered. Then I guess I won’t be able to see her face.”
Why are you paying so much attention to Imperial Princess Titania?
Raymon suppressed the question that almost slipped out of his mouth.
He had already received a report regarding the deal Lisianthus and the Princess had made together.
And about what the Princess had demanded.
Imperial Princess Titania had already shed her previous image and….
She had changed enough that he had to suspend judgment on whether she was a potential ally or an enemy of the Castline Duchy.
It was understandable that Lisianthus, who had dealt with her directly, was curious. In truth, Raymon was as well.
‘I need one loyal escort knight and one maid.’
…He couldn’t quite forget that face.
‘People who can both kill and save.’
That face, which was smiling brightly yet looked as though it might crumble and vanish at any moment like a shattered teacup.
Those eyes that shone coldly in that moment, as if she were alone in this world.
It was a strange thing. Like a blade stuck in a wound that couldn’t be pulled out and had turned festering, an unidentifiable emotion welled up like pus whenever his thoughts happened to drift there.
She must not be fully trusted.
He must not abandon the thought that even this could be a ploy.
Therefore, to Raymon, Titania was still poison.
Or so he believed.
The inside of the Empress’s Palace, which I was entering for the first time, felt unfamiliar. As I kept my mouth tightly shut, the person opposite me spoke cautiously.
“I don’t have much knowledge about tea. I just asked them to bring whatever was appropriate.”
As if they had certainly taken a child into consideration, milk tea with a heavy dose of milk and sugar was served.
I glanced sideways at the person who had brought me to his palace.
Knowing that Imperial Consort Cleo’s henchmen were crawling all over my palace, he must have brought me here to talk away from her eyes.
The profile of him pushing a large cup brimming with milk tea toward me was like a statue.
From the long eyelashes to those light green eyes like melancholic young shoots, and the perfectly straight features.
Truly, just looking at his face, he was a prince as handsome as a painting.
In a way, this man’s fate was quite tragic despite being born with a golden umbilical cord.
Adrian del Lace Hamastion.
The son of the Empress, born exactly one year after Brian del Radil Hamastion.
For a stable succession, it would have been better for the Emperor not to seek a concubine until he had a first son from the Empress.
However, the Emperor’s relationship with the current Empress was notoriously terrible. The reason was simple.
As the only son of the previous Emperor, the Emperor had been pampered and put on a pedestal since childhood, and he could hardly tolerate anyone more talented than himself.
Most people catered to the Emperor’s whims, so it hadn’t been much of a problem (since the Emperor would act somewhat generous as long as everyone pretended they couldn’t live without him),
But the problem was that the people who didn’t necessarily need to ‘grovel’ to the Emperor were, unfortunately, the very ones who triggered his inferiority complex to the extreme.
Like the Duke of Castline, or the Empress.
The Empress was the eldest daughter of the Marquis Integria family, a prestigious house with a history rivaling that of the Imperial Family, having firmly held their position since the empire’s founding.
The Marquis Integria family, famous for their strict family traditions, had raised their eldest daughter excellently—so nobly that even the Imperial Family couldn’t find a single flaw.
Once she was officially invested as Empress, she saw no need to cater to the Emperor’s narrow-minded behavior.
The Emperor found such an Empress annoying. But she was the Empress.
No matter how much of an Emperor he was, he couldn’t just persecute her on the whim that she didn’t grovel to him.
So, when Imperial Consort Cleo—who was born illegitimate but was invested as an Imperial Consort instead of her older sister—began to subtly cater to the Emperor’s whims, he started openly favoring her just to spite the Empress.
He went as far as to have his first son through her.
If he himself had been weak in terms of legitimacy, or if he had ever experienced a bloody struggle for the throne among kin, he might not have done something so irresponsible.
Ironically, the Emperor was the only son of the previous Emperor, who had struggled to have children.
Succession? As long as it’s the son I chose, what does the mother’s status matter?
That was the Emperor’s inner thought. It was an incredibly arrogant and irresponsible way of thinking.
He even went so far as to subtly ignore the Empress and the son born of her, while openly favoring Prince Brian and Imperial Consort Cleo.
Even though they weren’t of age yet, it was obvious that in a few years, this would become the root of a struggle for the throne.
