Chapter 7
In the uncomfortable dining setting, Kaella tried her best to do her part properly. Thanks to Pheon, her mind cleared up, allowing her to focus on discussing the Keruzhan delegation’s schedule instead of succumbing to hunger.
But after much discussion, Pheon’s offhand remark threw Kaella into confusion once more.
“If the Duchess of Monde acts up again over today’s incident, tell her I asked after her well-being.”
Pheon’s eyes were directed at Kaella.
Kaella employed the distinctive noble speech of Crania’s capital, Kline—a graceful, roundabout way of speaking that was quite irritating to Pheon.
He always preferred directness. She knew that well, yet this time, Pheon was using the same meaningful noble phrasing as her.
If she encountered the Duchess of Monde again later, it certainly wouldn’t elicit a good reaction.
Conveying Pheon’s regards would mean she should come to him instead of taking it out on Kaella. In the end, it was also his way of saying he’d handle any trouble involving that family harassing her.
Ostein Duke Adeo de Shaser showed considerable interest as well.
“Why, what happened?”
Before Kaella could respond, Pheon bluntly relayed exactly what the Duchess of Monde had said to the Ostein Duke.
“It’s not something for you to worry about.”
“Ah, sorry.”
The immediate apology and the way his gaze quickly averted made Pheon regret it right away.
He knew his blunt manner and demeanor made him quite difficult for a delicately raised duke’s daughter like Kaella to deal with. Before his regression, his wife had always tried to coax even a single word out of him.
His responses were always curt dismissals like a simple no or “That’s not for you to get involved in,” leaving her embarrassed every time. It had been that way since childhood.
Even now, having heard his curt refusal, Kaella would undoubtedly see him as an uncomfortable presence. He used to think that’s how their relationship should be, but not anymore. Pheon had no intention of repeating that foolish mistake.
“What I meant was, it’s not worth your concern.”
Her clear sky-blue eyes turned back to him. Just the fact that Kaella was looking at him again filled him with infinite satisfaction.
He had invested so much of his heart in her—how could ending on bad terms be acceptable? At the very least, he wanted a good relationship.
“Honestly, you should have gotten angry, Kaella.”
Of course, being as kind as she was, she probably wouldn’t have. She was the type who endured patiently for a long time, gradually changing situations bit by bit.
If they had been given more time, or if Kaella had infinite patience and the strength to endure, she would have eventually taken control of Lüsenford Castle as the duchess.
But they hadn’t had time. Four years was too short, and they ended up losing everything.
“For the Duchess of Monde to say that… she really crossed the line.”
Adeo murmured politely.
“A duchess and a grand duchess are different.”
Kaella echoed what Pheon had said to the Duchess of Monde, offering a slight smile.
It was closer to a formal lift of the corners of her mouth, but Pheon realized how long it had been since he’d seen her smile. She was someone who knew how to smile. Even a little one brought a gentle light, like sunlight following only her.
“By imperial law, the Ostein Duchy, approved by the late emperor, and the ordinary Monde Duchy are different. It’s absurd.”
Pheon stated flatly. At the same time, the noble Ostein duke’s daughter had no reason to get further entangled with the empress’s illegitimate child.
“Such a thing shouldn’t happen again, but if it does, don’t just let it slide—tell me, Kaella.”
“Thank you.”
The formally smiling Kaella was now a person with no connection to him. Pheon knew even that response was perfunctory.
*
The three of them were extremely busy for several days. While Adeo and Pheon consulted with the foreign affairs ministers on Keruzhan matters, Kaella dashed through the imperial palace, hiking up her dress skirts.
“If the Lüsenford Duchess had been here, she could have handled it as the hostess.”
The Duchess of Monde pouted, but with the empress unable to move and the emperor’s illegitimate children unacknowledged, the Ostein duke’s daughter was the highest-ranking lady present.
The Duchess of Monde believed without a doubt that her daughter would become the duchess. That had been the prevailing opinion in high society until now.
“Oh, Mother, why say such things? Pheon hasn’t married yet.”
Of course, Beatrice Lavalle, who was remonstrating her mother, was probably thinking something else entirely.
Honestly, Kaella was a bit curious when exactly Beatrice had become close enough to the emperor to call him by name so casually, but now wasn’t the time to find out.
“There’s too much to do!”
Even the highborn duke’s daughter was at the point of screaming. The great Kranian Empire couldn’t treat the Keruzhan kingdom’s delegation shabbily.
Thanks to the three of them, a schedule showcasing Crania’s dazzling wealth and influence, diverse cuisine, and elegant banquets was prepared.
Ah, how long had it been since she’d worked like this properly? Kaella thought, collapsing in exhaustion.
She selected the food and dance music for the banquet, chose napkin colors, curtain colors, tablecloths, and flowers, reviewed the guest lists multiple times, and grasped every subtle political issue they might discuss.
This was what Kaella did best. She had handled it brilliantly as duchess too, but in Lüsenford, no one appreciated her efforts.
Actually, without anyone cooperating, it was hard to produce proper results, and when things went wrong due to lack of support, she was mocked. Being a grand duchess without backing was that tough.
Having smoothly carried out work she loved with experts for once, Kaella’s face was radiant.
“Wow, that was fun……”
The mountain of tasks tomorrow felt that joyful. Feeling useful, Kaella sat on the half-finished conference room sofa and kicked off her shoes.
“Ow……”
Everything was great, but her feet hurt so much. One shoe clattered off. Right. She could just leave it right there. Kaella flung the other one.
The shoe arced farther than expected, then hit an incoming person’s leg and fell. Kaella startled upright. As purple eyes turned her way, an apology burst out reflexively.
“Ah, sorry!”
Her polished shoes stepping on the carpeted floor hurried to snatch up the nearby one.
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was coming in…… Sorry, really.”
Mistake. Her heart pounded, cold sweat trickled. What now? She’d get that gaze colder than Lüsenford’s chill again.
A gaze stripping her bare, laced with clear contempt, indifferent disgust. Apologies poured nonstop from her mouth, her small hands trembling as they fumbled frantically over the carpet.
It wasn’t fitting for a ‘duchess.’ It would bruise the duke’s pride immensely; he’d think her utterly shameful. Shame surged alongside it.
Before Kaella could retrieve the shoe that had bounced off the tall man’s ankle, he picked it up first. Pale-faced on the floor, she trailed her gaze up his hand.
“Kaella, it’s fine.”
Not looming over her relaxed but bending down with her, Pheon chuckled softly. Kaella stared at him wide-eyed, shoulders hunched like a squirrel facing its natural predator or a cat.
“It’s fine, so why’d you get so startled? Did I scare you?”
Only after seeing his serene, smiling handsome face did she snap to her senses. Breath escaped between her slightly parted pink lips.
“Sorry for startling you. Can you stand?”
Unlike the booming Lüsenford folk, Pheon asked very softly and quietly.
With her small chest heaving in surprise and eyes wide, it felt like she’d faint if he didn’t lower his voice.
In the vast conference room unused until the Keruzhan delegates arrived, Kaella sat slumped in sunlight, her pale platinum hair sparkling, skin flawlessly clear, and frame tiny.
Touch her carelessly, and she’d bruise easily or slip away between the floor-to-ceiling windows’ pouring light.
Kaella was always like that. Just looking made him anxious. Getting closer felt like something would shatter.
Her, or whatever fragile thing bound him to her. So the foolish Pheon, who thought avoiding her gaze was easier, reached out before she could recover.
“Let me help.”
He scooped up the Kaella who couldn’t even properly say she was fine and sat her on the large sofa where she’d been. The heavy dress weight meant nothing to him.
“……Thank you.”
Only after barely managing thanks did Kaella realize she’d used formal speech again. The language habit forcibly ingrained over four years because of Pheon wouldn’t change so easily.
“You’re welcome.”
But Pheon didn’t point it out.
He gently took the shoe she’d clutched tight, placed it neatly beside the other he’d picked up under the sofa, then sat on the rear sofa instead of beside her.
His lean, muscled frame was enormously tall, his presence as weighty as his build. So when he sat diagonally behind, Kaella felt her body tilt instinctively toward him.
“This room’s the only empty one right now.”
As if reading her thought of where to escape, Pheon said flatly. Head tilted back, he gazed at her neat, clean profile.
“The second-floor grand hall, first-floor hall—needless to say—and every small room is swarming with people. You and I both came here to avoid them.”
In other words, nowhere to flee and rest alone. Kaella swallowed a groan and lowered her slightly lifted hips.
As winter’s chill faded and spring signaled its start, slightly warmer sunlight stretched past the soon-to-change curtains, carpet, and tablecloths to her dress.
Kaella gazed at the conference room with its high ceiling, every finish and decoration exuding the emperor’s stately authority.
Her mind was a whirlwind yet she wanted no thoughts at all. All her nerves focused solely on Pheon.
Kaella bowed her head, clenching her fists on her knees.
Her left cheek toward him stung, but turning would show he wasn’t looking anyway. It was just a stupid, persistent habit from her one-sided crush since childhood.
‘How could I keep such a habit after four years of that treatment?’
Somehow it felt like he was watching, somehow like he listened intently to her words, somehow like he eventually granted her requests.
So Kaella kept harboring hope. Even that hope she’d completely forgotten by her third year as duchess.
‘It’s because I’m stupid.’
Kaella stopped thinking. Fools shouldn’t think at all.
*
The light remained. No, the sun seemed to have shifted slightly westward.
Her blue eyes beneath thick lashes gauged the shadow’s direction. In the confined tower, shadows were the only change, making her sensitive to them.
Had she dozed off briefly? Relieved no one had found her yet, Kaella moved and realized she was lying on the sofa.
Moreover, like last time, a black, heavy cloak draped her.
Reflexively, she looked at the rear sofa facing away from where she’d lain.
Pheon was gone from his seat. Instead, she saw long legs stretched over the armrest. Pheon lay sprawled, eyes closed. Irritation surged; Kaella gripped the cloak. This man was always like this.
‘Even if he died and came back, he wouldn’t change.’
These occasional small kindnesses and considerations from the gruff man were why Kaella once couldn’t let him go. That was once. She’d loved him so much that now just feeling annoyed at this consideration was huge progress.
Back then, it thrilled her beyond measure. Even in Lüsenford, treated like she didn’t exist with no old memories acknowledged.
Kaella glared at Pheon’s handsome face, with eyes and long lashes like the empress’s delicate ones.
“……Save it for Beatrice.”
Now that she’d given up, such words slipped out freely.
If Pheon was like this to her, maybe Beatrice wasn’t with Pheon but fooling around with the emperor. Recalling Beatrice calling him “our Vincent” soured her stomach.
Still, the stupidest was herself. Kaella flung the cloak over Pheon.
His face was covered now. Feeling a bit vindicated, she expressionlessly slipped her shoes back on quickly. She had to leave before he woke.
Her footsteps on the soft carpet were light. Slightly wobbly from haste, she exited the door, closed the heavy one, then walked the corridor with her original graceful gait.
Once she was far gone, around the corner and out of earshot, Pheon chuckled under the cloak.
“You’re right.”
The cloak Kaella had tossed smelled softly sweet. Orange? No, lemon. Overflowing juice, sweet and fragrant fruit mingled with bright summer flowers.
Fleeting scent that lingered briefly before fading, just like its owner—hoping eternal but transient.
Buried by high society’s flashy flowers, yet once turned from, it lingered in memory longer, deeper in the heart.
Wealthy with the late emperor’s acknowledged blood, society gentlemen only admired Kaella from afar.
She’d trailed only Pheon since childhood, ignoring other men, but Pheon knew the gazes of fellow males.
The gentlemen who admired her were somewhat fitting of the term. Unlike Pheon, born dirty.
Even in cold, dim, quiet places, they brought instruments; she smiled brightly at music. Such men had refinement and culture.
They had leisure to enjoy music with her. Like Keruzhan’s Prince Elcanan, for instance.
“Ah, Your Grace the Grand Duke. Here you are? The foreign ministry says Ostein Duke has arrived. There are new changes.”
Pheon loosely draped the cloak and headed where Adeo and Kaella were.
Kaella, sitting demurely, glanced at him with blue eyes then naturally looked away. Having left the cloak, she was checking slyly. He chuckled and deliberately sat in the seat before her.
He had to memorize the sight he’d sketch forever.
