The Young Duchess, Brigitte Crown (3)
“What?”
Edwin’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit at my question.
“The duke’s daughter? What are you suddenly talking about?”
“The person Your Highness has been staring at is Duke Crowner’s daughter, apparently.”
“Whaaat—?”
Edwin let out a shrill yelp.
He quickly lowered his head.
“So that’s why she was at the residence…”
“Hmm.”
It seemed the two of them had crossed paths without me knowing. A daughter rarely visited the place where her father worked, but if Jerome was the infamous doting father everyone said he was, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
But why didn’t he tell me?
I was about to press Edwin on why he had kept such an important encounter to himself when the duke’s daughter’s gaze began to drift toward him—only for someone to step between them.
It was the boy with the sullen face: the Second Prince, Lloyd.
Even from a fair distance, their conversation reached us without difficulty.
“It’s been a while, Brigitte?”
For a prince known as a scoundrel, the greeting was surprisingly polite. Yet the lovely girl’s face hardened the moment she heard it.
“If I may be so bold, Your Highness the Second Prince, my name is a privilege granted solely to my father.”
“Ah, my apologies. Allow me to correct myself. Lady Crowner.”
I was genuinely shocked. The ill-tempered Second Prince was apologizing so easily? His cheeks were also faintly flushed, giving the whole exchange an odd atmosphere.
Surely it’s not what I’m thinking…?
As I watched the pair with suspicion, Lloyd cleared his throat in obvious embarrassment and continued.
“Still, we’re going to be husband and wife someday. Can’t you at least allow me to use your name?”
…The shocks kept coming.
I had never once imagined the Second Prince might harbor feelings for the duke’s daughter. But his tone and expression left no room for doubt—they were sincere.
And did he just say “husband and wife”?
Those were hardly words that should come from a boy who had not yet undergone his coming-of-age ceremony. Fortunately, the duke’s daughter appeared to share my thoughts.
She gave a delicate snort and answered with icy dignity.
“Your Highness and I, becoming husband and wife? That is a fact of which I am entirely unaware.”
“Isn’t it obvious? I will become the next emperor. Therefore it is only natural that you, the future empress, should become my wife.”
At those words, the duke’s daughter’s eyebrows twitched. Her composure returned in an instant, and she smiled as she delivered a cutting reply.
“I have never doubted that I would become empress. However, I have always harbored doubts regarding Your Highness’s ascension to the throne.”
“Don’t worry. You will marry me regardless. And marrying me would damage your reputation far less than marrying your cousin.”
Lloyd flashed what he clearly believed was a devastatingly charming smile.
“I rather think that a duke’s daughter taking a marquis family as in-laws would be sufficiently damaging to her reputation.”
But the remark found no purchase. At the pointed reference to their difference in station, every trace of amusement vanished from Lloyd’s face.
“…You’ve grown bold, crossing lines simply because I’ve been kind to you.”
Anger burned in the boy’s blue eyes.
“You would do well to retract that statement.”
“I spoke only the truth, so I see no reason to retract it. Now, if you will excuse me, I have greetings to make.”
“You!”
Lloyd called after her, but the lady paid him no heed. She simply walked away while he glared at her retreating figure with eyes like smoldering coals. Even a prince could not forcibly detain the daughter of Duke Crowner in the duke’s own presence.
“…Huh?”
Yet Lloyd’s face twisted even more violently within the span of a minute. To his visible horror, the place the duke’s daughter headed was directly in front of Edwin.
“We met yesterday, did we not?”
“Uh… um…”
Edwin’s face flushed scarlet as the duke’s daughter approached him.
What is this? Is our side’s boy acting strange too?
I swallowed against a rising sense of unease as she spoke again.
“Yesterday I committed a grave discourtesy without realizing you were His Highness the Third Prince. I am the daughter of the Crowner ducal house—Brigitte Crown.”
“H-how did you know I was the Third Prince?”
“I overheard the nobles gathered here speaking of it. Did Your Highness not also realize early on that I was the duke’s daughter?”
“Ah, no, I…”
Edwin stammered helplessly. The lady studied him for a long moment before turning the conversation aside with graceful finality.
“Then I wish you every success, Your Highness Edwin. I shall take my leave now.”
The noble lady returned to her father’s side and vanished from view.
Once she was gone, I turned to Edwin.
“Your Highness.”
“…Yes?”
He looked back at me with a dazed expression. My ominous premonition felt more certain than ever.
“You haven’t… gone and fallen for the duke’s daughter, have you?”
I couldn’t even finish the sentence. I didn’t need to hear his answer; the truth was written plainly across his flushed face.
Just when? How? And why?
I frowned as I studied Edwin’s crimson cheeks. Then a sudden thought struck me.
Did I once wear an expression like that in front of him?
Unbidden, the face of the man I had once loved more than anyone in the world rose in my mind—the man I now hated enough to make my teeth ache.
…It must have looked utterly pathetic.
Falling in love with Ian Angel, the man who eventually killed me, had happened a very long time ago. I could no longer even recall why I had come to love him.
How ridiculous.
Yes, looking back, it was laughable. That such easily forgotten feelings had once driven me to stake my very life on that bastard.
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
Enough. This is only making me feel worse.
I forcefully buried the rising memories and lifted my head.
Tsk. The boy’s already blinded by jealousy.
In the distance, Lloyd was glaring at us with murderous intensity. His pride had clearly been wounded by the fact that the duke’s daughter had ignored him and spoken to Edwin first. Pure hostility and rage rolled off him in waves.
But he was not the only one.
Other nobles, who had apparently been unaware of any connection between Edwin and the duke’s daughter, now directed gazes brimming with malicious curiosity in our direction.
Edwin noticed those stares and shrank his shoulders, looking frightened.
“Do not be intimidated.”
“But…”
“Your Highness has no reason to cower. Stand tall.”
Edwin’s eyes widened.
“The reason they are looking at you is because, in this place, you shine brighter than anyone else. So have no fear.”
I meant every word.
Among everyone gathered, Edwin truly was the one who shone most brilliantly. His handsome features, inherited from the Third Empress who had been called a peerless beauty. The splendid riding outfit that complemented them perfectly. The sapphire brooch fastened at his shoulder.
Not a single element was less than exquisite.
Catherine’s efforts from dawn were well worth it.
There was no trace left of the shabby prince who had once been covered in grime. In fact, several nobles were openly eyeing the clothes and ornaments he wore.
Lloyd seemed to realize this as well; his expression grew even more sour.
“Moreover, Your Highness is the Third Prince of this empire. You need fear no one.”
At my words, Edwin slowly raised his head.
“Is that… true?”
“Yes. So straighten your back.”
The moment Edwin finally uncurled his hunched shoulders, the secretary’s powerful voice rang across the hunting ground.
“His Majesty the Emperor arrives!”
Every gaze snapped toward a single point.
Emperor Cabelius III had appeared.
“Her Majesty the Empress arrives!”
“His Highness the First Prince arrives!”
Behind him came the empress and the first prince. The two figures atop their horses, clad in purple cloaks, radiated overwhelming dignity.
A thunderous cheer rose.
Accompanied by dozens of attendants, the emperor passed directly in front of Edwin amid the applause. The nobles wore expressions that said as expected when the emperor continued on without a single word to his son.
Then, in the moment everyone had let down their guard, the emperor suddenly reined in his horse.
His head turned toward Edwin.
“Why are you dawdling instead of coming at once, Edwin?”
At those words, the noisy venue fell deathly silent. Faint sighs rippled through the heavy stillness.
“My god.”
“Unbelievable…”
Who was Emperor Cabelius III? The cold-blooded man who had slain all his siblings to seize the throne. The nobles, who knew this better than anyone, whispered among themselves.
“What on earth is happening? How could His Majesty speak to the Third Prince like that?”
“He treats even the First Prince—the one he secretly cherishes—with such coldness in public…”
“Could the situation be changing?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It was only a single sentence.”
“Exactly. Even as a joke, don’t say such things. You’ll give me goosebumps.”
To openly show interest in a prince before so many nobles of the empire—and for that prince to be the long-neglected Third Prince, no less. A few dismissed it lightly, but most remained frozen in shock.
Damn it. Does being emperor excuse everything?
I glared at the emperor as fiercely as I dared without drawing his notice. If he truly cared for Edwin, he should never have acted this way.
It will only bring unnecessary attention.
As the nobles had said, the emperor deliberately treated the First Prince coldly in public for one simple reason: to lower the vigilance of opposing factions.
And now we’re the ones who will suffer for it.
The thought of the Second Prince’s faction turning their wary eyes on us made my head throb with annoyance.
“Will you remain there forever?”
“N-no, Your Majesty.”
The conversation between the emperor and Edwin caused the already sharp gazes to turn positively knife-like. From Lloyd’s direction came looks that bordered on murderous intent.
“Your Highness, let us go quickly.”
I gave the frozen Edwin’s arm a light tap. Only then did he manage to shake the reins.
The moment Edwin joined the emperor’s procession, the nobles’ murmuring swelled into a roar.
“What could this possibly mean?”
“Has His Majesty gone senile already…?”
“We’ll find out soon enough. For now…”
All manner of speculation and reckless gossip swirled through the imperial hunting competition.
“Then let the competition begin.”
With the emperor’s declaration, the curtain rose on the imperial hunting competition—the first in which the Third Prince Edwin had ever participated.