At Kias’s call, tinged with a groan, Yellodia finally moved her frozen-stiff legs.
Her gait as she descended the stairs was terribly awkward. It was as though she had become a wooden marionette.
“Am I to hold an engagement ceremony with Baron Adrian?”
Yellodia asked as if she were speaking of someone else’s affairs.
Baron Edward Kieri Adrian.
Yellodia tried speaking that name aloud once more, and soon found herself bewildered.
She could have sworn to the Lord God Raihel, and to his son and daughter, Hesus and Ioneol, that until last month she had not known that name at all.
The naval officer who had rendered great service in the Peoreun-Iota naval battle at the Phoenician Sea was renowned only among soldiers; in high society, he was virtually unknown.
Indeed, because he had not even held a title until last month, Baron Adrian was truly no different from a man who had fallen from the sky.
‘For that man and I to hold a wedding…’
Having thought that far, Yellodia blurted out a random question.
“How old is he this year?”
“I believe he is two years younger than me.”
Which meant he was twenty-three. There was a six-year gap between him and Yellodia.
Duke Sabie let out a sigh heavy with worry, while Kias drew a breath like an angry bull.
Yellodia imagined a rugged, burly soldier six years her senior and felt dizzy again.
Kias roughly rolled up both sleeves and stepped forward.
“I shall appeal to His Imperial Majesty. We cannot proceed with the engagement ceremony like this.”
“His Majesty has likely already set the date for not only my engagement but the wedding as well. Please do not earn his disfavor with needless strife, and take His Majesty’s side.”
“Yedi.”
Kias’s voice blurred with sorrow. Yellodia feigned composure as best she could.
“I am fine. His Majesty repeatedly promised me that he would find me the finest match.”
“……”
Duke Sabie found himself unable to utter a single word at the steadfastness of his youngest daughter, whom he had regarded as nothing but endlessly young.
Kias swallowed his displeasure inwardly, his brow furrowed. For a different reason than his father. He was already beginning to regret his rash outburst in a matter that the Emperor had personally undertaken.
Yellodia quietly watched the two of them.
Yellodia was not one to complain about what had already come to pass, and above all, she trusted the Emperor, her one and only maternal uncle.
Her clever eyes gleamed as Yellodia spoke.
“I should like to meet Baron Adrian.”
* * *
The very next day, three people boarded a carriage at the Duke of Sabie’s estate: Duke Sabie himself, his eldest son Kias, and his youngest daughter, Yellodia.
The duke’s second son, Fabian, could not miss the Imperial Guard Knights’ training, and the third son, Heseudeo, had caught influenza and had been bedridden in his chambers for a week.
Inside the carriage, the air was suffocatingly heavy.
“……”
Yellodia was careful even of the sound of her breathing as she stole sidelong glances at her father and eldest brother.
A day had passed since the bolt-from-the-blue tidings, yet dark clouds still hung heavily over both men’s faces.
And Yellodia regarded her own future as though it were someone else’s affair.
‘What kind of man could he be?’
She had once harbored a vague hope that she might meet an upright and kind man and marry him. Someone like her brothers.
She had thought that perhaps, one day, she might meet a husband who cherished her and be able to smile happily.
But that was all.
Yellodia’s imagination had been far too preoccupied with becoming a gardener, or wandering the empire as an adventurer, or perhaps becoming a palace librarian.
If she were to make excuses, seventeen was quite a young age, even for a noble entering a political marriage.
And so Yellodia pictured a great warship cutting freely across the Phoenician Sea.
The Peoreun ships of the line, built of oak harvested in Kaitan, were known to be so massive and elaborate that a single vessel could engage three Iota warships at once.
At the time, Baron Adrian, then a mere naval lieutenant, had sunk eleven enemy ships in the Phoenician Sea with a single vessel.
Nine thousand three hundred sixty-seven enemy soldiers had been aboard them, and they had all perished simultaneously on the same day. He was, in the truest sense, the supreme commander who had overturned the stagnating course of the war.
The Emperor, recognizing that merit, bestowed upon the lieutenant the surname Adrian and the title of Baron, and granted him the position of Vice Admiral of the Navy.
It was an unprecedented and sensational promotion.
‘He must be a man without blood or tears.’
It suddenly occurred to her that a man who would become a reliable pillar for the Emperor might not, in turn, make a good husband for her. It was only natural.
A man meticulous in all things and possessed of outstanding political acumen was by no means guaranteed to love and cherish his wife.
As she thought so, her knees somehow grew weak, and an inexplicable fear welled up within her.
Just then, the carriage stopped at the entrance of the Imperial Palace.
“We have awaited you.”
Kias was the most surprised by the appearance of the Lord Chamberlain, Count Keosyo.
The Emperor sending the Lord Chamberlain was a subtle hint that tonight’s dinner was a matter of grave importance even to His Majesty.
“This way, please.”
The three followed the Lord Chamberlain’s guidance up a long, endless staircase—the staircase leading to the Emperor’s reception chamber.
The imperial palace at sunset was so splendidly magnificent, yet so classical, that it drew a sigh from the beholder.
Countless murals adorned the walls and ceilings, and the pillars and foundation stones were densely carved with sculptures depicting the Empire’s guardian saints, Saint Hesus and Saint Ioneol, as well as dragons and lions.
According to the empire’s founding myth, Hesus descended to earth in the form of a dragon, and Ioneol in the form of a winged lion.
It was said they pitied the earth, which had been utterly devastated by an ancient war.
The two deities loved humans so dearly that they themselves became human.
Later, Hesus married a mortal and left descendants; those very descendants were Asto Peoreun, the first Emperor.
And that was why dragons and lions could be found carved upon every pillar supporting the Imperial Palace.
“Ah.”
Yellodia came to a faltering halt just as the crimson sun hung precariously at the edge of the palace spire.
Edward, who had been walking down the opposite corridor, likewise stopped as if by appointment.
“Baron Adrian.”
At Duke Sabie’s call, Yellodia and Kias turned their heads simultaneously.
“……”
“……”
Kias looked visibly startled. It was clear he was taken aback by Baron Edward Adrian’s outward appearance.
The man, drenched in sunset light as red as blood, was very tall and broad-shouldered. His skin, tanned by the blazing sun of the Phoenician Sea, was somewhat dark, yet appeared fiercely vital.
But the Baron was not as burly as Yellodia had imagined. No, rather, with his long limbs and slender frame, one might have believed him a dancer or a scholar. Indeed, Kias, standing at Yellodia’s side, looked more the soldier by comparison.
His neatly groomed hair was black, and beneath long, large eyes with faint double eyelids, his irises gleamed a deep blue-green. A sharply prominent nose and tightly pressed lips made him appear an intellectual and fiercely proud man.
Had she not been told his age beforehand, she might have mistaken him for a peer of her third brother’s age.
‘That man is Baron Adrian, who distinguished himself with such great exploits in the war?’
Yellodia felt a sudden pang of bewilderment. Could it be he was not a soldier?
Even as he received her dumbfounded gaze, Baron Adrian calmly bowed his head to Duke Sabie.
“We meet again, Your Grace.”
“It has been but a week. This is my eldest son, Kias.”
“It is an honor to meet you, Young Duke. I am Edward Kieri Adrian.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Baron.”
Kias was haughty and cold, as though he were the very paragon of the imperial aristocracy.
Edward quietly waited for the next introduction. Yet, even after waiting for some time, no introduction for Yellodia came.
“Your Grace?”
Prompted by the Lord Chamberlain, Duke Sabie opened his mouth with an expression of reluctance.
“This is my daughter, Yellodia.”
“It is an honor to meet you, my lady.”
Edward placed his right hand over his left breast and bowed his head.
It was not graceful and languid like the greetings of high-society nobles, but Yellodia found Baron Adrian’s rough salutation all the more appealing. Perhaps it was a greeting unique to naval officers.
She smiled faintly and curtsied.
“Good evening, Baron.”
Edward regarded Yellodia with an expression as though she had spoken something strange.
It was hardly the first time she had been the subject of such a clear gaze from an adult man outside her family, yet Yellodia found it a little difficult to breathe as she looked up at him.
“Baron?”
It was the Lord Chamberlain again. Edward suddenly turned his head to look back at him.
“My apologies.”
“Ahem. His Majesty awaits within, so let us make haste.”
It was a statement directed at all of them.
The Lord Chamberlain set off down the corridor at a brisker pace than before.
Duke Sabie took the lead, with Kias following behind. Edward slowed his steps and positioned himself behind Yellodia. Yellodia barely resisted the urge to look back.
‘What kind of man is he?’
Yellodia was not a little surprised by her betrothed’s appearance, which diverged entirely from her expectations.
She had thought it would not have been strange if he bore at least one fearsome sword scar upon his face, but she had been completely mistaken.
‘Could it be naval officers are chosen for their looks rather than their abilities?’