A knight well-acquainted with Jake Dekan’s wicked ways quickly knelt.
“Your Highness, I beg your forgiveness. I merely recited the introductory address that Argon III revised and which has been handed down to this day; I have never dared to give thought to its contents.”
Jake spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.
“Come now, does it make sense that someone whose job is to recite the introductory address has never thought about what it means?”
“I apologize.”
Clicking his tongue as if to say *pathetic*, the boy turned his gaze to Duke Taylor.
“Duke, what do you think?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you heard. They call His Majesty the master of the five rivers, yet the words ‘master of the Lir and Teril Rivers’ are also included in your introductory address. I am asking you what you make of that.”
Duke Taylor’s eyes trembled slightly.
*I’ve never thought about it……?*
“Well… that is…….”
While the Duke frantically racked his brains, Jake smiled leisurely and draped his arm over the armrest. The Empress, who had inwardly feared Jake’s actions were excessive, decided to watch how the situation unfolded for now.
After a moment, Duke Taylor cautiously opened his mouth.
“Why… I am but a duke governing a corner of the southwest, whereas His Majesty the Emperor is the one who rules over all of Dekan. Is that not the case?”
“Then who is the master of the Lir and Teril Rivers? You, or His Majesty the Emperor?”
Cold sweat trailed down Duke Taylor’s back. The Crown Prince, who had been nothing but a child when he last saw him three years ago, had grown to be a threat in that short time. His father’s advice—that a single word could decide whether one lived or died—suddenly came to mind.
He swallowed audibly and answered carefully.
“The Lir and Teril Rivers are explicitly stated to be the property of House Taylor, but as I am His Majesty’s subject, are they not His Majesty’s rivers?”
Jake nodded slowly, rubbing his chin. Then, as though failing to understand, he spoke tersely.
“Then why do you not pay proper respects?”
“…Pardon?”
“I am seated on the throne in place of His Majesty, who is indisposed. Why do you not kneel on your left knee before me?”
At that moment, Hetteviga’s red lips curved upward. Her pounding heart began to race with a different emotion. She had been anxious because his adolescence lasted so long, but in the end, Jake was her son.
Duke Taylor swayed as though he were a ship caught in a storm. He had no sense of how he ought to act at times like this. This was precisely why he had not visited the capital often. The Taylor estate, where whatever he did was law, was comfortable; the capital was simply uncomfortable.
“Ahem, ahem. Oh my, what are you hesitating for? It’s what everyone does.”
As Ivanka Tyrien muttered loudly, Duke Taylor’s heart constricted even more sharply. Moreover, the gazes of the Empress, the Crown Prince, and the Count of Sachsen’s family, staring fixedly at him, were like blades flashing beneath his chin.
*Kneel.*
Everyone was telling him so.
Duke Taylor’s palm grew damp. So, was he allowed to kneel? Or not?
Just then, Count Sachsen spoke up loudly, his beard trembling.
“Your left knee seems quite stiff after your long journey.”
In the end, he slowly lowered himself before Jake and Hetteviga, who were seated beneath the black tiger emblem. Until his left knee touched the red carpet.
Jake looked upon that sight with satisfaction.
＊ ＊ ＊
In Dekan, it was not particularly a matter of pride for a husband and wife to share the same room. Neither was there any obligation to do so; rather, if a married couple used the same room, people simply assumed they were too poor to afford spare rooms.
But there was exactly one day when a couple unconditionally had to share the same room! Namely, the first night of their marriage.
Lady Rexton was thrilled. No, everyone in that room was thrilled!
“Oho hoho—!”
“Krhhrm, hrhrhng.”
Grace had never seen such clothes in all her life. Honestly, they were so useless as garments that they could hardly be called clothes. As she looked them over with an incredulous expression, Lady Rexton smirked slyly and whispered.
“Which do you like best?”
Then Jessie interjected, bristling like a fierce cat.
“None of these are clothes!”
But in Lady Rexton’s eyes, Jessie’s combat prowess was no more than that of a kitten.
“Of course, of course. They must not look like clothes to your eyes.”
“What?”
“If these looked like clothes to you, then I would have prepared poorly. Ah, right, Jessie. The Dowager Duchess is calling for you. Hurry along.”
“What?”
“The Dowager Duchess has called. Quickly now.”
“Du-, Duchess!”
Jessie called out to Grace urgently, but if the Dowager Duchess had summoned her, there was nothing Grace could do. Besides, Jessie was of little help in this situation anyway.
In the end, as Jessie was led out of the room like a cow being dragged away, Lady Rexton’s eyes sparkled as she approached Grace.
Grace felt cold sweat trickling down her spine. She understood. From Lady Rexton and the maids’ point of view, she was indeed the bride who had just been married today.
Grace’s gaze landed on the scraps of fabric disguised as clothing. She felt that even if she died and came back to life, she could never appear before Ares wearing those.
“Lady Rexton. I am too embarrassed to wear such clothes.”
“It is but one day in your entire life.”
“Besides, I am very susceptible to the cold. You fussed at me to wear furs just to go out into the hallway; how can you ask me to wear something like this?”
“You will be hot soon enough.”
“…What…….”
As Grace was at a loss for words, the married maids around her sent sly glances all at once. One brave maid even added softly:
“Then just drape a fur over this—”
Lady Rexton rounded her eyes and turned to her.
“Oh, what a method!”
But Grace shook her head firmly. Honestly, even the fragrance oils wafting from her own body were embarrassing.
“Even so, I cannot.”
“…….”
Lady Rexton and the maids all looked at her with downturned, pleading eyes, but Grace held firm, tensing her stomach.
“Take them all away and bring something else.”
“Duchess…….”
“Baroness Rexton.”
When Grace called her by her proper title, Lady Rexton finally let out a long sigh and slumped her shoulders. If Eliza Richmond was a gleaming blade, then Grace Richmond was deep, heavy water. She was just as formidable.
“Yes. I understand.”
With wilted hands, Lady Rexton gathered the garments she had prepared herself and trudged into the dressing room. But at that moment, her expression changed. Then she roughly set down the clothes she was holding and gestured to a maid waiting nearby.
“Bring them quickly.”
As the maid hurriedly brought the clothes, Lady Rexton’s sly smile deepened. The puzzled maid asked.
“Lady Rexton?”
Then Lady Rexton whispered into her ear.
“Do you think our lady would wear clothes like these? Even if it were His Majesty’s command, she would never wear them.”
“Then from the beginning……?”
“Eheheh. When she sees those and then looks at these… she’ll think this much is fine.”
Once you have seen the worst, the lesser evil looks acceptable.
“Oh… as expected.”
Hearing the maid’s admiration, Lady Rexton turned her body toward Grace. The sly smile vanished, replaced by a face bearing only a sorrowful expression.
＊ ＊ ＊
Of course, Lady Rexton’s ambitious plan came to nothing.
This meant that Grace Richmond could not be made to wear a slip dress with its hem crudely cut short enough to expose her thighs, or a transparent slip that revealed her entire silhouette. But neither could Grace wear a dress with a high collar. After all, it was the first night, and there were many watchful eyes.
She did wear the most unremarkable slip intended for sleepwear, but the way it clung to her legs with every step felt terribly awkward. No matter how much she tried to pull it up, she could not stop her upper chest from showing, so she had no choice but to clutch the gown draped over her shoulders as tightly as possible. Dressed like that, she walked down a secluded corridor cut off from the outside world. When the door came into view in the distance, Grace desperately thought of what came next. Thinking of what came next was a habit of hers whenever she felt pressed.
Like performing a wedding ceremony, it was merely a matter of ritual. The night was deep, and soon it would be time to sleep anyway. When she opened her eyes, it would be morning.
The hallway she wished would be long proved all too short. Lady Rexton, who had arrived before the door, bowed her head courteously.
“Then, I wish you a pleasant night.”
The sound of Lady Rexton’s footsteps faded behind her.
Grace clutched the gown that felt as if it would slip. The sensation of slowly rubbing her lips still remained like a stamp.
She shut her eyes tight, steadied her breath, and thought.
Perhaps at that moment, both of them had been bewitched by something. And it was not as though that kiss had been the first time. It was meaningless. It must not have meaning either.
Grace opened her eyes and pushed the door open.
A feral, musky scent rushed in together with the dim light. When she met the deep eyes of the man lounging on the sofa, she felt she had entered his domain. Reflexively lowering her eyes and bending her knee to greet him, she heard a low voice.
“The greetings are done.”
Her heart thudded as if plummeting. An instinctive sense of crisis ran thrillingly up her spine. Hesitating, she raised her head to see the man smiling with a captivating figure. Through the open front of his unfastened gown, his pectoral muscles and abdominal muscles were clearly visible.
“Good evening, my lady.”