96. The Owner of the Summer Palace
“Yes. You…… got married.”
Oksana forced a smile while trying to erase the bewilderment visible on her face.
“Welcome. Which family’s young lady are you?”
“My father is Duke Baptiski Smirnov.”
Katya answered cheerfully.
Nikolai put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him.
“Does it matter which family she’s from? She’s family now.”
His intention to preemptively block any further questions was clear.
Though Oksana had been shaken since hearing Duke Smirnov’s name, she didn’t show it on her face.
She merely swallowed the anger boiling inside.
Nikolai had cleverly chosen as his wife the daughter of Duke Smirnov, who had remained neutral in the factional fights among the boyars.
If his chosen father-in-law had been from the nouveau riche nobles and officers who supported Nikolai, the boyars on Oksana’s side would have had cause to object.
They could have claimed they were deprived of the chance to present their daughters at the Grand Duchess selection because the Grand Duke favored his supporters.
‘Such a cunning bastard.’
Oksana spat out words of contempt internally.
Her stepson had known she was preparing for the Grand Duchess selection.
This was both a provocation and a signal for war.
Oksana naturally didn’t know that Nikolai had fallen in love with Katya before even knowing whose daughter she was.
“I see. Welcome. I’ll show you to your room where you’ll be staying.”
She naturally used the word ‘staying.’
Like she’s referring to a guest who would leave someday.
Katya immediately caught the meaning. It meant she wouldn’t readily accept this marriage.
But that was fine. She had known from the start that she wouldn’t be welcomed.
Before Nikolai could open his mouth to point out his stepmother’s choice of words, Katya beat him to it.
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s an honor.”
As she followed after Oksana, her husband held her back from behind.
“She is my wife. So I will take her to my palace.”
“Since you haven’t officially held the wedding ceremony yet, it would be proper etiquette for her to stay in the Spring Palace where outside guests reside.”
“Etiquette?”
“Yes. The Hersen Palace has strict protocols, you know.”
“Ah, I failed to consider mother’s deeper meaning. Then please proceed, mother.”
Only then did Nikolai release his wife’s hand as if he finally understood.
When Oksana was about to leave with her maids, satisfied with this small victory, her stepson spoke to her back in a gentle voice.
“I will send more palace staff to your palace soon, mother.”
“What do you mean?”
She turned around to look at Nikolai.
“As your son, I would be worried if you were inconvenienced by lack of help when vacating the palace.”
“Vacate the palace?”
“Yes. According to Hersen Palace protocol, the owner of the Summer Palace will change soon.”
Though he wore a smile as clear as the sky, his words had thorns.
The Hersen Palace, an architectural marvel envied by royal courts worldwide, consisted of four magnificent and splendid palaces.
These Baroque-style palaces, branching out in four directions from the central fountain, were named after the four seasons, as evident from their pastel-colored exterior walls.
As the former Grand Duchess, Oksana resided in the Summer Palace where Hersen’s Grand Duchesses had traditionally lived.
Though she had taken the position of Summer Palace’s owner from Nikolai’s birth mother, Tatiana, and lived there until now, she was destined to leave once he took a Grand Duchess.
“Let’s discuss that at dinner time.”
Oksana smiled dismissively and walked away.
Though she pretended to be relaxed, Nikolai’s lips curved into a faint smile as he noticed she was actually not.
“Then I’ll see you at dinner, wife.”
He bowed and gently kissed his wife’s hand before standing up.
Their eyes met briefly, containing different meanings.
Seeing her husband’s eyes filled with determination and concern, promising he wouldn’t let anyone harm her, Katya gave a small reassuring smile.
She followed after Oksana, leaving behind Boris and Pavel, and the Grand Duke’s knights whom she had grown fond of during their long journey.
Brunhilde, who had become her royal physician and lady’s maid, followed behind Katya.
Seeing many people worried about the Grand Duchess, Brunhilde felt a sense of responsibility to serve Katya to the best of her ability.
She was her lifesaver and savior who had pulled her out of the mire when she was treated like vermin in her hometown.
Her loyalty burned with determination to protect Katya no matter what happened.
“The four palaces that make up Hersen Palace are each named after the four seasons.”
Brunhilde whispered quietly close behind Katya, just loud enough for her to hear.
Oksana was walking far ahead with her maids.
So it was a good time to guide her through the layout.
Brunhilde continued her explanation as if she had become Hersen Palace’s tour guide.
“The Spring Palace with its pink exterior walls is used for hosting events like balls for nobles, and as lodging for Hersen’s boyars visiting from the provinces or foreign dignitaries.”
“You mean that one visible in the distance?”
Katya pointed to one end of the path that split into two at the central fountain.
Oksana’s group was heading toward the Spring Palace past the central fountain, as she had declared before Nikolai earlier.
“Yes. If you follow this path, it splits again—the left path leads to the Spring Palace and the right leads to the Autumn Palace.”
The Autumn Palace with its pale yellow exterior was where the Grand Duke of Hersen conducted official business, where the boyars’ noble council met, and where one had to visit for an audience with the Grand Duke.
Katya looked back at the opposite path from the central fountain they had already passed.
“Then the Grand Duke’s palace must be that way?”
She hadn’t expected the couple would be separated so far.
No, she hadn’t known Hersen Palace was this large to begin with.
“Yes. Usually meals are taken in each respective palace, but given the former Grand Duchess’s dinner invitation earlier, tonight’s feast will likely be held in the Spring Palace.”
“I see.”
“Following that opposite path, it also splits in two—the left leads to His Highness’s Winter Palace. It also houses the Grand Duke’s relatives and his people like the knights. You can see its light blue exterior walls there.”
“Then that last palace must be the Summer Palace?”
Katya pointed to the palace with refreshing light blue-green walls that faced the Winter Palace like a mirror image in the distance.
“Yes. Though the former Grand Duchess uses it now, it will soon become Your Highness’s palace. And when Your Highnesses have children, it’s where they will live together until they marry.”
At the mention of children, Katya’s face froze for a moment.
The fact that she was just a contract Grand Duchess suddenly struck her anew.
Children didn’t fit in this time-limited marriage bound by contract.
Though the desire to become Nikolai’s family rose in her heart dozens of times a day whenever she saw him, she couldn’t.
She wouldn’t be able to bear the grief of losing a child due to her hereditary disease.
A child with her beloved Nikolai… Just imagining it made her happy, but she knew she couldn’t live sanely if she lost such a precious child.
Whether the hereditary disease from her mother’s side would manifest in her child was uncertain, but she didn’t want to gamble a child’s life on uncertain odds.
“I see.”
“Whether they’re a princess or a prince, a child resembling both Your Highnesses would be so lovely and adorable. Just imagining it makes my heart flutter.”
Not noticing Katya’s change in mood, Brunhilde excitedly imagined Nikolai and Katya’s future child.
She felt moved thinking how the child would take after both parents not just in appearance but character too.
A ruler having a child was cause for celebration across the nation.
As both a subject and Katya’s attendant, it was the moment she most looked forward to.
“Wait, how do you know so much about Hersen Palace?”
Katya asked curiously.
Brunhilde knew the place inside out as if she had lived here.
“I asked Boris to help me study in advance so I could serve Your Highness.”
“Oh my, that must have been hard work. Thank you, Brunhilde. I feel so reassured having you.”
“Not at all. I simply did what I needed to do.”
Brunhilde replied proudly at Katya’s praise.
It was a secret that Boris had worked the hardest, teaching this passionate student day and night while even drawing internal maps of Hersen Palace during their journey.
***
Meanwhile, Mikhail sat in a tree lost in thought, not even knowing his brother Nikolai had returned.
He was hiding from his imperial studies tutor.
He thought he was finally free from studying after graduating from the academy, but as soon as he returned to the palace, Oksana had assigned special tutors to her son.
“With your brother gone, you need to practice being the owner here.”
The excuse made some sense. Since Nikolai currently had no children, he was first in line to succeed as Grand Duke.
But he hated how transparent his mother’s intentions were.
He had no interest in becoming Grand Duke.
What he was actually interested in—
“Your Highness, so this is where you were?”
Hearing the familiar voice from below the tree, Mikhail pretended to be asleep.
It was Irina, younger sister of his elder brother’s wife Lyudmila.
She was the woman his mother Oksana had long had her eye on—from a good family, pretty, and without any rough edges to her personality.
But he felt no attraction to her at all.
‘Rather than such a boring woman, someone more……’
At that moment, a certain woman’s face came to mind.
