It was a photograph of the late queen and young Viett together.

— Queen Liliana and His Highness Viett.

The chief chamberlain said with a faint smile. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Viett in the photo. The excited-faced Viett playing the piano looked as cute as a baby angel, making me smile involuntarily.

The queen sitting beside young Viett was equally angel-like in her beauty.

— Viett resembles the queen a lot.

— The queen considered that fortunate.

— What?

I turned quickly to the chief chamberlain, wondering if I had misheard. The chief chamberlain looked flustered, as if he had accidentally misspoken.

Fortunate to resemble her? Does that mean the queen disliked His Majesty’s appearance……? (But His Majesty was also famous for being handsome in his youth!)

— What did you just say?

— Please follow me. I’ll guide you to the couple’s bedroom.

The chief chamberlain hurriedly turned away, pretending not to hear my question. As if asking me not to inquire further, his shoulders were slightly stiff, and his gait was awkwardly unnatural. I felt sorry for him and painfully suppressed my curiosity.

On the way to the couple’s bedroom following him, I felt a persistent gaze sticking to my head.

Several palace employees were hiding around corners, secretly watching me. It would have been better if they were merely curious. Some were openly glaring at me with hostile attitudes.

Uncomfortable with this, I happened to make eye contact with a beautiful woman coming down the stairs. I unconsciously gaped.

The identity of this captivating beauty with elegantly coiffed silky black hair and tear-moistened eyes was undoubtedly Amelia, Minute’s wife.

In the cathedral, we had only briefly made eye contact from a distance, so I was unconsciously enchanted by her beauty. (It can’t be helped. Anyone who sees Amelia up close would react as stupidly as I did!)

— Lady Amelia. When did you return?

The chief chamberlain looked surprised to see her. Amelia nodded with a dignified face.

— Just now. The palace atmosphere is so unsettled, I thought I’d go out for a walk to get some fresh air.

— Um, hello.

I awkwardly bowed to Amelia. Remembering how I had been completely ignored after nodding to her at the cathedral, I felt somewhat embarrassed.

— I look forward to……

Though I tried to greet her brightly, my voice gradually diminished due to Amelia’s cold stare. Oops. I thoughtlessly gave a cheerful greeting to someone in mourning.

— Excuse me, I……

As I was about to offer a more solemn greeting with deep regret, Amelia brushed past me and descended the stairs. I stared blankly at her retreating figure in confusion.

— It might be better to wait until Lady Amelia fully recovers her mental and physical health.

The chief chamberlain also showed signs of embarrassment, but he tried to reassure me with a calm voice.

I tilted my head before following the chief chamberlain upstairs with a dejected face.

The couple’s bedroom we arrived at was even larger and more elaborate than Viett’s room. But like other palace rooms, it hardly felt human.

The bed was monstrously large, enough for me to roll around with space to spare, and the distance between furniture was so vast that it felt like standing alone in a museum.

— The internal passage connecting to His Highness’s office is here.

The chief chamberlain pointed to a white door in the corner. Then he guided me to the neatly placed luggage beside the bed.

— Your belongings have already been arranged.

— By any chance…… was there an old phonograph and record discs in my luggage?

— Those items should be in His Highness’s office.

Just then, someone knocked on the door from outside. An employee entered the room nervously and bowed to me.

— Your Highness the Crown Princess. His Majesty has granted you an audience.

— I will escort you to His Majesty’s bedroom.

The chief chamberlain guided me, extremely nervous, to His Majesty’s bedroom. I followed him, moving my feet stiffly like a broken nutcracker. (To think I’d live to see the day I meet a king!)」

* * *

Meanwhile, Viett was just as tense as his wife. He sat on a corridor chair, desperately wishing for the king’s bedroom door to open, or rather, not to open.

He fervently prayed that even now it wasn’t too late, that his father would refuse their private meeting by finding some petty fault. His father’s capriciousness would be tearfully welcome and appreciated today.

When was their last meeting? The memory was now hazy. Was it Christmas, or the Thanksgiving dinner gathering?

Whichever day it was, it would have been a happy and harmonious family dinner if only Viett had been absent.

As he glared at the tightly closed bedroom door while chain-smoking, the moment when he had trembled through the memorial speech in front of numerous mourners, stumbling over the words, flashed through his mind. The sound of mourners clearing their throats with embarrassed faces as they bowed their heads deeply was an added bonus.

That utterly humiliating moment, the pain that felt like an eternity, was so vivid that his fingertips trembled. Viett began smoking more nervously.

He felt a gaze looking at him with contempt. It was General Rippers standing at a distance with a displeased expression.

Though he seemed to want to say something like he used to when Viett was young, given the circumstances, it was evident he was restraining himself.

Viett also smoked with a displeased face like the general. Why did someone who was as warm as a grandfather to his brother Minute become so frightening and stern in front of him?

Glancing at General Rippers, Viett unconsciously recalled his nanny. More precisely, he remembered the day when, as a child, he had bravely reported that his nanny was abusing him.

General Rippers, who had personally written the nanny’s letter of recommendation, couldn’t help but be greatly embarrassed. If true, it would be a disgrace that he had recommended a woman who had been abusing the prince for a long time.

It was a natural progression that he frantically defended the nanny and tried his best to dismiss Viett’s claim as a mere child’s lie.

Only after Viett proved the abuse with his bruised side did the nanny get expelled from the palace. General Rippers, who had to suffer briefly because of that incident, began openly discriminating between Minute and Viett afterward.

The general firmly believed for over a decade that the wound on Viett’s side was self-inflicted and that the nanny’s abuse was Viett’s false claim to disgrace him.

He never needed the trust of such a stubborn old man from the beginning. After all, didn’t Viett have Minister Hinler as a reliable pillar of support? That alone was sufficient.

But that was when he was second in line to the throne. His brother was dead, and he had become the crown prince and the king’s proxy. Having a national hero like Rippers as an enemy would only cause headaches.

“Your Highness. His Majesty is waiting.”

Just then, the bedroom door opened, and a caregiver called for Viett. Viett put out his cigarette and moved into the bedroom as slowly as possible.

He felt General Rippers’s sharp gaze persistently sticking to the back of his head. Only after the caregiver closed the door could Viett escape his gaze.

“……Viett.”

Contrary to his expectation that the king would shout at him as soon as he entered the bedroom, the king greeted Viett in an extremely frail state.

Viett blinked in surprise. Was that man lying weakly on the wide bed really his father?

The king had developed more wrinkles on his face since Viett had last seen him, and he had lost so much weight that his veins were visible, making him look like an old man on his deathbed. He couldn’t even lean against the pillow without the caregiver’s support.

Viett stared blankly at his father struggling to sit up against the pillow. He was so shocked by his father’s rapid deterioration that he was at a loss for words.

He couldn’t believe that his father, who had once seemed like a frightening giant, had shrunk so miserably. Seeing his cloudy eyes and graying hair, strangely, he felt a mix of complicated emotions.

“……You came?”

Rose, who had arrived at the bedroom earlier to care for the king, wiped away her tears and rose from her seat.

“I’ll go now. Talk comfortably with Father.”

“Ro, Rose.”

Viett quickly grabbed Rose, who was about to leave the bedroom, and whispered in her ear.

“Pl, please take care of Phe, Phenelity. She, she’ll be very co, confused being al… alone in a strange place.”

“I will.”

Rose nodded and left the room. The caregiver carefully covered the king’s lower body with a blanket, then left to wait in the corridor, saying he would be on standby. Only Viett and the king remained in the spacious bedroom.

The suffocating silence made him feel as if the king could hear his pounding heart. Viett awkwardly shifted his gaze to glimpse at his father.