For My Beloved Daughter - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

“So, what did you feel during the Duchess’s tea time?”

“Ah, yes!”

Countess Bennet straightened her posture as if she had just remembered her business.

She then recounted in detail what had transpired at the tea party hosted by Elicity.

“The tutor named Lorraine did not seem to be a concubine-to-be, contrary to the rumors.”

“Hmm….”

“However, that does not necessarily mean that the relationship between His Grace and Her Grace appears solid either.”

At this, Lucellia’s expression brightened noticeably. She adjusted her posture from resting her chin on her hand to sitting upright, crossing her arms.

“Continue. Be more precise, more detailed.”

Her tone was gentle, yet it carried a certain sharpness that made Countess Bennet flinch.

Slightly flustered, she began recounting everything in as much detail as possible.

When Countess Bennet finally finished speaking, a brief silence followed. Then, Lucellia flashed a radiant smile.

“Thank you, Countess Bennet. You have been of great help.”

Receiving gratitude from the Queen of High Society, a true force in Romancia, filled Countess Bennet’s chest with pride. She beamed as if her lips were coated with honey.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Honestly, I cannot understand why such a woman is by His Grace’s side. If it were a beautiful princess, that would be a different story!”

“Oh dear, let us not say things that might upset the Duchess.”

“But it is the truth, is it not? How could someone so lacking in etiquette and education be the Duchess? I absolutely object to it. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know at any time, Your Highness.”

Lucellia smiled as radiantly as a midsummer rose. Her crimson lips curled into a perfect arc, exuding an aura of delight.

For a brief moment, Countess Bennet felt as though she were looking at a lioness just before it pounced on its prey.

She shuddered and instinctively rubbed her arms. Just then, Lucellia rose from her seat.

“Thank you for your concern. However, I simply wish for my former fiancé to be happy.”

“Your Highness…”

“It is time for my harp lesson, so I must be going. I will have my nanny, Countess Humphrey, serve you some fine tea in my absence. Please consider that my way of making amends.”

“Amends? There is no need! Please, go ahead.”

Lucellia smiled once more.

“Then please relax and enjoy yourself, my lady.”

With that, Lucellia slowly distanced herself from Countess Bennet.

***

“Lexion.”

As she walked down the palace corridor leading to her chambers, Lucellia called for her personal knight.

The well-groomed knight approached her, and Lucellia smiled subtly.

The intoxicating quality of her smile made Lexion blush and lower his gaze.

Her beauty was so overwhelming that he lacked the courage to meet her eyes directly.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Lucellia, well accustomed to such reactions, haughtily lifted her chin and commanded,

“I must send a gift to the Duchess. Bring me the list of knights serving my esteemed younger brother, Helios.”

***

Following the tea party, Elicity felt drained in many ways.

She was well aware that Countess Bennet was prone to thoughtless chatter, yet she could not help but be bothered.

Retia, noticing this, looked at her with a concerned expression.

“Are you still troubled by what happened at the tea party, my lady?”

Elicity gave a faint smile.

“It would be a lie to say otherwise. Moreover…”

There was another matter weighing on her mind.

Her husband’s words still lingered in her thoughts.

—Now it finally feels like I’ve come back.

She could not decipher the meaning behind those words.

‘Where does he think he has returned from?’

The only place that came to mind was the small fortress on the northern border, where he had briefly stayed while subjugating the Tutania tribe.

However, her sharp intuition told her that was not the case.

‘But I cannot just ask my busy husband about something so vague based on a mere feeling.’

Yes. Alex was busy.

She did not want to trouble him with strange questions when he had so much to handle.

She, too, had many responsibilities.

Since the tea party, invitations from the noblewomen who had attended had piled up like a mountain on her desk.

She had no time to spare, as she needed to decide whom to accept and carefully craft polite refusals for the others.

Just as she held her throbbing head, a knock came from outside.

“My lady, it is Celon.”

“What is it?”

“A messenger has arrived from the Madonia royal family.”

Elicity’s face immediately brightened.

A royal messenger could only mean her husband. Having anxiously awaited a letter from Alex for days, her heart began to beat faster.

However, the next words she heard made her furrow her brows in confusion.

“He was sent by Prince Helios.”

She froze, unable to comprehend the situation.

Then came an even more baffling statement.

“He has sent… a knight as a bodyguard.”

“What did you just say?”

“From what I have heard…”

Celon hesitated before speaking, saying that when Helios last visited the duke’s residence, he was saddened to hear that Elicity had no personal escort knight. So, he selected one from among his attendants and sent him.

Come to think of it, Elicity didn’t have a dedicated escort knight at the moment. A few years later, Alex would appoint a female knight to stay by her side, but that was still in the future.

‘Even so, a prince? Why?’

Her encounter with Prince Helios had been brief, just a fleeting moment on the second day of the banquet. She couldn’t understand why he had sent her an escort knight.

However, unfortunately, Elicity did not have the right to refuse a gift from royalty.

Moreover, since the prince was also a friend of her daughter’s teacher, Lorraine, it wasn’t entirely unrelated.

Elicity reluctantly nodded.

“The prince himself has gone to such lengths to show concern for me. It is a gesture I should be grateful for. So, where is this knight?”

“He is currently in the drawing room with a royal messenger. Would you like to see him now?”

At Celon’s words, Elicity rose from her seat. Delaying the meeting with a royal gift—especially a living person—would be tantamount to disregarding the royal family, so she had to go immediately.

‘But sending him without so much as a letter… that’s quite discourteous. Was he always like this?’

Looking back, Prince Helios had been carefree, but he had always adhered strictly to etiquette.

Tilting her head in continued confusion, Elicity walked with Celon toward the drawing room.

As she stepped inside, illuminated brightly by the chandelier, a well-built young man immediately came into view.

The first thing Elicity focused on was his eyes. They say a person’s character is often revealed through their gaze.

His light green irises gleamed with clarity. His slightly downturned eyes, round nose, and thin lips gave him a soft appearance—unlike a knight.

His face was rigid, likely from nervousness, but Elicity was certain that if he smiled, he would appear gentle.

However, his broad shoulders and chest, visible beneath his ash-brown uniform, his firm waist, and his sturdy thighs and calves were as imposing as those of the Zeroden knights.

The prominent, bluish veins running over his clasped hands were proof of intense training.

“I- It is an honor to meet you, Duchess of Zeroden. My name is Serad Bleam.”

As soon as he saw her, he hastily bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle. His demeanor did not seem that of someone well-versed in courtly manners.

Elicity’s gaze then fell to his sword’s scabbard.

Engraved into the dark blue sheath was a golden lion. However, on the hilt, there was an engraving of a lamb—symbolizing the maternal family of Helios’s mother, the current queen, the House of Jubitera.

This meant that while Serad was currently serving as Helios’s knight, he had originally been in the service of the House of Jubitera.

‘Normally, a prince would send one of his own royal attendants, but he sent a knight from his mother’s side? That’s quite unusual…’

None of this made any sense.

Elicity decided she would have to ask Prince Helios himself. With that thought, she smiled softly.

“I see. I hear that Prince Helios sent you?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Elicity accepted the knight’s oath document that Serad handed her.

Celon added that among Helios’s escort knights, Serad was highly skilled. Furthermore, as the second son of Count Bleam, he had no title to inherit and was not bound by family obligations.

The fact that an unmarried man would be staying by her side as a married woman was slightly concerning, but most knights were unmarried men, so it was inevitable.

Besides, the Zeroden ducal estate had a knight order stationed right next to it.

Half the people residing at the duchy were knights, so adding one more wouldn’t be enough to stir gossip.

Casually folding the oath document in half, Elicity called for Retia.

“Retia, please show Serad to his room and give him a brief tour of the estate.”

“Huh? Ah, yes, of course.”

There was something odd about Retia’s reaction when she received the oath document.

She fidgeted anxiously, kept her head down, and led Serad out of the room.

But Elicity’s sense of unease about Retia quickly faded.

As soon as Olivia entered the drawing room, arms full of letters, her thoughts shifted entirely.

“My lady, these letters just arrived.”

“More? I already have a pile of unanswered letters stacked in my study.”

“That’s right…”

Elicity was about to sigh but suddenly had a thought and turned to Olivia.

“Olivia, was there a letter from His Grace?”

At that, Olivia’s eyes darted nervously. That alone was answer enough.

Elicity allowed a faint smile to form.

“I see.”

***

A flood of blood pooled on the battlefield, and death cries poured down like a torrential storm.

Everyone, standing at the precipice of death, twisted their faces as if trying to suppress their fear.

But among them, Alex remained unchanged.

As always.

He sliced men in half, ripped them apart, committed brutal acts as easily as breathing—yet his face remained devoid of guilt, utterly indifferent.

Perhaps that was what terrified the enemy soldiers. One by one, they began to back away. Some turned to flee, only to trip over corpses and collapse in convulsions.

Ironically, that might have been their salvation.

As the years passed and the weight of death dulled in Alex’s mind, he no longer killed enemies who had lost consciousness.

For hours, he slashed and tore through countless foes. As the battlefield gradually cleared, the distant sound of the Zeroden knight order’s approach reached his ears.

Wiping another man’s blood from his jaw, Alex asked,

“How many of them are left?”