Chapter 51

The cool scent of water stimulated her sense of smell. As the chill of the droplets falling from above instantly cooled the hot air and refreshed her, she felt as though she could finally breathe again.

“……Ah……?”

But standing before the fountain was not Bain, but another man. His face seemed oddly familiar, so when she narrowed her eyes and looked, he was unmistakably the owner of the horse that had nearly struck her on the day she divorced Neque Kayden.

He had given her a calling card then……. After that, she had forgotten about it. Then she remembered that he had been talking with some woman about the incident when the Emperor had nearly been poisoned.

“Hello.”

Since they had met, not greeting him at all would only make things more awkward. When Reinel gave a slight bow, he seemed to recognize her as well and lowered his head in return.

“Are you Lady Reinel Estrid?”

He seemed to know her name. Reinel tried to recall the name on the calling card, but at the time she had only taken it without even looking at it, so she did not remember.

“Yes……. And your name is……?”

With a gentle smile, he introduced himself.

“I am Duke Raimond Highgreen. I recently inherited the title and have come to hold the position of head of the family.”

The Highgreen Reinel knew was Rain Highgreen, and he had been the Duke’s eldest son. Even if he had not appeared much in high society over the past five years, she had still heard tidbits of news here and there, but to think that Rain Highgreen would fall from the position of heir.

“Yes. So you are Duke Highgreen. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Have you perhaps seen me before? I think we met once on a road where carriages passed.”

“Yes, that is right. At that time, you even gave me your calling card and told me to contact you if I had been hurt.”

The corners of Raimond’s eyes curved. Although they were almost strangers meeting for the first time, the way he smiled so readily seemed to show his personality.

“That is right. I was worried because you only took the card then and I heard nothing from you…… but when your engagement to Lord Bain was announced at the spring ball and I saw you surrounded by people, I felt relieved.”

“Yes. I see.”

At that time, Reinel’s face had been pale, and Bain had even chased after her. This man did not seem to have been close enough to her then.

“In any case, becoming engaged to Lord Bain must be preferable to becoming engaged to Lord Kalix. In truth, Lord Kalix does not have a very good reputation in high society.”

Reinel gave a bitter smile. Kalix’s reputation truly was very poor, but it was not easy to say so so openly. That was because the influence of Amarel behind him was so powerful, and because the Gregorius Duchy, his maternal relatives, could not be ignored.

Was this man influential enough in high society to speak of Kalix so openly and dismissively? Without realizing it, Reinel stared straight at Raimond’s face. Knowing she was looking at him so directly, Raimond smiled all over his face and shrugged.

“If I were a woman and someone told me to become engaged to Lord Kalix, I would have resisted as well. In that sense, it is truly a good thing that you became engaged to Lord Bain. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

When Reinel responded with a smile, Raimond likewise looked at her with a smiling face. Suddenly, Reinel thought that if the young ladies of high society saw this man, they would not leave him alone and would surely mark him out as husband material. The title of Duke Highgreen, along with his masculine, handsome face and solid build, made him look attractive.

Exchanging simple conversation with him was not particularly unpleasant. He knew very well how high society operated, and since both of them were well informed about the current political climate and the way trends were moving, conversation with him was quite decent.

‘Until Lord Bain arrives, he is not a bad conversation partner…….’

As she listened to things like how the weather was nice today, or how the recent heavy rain had helped the crops grow well and eased the worries of the farmers, it was even reassuring to glimpse the typical noble tendency of caring in an ordinary way about one’s territory.

Still, if there was one thing that bothered her:

‘If he rose to the position of head of the family over Rain Highgreen, then what sort of state is Rain Highgreen in right now?’

Rain Highgreen was by no means an easy man. He had even been a talent who graduated early from the Academy, so for someone whose name she had never even heard before to inherit the ducal title of Highgreen over him meant there had been many things within that family that outsiders did not know.

Gradually, Reinel began to think that the person before her was like a lion hiding its claws. He was not quite like Bain, but he possessed the power to subtly ease a person’s tension.

‘With this level of sociability, anyone would certainly think he has the ability worthy of inheriting a ducal title.’

Did Bain know about the affairs of the Highgreen family as well? If he already knew, how would he have evaluated the man before her? Reinel watched the eyes of Raimond, who was speaking in a calm tone.

It was just when she was beginning to feel wary of him as his light green eyes shone.

Because she was focused on him, she did not even notice someone approaching. But the man who spotted the newcomer first widened his eyes. At the appearance of someone he had not expected to show up here, Raimond’s eyes trembled once, then he clenched his hand into a fist.

“……Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Reinel wondered if she had heard wrong, but the words that had reached her ears were not corrected. And yet, in the garden of the First Prince’s Palace, it was not Bain but Kalix who had appeared.

“Ah…….”

Without realizing it, Reinel stepped back and bumped into Kalix.

At the faint fragrance, Kalix smiled without meaning to, but Reinel realized she had touched him and quickly turned away and pulled herself free.

Kalix clenched and unclenched his hand as if regretful.

“Reinel. And Duke Highgreen.”

Kalix stared at Reinel, his sinister gaze gleaming.

Having inherited the beauty of First Empress Amarel, he was strikingly handsome, but what likely made those who looked at him become even more wary was the slick gleam in his eyes.

“I greet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“I greet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

As the two greeted him in unison as though rehearsed, Kalix waved a hand.

“There is no need for such formalities. I simply have business with Reinel, so I would like you to step aside.”

The moment those words ended, Reinel felt that the situation was strange.

Why was it not Bain, who had contacted her, but Crown Prince Kalix who was here in this place? It made no sense, yet she felt one possibility pierce through her mind.

‘Surely this mad prince would not…….’

Suppressing the anger welling up inside her, Reinel stared at Kalix.

Kalix, sensing her gaze, watched Reinel with a sly smile as well. However, perhaps realizing that the eyes on him were sharp, his expression shifted into a slight frown.

“That expression is strange, Reinel. Why are you looking at me with such a face?”

Reinel straightened her back.

“Pardon me, Your Highness the Crown Prince, but did you summon me by disguising a letter as one from Lord Bain?”

As she pierced straight to the heart of it in one stroke, Kalix’s brow twisted.

Raimond looked back and forth between Reinel and Kalix as though surprised. But Reinel, without showing any surprise or disgust on her face, perfectly maintained an expressionless mask.

A strange light rose in Raimond’s eyes.

Kalix asked, “Hmm……. And if I did?” The way he seemed not to realize at all what he had done wrong provoked Reinel’s anger.

The tension stretched tight through the air.

Kalix kept his mouth shut because Reinel’s silence was wholly unexpected, but instead of bursting out in anger on the spot, Reinel thought.

‘Even if I get angry at someone of higher standing than I am, I will only be dragged into his intentions.’

Therefore, the wisest thing was to leave this place as quickly as possible and inform Bain that such a thing had happened.

Reinel chose her words carefully.

“In that case, I will take my leave. I made an appointment with Lord Bain, not with you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“How troublesome, Reinel. Are you saying that your appointment with my half-brother is important, while one with me is not?”

“That is not what I mean. I responded to Lord Bain’s request, not to a summons from you, Your Highness Kalix. Therefore, I cannot comply with the wishes of you, who is not Lord Bain.”

“Hmph.”

Kalix placed a hand on his waist and looked down at Reinel. He seemed like a sulking child, and utter arrogance dripped from his gaze.

“It seems everyone thinks my brother is greater than I am. For someone who is, at best, merely an Earl’s daughter, to dare refuse my request—just how easy do you think I am to deal with?”

Reinel did not fall for the petty trick of deliberately trying to provoke her anger. After all, even if she had to repeat the same words, all she needed was to get out of this place.

“As I said, I answered Lord Bain’s request. The one who should have come is Lord Bain, not you, Your Highness the Crown Prince…….”

“You are hoping my brother becomes Emperor, are you not?”

That sudden remark made her head ache. For something to blurt out so abruptly, it was truly absurd. The prince before her seemed to think that if he simply threw a fit, everything would be resolved.

In truth, it was not very different from what Reinel thought. Furthermore, Kalix also possessed the quality of making the listener uncomfortable by speaking aloud his own inferiority complex with his own mouth.

Stepping back once, Reinel secured some distance between them.

“The Crown Prince is you who stands before me, Your Highness.”

“That is what everyone says to me. But the one who truly controls this Empire right now is my half-brother Bain.”

It was truly unwelcome.

If she misspoke, she could end up accused of treason, yet Kalix brushed aside the other person’s discomfort as though it were nothing and pushed only his own position forward. When Reinel shut her mouth, Kalix smiled in satisfaction and lifted his hand in an exaggerated gesture, rolling his shoulders.

“If my half-brother were to say just the words, ‘I want the throne,’ then my position would vanish like foam in an instant. You think so too, do you not?”