“It’s not His Highness Aidan…”

When she heard that it wasn’t Aidan, Karina’s face immediately hardened. Only two people in this palace were called Prince. If it wasn’t Aidan, the other person was obvious.

Entering the reception room, Lloyd, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up to greet Karina.

“I came hoping to have lunch together, but I heard you were already dining with Aidan.”

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders, seemingly disappointed. Thinking she didn’t understand why that should disappoint him, she merely bowed her head slightly in greeting before sitting opposite him.

“What brings you here without an appointment?”

“Aren’t we close enough now that we don’t need appointments to see each other?”

Lloyd smoothly deflected Karina’s question with a smile. He probably meant that she was now a member of the imperial family, but that made it even more ridiculous. She had become Aidan’s consort, not his, yet he was pointing out that she had been dining with Aidan.

“I just came because I was worried.”

When Karina just stared at him without saying anything, Lloyd, perhaps feeling awkward, continued speaking.

“What worries…?”

Actually, she had an idea. Aidan going to the garden where Kate Spencer was without waiting for Kai — it made sense to think someone had deliberately led him there, as it couldn’t have been Aidan’s own will.

“Ah… Could it be you didn’t know? I thought you surely knew…”

Lloyd furrowed his brow as if he had said something he shouldn’t have and let his words trail off. The whole series of actions was so obviously an act that it was just laughable.

“If it’s about Miss Kate Spencer, I know.”

When she gave him the answer he wanted, the corner of Lloyd’s mouth twitched.

“You must be heartbroken.”

Listening to him offer consolation with a serious expression almost made her laugh mockingly. It felt disgustingly hypocritical that he was pretending to console her after deliberately arranging for her to witness Aidan and Kate Spencer meeting.

“I don’t know what you’re concerned about, but there was nothing to be heartbroken about.”

At her calm response, Lloyd paused while drinking the tea that a servant had brought earlier. His eyes wavered with uncertainty as he looked at Karina.

“How…”

He frowned once, considering what to say, then put down his teacup.

“There’s no need to pretend to be calm.”

He seemed to have reached his own conclusion.

“Do I need to pretend to be calm?”

Karina continued to respond calmly with an expressionless face.

“After the incident on your first night, he declared at the banquet that he would never look at another woman, only to disappoint you again so quickly.”

Lloyd’s tone rose slightly as if he was getting excited.

“That’s why I’m answering that there was nothing to be disappointed about.”

The more she conversed with him, the more certain Karina became. He had definitely arranged for Aidan to encounter Kate Spencer to put him in a difficult position. And now he had come here to gauge her reaction.

“Even though it was an arranged marriage, to be unbothered by your husband meeting another woman… That’s admirable in a way.”

Lloyd spoke mockingly. He was clearly displeased that Karina wasn’t showing the reaction he wanted.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying. His Highness Aidan has never met another woman for such purposes.”

At Karina’s response, Lloyd’s face contorted. It seemed he had reached his limit of pretending to be nice.

“He left the banquet early and secretly met with Miss Spencer in his palace garden, and you understand that?”

“His Highness never secretly called for Miss Spencer. She simply trespassed.”

At her firm response, Lloyd stared at Karina with a blank expression. His face showed how incredulous he found it that she would trust Aidan so completely.

“Aidan might have acted differently because you were there. Haven’t you considered that he might still be meeting Miss Spencer behind your back?”

Lloyd desperately wanted to link Aidan and Kate Spencer. In the past, if she hadn’t known about Aidan’s soul being switched, she might have agreed that it was possible. In fact, ‘Aidan’ had continued secret meetings not only with Kate Spencer but also with other noble ladies throughout their three years of marriage. Though she pretended not to know because he hadn’t been blatant about it, he hadn’t been particularly careful about hiding it either, so Karina had always been aware of their existence.

But this time was different.

“If I don’t trust His Highness, who should I trust? I believe His Highness will keep the promise he made to me.”

When she answered without a hint of hesitation that she trusted Aidan, Lloyd could only furrow his brow deeply and remain silent.

“If you visited to console me thinking I would be heartbroken, it was an unnecessary trip. I was never heartbroken.”

Having said that, Karina stood up first.

“If that’s all you came for, may I take my leave?”

She saw no need to deal with Lloyd any further. She had no intention of consoling him for failing to achieve his goal. When she asked permission to leave and turned to exit the reception room, she sensed Lloyd rising from his seat.

“Shall I give you some good information?”

Though she wondered what nonsense he would spout now, she couldn’t ignore him as he was still officially the First Prince of the empire, so she turned to face him.

“There will be a knights’ tournament soon.”

Knights’ tournament… Now that she thought about it, she remembered. Shortly after their marriage, a royal from the largest allied nation of the Griffith Empire had led a congratulatory delegation personally. As luck would have it, that country was famous for producing high-quality weapons. The Griffith Empire imported many of its weapons from there. The Emperor held a knights’ tournament to welcome him, and the Empress suggested that Lloyd and Aidan participate in the tournament as it was a good opportunity.

The result was predictable. Aidan, who had never trained at all, was miserably defeated in the first round, while Lloyd, whether through some deal or genuine skill, defeated all the praised knights and won. It was obvious how the reputations of Aidan and Lloyd changed after the knights’ tournament.

“A delegation from Icinia will arrive soon to congratulate Aidan on his marriage, though it’s a bit late.”

It matched Karina’s memory exactly.

“You know how Icinia’s weapons are incomparably superior to others? A knights’ tournament will be held as a gesture hoping for continued strong alliance with them. It would be nice if you could encourage Aidan to participate.”

Though he asked for encouragement, the Empress would pressure both Lloyd and Aidan to participate in front of the ministers anyway.

“Ah, might it be too much for Aidan since he hasn’t trained at all?”

Lloyd smirked while subtly disparaging Aidan again.

“Well, if he wants to run away, I suppose he doesn’t have to participate.”

His gaze turned to Karina’s face. Even as she faced his sinister smile, Karina maintained an expressionless face.

“There’s been expectation throughout the palace that Aidan has changed since marrying you — shouldn’t he prove it? Though it’s questionable if backing from House Hewitt can improve his swordsmanship.”

Since it didn’t seem like he expected an answer, she just quietly watched him as Lloyd moved closer to her.

“I look forward to seeing how the Aidan you trust performs in the knights’ tournament.”

A satisfied smile spread across his face as though he’s imagining Aidan being thoroughly crushed. With a snort of laughter, he passed by Karina and left the reception room first. Only after the door closed did Karina let out a long sigh.

Even though Aidan had changed, the knights’ tournament was definitely a problem. It was a tournament mainly attended by palace knights who had trained in swordsmanship since childhood. Though ‘Aidan’ had also learned swordsmanship as part of his princely education in his youth, after not touching a sword for over ten years, he couldn’t even wield one properly. He had been humiliated by displaying that incompetence so blatantly in front of the allied nation’s royalty.

Could the one now inhabiting Aidan’s body handle a sword? He had said he lived somewhere other than the Griffith Empire… It seemed difficult to expect much.

Should she try to find an excuse for him not to attend the tournament? Knowing what embarrassment awaited if he participated, she couldn’t just recklessly send him out like before. She thought they had safely gotten through the banquet, only to find another obstacle waiting.

Could swordsmanship be managed through memorization like dancing? Aidan had perfectly memorized how to dance with Kai and herself after watching for just a few days, so perhaps with swordsmanship too… No, dancing and swordsmanship couldn’t be the same. Trying to merely imitate it clumsily could result in serious injury.

This time, she truly faced a dilemma. If only he had claimed to be too severely injured from the attack to move and skipped the banquet, they could have used the excuse that he still hadn’t recovered enough to participate in the knights’ tournament. But having already shown him dancing perfectly fine at the banquet, such an excuse wouldn’t work.

How much could she teach him swordsmanship in the time remaining until the tournament? She didn’t even hope for ultimate victory. If he could just avoid humiliation, just safely passing the first round, that would be enough.

Or should she try to win over the knights who would face Aidan in advance?

She almost sighed at having to consider such desperate measures. Still, she didn’t want him to suffer the same humiliation as before. After all, Aidan Griffith was her husband, and his shame was her shame as well.

*