Selina smiled with evident pleasure. Tilda’s eyes shimmered as she murmured,

“I felt it the time you came to my rescue before, but Your Highness the Princess Consort is truly like a knight from a storybook.”

“……I only said a few words.”

They were the ones who had to hear all of that because of me.

Blair felt oddly like she was the most deflated one of the group, and let out a deep sigh.

“I didn’t expect you to speak up like that. Thank you.”

Even the usually impassive Lady Miller gave a slight bow of gratitude, and Blair felt her face grow warm for some reason.

“If any of you ever hear something like that again, come tell me.”

Blair said it with the last of her irritation still simmering. She could endure petty remarks aimed at herself, but she could not stand it when others were dragged in as well.

Maybe I should take a more active role as princess consort.

Her mood sinking, Blair unconsciously shifted her gaze to the second floor. She had caught a glimpse of Kalintz going up the stairs earlier.

Her eyes swept quickly along the second-floor railing, and then stopped.

“Hmm? Who is His Highness the Prince speaking with?”

Selina sidled up beside her and asked.

“……I’m not sure. I don’t recognize them.”

Kalintz was speaking with a woman whose thick flaxen hair was swept up in a full updo. And he was doing it with a light, easy smile on his face.

“By the look of her dress, she seems to be someone from the Valia Duchy.”

Just as Tilda said, the woman wore a Valian-style dress cut daringly low at the neck, shoulders, and upper chest. The form-fitting design showed off her figure to full effect.

Lady Miller spoke then in her calm voice.

“Her name is Ariela. She is an alchemist attached to the Valian royal court. Young, but renowned for her exceptional skill.”

“My, you know the most interesting things, my lady. Are you acquainted with her?”

“……No. I have distant relatives in the Valia Duchy.”

At Selina’s question, Lady Miller answered shortly with a slightly stiff expression.

“An alchemist……?”

Blair found herself thinking of the plan Kalintz had mentioned for two years from now.

A secret medicine that could render a living person indistinguishable from dead.

He intended to use it to fake his death, and he had mentioned not long ago that the trials in Valia had been successful.

“Then that person is……”

“Do you know her, Your Highness?”

“I’ve never met her, but I think I know who she is.”

The answer was ambiguous enough that Tilda tilted her head.

“Hmm. Whatever the case, they seem quite close.”

Selina was right. Kalintz and Ariela had a remarkably warm, easy air between them.

Kalintz was someone who met most people with a near-blank expression or a formal smile, except around those close to him. Seeing him like this now felt deeply unfamiliar.

Blair had never seen him smile at another woman with such genuine warmth.

An unpleasant feeling began to creep up from somewhere she could not name, and just then, Ariela burst into a bright laugh and lightly touched Kalintz’s shoulder.

“Now wait just a—!”

Tilda, who had witnessed it alongside her, bristled and shot a glance at Blair.

“Um…… the Valia Duchy is said to have a fairly open social atmosphere. Physical expressions of familiarity aren’t really divided along gender lines there……”

“Tilda. Her Highness the Princess Consort already knows that.”

Selina noticed Blair’s expression and gave Tilda a look to stop her from rambling.

“……They must be extraordinarily close.”

Blair let the sharp words slip out before she could stop herself. She had not been trying to perform the role of a jealous princess consort, but the reaction came out on its own.

“It’s a bit warm. I’m going to step out to the garden for some air.”

“I’ll accompany you.”

“No, Lady Miller. I’d like to walk alone for a bit.”

At the firm answer, Lady Miller swallowed what she had been about to say and gave a small bow.

Blair crossed the hall quickly toward the central garden. She felt like a good dose of cold air might cool the heat that had risen to her head.

She passed through the door leading to the garden, and a quiet, still garden spread out before her, the sun already fully set.

“Haah……”

She drew in a deep breath, and the green summer night filled her lungs. Standing there with her eyes closed, she heard the faint chirring of insects.

Her mind settled a little, and Blair stood still for a while.

But it did not last. The scene she had just witnessed drifted back into her thoughts almost immediately. Kalintz smiling at another woman. Not at her.

“……This is so frustrating.”

It was never like this with Allen.

Blair felt annoyed at herself for feeling something so unfamiliar and strange.

It’s just a contract marriage. In two years, we’ll never see each other again.

By then, feelings like this would be nothing but a nuisance.

She let out another long sigh at the tightness in her chest and began to walk slowly deeper into the garden.

She had been walking for a while when a loud commotion erupted from the direction of the rose garden.

“Where does some backwater nobody get off sneaking in here!”

“This bastard, is he a spy or something?”

They were men’s voices, rough and aggressive.

Bolton knights, maybe?

During the Founding Festival, security around the palace and the capital was multiplied several times over, which sometimes meant drawing on lower-ranking knights from noble households.

The two knights in front of her bore the crest of House Bolton, so they were likely among those drafted for palace security.

But who are they so angry at.

They were glaring at someone with deeply disgruntled faces.

“I only came where I was directed.”

Another voice. Deep, low, and carrying a strange kind of weight.

Blair looked at the large man standing before the Bolton knights. He was a knight in heavy-looking armor, with bronze skin and silver-grey hair.

Unlike the Bolton knights, who were bristling with irritation, his face was perfectly calm.

“He says he was directed here. Tch, that Fitz again, too lazy to check properly before letting someone through.”

“Hey. This is not a place for your kind! The nerve of some Armos Islands savage—”

At the words Armos Islands, Blair looked at the large man again.

So that’s why he’s so big and his skin is so dark.

Armos was an island nation set somewhat apart from the continent, and until a few decades ago it had been a minor country under the colonial rule of neighboring kingdoms.

But when the Remarque family took control, its military power grew rapidly, and it went on to conquer surrounding nations by sheer force.

Its methods in battle were rumored to be brutal, which was why it sometimes drew accusations of barbarism.

“Strange. I was not told that Armos nationals were prohibited from entering the palace.”

The Armos knight muttered, still expressionless.

“Ha! That’s when you’re a noble.”

“Right. That doesn’t apply to a nobody knight like you. And look at the state of you.”

Come to think of it, the man’s armor was smeared with dried blood in several places, as though he had come straight from a battle.

“If you really want to get into the banquet hall that badly, knock the two of us down and try. Like the savage you are.”

The Bolton knights snickered with mocking grins. There was not a shred of knightly conduct to be found in either of them.

But the man’s reply was not what anyone expected.

“That works.”

“……What?”

“You said knock you down and I can go in, didn’t you? Just now?”

The Armos knight swept his shoulder-length hair back casually as he spoke.

The Bolton knights stared blankly at his easy demeanor, then their expressions turned ugly.

“This bastard has actually lost his mind. He’s got no idea what he’s dealing with.”

They looked ready to draw their swords at any moment.

This is going to turn into something real.

Blair bit her lip lightly at the way things were escalating.

If blades came out here, it could easily spiral into a diplomatic incident with Armos.

The Bolton idiots clearly had no thought of that whatsoever.

After a moment’s hesitation, Blair let out a sigh and moved forward.

“Wouldn’t it be enough to simply verify that he has an invitation.”

The Bolton knights startled at Blair stepping out of the bushes without warning.

But only for a moment. One of them furrowed his brow and said,

“My lady. The security of this area is under the jurisdiction of House Bolton’s knights. We cannot simply admit someone suspicious.”

“My lady?”

The title caught Blair off guard, and she murmured it to herself.

Thinking about it, there was no reason for lower-ranking Bolton knights to recognize the face of the princess consort.

Blair considered for a moment. Should she reveal her identity?

In the end, she chose not to.

The Marquis of Bolton was aligned with Duke Brienne. There was no telling what kind of story they might fabricate and spread about her stepping in to help a foreign knight.

“I would hate for there to be an unnecessary scene on such an important day.”