8. Misunderstanding
“I hear the hunting competition may be pushed back three days.”
Ernst said it with a careful glance at Kalintz.
Whatever had happened on that terrace, a dangerous edge was radiating off him, sharp enough to cut through the mask.
“Reason.”
“It’s not certain, but there’s talk that it was at Duke Brienne’s request. Apparently he had a private meeting with Grand Duke Clovitz after last night’s banquet.”
“So the duke is finally thinking about coming for my neck again.”
Kalintz turned his champagne glass idly and murmured.
“That’s my read as well. There’s no reason to delay an event as involved as a hunting competition without cause. Which brings me to my point, Your Highness.”
“I’m not going to avoid it.”
“……Could you at least pretend to listen before I finish?”
Ernst sent a reproachful look at Kalintz for cutting him off before the words were even out.
“There’s no point pretending when I won’t listen anyway.”
“It’s too dangerous. This isn’t Eiron. We brought some knights, but we don’t know the terrain of the hunting grounds here.”
Ernst let out a heavy sigh, worry written all over his face. Kalintz did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“What’s different about Valia. People who come to take your head are all more or less the same.”
Coming from Kalintz, who had endured assassination attempts more times than he could count, it was hard to argue with.
“Staying put won’t stop them from coming. Better to stick my neck out and move around. With any luck, we might even get something useful out of it.”
“Well, that’s true enough, but……”
He was right. If even one of the assassins named whoever had hired them, there would be no greater gain than that.
But not one of the assassins Duke Brienne had sent over the years had ever given up his name. Whatever leverage he held over them, every last one had kept their mouths clamped shut, dying by their own hand or failing to survive the interrogation.
“I still don’t like it.”
Ernst scratched his head at a foreboding that felt worse than usual.
“Has there ever been a single thing involving that man that I’ve liked.”
Kalintz bit out the words and raised the champagne glass to his lips. But the glass stopped just short of his mouth.
“What is it?”
Ernst asked, wondering if there might be poison in the wine. But Kalintz said nothing.
Reading the quiet weight in his eyes, Ernst sensed it had something to do with Blair and closed his mouth.
Her Highness drank quite a lot last night, I heard. Something must have happened.
Remembering the look on Blair’s face as she came in from the terrace a little while ago, Ernst let out a quiet internal sigh and hoped peace would come sooner rather than later.
❀❀❀
Blair’s head was so full it felt ready to burst.
Is burying it and pushing it away enough for you?
Setting everything else aside and thinking only about her own feelings, of course it was not. Who would want to lie to themselves about what they felt.
If they had been an ordinary prince and frons, she would have confessed to him long ago without hesitation.
But they were only outwardly an ordinary couple. In reality, they were people who had entered a contract marriage for a purpose.
So how was she supposed to set all of that aside now and think only about her feelings. Back when she was young and foolish, she had let her feelings lead and made plans to run away with Allen, and in the end she had lost them.
Kalintz’s words echoed through her head like a refrain. I’ll wait for your answer.
“Haah…… what does he want me to do.”
Blair sighed and sank into the sofa.
After leaving the terrace, she had moved to a quiet corner of the banquet hall to clear her head. It was a space set aside for guests to tidy themselves or rest for a moment.
With the banquet in full swing, thankfully no one else had come here. Blair closed her eyes and listened to the music drifting in from the hall.
She was sitting blankly, trying to empty her crowded mind, when—
“This time, truly…… prepared……”
A murmuring voice caught her ear.
Count Roman?
Blair reflexively pushed herself up from the sofa. Another man’s voice came through in fragments.
“……get rid of him here……”
Dry and saturated with arrogance. There was no mistaking it. Duke Brienne’s voice.
The sound was coming from the terrace.
Given Valia’s open architecture with no doors separating the rooms from the terraces, the voices from the next room were carrying through clearly.
Blair moved toward the terrace, silencing her footsteps.
“Have you gotten hold of a good poison?”
Count Roman asked in his oily voice.
“No. He has a resistance to most poisons. His mother took precautions, probably because of everything he went through as a child.”
“Ah, that mother of his, the one who was a bit unhinged. Her name was…… Vivian, was it.”
Count Roman said it with a mocking lilt, and Duke Brienne let out a low laugh in response.
“In any case, so you haven’t prepared poison.”
“Something more certain and more violent than that.”
A chilling amusement crept into the duke’s voice.
“Death would be ideal, but even if not, he’ll be crippled at the very least.”
Blair clapped a hand over her mouth.
Duke Brienne was after Kalintz’s life. Here, in Valia.
Faced with such sudden, n*ked murderous intent, Blair’s hands trembled finely.
“But if the prince were to die here, wouldn’t that put Valia in a rather difficult position?”
Count Roman voiced his concern, and Duke Brienne gave a small, dismissive laugh.
“That’s nothing to worry about……”
At that moment, another voice cut in abruptly.
“So who is the one wearing the leopard mask?”
Blair spun around at the voice behind her.
A group of women came giggling and tumbling into the rest area.
“What does it matter who it is? Just enjoy yourself…… oh my? Someone was already here.”
One of the group spotted Blair standing awkwardly near the terrace and said something.
Whether the sound carried to the next room, Count Roman and Duke Brienne fell silent as well.
“Is there something on the terrace? Why are you standing there like—”
“Ahem.”
Blair quickly cleared her throat to keep the words from reaching the duke and slipped past the group.
She could hear them whispering behind her as she left without so much as a greeting, but Blair paid no attention and walked quickly away.
Moving at nearly a run, she passed through the arched columns and turned the corner.
“You seem to be in a hurry.”
A long shadow fell across the floor.
She looked up slowly to find a man wearing a white mask that covered the entire upper half of his face.
A smile twisted at the corner of his mouth. A cold voice. There was no need to be told. It was Duke Brienne.
Did he recognize me?
Blair’s fingertips trembled with tension, but she did not look away from the duke’s gaze.
Even if he suspected her identity, there was no reason to remove her mask and show her face. Brazenness was the better play.
“Are you perhaps in need of assistance.”
Duke Brienne asked, testing her. Blair opened her fan with a natural motion and replied.
“I’m quite all right. The rest area was crowded, so I was looking for somewhere else.”
Blair pitched her voice as thin and high as she could manage and walked past the duke with a show of calm.
A suspicious gaze burned into the back of her head, but Blair kept her steps steady until she was out of his line of sight.
“Haah. My heart nearly stopped.”
Only after stepping into the crowded hall did Blair finally manage to breathe.
“Your Highness, no…… Miss!”
She turned at the familiar voice to find Tilda hurrying toward her in short quick steps. She seemed to have decided to use Miss instead of the title of princess consort.
“Where did you go! You were just nearby and then you disappeared and I was so worried.”
Tilda pressed a hand to her chest and let out a relieved breath.
“With so many people and everyone in masks, it’s even more chaotic. Lady Miller said she was going to the powder room and seems to have gotten lost. It’s been a while and—”
“Tilda, where is His Highness right now?”
Blair cut off Tilda’s rambling and asked after Kalintz.
“Pardon? Oh…… he stepped out to the rear garden a little while ago with Sir Werner. But Sir Werner came back into the hall after that. So where is His Highness……”
Tilda trailed off, tilting her head.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“I have something urgent to tell him.”
Duke Brienne was after Kalintz’s life. With something more certain and more violent than poison.
Blair swept her eyes quickly around the room. But with everyone wearing similar masks and wigs, she could not easily find Kalintz. And on top of that—
“Oh my! Look over there! The flames are dancing!”
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JTLovesYah
I don’t understand Blair’s reasoning. She let her feelings get the best of her with Allen, and it ended in tragedy. However, Allen was a commoner and she was a noble with parents obsessed with her potential marriage. It makes more sense that that situation would end with heartache. However, as a frons and crown prince, what is exactly keeping them from being in love? There’s no hindrance in their status, no disagreeable in laws trying to break them up. Everyone supports their relationship already. And they’re ALREADY MARRIED. The only enemy is Duke Brienne, who they plan to get rid of anyway and their own plans, which they could easily adjust. The prince could just not fake his death, or they could BOTH do it and run away together. Then they could still live how they want to. It doesn’t make sense for her to be fighting this so much without even really thinking it through. If she wasn’t presented as such a clever person, maybe I’d be more understanding of how her past trauma is clouding her judgements, but she’s already been shown to be the type who can think logically under pressure. It just feels like the author is trying to drag this out when it’s not necessary. I’m more interested to see if or how they pull off this fake death and how they defeat Brienne than continuing this angsty slow burn. We’re so deep in the story already it’s actually frustrating that they still can’t get it together!