From the moment the delegation had been assembled, the Marquess of Blanc had been subjected to Alexis’s insufferable demands at every hour of every day. So much so that even now, with the palace nearly in sight, he had grown visibly gaunt, his eyes hollow with exhaustion.

“My lord Marquess, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince is asking for you.”

He had been summoned just minutes ago to stand there and listen to complaints. Alexis truly had a gift for draining the life from a person.

“Your Highness — you called for me?”

The Marquess of Blanc drew his horse up close to the carriage and inquired through the window, only to be met with Alexis’s expression, thoroughly soured with irritation.

“I told you the road was uneven and the carriage was making me terribly ill — why has nothing been done about it?”

If the carriage made him ill, he could simply ride a horse. It was exactly the sort of complaint one would expect from Alexis, who had balked at riding since childhood — while putting on a masterful performance of equestrian excellence whenever others were watching. He was, in that regard, genuinely talented.

“I humbly beg your pardon, but as I mentioned earlier, the palace is just ahead and this is the fastest route.”

“My body doesn’t care about that!”

“However, the detour would add another full day to our journey, and I fear that would only cause Your Highness greater discomfort…”

Frankly, if this itinerary stretched even one day longer, the Marquess of Blanc would be bled entirely dry. Today, they absolutely had to reach the kingdom. That much was in the best interest of every last person in the delegation.

“Bear with it just a little longer, and Your Highness will be able to rest comfortably at the palace this evening.”

In truth, Alexis had spent every night of the journey in comfort — at exclusively reserved inns or at the manor houses of nobles. But for now, what mattered was keeping the party moving.

“…If we do not arrive properly by this evening, you will answer for it. Bear that in mind.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The Marquess of Blanc felt the last of his lifeblood drain away. Whatever it took, they were reaching the palace tonight.

***

Word arrived that the Imperial delegation had crossed the border into the Kingdom of Elaise.

“So they’ve actually come.”

Milton received the report with a deep frown.

“Let’s hope it passes without incident.”

Grace nodded at his words.

“I should go to Annabella and tell her to steel herself.”

“Yes — that would be best.”

Grace gave a small nod, rose from her seat, and made her way toward the inner palace.

Not long after, word arrived at Annabella’s chambers that the Queen had come.

“Annabella.”

Grace took Annabella’s hands firmly as she rose to greet her, and drew her over to the sofa, settling close beside her.

“Listen without alarm, my dear. Word has just come in that the Imperial delegation has crossed the border. It seems they will arrive tonight.”

“Yes.”

Annabella nodded with surprising composure. She had already been expecting them to arrive around this time. There was no denying a thread of fear — but with the King and Queen’s steadfast support behind her, she felt none of the helpless anxiety she once would have.

“All the preparations are in place — I’ll be all right.”

Her voice was soft, but her resolve was firm. Seeing the steadiness in Annabella’s eyes, Grace felt some of her worry lift.

“This is something I must push through… and I’m not afraid.”

Alexis was nothing more than refuse — a handsome face concealing a contemptible character. One past life spent fretting over such refuse was more than enough.

“I’m relieved to see you so composed.”

Grace spoke from the heart. Contrary to her fears, her young granddaughter’s gaze was strong. There was a calm about her that seemed impossible to believe in someone barely twenty.

“Once this is behind us, we’ll invest you as princess — and from then on, we can be together until the day someone truly worthy of your love comes along.”

Annabella nodded at that. It was a choice that had never existed in her past life.

“I would like that very much.”

“And so it shall be.”

Grace took Annabella’s delicate hands in hers once more and held them tight.

Her daughter Aubrey had been led astray by a wicked man and met an unjust end — but she would never allow her granddaughter to walk the same path.

“The delegation won’t arrive until nightfall, so rest well in preparation for tomorrow.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Grace shook her head as though to say no thanks were necessary.

For now, seeing the Imperial delegation safely received and sent on their way was all any of them wished for.

***

As evening gave way to night, the Imperial delegation reached the palace and made their arrival known with considerable fanfare.

The King and Queen, who had been waiting in advance, went out to receive them.

“I present myself before Your Majesties. I am the Marquess of Blanc, head of the Imperial delegation led by His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”

The Marquess of Blanc was secretly working to support Cedric beneath the surface, but he took deliberate care with his courtesies to conceal that fact.

“The Kingdom of Elaise receives His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and the Imperial delegation with great pleasure.”

Milton spoke his opening words without losing a measure of his royal dignity. From behind the Marquess of Blanc, a striking face came into view.

“This is His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, Alexis.”

As Blanc made the formal introduction, Alexis was already tilting his chin up with characteristic arrogance.

“You must be weary from the long journey.”

At Grace’s words, Alexis made that particular expression of his — irritable and pinched.

“Indeed… it was a most grueling trip.”

For all that he was the Crown Prince of the Empire, his first words to a reigning King and Queen were quite the spectacle.

“The night is late, so please rest well in the chambers we have prepared, and we shall meet again tomorrow.”

At Grace’s words, Alexis exhaled a long, drawn-out sigh. For someone who had done nothing more strenuous than ride in a carriage, he carried himself as though returning from war.

“I am rather exhausted, it’s true.”

“The lord chamberlain will escort you to your chambers.”

Milton brought the unpleasant encounter to a close without delay.

“Then I shall rest for now.”

Alexis’s manner was insufferably arrogant throughout — yet the King and Queen observed every courtesy as he turned to leave. Not out of any fear of the Empire’s might, but out of a desire to protect Annabella without incident, keeping Alexis’s temperament undisturbed as much as possible.

“He’s even worse than I expected.”

Once the Crown Prince’s party had disappeared from sight, Milton muttered with ill-concealed irritation. A mere exchange of a few words had been more than enough to reveal just how arrogant and thoughtless the Crown Prince truly was. If he conducted himself this way at a diplomatically significant occasion, one could only imagine what he was like in private.

“Annabella’s judgment was sound.”

Grace replied.

“I already knew as much — but facing him directly, up close like this, it’s enough to turn one’s stomach.”

Milton rarely let his anger show, but he did now. However high his station, for a Crown Prince to behave with such insolence toward the ruler of a sovereign kingdom was simply inexcusable.

“If such a man were to become Emperor, it would be a misfortune for the entire continent.”

Milton was already shaking his head in disgust.

“We have Cedric — let us put a little more faith in him.”

“Yes. That is all we can do.”

The two took each other’s hands.

The palace, which had known only peace, was being unsettled by a visit unlike any before. All the more reason for the two of them to hold fast to one another.

“If only we can protect that child…”

Grace prayed fervently, thinking of Annabella. And Milton, tightening his hold on her hand —

— squeezed it tight.

***

Word of Alexis’s conduct reached Cedric as well, where he sat quietly in the detached palace.

“I expected as much — but he’s worse than I thought.”

The attendant who had delivered the report hurried away. Still dressed in plain clothes, Cedric found sleep elusive with the knowledge that his sworn enemy Alexis was so close at hand.

“Your Highness, I understand how you feel — but you must suppress your anger for now.”

Rohan, likewise in plain clothes, spoke carefully. It would have been possible, at this very moment, to slip into Alexis’s chambers and cut him down. But to do so would not only bring harm upon the Kingdom of Elaise — it would rob Cedric of any claim to legitimacy afterward.

“I know. What I want is an execution — not a murder.”

Cedric forced himself back to cold reason. Unless he could prove his legitimacy and bring the usurper before a proper scaffold, he could not simply hand him an easy death now.

“Indeed — murder is what usurpers do. It is not something befitting Your Highness.”

The very fact that a portion of the Imperial factions were already quietly throwing their weight behind Cedric was proof enough of how badly the Empire was fracturing.

“For now, there is nothing to do but wait for the right moment.”

Cedric spoke, swallowing his frustration. The usurpers would have to be brought before a sacred tribunal and made to face the scaffold. And the entire continent would need to know that the rightful heir to the throne had returned. That was what his father — who had met such a wretched end — had always said.

“I know it — and yet it is maddening.”

Every instinct urged him to act at once, but the time had not yet come to reveal himself fully.

“His Majesty’s decision to send word was likely meant as a warning for Your Highness to exercise even greater caution.”

Cedric had caught glimpses of Alexis from a distance on several occasions before. Despite being cousins, the two were utterly unlike in every respect — in appearance, in bearing, in every impression they gave. Their fates, too, would have to diverge in precisely the opposite direction.

“However deep my grievance runs, I cannot bring harm upon the Kingdom of Elaise.”

Cedric found a face rising to his mind — one he could not seem to shake. He had no right to feel anything of the sort, and yet the thought of that gentle woman falling into Alexis’s clutches made him feel he could not contain his fury.

It was a strange feeling — one he could not quite explain even to himself.