Chapter 36

The next day, soldiers gathered at the great training ground west of the Imperial Palace to suppress the rebels.

“Adelina, don’t cheat and wait for me.”

“Daughter. I’ll be back within a month. Just wait a little.”

Lexion and Stephan took turns hugging Adelina, who would be left alone in the capital.

“The Dragon Knights are going, so why do the Duke and Father have to…?”

Adelina’s voice and eyes trembled, perhaps afraid of being left alone.

Lexion gave a bitter smile and looked at Austin, the commander of the Dragon Knights, nearby.

“They probably want to show me. How the rebellious people are slaughtered. How they die under the dragon’s claws.”

Adelina hugged Lexion tightly as his voice grew louder.

“Lexion. Shh…”

She patted his back, whispering into his ear, and pressed her lips close to his earlobe as if kissing it.

“Watch the dragons closely. Their travel time. Their range of activity.”

“Travel time? Range of activity?”

Lexion hugged Adelina tightly and whispered softly in her opposite ear as if confessing love.

Adelina released her arms and stepped back, nodding with a meaningful expression.

‘A dragon’s weakness? If there isn’t one, then I’ll just have to create it.’

As they say, no one is without faults if you dig deep enough.

Emperor Grain and Evans wouldn’t leave the Tiola Empire across the sea alone just because of a single dot on the dragon’s forehead.

“Hahaha. You are my treasure.”

Lexion’s distinctive cheerful laughter echoed in Adelina’s ear.

“Be quiet. Make sure to find the mirror when you return.”

Adelina whispered into Lexion’s ear and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

To others, it would look like a perfect farewell scene between lovers.

“Of course.”

‘Huh… is it already hot? It’s still morning, so the sun shouldn’t be that intense.’

Surely, it couldn’t be that his ears turned red just from a kiss on the cheek.

Adelina looked curiously at Lexion’s reddened ears.

+++

“What is the meaning of this!”

That afternoon, after Lexion and Stephan had left, Adelina was looking in the mirror while waiting for dinner.

Without any prior notice, the Imperial Knights and the palace maids invaded the Marquis’s residence.

“Adelina Florin, Marquis’ daughter. It is His Majesty’s command that you reside in the palace starting today. We will prepare immediately.”

The palace maids began packing Adelina’s belongings right away.

“Miss, His Majesty the Emperor and Her Majesty the Empress are waiting. We will depart immediately.”

“Understood.”

Adelina, having barely packed the jewelry box and a few dresses gifted by Lexion, boarded the carriage specially sent by the Emperor.

‘Are they escorting me? Or dragging a criminal?’

Even though she was in a splendid and plush carriage, the aura of the Imperial Knights surrounding it was suffocating.

“I greet His Majesty and Her Majesty.”

Adelina was led by the Imperial Knights to the Emperor’s audience chamber.

Emperor Grain and the Empress were seated side by side on a high platform.

Leophris, the Empress’s nephew, stood below the platform where the Empress was seated, smiling slyly at Adelina as if he had come to watch a spectacle.

‘Hey! Give me a chair too!’

Though there were guest chairs against the wall, Adelina remained standing, bowing her waist.

“Adelina Florin. It must be lonely staying in a place without a Marquis, so come and stay at the palace. I will give you the Silver Palace.”

Emperor Grain’s voice, pretending to be benevolent, sent chills down Adelina’s arms.

“Adelina. Since there are no elder women in both families, I will help with the wedding preparations. Come to the Empress’s palace for two hours every day to learn etiquette and prepare for the wedding.”

‘Ridiculous! Are you acting like you’re my father-in-law and mother-in-law? Why! Such interference!’

Adelina felt a surge of irritation at the Empress’s voice, which spoke softly as if she were a relative elder.

Since her head was bowed, those seated above wouldn’t see her expression.

“I am deeply grateful. Your grace is truly immense.”

Adelina straightened her back after bowing at a right angle and looked at Leophris.

Caught off guard by her sudden gaze, the sneer on Leophris’s face awkwardly froze.

‘Caught you! You rascal!’

Indeed. The gentle smile he had shown all along was all a facade.

Leophris relaxed his stiff face and flashed a gentle smile at Adelina.

It was the smile he always wore when dealing with women.

“Your Majesty the Empress. I would like to have dinner with Miss Adelina tonight. She must be lonely in this palace without friends.”

“Leophris, how kind of you. Please do. Take good care of lonely Adelina for the time being.”

Seeing the Empress smile at him with a similar expression, Adelina’s neck stiffened.

Their snake-like gazes wrapped around Adelina’s body once.

+++

‘Ah… I’m going to get indigestion from eating.’

Even though she was having dinner at the Empress’s palace, the Empress was nowhere to be seen, and only Leophris and Adelina sat across from each other at a large table.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

Adelina was trying to eat quickly and leave, shoveling food down her throat, but Leophris kept talking to her.

“No, I don’t.”

“Then. I’ll teach you.”

Leophris cut her steak into small pieces and peeled the shrimp with his hands, placing them on Adelina’s plate.

Even knowing full well that she had caught his sly smile, he continued to smile at Adelina with a sly grin.

“No, I have no intention of learning horseback riding.”

Adelina’s blunt refusal froze Leophris’s smiling eyes for a few seconds as if they had been preserved.

“You will need to learn. Riding is basic for women in Petrus. I will speak to Her Majesty the Empress to arrange some time.”

Leophris’s tone was exceedingly gentle. However, Adelina placed her cutlery down with a clatter at the content which was the exact opposite of his tone.

“Sir Leophris, I will learn from my husband later.”

“Let’s schedule an hour starting tomorrow.”

“Sir Leophris!”

When Adelina stood up abruptly with an exasperated expression, Leophris roughly placed his cutlery down and stood up. He picked up a napkin, wiped his lips perfunctorily, and tossed it carelessly onto the floor.

“If you’ve finished your meal, I will escort you to the Silver Palace.”

Leophris circled the table and approached Adelina, extending his hand. At Leophris’s forceful demeanor, Adelina looked around.

‘There’s no one in the dining room.’

Usually, when nobles dined, there would be attendants present, but now, only Leophris and Adelina were in the dining room.

Adelina resignedly placed her hand on his. If she provoked Leophris now, who knew how this two-faced person might react.

“Eleven o’clock in the morning sounds good. It would be tiring to ride when it’s too hot.”

As Adelina stood at the dining room door, led by Leophris’s hand, he knocked three times at regular intervals.

‘What’s this? Is there some kind of code?’

At the knock, the attendants outside opened the door.

“Yes. I will be waiting at eleven in the morning.”

Adelina walked alongside Leophris down the corridor of the Empress’s palace, keeping her eyes straight ahead.

‘I thought it was a prison, but it’s a trap.’

She thought that the Marquis’s residence and the palace would be the same since there was no one to trust in either place. In fact, she thought it would be more comfortable in the palace since there was no worry about assassins or poison.

“Thinking of being with you every day makes me truly happy.”

Leophris, who escorted her to the door of Adelina’s bedroom in the Silver Palace, kissed the back of her hand.

“I also look forward to the riding lessons. However, I’m quite busy and can only spare exactly one hour a day. I hope you understand.”

“That’s quite unfortunate. Then… how about we have dinner together every evening? And tea afterwards.”

Adelina tried to pull her hand away from Leophris, but he held it tightly and wouldn’t let go.

There were quite a few knights standing guard in the corridor and maids finishing their day. Surely, they all saw Adelina struggling to pull her hand away, but none of them stopped Leophris.

“I’m. Quite. Busy.”

“You need to eat, don’t you? And have tea.”

Adelina now shook her trapped hand up and down vigorously to free it, but Leophris only tightened his grip and smiled.

‘Hey! Let go! You leech!’

How could I free my hand from this leech?

She tried pinching the back of Leophris’s hand with the tip of her left fingernail, but he was strong. He didn’t even flinch an eyelash.

And she definitely didn’t want to resort to biting his hand.

“This won’t do. Sir Leophris.”

As Adelina continued to shake her hand, another large hand covered theirs.

“Sir Jaeyon. This is not your place to intervene.”

Leophris reluctantly let go of Adelina’s hand when Jaeyon appeared.

“Ah. I had a prior engagement with Miss Adelina.”

Jaeyon frowned at Adelina’s hand. Leophris had held it so tightly that the blue veins were still prominent on the back of her hand.

“What is this prior engagement, Miss?”

Leophris asked Adelina in a pressing manner.

“We were going to draw a portrait. He gave me a very beautiful dress for my coming-of-age ceremony.”

Adelina linked her arm with Jaeyon’s and looked at Leophris.

‘Get lost! Even without Lexion, it’s not you!’

As Adelina rested her head against Jaeyon’s arm, the mask-like smile on Leophris’s face shattered.

+++

Adelina’s daily schedule was packed.

At eleven in the morning, she went to the riding ground with Leophris.

“Oh my. Isn’t that Sir Leophris and Miss Adelina over there?”

“Yes, seeing the two of them together like that, they really suit each other.”

She started her day listening to such nonsensical comments.

“Miss. As someone who will become a Duchess, what kind of posture is that?”

She spent two hours being nitpicked by the Empress.

“Miss. Your face looks quite worn after just one day. If you keep looking uglier every day, it will be hard to paint a portrait.”

From four in the afternoon, Jaeyon and Hailyn sat in her bedroom painting her portrait.

“Please rest. I can paint the portrait alone.”

After the maids, who seemed to be monitoring, brought various teas and snacks to the painting Jaeyon, they went out, and Jaeyon placed cushions on the sofa.

“There are a lot of strange rumors going around lately, aren’t there?”

Adelina, who couldn’t step a foot outside the palace, plopped down on the sofa with a frustrated sigh. Even then, the maids kept coming and going, making her mind feel scattered.

“There are rumors about frequent meetings between you and Sir Leophris.”

At Jaeyon’s words, Adelina furrowed her brow in thought.

“Sir Jaeyon. Could you teach me some swordsmanship or self-defense?”