“The princess absolutely, absolutely, absolutely insisted that we must not inform Your Grace that she had collapsed.”

“Why?”

“She said she didn’t want to let Your Grace know. She didn’t want to bother a busy person.”

“Is that what the head maid said?”

Bane shook his head at Genoa’s question.

“The princess’s maid, Céline, said the same thing, so it must be true that the princess said it.”

“Is that so? Well, that makes me want to pretend I know.”

He looked at Bane with quite an interested expression.

“Indeed. Isn’t it suspicious that she insists on keeping it a secret? It could actually be the princess’s plan to divert attention and investigate the inside of the mansion while pretending to be sick.”

Bane nodded, saying it couldn’t hurt to be cautious.

“I’ll go and take a look myself.”

Genoa took a final sweep of the entire hall where the memorial service was in full swing. According to plan, he was going to call the two princes separately after this event was over, but it didn’t seem bad to make them wait a little.

“Never mind. I’ll go.”

“You’re going yourself, Your Grace? That’s……”

“Tell the First Prince that I’ll invite him to the Ivanstein mansion later.”

“……Yes.”

What kind of face would Bane, who remained at the scene since not all members of the Ivanstein ducal family could leave, make if he saw the princess’s current state?

Genoa thought he’d like to show Bane the princess’s appearance right now. Unlike Bane’s suspicions, if he saw the princess with a face flushed with fever, he might get to see that stoic face contort for the first time in a while.

“It’s only natural for me, as the host, to be concerned when an honored guest of the mansion is unwell.”

“You’re lying……”

Mel shook her head in disbelief. Despite her cheeks being flushed red as if about to burst from the high fever, her eyes were full of wariness, seemingly demanding to know his ulterior motives.

“Why did you come?”

To her question, Genoa sat on the edge of Mel’s bed and answered in a casual voice.

“Because I’m sleepy?”

As I thought. Mel finally relaxed the wariness in her eyes. At that, the corners of Genoa’s mouth relaxed a bit more.

“Then you should just sleep.”

“Don’t you know I can’t sleep unless I’m by your side, Princess?”

If one of the ladies who had been gazing at Genoa with longing eyes throughout the Emperor’s memorial service had heard this, she probably would have fainted on the spot. Or perhaps her face would have looked even more likely to burst than Mel’s, which was now red with fever.

But Mel was not in her right mind due to the fever, and she knew Genoa’s cruel nature too well to naively accept such words from him. Genoa had a personality that enjoyed teasing in such a mean-spirited way.

“Even if you say that, I won’t give you my bed.”

“……!”

Genoa’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped open at the unexpected response.

“If I sleep on the floor again this time, my fever won’t go down.”

For a moment, Genoa was at a loss for words in response to Mel’s wary statement. The feeling of being speechless was something that he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

“I never asked for the bed…… No, if I had asked for the bed this time, were you planning to sleep on the floor again?”

“Then where will you sleep?”

Genoa fell silent at Mel’s gaze, which seemed to ask where else he could sleep if not the bed or the floor.

How had the princess been raised in Reibritton? Should he have known from the moment the King chose to abandon the princess, locking her in the palace?

“Couldn’t you just ask for another room to be prepared? Surely you don’t think Ivanstein lacks rooms for the princess to stay in?”

“I like my room.”

Mel shook her head, gripping the blanket tightly. The firm resolve not to back down even a single step was evident in her expression as she tried to maintain a stern gaze. Seeing this, Genoa finally laughed with a deflating sound.

“The princess is truly a strange person.”

“And the Duke of Ivanstein is a cold-hearted person.”

“Haha.”

Mel didn’t yield even a single word.

“So, how are you feeling, Princess?”

“Thank you for finally asking. Thanks to your belated concern, I’m feeling much better.”

Genoa’s eyes narrowed for a moment at Mel’s response, which sounded like unnecessary complaining.

The sick princess with a fever seemed to have let down her guard against him quite a bit. Of course, this didn’t mean her wariness about losing her bed. That remained unchanged.

“I didn’t think the princess would appreciate my concern. I’m glad.”

“……Yes.”

The princess responded slowly with a face that didn’t look grateful at all. It was all too clear that she didn’t believe most of what he said. So Genoa spoke in a slightly more cheerful mood than before.

“I’m truly glad you’re feeling better. It would be troublesome if you were sick at this time.”

“That means the memorial service is coming to an end soon, doesn’t it?”

Genoa nodded slightly. At the same time, a hot sigh escaped between Mel’s lips.

“The time has truly come for me to exist as a princess.”

“You are a princess even now.”

“You know well that’s not what I mean.”

It was no easy task for a princess of a defeated country to establish her authority proudly before the nobles of the empire. It wasn’t just because Mel was a fake princess.

From the start, there was a difference in national status between the Kingdom of Reibritton and the Raon Empire. Even the King was wary of the high nobles of the Raon Empire. That’s how great the empire’s prestige was. So even if the real princess Amelia had been here, it wouldn’t have been easy.

“Are you nervous?”

“……To be honest, yes.”

“Just remember that Ivanstein’s protection is behind you, Princess. So don’t worry about others and focus on the princes.”

Genoa gently comforted her, who seemed to have many worries. But Mel was more afraid of Genoa’s uncharacteristically soft voice.

“Why are you being so kind?”

“Because there’s no need to be sharp right now.”

It sounded like he meant he could be sharp if necessary. Mel wondered if she was just thinking negatively, but Genoa, as the Duke of Ivanstein, was quite capable of that.

She shouldn’t let her guard down to that kindness. After all, her lifeline was still precariously tightened and loosened in Genoa’s grasp.

“Because the princess is my precious chess piece.”

“You say I’m merely a tool so affectionately.”

Genoa shrugged at Mel’s words. Then he asserted in his still gentle voice.

“A precious chess piece, that is.”

“……”

She hadn’t expected anything to begin with, but truly, Genoa had a terribly bad personality. If Amelia had been here, she would have fallen completely for Genoa’s soft voice and seemingly affectionate attitude.

Genoa Ivanstein was a man who would lose interest in the other person when they lost their senses, unaware that they were being used. What he wanted was a princess who could see the situation coldly and move according to his taste.

“It doesn’t matter. I need chess pieces to survive too.”

“……Is that me?”

“Of course.”

Mel smiled with a soft voice, just as Genoa had done to her, and blinked slowly. As the fever reducer started to take effect, drowsiness began to set in.

“I just need to survive.”

“……”

At the sleepy voice, suddenly, the voice of a young child flashed through Genoa’s mind.

“It doesn’t matter. I just need to survive here with my mother.”

Was it because the princess’s face resembled that child too much? The old memory he had forgotten for a moment now rushed over him like a wave.

Genoa looked at the princess closing her eyes and mumbling her lips, and spoke in a low, subtle voice.

“In the end, the one who survives,”

The princess looked at Genoa with her eyes half-open. Her slightly blurred green eyes disappeared, unable to overcome the oncoming drowsiness. Then, in a small voice, as if murmuring hazily, she continued.

“Is the winner……”

“……”

With those final words, the princess fell completely asleep, not even moving. Genoa stared at her peacefully sleeping form with a coldly hardened face.

Was it a coincidence that the princess and that child said the same thing?

“So, young master, please survive and win everything. You must.”

As the young voice echoed in Genoa’s mind, his hand slowly moved towards the princess. His large palm easily grasped the princess’s slender neck.

“You could have lived comfortably as a princess……”