Chapter 29

The ducal residence of the House of Graize was the largest after the Imperial Palace. It was even spacious enough to contain a wide garden and a small lake within the grounds, so it was also a place frequently mentioned at tea parties.

To the point that, after becoming the Duchess, the question Kina had received most often was when she would hold a ball and a tea party.

Kina decided to walk along the edge of the lake. Since if she kept going like this she would return to where she started, it seemed not a bad choice for a walking course good for exercise. Along the lake, she could see neatly arranged garden trees, and birds touching the water to cool themselves before flying away again. Among that scenery, flowers of various colors were sparsely set here and there as well.

“How pretty.”

Clear water, beautifully colored flowers, and the small movements of living things blended together in harmony.

She thought she now understood why people, even while sneering, had been genuinely curious whenever they asked about the mansion.

How long had she been standing there, taking in that beautiful view?

“There is a small boat that can be ridden directly on the lake.”

At some point, Raon had come over. Unlike Kina, he was not startled at all, almost as if he had come out already knowing she would be there.

And just as Kina guessed, Raon really had come out following her.

He had noticed her from the office within the ducal residence. Kina, visible through the window, was walking slowly while looking around as though she were seeing the ducal residence’s garden for the first time.

“……Perhaps it really is your first time.”

Considering the questions she had asked yesterday, it was entirely possible. For a moment he considered calling Gerard and having him explain the ducal residence to her properly. But her steps looked lighter than ever before, as though Kina wanted a moment of peace, so he decided against it.

Even after making that decision, Raon did not take his eyes off Kina. Including what had happened in the library before, this was the second time he had seen what she was like living within the ducal residence.

‘

If perhaps you dislike being disturbed, then please set a time.’

That remark stayed on his mind the whole time. Then, when Kina, who had been walking around the lake, stopped and quietly looked at the water, his feet naturally turned toward her.

“This way.”

Not far off, just as Raon had said, there was a small boat. Standing by the boat resting at one side of the lake, Raon familiarly drew it closer and held out his hand toward Kina. With the sunlight sparkling on the lake behind him, Raon holding out his hand looked just like something she had once imagined. Drawn to that sight as though under a spell, Kina unconsciously reached out her hand.

Only after he had waited for her to settle into place and then taken his own seat did the boat finally begin to move. Strangely enough, even though he did not row, the boat moved smoothly. Almost as though it understood words.

“It only happens here.”

Raon explained to Kina, who could not take her astonished eyes off the boat.

“Only the garden here still has working magic. The clear water and the garden as well.”

As though only time in this place had been caught in eternal magic.

「All things possess magical power. All things are connected. Everything remains in its place, but how it is used depends on the discretion of the user.」

Raon recalled a line from a book he had only barely managed to find. It was a valuable clue concerning magic, but it was a very unfriendly and abstract line. It was of no help in suppressing the rebels, but it did seem to serve as a fundamental explanation for why the magic within the ducal residence remained unchanged.

The boat slowly moved toward the shade beneath a tree. There, the flowers she had been looking at were blooming beautifully in full. The scene of flowers, each with its own color, seeming to rest gently upon the water was lovely. Above them, the fresh green tree stood like a frame containing the blue sky.

“It’s beautiful.”

Judging by her slightly parted lips and the way her eyes could not leave the surroundings, it seemed to be a feeling that had naturally slipped out like a murmur. Raon liked the sight of her.

Raon wanted Kina to enjoy the things he could give her as naturally as she was doing now. Everything outwardly belonging to her, including this view that not just anyone could see. So much so that he himself, who had never once shown off this beautiful scenery to anyone, had personally stepped forward to show it to her.

Even if this feeling had begun somewhere between his guilt and his remorse, that did not erase the rights Kina naturally gained through this marriage. It was for that reason too that he himself, who had never once boasted of the beautiful scenery of the ducal residence to anyone, had personally stepped forward.

“In spring, even more flowers bloom, so it becomes prettier.”

Since spring had passed and Kina had only become the Duchess after that, it was a sight she would likely only be able to see next year. Somehow, he felt that even then she would wear that same surprised expression.

“Will I be able to see it?”

“When spring comes, you will be able to.”

The amount of time she could remain here was not something he could decide by his own will. So she had not said that expecting an answer from him, yet she was a little happy when he answered so readily that he would show it to her.

“It sounds like it would be beautiful.”

If she truly got to see it.

Thinking of the words she could not add, Kina filled her eyes with the scenery before her.

* * *

“Was the Imperial Palace so short-handed that you, the Crown Princess, had to be handling clothes for the victory banquet?”

Chris, having come to the Crown Princess’s palace, crossed his arms as he looked at Bersha.

“You came?”

Even at Chris’s visit, she greeted him absentmindedly, focused on her sewing.

“Isn’t that a uniform for the victory banquet?”

For the victory banquet that would be held this time, it had been decided that the Imperial Palace itself would send clothes for the Knights who had fought for the Estin Empire. They were to be sent with the medals awarded by the Imperial Family attached. What Bersha held in her hands had not yet even properly taken shape.

“It’s obviously Raon’s.”

Whenever she was deeply absorbed in something, it was always connected to Raon. The handkerchief had been, and now the uniform she was embroidering was.

Bersha only half listened to him and remained intent on her sewing. It seemed her passion applied only to Raon. Chris liked that side of Bersha and held that devotion in high regard.

“That fool doesn’t even come to see you while he’s on leave. What is so lovable about him that you do all this?”

In contrast, he disliked Raon’s lukewarm response.

“Raon needs to rest too.”

Bersha responded as though it were no great matter. Thinking back on the Raon she had seen at the wedding, there was no way the fatigue of war would leave him easily.

“Chris. Is there an unused palace somewhere?”

She asked while still deeply engrossed in her sewing.

“One where people won’t notice, where there are no servants, and where someone could stay for a looong time, that sort of old palace.”

She did not even forget to add, ‘Isn’t there at least one palace like the kind abandoned imperial concubines used to stay in?’

At the shameless question, an incredulous laugh escaped Chris.

“You know better than anyone that in the Estin Empire, unless it is absolutely unavoidable, neither a concubine nor an Imperial consort is ever brought into the Palace.”

Except in cases where there was a problem with succession, such things could be counted on one hand. From the beginning, Imperial law had been made amid the interests of the Emperor and the nobles, so there had never been an Emperor in history who tried to break that.

“Why are you suddenly asking about a palace?”

He asked Bersha, who seemed disappointed and turned her attention back to her sewing.

“If I call Raon there, then we could rest together without worrying about people noticing.”

Since it would be rest they were sharing together, it did not seem Raon would dislike it either. Though she spoke playfully, Chris knew how much she wanted to be with him, so this time he did not add anything.

If Raon knew Bersha like this, he would not be able to remain so cold.

The moment he thought that, irritation toward him rose again.

“That Lady Sennet.”

At the end of his thoughts about irritating Raon, the one who came to mind together with him was Kina. The one he had encountered the day Raon returned to the capital.