Chapter 3 – Ladies Alighting from the Carriage (4)

“But the Day of Light is a weekday… aren’t you going to the academy?”

Ryan asked cautiously, and Chloe was momentarily taken aback, freezing slightly.

“Puhaha!”

Mirabelle burst into laughter. It was the most genuine laugh she’d given all day while accompanying Chloe.

* * *

The day after taking the first step in her ‘business,’ Chloe was lounging in her room after a long-overdue self-defense class with Baroness Noisette.

She had been successfully avoiding it, but today, of all days, she was caught relaxing at home because Demetrian was coming over.

Perhaps because of the threat to her life when she was taken hostage, the lesson focused on dealing with attackers from behind and striking pressure points to incapacitate an opponent when captured.

‘Remember, a lady’s self-defense is originally specialized for long-range!’

Still, it felt good to sweat it out, take a bath with aromatic oils, and roll around on the fluffy bed.

‘Home, where I don’t have to keep up appearances, is the best.’

Chloe smiled happily. In the morning, she could laze around reading a book, and in the afternoon, Demetrian was supposed to visit…

When the servants of Lacroix heard that Young Duke Crevelle was visiting after a long time, they were busy hiding their surprise when he entered through the front door. He had appeared in a neat suit instead of the academy uniform he had worn for the past few years.

The effect of the suit was remarkable. The servants of Lacroix, who had known him since childhood, were newly impressed by his appearance. The black uniform with its high collar had its own charm, but the navy jacket over a dress shirt and a subtly patterned vest gave the impression of an elegant gentleman.

Moreover, he was carrying a large bouquet in his arms.

“Oh my, Demetrian, what’s with the flowers?”

“I brought some since Mother was tidying up the greenhouse.”

Answering Countess Palatine, Demetrian wanted to bite his tongue. In truth, he was someone who found it physiologically difficult to express emotions in words…

He had intended to bring some flowers Chloe liked from his mother’s greenhouse, but he almost turned the flowerbed into a harvested wheat field, so he ended up going to a flower shop in town, spending money without knowing the price.

Demetrian realized today for the first time that he had a talent for undervaluing his own efforts.

“You’re here?”

“Yes, good afternoon.”

Chloe peeked out from behind Countess Palatine, and Demetrian handed her the bouquet with a faint smile. Even in Demetrian’s arms, it was a large bouquet, and in Chloe’s arms, it was more like a heap of flowers than a bouquet.

It contained orange anemones and freesias, symbols of Crevelle’s spring greenhouse, mixed with various other flowers.

This bouquet, as if encapsulating Crevelle’s greenhouse, was truly lovely… but another flower gift.

‘Even though the festival week is over, he’s still like this.’

He was still unfamiliar, acting as if he were offering something that hadn’t been part of their friendship.

Swallowing her curiosity, Chloe buried her face in the bouquet.

‘Did Crevelle’s greenhouse always have flowers like these…?’

In the small reception room on the second floor of Lacroix’s townhouse, Chloe and Demetrian sat comfortably on the sofa with a modest tea table between them.

Even though Demetrian’s visit was after a long time, Lacroix’s servants remembered that during their private book club, they were often too busy talking to touch the refreshments, so they set the tea table with foods that were fine even if they cooled.

“Wouldn’t that have been the best for Angela at that time? The difference in royal authority was felt there. I’m tormented over the position of the national letter, but Franz even has an illegitimate child…”

Chloe trailed off, turning her gaze to Demetrian.

‘Demetrian used to interrupt around this point.’

But he just sat there, leaning an arm on the sofa back, resting his chin, and quietly watching Chloe.

The smile on his lips was different from the ‘I’ll watch how far you go, so keep talking’ nuance she knew, and Chloe felt a sense of astonishment.

“Are you listening?”

“Of course.”

Demetrian nodded, as if encouraging her to continue. However, since Demetrian used to interrupt around this point, Chloe couldn’t think of anything else to say.

She hadn’t had time to revisit the books she borrowed from the Crown Prince’s palace recently, so she was just repeating what she’d said before. As a result, the book she was about to return had its bookmark awkwardly stuck in the middle.

“…I forgot.”

“You should defend Angela more.”

He spoke as if he knew something. Chloe shot him a sidelong glance, feeling annoyed for no reason.

‘From Kingdom to Empire—Witnessing a Historical Transition.’ That book, Demetrian’s political science textbook from the Imperial Academy, dealt with the pre-coronation unification of Arthuzen and Campo. The content of the book was still debated among scholars even a thousand years later, and Chloe had to engage in a fierce debate with Demetrian over it.

The last king of Campo, Angela, who ascended the throne at the young age of twelve, sought to unify the two countries through a political marriage with the royal family of Arthuzen when the nation’s fortunes declined due to corrupt officials, despite the territory being blessed by Erd. It was a decision made because there seemed to be no hope of reviving the nation’s fortunes while being harassed by external relatives and nobles, but scholars had divided opinions about it, separate from the pride in the unified empire.

‘Are you saying I have to endure it because I don’t have the power to overthrow the nobles in my current state? You’re not saying I should have empowered incompetent relatives, are you?’

‘Anyway, as a monarch, it was irresponsible. You can’t say it was right as a monarch to make a decision that didn’t have consensus within the kingdom.’

‘Then is letting the predicted misfortune happen taking responsibility?’

‘Preventing the predicted misfortune is taking responsibility.’

‘How do you prevent that without changing the situation? She pursued practical benefits, really a path for the people, even at the cost of giving up her vested interests, isn’t that more responsible? What you said is a cowardly act of settling for reality under the pretext of responsibility.’

‘You just said it yourself, gave up. She abandoned Campo as a kingdom, so how is that responsibility? There was pride in being a blessed people of Campo, but they suddenly became subjects of another country.’

‘But it’s a grand duchy that recognizes autonomy, isn’t it? The Holy Kingdom is still in Campo. What else does Arthuzen want from Campo? Just hand over the Holy Grail? Isn’t it better to marry and take it?’

‘Politics is about solving that. It was ultimately a lazy method. Thanks to that, only the cumbersome tradition of political marriages remained in the empire.’

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility. Chloe was so frustrated with Demetrian, who parroted ‘irresponsible’ no matter what she said, that she almost punched the innocent sofa.

‘A person who considers such traditional political marriage as their destiny.’

The debate had been so heated that even Pujali Nous, who was about to leave work, had stopped by to check on them.

And… today’s Demetrian only added interjections like ‘Yes, I see,’ ‘Makes sense,’ no matter what she said.

“Has it been so long since you studied that you don’t remember? Why aren’t you saying anything, making it boring?”

“That’s not it.”

Demetrian’s lips curled into a gentle smile. Indeed, it wasn’t the smirk of ‘I’ll watch how far you go, so keep talking.’ It was more like…

“Just, it seems like you’re right about everything.”

‘Kind, in a way.’

Again, Demetrian’s uncharacteristic demeanor… Chloe recalled that one of the fantasy romance themes in the book she borrowed from the Prince’s palace was ‘parallel universes.’

‘Is this not just five years ago, but a different parallel universe where only Demetrian has changed?’

Chloe, exuding an unpleasant aura, didn’t notice the complex emotions flickering across Demetrian’s face as she sipped her tea.

He had regretted those times when he clung to ‘responsibility’ as if it were a magical word.

‘Loi was right about everything. Clinging to something you can’t really take responsibility for is a cowardly act. To prevent predicted misfortune… all the more so.’

Demetrian looked at Chloe with a gentle smile. Though there wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in that smile, it wasn’t purely joyful either.

But Demetrian was trying hard not to show any of it.

Chloe had no idea that Demetrian had recently started taking an interest in ‘taking care of emotions.’ It was still difficult for him, but it seemed like he had found a new enjoyment when meeting Chloe.

Unlike back then, when he only calculated logic for the ‘right conversation,’ watching her gestures when she spoke passionately, her lips moving, her eyebrows constantly rising and falling…

Realizing his lips were about to relax involuntarily, Demetrian cleared his throat and composed his expression.

“Oh, but why did you borrow those kinds of books?”

“Those kinds of books?”

“‘The Fantastic Journey of Cronanberg Blanc’, ‘The Spiritual Legacy Left by Ancient Grolsch,’ things like that.”

“Oh.”

Chloe finally remembered that when she went to the imperial palace last week, Demetrian had helped carry the books she and Mirabelle were holding.

‘Even though his expression wasn’t good, he noticed those titles.’

Rather than being interested… Chloe was unsure how to respond and was just shifting her eyes when Demetrian asked.

“Did your interests suddenly change?”