“If I had done that, Kyle and I would already have fallen out over succession, wouldn’t we?”

Laska replied lightly.

“You’re not interested in the throne anyway, are you?”

“People don’t care about my interests. What they care about is how they can use me.”

This time, Count Regan had no reply. Laska gave him a crooked smile and tilted his head from side to side as he stretched his neck.

“I just want to get back to Terminus quickly.”

His muttered words were tinged with sincerity. Laska’s plan was to resolve matters swiftly in Dakitenn and return to the capital.

To the one dearest to him.

“Ah, yes, Your Highness. I’ve heard a new faction is rising in the Empire.”

“A new faction?”

Laska arched his brow in puzzlement.

Count Regan watched him and asked,

“Have you heard of the Beggar Prince?”

⭕ ⭕ ⭕

“Mommy! Mommy!”

At the sound of hurried footsteps, Selaia quickly folded the letter and tucked it away before lifting her head. From beyond the parlor door, a little girl came bursting in.

“Have you heard the story of the Beggar Prince?”

The child’s face was flushed red from running, and one of the neatly braided pigtails had come loose and dangled at her shoulder.

“Goodness, your hair’s a mess.”

“Come here.”

With a knowing little smile, Selaia beckoned, and the girl stepped into the parlor.

“Dieff has organized an enlightenment society.”

Rote said, thrusting the newspaper she held toward her.

Selaia had already read it earlier that morning.

[The young lord Dieff Brett, known as the “Beggar Prince,” has raised his voice against the Emperor’s tyranny. At present, the Emperor suppresses and silences the Darel canal workers demanding fair compensation for their labor, instigating military conflict with Teian through twisted logic. While it is the Empire’s people who suffer, the Emperor and the imperial house continue their exploitation without concern.]

“‘The Beggar Prince’ is calling attention to this injustice, distributing food to the poor alongside the enlightenment society Sapere Aude, and urging them to raise their voices against the imperial house….”

As Rote read the article aloud in a clear, steady voice, her bright green eyes widened.

“Maximilian must have helped him, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps.”

Selaia answered vaguely as she untied the child’s disheveled hair ribbon. Even as she worked, the girl’s chatter went on.

“I heard the words Sapere Aude from Maximilian once. Do you know what they mean?”

The fingers combing through the girl’s hair slowed slightly. After a brief silence, Selaia’s lips parted.

“…‘Dare to know.’”

“It’s a relief, then, that both Dieff and Maximilian seem to be doing well.”

Selaia finished binding one side of the girl’s hair and began to braid it with careful precision. Rote rolled her green eyes upward to watch her.

‘I thought it was good news. Why doesn’t she look happy?’

“There. All done.”

Selaia smiled as she tied the braid on the other side. Rote shook her head slightly from side to side. Understanding this meant she was pleased, Selaia gently patted the child’s cheek before speaking again.

“Rote, I have to go out to a tea party soon. The maid will bring you a snack, and I’ll see you again at dinner, all right?”

“Yes.”

The girl nodded.

A few days ago, Selaia had received her first tea party invitation. It was a request, with royal approval, to attend a gathering at the palace.

‘Once people sit and talk with Mommy, they’ll surely come to like her more and more.’

Rote was quietly, but firmly, convinced of it.

Since coming to Teian, everything had seemed to turn for the better.

“…….”

Yet as Selaia looked at the child who could not conceal her excitement, her own expression grew complicated.

‘Is it really all right, like this?’

The unease never left her. Like the taut surface of glass just before it shatters, their quiet days brimmed with a tension she could neither name nor dispel.

‘Hendrick is no different from a ticking time bomb. The more he is provoked, the closer he comes to exploding…’

And if, under the weight pressing in from all sides, he finally burst—no one could say what calamity might follow. That was what Selaia feared most.

“Mommy.”

“Yes, Rote.”

Looking into those round eyes, Selaia suddenly thought of Carsteen.

“Your Highness. You will protect this child… won’t you?”

“Of course. Everything will be all right.”

Selaia lied.

The child smiled in relief, and that was enough.

Her unease could not be explained in words. Nor could she reveal it to anyone.

Within the palace walls, where there was no one to whom she could bare her heart, she swallowed her fears in silence.

And before long, those fears became reality.

Unable to contain the turmoil within his own empire, Hendrick formally declared war on Teian.

King Cleos appointed Laska, already at the border, as commander-in-chief and placed him in charge of the front lines.

It was the beginning of the Teian–Tropez War.

⭕ ⭕ ⭕

The Teians advanced with overwhelming momentum, securing victory after victory against the Tropezians. One by one, the border provinces fell into Teian hands.

Rumors spread that the Teians were protecting civilians in the occupied territories, and subjects weary of their lords’ tyranny sometimes opened the gates themselves.

Nevertheless, pessimism remained rife in Terminus, the Teian capital.

“Cough, cough…!”

“Your Majesty, are you all right?”

Keron, the chief chamberlain of the royal palace, hurried to check on King Cleos. The king’s pale face was contorted by coughing fits, and soon crimson spots of blood seeped into the white handkerchief he was holding.

“Bring a damp cloth and stoke the fire hotter!”

Even in midsummer, the king shivered with chills. Keron, drenched in sweat, barked orders to raise the room’s temperature. Maids and servants bustled about to carry out his command.

“……”

Kyle watched from the doorway, quietly pulling the door shut behind him. He was frightened to see his father looking so frail. His father had never wanted him to see him like this.

As Kyle walked down the palace corridor, he winced slightly with every step. His knees throbbed with every step. The physician had said it was just growing pains. But growth was natural, so why did it have to be painful?

“Eugene must be spending just as dull a time as I am…”

He muttered to himself as he thought of his friend, who often traveled to visit his father outside the capital. Although summer was coming to an end, it was still oppressively hot outside the palace.

After walking some distance, Kyle turned a corner and saw a gathering ahead.

Under a canopy, a group of people were sitting around an outdoor table as though at a tea party, engaged in pleasant conversation.

With no queen to preside over the inner palace, the management of court affairs had fallen entirely to Keron. He often held tea gatherings within the palace, delegating the detailed preparations and invitations to a chosen host. The king permitted these displays of royal dignity.

‘If they see me, they’ll all rush to greet me with forced cheer.’

The boy sighed in annoyance and started to slip behind a wall, but then a familiar face caught his eye and made him stop.

“…Lady Tran?”

Kyle narrowed his eyes as he muttered something under his breath. In the far corner of the table, Selaia sat primly, her cheeks faintly flushed. An irritable scowl pulled at his lips at once.

‘They invited a hostage from the enemy nation to a tea party?’

Tropez was now Teian’s open enemy. Meanwhile, King Cleos, who had supported Selaia and Esperote, was confined to bed while the prince was away commanding the troops on the front line. Their position within the palace could only become more precarious.

‘And yet, to see her mingling in society… Did my uncle arrange this before leaving?’

The realization that his uncle had gone so far as to secure her place even now made Kyle’s insides twist with resentment.

‘Should I go warn her?’

Already, words he longed to hurl at her were forming unbidden in his mind.

‘Don’t let your guard down. You never know when they’ll send you back to the Empire. Be grateful for what you enjoy here and keep your head down.’

“…?”

But while imagining such cruel words, the boy noticed something strange.

‘…There’s no teacup in front of Lady Tran.’

It appeared that the tea party had been in progress for some time. Even under the canopy, the stifling heat could not be completely shut out. Guests cooled themselves with chilled tea, poured cold to counteract the oppressive warmth.

Yet nothing had been set out for Selaia. The faint flush on her pale face was not from merriment, but from the heat pressing in on all sides.

“……”

Kyle lingered, watching, and soon noticed something else.

Among all those seated at the table, not one person spoke to Selaia.