“You may not realize it, Your Highness, but those like me who have businesses to attend to don’t engage in meetings without purpose.”

“Treating me like an idler.”

Leopold chuckled and said,

“More importantly, drop the stiff formality. I’m facing you as a friend, not as royalty.”

“I find this way more comfortable.”

“Put aside that useless stubbornness of yours.”

“Please say what you came to say. This is time I’ve deliberately cleared for you, Your Highness.”

Facing Jürgen, who showed no signs of yielding, Leopold shrugged as if he had no choice.

“Sometimes I wonder which of us is actually the prince.”

Around that time, an attendant approached to replace their teapot with a fresh one. Leopold filled his own teacup and casually asked,

“I suppose asking if you’ve gotten used to company affairs would be a foolish question?”

Jürgen didn’t answer. Though it had been only a few weeks since the late Duke passed away, Jürgen had been effectively acting as the head of the family even before his father’s death.

Inheriting the title of Duke was merely a ceremonial procedure. Jürgen had already been leading the Klaus ducal house for half a year.

“How did it feel returning to the main house after so long?”

“I didn’t have any particular feelings about it.”

“But it’s the mansion you’ve lived in since birth, surely you must have felt something?”

“I never developed enough attachment to feel anything like that.”

“So you literally felt nothing?”

“Yes. Just nothing.”

Leopold studied him like he’s trying to determine whether he was lying, then quickly lost interest and casually changed the subject.

“No matter what topic I bring up, you only give unsatisfying answers.”

“I apologize if that displeases you.”

“You don’t look sorry at all.”

“Then I apologize for that as well.”

“The entire way here, I was thinking about what conversation topics might interest Duke Klaus. By now you must have noticed that I want to get along well with you, Jürgen.”

Jürgen answered only by silently tilting his teacup. No matter who Leopold was, he wasn’t dull enough to miss what Jürgen was trying to convey.

I’m not interested.

So go home.

“Few men can treat royalty as indifferently as you do. It’s absurd that I’m the one making all the effort.”

“Then you could simply stop, couldn’t you?”

“But how could I? Becoming distant from the Duke who has a tight grip on this country’s military industry would only cause me trouble. You seem to forget that I’ll soon ascend to the throne.”

Even so, isn’t it just an empty throne with most of the power taken by parliament and the cabinet? Jürgen exercised maximum patience to swallow those words.

“Once I inherit the throne, I’ll have no choice but to become a stereotypical old man like my father. A royal authority that can’t be maintained without visiting commoners’ homes to curry favor—there’s a limit to being born in the wrong era.”

“So you wanted to meet me just to complain about your circumstances?”

“Would that be so wrong? I don’t have many people with whom I can freely share my true feelings.”

Leopold was speaking as if Jürgen were some great friend of his. But Jürgen knew better. He had never been Leopold’s friend for even a moment, and he was a man who could never become his friend in the first place.

Nevertheless, Leopold regularly sought meetings with Jürgen. The reason he laughed off Jürgen’s blatantly disrespectful attitude wasn’t because he was a kind-hearted, magnanimous person.

Making Jürgen tired was Leopold’s favorite hobby. Despite knowing this, Jürgen silently went along with it.

Because he knew well that provoking the prince’s competitive spirit would bring nothing good.

“So I recently decided. I should enjoy my remaining time as a prince to the fullest.”

“I see.”

“I’ll travel a bit, enjoy sports to my heart’s content. If that’s not enough, I might throw parties or date women. Unofficially, of course.”

“Please keep such plans to yourself, Your Highness.”

“And though it might be difficult…… I might even take a mistress.”

At that moment, Jürgen’s lips hardened. Though he knew intellectually that he needed to maintain his composure, his body reacted faster. In the suddenly tense atmosphere, it was Leopold who smiled.

He knew well that Jürgen would react sensitively to the word “mistress.” He had no intention of pretending it was a slip of the tongue. What would be the point when Jürgen already knew everything?

Whether Jürgen’s expression hardened or not, Leopold asked casually as if nothing could go wrong:

“What was the name of your father’s last mistress, Jürgen?”

“I don’t see any reason to give you a roundabout answer.”

“There’s no real need. Actually, I remembered already.”

Jürgen hoped the prince wouldn’t mention her name directly. Of course, as always, Leopold never granted what Jürgen wanted.

“Diez Schleicher. That was her name, right?”

“……”

“She was once a woman everyone envied and desired. Even I was briefly captivated. Few women could match Miss Schleicher in beauty. Or perhaps I should use past tense now.”

“I’m not interested.”

“You must have faced her at least once when you returned to the main mansion.”

“She’s a woman who no longer has anything to do with me.”

“Is that so?”

Hmm. Leopold’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Leaving his father’s mistress in the same mansion, yet claiming she’s a woman who has nothing to do with him.

It was quite contradictory, but what position Jürgen took regarding that woman was beyond his interest.

What he knew for certain was that Jürgen thoroughly despised his father, and that he had spent his entire life consciously trying to become a different man from him.

The origin of all that hatred and self-censorship was the late Duke’s womanizing, and Diez Schleicher, who had been a mistress for five years, was surely the most troublesome burden Jürgen had inherited.

I think I could properly torment him with this.

The moment he thought he could make good use of that woman, Leopold comfortably leaned back in the plush chair.

Just as he opened his mouth to add something more, Jürgen cut him off with a hardened voice.

“I can handle family matters myself. It’s not an issue important enough for Your Highness to concern yourself with, so please forget about it. It was a pathetic and foolish mistake. It would be better for you as well not to get involved, Your Highness.”

“Jürgen, I hate to use this expression, but are you actually warning me right now?”

“I’m glad you finally understood my meaning for once.”

Enough of playing along with this pathetic game. Without any lingering attachment, Jürgen put down his teacup, rose from his seat, and gave a slight bow as he straightened his collar.

“Then I’ll be taking my leave now. I’m not in a position to sit around idly for hours. I hope Your Highness enjoys yourself sufficiently before your time comes. Though in my eyes, you already seem to be enjoying yourself quite enough.”

Leopold watched the resolutely retreating figure, took a sip of his increasingly cold tea, and smiled with furrowed brows.

Sufficiently, he says.

“He doesn’t understand me at all.”

He hadn’t enjoyed himself sufficiently yet.

At least, his schemes to play with Jürgen and Diez Schleicher, who was clearly Jürgen’s sore spot, were only just beginning.

Several servants came out to greet Jürgen, who returned home with a face worn from fatigue. Needless to say, Diez was not among them.

“Welcome home, Duke.”

Normally, Jürgen would simply nod and head straight for the mansion. But what made the servants, who were about to follow the Duke as usual, pause was what Jürgen said next.

“Where is Miss Schleicher?”

“……Pardon?”

To make Duke Klaus repeat the same question twice—at any other time, this would have been more than enough to cause alarm, but Jürgen seemed to have momentarily forgotten even the fact that the servant had offended him.

“I asked where Miss Schleicher is.”

To the servant’s eyes, he looked, well…

Somehow anxious.

Strangely so.

* * *

After the maids who had touched Diez’s purse were dismissed, life in the mansion became much smoother. The only change was that the servants had begun to be wary of her, but that was by no means a trivial change.

Now, Diez was no longer the one who had to keep her head down, and as the servants demonstrated this fact themselves, Diez too could quickly adapt to her new life.

The maids, who had become noticeably more polite as if they had never disrespected her, had been looking for Diez since that morning. What they brought was an elegant beech wood box containing embroidery tools.

“The Duke instructed us to deliver this to you, Miss Schleicher.”

Taking the box, Diez checked its contents herself. Threads of various colors, as good as or even better than what she had used when she was called a young lady, brilliantly adorned her sight.

‘I didn’t expect him to give me something this nice.’

Of course, she wasn’t complaining. She wasn’t in a position to do so either.

It would be fortunate if she could make even a little money, but in any case, Diez had insisted on doing embroidery to repay some of her debt. Using the best materials to sell handkerchiefs to discerning noblewomen would be only natural.

“Please convey my thanks to the Duke.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The maids who had finished their business left the bedroom quietly. They had become so polite that one might wonder if these were the same people who used to barge in by flinging the door open at any time.