Chapter 8

“So. The Second Princess is still the same, isn’t she?”

Alexei’s father, Duke Ivanov of Ramantus, whose power rivaled that of the Emperor, spoke as the main course of the dinner—veal steak—was just placed before them. At the Duke’s solemn words, Alexei paused his knife.

“Yes, well, she’s much the same…”

“I heard she had a formal dinner with the western nobles yesterday.”

“The western region suffered the most from the recent drought.”

“Was it really for relief efforts? The westerners are all in league with the bourgeois, and care more about tax rates than the people.”

“…”

Bourgeois. With that single word, Alexei’s mood, which he had carefully composed for dinner with his father, became instantly unsettled.

‘Because the western region is barren, even the nobles get involved in commerce and make deals with the bourgeois… That’s how even a guy like the one from this morning could dare set foot in the Imperial Palace’s formal banquet.’

‘God. Why did You leave the west as barren land?’

Thinking of that bourgeois man who, at last night’s banquet, had met Avgenia and literally offered his body just to have her try on his company’s products, Alexei felt his blood rush up and down. Even though the authority of the Imperial Family had weakened, the fact that the Empire’s Second Princess was treated as a commercial model made his blood boil to the top, and as the events of today played through his mind, it seemed to split downward as well.

Hmm, the discomfort was strong, but Alexei masked it with the seriousness of a son listening intently to his father’s words.

“Lexie, how long are you going to keep playing aide?”

“Well, I…”

“Shouldn’t you go down to the estate soon? Baron Luchin keeps insisting on retiring.”

“The Baron must be over sixty by now…”

The gentle son Alexei made a pointless guess about the aging retainer who was serving as acting lord.

Go to the estate. That meant the tradition where Ramantus heirs, after marriage, would directly manage the estate and spend their newlywed days there.

“If you start looking for a match, get engaged, and prepare for marriage, it’ll only take a year or two. You’re already twenty-three… When I was twenty-five, you were already wielding a wooden sword.”

“Dear, don’t push him so much. That was twenty years ago.”

The Duchess, who had remained silent while the Duke spoke solemnly to their son, quickly interjected. Even with such good marital harmony, the fact that they’d only had Alexei in over twenty years of marriage was evident in the Duchess’s strikingly thin appearance in her late forties.

Before her frailty, even the head of Ramantus, who was said to make griffins bow, was flustered.

“Ahem, what, did I say anything wrong, Dear…”

“Still. Times have changed a lot these days. Our Lexie surely has his own thoughts.”

The Duchess waved her thin hand toward the Duke, her blue eyes shining—the very eyes she had passed on to Alexei. The look exchanged between the two was filled with steadfast affection, and Alexei swallowed his discomfort.

‘Yes. The two of them love each other. They understand one another. Father is with someone he loves, Mother is with someone she loves. And I…’

‘Thoughts, sure…’

All his life, the person he liked never even treated him as a man, and now he was probably relegated to being a dull, boring acquaintance who couldn’t even join in the adults’ jokes…

Alexei’s gloomy eyes rolled toward his side. With only three direct members in the ducal line, the long table in the dining hall was completely empty.

‘If only I had siblings, I might have gone crazy and made a scene.’

Even if it ended in rejection…

Now, Alexei was even starting to resent the diamond umbilical cord he’d been born with.

“Anyway, Lexie, you need to make up your mind soon.”

“Yes, well…”

“You’ve been keeping watch for three years now, but it doesn’t seem like the Second Princess intends to take a consort and build a household. There’s no significant political movement either… I think it’s time you let go of the Second Princess.”

“I suppose so…”

Though the Duke phrased it politely, he was essentially pointing out that it would be hard for the Imperial Family’s troublemaker—whose authority wasn’t what it used to be—to find a good match.

If he knew the Second Princess was doing all this to get the Emperor to choose her half-sister, the First Princess, as heir, he wouldn’t say such things…

‘He’d never imagine I’m keeping all those secrets for Her Highness.’

If the Duke knew that Alexei’s “aide game” hid such secrets, things would be very different.

Alexei also knew well that the current situation—being both the Ramantus heir and the Second Princess’s closest aide—was due to his father’s misunderstanding.

The misunderstanding that he was enduring the chief aide position to act as his father’s eyes and ears, watching over the Second Princess. In reality, it was the exact opposite.

Whatever the Duke made of Alexei’s hardened face, he sipped his wine and muttered to his son.

“If I’d known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have pushed you, as a child, toward that wild girl…”

“Dear. No matter what, don’t speak ill of her.”

“Well, even if she didn’t know her mother’s embrace, she shouldn’t have grown up quite like that.”

While the ducal couple discussed the reputation of the Second Princess Avgenia, Alexei’s face darkened for reasons they could never guess.

‘No, it’s thanks to you that I am who I am now.’

At that young age, he fell for the Princess just a year older than himself and let himself be swept along wherever she led.

When the First Prince was born to the current Empress, he became the aide to the Second Princess, the former Empress’s daughter, under the pretext of watching her for his father, who had pledged support to the First Prince.

He watched over her daily life up close, seeing her private side as well as her diligent handling of Imperial affairs.

He protected a place so close that no one else could approach.

He might say he was being led around, but in truth, Alexei gladly took on all those roles.

He just wanted to remain in a slightly special position to Avgenia.

But now…

Perhaps it really was time to quit.

This strange relationship, this lie that only ate away at him, was just…

* * *

Alexei had changed.

It was a situation where change was inevitable, but now it was truly obvious.

As an aide, Alexei was the best. He handled every task perfectly, took care of things he wasn’t assigned, and finished things before they were even requested.

His work performance hadn’t changed.

‘His attitude is just a bit different…’

Normally, Alexei never bothered to hide his constant irritation, and Avgenia found it adorable, thinking of him as “my Lexie, grumbling but always thorough.”

“Here’s the draft budget for relief funds for Lamt district.”

“Thank you. But, Lamt is administratively in the west.”

“Yes. Geographically, it could be considered southern as well. But if we treat it as southern, it might not get sufficient supplies compared to other southern districts of similar size. I’ve included related data and the aide office’s opinion on the last page, so Your Highness, you can decide.”

“Mm, alright. What about the eastern donations?”

“The ones who agreed are already coordinating with the Treasury, and the rest will be persuaded again with next year’s tax benefits as bait.”

“Before you take that to the Senate.”

“Yes. I’ve already asked for cooperation from the First Princess’s aide office. Here are the documents.”

“Mm, good job.”

Avgenia took the stack of documents from him with a slightly sour face.

Yes, it had been like this a lot lately. Whenever she asked anything, he would just pour out his own words as if he couldn’t bear her voice, but at the same time, everything he said was so perfectly convincing that there was nothing to criticize.

So, conversation was blocked at the source.

‘Is it still awkward because of that day? But Lexie isn’t the type to let personal feelings affect his work…’

There was just one thing that was strange: none of his words showed any emotion.

‘I anticipated this, so I prepared everything. Did you think I wouldn’t consider even that?’

The little comments he used to make were now hard to find.

‘Is he angry? But it doesn’t seem that way.’

As Avgenia looked through the thick stack of documents Alexei handed over, she quietly glanced up at his face.

Standing at her desk, waiting for her response, his expression was hard to read.

As always, his face was blank, chin slightly raised, lips firmly closed… But his blue eyes, looking down at her from his nose, seemed determined not to meet her gaze, fixed only on the documents in front of her.

And his attitude suggested he was just waiting for her to dismiss him…