IWJACM Chapter 30

Now that he thought of it, even the way the Grand Duke and the Princess addressed each other was at the highest register of formality. The couple seemed close in some ways, and yet at certain moments, they seemed further apart than mere strangers. And yet, it wasn't as though nothing at all had passed between them—they seemed entirely unguarded with one another in other ways.

'Was it really only as far as the bed, and nothing more, before the wedding?'

Sover kept the curiosity welling up inside him strictly to himself. Rezet Kyrstan was not a man who wasted words, and he was every bit as unforgiving of insubordination and defiance as that implied.

"Yes, my lord. I'll pass the word along to Alfredo and Lady Phaetyson as well."

"Good. I'll be stopping by the military grounds before heading up to the study, so have things ready."

Rezet mounted his horse without a trace of hesitation, pulled the reins, and turned the horse's head.

Surely it was just his imagination—that the master seemed so out of sorts right off the road. And surely, surely it had nothing to do with the Princess flatly refusing him and marching off on her own.

'They say it's the "surely not" that gets you. But—no, surely not.'

Sover bowed deeply toward his master, now growing distant again as he led his knights and soldiers away. It took a small effort to keep the corner of his mouth from twitching upward.

The keep of Lothier Castle was massive and imposing, a fitting representation of the land's prosperity. Though built of thick, solid stone, the white marble and plaster lent it an elegant refinement all the same.

Elise toured the storerooms holding food and wine, the kitchens, the dining room used when the lord received guests, and the great hall where large-scale banquets were held.

"The second floor holds the tapestry gallery, woven with the history of Lothier and Van Yela. It's usually where the knights of Lothier wait when His Grace summons them."

Alfredo led her deeper down the corridor.

"Past this is the study His Grace uses. He spends most of his time here, typically. If you open the inner door of the study and take the spiral staircase, you can go straight from the study all the way up to the topmost floor. It connects directly into the bedroom, so should you ever have business with His Grace while he's in the study, that's the route to take. The furniture arrangement can't easily be changed, so the door remains sealed for now, but it's set to be opened again soon."

The Grand Duke's study was a spare, orderly space, furnished with a red cedar desk, a velvet sofa, and low bookshelves. A large map depicting the topography of northern Grendel hung on the wall. Every piece of furniture stood arranged with precise, careful alignment, as though decorated to match the man's own unadorned nature.

"This will do."

Elise gave the study only the barest glance before hurrying back out. Something about it—as though she were prying into the man's private space—left her with an odd, unsettled feeling.

Next to it lay the conference room. Beyond that, room after room continued in succession. Every space held the same massive, understated square proportions, and every one was filled with countless sculptures and elaborate frescoes.

It was hardly comparable to Argan's imperial palace, but the scale was extraordinarily luxurious nonetheless. More than anything, it was plain to see that none of it had been neglected—every piece had been maintained with real, deliberate care.

When admiration flickered across Elise's face, Alfredo puffed his chest out with visible pride.

"Most of what decorates the castle are gifts bestowed by His Imperial Majesty. His Grace holds the Emperor's trust so deeply that once a month, without fail, long processions of carts loaded with gold, silver, and treasure arrive at our gates."

Of course, among them there was always some "gift" or another that wasn't particularly welcome. Since they couldn't very well send back an imperial gift, those gifts, never managed, are still knocking about the castle in droves to this day.

'It would be best if that particular fact never reached Her Grace's ears. She'd surely find it unsettling.'

The maids' tongues were something Lady Phaetyson would see to on her own. Alfredo waved off a few housemaids who, while cleaning and tidying the castle, had spotted him and moved to greet him.

After that, Elise continued touring the castle for a considerable while longer, guided by Alfredo.

The ceilings of Lothier Castle's keep stood remarkably high. This, in turn, meant that staircases of tremendous height existed in nearly every corner of the castle.

The staircase leading up to the bedroom at the very top of the keep in particular proved formidable. To Elise's eyes, it looked no less forbidding than the sheer, jagged mountains blanketing northern Grendel.

"I think… I'd better rest a moment before going on."

Halfway up the tower, heat rose in her body. Elise pulled back her hood and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. Yvessa, fussing over her, dabbed at her neck with a handkerchief.

"I should get the bathwater ready as soon as we're up there."

"Take your time. It's nice to take in the view outside as we climb, too."

The view through the windows—the Grentern Mountain Range and the dense forest spreading beneath it—was truly spectacular. Elise paused midway up the staircase and filled her lungs with the crisp mountain air.

It was, indeed, as beautiful and peaceful a place as its reputation as a blessed land promised. She had arrived at the perfect refuge—no jackals threatening her here, no scaffold waiting to hang her, none of the north's harshness reaching this place.

'But I mustn't let my guard down.'

Elise steadied her resolve. She was no longer the child who believed the world beyond her walls was endlessly, wholly beautiful. Her peaceful, sheltered days had ended the day Argan's walls fell. Whether this place would prove a refuge or merely another battlefield remained entirely unknown.

Elise took several slow, deliberate breaths, trying to settle her still-anxiously pounding heart.

She had steadied her breathing for some while when she heard someone's footsteps climbing from below the stairs.

'Ah. Footsteps.'

By now, Elise could recognize the sound of his approach without needing to turn around.

Alfredo, Yvessa, and the rest of the staff all bowed in unison toward whoever stood behind her. A voice, not so different from the one she'd heard an hour before, sounded from above her head.

"I think that's enough sightseeing for now."

Before Elise could so much as respond, her body lifted weightlessly into the air. In an instant, she found herself gathered into someone's arms. She didn't need to look up to know—it was the Grand Duke.

"Back already?"

"I was worried. So I came back."

Oh, no. It seemed she'd interrupted his work again after all. Guilt flickered across Elise's face.

As though to head off whatever objection she was about to raise, Rezet spoke first.

"As I said, today is set to be a demanding one. But if Your Highness's condition worsens any further, I find it difficult to concentrate for the worry of it. So don't push me away—just stay still."

"I wasn't planning to push you away this time."

Elise nodded obediently and settled into a comfortable position in his arms. From above her, she heard him mutter, half in disbelief.

"You must have found it more taxing than you let on."

A little embarrassing, but hardly anything new by now.

The man began climbing the stairs at a pace nowhere near comparable to her own. Elise leaned her head a little closer into the familiar warmth of his chest. Only then did her breath finally come easily.

The unease that had been swaying inside her like seaweed in the tide had, somehow, settled into a quiet stillness.

As if to prove his claim of a demanding day hadn't been an exaggeration, Rezet carried her all the way to the top before heading straight back down to the study.

At the top of the keep, before the bedroom shared by the lord and lady of Lothier, Lady Phaetyson was already waiting.

"This is the space Lothier's lord and lady share. From here, I'll show you the rest myself."

Rebecca Phaetyson was an elderly woman with white hair and a deeply lined face, though she stood taller than Elise and carried herself with an unbowed, upright spine. Her hair, drawn back into a severe, immaculate knot, and the monocle she wore, only sharpened the austere, dignified impression she gave.

"This is the sitting room the two of you will share. Further within lies the bedroom, and beside it, the bath and the dressing room."

Being the very heart of the castle, every room fell nothing short of properly showcasing its master's stature. The bedroom in particular was so extravagant that Elise, for a fleeting moment, nearly mistook it for Argan's imperial palace. Elise made a deliberate effort not to let her gaze linger on the bed beneath its deep navy canopy.

When she had finished a full circuit of the interior and returned to the sitting room, at least a dozen maids stood waiting there. Lady Phaetyson introduced them to Elise.

"These are the maids who will attend Your Highness."

"…Surely they can't all be meant to wait on me?"

"They are indeed. They've been trained specifically to attend Your Highness at the closest possible distance, so you should find no difficulty in commanding them."

Elise swallowed down her bewilderment and waved a hand. Not even in Argan's imperial palace had she ever kept so many people at her constant service.

"There's no need for so many. Beyond Yvessa, one more should be plenty."

"Two would hardly suffice. Naturally."

The moment Elise's words of refusal left her mouth, Lady Phaetyson gently countered them. Startled, Elise turned her head and found herself facing eyes as black and sharp as a bird of prey's.

"I hear you are with child."

Elise's lips slowly pressed shut. Lady Phaetyson's mouth curved into the barest smile, elegant and composed.

"Truly, a joyous occasion for Lothier. But as Your Highness well knows, His Grace is not quite like an ordinary man, and this old woman could not help but feel some worry on hearing the news."

"……"

"More than anything else, I wondered whether Your Highness would even manage to arrive safely at Lothier at all—but seeing you here before me now, safely arrived, does set my mind at ease."

"Thank you for your concern. There's nothing amiss, so you needn't worry any further."

"No, that isn't quite so. It's true that one weight has been lifted, but the real matter begins now."

Lady Phaetyson tilted her head toward the doorway, and someone stepped politely inside. A middle-aged physician.

"His Grace instructed that the moment Her Highness reached the bedroom, I was to examine her condition briefly."

"And?"

"The physician who traveled here with us is still settling into his assigned quarters, so Lothier's own resident physician will attend Her Highness in his stead."

Elise couldn't hide her alarm. A new physician—now?

This physician had no idea she wasn't actually pregnant.