Because of this, he had hidden the visit even from his daughter Adelaide and given Cyril a secret entrance other than the front gate. But it would have been better to do as he had the last time and call Cyril in through the front gate in disguise.
When word reached Duke Berthier that Cyril had strayed from the garden path and wandered into the riding grounds, and of all things run into Adelaide, he learned firsthand exactly what it felt like to have the blood drain from his entire body.
He had rushed to the riding grounds to find Adelaide screaming at Cyril at the top of her lungs.
“Adelaide will come down shortly to offer her apologies, Your Highness.”
“By the lady’s own account, the greater fault lies with me for appearing in the riding grounds in the first place. The apology should come from my side.”
“Your Highness, I would be most grateful if you would kindly consider this old man’s heart before making jokes.”
“The Duke is in his prime. I’d worry less about your heart and more about your blood pressure, given how much fire you have in you.”
Benjamin quietly held out blood pressure medication to Duke Berthier. Duke Berthier turned to the side and swallowed two pills.
Adelaide fumed as she threw off her riding clothes. What did it matter that the gleaming-haired trespasser on her riding grounds was the Crown Prince? Could her luck really be this rotten?
“My lady, are you hurt anywhere? How could the Duke scold you for falling off your horse…….”
Amy had no real sense of how formidable the imperial family was. To a commoner like Amy, the imperial family and nobility were much the same sort of people, the kind you bowed your head to and prostrated yourself before whenever they appeared.
She had been so excited about trying to sit in the saddle that she hadn’t even known something so serious had happened to Adelaide. It felt like all her fault, and Amy kept fighting back tears.
“I should have gone with you, hic, our lady, you only just woke up from fainting not long ago, and now you’ve fallen off a horse on top of that! What are we going to do, hic…….”
“You couldn’t even get into the saddle by the time I came back, so what good would you have done following me. I’m fine. That fellow, I mean, His Highness the Crown Prince caught me, so I’m not hurt.”
“Even so, even so……!”
“My lady!”
She was already dealing with two headaches, and now she had to deal with them both at once. Lionel threw the door open, breathless, then slammed it shut the moment he caught sight of Adelaide half undressed.
“Why are you opening doors without knocking!”
“I’m sorry! I heard you were hurt!”
“You shameless thing! Get out right now!”
“Yes, yes! I’ll come back later!”
One headache had chased off the other. Adelaide gave Amy’s head a light touch as she sniffled.
It wasn’t the same kind of pat she gave Lionel. Lionel was shameless enough to shove his head forward until he got his fill, while Amy, even if she had grown bolder lately, was still a maid and didn’t have that kind of nerve.
“Good job.”
“Yes!”
Amy gave a shy touch to the spot on her head Adelaide had patted and broke into a grin. She picked out a dress for Adelaide, one that was proper enough for receiving a guest but not so stiff it would make her feel suffocated, rather than the casual indoor clothes she usually wore.
“Still, it is the Crown Prince, my lady. Shouldn’t you wear a corset?”
“No.”
“But this dress hasn’t been fully altered yet, so the waist won’t fit you.”
“Then take out a different dress, Amy.”
Adelaide gave the order firmly. Amy made a slow, pleading face. Adelaide immediately regretted patting her on the head earlier.
But then, a thought followed right after. Could she use this?
“Amy. Didn’t you say you didn’t like me only patting Lionel on the head?”
“I don’t!”
“Lionel listens to me well. If you listen just as well, I can do it for you every day.”
Amy wavered. Adelaide barely managed to keep her face from twisting at the lie she didn’t mean a word of.
Lionel did not listen well. The boy was obedient and stubborn at the same time. The fact that he could behave in such contradictory ways without a second thought was simply remarkable.
“There’s a dress that just finished being altered yesterday. It’s not as pretty as this one, but I think it should be fine for receiving a guest.”
“Good. Well thought.”
Adelaide unclenched her hand, which had been twitching with the urge to make a fist, and smoothed it over Amy’s head. Amy hummed cheerfully to herself as she dressed Adelaide.
Even without a corset, a woman’s dress had no shortage of things to attend to. Every ribbon had to be tied by hand, one by one, and every button had to be threaded through its hole, one by one.
And all of it was fastened at the back, so Adelaide had to stand there staring blankly at the mirror for a long stretch of time, like a cloth doll.
“All done, my lady!”
“For the dresses going out for alterations this time, tell them to move the buttons to the front on a few of them.”
“What? That’s unheard of, my lady! Only working people wear clothes like that.”
“I don’t want to stand around looking vacant every time I change outfits. What if I suddenly want to go out and you’re not there?”
“Why would I ever not be by your side, my lady?”
“If you keep enjoying talking back the way you do, I might fire you.”
Amy stuck her lip out and marked the dresses Adelaide had pointed out. For someone who claimed to be nineteen and acted like a world-weary old woman, she was still very much a child who hadn’t quite grown up.
“My lady, I do think the fault was the Crown Prince’s, but you still have to apologize. You understand, don’t you? And please thank him for catching you so you weren’t hurt. Otherwise the Duke will come after you again and be absolutely furious.”
Adelaide let out a hollow laugh at Amy, who was citing Duke Berthier’s temper as the reason she should apologize to the Crown Prince.
“Oh, don’t laugh! Make a face that says you’re terribly sorry!”
“I’ll handle it myself. You stay here and don’t move.”
“I should be by your side, my lady!”
“Even if this isn’t a formal occasion, a mere maid laying eyes on a member of the imperial family would set all sorts of precedents, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh! Then I’ll stay right here and wait for you, my lady.”
“When I get back, I’m going to check whether you really didn’t move. Stay exactly as you are right now.”
“What? My lady, my lady!”
Amy called out desperately, hands folded at her navel and back held straight, but Adelaide walked out of the room without looking back.
When Adelaide entered the drawing room, Cyril rose to his feet out of courtesy. As a member of the imperial family, he had no obligation to stand for anyone, but he had decided to observe a certain degree of propriety as a private guest visiting the Berthier estate.
“I am Adelaide Charlotte Berthier, Your Highness. Please forgive my earlier rudeness.”
“I’m the one who should be apologizing, as the trespasser. You may rise, my lady.”
Cyril found it amusing that Adelaide’s words were polite while her expression was anything but. He absently ran his fingers over the handkerchief still tied around his knee, which he had deliberately left in place long after the bleeding had stopped.
“Now that we have each apologized and accepted the other’s apology like civilized people, I will take my leave.”
“Adelaide!”
Duke Berthier’s sharp reprimand fell. Adelaide reluctantly took a seat across from him. Benjamin set a warm cup of tea in front of her.
“It’s a tea to help calm the nerves, my lady.”
“Thank you, Benjamin. You can’t imagine how startled I was when that gleaming head of hair came out of nowhere.”
“That gleaming head of hair…….”
Duke Berthier pressed his palm to his forehead and dropped his head. Adelaide felt no fear of the imperial family.
She had been thrown out of the house at seventeen, spent ten years enduring every hardship imaginable, and just when her life had finally seemed to settle, she had returned with a wretched curse attached.
Cyril considered whether he ought to feel offended by this affront. But on closer inspection, it seemed Adelaide had no intention of insulting him. She was simply saying whatever came to mind.
“I’ll have a new handkerchief made for the lady in return.”
“I already have plenty of handkerchiefs, so there’s no need, Your Highness.”
“I’ve heard that a handkerchief is a very important object to a woman.”
“To some women it is, and to others it isn’t. Does Your Highness consider all women in the world to be one and the same?”
Duke Berthier’s leg began to bounce. Benjamin held out a nerve-calming tonic at the sight of his master’s undignified state. Duke Berthier tipped it straight down his throat in one go.
“Then what if I said I wished to give you a handkerchief as thanks for treating the Crown Prince’s wound?”
Adelaide set down her teacup. It made no clatter. Cyril took note of that.
One could not call her gentle in temperament, but she was simply forthright, and there was nothing particularly grating about her habitual manner.
“I would not dare refuse when Your Highness personally wishes to offer thanks. Even if I’m not fond of the Duke, I imagine I’d feel rather unsettled if his head were to part from his shoulders.”
Duke Berthier’s nerve tonic had run its course. His leg, which had briefly stilled, started bouncing again. Cyril raised a hand to cover his smile.
“My lady.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Cyril leaned in and whispered so only Adelaide could hear.
“I’m not particularly fond of His Majesty the Emperor either, but I do think I’d be rather thrown off if his head were to part from his shoulders.”
Adelaide met a pair of vivid blue eyes, now much closer than before. In them lived a kinship toward someone you loved yet could not love, hated yet could not bring yourself to hate.
“I think we’ll get along well, Your Highness.”
“I’ll have you invited to the palace soon. Will you come?”
“I’ll look forward to it with pleasure.”
Duke Berthier, forgetting to bounce his leg entirely, stared at Benjamin, thrown by the shift in mood that a single whispered exchange had brought about. Benjamin had no idea what had happened either, and simply shrugged.
Adelaide and Cyril wore the smiles of two people sharing a secret, and clinked their teacups together in a cheerful toast.
