“Right. I called you here today because I have something to tell you.”
“Then for the past four days you’ve been dragging me out of bed for matters that weren’t important at all.”
“Adelaide!”
“You may not realize this, Duke, but young people have sharp hearing, and even a slightly raised voice is painful on the ears.”
Adelaide made a show of covering her ears. Duke Berthier bit off a large mouthful of the greasy meat. Benjamin’s expression grew pained.
“I’m still in my prime!”
“Calling your forties your prime is quite the confidence. Weren’t you the one who told me that at seventeen, if I don’t find a betrothed quickly, I’ll be a bent old woman at eighteen and no one will take me?”
“That’s because you’ve turned down every young man I’ve brought to you!”
“Duke,”
“Fine! I’ve only brought you worthless ones! It’s my fault, all of it! I ought to just die when I get old, rather than live to be scolded at the dinner table by my own young daughter!”
“I’m sure my lady didn’t mean it that way, Duke.”
Benjamin stepped in before Duke Berthier could stuff any more meat into his mouth. He quietly slid the meat dish further away and drew the salad closer.
“Your blood pressure medicine, Duke.”
Duke Berthier swallowed the pill and let out a long breath. Benjamin noted that the blood pressure medicine in the cabinet was running out at an unprecedented rate and added it to his list of things to address.
It was good that conversation with Adelaide had become possible, but it was not good that every conversation ended with blood pressure medicine.
“His Highness the Crown Prince says he has some free time tomorrow and intends to keep his promise.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“Yes. He’s asked after you from time to time since the riding ground incident.”
“Even if he is the Crown Prince, summoning people by word of mouth without so much as an invitation is rather something. The empire’s future looks very bright.”
“That’s because word got out that you burn every invitation that comes to the house!”
Adelaide shrugged. Was the Crown Prince so oblivious that he would invite someone even after hearing she burned invitations? Burning invitations without exception was a very direct way of saying she had no desire to see anyone.
“Don’t make the same kind of slip of the tongue you made in front of His Highness last time.”
“What slip of the tongue did I make?”
“That business about my head being separated from my neck! In any case, I know your disposition is not ordinary, but you need to know how to restrain yourself in front of His Highness. We were fortunate that His Highness is good-natured enough to play along, but any other member of the imperial family would not have let it pass!”
Adelaide recalled the one thing Cyril had whispered quietly, the words Duke Berthier hadn’t heard.
He had said he disliked the Emperor too. Adelaide, with no interest in politics, had vaguely assumed Cyril was the Emperor’s beloved. That was why it had caught her off guard.
“They say friends grow to resemble each other. Now I understand why you’re His Majesty’s only friend.”
“That mouth of yours! And what exactly are you implying about me! I’m far better than His Majesty.”
“You should watch what you say, Duke.”
“I’m His Majesty’s friend, so it’s fine.”
Adelaide mimicked Duke Berthier in a garbled, ridiculous voice. Duke Berthier buried his face in his hands.
“May I come along?”
Lionel asked out of nowhere. Before Adelaide could say anything, Duke Berthier refused outright.
“It would be improper to meet His Highness the Crown Prince before you’ve been presented to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Is His Highness extending an official invitation to my lady?”
“Not officially, but,”
“If it’s a private meeting, wouldn’t His Majesty understand? I think I need to practice how to conduct myself before a member of the imperial family before I meet His Majesty. If I get nervous and make a serious mistake in front of His Majesty…….”
Adelaide found the clumsy attempt so transparent she nearly yawned. Lionel, not having grown up as a noble, occasionally said something absurd out of ignorance of things everyone else simply knew.
“My lady, please take me with you.”
The same applied to table manners and the proper use of various utensils at meals. Amy’s chatter included updates on Lionel, and Adelaide had heard that his tutors praised him for being sharp.
Which meant Lionel was doing it on purpose. He knew perfectly well but was deliberately refusing to shed his commoner habits.
“I’m not sure. For once, the Duke isn’t wrong. Violet is only a count’s daughter, so my standing was enough to vouch for her, but presenting you to the Crown Prince with your status still unconfirmed is a matter that touches on the Berthier duchy’s reputation.”
A tear rolled down Lionel’s cheek. Adelaide was weak against his tears. Just as expected, her expression turned irritated, and yet she reached over and wiped Lionel’s tear away.
“My lady, please…….”
“Adelaide, don’t fall for such an obvious trick.”
Benjamin held out a glass of water to Duke Berthier. Duke Berthier took it by reflex and raised it to his lips.
“Stop being a nuisance. Who do you think you are, that I should risk making a poor impression in front of His Highness for your sake?”
Adelaide had lived seventeen years as the Berthier lady and ten years as Adel. She had adapted to Adel’s life in order to survive. Choosing to become Adel had been entirely her own decision.
Adelaide thought that if Lionel had chosen to become Viscount Lavota, he needed to accept the conduct that came with it. The way Lionel was behaving now was neither one thing nor the other, and it was unbecoming.
“My lady…….”
Lionel stared blankly at Adelaide wiping his tears away with an irritated expression. After a moment, he stopped crying on his own. He didn’t want to put her in a difficult position.
It was simply hard for the boy to accept the reality that Adelaide would be absent from this unfamiliar Berthier estate for even a few hours.
“If you don’t want me to go, I won’t.”
“You shouldn’t go regardless of what I want. Do you have any intention at all of becoming Viscount Lavota?”
“I’m not sure, honestly. But I’m willing to accept the title if it means I can stay by your side, my lady.”
“Don’t you dare come to me later saying you did something you regret because of me.”
“I never would. I swear it.”
“Save your cheap oaths for someone else. Duke, I’ve finished my meal, so I’ll take my leave.”
Duke Berthier, who had been watching the exchange between Adelaide and Lionel, nodded before he quite realized what he was doing. Adelaide left the dining room without looking back.
“My lady!”
Lionel called out after her quickly.
“I’ll wait nicely, so when you come back, would you teach me to ride?”
“To ride?”
Adelaide narrowed her eyes. The request was so out of nowhere and so brazen that she nearly agreed to it before she caught herself.
“Amy can ride, but I can’t. I think it would be nice if I could ride with you, my lady.”
Duke Berthier pointed at Lionel with a wordless fury that couldn’t quite form itself into speech. Lionel had of course learned to ride. There was no chance Duke Berthier had left out riding, one of the essential accomplishments expected of a noble.
He was about to expose Lionel for lying without so much as blinking, when Benjamin this time held out a wine glass.
Duke Berthier took a sip of the alcohol that met his lips first.
“Any noble ought to know how to ride. And nobles don’t teach people. That’s what hired instructors are for.”
Adelaide was grateful the curse only affected her actions. She had nearly made the undignified mistake of agreeing to tutor Lionel, who was far below her in standing.
“Can’t you make an exception?”
But the curse dug in its heels and refused to let her leave a tearful Lionel behind. Adelaide ground her teeth and chose the answer that would get her out of the situation.
“If you put in the effort to learn properly, riding together isn’t too much to ask.”
At last her feet left the ground. Adelaide swept out with a cold wind at her back, and Lionel smiled after her.
Lionel already knew how to ride well enough. The thought that he would soon be riding side by side with Adelaide put him in good spirits for the rest of the meal.
Duke Berthier chewed his greasy meat with a face that said he was chewing on something far more bitter, unable to bring himself to actually take a bite out of the son of his benefactor.
Benjamin resolved to give careful thought to which deserved priority: his master’s physical health, or his mental health.
Adelaide arrived at the imperial palace, completed a brief identity verification, and was escorted to the crown prince’s palace. The imperial palace was so magnificent it left even Adelaide, who had spent her whole life at the Berthier estate, at a loss for words.
The palace was divided into the main palace where the Emperor resided and conducted affairs, the Empress’s palace, and the crown prince’s palace. Members of the imperial family who were not the crown prince could not reside within the palace grounds and were granted separate estates.
After her identity was verified, Adelaide rode by carriage to the crown prince’s palace. The elderly chamberlain had come out in person to receive her. It was a considerable honor, but Adelaide felt mildly irritated at the thought of yet another formality being added to the proceedings.
“His Highness is waiting. Before we proceed, please confirm that you are not carrying any weapons.”
A palace knight conducted a brief check on Adelaide. She was a knight with a neat, short-cropped hairstyle. She carefully ran her hands over Adelaide’s handbag and full skirts, then gave a nod.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
“However much of a troublemaker I may be, I don’t go out of my way to break rules that ought to be followed.”
The knight, well acquainted with Adelaide’s reputation, looked faintly surprised. It had already been surprising enough that Cyril had extended a private invitation to Adelaide, but the troublemaker lady seemed more reasonable than the rumors suggested.
“Troublemaker lady, is it? That’s a new one to me.”
Adelaide took note of the knight playing innocent. She was good at navigating people.
The empire drew no distinction between the sexes when it came to talent. The empire had risen to become a great power precisely because it had put talent to work regardless of gender or age.
