Chapter 15
The people of the Ostein ducal townhouse were shocked to see the princess return with Grand Duke Lusenford in an utterly disheveled state. Just when had she gone out?
It was clearly evident that she had run away because she didn’t want to get married. She had even stolen a maid’s clothes, smeared soot and ash haphazardly across her face to hide her identity, and carried a considerable amount of jewels and money with her.
But Grand Duke Lusenford immediately silenced the butler.
“Today’s incident never happened.”
His firm tone and resolute gaze alone were enough.
The household staff, who wished nothing more than for their princess to remain in good health, understood it was paramount to keep quiet, so they locked their lips tight. However, this story had to reach the ears of the head of House Ostein.
Right after Grand Duke Lusenford departed, Caella silently bathed, returned straight to bed without a word, and even drank the bitter medicine.
Though she showed no remorse, she caused no further trouble. She merely sat still, seemingly awaiting some dreadful fate in quiet resignation.
Or perhaps she was simply bracing herself for her father’s scolding.
“Caella.”
It was a time closer to sunrise than sunset. Just before dawn, when pitch-black darkness enveloped everything, Duke Adeo de Chasser of Ostein briefly entered his daughter’s room carrying a candle. His voice held no anger—only gentle warmth.
“Did I wake you?”
Her father sat beside her bed as she shook her head. His daughter, who had run away for the very first time in her life, had been brought back by the very man she’d fled to avoid.
Adeo gazed silently at Caella, whose face had grown gaunt and perpetually pained over the past few days, then asked softly,
“What can I do for you?”
After three days unconscious, Caella had exhausted what little strength she had left, not even enough to twitch a finger. She shook her head. She wanted nothing from her father.
“Do you dislike the idea of marriage?”
Adeo asked with extreme caution.
“Or do you dislike Grand Duke Lusenford? Should I go find you a new fiancé?”
At those words, Caella let out a hollow laugh, as if hearing a joke.
“It’s fine.”
Her hoarse voice, mingled with ragged breaths, whispered faintly,
“I’m sorry for causing you worry. I won’t do it again.”
“Caella.”
Adeo closed his eyes briefly.
“You must have hated it so much to have done something like that. You’ve never once defied me or said you disliked anything before.”
Suddenly, Caella had an odd thought—if her father were not alive, she could never have run away in the first place.
Yes. Since she’d done something she’d never dared attempt before her death, this new life already held meaning for her. She didn’t desire much.
“Every parent feels this way, I suppose—but I truly wanted to find you the best possible husband. Yet perhaps I was too picky, and since you seemed utterly uninterested, I kept putting it off until things reached this point.”
Caella, who had never spoken with her father about marriage before, lifted her hazy eyes with great effort and looked at him once more.
“I can’t promise he’ll be the absolute best husband for you—but he is certainly the best option available. I’m sorry I can only say this much.”
Caella shook her head.
“But if you still don’t wish to marry, I’ll do everything in my power to help. I can always find excuses.”
“No.”
Caella shook her head again.
“It was my fault. I won’t do it again.”
Watching his daughter bow her head deeply and repeatedly apologize, Adeo let out a long sigh instead of feeling relieved.
“I’m sorry, Caella. I was far too careless.”
He’d been careless in trusting his brother, and careless in respecting his daughter’s wishes regarding marriage so thoroughly that he’d made no decision at all.
How desperate must his daughter have been to collapse like this? A vague regret washed over him—he should have prepared some contingency in advance. No, he shouldn’t have expected the Emperor to possess any trace of human decency or common sense.
Apparently, the Emperor believed that by performing good deeds and charitable acts for the Empress, who remained in a prolonged coma, she would awaken. Hence his persistent, absurd insistence on pushing the match between Grand Duke Lusenford and Caella.
“I married for love, so I foolishly believed you could, too. How naive I was. I’m truly sorry.”
Adeo reproached himself again and again.
“I hate to say this, but as you yourself said, Grand Duke Lusenford is a decent man. To be honest, I was relieved. The Grand Duke is honorable, honest, and strong.”
His daughter’s face showed no expression as she listened. Adeo murmured bitterly,
“That’s enough to trust and rely on for a lifetime. And besides, you still have me, Caella.”
She reached out and took her father’s hand. Adeo clasped it firmly and covered it with his other hand.
“I’ll be far more vigilant from now on. Never forget you have a strong family to return to. You’ll always have a place to come back to.”
“Father.”
Caella, staring blankly downward, lowered her head even further.
“I’m sorry for acting so foolishly. I’m… I’m truly stupid and can’t do anything properly.”
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Really, I can’t do anything at all. Someone as foolish as me could never manage the role of Grand Duchess Lusenford.”
“Caella, Caella—you’re my daughter, but you’re also very clever. Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”
Startled, Adeo patted her shoulder, but Caella was convinced she knew her own limitations.
“So… if you ever hear people say I’m failing miserably, please just pretend you don’t have such an incapable daughter.”
That way, at least her father might survive.
“What nonsense you’re spouting!”
But Father, I’ve spent the last four years learning exactly how foolish I truly am.
*
Was there truly no way to avoid this marriage? More precisely—was there no way for the marriage to proceed smoothly to completion without damaging Caella’s honor, while also allowing both Ostein and Lusenford to escape repercussions?
Pheon obsessively searched for a solution, forgetting even sleep, but kept arriving at the same conclusion: it was impossible. After the failed escape—a futile attempt he knew would inevitably fail—Caella herself must surely understand. The precious Ostein princess had no choice.
And Duke Ostein knew this as well.
“You’ve come.”
“Good day, Your Grace.”
Under these circumstances, Pheon could never refuse a summons from Duke Ostein. No matter how busy he was, if the Ostein family called, he had to make time—even if it meant clearing his entire schedule.
“Thank you for handling the matter quietly. And at the same time, I apologize. You witnessed an unpleasant sight.”
Upon hearing that Pheon had retrieved Caella after her elopement, Adeo felt faint—though he carefully hid it from his daughter. Of all people, it had to be Pheon who discovered Caella’s flight—now it was as if they’d handed their future son-in-law a critical weakness before the marriage had even begun.
“Not at all. I consider it an honor to have been there.”
Adeo looked at Pheon, slightly surprised by the word “honor.” This rigid, inflexible Grand Duke never spoke lightly.
“Are you truly sincere?”
“I am.”
Even the mild-mannered and ordinary Adeo had a decent eye for character. Pheon was genuinely stating, as a knight, that it had been an honor to serve a lady. Adeo let out an exasperated chuckle.
“You seem quite taken with my daughter, then?”
The man who wouldn’t even dare use the phrase “taken with” when referring to Caella hesitated briefly.
“I am unworthy to say such a thing. Her Highness the Princess is a noblewoman far beyond my station to even look upon.”
“You can’t even look at her? My goodness, that’s excessive humility.”
“It is the truth.”
Caella was a person who carried light within her. Even if hidden away or buried in darkness, she would still shine beautifully—so brilliantly that one couldn’t help but turn and look, despite oneself.
“…Honestly, when His Majesty announced the marriage, as a father with a daughter, I worried about you. Now I find myself utterly ashamed.”
Adeo sighed deeply, having never imagined in his wildest dreams that Caella would attempt to run away.
“Your Grace and Her Highness had every reason to act as you did. My apologies.”
“They say a fine man will naturally attract women—that’s only natural.”
Pheon detected subtle discomfort in Adeo’s words—as if others might say that, but Adeo himself didn’t believe it.
Indeed, Adeo was famously known for marrying his first love and never remarrying even after her death. How bitter must it feel for such a man to send his treasured only daughter to a man whose past was long entangled with another woman.
Pheon considered Adeo an exceptionally courteous and principled man. If Adeo had been the father of a woman Pheon cared for, he would have drawn his sword already.
“I am not as exceptional as you think, Your Grace. And there is no need for concern.”
“His Majesty informed me today that he will personally announce the marriage tomorrow.”
Pheon wanted to tightly shut his eyes, but dared not do so in front of Adeo. A marriage declared by imperial decree could never be undone—unless one severed the Emperor’s head.
“From now on, we are one. Let us put the past aside and move forward in harmony.”
This meant burying Caella’s elopement, burying Pheon’s past relationship with Beatrice Lavalle, and looking only toward the future. Given how things stood, there was no other choice.
“Your Grace.”
Pheon struggled to steady his vision. Everything before him blurred—and then turned pitch black.
“I am unworthy to become your son-in-law.”
He had been so consumed with his own survival that he’d stood by as his father died, and had coldly neglected his daughter until she met a miserable end. He had no right to face this father and daughter—let alone claim the title of son-in-law. He was a sinner, not someone who could sit across from them.
“This marriage is far too generous for me to accept. It wasn’t only the princess who wished to avoid it.”
So please don’t think you’ve been cornered, Pheon forced the dry words out with great difficulty.
“But if this marriage must happen, I will do everything in my power to protect Ostein, and as her husband… to…”
The words wouldn’t come. They stuck in his throat, refusing to emerge. The word “husband” felt unbearably heavy. How could a man who’d let his wife die utter such a promise again? Yet he had to say it—for the sake of the anxious father before him.
“I will do my utmost. Princess Ostein will receive the treatment she rightfully deserves.”
Regardless of whom Caella married, it was only right. If Caella were ever unhappy with another man, Pheon was more than ready—as her knight—to draw his sword in her service. And so he willingly laid his cards on the table.
“If Princess Ostein ever wishes it, I am prepared to grant a divorce.”
Adeo, who until now had listened without hope, assuming it was merely a polite formality, suddenly widened his eyes.
A divorce? In Crania, divorce brought catastrophic disgrace. People might even prefer outright infidelity—divorce was simply unthinkable.
The Emperor’s obsessive grip on the Empress was partly due to this very reason. Yet here the Grand Duke of Lusenford himself was the first to propose divorce—truly astonishing.
“Once sufficient time has passed and His Majesty loses interest.”
Or perhaps once he gained enough power to sever the Emperor’s head.
“If Her Highness the Princess ever desires a divorce, I will grant it. Any terms she wishes for shall be honored. I will include this promise in our prenuptial agreement.”
Even though this would surely lead others to mock Pheon as a man henpecked by his wife and scorned as Ostein’s live-in son-in-law, he said it anyway.
“That’s quite unexpected—but an offer I cannot refuse.”
As ruler of the commercially prosperous Ostein, Adeo understood precisely how advantageous this arrangement was.
Even if his daughter underwent the socially scandalous act of divorce, he would warmly welcome her back and present her as the next Duchess of Ostein. Whatever she lacked, her father would provide—it was that simple.
“Thank you. Since I have only one daughter, my worries run deep—so your offer means a great deal.”
Thus, he eagerly accepted Pheon’s promise without hesitation.
“I apologize that Lusenford is so cold and harsh—I can offer you little else.”
“Not at all—you’ve given me something tremendous. Don’t worry about wedding preparations; I’ll handle everything myself.”
“Lusenford will also do its utmost.”
Pheon shook his head, refusing to accept this. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if this imperial marriage fell through—he already knew all too well how Adeo, Caella, and he himself would meet their ends.
Yet not long after, Pheon would once again witness firsthand exactly how the Emperor dealt with anyone who dared interfere with this marriage.
*
At the main gate of the Klein Imperial Palace, the marriage proclamation—bearing the Emperor’s seal—was posted for all to see. At a time when the Empress lay in a coma, this sudden marriage announcement stunned everyone.
But the initial shock quickly gave way to a flood of varied reactions—some astonished, some intrigued, others furious.
“The Grand Duke of Lusenford before His Royal Highness the Crown Prince?”
“Isn’t Lusenford getting the better end of this match? Good heavens—Ostein’s golden wealth will all flow north!”
“Not necessarily. Ostein gains considerable military strength as well. After all, Lusenford is where the elite frontline troops are stationed.”
“Duchess Monde must be disappointed. Everyone assumed Grand Duke Lusenford would marry Lady Lavalle.”
“Ah, let’s speak plainly. Princess Ostein holds higher status and is far more suitable than Lady Lavalle! Besides, the Grand Duke is, after all, a Grand Duke—he can’t just marry anyone. Of course not!”
The usually quiet social circles, hushed due to the Empress’s condition, erupted with excitement over this rare scandal. And Duchess Monde’s reaction wasn’t merely excited—it was explosive.
“How dare he touch our daughter and then do something like this!”
Though Grand Duke Lusenford, known for his strict principles, had never actually “touched” Beatrice, to Duchess Monde it made no difference.
The title of Grand Duchess Lusenford belonged to Beatrice! It was the second-highest position after the Empress and Crown Princess—how dare they hand it all to that Ostein princess alone? This was utterly unforgivable.
Thus, Duchess Monde raced to the Lusenford townhouse at the same speed she used to flee creditors. She was a mother who would do absolutely anything for her child.
