Episode 8

In her first life, Kayena had been courted by many, but she hadn’t had any marriage partners. Eventually, she was sold off to Viscount Gillian.

The emperor had passed on without any interest in her marriage. Regef, on the other hand, had actively encouraged competition over the position of the emperor’s son-in-law.

They may have been the Imperial family in name, but how could anyone call this a family?

Am I really your daughter? Contrary to her cold feelings toward her father, Kayena smiled and asked, “Did you have anyone in mind?”

The emperor did not show it, but he was surprised. He thought for certain that Kayena would mention Raffaello Kidrey if he brought up marriage. If she answered as he expected, he would have been disappointed in her again.

But Kayena didn’t even mention Lord Kidrey.

It seemed that she had finally learned that her marriage was not something for her to waste on love or desire.

Just to be certain, the emperor asked, “Do you mean that you would marry someone else after investing so much time and effort into Raffaello Kidrey?”

The question made Kayena think of her first love, like a distant memory. I wasn’t meant for him, anyway, she thought.

It would be a lie to say that she had no regrets. Even if she disregarded her personal feelings, Raffaello was still an excellent potential marriage partner.

But Raffaello despised her. She didn’t want to cling to someone who hated her. Furthermore, she had to become friends with Raffaello. His role was necessary for her to marry successfully.

To be more exact, it’s his power, not his affection, that I need.

Kayena fixed her smile and said calmly, “As I don’t have any sisters, how could I allow myself to be swayed by a momentary emotion and make such a mistake? I will follow your will, Father.”

“You’ve surprised me many times today,” the emperor said. Generously, he added, “Choose your partner carefully. Take your time and examine your options.”

At those extraordinary words, the servants who were nearby forgot themselves, dropping their jaws and gasping.

Now, if I can rid myself of Regef’s interest, it won’t matter whom I get married to. Kayena had accomplished what she had come here for.

Politely, she said, “Thank you for giving this matter your attention. I will make sure that my partner is truly suitable to join the Imperial family.”

The emperor nodded and beckoned the grand chamberlain. This meant that he was going to lie down and rest.

Kayena gave him one last farewell and left the bedroom, taking her ladies-in-waiting with her.

“It seems she’s come to her senses after growing up.”

The grand chamberlain bowed his head at the emperor’s remark and smiled softly. “The princess has already grown and matured so admirably—how time flies.”

The emperor smiled. “You’re twisting my words,” he said.

***

As Kayena left the emperor’s room, she came across someone unexpected. Naturally, her footsteps stopped.

She could feel the wariness of the approaching court ladies, the nearby knights, and the servants.

But of course they were wary. The one that she had run into was well known as Kayena’s unrequited love.

Raffaello Kidrey.

Raven-black hair and crimson eyes were the symbols of the Kidrey ducal family. Raffaello had been born with those distinct features. Kayena, who was pale and blonde, had been fascinated by his striking presence.

In fact, even though Kayena was far beyond naivete, being on her third life, she still thought that he was a wonderful and beautiful person.

Raffaello stood out from other noblemen his age, starting with his presence. He had the heavy, vivid, and overwhelming aura of those who had experienced war. Combined with his natural beauty and figure, he was unrivaled among his peers.

Kayena was just another girl who had been helpless to his rare charm.

In my first life, I thought he was merely a nice person.

Raffaello from the novel had not been just a gentleman, though. He had been obsessively meticulous in how he interacted with people, and it tired him to have to constantly meet people and keep up social relationships.

In the novel, Olivia had helped him with this particular quirk of his, and Raffaello had fallen in love with her.

“Raffaello Kidrey greets Her Imperial Highness.” Raffaello, who had been in the waiting room, greeted Kayena in a formal manner.

Suddenly, Kayena felt relieved. He didn’t hate her as much as she had expected. At this point in time, Raffaello only thought of her as a bother rather than outright loathing her. She had time to fix her mistakes.

She just had to make sure not to do all the things she had previously done.

If she stopped pretending to be close to him and trying to get touchy-feely—while also being careful not to be rude—she would be able to have a much better relationship with him than before.

And it wasn’t like she wanted to be remembered as an awful woman by her first love.

“You may rise.” Kayena made her decision. “It’s been a while, Lord Kidrey.”

...Lord Kidrey? Raffaello was puzzled by her polite address, as she usually called him Raphy.

Come to think of it, even though Kayena had stumbled upon him, she hadn’t run to him and immediately hugged his arm.

He was not the only one pondering her behavior. Everyone present was looking at Kayena with wide eyes.

What? Why is Her Highness acting like this?

Kayena was normally very rude and uninhibited.

While everyone was confused, Kayena looked around and was lost in other thoughts. Even though Raffaello came here, nobody announced his presence.

Seeing that, it was clear that the emperor was keeping Raffaello in check.

“Are you here to see His Majesty?”

“Yes.”

If she was the original Kayena, she would blabbered on and on in an attempt to maintain Raffaello’s attention. But Kayena knew her part well.

She was a villainess, not a heroine.

Now I know my place.

Kayena called forth a servant.

“Tell His Majesty that Lord Kidrey is asking for an audience.”

The servant hesitated for a moment. It had been according to the emperor’s will that he had delayed announcing Raffaello’s presence.

“What are you doing?”

Kayena stopped smiling and turned cold, and the servant had no choice but to go to the emperor’s chambers. It would be better for him to inform the emperor of Raffaello’s request for an audience than it would be to deal with the fuss if he dared to ignore the princess.

Raffaello watched this series of events suspiciously. Though Kayena frequently acted out to get his attention, this was the first time she had actually helped him.

Was she doing this to get in his good graces so that she could start pestering him again?

But Kayena seemed to act cautiously after she gave the order to the servant. She seemed reluctant to even meet Raffaello’s eyes.

How strange. He was usually able to read her clearly, but Raffaello couldn’t tell what the intent behind her actions might be. It was like her show of favor just now had no ulterior motives.

“I’ll leave you here.” Kayena left the waiting room, taking her ladies-in-waiting with her. It was clear to everyone in the room that Kayena was obviously keeping her distance from Raffaello.

Raffaello nearly called out to Kayena. He looked at her with a slight frown as she passed by, feeling odd.

Then, one of the emperor’s attendants called out to him. “Lord Kidrey.”

Only then did Raffaello turn away from the door Kayena had just left through.

“His Majesty is resting right now, so you will have to call on him again tomorrow,” the attendant said awkwardly.

Raffaello’s retainers, who had been in the waiting room with him, were deeply angered. “Are you telling the truth? Her Highness just left his room!” They looked at the attendant ferociously and clenched their fists.

“Stop.” Raffaello ordered them to cease their threatening behavior.

“We are in front of His Majesty’s room. Do not raise your voice.”

“...Yes, sir.”

To roam the battlefield meant being familiar with murder. The servants, who had just faced their potential deaths, sighed with relief.

They thought it was fortunate that Raffaello was a gentleman, but their thought was a short-sighted illusion. In fact, Raffaello had nothing to lose from this scenario. He had a significant amount of power, and he was not interested in the quarrel over the throne.

Emperor Esteban should know that I am not siding with either faction.

And the emperor couldn’t be this stubborn forever. Raffaello was only being lenient now as he didn’t feel like bothering with it.

“It’s all right. I’ll come back,” he said to the attendant.

The attendant nodded his head, wiping away the cold sweat from his brow with a handkerchief.

“Yes, yes. Please come back later.”

Raffaello walked out of the waiting room, then stopped in his tracks.

Kayena had been waiting outside for him. Ah, he knew it… He had wondered why she had retreated so mildly earlier.

“As expected, the emperor did not meet with you.”

Kayena’s complexion was still pale, not having recovered fully from the poison’s effects, but she had still stood in the hallway and waited for Raffaello to come out.

What noble behavior this was. In fact, the court ladies who were waiting on her looked to be overwhelmed with shame. Only one of her ladies-in-waiting, the one who was closest by her side, appeared unbothered.

Raffaello quickly gazed around at their surroundings before settling back on Kayena. But the look in her eyes was unfamiliar, somehow.

“Since things have turned out like this, would you accompany me for a cup of tea?”

Raffaello would usually have turned down her offer without a second thought. He still would have, if it wasn’t for what she said next.

“I think I could help you with some of your troubles.”

“...I don’t know what you mean by my troubles.”

Kayena’s eyes widened. “Really?” she said, glancing back towards the emperor’s rooms.

Raffaello’s aides cleared their throats, enchanted as they were by her lovely appearance.

She continued, “It’s closely related to the reason you wanted an audience with His Majesty.”

She knows why I want to see the emperor?

Raffaello wanted to meet with the emperor to request military rule over the west in return for his contributions to the war two years ago. It was an authority that could only be granted to a duke, but Raffaello had his reasons for wanting this.

She would have no idea that I’m trying to avoid pressure from my family to get married.

It hadn’t been announced yet, but the Duke and Duchess Kidrey were in the midst of a divorce.

Raffaello’s mother, Noah Kidrey, had been was raised to be a wife, not a successor to the ducal line. There had been no need, as she had had two older brothers.

The previous duke had never thought that both of his sons would die in the war.

Because of that, he hurriedly welcomed Leo Francis as his son-in-law. However, Leo Francis cheated on Noah before Raffaello had even come of age. Since then, Leo had been at odds with the proud Duchess Noah. They had been unable to part ways because Raffaello was too young to take over the dukedom, but now, they were quietly filing for divorce.

Raffaello’s mother did not want to give her husband any alimony. And, considering Leo Francis’s incompetence, it was possible for Raffaello to succeed as the duke immediately. However, Raffaello first had to be unanimously recognized as the next head of the household by his family’s vassals.

There was a slight problem with this.

Rumors of Raffaello’s sexual orientation, specifically regarding the possibility of heirs, had been secretly circulating among the vassals. The vassals had noticed that he had never even so much as held a woman’s hand in his twenty-three years of life. Nobles who wanted to use him had pushed women into his bedroom, but Raffaello had coldly turned them away.

This rumor had reached Raffaello’s mother’s ears as well. Since then, she had been pushing him to marry in order to dispel the groundless rumors that had attached themselves to her son.

Raffaello did not want to marry, though, so he had come to ask the emperor to recognize his military conquest over the western territory, an honor that could only be granted to a duke.

Raffaello thought that with that authority, the vassals would acknowledge him as the next head of the household.

How would Kayena be able to help him with that?

Even as he doubted her Raffaello could still sense a weight that he had never seen before behind Kayena’s blue eyes.

...Interesting, he thought.

He had a strong intuition that he should accept Kayena’s invitation.

“Thank you for the invitation.” Raffaello approached Kayena’s side to escort her, and Kayena placed her hand on his arm.

“I’ve got just the tea for the occasion. I think it’ll suit your tastes.”

Kayena conversed with him nonstop without saying anything of substance. On the surface, it seemed that Kayena was just making the most of attempt to interact with Raffaello, as she always did.

But something was strange.

Kayena was often impolite when she spoke. She ignored common courtesy and talked about sensitive issues, asking bluntly about marriage, property issues, and such. But now she was talking about the weather, standards for tea leaves, and how to make delicious tarts—though where she had learned the recipe, Raffaello had no idea.

Is she trying to lighten up the conversation?

Looking at the relaxed countenances of her ladies-in-waiting, Raffaello was convinced that this was the case.

Kayena came to a stop at the garden on the path to her palace.

“The sun feels nice today, so I’d like to drink tea in the garden,” she said.

“I’ll go prepare it now, Your Highness.”

Kayena dismissed all of the ladies-in-waiting except for Vera.

“Now, I suppose we should finish discussing what I previously mentioned.”

Raffaello thought of what she had said earlier about his troubles. What sort of solution had the princess come up with?

Kayena opened her red lips and began to speak.

“Since my lord is at that age, your family must be fussing over your marriage, correct?”

Raffaello started to think that she was going to say something deluded again, like proposing to him.

It wasn’t just that he was personally reluctant to marry her. It was also that he didn’t want the Imperial family and the Kidrey duchy to merge. Both were already too powerful, and it would be difficult to maintain a separation of interests and power if the two families didn’t remain separate.

“You already have a marriage partner picked out, yes?”

“A marriage partner?” Raffaello was confused.

“Ah,” Kayena said, covering her lips. “Is it that you don’t know yet…?”

“...What do you mean?”

Kayena smiled brightly. “Then maybe I can tell you something useful about your marriage partner.”

The Kidrey duchy ruled the western part of the Empire. The militant family was the only one in the Eldyme Empire that had nearly enough power to rival the Hill family. As such, the family’s only son, Raffaello, was like a highly coveted fruit.

Kayena smiled at Raffaello, who seemed sour about the concept of marriage. She wasn’t sure if he knew his own worth.

How typical of the male lead.

While reading the novel, Kayena had learned why Raffaello had never courted anyone before. He simply didn’t feel affection toward anyone. The words “attachment” and “affection” were merely uncomfortable annoyances to him.

People said that Raffaello was well-mannered, but it was more due to his dislike of close relationships than his personal disposition.

“A noble daughter who would be suitable as the lady of the house…”Kayena’s face turned pensive for a moment, as if she was trying to recall something. “There’s Dolores Avan, for one.”

Kayena remembered that in the novel, that young lady had sent a portrait of herself to Raffaello’s home.

“She’s very skilled at embroidery and playing the piano. But she faints at the sight of blood—what will she do in the rough western lands? It isn’t as if you can simply leave your wife behind in the capital.”

Also, who knew what would happen if he married a complete stranger? She moved on to another candidate.

“Rita from the Brukin family may be a better fit, in that case, as she once trained as a knight. Unfortunately, she lacks knowledge and wisdom. She’s also rather violent.”

Raffaello realized what both women had in common right away. “Both are from powerful families that have yet to choose a side on who should succeed throne.”

Kayena smiled and praised his intuition. “As expected, Lord Kidrey is very clever.”

He was silent, unsure how to respond to her words.

Kayena calmly regarded Raffaello, who was older than her, as if he were her younger sibling. Everyone was at a loss for words. But this attitude suited Kayena, strangely enough.

“Furthermore, these are all women who you will be able to marry within two years.”

Raffaello focused in on the “two years.”

Kayena’s coming-of-age will happen soon, but she’s recommending different marriage candidates?

Maybe this meant that she did not want to marry him anymore.

Raffaello began to find this conversation quite interesting.