Despite tilting his head in puzzlent, he continued to give his report diligently, and ti passed quickly.
“Oh dear, it’s gotten this late already. Let’s end the eting here for today. Ah, and take note, I’ll be acting as the representative for a while.”
Edmund quietly watched Carlito disappear, then left the conference room.
He closed his eyes as the wind brushed against his face, then slowly opened them again.
Sowhere in this imperial palace… Daphne was here. A heavy swirl of emotions churned within him.
“Duke.”
Soone approached Edmund just then.
“May I have a word with you?”
It was Elizabeth.
“I’m sorry, but I have a tight schedule.”
Edmund turned away, preparing to leave.
“I visited the Duchess today.”
Had it been anyone else, her words might have been dismissed but Edmund stopped and t her gaze.
Elizabeth internally smirked at his reaction, though outwardly she flashed a bright smile.
“Co to my room with .”
She looped her arm around Edmund’s. She walked as slowly as she could, deliberately drawing attention, while Edmund’s steps remained brisk and impatient.
“There’s no need to rush, Your Excellency. We have plenty of ti, don’t we?”
Edmund looked down at her with an expressionless face. Biting her lower lip, Elizabeth stopped pushing and quickened her pace.
“Please, make yourself comfortable.”
She poured tea that had been steeped with imported leaves into Edmund’s cup. The fragrant aroma filled the room in an instant.
“Lovely scent, isn’t it? It was quite the effort to import this tea. Have a taste.”
Despite her urging, Edmund rely stared at the cup in silence.
“Anyway, I went for a stroll in the garden today and midway…”
“Princess.”
Edmund cut her off.
“Get to the point.”
“The point… is it.”
Elizabeth took a sip of her tea before setting the cup down.
“I want to make you an offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
“After the upcoming Founding Festival, my father plans to send to Dongdaeguk to be married off.”
Dongdaeguk – a barbaric land.
Though lacking in cultural developnt, their military prowess rivaled that of the Empire, making them a constant headache.
And now, Dongdaeguk had proposed a deal: They would no longer threaten the Empire if, as a symbol of alliance, they were given an imperial princess.
“I… I don’t want to go.”
Tears welled in Elizabeth’s eyes.
“No nobleman in the Empire caught my father’s eye, so I suppose the king’s proposal seed appealing. But I don’t want to marry a savage!”
With glistening eyes, she lifted her head.
“Duke, marry instead.”
“I am already a married man.”
“You can get a divorce.”
Rising from her seat, Elizabeth moved to sit beside him.
“It’s not just about avoiding that marriage. You know it too… how much I care for you.”
Her face was strikingly beautiful as she confessed her feelings: rosy cheeks, glimring eyes, and eyelashes trembling with tension. She had deliberately chosen a thin, revealing dress, and their bodies were far too close.
She leaned in even further.
“Duke… won’t you hold ?”
[“Hold .”]
The voice echoing in his mind overlapped with the present. Edmund abruptly stood up.
“Your Excellency?”
“Do not touch .”
He brushed off the spot on his coat where she had gripped him.
“If you’ve said your piece, I’ll take my leave now.”
With his hand on the door handle, he paused and turned slightly.
“I have no intention of getting a divorce.”
Grinding her teeth, Elizabeth shouted after him.
“What does it matter what you want?! The Duchess seems to want it.”
There it was again.
Like a spell, the ntion of Daphne stopped Edmund in his tracks. He let go of the door handle and turned to face her.
“What do you an by that?”
“Why? Should I show you proof?”
Elizabeth pulled out a docunt signed by Daphne.
Edmund took it and examined every word carefully. It was unmistakably Daphne’s handwriting. She had written it herself, without hesitation or resistance.
“Do you believe now? I didn’t think she’d sign so willingly.”
Elizabeth said it provocatively. But Edmund was no longer listening, his attention was wholly consud by the docunt.
“Duke? Your Excellency?”
Elizabeth called out, but Edmund was already walking away. He was far enough now that her voice couldn’t reach him.
“…Hah.”
Unable to hold it in, Elizabeth scoffed.
The tea Edmund hadn’t touched had long since gone cold.
* * *
The mont Edmund left the Princess’s quarters, he rushed back to the mansion and summoned Alec.
“Send word to Eugene. Tell her to enter the palace and check on Daphne.”
“Your Excellency, that’s too dangerous. Even the royal family wouldn’t dare harm the Madam. She bears the Winter family’s heir.”
“No.”
Edmund’s voice was resolute.
“This is an order, Alec.”
“…Understood.”
As Alec left to relay the ssage, Edmund picked up his pace. He hadn’t lied about having urgent business. Just as the eting had ended, a ssage had been discreetly delivered to him.
His destination: none other than Damian’s room.
“You’re here, Your Excellency.”
“How is he?”
Edmund went straight to the bedroom.
Damian lay unconscious, still not having woken. Two days had passed, and despite the Baroness Nuvelle’s examinations, there was no sign of recovery.
Though he appeared to be peacefully sleeping, Damian would occasionally display seizure-like symptoms.
“He’s stable for now.”
Thankfully, those episodes didn’t last long.
“I believe… it may be an aura awakening.”
“Aura awakening?”
Edmund turned to look at Damian at the Baroness Nuvelle’s words. Normally, a fever or intense pain accompanied such awakenings, but Damian showed no such signs.
“There seems to be so kind of internal conflict within his body,” the Baroness Nuvelle explained, going on to detail the seizures.
Back in his study, Edmund began writing a letter addressed to the Grand Mage. As he was finishing it, soone knocked on the door.
“It’s Olga, Your Excellency.”
“Co in.”
She entered with a freshly prepared cigar.
“I brought it in place of the Baroness Nuvelle.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s late, Your Excellency.”
Only then did Edmund realize that night had already fallen.
“You should rest now.”
Olga offered a soft smile, set the cigar down, and turned to leave. Edmund, reaching out for the cigar out of habit, noticed the scent was stronger than usual.
“Olga.”
She turned at his call.
“Is sothing the matter?”
“The day the maid disappeared… was anything strange?”
“There wasn’t. Had there been, I would’ve reported it imdiately.”
“…I see. You may go.”
After she left, Edmund stepped onto the terrace, cigar in hand. Just as he was about to light it, he sensed movent.
“Report.”
Eugene’s voice erged from the shadows.
“There were no signs of injury or struggle.”
Flick. A tiny fla sparked as Edmund lit his cigar in silence.
“I see.”
Saying nothing more, he let Eugene lt back into the darkness.
Smoke swirled upward. The chaos in his mind briefly cleared, leaving behind a white, hazy emptiness.
In the stillness, the pain in his arm resurfaced with brutal clarity. He pulled out two magic stones from his coat and turned them over in his hand.
With a little pressure, the stones would dissolve and dispel the dark energy within him. But he didn’t squeeze.
He rely held them, gazing down blankly, embracing the pain. And in that pain… thoughts of Daphne flooded in.
‘Daphne.’
Daphne, Daphne, Daphne.
He used the pain as an excuse to think of her. His thoughts spiraled from her na to the divorce papers he’d seen earlier that day.
Edmund took a deep drag of his cigar and exhaled.
[“I didn’t think she’d sign so willingly.”]
The Princess’s words echoed in his mind. Without realizing it, he bit down hard on the cigar, crushing the leaves inside.
Turning his gaze to the nearby terrace, he wondered: Why had Daphne been standing there that day?
The burn on her hand, caused by falling ash, had already faded.
Edmund looked at the lit cigar in his hand… then pressed it to that sa spot, creating a new scar over the old.
Hssssss.
He closed his eyes.
The pain only deepened.
* * *
Daphne suddenly opened her eyes. It wasn’t ti to wake up, but sothing had stirred her. She stared quietly into the still-dark night sky.
A familiar scent wafted faintly to her nose – the scent of Edmund’s cigar. Startled, she inhaled again, trying to catch it, but only the early dawn air filled her lungs.
Ti passed, and just as the sun began to rise…
The door suddenly burst open.
T/N: Daphne simply has ‘hubby is around’ detector she could even sll his cigar
Seriously, when will Elizabeth be out of the picture?
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