Swoosh!

The Duke took a step forward and blocked First Prince Gerald from my view.

Wait, you’re making it difficult for me to raise my status by building rapport with royalty!

Although I grumbled a little, I was able to regain some composure thanks to being one step away from confronting the royal family.

Prince Geraldine, who had been shaking hands and chatting with the Duke in a friendly manner, looked at me again and spoke.

“I wasn’t joking when I asked you to be comfortable with me earlier. You’re the wife of my dear friend, and we’ll be seeing each other often from now on.”

“My wife and your majesty will not see each other often.”

Truly the leader of the First Prince faction. I was a little surprised by the words of the Duke, who tackled the prince without any hesitation.

Prince Geraldine narrowed his eyes at him and said.

“More than anything, she is a wonderful lady who rescued my close friend who was growing old dully.”

“Yes?”

“Haha. Do you know, by any chance? The Duke came to me in the middle of the night, asking me to process his engagement documents…”

“Your Highness!”

The Duke interrupted Prince Geraldine with a heavy voice as he tried to tell me something interesting.

Well, is it even okay to talk like this to the prince who is pushing to be the emperor?

“Ah, by the way, I saw you at the engagement ceremony, but you’ve really become more beautiful, haven’t you?”

Is it even allowed?

At the Duke’s glare, Prince Geraldine averted his eyes, cleared his throat, and immediately changed the topic.

The Duke seemed familiar with the way he smiled and turned his horse around and sighed softly next to him.

‘What an interesting master-subordinate relationship.’

It was interesting how close they seemed to be.

It was quite a privilege to have royalty initiate such a personal conversation. Not only other ordinary nobles…

“I wondered if the friend I used to know was still the same. Haha!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Until recently, you had quite a gloomy face, like life had no fun. Now, isn’t your expression quite lively with your wife by your side?”

What are you saying, Your Highness?

Right now, the Duke is looking at you with a rather gloomy expression.

“Anyway, there’s been a lot of ups and downs lately. I hope this year will be a good year.”

“It’s all thanks to the efforts of those who worked tirelessly.”

“Indeed. As the Duke says, many people are working hard for our empire.”

The conversation, which started out as a casual discussion of personal matters, quickly turned into a discussion of political affairs. Since these are the people who actually control the situation on the continent, even their brief mentions felt weighty.

It wasn’t a topic for me to get into, so as I listened quietly, I thought about the story I had heard about the First Prince.

‘He’s the peace-loving one who prioritizes diplomatic methods, unlike his younger brother, Elshan, who supports the war’

The noble families had ridiculed Crown Prince Gerald as a weakling compared to Elshan, who they favored. 

However, the Crown Prince I saw now was different from what people had said.

‘Rather than being soft… … Although he has a flexible appearance, he looks quite strong.’

His deep green eyes complemented his brown hair well, bringing to mind a majestic tree.

Even in their brief conversation, it was impressive to see him making eye contact with each and every one of his retainers and listening to them.

‘He exudes a comforting sense of stability.’

Even though he was a prince without his maternal family’s support base, he seemed to understand why the Duke chose him.

“I can’t believe the epidemic that was so rampant has now come to an end… … Time has already passed so quickly this year.”

“At first, I was really wondering how to handle this situation.”

“But in the end, it was wrapped up so well, wasn’t it?”

The conversation soon moved to the topic of today’s banquet.

The celebration of the end of the epidemic. As everyone was talking about, that was the main theme of tonight’s event.

‘It was too extravagant for a banquet to commemorate the elimination of an infectious disease that caused many people to suffer.’

Well, because this is the royal family’s taste.

The banquet hall, which was extravagant and incongruous with the commemoration, was within the expected range.

First Prince Gerald’s face momentarily displayed a slightly reserved expression, as if the decorations didn’t sit well with him.

“By the way, His Majesty prepared a great reward for the one who developed the cure for the epidemic today, didn’t he?”

“It was indeed a remarkable achievement.”

‘I did that feat!’

The cure that I was lucky enough to create not only succeeded but also led to its distribution and commercialization, to the point where a grand celebration like this was being held in the capital city.

If only I had known that it would achieve great results, even eliminating infectious diseases!

I could have… perhaps, in place of my brother…

‘Well, at that time, I was still in my naive family-loving phase, so I couldn’t be sure.’

The excitement I had felt earlier began to subside.

As I stared with cold, salty eyes, I didn’t know what kind of gaze the Duke was directing towards me at that moment.