Chapter 23
The princess felt different, as if she had become someone else, but this feeling was based purely on my intuition.
If someone asked why I thought this way, I wouldn’t be able to provide a logical or convincing answer.
“It’s just… something feels off.”
“Lady April?”
Adonis’s silence was an affirmation.
She didn’t quite resemble the April Hil Rise he used to know.
Her once sharp and irritable gaze now seemed indifferent, as though she were merely looking at a stone rolling down the road.
She no longer resembled the fragile and meek lady he had occasionally glimpsed during their academy days, nor the one who clung to Barak, unwilling to part from his side.
“She feels different from her usual self.”
If Lerbian had seen her as well, he might have an answer.
However, Lerbian remained silent, offering no response to Adonis’s comment. Instead, he quietly stared at the green handkerchief in his hand.
“I’ll ask directly.”
Adonis recalled the April who had stood before him months ago, her eyes brimming with tears.
“There are rumors that His Highness has someone else in his heart. Could that person be…”
“Is it you, Adonis Betrice?”
The one asking the question had no idea how unpleasant it was for him to hear this.
“Refusing a lady’s favor isn’t exactly the behavior of a knight.”
Today, April had seen him not as a “woman” by the Crown Prince’s side, but merely as a “knight,” which was different from before.
“Has she matured?”
An inexplicable uneasiness settled deep in his chest.
Seeing Lerbian watching him, Adonis tried to change the subject.
“By the way, weren’t you supposed to be with His Highness?”
“Oh…!”
Lerbian suddenly remembered why he had left the building, turning his gaze hastily toward the palace’s rear garden.
“I’ll go on ahead.”
Lerbian realized that now was not the time to be caught up in a conversation with Adonis.
“Lady Rozian is in the garden…”
It was the anxious maid in his office who had mentioned it.
Rozian, who never set foot in the Crown Prince’s palace, had unexpectedly shown up without prior notice. The reason was obvious.
She must have heard that April Hil Rise had arrived at the palace.
Even though it was the Crown Prince’s garden, it wasn’t directly attached to the main palace, so Lerbian had to practically run to get there.
The wind whistled past his ears, and it wasn’t until the entrance to the garden came into view that he stopped to catch his breath before approaching.
“So please, consider my words carefully, Your Highness.”
A melodious voice struck Lerbian’s ears.
As Rozian, who had brought more maids with her than the late Empress, exited the garden, she locked eyes with Lerbian.
Her clear turquoise eyes scanned Lerbian from head to toe with a gaze filled with unspoken reproach, as if to say, “How dare you not greet a member of the imperial family?”
Imperial family? What a joke.
The idea of a mistress without even an official title acting like a member of the imperial family was absurd.
No matter how much the deranged Emperor cherished her, Rozian officially held no legitimate power within the imperial family.
“So, that’s why I didn’t see you constantly by His Highness’s side today.”
“…”
Lerbian, saying nothing, merely bowed his head slightly, which only deepened Rozian’s expression of displeasure as she brushed past him.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Lerbian entered the garden and immediately spotted Perfone seated at a table.
“Your Highness.”
“Ah, Sir Lerbian.”
Perfone, who had been staring at the ground with a stiff expression, greeted him with a forced smile.
The fact that his smile grew darker indicated that something unpleasant had happened.
Whether it was because of Lady April or the visit from Rozian just now, Lerbian couldn’t say.
“Are you all right…?”
“When hasn’t that madman spoken nonsense? There’s no reason for me not to be.”
Perfone rarely dropped his polite demeanor, but he spoke openly and without restraint when Rozian was involved.
Rozian was a disgrace to the Dawus Empire.
The Emperor had taken a male concubine, and the day after the Empress’s death, he had moved Rozian into a separate palace.
It was an event that had shocked everyone serving in the imperial family, and for the young Crown Prince, it must have been an unimaginable trauma.
So much so that the young Crown Prince had developed mutism.
“What did he say to you…?”
“He questioned whether it was necessary to go through with the marriage to the Duke’s family.”
Perfone lifted the teacup in front of him and took a sip.
It seemed that Rozian, emboldened by his father’s favor, had grown quite arrogant.
“What an insolent fool.”
Perfone scoffed briefly.
He must have thought Perfone was still the weak, fragile Crown Prince of that day.
He still vividly remembered what his father and Rozian had done in the Empress’s bedroom on the day of his mother’s funeral.
“Ro… zian…! Rozian…!”
His father had wailed his name, weeping beneath him, with not the slightest trace of grief for his late wife.
“Your Majesty, it’s the Empress’s funeral. Are you sure you should be away?”
And Rozian had looked him straight in the eye and spoken those words.
“It’s fine, it’s fine…”
“Damn it.”
Perfone cursed under his breath and rubbed his face, recalling those dreadful memories.
The thought that the same blood ran through his veins as such a pitiful man made him want to tear it all out.
He was so weary of life that he could hardly bear it anymore. Clicking his tongue, Perfone brought the teacup to his lips.
“So, what have you found out about Rozian?”
“He continues to support the temple and orphanages. He keeps bringing orphans into the orphanages.”
“And?”
“The strange thing is, he doesn’t visit the orphanages himself.”
“…Really?”
“He was also an orphan from the temple, and that’s where he caught His Majesty’s eye.”
Everyone in the imperial family knew the story.
Rozian Staryu had been abandoned at the capital’s temple orphanage and lived his entire life in the temple until Emperor Vius took a liking to him and brought him into the imperial family.
“I apologize. I’ll look into it further.”
Noticing Perfone’s dissatisfaction at the lack of substantial information, Lerbian bowed his head deeply.
“Hurry and find out something. Anything that could be used against him.”
The delay in Perfone’s succession ceremony was entirely due to Rozian’s interference.
Rozian Staryu was an unsettling presence to Perfone Dinia Dawus.
In fact, the entire imperial family likely felt the same way.
How many years had it been since that man entered the imperial family?
He had spent nearly the same amount of time as Perfone in the palace, yet he showed no signs of aging.
“There’s definitely something he’s hiding.”
Perfone’s statement was met with a quiet nod from Lerbian.
It was no wonder. Rozian Staryu had spent almost 20 years in the imperial palace, yet his face showed no signs of aging.
He claimed that he took great care of himself out of fear of losing the Emperor’s favor, but…
“No human could do that.”
Perfone whispered softly.
Rozian’s youth seemed to have transcended humanity.
Maintaining that state would have been impossible without the temple’s help.
“You’ll need to dig deeper. Or perhaps… that priest, Tamitarte, was it?”
Perfone tapped the table, muttering the name.
“Do you mean Rozian’s personal priest?”
“Yes, it wouldn’t hurt to look into him as well.”
Lerbian nodded.
He wanted Perfone to ascend to the throne as soon as possible and become the Emperor that the empire could be proud of.
Lerbian licked his dry lips and spoke cautiously.
“Your Highness.”
His voice was heavy and solemn.
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