Each in Their Place (2)
* * *
“There’s no reason I couldn’t.”
Hellion casually brushed off Illid’s sharp remark and added with a smirk.
“While we’re at it, maybe I should take a look around the detached palace myself. You’ve already stayed there once, haven’t you? How was it? Comfortable enough?”
“You bastard!”
Provoked beyond endurance, Illid shouted and grabbed Hellion by the collar. This time, however, Hellion did not simply take it. He seized the hand Illid had thrust at him and squeezed his arm with crushing force.
“Ha……”
Illid spat the word while glaring at the man blocking him.
“So Ishtel took your side, and now you’re strutting around like you own the world. I wonder how long that confidence will last. And don’t think I’ll let you or that rat of a knight you command off easily.”
Hellion’s teeth ground audibly at the threat. It looked as though another fistfight was about to break out. In that hair-trigger moment, the door to the corridor burst open and Lord Tessela rushed in.
“Your Grace, please stop this at once. You are due to have an audience with His Imperial Majesty shortly. You must not cause another disturbance.”
At his loyal attendant’s earnest plea, Illid finally relaxed the strength in his grip. He gave Hellion’s shoulder a hard shove and strode off toward the Emperor’s audience chamber.
Only after Illid had disappeared from sight could Hellion release the breath he had been holding. He desperately wanted to collapse into bed and rest, but since that was impossible, he leaned his weight against a nearby stone pillar.
“Are you all right, Ishtel?”
When he opened his eyes after closing them for a moment, Hellion’s face—filled with worry—came into view. I nodded slowly.
Even though Illid had left, the icy atmosphere he left behind did not dissipate easily. Together, Hellion and I walked out of the corridor and headed toward the inner courtyard of the Imperial Palace. As we strolled and chatted about this and that, a thought I had nearly forgotten suddenly resurfaced.
“Oh, right. There was actually something I wanted to tell you.”
“What is it?”
I made sure no one was nearby before whispering quietly to him.
“The sky lantern festival is in a few days. I was going to ask if we could go together again this year.”
“Has it already been a whole year?”
“Yes. Time really flies, doesn’t it?”
“It certainly does. In that case, I’ll have to stay up all night starting today to finish every last piece of work.”
Only now did a smile finally spread across Hellion’s face, which had remained stiff ever since the encounter with Illid.
“Are we sneaking out again?”
“That would probably be best, wouldn’t it?”
“Obviously.”
Hellion’s voice was already thick with anticipation.
“But why the sudden invitation? I’m happy about it, of course, but I’m curious if there’s a particular reason we have to go there.”
“There is. I have something I want to say to you there.”
“Something you want to say?”
Hellion’s blue eyes widened in surprise.
“What is it? I’m already dying of curiosity. Can’t you just tell me now?”
“No. It’s only a few days away. Just be patient and wait a little longer.”
When I shook my head firmly, Hellion stomped his feet in frustration.
“The way you’re saying that only makes me look forward to it even more.”
“You can look forward to it all you want.”
For Hellion, it was something worth anticipating. For me, however, it was something that required careful preparation.
Though he seemed to have many more questions, Hellion eventually returned to his quarters to attend to the mountain of official duties awaiting him.
Left alone, I gazed up at the sky for a moment. It was a beautiful sight, filled with fluffy white clouds drifting lazily.
On the night when that sky darkened and became filled with countless sky lanterns, I had to make sure everything turned out the complete opposite of what had happened a year ago.
* * *
Duchess Silvia Regentera dragged her heavy body toward the dressmaker’s atelier. She was going to attend the title bestowal ceremony that would soon be held at the Imperial Palace.
It was common for women nearing their due date to skip celebrations and ceremonies, but this particular event was one she could not avoid. The Imperial Palace had sent a separate invitation not only to Duke Zar Regentera but also to Duchess Silvia Regentera herself. The clear implication was that the couple should attend together.
When she had been pregnant with her first and second children, Silvia had not appeared at any official functions, so she had no maternity dresses suitable for going out. Today, she had come specifically to try on the new garments that had been custom-made for her.
“Welcome, Duchess Regentera.”
The atelier staff greeted her warmly. While they prepared the dress, Silvia wandered over to the corner of the shop where the girls’ dresses were displayed.
“Oh my, how adorable.”
Silvia was almost certain the child in her belly was a daughter. The baby’s movements felt distinctly different from when she had carried her two sons.
“There are even more pretty clothes than when I bought gifts for Rubia.”
She picked up an ivory-colored dress hanging on the display rack. At that moment, the curtain of the fitting room beside her flew open, and someone stepped out.
“Well, well. Who do we have here? It’s been a while, Duchess Regentera.”
“Goodness, you startled me.”
Silvia flinched, her shoulders jumping in surprise. She gave Ebony Bladin a short, narrow-eyed bow.
“You must be here to have clothes fitted as well, Countess Bladin.”
“Indeed. Isn’t this the most talked-about shop among noblewomen these days? A sparrow can’t just fly past a mill without stopping. I came to order a new outfit myself.”
Ebony squared her shoulders in front of Silvia as if striking a pose. The frills on her high-quality fabric shirt rippled like waves with the movement.
“Speaking of which, the Regentera family truly is remarkable. A household with three duchesses—imagine that.”
Ebony held up three fingers and folded them down one by one.
“Duchess Regentera, Silvia Regentera. Duchess of Wintera, Ishtel Regentera. And soon-to-be Duchess of Rockfelt, Karina Regentera. My, my. Such an honor is unprecedented in the entire history of the empire.”
When Ebony folded her last finger, Silvia barely managed to swallow the curse that had risen all the way to her throat.
She wanted to kick that sly woman’s backside as hard as the baby was kicking her belly. It was infuriating enough that Karina would be grouped together with her and Ishtel as a Regentera, but now even their titles would be the same.
Moreover, even among duchesses, the Emperor’s concubine was ranked higher than a duke’s wife in official settings. It was also the first time in imperial history that a concubine had ever been granted the title of duchess.
Most stopped at baroness, viscountess, or countess—how had things come to this, twisting the entire order of precedence? For Silvia, who had lived her entire life as one of the highest nobles, this was an extremely humiliating matter.
“Duchess, here is the dress. Please try it on.”
It was perfect timing, since she had nothing left to say. Silvia turned her back on Ebony and stepped into the fitting room.
A short while later, Silvia emerged looking satisfied with how well the dress had turned out. After paying, she climbed into her carriage and left the atelier.
“Countess, is there anything else you need?”
The shop employee approached Ebony, who was sprawled on the sofa, and asked. Ebony removed the hat adorned with mesh lace and shook her head.
“No, I’m fine. Just finish the alterations on the dress I tried on earlier and send it to the Bladin mansion.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and one more thing.”
Ebony snapped her fingers loudly and added,
“Could I take a look at the dress Duchess Regentera ordered earlier? My youngest older sister is expecting a child. I was thinking of giving her a maternity dress as a gift.”
“Of course. We haven’t packaged it yet, so please feel free to step into that fitting room and have a look.”
The clerk, excited at the prospect of another order, pointed to the empty fitting room—the very one Silvia had just used.
“Thank you. I’ll take a look and then place my order.”
Ebony gave the clerk a playful wink, then pulled aside the thick curtain and stepped inside.
“As expected, this place really knows how to make clothes. The fabric, the design—everything is perfect. My sister will absolutely love this.”
Despite the relaxed voice drifting out from behind the curtain, Ebony’s hands moved with brisk efficiency.
She pulled a small cloth pouch from inside her coat. Inside was a fine green herbal powder.
‘My eyes are a bit blurry since it’s been so long since I last did any sewing.’
Ebony took out a silver needle and threaded it. She bent at the waist and slipped beneath the skirt of the mannequin wearing Silvia’s dress.
‘How utterly vulgar. For a family that claims to be the greatest noble house in the empire, the things they do are worse than what children of five or six wouldn’t even attempt……’
She sewed the pouch into the innermost part of the dress, in an ambiguous spot where hands would rarely reach. Because the dress was layered with so many ruffles and laces, the few extra stitches were completely invisible.
It seemed the sewing she had done for her half-siblings as a child following her mother around had not been entirely in vain.
She pulled the needle out between the layers of lace and tied a tight knot. After biting the thread off with her canine tooth, Ebony crawled out from under the skirt.
Once the task was finished, she felt strangely unsettled. It wasn’t guilt. Yet she didn’t feel any particular satisfaction either.
‘Oh dear, have I lost my edge? I used to think that as long as I could trample those brothers of mine, I could do even more ridiculous and petty things.’
The gamble her decrepit father had made to restore the family’s honor was none other than Ebony herself. Sneaking beneath an enemy’s skirt to plant a scheme like this was something only she—someone who had endured every kind of humiliation since childhood—could do.
Ebony had always believed that very trait had become her weapon, allowing her to rise to her current position. But now, such work no longer felt welcome. It felt strangely foreign.
‘I want to regain the ducal title as soon as possible and never have to see those pathetic brothers again.’
Ebony tucked the thread and needle deep into her coat pocket and stepped out of the fitting room. She smiled brightly at the clerk.
“It’s a lovely dress. I’ll order one similar to it.”