Chapter 3
“Why are you only just getting here, miss?”
Alicia had been craning her neck, waiting for the Lockwood ducal carriage to pass through the main gate, and the moment she got word, she somehow found her lady’s carriage in an instant.
Even with such meticulous care taken to park it near a dark stretch of forest in order to avoid prying eyes, it had done no good at all. The moment Sylvia stepped down from the carriage, Alicia shoved her face close and began to harangue her, only for Sylvia to gently push her away.
“Did Father find out?”
The way Alicia was practically vibrating with excitement made Sylvia think it might already be too late. But Alicia shook her head and grabbed her roughly by the arm.
“Not yet. But he will soon! He told us to prepare an early lunch today. He’s taking you to the Imperial Palace, apparently.”
“What?”
At the stunned reply, Sylvia nearly tripped over her own feet as she walked.
She could understand, more or less, her father deciding her schedule without a single word of warning. But Duke Appleton taking her to the Imperial Palace with him was something else entirely.
Ever since his failed attempt to sell Sylvia off to the prince in the past, he had never once gone to the Imperial Palace with her again. Sylvia had assumed he was afraid that, if he went with her, the humiliation of that incident might rise back up to swallow him whole.
Even on banquet days, he always traveled separately. He left one or two hours after Sylvia so that their arrivals would not overlap. If Heston had not been there, Sylvia would have had to appear in the banquet hall alone, with no escort, and endure being called a discarded daughter.
Well. That was more or less the truth, anyway.
What on earth is he plotting now?
Though she hurried after Alicia, unease kept gnawing at the corner of her mind.
Could it be about her marriage prospects? Surely he wasn’t trying to produce yet another royal candidate, was he?
Sylvia imagined herself marrying a baby, let out a sigh, and decided that for now she would at least erase all traces of last night before the hour her father had specified.
The expensive salve infused with holy power that she had set aside for Heston one day would do. She rubbed it over every red and bruised patch, working to erase the evidence.
Along with the stiffness in her lower back from aching muscles, she mustered what courage she could and roughly checked the sore, embarrassing place as well, managing to get through it as best she could.
Alicia, who had been fussing that even if they prepared as quickly as possible it would still be a race against time, had then been abruptly sent out. When she returned a short while later and saw Sylvia opening the door with her face flushed bright red, she tilted her head, utterly unable to understand what on earth had happened.
“What exactly were you doing in there?”
Alicia sniffed suspiciously. She had heard, in passing, that there was some drug going around among the knights fighting monsters that could make a person lose their head.
No way the miss would ever touch something like that, right?
Sylvia caught Alicia by the shoulders and turned her around to distract her, silently signaling that they should just hurry and get ready before time ran out.
Though Alicia did not quite let go of her suspicion, she moved her hands briskly, helping Sylvia dress and finish her appearance.
“If you’re trying to relax, don’t you dare take some weird drug like that! I told you, didn’t I? The place I used to live in got absolutely awful because of that sort of thing! People start out of curiosity or by accident, and then next thing you know, they’re hopelessly hooked and the whole thing goes to hell!”
At Alicia’s ominous words, Sylvia shuddered. It sounded almost as if Alicia were talking about Owen.
Start out of curiosity and end up hopelessly hooked.
“That won’t happen.”
Alicia frowned at Sylvia’s resolute expression, sensing that something about it was strange, but time was already running short, so she redoubled her efforts and rushed through the preparations.
On a day like today, if Sylvia was late for the meal, no one knew how badly she would be torn apart for it.
Fortunately, thanks to the bold move of tying the ribbon at the back of her neck while walking in the corridor rather than in the room, Sylvia was able to arrive first for dinner.
The moment she took her seat, Lady Blunk entered with a fatigued look on her face, rubbing her temple with a thick ring-clad finger. Sylvia had to make a considerable effort not to let her expression harden at the sight of her.
Lady Blunk was Sylvia’s second paternal aunt, who had come to live in the manor after losing her husband in an unfortunate accident.
Fully aware of herself as little more than a hanger-on, Lady Blunk had always survived by feeding her brother the mistakes of her niece. As long as her brother’s anger was directed at Sylvia, it would not be revealed that she herself was worthless.
“At least you did make it home.”
Settling into the chair pulled out for her by a servant, Lady Blunk said, “At that level of drunkenness, I thought you’d end up buried in Lockwood soil.”
Apparently she had seen Sylvia staggering away from the banquet hall drunk the day before.
Sylvia clasped her hands neatly in front of her, pretending to be composed. She knew that the more she argued here, the worse it would be for her.
“I’m sorry to have caused you concern.”
“Tsk. Always the same rehearsed nonsense. A passing breeze would be more dutiful than you.”
With a click of her tongue, Lady Blunk was joined by Duke Appleton entering the dining room. He wore his dark blue hair swept up and, after removing the spectacles he had worn for a long time, handed them to a servant before letting his eyes sweep over Sylvia from head to toe just as his sister had done.
The thorough scrutiny made her tense up naturally. Even under ordinary circumstances, standing before that ferociously sharp gaze always seemed to drain the confidence from her, and what was more, she had gone and caused trouble today, of all days.
Bracing for whatever harsh rebuke might fall, Sylvia waited, but the duke merely let out a short sigh and sat down without saying anything else.
“Your Grace, weren’t you going to speak to Sylvia about something?”
Unable to bear it, Lady Blunk finally opened the conversation, but Duke Appleton only motioned to a servant to hand Sylvia a letter.
“This came for you. The princess is inviting you. Since we happen to have business at the Imperial Palace today, you will come with us.”
That seemed to be the entire purpose of his summons, because the duke soon began eating in silence.
With a bewildered expression, Sylvia took the letter and checked the seal first. She had wondered if perhaps it was from some other princess, but it was indeed from Princess Catherine.
Yes. Princess Catherine, the one who had just become engaged to Heston yesterday.
Why on earth is she inviting me?
When Sylvia opened the letter and read it, the purpose was clear enough.
After the engagement ceremony, she was planning to hold a small tea reception with only noble young ladies present, and she hoped Sylvia would attend as well.
As Heston’s partner, she said, she would like to get to know Sylvia properly.
It was an unremarkable request in itself, but the fact that it came from Princess Catherine was what made it so odd.
Sylvia knew that Princess Catherine was not the sort to engage in this kind of social nicety, much less with Heston’s family.
She even turned down the request to have a family meal together. Like the princess she is, her nose is way up in the air.
Rosalyn’s voice, complaining just like that, came vividly back to her, and yet now this letter had arrived out of nowhere.
But unlike Sylvia, the duke did not seem particularly puzzled.
“Go and see what exactly the princess is plotting. She surely won’t be shameless enough to choose Lockwood and then still expect our assistance.”
Frowning at his meal and glaring at the food as though deeply dissatisfied, the duke wiped his hands on a napkin. Soon another dish was brought out without a sound, but that, too, seemed far from pleasing him.
It was a well-known fact that whenever something upset him, the duke’s appetite became exceedingly finicky.
Still, if his own child had been cast aside by the prince and now the princess as well, it was hardly surprising that food would sit heavily in his stomach. And with the opportunity now having gone to the Lockwood ducal house, Duke Appleton’s insides were probably burning just as badly as Sylvia’s.
So the Appleton ducal house’s ties with the royal family were finished now. Like any other ordinary noble house, they would have to trail after the emperor and flatter him. Sylvia understood very well how humiliating her father would find that, so she rose quietly after him.
The Imperial Palace was as vast and intricate as a small city.
Sylvia had been to the palace often enough, being a member of the Imperial Palace Knights, but this was her first time in the inner palace where the royal family resided.
The endless, almost sickeningly lavish works of art and statues were impressive enough, but what truly caught Sylvia’s eye were the intricate magic circles hidden in various places throughout the halls.
“These look like they’re more than a hundred years old.”
The attendant guiding them through the palace had asked her to wait here for a moment, so Sylvia assumed he had gone to inform the princess that she had arrived. At ease, left alone in the room, Sylvia examined the magic circle.
Then, suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
“What kind of magic circle?”
When she turned, she saw Princess Catherine in a light blue dress.
Sylvia was startled and hurriedly bent one knee in a proper show of respect to royalty.
“I—I, Sylvia Appleton of the 146th Black Moon, offer my greetings to the glory of the Empire!”
To think the mistress of the palace herself would come out to meet her in person. She had somehow ended up poking around an unoccupied room, and even worse, a magic circle containing information about the palace’s security. The thought flashed through her mind that the princess, rumored to be as cold as ice, might well be offended. But Catherine only broke into a fresh, bright smile.
“At a tea party, you’d be the only person who would actually kneel.”
“I’ve been disrespectful—”
“You mean for looking at the magic circle? Well, what else could you do when it’s plainly visible? It’s well known that a Posmata can’t be fooled by magic circles. In the first place, it’s my responsibility for bringing you here without any precautions after knowing exactly who you are. So don’t worry about it. Now then, shall we? The other young ladies are waiting.”
The hand that drew her along was warm, and there was not the slightest trace of unease in the princess’s clear face.
On official occasions, the princess was usually stern and cold, so her easy familiarity now felt oddly awkward.
What is she really plotting?
Unlike her father, Sylvia did not overestimate the power of her own family, and she did not believe for a moment that Catherine had summoned her here because of some grand scheme involving the Appleton ducal house. Her approach had been far too personal for that. Then again, perhaps it was because of Heston?
Rumors that Sylvia liked Heston had spread far and wide, so for the princess to have heard them was no difficulty at all.
And considering they had been close friends for ten years, not to mention that Catherine was Heston’s partner, it made sense that she would be concerned. Sylvia remembered very well how hostile every woman who had ever liked Heston had been toward her.
But I’m not even worthy of being compared to you.
Looking at Princess Catherine’s profile as the princess led her forward, Sylvia thought that even if she and Heston had orbited one another for ten years, never once letting it become anything more, she still was not comparable to Catherine, who had received Heston’s proposal in only three months.
Sylvia swallowed down her gloomy feelings and followed Princess Catherine in silence.