The Highly Advanced Feud
“I only said it because I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that someone as important as the Grand Duke would date my sister of all people….”
Was that an insult or a compliment?
While Chloe struggled to decide, Leah flipped through the newspaper and heaved sigh after sigh.
“I should’ve known when you barely spent any time at home, and every second you did, you were cursing Grand Duke Berk….”
“What? I did that?”
“If I hadn’t seen Miss Grace, our school librarian, secretly kissing Assistant Keres after badmouthing him every single day, I never would’ve believed you.”
To Chloe’s astonishment, Leah seemed to have accepted the ridiculous claim that Chloe had been carrying on a secret romance with the Grand Duke before Chloe had even explained it.
Judging from her chatter, the secret lay in the wide variety of human relationships she had observed at her girls’ school, the romances she had watched from the sidelines, and the colorful selection of romance novels she had devoured.
“They say a highly advanced feud is indistinguishable from lovers’ quarrels. I never thought that would end up describing my own sister.”
Of course, the newspapers that had taken it upon themselves to prattle about their love had also played a part.
After rapidly reading through those newspapers, Leah had become utterly convinced that the thrilling murderous intent Chloe felt while working late every day had, at some point, transformed into thrilling love.
“It’s just like a novel!”
Should I be relieved about this or not…?
Emotionally, Chloe wanted to scream, Please don’t accept this. But she couldn’t.
What if she said, I’m in a contract marriage, and Leah accidentally let something slip outside?
Of course, Leah was not that childish, nor was she loose-lipped. She only teased like this in front of family.
Even so, there was no need to go out of her way to correct Leah when she had already reached the wrong conclusion all on her own.
In any case, wasn’t this exact misunderstanding what Curtis had wanted?
So Chloe forced a smile and nodded.
“Y-yes…. That’s how it happened….”
“Well, Grand Duke Berk really is handsome. Lots of girls at our school cut his face out of the newspaper and collect the clippings.”
Are all the girls at that school blind?
Chloe grumbled inwardly.
Leah, unconcerned, was far too busy admiring the drawing room.
“Look at this. The furniture is incredibly elegant and sturdy.”
The interior was graceful, perfectly suited to the white mansion’s exterior.
This detached residence had been hastily assigned to the sisters, who had arrived at dawn.
Chloe herself had never set foot inside the Berk Ducal Residence before, so she had no precise idea where they were. Even at a glance, however, it was a splendid space overflowing with class.
“This is amazing. There are plenty of rich girls and noble girls at our school, but I bet not a single one of them lives in a mansion this gorgeous. Even the curtains are soft!”
Leah touched the curtains, then coughed.
“I guess this place has been empty for a long time. But I still love it!”
As she said that, Leah twirled once around the drawing room.
For reference, the drawing room alone was far larger than the entire little house on Le Martin Street where Chloe had lived with her siblings.
“If you marry His Grace the Grand Duke, does that mean you’ll live here from now on?”
“…Probably?”
“That’s amazing! Iris will love it when she wakes up!”
Chloe awkwardly scratched her cheek.
At first, she had been reluctant to bring her siblings here.
It was one thing to somehow end up getting married in all this confusion. Wasn’t bringing her family into the Berk Ducal Residence an entirely different matter?
But Leah had been persuaded far more easily than expected, and seeing her marvel at the mansion let Chloe relax for the moment.
“Eric doesn’t know either, does he?”
She meant their eldest younger brother, twenty-one-year-old Eric, who was staying in the dormitory of the Military Academy in a small city a little way from the capital.
Naturally, there was no way he knew.
Chloe sheepishly scratched the back of her head.
“I was going to send a telegram, but, well, probably….”
He had probably learned about it first from the newspapers now plastered all over the market.
Eric, the most hot-tempered of the siblings, might very well have collapsed by now clutching the back of his neck.
Leah must have imagined Eric’s reaction too, because she gave a small giggle. Then she sighed.
“Mother and Father will be lucky if they even see a newspaper.”
Without a word, Chloe stroked the hair of the sleeping Iris.
Unlike Chloe or Leah, their youngest sister had dark skin and silver hair, and she was only ten. She was at an age where wanting her parents would be perfectly natural.
But even Iris rarely asked about their parents.
Not expecting anything from their parents was an unspoken rule among the Amboise siblings.
“Still, I’m glad, Chloe. Since your partner is the Grand Duke, maybe they’ll at least hear a rumor about your marriage somehow.”
Chloe was just about to answer, What good would that do? when Leah’s eyes began to sparkle with faint expectation.
“If things go well, they’ll come before your wedding, right?”
“…Before my wedding?”
“It’s been a little over three months since you left the navy. The wedding should still be nine months away, so….”
It was understandable that Leah would think so.
But that was not the case….
How was she supposed to say this?
Chloe awkwardly shifted her gaze.
“Well… I don’t think so.”
“Why? When are you getting married?”
“…Next week?”
Leah froze.
Meanwhile, in the main building of the Berk Ducal Residence.
“How is the annex? I need to call Warrant Officer Amboise and speak with her.”
Second Lieutenant Noel Montpis, who had just been handing over a shirt, paused at Curtis’s words.
As usual, he had been helping his beautiful friend and superior change clothes in the mansion’s toilette room.
Noel spoke carefully, as though admonishing Curtis.
“Curtis. Your Grace. It has only been one day.”
“An entire day.”
But if anyone expected him to take that as a rebuke, he would not be Curtis Shan Berk.
Noel could only smile bitterly.
“Could you try to understand how those young ladies feel after suddenly waking up in an unfamiliar mansion overnight?”
“It was the late queen consort’s summer palace. There’s nowhere better in the capital of the kingdom.”
“Curtis.”
Noel called his name and lightly warned him.
Curtis wrinkled his nose and took the shirt from Noel.
Ordinarily, this was work that should have been done by the mansion’s servants.
However, half the household staff at the Berk Mansion were essentially the King’s spies.
Curtis originally had a separate estate of his own. After the war ended, he had planned to stay there.
But the suspicious King had summoned him to the royal guard command and made him reside in the vacant Berk Mansion.
It had also been the King who personally sent servants to the Berk Mansion, claiming it was “his elder brother’s kindness.” Refusing would have made matters twice as troublesome.
That did not mean Curtis could tolerate having his every movement reported to the King.
In the end, Noel had volunteered to serve as his hands and feet, and that arrangement had continued until now.
Noel had acted as Curtis’s aide on the battlefield before, so it was not particularly difficult.
“The butler was begging to be allowed into the annex.”
“That damned old man.”
Curtis frowned.
Philip, the butler of the Berk Mansion, had also once been one of the attendants the King had employed during his days as a prince.
No doubt he intended to report Curtis’s condition to the King as quickly as possible.
“His excuse was good. The bedding really is old.”
At dawn yesterday, it had also been Noel who hastily prepared the annex where the three Amboise sisters would stay.
The annex, Queen Mildred’s favorite place in the Berk Mansion, had been closed for ten years since her death.
So no matter how quickly they cleaned it, there was nothing to be done about the old furnishings.
“And?”
“I ordered the bedding and curtains changed quickly with the smallest number of people possible. I also told them that the moment any servant said so much as one word to the honored guests in the annex, that servant would be dismissed.”
“Well done.”
Curtis answered and gave a small yawn.
Noel smiled bitterly.
Thanks to Curtis turning the banquet hall upside down two nights ago, everyone in this household, Noel included, had been in a state of emergency for two days straight.
“Noel, I’m sorry, but bring Warrant Officer Amboise and her family into the annex.”
“Curtis, you finally….”
“That’s how it turned out.”
Skipping most of the explanation with a single “that’s how it turned out” was one of Curtis’s bad habits.
It was only after spending several years at Curtis’s side that Noel had vaguely come to understand that deep consideration lay behind those short statements of his.
At times, that could feel truly aggravating, or make him seem arrogant.
But the person more exhausted than anyone was probably Curtis himself.
He was always calculating countless possibilities, performing something close to tightrope-walking between all those calculations.
He merely hid it all behind that cold expression.
Most people would probably lose sleep from worry if they saw even a fraction of the abacus he was constantly flicking through in his head.
Even now, that was the case.
The busiest person after the banquet had been Curtis Shan Berk himself.
As soon as he returned to the mansion, he had written nearly ten letters with his own hand without sleeping.
Their types were truly varied.
There was a letter of apology to a duke of Glintland, who was practically a distant relative, saying he was sorry they had not been able to meet at the banquet. There were letters informing the estate manager and other agents that a new person was to be incorporated into his rights as a titled noble.
And as soon as day broke, he went to the prince’s palace.
Since it was obvious the King would not approve his marriage, he needed to ask Crown Prince Frederick to handle all manner of arrangements.
Word that the King, after seeing the newspaper, had flown into a rage and barred Grand Duke Berk from entering the royal palace began to circulate immediately after the Grand Duke had already met the Crown Prince and come out.
“I knew he would do that.”
Of course, when Curtis heard that rumor, he laughed mockingly.
After all, the place where the Grand Duke had asked the Crown Prince for help had not been the royal palace.
It was truly an extraordinarily swift measure.
In addition, immediately afterward, without even a moment to catch his breath, he finished an interview with a reporter waiting at the ducal residence.
As though he had already anticipated this situation, the reporter was from a reputable newspaper Curtis had selected in advance.
Noel handed him a cravat as if nothing were unusual and asked,
“What did His Highness Crown Prince Frederick say?”
“True to his bloodline, he expressed pity for the woman who will become my wife.”
It was very like Curtis to say that without so much as smiling.
Only Noel smiled bitterly.
Unlike the King, Crown Prince Frederick was on quite close terms with Curtis.
Strictly speaking, he was Curtis’s nephew, but because there were only four years between them, they had studied together and grown close.
Unlike the King, he did not have many underhanded tendencies either.
“What does he know about the relationship between you and Her Highness the Grand Duchess?”
Curtis looked at Noel as though thoroughly repulsed.