Chapter 104

Soon the sun had set.

It had been a while since the locket had been delivered through a simple back door. When the gates were opened and the top of the soldier’s helmet was seen, Palos stood up with a welcoming face.

“Did you deliver the locket to the Prince? What happened?”

However, Bellstein’s soldier did not answer the questions and only delivered what he had to say.

“Come inside. His Majesty the Duke wants to see you.”

“What, ah, no, what happened to the locket, what about His Majesty the Prince?”

“……Follow me. Bring the carriage inside too!”

So Palos and his carriage came into the castle. While Palos was lightly searched by his men, Jarga inspected the interior of the carriage.

Flaring his nose around, he sniffed a strong smell and found a barrel of wine loaded into the carriage. Jarga immediately reported the matter to the Duke.

“It is very likely that he has been to Sicilen. A barrel of wine was also found. It seems that there was contact with that woman, too.”

“All right.”

The interview room was covered in pure white smoke. The Duke, who was looking out the window, turned around. Their eyes met and Palos swallowed his breath.

Wearing a blue and black cloak-type jacket, the Duke’s daunting force was as strong as his beautiful face.

He knew instinctively.

That the Duke in front of his eyes should not be an enemy. But if left alive, he was a fearsome figure who could become a danger to the Empire at any time.

Palos thought he should hurry up and complete his task as ordered. Only that sword could destroy Bellstein, and in order to complete the sword, they need Crystal Fairy jewels.

The Duke of Bellstein looked at him, licking his dry lips with his tongue and rubbing his tense hand against the hem of his robe.

He took off his leather-gloved hands from his pocket and threw something in front of Palos.

Ting!

A golden metal object bounced off the floor and rolled. It was the locket he had sent, even by giving the soldier bribe money to deliver to the prince.

It looked like a simple locket on the surface, but it was a communication channel for emergency contact.

The Duke said while exhaling both cold and raging pressure at the same time.

“I was really disappointed to learn about this. Trying to sneak in something like this without permission. Did it mean anything else?

“T-This why,….”

Palos’ face turned white.

“Bellstein’s soldiers obey only the orders of their masters, Viscount Haman.”

Ellington came in with a small smile.

The Duke silently lit a pipe and coldly stared at him, and Palos sat down in front of the table, facing Ellington, as if being pushed away.

It was like being interrogated.

“Why the hell are you blocking my way? I am the Imperial Prince’s aide, so I have the duty and responsibility to serve him.”

“Well….”

Ellington, who was looking into the skinny face of Viscount Palos Haman, who was appealing to injustice, spoke briefly.

“Why did someone who knew his duties so well do that?”

“Wh-what?”

“I mean to ask why someone like you, who has the duty and responsibility to take care of the Prince, was absent.”

“Th-that…..I had something to do for a while.”

At Ellington’s question, Palos stuttered his words.

“I guess it was more important than caring for his highness”.

“……Hum-hm, you don’t need to know that, do you?”

Ellington said with a smirk.

“Well, there is one problem.”

“What do you mean problem?”

“Unfortunately, the Prince will be able to meet you only in the return carriage.”

“Hey, what……! Do you think this makes sense?”

Palos raised his voice full of anger towards the Duke, at that moment the Duke’s cool blood-red eyes rolled, and he felt a chill.

Paah!

In an instant, he teleported right behind Palos’s back and spoke in a horribly cold tone.

“I’m going to take into account the peace agreement I signed with the imperial family and end it well. I hope you don’t go against my will anymore.”

“……?”

Palos quickly rolled his head, but he was speechless. Where and when did he touch the Duke’s heart?

“What the hell are you talking about…….”

“The Prince touched the child of our family. It’s a child that’s like my true children. Which parent wouldn’t roll their eyes in rage when their child is touched, huh?”

In a low voice like a beast before revealing his teeth, the Duke clenched his teeth and said so.

“……That can’t be true, His Highness the Prince would not have done this to your Young Master for no reason. Isn’t the Duke misunderstanding something?”

“Not my son, but my daughter-in-law.”

Palos flinched at the word ‘daughter-in-law’. He remembered Hilda Volladi and the story she had told him about the girl.

‘I heard from the informant that you are looking for Count Orbia. I know what you’re looking for. A girl whose eyes shine like jewels. I know who she is. So take me to the Imperial Palace and protect me. That way I can give you the information. Otherwise, I don’t know when I’ll die. Because the child is in the hands of a very terrifying and strong man.’

‘Bellstein’s daughter-in-law is the kid who ran away from the Count of Orbia. A crystal fairy with jewel-like eyes.’

When he listened to the Duke’s words, it seemed that the woman’s words were indeed true.

Count Orbia said there was a girl with shining eyes, so I went to visit him after asking questions, but the Count had already disappeared without a word, and the Count’s manor, was like ruins.

I thought it was the end, but when I heard from the covet intelligence network that there was a woman who had escaped from the prison of the Duke of Bellstein, I was able to catch clues again.

At last, the outline of the Crystal Fairy was revealed.

If the Prince had already met her, I instinctively wondered if he was destined to hold it in his hand.

The Duke asked as if piercing through Palos’s head.

“How does Sicilen wine taste?”

“……What?”

Palos’s eyes fluttered in embarrassment, and the Duke asked again.

“Do you know Hilda Volladi?”

“……I do not know.”

The Duke, who was slowly examining the face of Palos, whose pupils were dilated with trembling, wrinkled his brows.

“Your lies are clumsy.”

Puck.

After the Duke struck Palos on the back of his neck with his blade to stun him, he looked in the air and said:

“Mage.”

“Yes.”

“Prepare it.”

At the command of the Duke, the waiting mage began to prepare hypnotic magic. Before the Duke left his seat, he asked Ellington and the mage.

“Pull out everything you can pull out, and erase the rest. It’s still worth using, so I won’t kill it.”

“What will you do with the woman?”

“Now that I know who she’s been in contact with, it’s not worth keeping alive.”

“I’ll deliver it to Commander Jarga.”

The Duke nodded his head and hurried to go to the banquet hall.

* * *

Although such an event took place inside the Duke’s Castle, the banquet was perfectly beautiful and elegant. Since Luciel hardly had a chance to meet Princess Claudia except now, she forced herself to come out to the banquet hall.

However, there were three black wing knights as escorts following Luciel, and Evelyn was sticking to her side.

She was greeting several high-ranking nobles, and soon a glamorous girl entered the hall. She was a tall, slender girl with brown hair as golden as a field of wheat, eyes as purple as amethyst.

Just like Sister Ilisia.

(Note: This is Luciel’s Sister.)

Luciel could recognize at a glance that she was Princess Claudia.

Princess Claudia responded greetings with her eyes when several nobles approached and walked straight to the place where Luciel and Evelyn were.

“Princess Claudia, welcome.”

“Luciel von Bellstein. Greets Her Highness, the Star Princess of the Empire.”

Claudia smiled as the child shorter than her own shoulder proudly greeted her.

The little white chick-like child was so cute that she disarmed her opponent with a fluffy atmosphere.

She was so cute, that if there was no one around, Claudia was compelled to take her home and make her a little sister.

Claudia was sixteen this year and she had wanted to have a cute little sister.

“Cute Young Lady, I wanted to meet you. I think you are smaller than the rumors?”

“Oh…I’m eating hard, your Highness.”

Luciel bowed her knees and her head slightly to pay her respects to the princess. She didn’t forget to spread the hem of her dress so that it was neither too excessive nor too short.

While learning the waltz from Eva, she also learned the royal greeting. It wasn’t perfect etiquette, but it was great for a child, so Claudia couldn’t help but laugh the whole time.

“Unbelievable. Do you already know how to greet the imperial family? You still look like a baby, how did you get married to a blunt person like Prince Bellstein? Oh my, if it’s a rude question….”

(Note: Now that they are married, people will call Kizef Prince Bellstein and Luciel Princess Bellstein. They are noble princes/princesses, not royal ones. Only allowed to Duke’s and up.)

Luciel shook her head and asked Claudia for her ear for a moment. Luciel’s answer was:

“He’s not blunt at all. He’s soft and fluffy, like castella!”

“Wh-what?”

Soon after, Princess Claudia smiled wildly at the words, and Luciel both cheeks blushed hard.

‘Is the answer strange? … ? What if rumors about Kizef get weird?’

Luciel presented a yellow gerbera silk flower bouquet prepared in advance for Princess Claudia.

It was a flower resembling a sunflower with fine thread-like petals, and her refreshing appearance somehow resembled Princess Claudia.

“Your Highness, Princess Claudia, I’m glad you visited.”

“Thanks. They are so pretty. Oh……I also have something prepared.”

Claudia asked for the wedding present, which she had left with her maid of honor. Unexpectedly, it was a hand-knitted lace handkerchief. The B, symbolizing Bellstein, was embroidered.

“I’m not confident enough to embroider a dragon…….At least one lace handkerchief is a must for a lady. Ah, other sparkling gifts were given by His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress and they are on the carriage, so let’s check them separately.”

“……This alone is so impressive. I never imagined the Princess would give me a gift you made yourself. Thank you, Princess. I will cherish it.”

Claudia and Luciel meet each other for the first time, but they were attracted to each other’s honest and unpretentious appearance.

Princess Claudia was a simple and transparent person to the extent that she could not be considered of the same imperial blood as Prince Reynold.

She is such a good person that it causes people to worry.

The two of them, who were able to hold hands lightly, walked in support together to the garden.

“I was surprised that it was so different from the Bellstein I imagined.”

“Imagined?”

“Yes. Unknowingly, I thought that a single flower would not grow because Bellstein was cold and humid. However, Bellstein, which I have seen with my own eyes, is a very beautiful place. As much as Princess Bellstein.”

Claudia winked at Luciel.