Chapter 262

Chapter 262

Banquets, feasts, and the whole festival that lasted for seven days. The nobles of the country used this occasion as an excuse to enjoy the balls as they usually did.

For the commoners, however, the Founding Festival held a different meaning.

It was a day to commemorate the founding of the nation and, at the same time, a harvest festival that lasted for three days.

For those who worked, it was a public holiday, and for those who ran stalls, it was an opportunity to earn substantial income.

Thus, even though it wasn’t the actual day yet, the streets were bustling with activity.

A sense of anticipation filled the air, and subtle tensions simmered among the nobles aiming for influence in the empire’s central politics.

It was only natural since the largest banquet of the festival was held in the imperial palace.

Some were eager to attend the banquet hosted by the imperial family, while others were worried about possible mishaps that might occur amidst all the excitement.

Of course, there were those who remained unconcerned to all the hullabaloo.

Violet was one of them. She herself was too busy and preoccupied to think about any balls or festivals.

The counseling she did for the young lady a few days ago was giving her a bit of grief. Since then, she had been inundated with letters, likely due to yet another rumor spreading.

At first, Violet was curious as to why she was receiving so many letters that weren’t even invitations, so she decided to read a few of them.

The letters were mostly fan letters, requests for advice, or diary entries containing secrets that they couldn’t tell anyone else. What would they do if someone stole these letters and used them as leverage for blackmail?

Although the content wasn’t significant enough to be considered exploitable weaknesses, the personal details were so thoroughly detailed that it was both startling and entertaining at once.

Obviously enough, she didn’t reply to any of them... yet the letters kept coming.

She didn’t understand why and how she had amassed such followers. If it was purely based on her appearance, there were plenty of other beautiful people besides her.

Meanwhile, as Violet’s confusion grew day after day, there were a few people who felt complicated watching this all play out.

One of those people was Rajaden.

“You’re quite popular, Ducal Lady.”

What if even this gets rejected?

Violet smiled. She knew what she was about to say would be false hope.

“If I were to become Your Highness’s partner, what would you do?”

“Of course, I would...”

Rajaden started to speak but then fell silent. Seeing his silence, the smile faded from Violet’s face.

“Your Highness. You say you love me, but that is what you feel. That emotion can’t seem to respect me as an individual.”

“......”

Possession, monopoly, control, calculation.

These things were too dark and too oppressive to be called love.

Rajaden said he loved Violet. And, indeed, that emotion was love.

But the other desires hidden within that love were too obvious.

Violet knew that she and Rajaden were fundamentally incompatible. Of course, if they loved each other, they could adapt and work through it together. They could suppress parts of themselves and dedicate themselves to each other.

However, that process seemed much too excruciating.

What she truly desired was something Rajaden couldn’t give.

“You’ve mentioned meeting with Aileen frequently lately. What do you talk about with her?”

“...I cannot say.”

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