Chapter 28
It was as if Aveline fit those conditions perfectly.
“Still, I don’t think it’ll be me,” Aveline said, disagreeing with the notion.
“I’ve caused a commotion at the imperial banquet twice already, and I didn’t even have a proper debutante ball.”
While others had long since entered high society and built connections, Aveline had stayed cooped up in her room. She always felt guilty for not being able to accomplish things that others seemed to do with ease, which constantly gnawed at her self-esteem.
So the thought that the Crown Prince might have her in mind had never even crossed her mind. Her father, Count Herolds, had even tried to send her to Viscount Berta, whose reputation was in tatters—that’s how bad things were.
“But now, my lady has the background to offset all of that,” Theron continued in a leisurely tone.
“Both your father and your twin brother, Ares, are part of the Imperial faction. Your maternal grandfather, Marquis Meingi, was also a strong right-hand man to the previous emperor.”
“…”
“Moreover, through yesterday’s banquet, you made a somewhat turbulent but rather successful comeback. And you did so in a way that reminded everyone whose daughter you are.”
This was a pointed reference to how Aveline’s mother, the Countess Herolds, had once been at the center of social circles.
Despite having left high society long ago, yesterday’s incident confirmed that the Countess Herolds’ influence was still considerable.
“And there’s one more compelling reason,” Theron added.
“What’s that?”
“Currently, among the ladies from Imperial faction families who are of marriageable age, Lady Herolds is the only one without a fiancé.”
Aveline was momentarily speechless at this unexpected reason. But soon she remembered that she wasn’t the only lady from an Imperial faction family.
“That’s not true. There are several other ladies without fiancés in Duke Nor’s family.”
“They’re all from cadet branches.”
This time, Aveline had no choice but to keep quiet. As he said, Duke Nor only had sons, and all the families with daughters were from distant branches.
“If you were in the Imperial family’s position, wouldn’t you choose a lady whose family has been part of the Imperial faction for generations, rather than a distant relative of Duke Nor?”
Aveline felt somewhat dazed as she processed what she had just heard.
“So you’re saying that there’s a high chance the Imperial family will choose a lady from the Imperial faction as the Crown Prince’s consort, and there’s a very high probability that it could be me?”
“That’s correct.”
“Oh my.”
Aveline covered her mouth in surprise. It was a new kind of concern she had never considered before.
“And I don’t particularly want a lady with my magical power to become part of the Imperial family,” Theron added.
“Neither do I,” Aveline replied.
Theron raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by her answer.
“I thought you’d be pleased.”
“I told you, there’s a difference between a favorite character and an ideal type!”
Although they looked the same, Edward and the Crown Prince were completely different people with opposite personalities.
“Besides, I have no desire to belong to the Imperial family. It seems stifling, and also…”
She knew how the previous empress had died.
Being part of the Imperial family meant living with the constant risk of death.
However, Aveline stopped herself from continuing as she looked at Theron. The previous empress had been Theron’s aunt, after all.
“Anyway, I don’t like that idea either.”
“…”
Theron, who had been quietly observing Aveline, now wore an expression of disbelief.
Seeing his reaction, Aveline felt somewhat indignant.
“What would it take for you to believe me?”
She felt like doing anything she could to prove herself and clear this false accusation.
However, instead of answering, Theron remained silent, as if deep in thought.
‘This is unsettling.’
From experience, Aveline knew that when this eccentric duke became serious, it was usually followed by strange conclusions.
Sure enough, when Theron looked up again, his eyes were gleaming ominously.
“There is one easy way.”
“What… is it?” Aveline asked, trying to hide her unease.
“We spread a rumor.”
“A rumor?”
Theron nodded.
“That you and I are lovers.”
* * *
Even after waking from the dream, Aveline’s dazed mind didn’t easily return to reality.
“…”
She couldn’t even remember how she had woken up.
The only thing she could recall was…
“That you and I are lovers.”
“Aaargh!” Aveline shouted, sitting bolt upright.
“What kind of dream was that?”
Aveline wiped away the cold sweat on her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief as she confirmed she was in her own room.
“It felt so real that it seemed true… Wait a minute.”
This wasn’t the first time Theron had appeared in her dreams.
Last time, he had pretended to be a vampire.
“…But that time was real.”
Suddenly, a great uneasiness enveloped Aveline’s entire body.
“Is this real too?”
If so, then the suggestion to spread rumors about being lovers was something the real Theron had said?
As Aveline sat frozen on the bed, perplexed, the door suddenly burst open.
“What’s going on? What was that noise?”
The person who rushed in was none other than Ares.
“You scared me!”
Aveline, already on edge, was startled almost to the point of fainting when Ares suddenly barged in.
“Don’t you know how to knock properly?!”
“No, I heard a sudden scream, so… Ow!”
Ares, who was trying to explain himself, was hit squarely in the face by a pillow thrown by Aveline.
At any other time, Ares would have easily dodged it, but Aveline, who had once been obsessed with female knight characters and had built up her physical strength, had quite a high hit rate.
“And here I was, worried about you!” Ares cried out indignantly.
“So why did you scream? Did you have a nightmare or something?”
He picked up the pillow and brought it back, subtly checking Aveline’s condition.
“Ahem. You weren’t bitten or anything this time, were you?”
It seemed the wound on Aveline’s arm from last time had left quite an impression on him.
“Hrm! I thought you might have had a hard time yesterday, so I just wanted to check…”
In short, he had rushed over as soon as he heard the noise, worried about Aveline’s mental state after attending a social gathering for the first time in a long while.
Aveline found her twin brother’s behavior rather surprising.
‘He’s changed a lot.’
Compared to before, when they barely even spoke to each other, Ares’ recent behavior was a tremendous improvement.
“Well, if everything’s fine, that’s good!”
“Wait.”
Aveline called out to Ares as he was turning to leave, seemingly trying to hide his embarrassment.
“What? Are you going to thank me for worrying about you?”
“Why are you wearing those clothes?”
“Clothes?”
The clothes Ares was wearing now were training attire.
It had been a while since Aveline had seen Ares going to the training grounds or practicing, so it was an unfamiliar sight.
“Oh, these?”
Ares looked down at his clothes and spoke.
“I’m supposed to have a light sparring session with His Highness the Crown Prince today.”
“With the Crown Prince?”
“It’s hard to find anyone in the empire as skilled in martial arts as His Highness. He’s also in charge of the Imperial Knights.”
“That’s somewhat unexpected.”
When she saw him yesterday, he seemed like the type who wouldn’t let go of a gossip magazine.
“He’s very curious, so since he was young, whenever someone beat him, he’d constantly try to find out why he lost and follow the person around to observe them. Naturally, he became strong in the process.”
“Oh.”
Hearing that explanation, it all made sense at once.
‘It’s similar yet different from Logan.’
If Logan was strong in theory, it seemed the Crown Prince was strong in putting theory into practice.
“Want to come along if you’re curious?”
“Where?”
“To His Highness the Crown Prince’s palace.”
“Me?”
Aveline was taken aback by the unexpected suggestion.
“You’ve been interested in martial arts for a while, right? Master said your skills are quite good.”
“Master?”
“Don’t you know Sir Ridan?”
“Sir Ridan is your master?”
Aveline was surprised, but Ares looked even more incredulous.
“What? Didn’t you also learn from Sir Ridan?”
“No, I…”
At that time, Aveline, unable to control her rising enthusiasm, had snuck into the training grounds to practice alone and encountered Sir Ridan.
Seeing Aveline swinging a wooden practice sword haphazardly, Sir Ridan had laughed until his sides split and offered to give her secret lessons.
As the number of lessons gradually increased, everyone in the mansion eventually found out.
Count Herolds, upon hearing the news through the butler, had let it pass without any particular gesture.
Thanks to that, Aveline was able to continue her training until her interest waned.
When Aveline said she wanted to stop training, Sir Ridan had mentioned that he was disappointed because he had enjoyed slacking off while watching over the young lady.
So Aveline, who had thought Sir Ridan was just an ordinary knight of the family, was quite perplexed when his name came out of Ares’ mouth.
“No, I just didn’t know you learned from Sir Ridan too.”
“Why not?”
“I thought you would have been taught by a more famous knight.”
Aveline had started it out of mere interest, so she thought Ares would have been assigned a more famous and skilled knight.
However, Ares’ face showed that he couldn’t understand Aveline’s words.
