Chapter 82

An icy silence permeated the Queen’s drawing room. Perhaps because Leon’s audacity had profoundly startled her, the Queen stood with wide eyes and a mouth left half-agape. It was an anomaly for a woman who consistently maintained such rigid composure and solemn bearing to appear so utterly discomposed.

Even amidst such a hair-trigger atmosphere, Leon—naturally inquisitive—found himself scrutinizing the Queen’s expression, a look he was witnessing for the very first time. The quick-witted Queen could not possibly fail to register his scrutiny. The moment she realized Leon was watching her with eyes darting in calculation, she sensed an ulterior motive.

Her gaze, which had gone blank for a heartbeat, suddenly sharpened. The Queen’s brows knitted deeply, as though she found the entire situation absurd on multiple fronts, and she challenged him.

“Leonhart Albert William. How dare you fabricate such a lie?”

As anticipated, he had been exposed instantly. It was a falsehood dangerous enough to provoke her into addressing him by his full name. Dammit, Leon cursed inwardly, yet he maintained a composed facade as if nothing were amiss.

“Ah, it seems I cannot speak before you based on mere conjecture, Mother. In truth, he has not received a formal diagnosis from a physician. He has merely seemed exceptionally fatigued of late, so I deduced the possibility myself. He was sleeping like the dead throughout our journey to the palace, as well.”

The Queen began to rebuke Leon once more, but then she faltered. In any case, some sequence of events had clearly transpired between them that suggested the possibility of pregnancy. From the Queen’s perspective, she was compelled to tread carefully.

“Then again… now that I consider it further, even if it is not pregnancy, he would have ample cause for exhaustion. He has been managing his household in the total absence of the family head for a protracted period, and he has suffered a vicious ordeal on top of that. Furthermore, it has been barely four months since he received word of his father’s passing.”

Not missing the opening, Leon added words calculated to stir the Queen’s sympathies. It was an obvious strategy, yet undeniably effective. The Queen possessed a heart capable of pitying a difficult predicament.

“…But what do you mean, the head of that house was absent for a long time?”

“Do you not recall, Mother? I mentioned in my letters that there was a mine near the royal mine that a noble was personally overseeing. Elwin’s father was that late Count of Ravenwell.”

“Ah. The man you described as so learned that he rendered great assistance to the royal mine.”

“That is correct. He was a truly admirable man.”

During his stay in Savar, Leon had frequently praised the Count of Ravenwell in his correspondence. Naturally, he had not done so with this moment in mind; he had simply admired the Count’s character. Nevertheless, his sincerity now served him well.

Perhaps because the Queen had also formed a favorable opinion of the Count of Ravenwell based on Leon’s letters, her impression of Elwin seemed to shift instantaneously. Her expression softened, yet she questioned Leon with cautious reserve.

“But I believe you claimed the Count had been staying in Savar even longer than you. If the head of the house left behind an Omega eldest child and a young daughter, remaining absent for years, the estate should have fallen into complete disorder.”

“According to Dale, the finance manager, Elwin effectively managed the Ravenwell estate for the entire duration of the Count’s absence. And he did so with remarkable competence.”

“…An Omega performed such duties? He could hardly have obtained a proper education. How was that possible?”

“As you once told me, Mother, if one seeks the truth, one may discover it anywhere. Elwin is an incredibly intelligent and diligent person. The recent articles even stated that the people of the estate follow him with loyalty. Did you not read them?”

“One cannot and must not believe everything that appears in the newspapers. Especially since those articles were published by you, blinded by affection. How could I possibly trust them at face value?”

The Queen seemed to doubt Leon’s testimony, yet her expression betrayed a deep, contemplative process.

“In any case, it does appear true that the estate functioned for a long duration without major disturbance, despite the head’s absence. During the drought the year before last, when unrest erupted across southern estates due to widespread famine, I never heard the name Ravenwell linked to such crises…”

“Far from suffering famine, the farmers actually increased their agricultural output severalfold through his ingenuity. If you heard the methods he employed, Mother, I believe even you would be impressed.”

Now the Queen seemed to be growing genuinely curious about Elwin. However, never one to reveal her internal state easily, she donned a stern expression once more and terminated the discussion.

“…For now, I accept your position. It is late, so you may leave.”

Leon would have preferred her to acknowledge his relationship with Elwin on the spot, but that was evidently not a simple request. In truth, the fact that he had managed to converse with her at length, rather than being summarily thundered at and banished, was a significant gain for the day.

Even as Leon saluted the Queen courteously, his thoughts were fixed solely on reaching Elwin. Perhaps because that singular intention was etched plainly across his features, the Queen called him back as he reached the threshold.

“Ah. I understand.”

Leon replied that he understood, but he was thinking, So Elwin is staying in the east building with the guest suites. I must go there immediately. Since that thought was also perfectly legible on his face, the Queen emphasized her command in a voice that sounded as though she might die of embarrassment.

“I am forbidding you from inciting any disgraceful incidents, so do not wander where you should not. Do you understand?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Despite that ready acquiescence, the moment Leon departed the drawing room, he commanded the chief chamberlain without the slightest hesitation, “To the east building.”

Leon did not consider his assurance to the Queen a lie. Visiting his betrothed could hardly be categorized as “causing a disgraceful incident” or “wandering where one should not.” Although they were not yet formally engaged, it was merely a matter of time.

“What? Your Highness, but…”

“The route cannot have changed. Was it this direction?”

When the chief chamberlain hesitated, Leon began striding off on his own to locate Elwin’s quarters. The attendants were so flustered they were paralyzed. By then, the hour was deep into the night. Protocol strictly forbade a royal and his guest—who were neither married nor formally betrothed—from sharing quarters at this hour.

“Your Royal Highness, it is quite late. If you have matters to discuss, why not visit tomorrow?”

At the chief chamberlain’s representative protest, Leon scowled and retorted, “What are you implying? Did you not see my consort descend from the carriage earlier, pale as death? He has grown frail after enduring shock and hardship ever since the loss of his father. In fact, he collapsed in court today.”

At Leon’s biting tone, the attendants longed to argue, And whose fault was it that he collapsed? Leon, of course, was perfectly aware that his rhetoric was pure sophistry, but he plowed forward with reckless determination.

“Such an overwrought person must be terrified and tense in this vast, unfamiliar palace. Naturally, as his consort, I am obligated to stay beside him, soothe him, and provide him with peace of mind. If you insist on separating us and he collapses again, how will you account for that?”

The attendants exchanged uneasy glances at Leon’s glibness. It was a fact they had momentarily forgotten due to his long absence from the palace, but when Leon grew this unreasonable, there was simply no recourse.

Since childhood, the third prince had tormented attendants and tutors alike with his erratic impulses and inexhaustible stubbornness. True to form, the stubborn man ultimately dismissed the cowering staff, threw open the guest room door, and stepped inside.

“Elwin.”

Meanwhile, Elwin, who had been sitting rigidly in the chair by the table, rose from his seat at the sound of the door, believing his moment of reckoning had arrived. But the figure approaching him was, unexpectedly, not an attendant, but Leon.

“Why are you sitting like this? Why not rest comfortably? Did the attendants cause you trouble?”

“Ah, no. Everyone treated me with kindness. They even retrieved the luggage we left at the inn and provided tea and sweets.”

On the path to the guest room after parting from Leon, Elwin had found it nearly impossible to distinguish between dream and reality. The interior of the palace, which he had only known through literature and gazettes, was truly grand and breathtaking.

Statues lined the long, red-carpeted corridors, and chandeliers shimmered even from the high ceilings above the staircases. The guest chamber to which Elwin had been escorted was as spacious as the master suite of the Ravenwell estate, and the tea service was so exquisite and fragrant that it commanded his admiration.

For Elwin, who had spent the last several days in wretched inns, it was a level of luxury he had not experienced in a very long time. Yet, he remained tense, utterly unable to luxuriate in the opulence. Because…

“But I felt as though I might be cast out at any moment, so I could not relax… Um, am I truly permitted to remain here?”