RETL 09

Chapter 9

“Ugh……!”

Logan turned his head.

Deep, black eyes that were unpleasantly intense.

It was the Grand Duke of Winterheim.

Logan’s hand trembled violently.

It felt as if he had been caught by a bear rather than a human.

Because of the pain that felt like it would break his wrist, his hand gradually went numb and his fingers slowly loosened.

Smack!

Unable to endure it any longer, Logan angrily shook off the hand holding him, causing Lumiere, who had been grabbed by him, to stagger and fall backward.

“Ah!”

Axid reflexively supported her shoulders from behind.

“Are you all right?”

“…I feel a little dizzy.”

Still feeling dizzy from the shock a moment ago, she naturally rested her head against his chest.

“……”

He was surprised that she leaned against him without hesitation, but only for a moment.

Axid wrapped one arm around her protectively.

“You seem to have a habit of using your hands carelessly.”

Logan’s brows furrowed deeply.

It was because he could read the contempt in those ominous black eyes.

Not only had he been overpowered by some barbarian, but he was also being insulted like this.

His pride wounded, he spoke in a restrained voice, almost as if he were grinding his teeth.

“Her Highness the Princess threatened my fiancée first.”

Axid’s cold gaze turned toward Clora.

He was a man who had cut down hundreds, even thousands, of monsters on the battlefield.

His solid build could not be hidden even by his perfectly tailored formal clothes.

His sharp gaze seemed to see straight through a person.

He was not even threatening anyone, yet his gaze was so heavy that it felt as if it were crushing one’s throat.

“Th-that, I mean, that was all a misunderstanding……”

Clora spoke hesitantly in confusion, but Roselin quickly stepped forward.

“That’s right! Her Highness the Princess not only threatened the fiancée of the Duke of Trovitan, she also slapped me in front of everyone!”

She had to speak first before Clora could tell the truth.

If not now, while the Duke of Trovitan was here, she would never get another chance to make the Princess apologize.

Roselin glanced at the mysterious man.

Judging by his ordinary appearance, he seemed to be a guard assigned to the Princess by the Grand Duke. But if the Duke of Trovitan stepped in, there was no way this man could do anything to her.

There was no way an envoy from the Grand Duchy would seriously risk clashing with a duke just for the Princess whom the Empire had taken in as a bargaining piece.

But then.

“What is the problem with that?”

“Pardon……?”

“If the Princess wishes it, there is no problem with cutting off your neck instead of merely slapping your cheek.”

“W-what……”

Roselin, who had been so confident moments ago, stepped back.

His firm attitude was as if he were simply stating an obvious fact.

Standing before him made her feel like a bug that would burst if someone stepped on it.

At that moment, several large men entered with grim expressions.

They were knights of the Grand Duchy.

“Your Highness, what happened?”

Perhaps sensing that something serious had happened, all of them had sharp, alert eyes.

“…Just a moment, Grand Duke.”

The Princess, whose arm had been wrapped around the man, straightened herself and stepped forward.

Grand Duke?

The Grand Duke?

Roselin’s eyes widened.

“Lady Viscount Belleno.”

“Ugh……”

“Now that you understand the situation, apologize properly. Then I will overlook the disrespect you showed me here.”

Roselin desperately looked at Logan, but he showed no intention of stepping forward.

That meant the man’s identity was real.

But even so, if some barbarian threatened an Imperial citizen, shouldn’t the Duke step in?

Especially since she was Clora’s close friend?

Roselin called out in a trembling voice as if begging Clora to do something.

“C-Clora……”

But Clora also only looked away awkwardly.

“Sniff……”

She was being told to apologize to some lowly Princess whom she had toyed with whenever she was bored.

Her face burned as she trembled all over from humiliation, disgrace, and her sense of betrayal toward Clora.

But the cold gazes of the knights were more than an ordinary noble lady could withstand.

Roselin’s trembling body slowly collapsed.

“I-I’m sorry…… I-I’m so sorry, Your Highness. P-please forgive me……”

Lumiere quietly watched her.

Roselin would no longer be able to participate in high society.

This incident would spread everywhere.

It was all the result of her own actions.

She took her eyes away from Roselin, who was sobbing on the floor.

“I’m sorry for causing a disturbance unintentionally. Please accept this as compensation for the trouble.”

“N-no, Your Highness!”

Despite the shop clerk repeatedly refusing, she forcibly placed a gold coin in their hand.

“Let’s go, Grand Duke.”

She could feel Logan and Clora’s strange gazes on her back, but she had no desire to exchange farewell greetings with them.

“Haa……”

Once she got into the carriage, the fatigue finally caught up with her.

She let out a languid sigh and closed her eyes, when Axid’s voice reached her.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Hmm, no……”

She slowly lifted her heavy eyelids.

“If the Princess wishes it, there is no problem with cutting off your neck instead of merely slapping your cheek.”

She never knew that having someone take her side could feel this reassuring.

“…Thank you, Grand Duke. For taking my side.”

“I merely did what was natural.”

She looked at him as he answered with his usual expressionless face and smiled softly.

The fact that he did not even seem to expect praise made a warm feeling spread through her chest.

She wanted to properly thank him, but right now she had no energy, as if a heavy weight had been tied to her body.

“…Grand Duke, I’m sorry, but I’m tired, so I’m going to close my eyes for a little while.”

She whispered in a small voice, leaned her head against the carriage wall, and gently closed her eyes.

Clatter, clatter.

After a while, the carriage slowly began moving along the road in the quiet silence.

Clora called out to Logan.

“Duke, how can you just leave like this?”

Logan stopped walking abruptly.

He took a moment to catch his breath and calm his anger.

“…I can’t stay in such a chaotic place.”

“But you can’t just leave Lady Roselin like that.”

“Why should I take care of that woman?”

“What……?”

Only after the Princess had left did Logan learn the full story of what had happened from the guests who had been there.

He learned that Roselin had been the one to grab the Princess first and pick a fight with her.

They even said that it was fortunate that she had only been slapped.

Hearing their testimony about just how rude Roselin had been made his blood boil.

If that woman had not needlessly picked a fight, he would never have been humiliated by that barbarian.

Suddenly, feeling the pain in his wrist, he had the urge to grab the Viscount’s daughter by the neck.

“Your friend not only picked a fight with the Princess first, she also insulted the Princess in front of the Grand Duke.”

“But Her Highness the Princess said she would let it go.”

Her carefree response made the anger he had barely managed to calm down boil again.

“We almost ended up causing a diplomatic dispute. Just because the Princess forgave her doesn’t mean what that woman did never happened.”

“Her Highness was only angry because of what she did to me in the past. She did it for my sake……”

After being tormented by a woman like the Princess for so long, he had thought Clora’s broad-mindedness and gentle personality were attractive.

She was beautiful, came from an excellent family, and had a good reputation.

Even her background made her an ideal woman to have by his side.

But if the Princess had not decided to let this matter go, he himself would have had to make a humiliating apology.

Did Clora not even feel worried or sorry about that?

Suppressing the sigh rising from his chest, he casually spoke.

“If she had really been doing it for your sake, she wouldn’t have deliberately caused a disturbance.”

“……”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can spend time with you in this mood.”

Clora looked hurt, but she obediently agreed with him.

“…Yes, I understand.”

“…I’ll take you back to the estate.”

As Logan walked while holding Clora’s hand, he remembered the past.

“Duke, please… accept me. You know too, don’t you? That you are the only one I have.”

The Princess in the past had desperately clung to him with a sunken, emaciated face and a body that was nothing but bones.

He had only pitied her because her condition was so pitiful that it was painful to look at.

He had regretted even showing her that small kindness, if he had known she would mistake it for love and chase after him for three years.

The Princess who had spoken her mind even before the Emperor in order to protect the Grand Duke’s dignity.

Clora, who could not even properly say a single word for him when he was in trouble.

The two of them could not help but be compared naturally.

“……”

Logan clenched his teeth so tightly that his jaw ached as he remembered the Princess naturally leaning against the Grand Duke’s arms.

‘Did she really think I would become jealous if I saw her like that?’

He turned his head and looked at Clora.

Beneath her long, delicate eyelashes, her beautiful eyes like a lake were clouded with concern.

To compare Clora with some frivolous woman who behaved so carelessly for such a ridiculous reason.

Even if it had only been for a moment, he could not help feeling displeased.

He firmly held Clora’s soft hand, trying to erase the distracting thoughts.

But for some reason, the image of the Princess continued to linger in his mind and refused to disappear.