Chapter 35
The Princess Isn’t a Fool
Gulp.
The Empress Dowager swallowed unconsciously as she imagined the image of a cute granddaughter flickering before her eyes.
Though Kardin was a madman, he had been unmatched in beauty throughout the empire since childhood.
And Anette, whom she had not expected at all, was also remarkably beautiful—so it was certain that any child born between them would be equally blessed in appearance.
Of course, even if the child didn’t resemble either parent at all, as her grandchild, she would still be someone she would cherish dearly.
Before she realized it, the Empress Dowager—who had been thinking of her son as a madman—found herself imagining a child who hadn’t even been born yet, her lips twitching upward.
She snapped back to her senses in surprise.
But in her eyes, anticipation and excitement that could no longer be hidden were already present.
“…Are you confident?”
“If Mother helps me, it’s possible.”
Kardin explained that if he left the imperial palace and stayed together with Anette in the Grand Duke’s castle, their intimacy would naturally deepen, their relationship would progress quickly, and as a result, the day they would have a beautiful grandchild would come sooner.
Though it wasn’t a proper logical argument and was clearly biased toward his own convenience, the Empress Dowager, almost entranced by Kardin’s eloquence and confident demeanor, nodded.
Then she murmured with a worried expression,
“Still… it won’t be easy to see a granddaughter…”
The Alkan Imperial Family had, perhaps due to their power, always had very few children throughout generations, and especially female children were rare.
To find the last imperial princess born, one would have to go back over 300 years.
So how could he be so confident about having a daughter?
To this, Kardin shrugged casually and replied,
“Don’t worry. I’ll try until we have a daughter.”
…This guy?
Did he not realize how difficult childbirth is for women?
The Empress Dowager wanted to scold him immediately, but in the end, she succumbed to the irresistible temptation.
In a low voice, she said,
“From now on, treat the princess well.”
“Of course. Even if you didn’t say it, I would.”
“Don’t talk back.”
“Yes.”
And just like that, the powerful figure who could have stopped Anette from leaving the Grand Duchy disappeared.
…Or so it should have been.
“Waaah! Don’t go, Auntie!”
Kardin pressed a hand to his forehead at the unexpected obstacle.
A small golden head, resembling his own hair, was buried in Anette’s arms, shaking as it cried.
It was Mikhail, who had only just learned this morning that Anette would be leaving for the Grand Duke’s castle.
“Mikhail, it’s time to stop crying.”
Charlotte stepped in to calm her son, and only then did Mikhail slowly loosen his arms from around Anette’s waist.
However, his tears did not stop, and he kept wiping his eyes with his small, chubby hands.
Seeing this, Anette gently wiped the tears from his cheeks.
“Princess, can’t you stay just a little longer?”
“Your Highness, I’ll be back soon.”
Within three months, she planned to return to the capital—either by restoring her body on her own or with Lucius’s help—and proceed with the royal marriage.
“I’ll properly watch your swordsmanship then. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, though…”
Mikhail, who had persistently asked her yesterday about how she trained and built her stamina, had also asked her to watch his sword training.
Thinking that his plan had been ruined, Anette tried to comfort him.
Of course, she believed that her disorganized training methods would not be very helpful to Mikhail, who was already receiving systematic instruction from imperial knights.
“I wanted to stay with you longer…”
But despite her words of comfort, the child pouted and shook his head.
His expression seemed to suggest that her assumption about the reason for his tears was wrong, which made Anette flustered.
Come to think of it, she and Mikhail had barely spoken properly over the past two days. Their relationship was little more than a brief acquaintance.
They had only formally introduced themselves and exchanged a few words the day before, yet he had already grown so attached to her.
Even those who were reluctant to see her leave were not limited to young Mikhail.
Charlotte, and even Lucius, could not hide their expressions of regret, and seeing this made Anette feel strange.
In Hayworth, she had never experienced anything like this.
People welcoming her… and feeling reluctant to see her go.
‘If I hadn’t come to the Alkan Empire, I would never have known this feeling.’
A sensation she couldn’t quite describe made the corners of her eyes sting.
To avoid crying like Mikhail, Anette took a calm, steady breath.
At that moment, as if to brush away the lingering sentiment, Lucius spoke.
“Ah, a messenger will be sent to the Kingdom of Hayworth today.”
The purpose was to deliver a letter requesting punishment for the knights and the entire delegation that had failed to fulfill their duty of escorting Anette to the imperial palace during her arrival in Alkan.
The letter would also state that, due to her weakened condition following the magical beast attack, she would be resting until the date of the royal marriage was set.
In addition, the list of gifts previously prepared would also be sent along.
Hearing Lucius’s explanation, Anette nodded.
Since both the Grand Duchy and the Kingdom of Hayworth were about two days’ travel from the imperial capital, if the messenger departed today, he would likely arrive around the same time she reached the Grand Duke’s castle.
Anette considered how the King of Hayworth would react upon receiving what was essentially a protest letter, then shook her head.
In reality, the delegation likely had not returned alive, so there would be no actual punishment carried out.
‘In the end, they’ll probably just complain that their kingdom’s honor was tarnished.’
They lacked the ambition to oppose the Alkan Empire, and regardless of how much they disliked her, this incident was clearly Hayworth’s fault.
They might even consider themselves fortunate that the engagement had not fallen through and immediately shift their attention to the gifts.
“Hmm.”
At that thought, Anette swallowed softly.
Only after arriving in the empire had she seen the list of gifts sent from Alkan to Hayworth, and she had been greatly surprised.
Even though she had never been particularly interested in wealth, every item on the list was so valuable that it naturally felt wasteful.
If those gifts had instead been allocated to the royal knights’ budget—who had merely been maintaining the status quo—she would not have felt this regret at all.
‘The chances of that happening are close to zero.’
Before leaving, she had earnestly requested the treasury to increase the royal knights’ budget. Now that she was gone, the knights would be fine.
But imagining those gifts ending up in the hands of Queen Esther or Bridget made her stomach ache.
“Those gifts are excessive…”
“No. Not at all.”
She had clearly murmured it very softly, but Kardin immediately refuted her firmly.
According to Charlotte, the wedding gifts had been prepared not by the Grand Duchy but by the imperial family.
Anette, thinking it wasn’t something Kardin needed to judge as excessive or not, glanced toward the Emperor, wondering if he might find the conversation absurd.
At that moment, Lucius nodded as if he had been waiting for the opportunity and agreed.
“In truth, they are far from sufficient to bring the princess to the Alkan Empire.”
“That’s right. Anette is worth far more than that.”
Even Charlotte, who had been patting Mikhail’s back, chimed in, causing Anette to feel embarrassed by the excessive praise.
At first, she had thought the lavish gift list was simply meant to showcase the empire’s wealth. But that was not the case.
“If they regret it later, it won’t matter—they’ve already finalized the engagement.”
“They might even complain later that too little was sent.”
It seemed that both the Emperor and Empress genuinely believed Anette was worth more than the extravagant list of gifts.
‘Value… worth…’
There was no way she possessed such things.
Though she didn’t understand it, it seemed the people of the Alkan Empire had completely lost objectivity when it came to her.
And perhaps her thoughts showed on her face.
Tap, tap.
Kardin gently tapped her shoulder and met her gaze.
“Princess, you’re not a fool. Don’t compare yourself to those foolish people who failed to recognize a golden goose.”
“…!”
His soft blue eyes that curved gently, along with his sweet words that had already become addictive, wrapped around her in a feeling that was different from simple embarrassment.
Anette was certain her cheeks were flushed without even needing to look in a mirror.
She felt the urge to cover her face with both hands, but doing so would only invite teasing.
Deciding that it was better to remain composed in front of everyone than to be teased, Anette lifted her chin proudly.
Kardin, who had fully intended to tease her, found her reaction even more adorable and burst into laughter.
Watching this, Charlotte shook her head.
Her husband had said that watching Kardin and Anette together was less entertaining and more painfully embarrassing than expected—and it was true.
She shuddered at Kardin’s overly affectionate behavior.
“Your Majesty, the Grand Duke’s carriages and knights have just passed through the imperial palace gates.”
At that moment, a servant arrived with a report.
Hearing this, tension appeared in Anette’s eyes.
