Ch.9
A deep silence ensued. Leonhardt was stunned into silence, staring blankly at his fiancee’s serene face.
Not in his wildest dreams did he imagine that it would be Seraphine who would bring up breaking the engagement first.
“That’s quite the joke, Princess Rubia.”
Try as he might, he couldn’t hide the fact that his pride had been deeply wounded. He had always thought that on the off chance they were to break the engagement, he would be the one to bring it up first, not Seraphine. After all, this was the woman who always seemed to be unable to live without him. But the woman in front of him seemed to be entirely different from the usual.
“Princess, engagements are not children’s games. Once broken, you can’t go back to what it was before.”
“I know.”
A curt response.
Her clear gaze reflected none of the usual self pity or woe that Seraphine normally had.
“I definitely knew this since before but… you’re quite fickle.”
To Leonhardt, this had to be yet another ploy for his affection. This was how everyone reacted to any of her frequent whims or fancies — it was just a cry for attention. In fact, even if Seraphine wanted to change, she simply couldn’t. This was how everyone around her diminished her efforts.
“That is of no concern to me. I am simply giving you advance warning as you may be embarrassed by the sudden notice.”
As if she were done with what she had set out to do, Seraphine stood up. The food in front of her was left completely untouched.
He quickly grabbed her arm as it became more apparent that she was truly going to leave.
“Is it because you need a lot of mana today?”
The amount of mana Seraphine needed just to stay alive was considerable. Leonhardt, after providing her with mana, would often be fed up and exhausted, which was one of the many reasons why he was often annoyed by her.
While he attempted to hide his distaste, Seraphine was hesitant to ever take more than the bare minimum, and was often apologetic about even taking any at all. But today she felt less apologetic than usual.
“That’s quite all right, your majesty. I will also stop asking for your assistance in the future as well.”
“You know as well as I do that I’m the only one who can provide you with the mana that you need to survive.”
Both of them knew – most people couldn’t even provide the bare minimum of mana that she needed to survive.
“I know this is a ploy to get my attention — well today you got it.”
The Seraphine today was beautiful enough that the prince couldn’t take his eyes off of her, and that bothered him.
But she rejected him and pulled away.
“Please do not concern yourself on my account.”
Her rejection was as firm as ever. At her consistent refusal, Leonhardt could feel his anger rising. His irritation started to seep into his voice.
“Why are you being like this? Shouldn’t this be more of a dialog—”
“Your Highness, are you aware of what I’ve gone through recently?”
Seraphine didn’t bother to wait for him to finish and asked in a calm manner.
“Why are you asking this all of the sudden?” Leonhardt was stunned. He couldn’t help but respond incredulously.
“I was imprisoned, Your Highnesssir.”
“So I’ve heard. Given that you defiled the baptismal fount built by the first emperor, there was nothing I could do about it, though I apologize even if it was a short imprisonment.”
“And I even suffered from a high fever afterwards. Though I’m alive now.”
The answer she wanted to hear was neither his regrets nor his excuses. It was just a basic modicum of concern.
But she knew this was impossible.
“What were you going to do if I died?”
“……”
“Were you just planning on grieving after your fiance died? After all, I could die at any moment.”
“Princess Rubia”
“If you were truly against this breakup, shouldn’t you know how your beloved fianceé is doing?”
“Princess…”
Leonhardt seemed to want to say something. But at that moment a servant approached them.
“Excuse me your highness”
“Can’t you see I’m speaking with Princess Rubia right now?”
The servant flinched at the prince’s tone but didn’t back down. Seeing the servant’s reaction, the prince made a face and turned back to Seraphine.
“I’m sorry, but we’ll talk about this next time. It seems as though something urgent has come up.”
In the end it was Seraphine, not the servant, who was dismissed. Leonhardt could hardly contain his embarrassment under his usual poker face.
“Let’s revisit this after you have had time to think about it again.”
“I see. This is fine, since I had wanted to leave anyway.”
No matter what, the answer would not change. There was no way a man who had never sincerely cared about Seraphine would know that the woman who truly loved him was now dead.
* * *
“Princess Rubia?””
As Seraphine was walking back, she heard a voice calling out to her.
Who?
Seraphine did not respond and just stood still as she tried to figure out who this woman was. And there was another reason for her silence — rather than being affectionate, there was almost a cold feeling to the woman’s attitude.
The woman seemed to misunderstand Seraphine’s lack of response to mean something else. Realizing that she had made a mistake, she covered her mouth with her palm.
“My apologies for calling out to you, princess.”
Oh.
At those words memories came flooding back.
“You told me not to act like I know you, but you looked so different, so I didn’t know…”
Melanie Baselan.
She was the daughter of the Empress’ beloved maid and Leonhardt’s nanny. As a result, she was his close childhood friend…
And lover.
While it wouldn’t be for long, Seraphine was still the prince’s fiancee. And yet she called out to Seraphine first. Was it boldness? Naivety? Or….
After sorting out her thoughts Seraphine looked Melanie straight in the eye.
“No, that’s fine.”
Melanie seemed to be taken aback by Seraphine’s mercy.
“But please do remember propriety in the future. After all, we’re not close.”
“Oh, yes… That’s right.”
Seraphine wanted to be rid of this, and now that she had broken off the engagement they were complete strangers. Instead she walked away with a cold sneer.
Seraphine immediately knew what was going on.
So the emergency was for Melanie? What a pathetic excuse.
The situation would not have been ridiculous had Leonhardt just calmly accepted the breakup. But now he was acting as if Seraphine were his only beloved when in fact he had run off to see his real lover. The entire thing was farcical.
“Are you sleeping?”
“Yes, princess.”
“Take this letter to the emperor. Say it’s from me so that he reads it immediately.”
“Understood, princess.”
Per etiquette she should have asked for a private meeting to discuss breaking off the engagement. But given how his highness was focused on her due to the recent dismissal of her tutors, she had decided to not waste any time.
Handing over the letter asking for the end to her engagement, Seraphine stepped into the carriage taking her home.
* * *
The servants seemed shocked at Seraphine returning earlier than usual, but quickly hid their emotions. In the past they would have gossiped openly, but everyone who did that has already gone. In addition, Seraphine kept her personal maids at an arm’s length, never trying to be more than a maid and her mistress.
Absent such talk and interference, Seraphine settled down to rest until she heard a knock on her door.
“What’s going on?”
“The duke has requested that you come downstairs for a family dinner, my lady.”
Duke Rubia, who had been away from the mansion for several days, seems to have returned.
Seraphine enjoyed having a simple meal in her room, but decided to agree after some thought. It wouldn’t be good to skip out on such an occasion, and she could also thank her father for his recent help at dinner as well.
As they helped her dress up for the dinner, one maid carefully spoke up.
“The duke has requested that you wear the diamond earrings you received recently,” she said, holding open a jewelry box.
“What would you like to do, my lady?”