RTTE 10

Chapter 10

Late at Night, in Front of a Luxury Inn Near the Capital

“Ah…”

Lumiere let out a small groan as she reached for Aksid’s hand after he stepped down from the carriage first.

Aksid’s expression immediately hardened.

“If you don’t mind, may I take a look at your hand for a moment?”

“Pardon?”

“Show me.”

When he repeated the request in a firm tone, she had no choice but to hold out her hand.

Her palm was swollen tight, and dark purple bruises had formed around her wrist.

They were injuries that would heal in a few days at most.

They were not serious enough for her to mention, so she had said nothing.

But receiving such a grave look from him made her feel strangely awkward.

It was nothing serious, yet she felt both embarrassed and sorry for making him worry.

“I’m fine. It’s not a serious injury, and something like this will go down soon enough.”

When she smiled sheepishly, a faint crease appeared between Aksid’s brows.

After quickly checking them into the inn, he led the awkwardly standing Lumiere to her room.

“Excuse me.”

He sat her down on the bed and began wrapping a bandage around her wrist.

His touch was extraordinarily careful, as though he were afraid of hurting her.

It only throbs a little. It’s not as though anything is broken…

This was the first time, in both her previous life and her current one, that anyone had shown her such consideration.

“I’m really fine…”

She muttered out of embarrassment.

Aksid answered in a voice that sounded almost restrained.

“…You are not fine.”

A Princess of the Imperial Family had not only been humiliated in front of others—she had been injured as well.

How could that possibly be all right?

Even if Aksid was not skilled at understanding people’s hearts, he knew enough to understand that this was not something that could simply be called fine.

And Duke Trovitan was the man whose name had been linked to the Princess in rumors, was he not?

Yet despite everything, she was forcing herself to smile.

Aksid’s mood sank endlessly as he watched her.

He had thought she was a person whose thoughts were impossible to understand.

But now, he felt as though he had caught a glimpse of the fragile heart hidden behind her composed smile.

His darkened eyes lowered toward her slender wrist, as thin as a child’s.

…Was it truly right to take a Princess who had likely accumulated so many wounds in her heart to the harsh and freezing North?

No matter how carefully he kept things under control, life in the North—where resentment toward the Empire ran deep—would hardly be easy for her.

His hands became even gentler as he tied the final knot.

Then he rose from his seat.

“Then please rest well.”

After offering those brief words, he turned to leave the room.

Then a small voice came from behind him.

“…Grand Duke, you’re a very kind person.”

Aksid stopped.

His entire body stiffened at the unexpected words.

He had merely done what was necessary.

And yet she called him kind.

“…I’m not particularly so.”

He answered in a low, subdued voice before quietly leaving the room.

She had called him kind, but he was not a man suited to such a description.

He had spent his entire life surrounded by the smell of blood, cutting off monsters’ heads.

He had never learned how to share warmth with another person.

Didn’t she say she had never lived like a human being, not even for a single day, in the Imperial Palace?

If someone could call such a small act of consideration kindness, what kind of life had she lived until now?

Suddenly, the man who had roughly grabbed the Princess’s wrist came to mind.

I should have broken that bastard’s wrist.

Aksid looked down at his own hand for a moment.

Then he slowly clenched and unclenched his fist.

As though regretting having let Logan go so easily.

At that moment, Kaidan, who had been waiting downstairs, approached him.

“Your Highness, how is Her Highness the Princess?”

“I believe she’ll need to be careful for at least two weeks.”

The wrist that had been gripped so brutally was covered in bruises.

She had said it would heal in only a few days, but considering the Princess’s delicate skin, it would not have been surprising if the bruising lasted much longer.

Unlike the tough, rough skin of Northerners, her hands were exceptionally smooth and soft.

“By the way, doesn’t Her Highness have quite a personality despite her appearance?”

“…Who?”

Aksid raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Kaidan gave a crooked grin.

“The Princess, of course. I saw the face of that woman Your Highness slapped earlier, and it was an absolute mess.”

Aksid remembered the sensation of the smooth, soft hand she had held when they first met.

“…The Princess’s hand was in far worse condition after striking that woman’s cheek.”

“…Pardon?”

No matter how badly Roselyn’s face had been battered, could it possibly compare to the Princess’s palm, which was swollen so badly she could barely make a fist?

“And the Princess could have summarily executed that woman for insulting a member of the Imperial Family. Yet she chose not to.”

Judging by the way Roselyn had boldly tattled on the Princess in front of everyone, it was obvious how disrespectfully she must have behaved toward her.

And yet Lumiere had forgiven her after nothing more than forcing her to kneel.

Considering that insulting a member of the Imperial Family was a serious crime that could be punished by immediate execution without even a trial, it was an extraordinarily merciful decision.

How had someone with such a soft heart survived in a snake pit like the Imperial Palace?

As Aksid fell into serious thought, Kaidan watched him with an odd, uncomfortable expression.

The journey toward the North was exhausting.

No matter how much consideration she received, traveling such a long distance in a frail body was difficult.

And this body was not even accustomed to riding in a carriage.

Her wrist had recovered enough for the bandage to be removed.

But after suffering from motion sickness and muscle pain for days, she truly felt as though she might die.

Still, this suffering would soon come to an end.

Lumiere gazed through the window with welcoming eyes at the Grand Duke’s castle slowly drawing closer.

A land of bitter cold, covered in snow and ice throughout all four seasons.

Located at the heart of Winterheim, the Grand Ducal Castle possessed the solid, weighty majesty one would expect from a fortress that had endured for countless years in such a harsh land.

For a brief moment, strange emotions filled Lumiere as she returned to this place after so many years.

Then she quietly looked at the hand Aksid was offering her.

In her previous life, she had ridden in a separate carriage from him.

And the moment the door opened upon their arrival, she had screamed.

“Your Highness, we have arrived at the castle, so please come outside—”

“N-No! Please save me! Don’t come any closer…!”

Aksid had silently waited outside the carriage.

Until the head maid, unable to watch any longer, had spent a long time persuading Lumiere to come out.

Thinking about how she had humiliated him not only in the Imperial Palace but even here at the Grand Duke’s castle made her heart feel unbearably heavy.

What had she been so terrified of back then?

“…Your Highness?”

“It’s nothing.”

Pulled from her thoughts, she gave him a bitter smile and took his hand.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman with brown hair and brown eyes hurried toward them.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke, Your Highness the Princess, welcome.”

“It has been a long time, Head Maid. Has everything been well?”

“My apologies, but you must depart for the northern fortress immediately. A messenger arrived just moments ago. The battle situation is said to be urgent.”

At the Head Maid’s dark expression, Aksid nodded and fell silent briefly.

In the North, where monster attacks occurred almost every day, this was hardly unusual.

It was a situation he had fully expected.

“Princess, I would like to escort you myself, but it seems I must leave for battle immediately.”

“I’ll be fine, so please make sure you return without getting hurt.”

Aksid had difficulty tearing his gaze away from Lumiere, who smiled gently despite her pale face.

“Attend to the Princess with the utmost respect.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“If anything happens to the Princess, no matter how trivial it may seem, report it to me immediately. Do you understand?”

“I will remember that, Your Highness.”

After repeatedly giving the Head Maid his instructions, Aksid turned away as though he could delay no longer.

His movements were swift and efficient—the movements of someone accustomed to heading straight to the battlefield without even having time to rest.

“Your Highness the Princess, my name is Terra. I serve as the Head Maid. Please allow me to escort you inside.”

Lumiere silently watched Aksid’s retreating figure until he gradually disappeared into the distance.

Then she turned around.

Despite Terra’s polite tone, Lumiere could clearly sense rejection and wariness in her cold eyes.

It seemed she would have to work hard if she wanted to win the Head Maid’s heart.

It was not unexpected.

Considering the rumors surrounding Lumiere and the relationship between their two countries, such a reaction was only natural.

Still, Terra did not seem like a cruel or malicious person.

“Could you show me to my bedroom first?”

“Yes. Please follow me.”

Step. Step.

Lumiere slowly looked around the interior of the main building as she followed the Head Maid.

Then, suddenly, a large, thick window at the end of the corridor caught her attention.

“……”

Beyond the window lay a quiet garden where bare trees stood silently in their places.

And for a moment, Lumiere thought she could see the back of a man standing there until sunset, in the spot within the castle grounds that received sunlight for the longest time.

An inexplicable heaviness filled her chest, and her steps came to a halt.

Then—

Raised voices faintly reached her ears, shattering her thoughts.

“…Fifteen gold for a single pound of pepper? It was only ten gold half a year ago!”

“Do you think I want to raise the prices? But the transit taxes and tariffs have increased far too much!”

“It’s not as though we’re buying only pepper. Just what we agreed to purchase this time alone amounts to…”

That voice…

“Your Highness the Princess?”

“Shh.”

Lumiere silenced the puzzled Head Maid before quietly peering into the reception room through the half-open door.

A plump body that looked as though it were filled with greed.

A face that appeared warm and generous.