Chapter 6
Expression faded from Benedix’s face. He stared at Ioreth for a long time. Then, he muttered in a low voice.
“You’ve changed, Ioreth.”
Benedix took a step closer to her. His grey eyes, stripped of their usual tenderness, held a chilling sharpness. This was the Duke’s true face.
“Why did you change? Since when? The version of you I knew didn’t look at me like this.”
“…”
“Why do you seem unable to trust me?”
Lowering his head slowly, the man gazed intently at Ioreth. At a distance where their breaths brushed the tips of their noses, his gaze moved past the bridge of her nose to her lips. A deep thirst spread through his dark pupils. Closing his eyes long and then opening them, Benedix pulled Ioreth into an embrace.
“I think I left you alone for too long. I’m sorry.”
“…”
“Let’s talk again later. After Foundation Day is over, I’ll come find you wherever you are. Don’t push me away, alright?”
Ioreth let out a small, hollow laugh. If it were the Benedix of the past that she remembered, he would have kissed her without hesitation. He was a man who couldn’t hide his youthful affection, habitually saying, “I wish you’d hurry up and become an adult.”
But seeing him again now, she saw Benedix’s ambition. He was a man who wanted to climb high. He had become engaged to her because of her bloodline, but the moment he judged she could no longer rise, he discarded her without mercy. He was someone who knew how to cautiously weigh an opponent’s value, maintain distance while acting kind, use someone until their utility was exhausted, and then coldly erase them.
That was likely why he succeeded in his previous life—becoming the husband of this country’s Queen and commanding Elobis.
“That was your last chance to kiss me, Benedix.”
Catherine, standing not far away, was watching them. Ioreth kept her gaze fixed on Catherine while leaning her cheek against his neck and whispering:
“Stop trying to frame me while acting like a friend. Right now, I don’t have time to deal with my sister’s lover.”
“Ioreth. If there is still a misunderstanding—”
“If you want to go and report this to Catherine, go ahead. That will be the most accurate proof that you’ve become her loyal dog.”
Benedix’s shoulders stiffened slightly. Ioreth pushed him away and turned around.
“What were you doing with Ioreth, Duke?”
Catherine glared fiercely at the Duke. Even after Ioreth left the garden, the Duke’s gaze remained fixed on her retreating figure.
“It is not something Your Highness needs to concern yourself with.”
Benedix’s voice was blunter than usual. For a man who rarely showed emotion, it was a distinct change. That appearance, clearly shaken in his composure, was irritating.
“You embrace another woman in front of your fiancée and tell me not to concern myself?”
“It was Your Highness who told me to maintain a friendship with Princess Ioreth.”
“So, what did she say?”
“…”
“It’s suspicious that she’s doing things she never did before. For some reason, she looked me straight in the eye, got rid of Lishi, and demanded Sir Ferrain from Father as her guard. Did she mention nothing to you?”
“She was relieved that the marriage was postponed, so I held her. Other than that… well, she seemed a bit sensitive, but it wasn’t vastly different from usual.”
“Is that the truth?”
“Do you doubt me?”
Benedix relaxed his mouth into a smile. His gaze as he looked back at Catherine was gentle yet firm.
“You are being too hard on your lover.”
“A lover who never visits my chambers. Even though you used to frequent Ioreth’s bedroom as if it were your own home.”
The Duke maintained only a silent smile. Benedix Valere was the most powerful card Catherine held, but he was just as difficult to handle. He had a calm and cool-headed temperament that matched his well-chiseled looks, but one could never truly see inside him. It was like looking through several layers of glass; one could only grasp a distorted part.
There was a risk in keeping him as a close aide. However, Catherine needed the Duke. Specifically, she wanted the firm prestige and clean bloodline of the Duke Valere family more than anything else.
Bloodline.
It was the only thing Catherine did not have, and simultaneously her only weakness. The daughter of a commoner Queen. The single flaw in Catherine’s otherwise perfect life had given birth to a deep-rooted inferiority complex.
That was why Catherine trampled her sister even more cruelly. She pressured her thoroughly so she wouldn’t even dare to dream of opposing her, and stripped her of everything she owned. The most precious thing she had taken was the Duke of Valere.
When she flicked her hand toward the Duke, Benedix, recognizing the signal, bowed his head to Catherine.
“The only one I love is the one Crown Princess who will surely ascend to the throne.”
A polite kiss descended upon Catherine’s red lips. The kiss soon turned thick. However, throughout the exchange of tongues, the Duke neither closed his eyes nor looked at Catherine—as if he were kissing her but picturing someone else in his mind.
Seized by a sudden anxiety, Catherine pulled the Duke’s hand down toward her chest. At the blatant temptation, Benedix chuckled and finally gave her his gaze.
‘I took him from Ioreth, but it’s still hard to be sure he is mine. Once I send Ioreth out of the castle, I must immediately hold a royal wedding with him.’
She couldn’t marry Ioreth off on Foundation Day right now, but it didn’t matter. She had sent the royal physician to Earl Castlein; as soon as he recovered enough to move, she intended to proceed with the ceremony. Catherine smiled as she felt the man’s hand grip her chest tightly. Even if Ioreth struggled late in the game, her fate was already in the palm of Catherine’s hand.
Ioreth walked through the royal castle for a long time. The gazes of servants and maids followed her openly as she appeared after a long time. They were all Catherine’s eyes and ears.
‘There are surveillance networks everywhere. I wondered if there was a loophole to escape through, but there’s no chance.’
After all, Catherine held command over not only the Royal Guard but also the Capital Defense Force. Since she even needed Catherine’s permission to go out of the tower, there was no way she could go outside the royal castle. She had avoided the marriage by luck after dragging the King into it, but it was a temporary fix. She had to move to the next stage.
‘If Catherine gains command over the central army and the border guards, it’s over. If I lose all military power, there is no chance of winning, no matter what I do.’
What she needed most right now was military force. A sword to protect herself and a sword to point toward Elobis. She needed two blades. The first sword should have arrived at the tower by now. Ioreth hurried her steps.
“I greet Princess Ioreth.”
In front of the tower entrance, a tall knight with black hair and green eyes was waiting. The black uniform with gold tassels and an eagle-patterned badge was the attire of the Black Eagle Knights. The knight knelt on one knee at Ioreth’s feet.
“I am Lucian Ferrain, who has been assigned to guard the Princess for the time being. I will serve you with all my heart so that you face no discomfort.”
“So you are Sir Ferrain.”
Ioreth looked at the man with a strange feeling. Compared to his elegant facial lines, his taciturn impression caught her eye first. His eyes with faint double eyelids, a well-defined bridge of the nose, and the line falling to his firm lips were straight and neat. His eyes, shaded by long eyelashes, were deep and clear.
Lucian Ferrain. The second son of the Marquis Ferrain family and the Vice Commander of the Black Eagle Knights. He was the very knight Ioreth had requested from the King as her guard.
The only problem was that the current Black Eagle Knights were under the command of Crown Princess Catherine. Furthermore, the Marquis Ferrain family was one that publicly supported the Crown Princess. Thus, Lucian’s actual master was Catherine. That was why she had intentionally used the mouth of her father, the King.
“Until when did Father tell you to protect me?”
“He did not specify a deadline, but I was told it would be roughly a week to ten days.”
“It’s a temporary position, then.”
“Even for a short period, I will do my best to—”
“Remember that what you received is a royal command. For at least a week, you are my person. If you do something you shouldn’t as my guard, disobey my orders, or leak information about me to others, I will consider it a violation of royal command and report it to Father.”
“…I will keep that in mind.”
As a royal knight, he could never be free from a royal command. A knight who defied a royal command would be dismissed immediately. Therefore, for the set period, Lucian had to play the role of Ioreth’s servant with all his heart, whether he liked it or not.
Of course, once the royal command expired, Catherine would call him in and interrogate him about everything that happened, but the reason Ioreth chose him was simple. Before her regression, Lucian was the only knight who showed Ioreth respect as she was being dragged to the execution platform.
“May you be at peace in the arms of God.”
