ITIF Chapter 27

First is Invitation

Giselle Grante quickly walked away from the imperial palace garden where the tea party had been held.

“Miss? Where are you going?”

At the servant’s question, Giselle Grante realized that she had habitually headed toward the bedroom she used to occupy when she was Princess Trinity.

“The imperial palace is so vast that I mistook the exit for a moment.”

Giselle Grante made this excuse and turned around.

The servant who had been guiding her nodded in understanding.

“That can happen. I understand. When I first came to the imperial palace, I often got lost and became confused…”

Once he started talking, the servant rattled on with stories she didn’t particularly want to hear.

Starting from which family he belonged to…

Nodding appropriately to the servant’s story, Giselle Grante reviewed the conversation she had with Marchioness Latse before leaving the imperial palace garden.

[It seems you’re staying in the capital instead of returning to the Amaterasu duchy. In that case, you’d better think carefully. It will be up to you, Miss, to decide whom to associate with. The consequences will also be yours to bear.]

It meant she should choose wisely whether to align with the Empress or Countess Tarel.

‘At first, it starts with such invitations.’

However, if Giselle Grante did not comply, the next step would be coercion.

“…How about it? Miss?”

Only then did Giselle Grante lift her gaze, which had been directed far away, to look at the servant.

Throughout their walk in the imperial palace corridor, the servant had been telling his unwanted personal story, but just now he seemed to have asked her a question.

“…”

She had been half-listening to his story. He had been talking too much about things she hadn’t even asked about.

Since the exit from the imperial palace was right ahead, instead of asking what he meant, Giselle Grante smiled slightly at the servant and said:

“Thank you for guiding me.”

She gave her thanks and was about to turn away when the servant spoke again.

“…Then should I take it that you’re giving permission?”

Giselle Grante’s steps came to an abrupt halt.

‘Permission? Permission for what?’

As she was thinking this, she heard a familiar low voice from behind her.

“We meet again.”

Giselle Grante’s brow furrowed slightly.

“It’s an honor to see you! Duke Cardia.”

The servant quickly offered his greeting, and this allowed Giselle Grante to know for certain who was behind her.

When she turned around, she made eye contact with Kavelaseth, who was walking toward her.

Then he came to stand beside her.

“It seems you’ve decided to choose your side wisely this time.”

Giselle Grante forced herself to smile while trying to control her expression that wanted to frown.

‘Choose your side wisely…’

And she pondered the meaning of Kavelaseth’s words.

‘There was an Empress’s tea party at the imperial palace today, and he already knows that I attended it.’

While Giselle Grante hesitated over what response to give, Kavelaseth looked at the servant and said:

“I was also heading to my carriage, so I’ll take over escorting the Young Lady from here.”

“Ah…”

The servant blinked in confusion for a moment and was about to give some response when Kavelaseth started walking.

Then he gestured to Giselle Grante with his eyes, as if telling her to follow quickly.

Giselle Grante raised one corner of her mouth obliquely and started walking.

“Right now, I’m absolutely not following you, Duke.”

And she walked ahead of Kavelaseth at a slightly faster pace than his.

Soon she heard a snickering sound from behind her.

“…?”

Giselle Grante quickly turned her head to look at Kavelaseth.

Sure enough.

Kavelaseth was looking at her with an expression of disbelief.

“Let’s call it that then.”

Then he began walking ahead of Giselle Grante. Not to be outdone, Giselle Grante also quickened her pace.

As the waiting carriage approached, her relief at being able to part ways with Kavelaseth was short-lived.

The carriage next to the one she had arrived in bore the crest of the Cardia duchy.

‘Of all places, why did they have to park the carriage right next to mine.’

As she inwardly complained and was about to board her carriage, Kavelaseth spoke:

“It seems the Young Lady’s ambitions were far greater than I expected.”

“…?”

Giselle Grante, who had been about to board the carriage, turned her head toward Kavelaseth with a slightly furrowed brow.

“Surely you’re not unaware of the Empress’s next moves after the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony?”

Giselle Grante understood the underlying meaning of what Kavelaseth was trying to say.

Even after the Crown Prince’s investiture ceremony, the Emperor would not easily abdicate the throne to Joshua.

‘The father I know… no, if it’s the Emperor I know, he wouldn’t even think of early abdication unless he developed dementia.’

The Emperor was someone with such a strong desire for power.

And the Empress would surely try to further solidify her son Joshua’s power through this opportunity.

For instance, by bringing in a young lady from a family like the Amaterasu duchy that maintained neutrality as Joshua’s match.

In fact, today Giselle Grante had noticed the Empress’s intentions from looking at the tea party guests.

That under the pretext of a tea party, she was conducting daughter-in-law interviews.

Leaning his shoulder against the carriage wall, Kavelaseth spoke again:

“From Duchess of Cardia to Crown Princess. No, the next Empress, rather.”

“…What exactly are you trying to say?”

“I’m giving you a compliment. It seems you’ve chosen the right side to align with this time.”

“…”

“For now.”

Leaving behind this meaningful remark, Kavelaseth boarded his carriage.

Soon his carriage departed. Giselle Grante stood there glaring at the retreating carriage before finally boarding her own.

****

Kavelaseth, who had been watching Giselle Grante’s figure growing smaller through the carriage window, soon turned his gaze forward.

Having just finished his business at the imperial palace and returning to his carriage, Kavelaseth encountered a familiar figure from behind.

And also the servant beside her, who was passionately speaking while even spitting.

From his voice and gestures, Kavelaseth quickly realized that the servant was faithfully conducting courtship activities in front of someone he fancied.

And when they reached the imperial palace entrance, Kavelaseth’s suspicion became fact.

[If there’s an opportunity, it would be nice to go flower viewing together. What do you think….Miss?]

Just as he was slightly curious about what response Giselle Grante would give to his date proposal:

[Thank you for guiding me.]

Neither rejection nor acceptance, but completely ignoring it as if nothing had happened – seeing her put up such an iron wall, a smile spread across Kavelaseth’s lips.

‘I can’t tell if she’s a fox or a bear.’

Kavelaseth was convinced that in the past, Giselle Grante had not proposed marriage because she truly loved him.

He thought that the appearance of courting a man she fell for at first sight instead of an arranged marriage would be less likely to arouse the Emperor’s suspicion, so she had tried to use this strategically.

But regardless of that, for an unmarried woman to publicly confess love to a man was tantamount to cutting away at her own flesh.

And as a result, side effects occurred where idiots like that servant earlier – who as the third son of a minor noble family could never even dare to look up at the Young Lady of Amaterasu duchy – misunderstood her as an easy woman.

How other males treated Giselle Grante was absolutely none of his concern.

Yet witnessing such a scene right before his eyes made him feel somewhat displeased.

So he approached first. Giselle Grante.

Of course, accepting the marriage proposal she had offered was an entirely different matter.

****

Returning from the imperial palace, Giselle Grante removed her cumbersome dress and jewelry and headed to the bathroom.

When her muscles began to relax languidly in the hot bath water infused with fragrant oils, it was not by her will that Kavelaseth’s face from the imperial palace came to mind.

‘Let’s not think about it.’

Giselle Grante quickly shook her head to dismiss thoughts of him.

And she reflected on today’s events at the imperial palace, trying to deduce what would happen next.

For example, about when Countess Minster would be abandoned.

The Empress would not be unaware that Count Minster’s family’s fortunes had begun to decline.

‘She must have been watching to see whether they would overcome their difficulties and rise again or collapse as they were.’

And today, since Giselle Grante had pointed this out specifically, rumors related to Count Minster’s family would surely spread quickly.

Like the Emperor, the Empress also had very strong pride and a strong desire for victory.

She was not the type to keep by her side those she judged to be inadequate.

So she just needed to wait and see how much the Empress had cherished Countess Minster through this incident.

“Haa…”

Letting out a languid sigh while leaning her head back against the bathtub, she recalled the face of Marquis Howard’s daughter.

Then a giggle escaped her.

‘She was an interesting person.’

A noble with normal thinking would never have taken Giselle Grante’s side in that situation.

If they knew about Giselle Grante’s past rumors, laughing at her or trying to distance themselves would be the normal reaction.

“Miss. May I come in?”

At that moment, Lindsey’s voice from outside the bathroom brought Giselle Grante’s reverie to an end.

“Yes. Come in.”

Lindsey, holding a sponge and soap in her hands, approached the bathtub.

“How is the water temperature? Shall I add a little more hot water?”

At Lindsey’s thoughtful consideration, Giselle Grante smiled and shook her head.

“No, it’s fine.”

“Then I’ll start with the soap bubbles, Miss.”

Lindsey began scrubbing Giselle Grante’s arm with a soft sponge full of soap bubbles.

‘Speaking of which, choosing sides wisely… when he himself is going to steal the throne from Joshua.’

Recalling her conversation with Kavelaseth at the imperial palace, her brow furrowed slightly.

Lindsey, who had been working diligently, quickly noticed her mood change and asked:

“Was I scrubbing too hard? Shall I be a little gentler?”

She seemed to think that her frown was her fault.

Giselle Grante quickly shook her head.

“This is just right.”

So she tried to think of something else.

‘Let’s think of something pleasant. Something that will make me feel good…’

As she was telling herself this, Lindsey spoke:

“Miss. There’s a flower blooming in the back garden of the ducal residence. The flowers should bloom fully in a few days – shall I pick a few and put them in the vase in your bedroom?”

At that moment, Giselle Grante remembered what question the servant had asked her before leaving the imperial palace.