ITIF Chapter 61

Handsome Beyond Type

“You seem curious about how I know all this.”

Kavelaseth spoke first, before Giselle Grante could unleash her barrage of questions.

As she stared at him blankly, he continued without pause.

“You seem to have been spending time with Count Frederick lately.”

Giselle Grante slowly blinked, controlling her expression from stiffening.

‘He knew that too.’

Though she had many questions, Giselle Grante waited in silence for now, hoping he would freely divulge the information he possessed.

“You must have been investigating Princess Trinity’s death.”

In that instant, Giselle Grante’s gaze sharpened as she looked at Kavelaseth.

“It was just speculation, but judging by your expression, it seems to be true.”

She felt as if all her inner thoughts had been laid bare. An inexplicable unpleasantness rose within her. Forgetting even the fact that she shouldn’t reveal her true feelings, Giselle Grante’s expression twisted.

“Actually, I don’t understand why you’d investigate matters related to Princess Trinity while taking such risks, but one thing has become clear—you’ve made an enemy of the Empress.”

At Kavelaseth’s continued sharp observations, Giselle Grante felt her mind grow distant and hazy.

“Wait, just wait a moment!”

Giselle Grante’s voice rose slightly. She looked at the young man beside her with a pointed gaze.

“…This definitely doesn’t seem like a place for me to be involved. Should I step out?”

Reading the atmosphere, the slave youth merely watched her reactions instead of calling her “master” and turning her stomach, as he had before.

Though his physique was as large as Kavelaseth’s, his meekly downcast eyes instantly cooled the emotions that had flared up.

“Would you do that?”

Giselle Grante forced a smile.

The slave youth nodded to Giselle Grante and left the reception room. Kavelaseth quietly watched the young man’s retreating figure before turning his head back toward her.

“It seems you weren’t close enough to discuss such important matters.”

Kavelaseth sneered as if determined to upset her. But instead of falling for his provocation, she brought up what needed to be discussed now.

“Since you know, I won’t hide it anymore. That young man was being held captive at Baron Cypress’s villa. I brought him to the ducal residence yesterday. He appears to be from the Kingdom of Solzakai.”

“You saw correctly.”

Kavelaseth nodded.

“I plan to observe more before taking action, but now that I know slave trading is occurring, I don’t intend to leave it alone.”

Kavelaseth snorted softly as he spoke.

“Yet you bought him. A young man with exceptional looks, no less.”

At his remark treating her as if she were a libertine who enjoyed toying with young men, Giselle Grante’s cheeks flushed red.

About to snap back in anger, Giselle Grante quickly calmed herself. If she got worked up over his provocation, she would be the one looking foolish.

“Think what you want.”

So she too snorted softly in response.

“Was he your type?”

“…Pardon?”

At the incomprehensible question, Giselle Grante frowned.

‘What does he mean by type?’

Then Kavelaseth gestured toward the door with his eyes.

“His appearance, I mean.”

Only then did Giselle Grante realize he was asking about her taste in men. So she thought about it—what her preferences were.

‘I don’t really have any particular type.’

Come to think of it, she hadn’t paid much attention to men’s appearances.

For a spouse, once she became Emperor, she planned to accept someone from a family that would benefit her power. Of course, being an ordinary person, she did prefer tall, handsome men.

Like Kavelaseth before her eyes.

‘……’

Giselle Grante gazed at Kavelaseth for a moment.

The average height of Phasis Empire citizens was taller compared to other nearby countries. And Kavelaseth far exceeded the average height for men in the Phasis Empire.

Moreover, even she, who had little interest in men’s appearances, had to take note—he possessed remarkably handsome features.

A past comment from Lindsey came to mind.

[Miss, do you know? They say “handsome beyond type” refers to Duke Cardia.]

Starting with a comment from some eloquent young lady, Duke Kavelaseth Cardia had earned the reputation of having a face so handsome it transcended personal taste.

Looking at Kavelaseth before her eyes, she understood.

So this is what it means to be handsome beyond preference…

But she soon realized that wasn’t what mattered now.

“Then now that you know Baron Cypress is involved in slave trading, you’ll need to decide what position to take.”

Giselle Grante decided to pull Kavelaseth into this matter.

Whether he wanted it or not didn’t matter.

Kavelaseth had learned that slave trading was occurring, and she was certain he wouldn’t tolerate such inhumane acts of buying and selling people. So she was confident he would dig into this case.

Just as he had helped her when she was in trouble on the terrace at the imperial ball.

****

In the end, Giselle Grante was able to secure a promise of cooperation from Kavelaseth that he would report Baron Cypress’s establishment and take action.

And Kavelaseth said he would have the slave youth stay at his mansion until he could be sent back to his homeland.

Watching Kavelaseth and the slave youth board the carriage, Giselle Grante replayed their earlier conversation in her mind.

[One more thing—did you act knowing?]

When Giselle Grante tilted her head, not understanding what he was asking about, Kavelaseth added:

[That the Third Prince of Solzakai recently went missing.]

She had known. At least that recently, princes with succession rights in the Kingdom of Solzakai had been warring amongst themselves.

And to simply dismiss him as a commoner who had drifted into the Phasis Empire and was unluckily captured by slave traders—the slave youth exuded an unmistakably aristocratic air.

Of course, she had expected him to be of noble birth, but she thought the speculation that he was the Third Prince was excessive.

So she had thought he might be a fallen noble. Like how Count Minster’s family had secretly fled after going bankrupt over the Semper root bulb affair—that he had fled due to his family’s downfall and drifted into the Phasis Empire.

‘He really was the Third Prince…’

Giselle Grante’s eyes widened as she mulled over the slave youth for a moment.

Because a passage from her past diary entries had suddenly come to mind.

[It was true that the 18th King of Solzakai had once been a slave in the Phasis Empire!]

Which meant that even if she hadn’t rescued him this time, he would have escaped Baron Cypress’s clutches on his own and returned to his country.

The diary had stated that the Third Prince massacred the brothers who had sold him to slave traders and ascended to the throne.

‘Impressive.’

Giselle Grante felt admiration while simultaneously rooting for his future. His future of surviving even in extreme circumstances, succeeding in revenge, and becoming king.

She also felt a sense of kinship. In having family who would abandon even blood ties for power, and in being abandoned by them.

Though his circumstances differed from hers, as she could no longer become Emperor.

“Hah…”

Giselle Grante let out her troubled feelings with a light sigh. Then she forced the corners of her mouth upward.

The betrayal of those she had trusted still stung deeply, but she resolved not to drag up painful memories from the past to ruin her present mood.

“…?”

Before boarding the carriage, Kavelaseth’s red eyes widened slightly as he turned his head toward Giselle Grante, who had been watching him.

Seeing her smile, he grew a bit curious.

What was she thinking right now, to force such a lonely smile…

Kavelaseth glanced with narrowed eyes at the Third Prince of Solzakai standing beside him, looking pitifully at Giselle Grante with drooping eyes like an abandoned puppy.

That’s when it happened.

Mikhail, who had been standing next to Giselle Grante, suddenly ran toward them.

“Kavel, I need an explanation here.”

Mikhail complained, pointing at the Third Prince.

Kavelaseth looked at Mikhail with an indifferent gaze. And asked with his eyes what explanation was needed.

“Why is this guy wearing my clothes!”

“Ah…”

Only then did Kavelaseth look over the Third Prince’s appearance.

The clothes had seemed vaguely familiar. Though he hadn’t realized they were Mikhail’s.

At Mikhail’s fierce protest, the Third Prince glanced down at himself for a moment before speaking.

“Would it suffice if I removed these clothes?”

As if feeling not a shred of embarrassment, the Third Prince removed the jacket he was wearing. Not stopping there, he quickly began unbuttoning his shirt.

His hands moved so fast that his toned pectoral muscles were soon revealed. Noticing the Third Prince subtly conscious of Giselle Grante, Kavelaseth hurriedly removed the jacket he was wearing.

And casually placed it over the Third Prince’s shoulders.

“I’ll have identical shirts and trousers tailored and sent to the Amaterasu ducal residence.”

Meaning, don’t strip the Third Prince naked right now.

“…Fine? Do as you please.”

Mikhail, who had been growling as if he would immediately snatch back his stolen clothes from the Third Prince, was easily convinced.

Kavelaseth appreciated this simplicity of Mikhail’s. It was one of the connections that kept them in touch even after graduating from the academy.

Until the moment he boarded the carriage, the Third Prince couldn’t take his eyes off Giselle Grante.

Kavelaseth pushed the Third Prince into the carriage.

Even after the carriage departed, his gaze remained the same. Kavelaseth glanced at the Third Prince with a displeased look.

‘How irritating.’