Prologue

Prologue

The garden that lay before us was a wonder—its guests could even enjoy luxuriously gazing at the beautifully sparkling surface of the Wahl River. Only one family in the Kingdom of Flür could possibly include a whole river on their manor grounds: that of Duke Argenteia.

We—Miss Iris, myself, and two other ladies—had been invited to the Argenteia’s estate for a tea party by our friend(?), Miss Verbena.

The mild weather and cool breeze was perfect for an outdoor gathering, so us ladies were having a grand old time chatting and sipping on our teas. That is, until the subject of the princess of Aurantia—the country we’d just been at war with—asking to marry Mr. Fisalis came up. I really brought down the mood after that.

“...”

There were six girls present, but the only thing you could hear was the inappropriately tranquil chirping of the birds...

Miss Verbena, Miss Iris, and the other ladies had all tried to follow up with something to lift my spirits, but now they were just silent, worriedly watching to see how I reacted. I mean, I’m super glad that they’re all worried about me, but still!

“The Crown Prince of Aurantia is paying Flür a visit.”

How many days had it been since Mr. Fisalis had told me that? I actually hadn’t seen him for a while after that—but let’s leave that aside for the moment. He’d told me that the Crown Prince and his party were coming to hold a ceremony celebrating the end of the war and to discuss the future. He never told me that “the future” included a husband for the princess, much less that mine was going to be her first choice.

...Like, isn’t it weird that Miss Verbena knew, but I didn’t? That must mean it’s not much of a secret. Why wasn’t I told? Damn, this is making me upset.

From what the girls said, both Mr. Fisalis and the king himself had instantly refused the marriage offer and delivered an official document saying exactly that to Aurantia at record speed. If they’d refused already, wouldn’t it have been nice to at least mention it happening? It’s absolutely wrong that everyone but his damn wife knew!

Mr. Fisalis usually blabs about his work stuff, even to the point of leaking classified intel, but he couldn’t tell me something this important? I mean, yes, our marriage began as a contract with no feelings involved. But after spending so long with him, I’ve ended up really seeing him in a new light (despite how I may act sometimes). And he’d given me a real vow too.

“I, Duke Cercis Tinensis Fisalis, promise to love Viola Mangelica Fisalis till the end of my days.”

...Wahhhhh! What am I remembering that for!

...That vow did make me pretty happy, though—my heart might have even skipped a beat. And I’d believed him too. But when he goes and does things like this, I feel like he doesn’t trust me at all. I mean, it’s kind of my fault, since I did kind of take him up on his offer to wait for an answer instead of telling him how I feel. But still!

No. I’m getting more depressed the more I think about it! I’m gonna get stuck in some kind of feedback loop if I keep this up.

“Miss Viola? Are you sure you’re alright?” Miss Iris, the daughter of Marquis Sanguinneah, was staring at me anxiously. Sorry, got a bit carried away there.

I’d told them I was fine when they’d asked, but I’d ended up getting carried away with my distressed thoughts. “Oh, yes—I was just doing some thinking... I’m sorry,” I answered after taking a deep breath to calm myself down.

“No matter what that princess does, we’re all on your side, Miss Viola! Stay confident!” Miss Verbena announced, with Miss Iris, Miss Nastersham, Miss Krokusse, and Miss Columbine piping in their agreements, complete with a few strong nods.

My friends are so reliable!

* * *

Thanks to those Aurantian idiots deciding that a trip to Flür was a great idea, I’d been having to stay at work later and later. Even today, the sun had already gone down by the time I noticed. I was gonna end up getting home in the middle of the night again.

The double whammy of getting home late but having to leave early in the morning meant I’d barely seen Viola in ages—at least when she was awake. She was always asleep by the time I got home and still sleeping when I had to leave again. Ah, jeez, I’m having such awful Viola withdrawal!

...I’d been sneaking the occasional peek at her while she slept, though. If I didn’t, my Viola deficiency would have driven me mad. I didn’t care if Rohtas gave me dirty looks for it either!

Dammit, Aurantia! Just get here and get gone ASAP!

Just as I was hurrying through the halls of the palace to deliver some papers to the Minister of War as he chatted with His Majesty, I saw Consul Argenteia—Celosia—walking down the opposite side. He was carrying documents too, so he must’ve been on his way to bring them somewhere.

“Hey, Cercis. I was just looking for you. You’ve sure been busy lately, huh?” he said as we were about to pass each other.

As the second son of Duke Argenteia, Celosia was working at the palace as Consul. We’d known each other since childhood due to our family ties, and with us being the same age as well, we were pretty close. He was also Verbena’s older brother.

Seeing him walking the palace halls looking so composed was very funny to me, knowing his usual laid back personality. But whenever we met somewhere like this without any onlookers, he’d always slip back into his typical smirk. And despite saying he’d been looking for me, he didn’t look like he had been.

“Thanks to you. I’m so busy, I might just go crazy.”

“Oh, so that’s why I can sense that pissy aura of yours a mile away.”

“Leave me alone,” I muttered curtly, only to get a smirk back. What? Is there something you wanted to say, Celosia?

When I glared at him, he just laughed it off. “Oh, don’t get so cranky about it. I know why you’re so upset. You haven’t seen your wife lately, have you?”

“Huh? That’s not it. We just haven’t had much of a chance to talk since I’ve been so busy.” I made sure to emphasize the “much.” It’s not like I haven’t seen her at all—really!

“That’s what I mean, though! I heard you didn’t tell her about the whole ‘marrying Aurantia’s Princess’ thing. It’s not good to keep secrets. Nope.”

His self-satisfied look as he said that pissed me off even more. I could feel the veins on my temple throbbing just from dealing with him. Calm down, self. If I get angry, he’ll only be more amused! “I haven’t kept it a secret, I just haven’t told her directly since I don’t want her to worry. And the offer was rejected immediately, so it’s like it never happened.” I haven’t been hiding anything. It just wasn’t even worth telling her.

...It’s just that truthfully, I’m afraid Viola would hear it and tell me to go ahead and divorce her to marry the princess.

When I said that, the smirk vanished from Celosia’s face, and he suddenly looked at me with a completely serious expression. What’s with that face, though?! The fact that he actually looks worried for once makes me incredibly curious.

“...What is it? Wait... How do you know Viola didn’t know about the princess thing?”

“Verbena held a tea party at our manor today.”

“Yeah, I heard. Viola was invited.”

Verbena and Viola had become friends(?) at the Argenteia’s last party, despite Verbena being super hostile towards her before...? I’ll never understand women. But setting that aside that, I’d thought that Verbena was just being polite when she said she’d invite Viola to a tea party, but I guess she actually did it. Rohtas said that Viola was shocked to get the invitation too. That tea party was today, at the Argenteia’s manor.

Had something happened there?

“Apparently the topic of Aurantia came up.”

“Wait just a second. How?”

“I don’t know. It just went from Aurantia’s crown prince coming to Flür, to their princess marrying into Flür as a show of goodwill, and then to the princess’s first choice for a husband being you.”

“...I still don’t really understand how it came up in the first place, but I see how Viola learned about it.” In the absolute worst way, too!

“Verbena said that she’d brought it up because she figured your wife already knew. Oh, but...if you didn’t actually tell her, there was no way she would have known. The Madam was quite shocked when she learned, I hear.”

Verbenaaaa! Why did you have to open your big mouth?! All of the effort I put into pulling her out of the tea party with the princess so she wouldn’t hear has been wasted.

...No. I shouldn’t blame other people. This is my fault for not telling her in the first place.

While I was standing there in a daze, Celosia spoke up again. “Verbena was worried when your wife went pale, so she wants you to patch things up! That’s what she asked me to tell you.” Once he’d finished delivering his message, he walked the opposite way down the hall, waving his hand behind his back.

“So that’s why you knew what happened at the tea party! Hey, wait, what?! Wait, come back here! Celosiaaaa!”

Don’t drop that bombshell and then just walk off! Once I came back to my senses, I turned to try to stop him, but I was too late. My grabbing hand only met air, while Celosia quickly disappeared down the other end of the hallway.

I tightened my hand into a fist. This was no time for me to be whining about only seeing Viola while she was asleep! I had to do whatever it took to see her and talk to her when she was awake! I wanted to go home right then, but... Damn! There’s a mountain of stuff I still need to get done. Corydalis would probably kill me if I skipped it now.

Whatever. I just need to get my work done ASAP and get back home so I can dispel any doubts Viola has. Celosia said she had looked pale. Was she that upset by the news? Was she in danger of fainting from the shock? Viola was usually so energetic, but she did have her moments of fragility. That’s why I worried so much and why I wanted to protect her so badly.

...Ah, but if she was shocked when she heard about the princess thing, that probably means she’s not gonna suggest divorce, at least. Is that progress? I wanted to go home, but I knew Corydalis would absolutely murder me.

Dammit, Aurantia!

I needed to get my boring work done as fast as possible. I would have done anything to get home and see Viola as soon as possible!