Chapter 150
Izar noticed Freesia looking toward the opposite side of the banquet hall and asked,
“Freesia? What’s wrong?”
“Oh! I thought I saw someone I knew.”
Freesia whispered, startled by the light touch of his hand. She expected the High Priest to attend such events, but she hadn’t anticipated so many priests following him.
‘I thought I saw silver hair. Could it be…?’
But before Freesia could look more closely, the priests pulled their hoods deep over their purple cloaks.
Just then, a familiar group came within recognizable distance, and Freesia turned her attention away from the priests.
“The Deneb family is coming, Duke.”
“…….”
“Shall we greet them together—”
But at that moment, the hand holding hers disappeared.
‘What?’
Izar hadn’t completely let go of her hand—instead, he was wrapping his arm around her waist.
Freesia looked up at Izar in surprise. She was afraid she might blurt out a silly exclamation if she spoke.
‘But why is he…?’
She wasn’t the only one with a confused expression. Given the rumors that the Duke didn’t care much for his wife, those who had been watching them discreetly widened their eyes in surprise.
However, Izar kept his hand in place, staring at Albireo with contempt.
He knew he probably looked like a fool infatuated with this woman, but he couldn’t resist the impulse.
The scoundrel who had talked about proposing a second marriage to the Antares family.
‘Acting as if he could have been a better choice for Freesia…’
Overwhelmed by a sudden sense of unease, his grip around Freesia tightened.
He turned her around and started walking in the opposite direction.
“We’ll have plenty of chances to greet them tomorrow. Let’s go.”
“But—”
His hand was hot on her waist, and Freesia felt her cheeks heat up more.
His touch grew hot wherever he embraced her.
* * *
Some people like to flaunt their cherished ones to the world, while others prefer to hide them and keep them all to themselves.
The emperor was decidedly the latter.
After the empress passed away early, he moved all her portraits to his chambers. Over time, her image faded from people’s memories.
But on the night after the first banquet.
Riegel boldly entered his grandfather’s private chamber.
A red velvet curtain covered one wall. If he remembered correctly, a painting was hidden underneath…
The head attendant, who served the prince, fidgeted and whispered anxiously.
“Your Highness, if you open that without permission, His Majesty will—”
“Don’t they resemble each other?”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?”
“The Duchess and my grandmother.”
The attendant barely held onto his sanity and cried out.
“Y-Your Highness, such a thing is…!”
“Look objectively. Forget about the Duchess’s origins for a moment.”
At Riegel’s firm command, the attendant reluctantly looked up at the old portrait of the empress.
Her hair, not quite golden but a blend of milk and blonde. Her slender face, and the eyes she passed down to her sons.
Not a typical beauty, but she had an otherworldly beauty like a spirit from an ancient forest.
‘Now that I look closely, she does resemble the Duchess…?’
By that logic, the duchess also bore a slight resemblance to the prince. Both had slender builds, similar hair colors, and eye colors.
The attendant’s expression turned to one of shock as Riegel moved closer to the portrait, murmuring.
“Why? Why didn’t Grandfather realize sooner?”
After all, it was the emperor who arranged the marriage between Izar and that woman and attended the wedding himself.
And he received her greeting.
Right before his eyes.
The attendant regained his senses and added.
“If the bride kept her wedding veil on, it would have been hard for him to see clearly.”
“Ah.”
Indeed, he himself had only seen the duchess without her veil today.
‘But even so…’
The emperor loved his late wife so much that he named the most splendid street in the capital after her and mourned her all his life.
But if he didn’t recognize the traces of his beloved in her descendant right before his eyes?
How tragically comical would that be?
“…The Alpheratz family also attended today.”
He needed to handle this calmly to avoid it being dismissed as mere coincidence or his own conjecture.
To do so, he first needed…
“Bring Viela Alpheratz here immediately. Tell her it’s about the research she was conducting at the academy, and she’ll understand.”
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