MFAWW 22

Chapter 22

Whether I was dazed or not, the Crown Prince flashed a sweet eye-smile and turned the hand that had been hooked around my pinky to the side. Then he took my right hand and slowly dropped to one knee.

“Y-Your Highness?”

Startled by his sudden action, I called out to him. Still kneeling, he looked up at me. His face was so devout it felt solemn.

“Lady Iris Subrina Viscount.”

A resolute voice, as steady as his serious golden eyes, tickled my ear. The Crown Prince, who had called my name, bowed his head in a slow motion.

His pale green hair, cascading softly, tickled the back of my hand, and gentle warmth touched my skin. Pressing his forehead against the back of my hand, he whispered sweetly.

“Will you take me as your cavalier?”

“A c-cavalier?”

What did he just say? Take him as what? For a moment, I thought I’d misheard. I stammered like a fool. I was so surprised that the words wouldn’t come out properly.

“Yes. A cavalier.”

Raising his head, the Crown Prince rested his chin on the back of my hand and spoke with a composed face.

“Take me as your cavalier.”

*Huh.* For a moment, a strange sound almost escaped me. I barely swallowed the scream that had risen to my throat and brought my free left hand to my chest.

*Heart… are you still alive?*

“So, um, now, I’m, uh, quite flustered, you know.”

Beyond my palm, I could feel my heart pounding violently, as if I’d run twenty laps around the training ground. Uncharacteristically, I stammered.

“You don’t want to?”

When I didn’t answer right away, the Crown Prince tilted his head slightly like a whining puppy and asked. At that sight, my heart fluttered.

“No, not at all! I’d like that, of course—it’s an honor, but…”

Aaaah, I’m going crazy! My breath came strangely short, as if I’d sprinted up a mountain in one go.

“Aren’t you… okay with this?”

A Debutante’s partner—a cavalier—was special. It was on a completely different level from being a partner at an ordinary ball.

The cavalier, which originated from the old custom of knights swearing loyalty to their lady for life, was mainly formed between lovers who had promised their future to each other.

In the empire, it had long been fashionable for noble young men to offer themselves as cavaliers, and for noble young ladies to accept, thereby confessing their feelings.

In conservative families, a relative like a father or older brother sometimes served as the cavalier for a young lady making her debut, but that was extremely rare. Most of the time, the cavalier was either someone engaged in marriage talks or someone currently in a relationship.

“Is there any reason I wouldn’t be okay with it?”

The Crown Prince asked back with a baffled expression. At his innocent gaze, saliva pooled in my mouth.

“Your Highness doesn’t have a fiancée.”

“That’s right.”

“If you become my cavalier… it will definitely get noisy. People will misunderstand the relationship between Your Highness and me.”

As far as I knew, the Crown Prince had never had a fiancée. The empire considered marriage sacred, and even among nobles, free love was valued more than arranged marriages—but even so, it was customary to have a fiancée by around age twenty.

With his outstanding looks, capable abilities, and above all, being the future ruler of the empire, it was unnatural for the Crown Prince, a desirable match for anyone, to have no fiancée all this time.

It was probably because of the Empress’s interference.

To a noble, a fiancée was a political partner, and marriage was a union between families. From the Empress’s standpoint, who needed to push the Crown Prince aside, it was undesirable for him to gain in-laws who would support him.

“It’s all right.”

Unlike my worries, the Crown Prince was calm. He truly didn’t seem to care about anything. If anything, he looked pleased.

“This is what I want to do.”

“Your Highness.”

“And besides, you don’t have a fiancé either.”

“That’s true, but… there’s a big difference between a mere viscount’s daughter and the Crown Prince…”

“Iris.”

The Crown Prince rubbed his cheek against the back of my hand like a puppy being affectionate.

“I am courting you right now.”

Courting—such dangerous words. I wanted to tell him not to say that, but somehow my throat felt blocked as if caught on something. For some reason, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his golden eyes, which held a hint of amusement.

“So take me as your cavalier.”

…I lost, I lost. I surrender. How could I possibly win against this?

Like someone bewitched by a fox, I dazedly nodded. At that, the Crown Prince, having achieved his goal, broke into a wide smile. It was the smile of a victor.

“Miss! Look at this! It’s silk from the East!”

“Oh… so it is.”

“Kyaa, blue satin! This is extremely rare!”

Sophie was thrilled at the fabrics and jewelry piled up in the room. She busily flitted about like a sparrow, exclaiming in admiration.

I’d heard that preparing for a Debutante cost at least a year’s budget for an average noble household, and just what was here alone would let our territory live comfortably for three years.

Unlike Sophie, who was excited like a child, I was already sick of it all. Since I was only going to the Imperial Palace Ball and the hunting competition anyway, what a waste of money this was.

Whether or not he knew I felt so burdened I could choke, the Marquess of Bright sent fabrics and jewelry every single day, as if compensating for all he hadn’t been able to do before. He bought so much that the dressing room was so full there was no room to step.

In the end, the fabrics that couldn’t fit in the dressing room were piled up in the corner of the room where I was temporarily staying.

*I wonder if I could take some of that with me when I go back later. Probably not, right? Tsk.*

—

*’You said His Highness the Crown Prince agreed to be your cavalier?’*

The Marquess of Bright was overjoyed when I said I would take the Debutante. He made a rather peculiar expression for a very brief moment at the news that the Crown Prince had become my cavalier, but his joy seemed greater than his concern, and he smiled broadly.

*’Hmph. As if that pale-faced pea could.’*

The Duke of Bright seemed quite displeased with the Crown Prince. Perhaps because, though half-brothers, they were still blood-related family with the Second Prince? However, when I mentioned that the Crown Prince had helped me when I encountered the Second Prince, the Duke softened a little.

—

“Fur is useless, though.”

I gazed with weary eyes at the mountain of silk and fur piled up in the corner of the room. My head already ached from what the Marquess of Bright eagerly bought and what the Crown Prince sent, and today the Duke of Bright had even joined in.

He said it was for preparing my Debutante and sent all kinds of fabrics and jewelry, along with white fox fur and deer leather—which he said he’d hunted in winter. The leather was one thing, but fur in late spring and early summer? Was he trying to cook me alive?

“Shall I help you?”

“It’s fine! I can do it alone!”

“It would be nice if we could call someone else.”

“Can’t be helped.”

Sophie answered stoutly as she sorted the deer leather. The butler, saying that since the newspapers were running feature articles about me every day, it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious, delegated everything to Sophie.

As a result, Sophie had been run off her feet for the past few days, organizing the endless stream of goods. Even so, her expression was very bright. Her attitude was like, *When else would I get to see and touch such precious things to my heart’s content if not now?* I should give her something later.

“When is the dressmaker coming?”

“This afternoon. The jeweler is tomorrow… Ah, a gem merchant is also visiting in the evening!”

“Do we really need to buy more?”

We already had more than enough—more than enough to overflowing—and now she said they were calling another merchant?

“These days, it’s trendy for Debutante preparations to go shopping in the shopping district with your cavalier. But Miss, you can’t go outside right now because of the reporters…”

Sophie looked at me with pitying eyes. As she said, the Marquess’s residence was suffering from reporters right now. Because the Marquess of Bright had revealed my existence.

—

**[The Twin Sister of Lady Bright Appears!]**

**[Lady Bright’s Twin—Lady Subrina Viscount—Who Is She?]**

**[A Striking Resemblance to Lady Bright! The Emergence of a New Villainess?]**

—

The newspaper reporters rushed in like a pack of starving dogs. Though chased away each time by the Bright family’s knights, they tenaciously lingered near the house.

The butler had strictly enforced a gag order, but information leaking was unavoidable. Reporters contacted the servants for scoops, and some, won over by money, agreed to interviews. Those servants, blinded by a few coins and betraying their masters, were all dismissed for wagging their tongues too freely.

“It’s easier not to go out.”

I wanted no more trouble than this. Pressing my temples firmly, I picked up the letter. As I rose from my seat, Sophie tried to follow.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll go see the butler for a bit.”

“You could just call him…”

“No. I’m feeling cooped up in my room, so I want to move around a bit.”

I sent Sophie away and left the room alone. Having added the news that I would be taking the Debutante, I intended to finally send the letter to the butler and nanny today. I could delay no longer.

“How long will it take for a reply to come?”

Would two weeks be enough? Estimating how long it would take for my letter to reach the Subrina territory and for the butler and nanny’s reply to arrive in the capital, I descended the stairs—when I heard a faint voice.

“Mi…ss?”

Following the startled voice, I turned my head to see a haggard-looking woman standing in the lobby. As our eyes met, the worn bag in the woman’s wrinkled hands dropped to the marble floor with a thud.

“Miss! Where on earth have you been…!”

The woman ran toward me with an emotional face, then came to an abrupt halt. With an expression that said something was wrong, she narrowed her eyes.

“You…”

The gaunt woman’s body trembled. Her eyes, brimming with tears, twisted violently.

“You’re not my miss.”

A despairing voice escaped through her chapped, whitish lips crusted with dark red scabs. As if all strength had left her, the woman collapsed on the spot.

“Lady Iris? Why are you—Elena?”

Just then, the butler, emerging from behind the staircase, saw the woman sitting on the floor and ran over in surprise. Only then did I realize the woman’s identity.

“Elena!”

Lady Bright’s nanny, Mrs. Elena.

She was the second person to recognize at a glance that I was not Lady Bright.