𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙈𝙖𝙟𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙮

ＣＸＬＶＩ

˜”*°• Imperial Majesty •°*”˜

The guests on Duchess Tuania's side all merrily chatted, whilst two Empresses silently conversed with themselves.

Navier brought a hand to cover her laugh to avoid disturbing the others, while (Y/n) snickered and grinned at the former's reactions.

It was a pleasant sight to see both monarch of different nations be on good terms with one another.

But the person in front of the (h/c)-nette would say otherwise. Imperceptibly, he clenched his fist— clearly not enjoying the two being so close.

"Duke?"

Rashta, being conscious, tugged on his sleeve which prompt him to avert his attention on to her.

"Hm? What is it?"

Her eyes timidly scanned around, "What should I do? They're not paying attention to me."

For a moment, his green eyes caught (e/c) ones glaring at him.

"Oh don't worry, my lady." He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Your time will come."

The albino blushed at the closeness and shyly looked away and nodded. He pulled away and smirk, his eyes now were fully staring at (Y/n)— which she had a none pleased look.

The latter quickly turned to the woman beside her and smiled as if she had not glared daggers at the man in front of her.

Ergi's smirk turned into a frown the moment her eyes were no longer upon him. He grabbed his cup and sipped his tea— finding himself a distraction from his irritation.

"By the way," Duchess Tuania started, beginning to change the topic. "Have you heard the news about Baron Riven?"

"I have." A nobleman replied. "I heard that he wanted his bastard son to be his successor, and the Baroness ended up divorcing him, right?"

"As you know, the Duchess— now Baroness— is from the Duchy of Krom." Another, this time a noblewoman, added. "I heard she went back to the Duchy with the children."

The Nevivon woman— who wasn't listening to the other aristocrats' chatter— laughed at Navier, and was about to grab her fork for another bite when...

"Isn't Baroness Riven Lady Alyssa's younger sister?"

"—!"

The two foreigners of the party suddenly tensed up. (Y/n) paused from taking a bite of her cake, and the Blue Bohean Duke stopped sipping his tea.

Navier felt the (h/c)-nette's hand on hers flinched a bit and was now looking at her with a confused and concerned face.

She squeezed her hand lightly to earn her attention to which it did. But the latter merely gave her a smile and said the wind was slightly cold today.

Which she find odd, because she didn't feel any wind.

She was about to ask what she had meant when her— the Nevivon Empress' attention began to focus on to Duchess Tuania and the others.

And this time, her smile dropped.

Curious, the blonde decided to drop the subject and began to also listen in.

"What is Lady Alyssa doing these days?" A nobleman asked.

"This is something I heard prior to the New Year's ceremony, but..." And one answered.

Rashta, who noticed the two Imperial women in front her went abruptly quiet, turned to where they were focusing at.

Apparently they were talking about someone called 'Alyssa'. The concubine, wanting to satiate her curiosity, leaned over to a fellow aristocrat and asked.