He Was Kind If I Stopped

“What? I just wanted to give him one because I thought he needed help to wipe his clothes.”

There was a subtle nuance of confidence in her tone. It was not normal for a noble young lady like Miella to hand over a handkerchief almost so casually. Moreover, doing it directly in front of so many people.

Many people threw glances filled with slight curiosity from all over the place toward her, perhaps because they thought about the same thing.

“What were you two talking about? You look quite close to each other. Maybe you….”

“Please refrain from making any kind of assumptions. I was just showing a bit of kindness to him.”

While saying so, a slight smile was plastered on Miella’s face.

Hazel came up with some sort of questions in her mind when she looked at that smile.

Does The Duke of Concez have Achilleon in mind as the next Emperor of Demophos?

It was difficult to understand what Miella had done earlier because of how arrogant she had been regarding her ancestry and family. But if the choice of Duke Concez was Achilleon, not Sisef.

Briden’s collaboration with Lady Pais was another possibility in her mind.

‘Is this the idea of grandfather?’

Perhaps it was Seymour Concez who planned this to happen.

With his long and keen eye, he was able to make the Concez Dukedom become the most prestigious family.

It wasn’t enough for them to make one of their members as the Queen of Land, but they were also aiming for the Empress position in the Empire this time.

‘If I was not to be an Empress.’

It was obvious that they were trying to make someone from the Concez family the Empress. If she couldn’t be the Empress, she must obtain the position as a concubine, at the very least.

‘Was it Miella?’

Why did she not notice it before? Clearly, she was just looking at Sisef and didn’t bother to see anything else due to the fear of losing the man to her half-sister.

While she was still absorbed in her love game, her maternal family were preparing everything so meticulously.

It felt as if she had become a discarded figurine thrown out of the game board. The discarded figurines were naturally removed from the table, and a new game was about to begin soon.

Everything was progressing secretly and thoroughly without her involvement.

“What are you so serious about, Your Highness?”

Miella spoke to Hazel, who was lost in thought as she returned to her seat.

“It’s nothing.”

“Everyone must be curious regarding why I gave him a handkerchief. It was just a handkerchief, why are you all being like this?”

“It’s not just a handkerchief. Didn’t you realize the attention that came from your actions and your way of speaking?”

“Did I?”

Hazel just smiled as the response to Miella’s answer. The daughter of the Concez Family, the highest family in the Land Kingdom with a considerable amount of influence owned outside the country, handed out a handkerchief to the Crown Prince of Demophos. Doing such an act as if showing it off on purpose so proudly was nothing but to proclaim something openly.

Achilleon is her man.

His grandfather, Seymour, was planning to use the daughter of the family to make money. Her value has naturally fallen below the daughter of the Concez family after the death of Martina.

If Miella would really get to marry Achilleon…

‘She will be the Empress of Demophos.’

She felt somewhat uncomfortable when that sort of thought flashed in her mind. Miella was still a high-class noble young lady when she dared to ignore the royal princess openly. However, she didn’t know how far she would rise and how much power she would’ve obtained if she managed to become the Queen of Achilleon and not to mention, the Empress in the future.

“I just wanted to be of help.”

“It wasn’t like how it looked earlier.”

“But you don’t have to be that speculative… You all are so mischievous to me.”

“You are the daughter of the Concez Family, so everyone has to pay attention to you.”

Hazel scoffed inwardly because she could clearly see that she had intentionally done something noticeable but, then saying people’s attention directed toward her was burdensome.

“That’s right.”

Miella smiled and added.

“A living daughter is valuable, so she would attract everyone’s interests.”

“…….”

Hazel took a hold of the chair handle firmly. Miella’s voice changed secretly as she observed Hazel, then the girl leaned toward Hazel and whispered.

“You’re going to leave Land soon, right? I heard from Father that all of the Princess’ marriage partners are far away.”

“…How do you know about my marriage partner so well?”

Hazel asked without averting her gaze away.

“Not long ago, His Majesty the King was involved in a deep conversation along with Father. The Princess is going to get married soon, but there is no suitable partner in the kingdom.”

Hazel quietly listened to Miella to see what she was going to say.

“The Princess can’t get married to a lower family than yours, am I right? Seemed like they had decided that you’d rather be the queen of a foreign country or the wife of a prince (in principality) because Your Highness needs a higher and proper rank. Whether it’s the kingdom of Patran or the Principality of Kent…”

The countries that came out of Miella’s mouth were so far away that it was impossible to determine their distances from Land. The road on the way there was also rough. And all the rulers there were already over fifty years old.

“Your Highness won’t be able to come back again after you set off, so I want to get along with the Princess as the cousin who shared the same blood during this time.”

Miella’s face was filled with flowerlike smiles, but it was actually full of hidden mockery.

“Thank you for saying so.”

Hazel played along without intending to lose and followed her with a meaningful smile.

“But it’s too early for me to be disappointed. Maybe we’ll stay together longer than you think.”

“What?”

Miella made a wry face at Hazel’s words.

“We both might’ve gotten married in the same country, right? I heard that the Queen of the Patran Kingdom died last year, and I was very curious about who would go there and fulfill the position.”

Miella shouted with an angry face because she was getting furious at Hazel’s words.

“Isn’t it most likely to be yours? A queen needs to be someone as suitable as the Princess….”

“You are more than enough to be a queen, Miella.”

“……..”

“I’ll tell my father that I really want my one and only cousin to climb up and claim such a prestigious position. Then he won’t regret it.”

“W-what did you say?”

Hazel smiled and put her hand over Miella’s hand.

“What I mean is, we have the same fate.”

In the kingdom, there was only one way for the Princess and daughters of high ranking families to carry out their usefulness for the family. Marriage was the best trade in order to have a good alliance with other countries.

It could not be avoided no matter how noble a princess or young daughter was born.

‘How dare she mock me even though we are in the same situation.’

Seemed like she had been too quiet all this time. She came to realize that it was useless to be born as the daughter of the king when she also was the princess who got neglected and not treated properly because the queen had died.

“No one knows where or whom we will marry. His Majesty will decide our marriage, right?”

“My father said he would marry me to a man of my age. He also said he didn’t want to send me far away.”

What Miella said was true. Wilves must’ve been looking for every single way to marry her daughter into a prestigious household.

She already knew that his love for his daughter was overflowing even though he had difficulty because of his infirmity. As a result, Miella naturally became arrogant, she has often ignored Hazel as well, who was in fact the royal princess, since they were young.

However, there was one important thing that Miella had ignored this entire time.

“Your marriage requires the King’s permission, Miella.”

Hazel said as if she was feeling sorry for her.

“It will never be established without the approval of the King. Even if uncle wanted you to stay close with him.”

No matter how much Wilves cared for his only daughter, he still could not proceed with his daughter’s marriage while ignoring the king’s order completely.

“Of course, I can congratulate you as much as you want when you have become a queen. If you get in a more prestigious position than me, I may greet you while kneeling down below you.”

“Father didn’t raise me just to marry an old man on the outskirts like that.”

“Be careful with whatever you are saying. Old man on the outskirts. There are a lot of ears. There are many families who maintain friendship with the Patran Kingdom as well. Will it be alright for us to have diplomatic issues just because of you?”

Miella stood up from her seat with trembling lips at Hazel’s sharp remark. Hazel raised her head as she followed the girl movement.

“Don’t forget that obligations follow with as much as enjoyment, Young Lady Miella. This is my advice to you as a royal princess.”

(T/N: Miella is actually referred as ‘the Princess of the Dukedom’ here, hence the Hangeul is ‘공녀’ they both are technically princess but Hazel is higher in society as she was the daughter of the king, I decided to refer her as ‘Young Lady’ to differentiate their title.)

Miella’s trembling lips and eyes turned toward Hazel.

“I’ll keep that advice in mind. But I don’t know who would need it more later on.”

The unusual atmosphere between the two had drawn attention from people around them. As if conscious of those gaze, Miella said nothing more and beckoned at her attendant.

“Bring my horse and gun.”

A little later, Miella stepped on the saddle of the horse driven by her servant and immediately jumped up. Then she received a gun from her attendant and loaded it.

“Well, Your Highness is not feeling well yet, so hunting is too much for you, isn’t it? I think it would be better if you just watch the competition along with Princess Lorette.”

Miella sat on the horse and said so while looking down at Hazel. Then she turned the horse’s head to the side and headed to where Achilleon was.

She kept an eye on Hazel while chatting with Achilleon as if telling her to look at both of them. Hazel received the gaze without wanting to lose at her.

“Sister, are you okay?”

Hazel nodded while smiling when Lorette, who was sitting next to her, asked that.

“Of course.”

There was no reason not to be fine. Because she did it on purpose.

“Will you be alright after doing that? Everyone knows that Young Lady Miella has a lot of pride….”

Lorette’s eyes, which were wide open, were seen shaking relentlessly.

“Moreover, Miella’s father is a very scary person.”

Lorette said while shivering. Uncle Wilves was as scary as her maternal grandfather.

Facing that expressionless face, there used to be a deep unknown fear that would come up for some reason. He was a very rational and cold-hearted person, but it was an exception for his one and only daughter.

A long time ago, a servant accidentally saw Miella’s naked body, and he dug out the servant’s eyes on the same day. Young Hazel was trembling with fear and cried after hearing about that incident.

“…Well, I don’t know. Will uncle come and confront me?”

There was a good chance that Wilves would come to attack since she had provoked his daughter as much as she could earlier.

And that was exactly what Hazel had wanted.

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