Chapter 11

“I’ve watched the Commander revel in making people uncomfortable for weeks now, and I’ve reached the point where I can’t even get angry anymore.”

Leon agreed that such words were hardly appropriate to say before a member of the fallen royal family, yet the woman said nothing. Her reaction was so detached, as if the matter had nothing to do with her, that it left him faintly dissatisfied. He was about to resume walking when hurried footsteps approached.

A soldier came running at full speed, with others close behind. The man leading the formation stopped at the front and snapped into a proper salute.

“Welcome, Supreme Commander Rübenhart. We received word and have been awaiting your arrival.”

“You’ve done well.”

“Haha, everyone’s spirits are high at the thought that we’ll soon withdraw and finally return home.”

The middle-aged officer clasped the hand Leon offered, breaking into a hearty laugh. He was a colonel from the Allied Nations, currently assigned to oversee and support Velasque’s civilian administration.

The palace staff engaged in reconstruction and administration were originally from Velasque, but every position of real authority had been handed over to officials from the Allied Nations. Although the conquerors, insisting theirs wasn’t an invasion but an act of justice, had promised humane treatment, and so the daily structure of the palace remained, outwardly at least, much as it had been before.

Still, as the attendants went about their work as quietly as in former times, their eyes widened when they saw the tall, unfamiliar officer step out of the sleek vehicle.

“That must be Duke Rübenhart, right? The one who’s to become Velasque’s new overseer…”

“They say he destroyed the First Battalion in a matter of days. I thought he’d look like some kind of monster, but his impression is completely different.”

Whispers threaded through the palace staff, who tried, and failed, not to stare. News about Velasque’s future governance had been circulating for days, and seeing the man himself stirred equal parts awe and apprehension.

And their eyes widened when they saw Adeline standing beside him

“Good heavens, isn’t that Princess Adeline?”

Pretending not to notice the mixture of shock and contempt in the palace servants’ eyes, she followed Leon and the officers as he spoke with them in his usual bold, easy manner.

“Please, come inside. The Commander from Neidel is waiting for you.”

Led by the middle-aged colonel, they stepped inside.

The murmurs that had begun at the entrance grew louder and louder, until the entire palace seemed to stir in a noisy uproar by the time they reached the inner halls of the main palace.

Even the nobility of Velasque, whose ranks had been permitted to retain their titles, and the maids polishing the corridor windows stared as though beholding a specter. Adeline, dressed impeccably for the first time in a year, walked past them like a ghost risen from the ashes.

“What did you expect from the daughter of a woman who lost her senses the moment she saw a man’s crotch? Just look at her, coming all cozy with a commander who used to be the enemy.”

“Even for an incompetent princess, who would’ve thought she’d sink that far, casting aside her pride to plead for her life?”

The murmurs tangled together in an indistinct web, though every poisonous word reached Adeline’s ears with painful clarity. They claimed they were deliberately avoiding oppressive rule, pursuing a lenient policy that appointed Velasque-born citizens to posts, but aside from the soldiers, almost everyone here was Velasque.

She glanced toward the man walking ahead of her, but he showed no sign of hearing or caring about the whispers rippling behind them.

Not that it would matter to him even if he did notice.

After they had walked for some time, the middle-aged officer stepped aside to briefly attend to another matter. As soon as he was out of earshot, Leon spoke without preamble.

“Never mind me, those are rather insolent looks for people whose rightful mistress has returned.”

“….”

Adeline flinched, lowering her gaze as if she hadn’t noticed the contempt burning in the eyes fixed on her from every corridor.

“Hardly anyone here knows me.”

Leon’s eyebrow twitched as if to ask what she meant.

“They say none of the administrative officials or palace staff have been replaced. And yet you expect me to believe the palace servants don’t even recognize their own princess?”

“…As you know, I’ve been gone a long time in the north. There aren’t many left who remember me.”

Adeline offered a vague excuse.

Leon watched her for a long moment, gaze unreadable, before turning his attention toward a small cluster of maids standing farther down the hall.

The women stiffened.

Clutching their baskets of laundry to their chests, they flinched under his gaze and hurried away at once.

“Why haven’t you asked anything about your family?”

After the king’s beheading, the queen, wounded in the chaos, had been sent to reside in a detached palace. Ordinarily, she should have been imprisoned, though some vestige of royal courtesy had spared her.

“Visitation rights haven’t been granted yet, so you’ll have to wait for a while. And don’t even think about sneaking out to meet her or pulling any of that foolish nonsense…”

“I won’t do anything like that.”