Chapter 12

“I’m not sure it suits the princess who crawled her way up a mountain in the dead of night to say that.”

Heat flooded her cheeks.

Swallowing back the protest that she hadn’t intended to escape so recklessly either, her lips parted slightly as a familiar voice called from behind her.

“Your Highness!”

Her expression instantly softened upon seeing a woman rushing towards her, breathless.

“Britta!”

Adeline’s face lit up as she hurried forward and pulled the young woman into her arms.

“You’re safe.”

“Thank the heavens you returned unharmed, Your Highness.”

Tears of relief welled in the maid’s eyes, and Adeline gently soothed her trembling shoulders. After a full year apart, seeing her closest maid alive and well loosened a tight knot inside her chest.

“You must have suffered so much while I was gone, haven’t you?”

“Not at all.”

Britta faltered, casting a quick, wary glance at Leon.

Feeling the man’s peculiar gaze lingering on them, Adeline drew Britta into a protective embrace.

“She’s been attending to me since childhood. If nothing else, I would like her to remain by my side.”

“Do as you wish.”

Leon replied, his tone indifferent, as if the matter scarcely concerned him. Adeline felt a breath of relief escape her, only for a sudden cry to ring out behind them.

“Sister!”

With a sharp cry, someone hurled herself forward and wrapped her in a sudden, tight embrace. Caught off guard, Adeline blinked rapidly, then her eyes widened slowly as she recognized the face.

“Sister, I’m so glad you’re safe. You’ve been through so much, haven’t you?”

The young woman with long, cascading red hair had eyes rimmed in red, tears trembling at the edges. It was her younger sister by one year, the twenty-year-old Katrina.

Adeline’s expression hardened at the sight of a face so unmistakably like someone she knew.

“You have no idea how worried I was.”

Katrina spoke, clutching her hand with such force that it nearly hurt.

Gently, Adeline eased her fingers free from her sister’s grip.

Leon watched the reunion in silence, and under his gaze, Katrina composed herself. She gathered her skirts with both hands in a deferential gesture.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Katrina, second princess of Velasque.”

Just moments ago, tears had clung to her lashes, but now Katrina’s face bloomed with a bright, cordial smile. The palace attendants looked on with fond amusement at the charming sight, but Leon had already turned away, his attention settling instead on Adeline.

She hesitated before speaking quietly.

“She’s my younger sister.”

“Your sister?”

He looked down at Katrina, who bore not a single resemblance to Adeline, then lifted one corner of his mouth as though something had belatedly occurred to him.

“Ah. You’re the former Second Princess, then.”

“…Pardon?”

The pointed emphasis on ‘former’ made Katrina’s eyes flicker. For a moment, she seemed momentarily taken aback, then corrected herself with a composed smile.

“Yes. I’m Katrina, the former second princess of Velasque. I heard that you’ve been appointed as the governor of this territory…”

“So, you’re the one who sent word that you were too ill to attend the tribunal.”

The unexpectedly cold response seemed to have caught her off guard, as a flicker of panic crossed her face.

“Ah… yes. My physician has always said I was frail since childhood, and that it would be dangerous for me to leave the palace and travel such a long distance.”

“That would be the physician who has long been in charge of the royal family’s health? To my eyes, you look quite healthy.”

“I…I’ve improved a great deal recently. For nearly a year, I could hardly leave my bed, living on medicines meant to calm my nerves after all the shocks.”

Aside from the king and prince who were beheaded by the rebels, only the two princesses had survived. They held no claim to the throne, and the queen’s testimony that neither daughter had known anything of the king and prince’s schemes had been accepted.

For the sake of convenience, it was decided that she would reside temporarily in the northernmost winter palace.

Turning over the briefing he’d received before arriving, Leon spoke indifferently.

“If that’s what was said, then so be it. I’ll leave the family reunion to you.”

Katrina’s brows tightened. She hadn’t received so much as a proper response to the greeting she had worked up the courage to offer.

Meanwhile, Adeline watched the exchange with mounting unease, tension knotting in her stomach.

“Commander.”

A Stein soldier who had followed behind signaled that he had a report to deliver. At the gesture, Leon turned his body slightly, as if to say the man could proceed.

“Escort Lady Adeline to her chambers.”

Leon ordered. He didn’t spare Katrina so much as a glance as he addressed the adjutant who had followed Adeline.

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? I should start by cleaning up the country that the man you call your father left in shambles.”

As she watched the man stride off with that curt, chilly remark, Adeline parted her lips as if to speak only to close them again.

“This way.”

At the adjutant’s urging, Adeline began to take a step then turned back, but Katrina was already gone, vanished somewhere out of sight.