And Thus… It All Comes to an End - Chapter 17

I looked up at the sound of a knock, and Rutherford entered. He held up a bottle lightly, a familiar, unreserved smile on his face.

“Grand Duke, I’ve gotten my hands on some fine liquor. Care to join me?”

“Oh, that looks good. It just so happens I have some nuts Luciana bought as a souvenir.”

Exchanging such trivial words, the two of us sat down. Spread across the small table were the amber spirits and the fragrant nuts. The fire in the hearth swayed quietly, light dancing within the glasses. Shadowy figures flickered and danced upon the walls. The sound of a clinking toast echoed through the quiet room.

“Still, to think that little Luciana has grown so much, eh?”

“Haha, I said something similar to her, and she laughed at me, saying she was already nineteen.”

“Indeed, she is only nineteen. …Was this truly for the best?”

“…Yes.”

Rutherford’s brow furrowed slightly for a moment. This man once served the previous King with more loyalty than anyone else. But he had turned his back on the current King’s methods, surrendered his territory near the capital, and gone out of his way to move near this land. He was a clumsy but sincere man.

If he were still serving the Royal Family today, perhaps this country would be a little different. That thought crossed my mind, and a sigh escaped me.

“Grand Duke, would it have been so bad for you to be King? You didn’t have to make Luciana shoulder such a burden.”

There was no note of accusation in the voice of this man who had cherished Luciana like his own granddaughter. There was only a silence that felt like a regret, or perhaps a prayer.

“Luciana was born with a heavy burden to shoulder. Becoming King may simply be a part of that.”

“Even so…”

Rutherford swallowed his words. The fire in the hearth popped, and silence filled the room once more.

“When my brother passed away, I did think, for the sake of this country, that I should stand up. But when I lost my son and his wife—her parents—my heart broke. Looking at my sobbing granddaughter, all I had left was the desire to protect her, to make her happy… nothing else remained.”

The liquor swayed in the glass, the light shimmering.

“In the end, I am a man who can only wish for the happiness of one person. I was not of the caliber to protect all the people at any cost.”

Rutherford silently tilted his cup and drained it in one gulp. Deep in his gaze dwelt an unspoken pain. The current King was certainly not a man of great caliber either. But the King could not admit that.

After a long silence, Rutherford exhaled and gave a wry grin.

“Setting that aside, what do you intend to do about a Prince Consort?”

His voice, returning to a lighter tone, strangely eased the atmosphere. He swirled his glass, narrowing his eyes mischievously.

“It’s too early for that. Luciana isn’t even the official King yet. Besides, she only just annulled her engagement.”

“What are you saying? This is a vital matter. It’s not as if just anyone will do; you must think on it early.”

Honestly, he looked far too amused.

“Actually, Rutherford. I’ve been receiving many marriage proposals from neighboring countries.”

“I see. So, the reason their recognition came so quickly was partly because they hoped to place a prince or a powerful noble as her Consort. That brings its own set of troubles.”

“Indeed, every country has an ulterior motive. Though I suppose that isn’t the only reason.”

Luciana had stood in negotiations in place of the King or Queen; at times, she personally organized relief supplies and delivered them to the starving people. Other nations would not have overlooked that fact. During the famine, she even arranged grain for neighboring lands; when the plague spread, she dispatched medical teams to fight it alongside them. Because of those actions, many countries had sent letters of gratitude.

The amber liquor gently enveloped their silence.

Even at evening parties, it was the same.

While the whispering melodies of the musicians filled the rooms, the royals would laugh like masks, layering empty words upon one another. But Luciana was different. She faced the envoys of other nations head-on, speaking with politeness but never with weakness. Everyone around her saw it. They understood quietly but surely that the future of the nation rested in the hands of this young lady.

“Foreigners aside, what about Marcel?” Rutherford asked, tilting his cup.

“Well, they are certainly comfortable with each other. But don’t you think he’s a bit unreliable?”

Marcel was not a bad young man. He simply lacked resolve. If asked if he could support Luciana, the honest truth was that I felt uneasy about it.

“Is that so? Then, what about Julius? Perhaps Luciana brought him along with that intention in mind?”

“No… but don’t you feel that those two have drawn a line between them?”

Julius had been an ally in that Palace where so few openly supported Luciana. He certainly had the ability. However, the air between them felt like that of comrades-in-arms. I did not see “something else” reflected in their eyes for one another.

“My, my. Are you in a ‘I won’t allow anyone’ mood, then?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

A bitter smile surfaced at being called a stubborn old man.

“Well, Luciana will have thought it through properly. Let’s leave it to her. She won’t make the wrong choice.”

“I suppose so.”

I knew in my heart that the time to let go of her hand was drawing near. That is why I had no choice but to believe in her and watch over her. I muttered those words as if to convince myself.

“By the way… according to Emilia’s intel, the Crown Prince is actually thinking of making Luciana his bride even at this late stage.”

At those words, my brow twitched. The amber liquid swayed in my glass.

“…That is absolutely out of the question.”

Had he been distracted by her beauty and decided he wanted her back? How foolish. I could not forgive the shallow thought of trying to reclaim a treasure he had thrown away.

“Indeed. …But about this visit. Do you think they are plotting something?”

“Yes. Not so much the Crown Prince, but that King.”

The suspicious deaths of my son and his wife. That incident still hasn’t cleared, hanging like a lingering mist. An accident that occurred right after they were summoned by the Royal Family—my intuition told me it was no coincidence. There are still many nights I spend in grief, regretting that the investigation was delayed. No matter how deep I dug, I could never reach the core.

The Crown Prince is coming as the King’s envoy. I must brace myself.

I vowed in my heart that I would not miss a single flicker of the Prince’s expression or the slightest tremor in his breath, all to ensure that no harm comes to Luciana.