ASHA’S POV

A dowry worth one million gold coins.

A DOWRY WORTH ONE MILLION GOLD COINS.

HAVE YOU GONE MAD, DAD?!

The details of her dowry had taken more than fifteen minutes for the High Priest to read out, and by the end if it Asha had wanted to set the ballroom on fire.

I didn’t ask for that much compensation so you could spend it all, dad!

Though she knows House Lamberg has more than enough, it drives her crazy to see Rayleigh breaking even.

”Can’t daddy do this much for you just once, my baby?”

Unable to talk back to her father as soon as he’d said that, Asha had resorted to fuming until she’d been showered with so many kisses she’d started giggling.

All around her now, nobles and ambassadors whisper about the record-breaking dowry - absolutely unheard of in any country in history - and Asha forces herself to smile despite wanting to kick Rayleigh hard between the legs and demand her money back.

When he signals for attention, and Conroy expertly taps his wine glass just so while subtly using amplification magic, Asha thinks the time for diplomacy is over.

“Ladies and gentlemen, friends from near and far, family current and future, comrades living and passed, thank you all for coming to our engagement ceremony.” Shut up and let go of my waist. “As I’m sure you’re aware, Loredan-“ Asha doesn’t miss his emphasis on that last word “is most fortunate to have the Lambergs with us.” Is he...? “In honor of this momentous occasion, I’d like to formally hand my fiancée’s dowry over to her, to do with as she wishes.”

What’s wrong with all of you?! Did you guys eat something bad earlier?!

Applause, cheers, and compliments flow after a momentary stunned silence - since a man returning his fiancée’s dowry to her is as unheard of as a million gold coin offering - and then Asha is wondering if she’d entered the world in the looking glass.

Three hours later, when she’s run out of patience and is smoking in the middle of the elaborately decorated ballroom, ignoring the whispers while wondering why Rayleigh is acting like she’s not doing anything odd, the trouble makers she’d been waiting for appear.

About time. I knew the enemies of Lamberg wouldn’t keep still. You two must be the vanguards, or the sacrificial pawns.

“Oh my, your highness!” Asha ignores the insipid little brunette wearing a fruit cake as a dress, since the acting is so obvious it makes her want to laugh. “Congratulations on a successful knotting of the strings!” Get with the program, bum face.

“Indeed, your highness.” This simpering fool has a dead peacock on her head. “Medea was thinking of attending to thank you for your gift, since many young lords invited her as their partner, but she’s too kind to bother the northern ‘lady’.”

’The northern “lady”’? Really?

It’s an old insult about her clan, from a time when many viewed female warriors as abominations - believing a woman’s place to be either the kitchen, the bedroom, or both - and mocked northern men for needing women’s help in battle.

“Medea?”

I knew it. The tightening of a large hand around Asha’s waist tells her enough. Playing dumb in front of my dad, are we?

The shrill laughter grates, but the warmth of the palm at her midsection annoys Asha more, so she deliberately pretends not to hear anything, downing her glass of wine and signaling for another, taking a deep inhale and deliberately blowing smoke at the affronts to fashion before her.

No matter how garishly I used to dress, at least I wasn’t a walking crime scene.

“I’m afraid I don’t catch your meaning.” Out of the corner of her eye, Asha sees her father, the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess move closer. Oh, I should tell Her Highness that these herbs won’t harm her or her unborn child. In fact, they’re good for health.

The fact that the Crown Princess is approaching anyway, looking concerned about the situation despite believing Asha’s smoking to be harmful for the baby in her belly, is a little heartwarming.

Lambergs never harm an innocent person, or a member of our family.

Lamberg’s farmers and gardeners are legendary, since they’ve had to grow crops in a harsh, barren north and provide enough sustenance for the Winter House’s large army to stave off the demons successfully year after year. Back then, as soon as they’d heard that Selena liked to smoke, all Lamberg agriculturalists and horticulturalists had worked to find herbs that would aid her and her unborn child in some way, while providing all the enjoyment one receives from the habit.

“What do you mean, your highness?” Oh gods, save me from this cheap play. “Medea cried her heart out when she saw the jewels you’d sent her yesterday. It took us all night to calm her down, poor thing.”

> “Medea has feelings, unlike you.”

I see.

Well, to be fair, he’s not my husband, just my fiancé, so he isn’t breaking any promises.

It still hurts, though Asha washes the pain away by draining the glass Monique hands her.

“I beg your pardons, ladies, but that was a gift from Asha, not me.” WHAT?! Turning to stare incredulously up at this insane man she’d gotten engaged to, Asha wonders if she’s actually drunk off the bottles of wines she’s consumed thus far.

It can’t be. Northerners have higher tolerance.

It seems the shit-stirrers are as shocked as she is.

“Y...your highness, whatever do you mean?” Their forced laughs are akin to nails on chalkboard. “Medea showed us your letter, the one you’d written to her apologizing for failing to leave that northern woman and marry her instead.”

Wow. These girls are fearless.

To speak so disrespectfully about the soon-to-be Grand Duchess is to run up to the executioner and offer them a sharpened blade and bare neck.

“Did she say I’d written that?”

Gods. What?

Staring up at those crimson eyes, a confused and concerned expression on that handsome face, Asha begins to feel the world move slightly.

Is he...?

“Wh...what are you talking about, your highness? Medea told us it’s your handwriting and seal!” Asha is starting to feel bad for these fools.

“Did she now?”

The atmosphere in the ballroom changes at those three words, Imperial Knights immediately moving towards the false witnesses, as Conroy and Ethan shake their heads in pity.

Did he set her up? But why?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Asha can’t come to terms with what’s happening, staring wide eyed at her fiancé, and his sad smile and next words just make things worse.

“Asha, I’m sorry. I thought Medea would understand your meaning since she’s supposed to be intelligent, but I should’ve gone with your suggestion instead.”

My meaning? My suggestion? What the HELL is going on?!

“Goodness, I thought Lady Medea was supposed to be clever, but could she have misunderstood the Grand Duchess?”

I’m not the Grand Duchess yet.

“Isn’t it to be expected? She’s just a commoner who lucked into a lowly baron’s family, after all.”

I thought all of you love her?

“So that silly girl dared pass off a letter and gift as the Grand Duke’s for attention?”

I’m sure he actually did send them.

“Could she have been faking it all this time?”

No, he really loves her and he showered her with expensive gifts to prove it.

“Asha.” Look at you, acting so well. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen - I’d thought Medea would understand your peace offering.”

My ‘peace offering’...?

This guy, he...

The ballroom goes into a frenzy at the news that the Grand Duke’s fiancée had tried to mend bridges with his former lover, and that said lover had tried to use Asha’s goodwill against her at her own engagement party.

“What a horrid girl! I knew there was something wrong with her from the start!”

Liar. You all licked her silk slippers when you saw how much Rayleigh liked her.

“How could she do this to the Grand Duchess, especially at such an event?”

We’re not married yet, which means I still belong to House Lamberg.

“To use the Grand Duchess’ kindness against her like this...how black does that commoner’s heart have to be?”

“What do you expect from those trash eaters?”

That’s crossing the line.

Monique, Valora, and all the Snowfalls and Winterblades are considered commoners by the empire’s standards, even though some come from families held in high esteem for generations in the north and are, within the clan, akin to nobility in the empire.

They fought and DIED for me. I won’t stand for this.

“Don’t you dare assume all commoners are the same.”

A restless hush falls over the ballroom at Asha’s furious words, but she doesn’t care. I’ve always been a troublemaker, anyway.

“Just as not all nobles practice noblesse oblige, as evidenced by the reactions to the attack on the capital recently,” and Asha knows she’s hit a sore spot, because on that day and the crucial days after, only some families had opened their doors and ventured out to guard the palace or help the people. “Not all commoners are social climbers. Or are you saying that not a single noble in this room has had their status elevated by marrying above their rank?”

You can’t say anything, not when this is a party to celebrate the daughter of a count being officially engaged to the Grand Duke.

She shouldn’t be making enemies, not when she’d wanted to gain allies that would help keep her family safe, but Asha had been raised never to look at class or income.

I’m sorry, Medea. I shouldn’t have made fun of you for your background, that’s my burden to bear. I was an idiot - an insecure fool - and I picked on you while turning my back on everything my family stands for because I stupidly thought it’d help me win Rayleigh back.

Through the unnerving silence that greets her words, Asha is sustained by the feeling of her father’s aura drawing closer, by Valora’s scattering aura as the redhaired knight tries to mark a safe territory, by Monique’s calm flow of mana forming a dependable shield as always.

Will you just let go of me already, you lying, cheating asswipe?

Rayleigh had pulled Asha closer earlier, and from the looks of it the Grand Duke has no intention of releasing her from his grasp.

Nice cover, but I know the truth. You sent Medea that letter and gift, and now you’re trying not to look bad in front of your beloved teacher. You’re nothing but a piece of...

Wait.

Mole hunting...?

While he may not have intended to test Medea in such a way or draw out Asha’s enemies in the crowd, had the Grand Duke really thought this far ahead, or had he been winging it in order to escape a terrible situation with his reputation intact?

“Well said, Lady Asha.” Marquess Fenceton? “To assume all by one or few, is to invite mockery for one’s ignorance.” Why is the head of the neutral faction backing me publicly? Yesterday he only laughed along in the meeting room.

“You’re right, my lord.” Took you long enough, Viscount Hawksworth. You’re a radical who advocates for commoners’ rights, after all. “Assuming that those of common blood are all corrupt and cruel is the same as saying no noble has ever committed a crime.”

This is a gender swapped Monique and Valora, isn’t it? Are they going to start throwing childish insults at each other now?

Seeing the heads of rival factions publicly support the future Grand Duchess changes the air in the ballroom - especially when the Emperor smiles proudly at his future niece - and immediately many other nobles are on Asha’s side decrying prejudice and glass ceilings.

I need another drink.

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RAYLEIGH’S POV

Thank you, big brother and sister.

The day would have ended in disaster if it hadn’t been for their advice at the crack of dawn.

> ”We know you sent Medea a letter and gift, Rayleigh.” Ariana has always been terrifying when she looks at him like that. ”That was foolish.”

>

> ”Little brother...” Griffin had looked sad, which had made Rayleigh want to kick himself. ”You proposed to teacher’s daughter for the sake of the empire, didn’t you?”

His cousin has always been able to read him like a book.

> ”I’m sorry, Ray Ray. You’re sacrificing love for country, and we can’t do anything to help you because everyone knows we need House Lamberg close.”

Rayleigh clenches his fist at that memory, hating the fact that he’d upset his family.

> ”If you intend to keep your word and aid the empire, Rayleigh,” Ariana’s navy blue eyes had been firm but kind, just like she always is. ”You need to be prepared for trouble at the ceremony or party.”

At the time, he’d balked at the suggestion - ”You’re asking me to betray Medea?!” - but Griffin and Ariana had prevailed with logic: if Rayleigh’s letter and gift aren’t used against Asha, then Medea clearly means no harm. But if anyone should instigate a situation where the Winter Lady is put in a humiliating or dangerous position because of Rayleigh’s ex-lover, then it’s his duty as a fiancé to protect Asha, and his duty as a Grand Duke to protect the empire by maintaining a good relationship with House Lamberg.

I still don’t like it, even though I know I did the right thing.

The last thing he’d ever wanted to do was hurt Medea, yet he’d already done so twice: first by breaking his promise to marry her, then by making her the target of scorn when his heartfelt gifts had caused trouble for Asha.

“You’re thinking about Medea again, aren’t you?” The empire is very fortunate that Griffin has married such a brilliant woman, though right now Rayleigh is a little scared of the Crown Princess. “While we can’t order your feelings to change, I hope you remember that none of this is Asha’s fault.”

Stunned, Rayleigh stares at that calm, beautiful face. “W...what are you saying, Ariana?”

Next to his scarlet haired wife, Griffin just takes another sip of wine.

“Today’s incident wasn’t caused by Asha.” Ariana is looking longingly at the wine, but resolutely sips her fruit juice. “You mustn’t blame Asha for being a Lamberg.”

’Blame her for being a Lamberg’? Why does this sound familiar...?

> “Why are you blaming me for being born into House Lamberg?”

>

> “You hate me for who I am, and everyone knows it. I’m sure you’re always wishing I’d never been born.”

Asha said that before, when I visited her after Count Ashville’s ball. Do she and Ariana really think I’m that unreasonable?

It hurts, especially when Griffin says nothing in his defense.

You think so too, big brother?

Somehow his cousin reads his mind, and speaks at last. “People sometimes do foolish things when they’re in love, Ray Ray.”

Diplomatic as ever.

The Crown Prince isn’t accusing Rayleigh of anything directly, while at the same time not disagreeing with his own wife.

Which means they really think I’d be angry with Asha for the attack on her at the ball today.

I may love Medea, but I’m not an idiot. I don’t believe Medea was behind what happened - it was probably Baron Gusic or any of Lamberg’s enemies, maybe even the noble faction that opposes the imperial faction - but at the end of the day, someone came up with the plan to use my gifts against Asha. If I’d let Asha be humiliated at her own engagement party, then teacher would have taken her north immediately and cut ties with the empire.

This is for the good of the country - for my family and our citizens. I can’t make a mistake like this again and risk everyone’s futures just for my own happiness.

A voice in his head whispers about the time he’d put Asha’s future at risk for his happiness, and he pushes the guilt aside as Ariana changes topics.

“Lamberg’s horticultural and agricultural specialists are quite something, aren’t they?”

Ah. Right.

After the two instigators had fled with their tails between their legs, Asha had told Ariana that the herbs she smokes are good for health, and even inhaling the smoke itself provides considerable boosts to blood circulation and recovery, so the Crown Princess needn’t worry about her unborn child being at risk.

Though many had whispered in doubt, when Asha swore on her name Ariana immediately asked to take a puff, in a blatant display of support for and solidarity with her future cousin.

Asha’s large eyes had widened impossibly before she’d beamed the way she never does with Rayleigh anymore.

When Asha had apologized for not being able to give the Crown Princess her late mother’s pipe, after Ariana had been delighted with the effects of the smoked herbs - using a spell to check the condition of her body before and after - and marveled at the item’s intricate craftsmanship, Rayleigh wonders when he’d forgotten about just how wild and unconventional Countess Selena had been.

Like mother, like daughter.

High Mage Selena had been a famous beauty, too.

What the hell am I thinking?

Still, try as he might, there’s no denying Asha had looked like a vision today, even as she’d clearly been upset about the large dowry her father had given Rayleigh.

You wanted to beat me up and take it back, didn’t you?

The memory of her face - always so expressive, even when Asha tries to hide her emotions - makes him smile.

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MOONRISE BY LUNASEA: CHAPTER 11 END