“He’s accepted the engagement, Adela. It’s official.”
The emperor passed the letter with the Citriver emblem on it to the princess. Adela’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she received the invitation and scanned the contents. “It’s true! I’m really going to marry him! Thank you so much, Papa!”
She rushed forward and sprang a hug on the emperor, who received it in a well-accustomed manner. “Yes, well. I do apologize for asking him about marrying you before I heard your opinion on the matter, Adela dear, but I worry so much about you. If you’d already fallen in love with a noble here and wanted to marry them, very well, but before long, I would start receiving pressure from the other kingdoms and empires about having you marry one of their children. I couldn’t possibly bear the possibility of sending you to live in one of those foreign lands!”
“I know, and I really wouldn’t want to go marry one of them anyway. All of the foreign bachelors I have met have been aggressively mediocre. I wouldn’t trust them to manage anything. Plus, they’re all so haughty and stuck-up!” The princess pouted and Emperor Leon stroked her hair to soothe her.
“Those men only care about themselves. I could never entrust my dearest treasure to them if I thought they would never place her first.”
Adela let go of her father and began pacing back and forth. “I should invite him for a tour of the palace. Oh! Or perhaps I could invite him to take me shopping! Or maybe I should try waiting for him to invite me to something? Linden’s wedding is soon. Perhaps we should spend some time together there? But it’s so far away and I want to meet the duke as soon as possible!”
She continued pacing as she thought out loud. “Papa, is there anything happening this week?”
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“My treasure, this is the palace. Of course there are things happening this week. Could you be more specific?” The emperor chuckled as he watched his daughter’s behavior.
“Is the duke coming here for anything this week?”
“Hm, I do believe I summoned him to discuss the engagement in my original invitation. I wonder why he delivered his reply instead of meeting face to face. I did schedule the meeting in the invitation. Perhaps he is occupied with settling affairs now that he has returned. The former Duke Citriver passed away a few years ago, rest his soul, and his second son was managing the dukedom while he was away but that child had no sense. I imagine that the current duke must be trying to work through the mess his brother made.”
“You seem to know a lot about Duke Citriver. Could you tell me more?” The princess beamed at the emperor, who was immediately stricken by his daughter’s cuteness and beauty.
“Adela, dear, I am afraid I do not know that much about him. I just know that his mother died around twenty years or so ago, and the late duke married the current dowager duchess not long after. They had a second son before long. That would be… I forget his name. I usually try to focus on those who make significant contributions, or any contributions. The former Duke Citriver passed away with few contributions, but his second son did absolutely nothing worthy of note. Thankfully, his eldest son ended that war and returned to rule the dukedom. Oh, I do seem to recall the dowager Duchess Citriver requesting that the title go to her son, rather than the elder son. Perhaps there was some bad blood between them? Or perhaps it was simply a matter of who she cared for more. One cannot always be so sure of family matters, even among family. Do you know how long it was before your mother told me that she had lost a brother when she was young?”
“Papa, I don’t care about whatever boring- Wait, I had another uncle?”
“That is not the point, but if you want to know more, ask your mother about it. My point is this: That is all I know about the current Duke Citriver, apart from what you already know about how he went to war to defeat the monsters that were threatening to invade. If you want to know more about him, I suggest asking him directly or hiring an information guild. Your imperial papa is busy with state affairs, and although he is very clever, he does not know everything about everyone.”