Timid and Shy - Chapter 55

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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55.

Gunter knew that Sophia didn’t always behave like an ordinary girl, but neither the Emperor nor Caliburn would have anticipated her rifling through his duties in this manner.
Gunter acted with the document in his hand as his shield.
‘Documents are the most reliable.’
He set the certificate down carefully, straightened his posture as if he’d made a decision, and began his report.
“Mobilization of forces is also possible. I have access to an Information Corps and Reserve Forces that I can employ personally, and both are stationed in Ariel and Umbriel. Should I inform you of the troop numbers?”
“So you’re saying you could not only arrest the conspirators and bring them to the Capital, but could pursue the ringleaders themselves with complete confidence?”
Gunter nodded.
‘This young lady… she’d make an excellent inspector.’
Sophia smiled and spoke.
“That means you’re not acting alone, doesn’t it? Surely you have subordinates to assist you, and there’s a small organization among them as well. Send some of them to Oberon. And if you receive reports about Saturn’s movements, I’d like to receive them too.”
Gunter sighed.
“My duties are multiplying. I have no objection to following the Young Noblewoman’s orders, but there are simply too many tasks.”
“In exchange, I’ll keep Helen from approaching you this winter.”
Gunter’s face flushed crimson unexpectedly, and he stammered.
“That’s… there’s no need to do that…”
Sophia asked, surprised.
“You like Helen? Then why did you avoid her like death itself? Helen thought you despised her because you ran away every time. Later, you didn’t even look at her face.”
“It’s… I was too embarrassed. I’m the type who gets flustered easily, more than I expected…”
His voice was far too timid for someone of his build, and Sophia shook her head. There was no knowing whether Helen would be pleased or displeased by this revelation.
Sophia spoke.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but Helen spent a pleasant time with Oberon’s second son at my betrothal ball. Since Oberon is geographically close and Pina’s Residence is now family through Ariel, it seemed like a suitable meeting.”
Gunter’s expression darkened. Sophia continued.
“But thinking about it now, it seems suspicious. According to Helen, the lord of Oberon approached her first. That in itself wasn’t suspicious. But Oberon… a House possessing one of the Empire’s most coveted territories, why would they approach a bourgeois girl with only money to her name?”
A sharp light returned to Gunter’s eyes. Sophia went on without acknowledging his look.
“I’m not dismissing Helen’s charm, but the guests invited to that ball were chosen according to their individual duties and interests. Oberon was invited because of Ariel and Umbriel. But approaching Pina’s Residence…”
Gunter agreed with Sophia’s suspicion.
Sophia said.
“Look into Oberon for me. Their trade with Saturn and what Oberon is doing in Saturn. I have no way to investigate that myself.”
“Understood. Even if the Emperor learns all of this?”
“Of course. You take my orders, but you remain the Emperor’s inspector. I won’t ask you to hide information or turn a blind eye to Ariel’s affairs. The reports you make based on what you see and hear—that’s beyond my reach. You should continue as you always have.”
“I understand. As you know, even this conversation will be reported to the Emperor in summary form.”
“Even the part about Helen?”
Gunter’s face reddened as he spoke.
“If it’s necessary…”
“Should I tell her that you avoided her because you were embarrassed, not because you disliked her? Or will you tell her yourself?”
“Please do it for me.”
Gunter answered in a voice almost pitfully small.
‘This way I can get information about Oberon and Saturn easily. I should put off scolding Helen for now.’

***

Once the Imperial Court extended its hand first to the bourgeoisie, their attitude grew considerably more enthusiastic. They believed the Court’s openness would bring them profit. And they made Robert their focal point.
In return, the nobility sought to strengthen their ties with the Court by meeting frequently with Robert. They had no choice but to do so.
Today’s gathering had been arranged precisely for this reason. Because intimacy with the bourgeoisie could incite the nobility’s displeasure, the Emperor had summoned the Court’s senior advisors and high-ranking nobles to suppress their discontent.
Naturally, Robert participated. And beside him stood Frederick, who had made a rare public appearance.
But unlike before, more nobles approached Robert than greeted Frederick. Despite the damage to his reputation from negative propaganda, Robert’s worth as a source of profit outweighed his poor standing.
Cressida watched the Orthodox faction nobles greeting Robert with discomfort.
‘When did we sing praises to bring out Frederick?’
Frederick studied the faces of the nobles fawning over Robert, one by one.
‘I’ll remember.’
Robert displayed a markedly different demeanor—approaching those nobles who hesitated or didn’t come near him, greeting them first. The timid bearing he’d shown in Frederick’s presence was gone.
Frederick’s brow furrowed deeply.
‘So it was all an act back then. Pretending not to care about the Crown Prince’s position, when all along…’
Cressida berated himself from where he stood, watching Robert. Had his attacks been too weak?
He’d expected the nobility to distance themselves from Robert out of contempt, their relationship souring, but the effect had been far less than anticipated.
Robert hadn’t responded to the articles at all, and he treated those who spoke ill of him face-to-face with courtesy. He simply never looked at them again.
After that, no noble dared to speak disrespectfully to the Crown Prince Robert, however much they might gossip about him behind closed doors.
As a result, Isabel Wiscom found herself practically begging Frederick to end his self-imposed isolation. At last, the Crown Prince Frederick appeared in public once more.

***

Frederick still felt it wasn’t enough. He wanted to present himself transformed, visibly changed from before—especially to the Duke of Gareis.
It wasn’t that he harbored any thought of reconciliation with Parma. What he wanted was to return to the Duke the very gaze with which the Duke had regarded him.
He felt he had changed nothing, improved nothing. Yet one of the tutors the Emperor had sent to him, Federico, offered him counsel.
“No man can enter the arena perfectly prepared, Your Highness. And when you’ve begun your preparations as late as you have, that truth cuts even deeper. Meet people. Listen to their stories. If something remains unclear, ask again. That’s how genuine change takes root.”
Federico, who at forty bore the worn and shabby air of a man who had suffered much, seemed in that moment of counsel to be fortified by the resolve and certainty of one who had endured. His kind eyes held steady as he spoke.
“A man grows only through exchange with others. Go out, Your Highness. Should anything remain unclear to you later, or should troubles arise, tell me at any time. Meager though my abilities may be, I can offer what I have.”
Frederick found the logic sound. He could certainly hide away, then emerge and feign change—but there would be no real transformation. That much he understood.
When he asked Isabel for her thoughts, she too believed it better for him to present himself before others. In a note, she urged him with desperate sincerity.

More and more are gathering around the Crown Prince Robert, fawning and currying favor. It grieves me that Philip still refrains from going out. I beseech you, Your Highness Frederick.
Hold back the Crown Prince Robert. Should you appear before them and lend them your ear, they will respect you through that alone.

After reading Isabel’s note, Frederick appeared before people once again.
Yet to those who did not regard him favorably, it seemed he had never shown his face when the Orthodox Faction and the elders wished it, but only emerged now that the Crown Prince Robert faced criticism.
Now Frederick was no longer the subject of uncritical adulation, but rather of assessment—just as Robert was.
Frederick made a deliberate point of avoiding the circles where Cressida and her family gathered. It was both a check against them and a way to prove something to the Duke of Gareis.
Frederick was spending time with the Duke of Wiscom. Cressida made no effort to approach Frederick either.
There was no need to reveal any discord between herself and Frederick before the Emperor and the other nobles.
For the Duke of Gareis, this was the first time seeing Frederick since the broken betrothal. As he watched the Duke of Wiscom speak with Frederick, Gareis’s expression darkened into a scowl.
The Duke of Gareis approached the Crown Prince Robert and spoke in a loud voice.
“Your Highness Robert. Are you connected in any way to the exposé article about a certain suitor that’s been circulating in the city?”
All eyes turned to the Duke of Gareis and the Crown Prince Robert. Robert answered calmly.
“What would I gain from such a thing? Nothing but the ruin of both my honor and Philip Wiscom’s. If that’s all I would gain, isn’t it obvious who did it?”
“Quite so.”
Those present naturally turned their gaze toward Cressida. She averted their eyes and pretended to focus on conversation with her son.
The Duke of Gareis drew closer to Robert and lowered his voice as he spoke.
“Is Frederick truly changed, as the rumors say? Or is this another performance by the Empress?”
“The Emperor has invited tutors to teach Frederick. It’s not a deception. I’ve heard the Empress has been complaining bitterly that she hardly sees Frederick these days.”
The Duke of Gareis looked with interest at Frederick and Cressida, then spoke.
“So the Empress rarely sees Frederick. That’s why Cressida set her sights on Wiscom, then. I’m grateful for your candor.”
As the Duke of Gareis looked at the Duke of Wiscom, his brow furrowed again. Frederick might not have been irreplaceable, but to lose him to another still stung.
The Duke of Wiscom, for his part, frowned upon seeing the Duke of Gareis feign intimacy with Robert. As the two dukes exchanged scowls, the Emperor watched with evident amusement.
There was one thing the Empress had done that pleased him: she had set the two dukes at each other’s throats as never before. The Emperor drew the Duke of Gareis to his side and spoke softly.
“Is Ariel still in her domain? Your son has been away from the Capital for quite some time as well, it seems?”
“My son still has far to go before he’s ready to return to the Capital. He’ll need at least ten years rolling through the military to become useful. But Parma will be coming soon. Parma too deserves to meet a good man.”
The Emperor patted the Duke’s hand as he spoke.
“Your foolish son has hurt Parma deeply. But now I’m taking pains to educate him properly. When Parma comes, tell her I will help. Just say the word. I will provide anyone she desires.”
The Duke of Gareis expressed his gratitude. His eyes gleamed. Though the Emperor had said “anyone,” both men harbored the same name in their hearts.
The Duke of Gareis looked upon the Crown Prince Robert.
‘Not bad. It might even be better.’
Watching as the Duke of Gareis spoke with the Emperor and then directed his gaze toward Robert, both Cressida and the Duke of Wiscom understood that what they had feared was coming to pass.
The moment the gathering ended, the Duke of Gareis sent word to Parma to return. Hearing her father’s summons, Parma set out for the Capital the very next day.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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