His Highness tilted his head a bit. “Hello. Who are you?”
“It’s wonderful to meet you. My name is Hilbert Joseph Aryan van Castanier, Princess Mira’s cousin.”
The man gave a long name in response to Prince Severin’s question. So he was royalty. Her cousin, huh? I did remember hearing something about the Visselian king having many siblings. Lord Hilbert had the same surname as the princess, so he was likely the son of one of her uncles.
I should mention here that Ambassador Van Rail was not royalty. “Van” was often included in Visselian names since it doubled as the name of a region, so normal people also had it as part of their monikers.
Prince Severin returned the greeting, albeit with a curious expression at being welcomed by an unexpected person. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well. I am Severin Hugues de Lagrange.”
“My apologies for not contacting you ahead of time. I heard that our princess has been causing much trouble in your country, so I hurried out here. I am truly embarrassed at her actions, and as her family member, I apologize.”
Lord Hilbert was frank. I observed Princess Mira’s reaction—she was hiding how nervous she was. Her smile had vanished, leaving her face cold and expressionless. She might have been holding back her anger so that she wouldn’t cause a scene in public.
“Thank you for your concern, but I wouldn’t really call it ‘trouble,’” Prince Severin replied.
“Please. There’s no need to hold back. I’ve heard the details. Honestly—she was welcomed in Lagrange as a state guest, yet she acted so rudely to you all. I’m nothing less than ashamed. Everyone back home was shocked to hear the news, and we consider her actions problematic. I’m here to represent Vissel. It’ll only be until tomorrow, but I promise I’ll keep an eye on her so that she won’t cause any more trouble.”
There was a triumphant air about his words, which left Prince Severin slightly taken aback. I was also surprised—Lord Hilbert was speaking about Princess Mira as if he were her guardian, but he was her cousin, no? Was it all right for him to speak of the crown princess in such a manner just because he was older?
Her “actions,” he said... Surely he means how she’s been closing in on Lord Simeon. Word sure spreads fast. The only possible scenario I can think of is that he didn’t hear this through the grapevine—someone rushed to send this information to him.
Checking the maids’ reactions, I could see that they were split down the middle. Half of them appeared irritated at Lord Hilbert, while the others were glaring at Princess Mira. Not all of them were on her side despite working for her, it seemed. Maybe those were the people who’d alerted Lord Hilbert?
He then glanced at Lord Simeon. A faint displeasure floated onto his face, so he’d either heard of my husband beforehand, or he was using intuition to figure out who he was. I was standing right behind Lord Simeon, but Lord Hilbert didn’t pay me any sort of attention. He even passed his eyes over Lord Nigel next to me briefly, but my existence didn’t enter his vision at all. Indeed, my lack of presence is immaculate once again. I can observe this man without alerting him.
Lord Hilbert ended the conversation himself, as if he were the owner of this castle welcoming new guests. “Let’s continue inside. For the time being, take a break and rest your bodies.”
I could tell Prince Severin was unamused by this, but he didn’t say anything and let himself be led into the hotel.
The servants and local officials finally got a chance to come forward; they greeted us enthusiastically. They also wore questioning expressions, since an outsider who hadn’t been invited had suddenly forced his way in. It must have been hard on them, considering he wasn’t someone they could simply throw out.
“Lieutenant, if you would.” Princess Mira plastered a smile back onto her face and called out to Lord Simeon, reviving her act.
My husband could see the signal represented by her raised, slender hand, so he offered his arm to her. They then walked off, with him escorting the princess.
Lord Hilbert didn’t miss the chance to scold her. “Mira, you shouldn’t do things like this anymore.”
She paid him no mind and just passed by him without so much as a glance. Ah, I see. Mm-hmm. Indeed. Watching them was enough to confirm it for me—Princess Mira most likely hated Lord Hilbert to a severe degree. Her demeanor wasn’t one of someone who felt comfortable rebelling against family members or being shy around a beloved. Her posture and expression had been carefully curated, but a cold air emanated from her. She’d definitely called on Lord Simeon with the purpose of showing Lord Hilbert who was in charge. My husband had realized this; since he’d agreed to do it, perhaps she’d explained a bit of her thought process to him.
Lord Hilbert was even more upset than he had been before, but he also painfully held it in so as to not cause a scene. He gave up on stopping the princess and walked silently with the guide.
Ms. Eva whispered to Lord Nigel. “Master Nigel, they’re...”
He held up a finger. “Shh. We aren’t in a place to say anything. Let’s just keep watch.”
“Yes, sir...”
Lord Nigel exchanged eye contact with me and raised an eyebrow meaningfully. I returned a light shrug, smiled at Ms. Eva, then followed after Their Highnesses.
Things progressed smoothly. We met with one of the governors and went over our plans. We’d relax the rest of the night at the hotel, explore the historical sights the next morning, then say our goodbyes in the evening, as the border was close by. Once we were led to our individual rooms, we’d be on break until dinnertime. After the meeting, most of us went our separate ways, while Lord Simeon had a guard meeting with his subordinates.
The building appeared old when viewed from the outside, but inside, everything had been newly renovated. The lighting, wallpaper, furniture—everything was new. The floor was wooden, glittering after a fresh polish with wax.
I set my belongings down in my room and stepped out onto the balcony. From here, I could now see the other island and its castle. It was much older than this hotel and had mostly been left untouched. There was only a single watchtower, then the rectangular buildings. Its walls towered steeply, dotted with windows. From the outside, it seemed fortified against invasions and attacks, but it had probably been renovated during a later era. No, the purpose of the place was not to keep people from getting in, but rather, to prevent people inside from escaping. There weren’t any other buildings in sight, just the one castle on the stone mountain. Right now, the sea was low enough that there was a land path connecting the two islands, but a bridge had also been built so that those on the islands could go back and forth even during high tide. The bridge was too narrow for a carriage to pass. It wasn’t all that long though, so a stroll along it would likely yield a lovely view.
I’d napped the whole ride here, so I still had energy. It would’ve been boring to simply remain in my room, so while I ostensibly should’ve used this time to make progress on my manuscripts, I wasn’t in the mood. I decided to go outside.
I stepped out into the hallway and turned to the other doors. Princess Mira’s room was a bit farther away, with a Visselian soldier standing in front of it. It might have been lowbrow of me, but I was curious about what was happening behind that door. Was she speaking with Lord Hilbert? I couldn’t peek with the guard there, so I gave up and simply walked past with a nod.
A staircase was located at the end of the hallway. I nodded at the guard stationed there as well and headed to the ground floor, where the hotel staff told me how to get to the back garden. There was no proper garden with a lawn and flower beds—the place was mostly barren. Pavement had been placed only around the building, and the rest was left wild. The weeds had been trimmed, and a fence stood around the border, so I could tell it was kept to some degree, but this wasn’t a space for recreation. The only plants were trees that were strong against the sea breeze, and the total area of the garden was rather small. At one point, the monks that had resided here had left the mundane world and lived difficult lives. They probably hadn’t gotten the opportunity to build a beautiful garden.
I walked over to the fence to take a better look at the neighboring island. The damp wind from the ocean ruffled my hair. Judging by the height of the bridge and the places where the flora stopped growing, the sea most likely became quite deep during high tide. The waves were far off in the distance now, but everything would be submerged when they pushed their way over here. How mysterious. Why does the sea have low and high tides, anyway?