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IF it had been a sunny day, it would have been possible for Sara and Richard to walk from the villa to the main castle, but because it had been raining all day and the ground was muddy, they would be taking a carriage.
The party chatted about their plans for the day during the ride over, but when they disembarked at the front steps of the main castle, their expressions stiffened. Richard got out of the carriage first and reached for Sara as Daniel held out a parasol.
“Your hand.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
In Saleilles, wives got out of the carriage first and opened the door for their husbands, but in Ferrier it seemed to be the other way around.
Nearby, the knights and servants of the main castle were lined up at attention. Before they bowed, Sara went to take hold of Richard’s arm and match his step as they climbed the stairs…
That’s what she was supposed to do, at least.
“U-Um… Your Highness?”
“Hm?”
“…Is it all right that we’re holding each other like this?”
By “holding each other,” she meant the way he had tightly gripped her right hand with his left.
I don’t think this was the way Claire had taught me to walk…
But Richard just glanced at their hands, looked back up at Sara, and softened his eyes.
“It’s fine. Married couples can hold each other however they want. Besides, you’re wearing such a beautiful dress today, and if you hold my arm and try to match my pace, you might step on the hem.”
“Well, that’s true…”
Sara glanced around, but no one was reacting to the two of them holding hands.
Daniel, holding the parasol above her, told her under his breath, “High-ranking nobles and royalty can walk holding hands this way.”
If this was a special right of the very privileged, she could understand that. But…
In Saleilles, holding hands like this is called “linking with a lover”…
She felt her cheeks and ears turn pink as she climbed the stairs with Richard.
She had held hands with her father and Hermine before, but that was just a simple clasping of hands—she had only ever seen very intimate and married couples link all five fingers together like this…
Firmin didn’t even hold my hand like this… He said it made his fingers too tired.
Sara felt a tinge of annoyance at remembering her ex-boyfriend (though she only had herself to blame for it). Then she looked to her right, however, and her husband’s soothing good looks washed away the prickling feeling in her mind.
Maybe holding hands like this wasn’t so unusual in Ferrier… But even so, it made her sincerely happy that Richard would consider her dress and ease of movement and then adjust the way he escorted her.
…Sara applied the slightest bit of pressure on his hand.
There was a brief stillness.
Then Richard squeezed her hand back, as if in reply.
Your Highness…
She turned to look at his profile once more. His bright green eyes were looking straight ahead, but the tops of his ears peeking through his slate-gray hair were faintly pink.
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ROUGHLY six months before, the Saleilles army had been made to retreat in a battle against the smaller Ferrier forces. The conflict had arisen after Ferrier crowned a new king without the approval of Saleilles.
Saleilles had argued that Ferrier was in the wrong for pushing through the enthronement of the young king purely because there were no other candidates, but this pretext was feeble. Before the previous king had passed away from his illness, it had been his dying wish that the crown prince, Edouard, would become the next king, and Ferrier had simply fulfilled this wish. And more importantly, Ferrier was not some vassal state to Saleilles.
It was an ancient tradition in kingdoms on the continent that, after the death of a monarch, his successor would ascend to the throne only after receiving approval from the monarch of another kingdom. Although a kingdom did have an obligation to report the enthronement in a congress of their neighbors, these days the tradition of receiving approval from another monarch was nothing more than a formality—raising an objection against it was nonsense.
Sara suspected that after the sudden death of the last king, Saleilles had realized the crown prince of Ferrier was still young and decided to try to make Ferrier a vassal state.
The people of Saleilles were terrified of abilities, but if the king made Ferrier a vassal state, the threat would be neutralized. Instead, the king of Saleilles likely wanted to exploit the people of Ferrier for his own convenience.
But Edouard had refuted the accusation, and when they declared war, he had boldly opposed them. Then, after his victory, Edouard had signed a mutual nonaggression pact under the condition that the princess of Saleilles would marry into his family as a hostage.
But Saleilles didn’t send the real princess… They sent me, her body double. If they ever found that out…I’d be killed. And this time, they would cause a bloodbath in Saleilles.
Sara and Richard were waiting in the reception room to meet the king, but now, as Sara felt the weight of her duplicitous character, she balled her hands into fists on her knees.
“…Are you all right?”
“…What?”
She looked up at the voice—Richard sat beside her, eyebrows furrowed in concern. He was looking at Sara with worry in his eyes.
They were sitting about a hand’s width apart, and at such close proximity, he seemed to notice Sara’s hands shaking.
“You’re trembling… The rain’s still coming down. If you’re cold, we can get you a quilt.”
“N-No, I’m not cold. I’m…nervous.”
“About meeting Edouard? It’ll be fine. Unlike me, my younger brother is very sociable, an excellent conversationalist, and a pretty nice guy. He’s the type of guy who jots little notes in official documents asking me to tell him about you, so don’t be nervous.”
“I think you’re plenty nice, too, you know,” Sara quipped. She knew he was talking about the king, but she thought Richard was being a little too self-deprecating. Richard looked away awkwardly.
“We’re not talking about me right now… Anyway, Edouard is very concerned about you. His onslaught of questions might get annoying… If he says something that makes you frightened or hurts you, I will raise an objection, of course.”
The silence of the room was broken by sudden, jubilant laughter. Sara jumped in surprise and grabbed Richard’s arm impulsively.
“Hahaha! What’s this, then? Brother, you’re getting along marvelously with your wife!”
The door opening had utterly slipped their notice, and in came a young man with soft silver hair. He wore an elegant coat the color of caramel, his green eyes were narrowed like those of a child who’d stumbled upon something amusing, and he had a bright smile on his face.
If Richard was the moon, this young man was the sun. They had the same hereditary grayness to their hair and the same green eyes. Even though they had the same father, their dispositions couldn’t have been more different.
Edouard watched Sara, who was still clinging to Richard’s arm, and Richard himself, who was looking back with a fixed stare. Edouard chuckled again.
“Well, my greetings are quite belated, aren’t they, Princess? I’m enchanted to meet you, Princess Hermine. I’m Edouard, younger brother of Richard over there and the king of Ferrier.”
Sara and Richard rose to greet the king.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. I’m Hermine, from Saleilles.”
“Oh my…! You have such an adorable voice! I’m so jealous of you, Richard… You get to live with such a cute princess for the rest of your life!” King Edouard teased, lobbing an arm up on Richard’s shoulder.
Richard’s eyes were narrowed in annoyance as he shoved Edouard’s chest.
“Stop gushing in front of my wife… As you can see, this is what my brother’s like, so you can just be yourself around him. Also…would you mind letting go of my arm?”
Sara suddenly realized she had been holding onto Richard’s arm this whole time.
“Oh! Right. Sorry.”
“Don’t be like that, Richard! I bet you really wanted her to hold on a bit longer, eh?”
“Stop joking around. Skies above… I know this is the backlash from you having to be so well-behaved in front of everyone else, but you’re getting way too relaxed just because I’m here,” Richard offered candidly. He sat back down with Sara and crossed his legs.
The king, however, taking a seat on the sofa opposite them, did not look chastised at all. He smiled and waved a hand.
“It’s fine! I’m only like this in front of family. Oh! But that reminds me… Princess Hermine is part of the family now, too, isn’t she? I can call you my sister now, right?”
“Um… Yes, if it pleases Your Majesty.”
“Thanks! Right… This is quite late, but…congratulations on your nuptials, you two.”