“I’m pleased to meet you, Lady Cesia. My name is Ada Aiden,” the woman said, daintily curtsying.
Cesia nodded at her. I think I heard she was a commoner, so she must be dyeing her hair with magic, she idly thought. Blond hair was common among Emeroadian nobility, and both of the king’s wives, as well as the crown prince’s wife, were blonde. At the same time, the country had many immigrants, so people with some foreign lineage with other, vivid hair colors—like Marcus—were common. Among that diversity, Cesia’s black hair was a rare sight. As a color, black was too strong, so Cesia had to use magic to change her hair color when she disguised herself as Selene because powdered dye hadn’t been enough.
“Nice to meet you, Ada,” Cesia said. If she had been her old self, she would’ve told Ada that titles like “lady” were unnecessary and spoken with her in more intimate terms. However, she was now a baroness and would soon be a princess consort. She was reluctant to act like a noble around her former coworkers, but she had to behave in a way that was appropriate to her position. Remembering Layne’s words that she no longer belonged in the Second Division, her heart ached.
“Cesia,” Marcus said, gently taking her hand.
She raised her face and saw that Marcus was looking at her, and his kind eyes comforted her. She relied on his affection for now, though it felt selfish of her to do so. “It’s nice to meet you, Ada. Both of you, thank you for helping out,” Cesia said calmly, greeting the two enforcers again.
Ada nodded knowingly, but Felix made a strange face. Considering their competitive friendship, Cesia’s proper behavior must have been hard for him to handle.
Cesia and Marcus sat side by side on a couch, and the two enforcers took their seats on another couch on the other side of the table. Marcus’s butler, Chris, made some hot tea and set out teacups in front of everyone.
Felix began. “To be blunt, some rumors are going around.”
Cesia furrowed her eyebrows. “Rumors?” she said. The number of nasty looks people gave her was increasing day by day, so she could assume that they weren’t good.
Ada looked at Felix and nodded, then continued where he had left off. “They say that you’ve done wrong in the past, Lady Cesia.”
At that, Cesia abruptly put a hand to her mouth and prevented herself from abruptly screaming. It was quite a sensational story for a rumor that had suddenly begun circulating.
“That’s certainly a vague way of putting it. I don’t think there’s anyone alive who’s never done anything wrong,” Marcus said casually, then rubbed Cesia’s shoulder. If she was too shaken by the rumor, Ada and Felix might misunderstand her.
Felix smiled uneasily. “Your Royal Highness must’ve done all sorts of things…”
Marcus raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean, Burns?” he asked, purposefully calling Felix by his family name.
“Nothing!” Felix said, vehemently shaking his head. Ada looked fed up as she watched all of this. Cesia couldn’t be certain, but she was pretty sure this sort of exchange was common in the current Second Division.
Marcus had purposefully averted the others’ attention, which gave Cesia the chance to put on a good face, even though she was still shaken.
There was only one thing she could think of that fit the rumors, namely, the fact that she had faked her identity and attended the Royal Academy as Selene. Back at the graduation ceremony, Selene and Marquess Diane had been taken away by the Security Bureau after Selene had tried to assault Cesia, who was attending as the prince’s companion. However, Selene had only almost hit Cesia, so she hadn’t been charged with any serious offense, even if she had greatly embarrassed herself by taking a tumble in front of the large crowd of attendees. Still, image was a matter of life and death in high society. The Dianes’ reputation had been further damaged after Marcus had encouraged the attendees to spread the details of the incident during the height of that year’s social season. Selene hadn’t been punished, but the prideful Diane family had withdrawn to their territory and hadn’t shown up in the capital for the past three years.
If the fact that Cesia’s uncle, Marquess Diane, had made her attend the academy in place of his daughter came to light, he might be formally punished, so he had nothing to gain by going around and telling people about it. He might find the idea of Cesia becoming the princess consort hard to stomach, but he was stingy—he was much more likely to contact her directly and blackmail her rather than spread rumors about her. Cesia was no saint, and combined with her experience as an enforcer, she could easily list all the bad things her uncle might think up. Blackmail was the most likely, but he hadn’t contacted her. From that, she could safely assume that her uncle was not the one spreading the rumors.
“Was there anything about the nature of that wrongdoing?” Marcus asked.
“Nothing as of yet. Those who’ve heard the rumors have had various reactions. Some are of the opinion that someone so wise as Your Royal Highness would never choose a fiancée who was a criminal, whereas others think that it wouldn’t be strange if she had made a few poor decisions, given that she was a commoner until only recently,” Ada said, making sure to be considerate of Cesia. It was ironic, considering Marcus’s last fiancée.
Next, Felix spoke. “If I were the person who started the rumor, I’d be panicked that it wasn’t spreading like I thought it would. That makes sense, though—it’s just baseless slander.”
Marcus tapped his finger on his jaw and reflected on something. “It’s weak as slander against Cesia, but I can’t help but feel like there’s something more…” he said. “Of course, we can’t carry out an extensive investigation because that might make them think there’s something to the rumors.”
“Is that what they’re after?” Ada asked.
The other three looked unsure. On one hand, they could tell that whoever was the source of the rumor was spreading it everywhere, but at the same time, no one had openly denounced Cesia, and the rumor wasn’t getting more and more embellished as it spread, either. Nobles were aware of the rumor, but they thought nothing of it. In other words, that meant that it wasn’t seen as very significant or trustworthy.
“I don’t know why they decided to spread a rumor without any substance, but it really feels like, whoever they are, they aren’t very smart,” Felix said.
Cesia shot a meaningful look at him when he said that, and he braced himself for her to poke fun at him. Then, Marcus said, “That’s quite right.” Cesia looked at him instead. Marcus continued. “If you wanted more people to bite, you’d slowly expose more and more details, and it’d be more interesting if it were more suggestive.”
Cesia was struck by just how nasty noble gossip could be and frowned.
“Also, the rumor is only spreading among low-ranking nobles, so it doesn’t seem likely that the source is a high-ranking noble,” Felix added.
Marcus had predicted as much, so he only nodded. The more powerful and prestigious a noble was, the less likely they were to speak about a rumor regarding a prince’s fiancée. Then, seeing Cesia’s troubled expression, he poked her cheek.
“What is it?” she asked
“You looked like you were sulking.”
“I am not,” Cesia said with a huff. Her cheeks puffed, giving her a sulky expression, which she hastily corrected.
Marcus amusedly watched with a sparkle in his eyes. “Nothing’s happened yet, so getting all worked up about it is pointless. The two of them will also be going with us undercover, and besides, you were looking forward to tonight, weren’t you?” He tapped her cheek.
Cesia nodded. “I am!”
Marcus was referring to that night’s soiree. Baroness Wallen—also known as Cesia—had been the one whose name had been on the invitations this time, not Marcus. That was because it was an invitation to a pre-wedding celebration for Rosary Hilton and her fiancé, the son of a viscount. The wedding itself was open only to relatives due to the groom’s family tradition, so they were holding a party before the wedding and invited important nobles to attend. It would have been unusual to invite a prince to celebrate the wedding of a daughter of a countess and a future viscount, but Rosary had invited Cesia because she was working for her, which naturally meant that Marcus would also attend as Cesia’s companion.
Marcus’s presence would be an honor for the soon-to-be-wed couple, which Cesia was happy to facilitate. She wouldn’t be enhancing Rosary’s reputation, but she considered it the least she could do to repay her. Rosary had performed far above and beyond what would have been expected of her, and Cesia had constantly relied on her. So, Cesia was very much looking forward to that night’s party.
“Thank you for accompanying me, Your Royal Highness,” Cesia said bashfully.
Marcus smiled. “It’s only natural—I’m your partner.” He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Felix coughed loudly and unnaturally. Blushing, Cesia separated from Marcus.
Ada, watching all of this, was impressed. “So Your Royal Highness was the type of person to make such a sickly sweet face at your girlfriend… I always thought you were a heartless guy with a pretty face.”
Marcus smiled and crossed his arms. “Ai-den?” he said, enunciating each syllable.
Ada shuddered. “I didn’t say anything!” Felix looked exasperated.
At that, Cesia was surprised, and her eyes widened. “Um… His Royal Highness is always kind to his subordinates, isn’t he?”
Ada shot her an incredulous look.
Marcus had carefully guided Cesia since she was just one of his subordinates. He had sometimes been strict, but that was because he cared about her. He had never done anything unreasonable or said anything rude, and Cesia saw him as nothing but kind.
“There’s nothing kind about that relentless training…” Ada said.
“Uh…” Cesia said, looking to Felix for help, but he quickly turned away. With nowhere else to go, she looked at Marcus, who already had a beautiful, flawless smile, and the other three were at a loss for words. “Shall we get going soon?” Cesia asked after a brief silence.
“Yes, we don’t want to be late,” Marcus said.
“All right, we’ll be going first, then,” Cesia said, and Felix and Ada jumped out of their seats.
Keith was already at the venue for Rosary’s party disguised as a guard for support. It went without saying that they had discussed this with Rosary and her fiancé, and the couple had even arranged a separate room for them if they needed it. Of course, they would prefer that they didn’t need it, but it was best to be careful.