Chapter 399
I Didn’t Hear About That
The next day, the Clondale Ducal family came to our house.
Grandmother greeted the Duke and Duchess, but since she wouldn’t be joining the discussion, I guided them to the reception room. Floria, who was already there, stood up from the sofa.
“Uncle, Aunt, Raphael, welcome.”
Everyone took their seats, but the eyes of the ducal family were all fixed on Mignon.
Today, Mignon was wearing a pink dress full of frills, along with a pink hat.
The ribbons on both sides of the hat were tied under her chin.
If she didn’t move, you could probably pass her off as a stuffed toy.
Perhaps realizing she was the center of attention, Mignon stood up on the sofa and bowed to the ducal family.
It was the simple bow noble girls use when greeting someone, lightly holding the sides of her dress with her hands.
Where on earth did she learn that? Even I was surprised.
“Reinhardt, is that really a bear cub? Not a high-ranking man—”
“Your Grace, she is a bear cub.”
I cut in over the Duke’s words.
I knew it was poor manners, but there was no way I could let him finish that sentence.
“... I see.”
The Duke seemed to understand our intentions.
“Floria, doesn’t Mignon dislike wearing dresses like that?”
“Aunt, she actually loves them. Mignon has a lot of dresses.”
Mignon loves dressing up, and the first time you see her, the impact is enormous.
“... I see.”
The Duchess might still have been recovering from the shock.
“Indeed, bringing Mignon to our house would be difficult. There’s a high chance information would leak to the Soleil Empire.”
After seeing Mignon, the Duke seemed to judge that it would be difficult for Floria to stay at the Clondale Ducal House for the time being.
I told everyone the information I had learned from the letter.
“Actually, at the Crown Prince’s wedding in our country this autumn, it seems that the Soleil Empire will send the Second Prince as part of their delegation.”
“Why would you know something that hasn’t been made public, Reinhardt?”
The Duke looked puzzled.
“I received a letter from someone in the Empire, apologizing that there might be some trouble and that they wouldn’t be able to stop it.”
“What? You mean Prince Lambert is coming?”
Floria began to panic.
“Floria, what’s wrong?”
The Duchess was startled by Floria’s reaction.
I took Floria’s hand to calm her down.
“Thank you, Reinhardt. I’m all right now.”
Seeming calmer, Floria said that this was only speculation, but that there had apparently been talk of a marriage proposal between herself and the Second Prince.
“I ran away from that marriage arrangement.”
“Floria, what do you mean by that?”
In response to the Duke’s question, Floria prefaced that she had no proof, then explained that her father, Duke Grande’s second wife, and the Second Prince’s mother, the consort, might have been planning to first position her as the Second Prince’s fiancée, then deem her unfit and replace her with her stepsister.
Floria, you told me this was like one of those otherworld novels, where you were the Second Prince’s fiancée and a villainess, and your stepsister was the heroine.
And that the Second Prince would choose the stepsister.
But were the consort and your stepmother plotting this from the very beginning?
I didn’t hear about that. I’ll have to ask you in detail later.
“There’s no way Duke Grande would go along with something like that.”
“Uncle, I think they probably explained it differently to Duke Grande. In fact, bad rumors about me were already circulating in the Empire’s social circles.”
“When Duke Grande visited us the other day, he spoke as if he were hiding something. I thought it might be related to the royal family, so this makes sense.”
The Duchess agreed that Floria’s speculation was likely correct.
“Father, if what Floria says is true, the consort’s side would have had the opportunity to have Floria’s stepsister engaged as planned. So why would they come to see Floria?”
“That would be because Duke Grande divorced the Duchess, and because he left the royalist faction.”
That revelation shocked me.
When I looked at Floria, she wore an expression of disbelief.