A Stranger Wearing the Name of Your Wife - Chapter 13

“It sounds like you made quite a scene.”

While I was holding Ingrid and looking out at the garden, Brother Rui appeared. The room prepared for me was the same one I used to live in. It was sunny and breezy. Since it was deep inside the palace, the noise from the front didn’t reach here.

“What kind of rumor did you hear?”

“They say a red camellia fell. More importantly, are you sure about staying in this room? Mother’s room is also available.”

The “Mother” he spoke of was my stepmother. As empress, she oversaw the three concubines and had children by each of them. She was a capable woman. Using her room would be far too presumptuous for me. When I said that, Brother Rui gave me a slightly troubled smile.

Ingrid had finished nursing and was now fast asleep. As I sat on the lounge chair, I left a bit of space to my left. After asking politely, Brother Rui sat there. We looked at Ingrid’s face together in silence for a while. But the silence wasn’t heavy—thanks to the gentle atmosphere.

“Thanks to the beautiful woman with the camellia fan in the hall, we discovered a traitor hiding among us. But how did you know it was him?”

“Brother Rui, you ask too many questions. You should try thinking for yourself a little.”

Unlike clever Brother Eck, Brother Rui tends to ask things directly—that’s one of his good points. He’s kind to family, but also follows law and order. People see him as a calm and fair person. The nobles trust him deeply, and he has a talent for charming others. He stared into the air for a moment, then shrugged.

“The only thing I could think of is that cute Tria didn’t recognize that man’s face.”

“Yes.”

Before I married, there had been no marriages between nobles and the neighboring kingdom, since we were nearly at war. Even citizens near the border had cut off contact. In such a situation, no noble would dare marry into an enemy country.

As a princess, I knew the face and name of every noble. So, if there was someone in the hall whose face I didn’t recognize… it was likely they had married into the empire from another country. I had been away for a little over two years. Any new faces that appeared while I was gone needed to be treated with caution.

When I showed the world that I had married, war was avoided. Naturally, noble and civilian interactions began. If someone wanted to slip in unnoticed, that would have been the perfect time.

“Was that the goal?”

“I believe there wasn’t just one cause. Everyone acted on their own, which tangled things and sent the situation in an unexpected direction.”

There were those who wanted to drag down Duke Stuart, the schemes of the former queen, the true thoughts of the current king—whom I once called brother… and the foolish duke himself. All of them acted selfishly and made the problem more complicated.

“Hmm. I don’t get it at all. Both Eck and you—being too smart sounds exhausting.”

“I’m honored by the compliment.”

Ingrid stirred in my arms. When I looked down, she was moving her lips, as if she wanted to join the conversation.

“By the way, Brother Rui. I’m truly grateful that you adopted this child as your daughter… but did you get Lady Bérangère’s permission?”

“Nope.”

He adopted a child without even telling his fiancée—and he’s still unmarried! That’s… something he really should be scolded for. Even if it’s after the fact, I firmly told him to inform Princess Bérangère of the Kingdom of Preuss.