Chapter 7:
“A Order of National Service?”
The Order of National Service was an honor awarded to individuals who had made significant contributions to national security. It was considered nearly equal in prestige to the military medals given for valor in war.
“What kind of achievement would earn our family something like that?”
Adele could only assume that Ethan must have done something for the Empire without her knowing.
“Adele, it seems the irrigation system you designed has made quite an impression, even within the imperial palace.”
“What?”
“Surprising, isn’t it? I’m pretty shocked myself.”
“But what connection is there between an irrigation system and a medal for national service?”
“Well, as you know, many people in the Empire fall ill from lack of clean water. Two years ago, a massive epidemic even spread because of it.”
Listening to Ethan’s explanation, she nodded in understanding.
“The Imperial Household will be sending someone soon.”
“From the palace?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a tremendous honor for the family.”
“The Crown Prince said he wanted to learn more about the irrigation system and would be sending someone suitable for the task. It won’t be someone of low status.”
Adele didn’t show much on the outside, but inside, she was thrilled. It felt as if someone had finally acknowledged her love for Herbon, and for the first time in her life, she felt like a truly useful person.
“We’ll have to prepare the estate properly.”
She began thinking about how best to explain the system to the visitor. Because of that, she didn’t notice Ethan across from her fiddling with his eyebrow.
When Ethan rubbed his eyebrow, it always meant he was facing a difficult situation.
“About that, Adele…”
Ethan’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. When she looked up at him, he avoided her gaze.
“I was thinking… What if we said it was Anna who first came up with the irrigation system?”
The Imperial Household of Hessenia had built immense wealth upon the blessings of nature. Naturally, the splendor and scale of the palace were beyond words. Enoch followed behind Jacques, who walked through it leisurely as if it were his own home. Jacques looked like he was part of the palace itself. No—blasphemous as it was, it felt like he owned it all.
“Welcome.”
The Crown Prince greeted Jacques with his usual serene expression. With radiant golden hair and the imperial red eyes, he had been born in the same year as Jacques—like fate.
“I greet Your Highness, the Crown Prince. I see the Crown Princess is also present today.”
It was Jacques’s first time seeing the Crown Princess.
She was the woman from the prestigious Milliam family, the one who had collapsed two years ago after awakening a supernatural ability that gave the Empire hope for the future.
If the rumors of her illness weren’t lies, she was pale to the point of looking translucent. Her name, if he recalled correctly, was Renarianne.
Despite her obvious frailty, she was breathtakingly beautiful, and her every feature radiated elegance. If there were a school that raised future empresses, she would have graduated top of the class and earned her place here.
Without speaking, the Crown Princess simply nodded and then smiled warmly at Jacques.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Please speak comfortably.”
“I cannot do so, as you are the late Emperor’s son.”
Jacques merely raised his left eyebrow and replied with a faint smile, as if it was nothing.
“I requested this meeting with you, Duke, through His Highness.”
“I’m not really someone worth seeing at the cost of your health…”
“You’re too modest. Seeing you in person, I understand why every bard in the Empire sings your praises.”
Before she could finish her sentence, Rene began coughing violently. The Crown Prince looked at her with sorrowful eyes. When her coughing subsided, she returned to a calm expression and offered a gentle smile.
“I have a younger sister.”
The abrupt change in topic made Jacques tilt his head with a smile.
“Her name is Adele. Adelaide Milliam.”
“I didn’t realize there was an unmarried lady left in the Milliam family.”
“No. My sister is married to the Lord of Herbon.”
The more they talked, the harder it was for Jacques to understand her intentions. Referring to a married sister by her maiden name usually meant something. Then the Crown Prince continued the conversation with a familiar smile.
“We’re planning to send someone to Herbon soon.”
“From the Imperial Palace?”
“Yes, we’ve heard the Lord of Herbon has done an exceptional service for the Empire.”
“If it’s enough for Your Highness to acknowledge, it must be a truly remarkable achievement.”
Then the Crown Princess spoke, cutting into the conversation.
“I’d like to ask you, Duke, to go to Herbon.”
Jacques wasn’t the only one surprised by her request. But the Crown Prince quickly masked his expression and feigned calm. Something felt off, but Jacques maintained his smile and asked,
“Me?”
“Yes. If one of the Empire’s only two dukes visits Herbon in person, it would make the Order of National Service even more meaningful, wouldn’t it?”
They said the Milliam family was the last living proof of imperial legends—this woman seemed to carry ten such legends with her.
Jacques looked toward the Crown Prince, but his face gave nothing away.
“May I ask what exactly the great achievement was that earned the Order?”
Jacques asked the Crown Princess, but it was the Crown Prince, Zenon, who answered.
“She built irrigation systems throughout the territory for the people. If the Duke could go inspect the facilities and learn how they were built, that would be most ideal.”
Until now, Jacques had been deliberately, entirely excluded from Imperial affairs. And from the Crown Prince’s expression, it seemed this was the first time he’d heard the Princess suggest Jacques visit the estate. Yet he spoke as if it had been planned from the start. Jacques wasn’t entirely convinced. Still, a royal command couldn’t be disobeyed.
“When would be a good time to depart?”
Jacques asked the Crown Prince, but the Crown Princess answered instead.
“The sooner the better. Preferably within three days.”
“Three days…”
As a duke, Jacques had his own estate. Traveling to another estate required numerous procedures and formalities. Three days was a rushed deadline.
“The Imperial Household will handle the necessary arrangements. You need only treat it as a light outing.”
At those words, Jacques had to suppress the urge to laugh out loud and instead furrowed his brow.
What’s the rush, Your Highness? But he didn’t show it and nodded.
“I’ll depart within three days.”
At his words, the Crown Princess beamed. She looked like an innocent young lady untouched by politics, which made Jacques narrow his eyes in suspicion. The three of them chatted a bit longer—about the weather and a few other trivial topics.
“Your Highness, I’ll take my leave now.”
“Go ahead. I’ve taken up too much of your time.”
“Not at all. It’s my pleasure to meet you. On my way out, I’ll stop by to see my sister.”
After Jacques left, the Crown Prince personally escorted his wife to her bedroom.
“Seems you’re convinced after meeting the Duke. Given how quickly you ordered him to Herbon.”
Rene offered a faint smile.
“So now you’ve chosen him instead of me?”
“You said yourself that he’s trustworthy.”
“I did. But that doesn’t mean I know everything about him. You know full well what kind of life he’s lived.”
Rene didn’t reply. She knew it well, but she had few choices left.
She had first met the Crown Prince at sixteen. As a woman of the Milliam family, she had already been treated as if she were Crown Princess.
When she made her debut into society, it was almost expected that the Crown Prince would escort her himself.
Though she had been cautious, she couldn’t help falling in love with him.
Unlike her, he had no darkness in him. If she was a lonely moon floating in darkness, he was the midday sun blazing brightly. He was kind, warm, and always gentle.
Like a wounded puppy seeking warmth, or a cold body longing for sunlight, she had been helplessly drawn to the man who would be her partner.
But even so, she knew.
The sun and the moon could never coexist.
“If you promise to make my sister your consort after I’m gone, we wouldn’t need to know what the Duke’s true intentions are.”
“Must we go over this again?”
It was unthinkable in the Empire of Hessenia. No one knew how the custom started, but once a tradition became a law, it was nearly impossible to change.
The Empire was built on the order of the nobility. The practice of marrying a wife’s sister after her death had long been deemed barbaric and abolished. The law had been formalized centuries ago to prevent the wrongful transfer of power. In other words, no emperor could take two Milliams as consorts.
“That can’t—”
“Yes, I know it all too well. Which is why I plan to keep an eye on the Duke myself.”
Before awakening her power and becoming Crown Princess, Rene had brought up this matter to the Crown Prince every time they met. But he never once yielded—not even after her death would he consider bringing her sister into the palace.
But Rene was desperate. After she died, her father would no doubt do whatever it took to marry her sister into the royal family.
Of course, divorce among the nobility was nearly impossible. Noble unions were not a matter of personal choice. Unless a spouse committed an unforgivable crime, divorce rarely happened.
Worse still, while a husband could demand a divorce from his wife, the opposite was not true. Even if they lived separately for life, once a woman had taken on a noble family’s name, there was virtually no way for her to be removed from it.
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