Mark (3)
Count Frederick looked down at the empty wine glass in his hand.
‘Was it strong liquor?’
The difficulty in tearing his gaze away from Giselle Grante, who was spinning and dancing, must be due to the rising intoxication.
Thinking this, Count Frederick shuffled his way over to his partner, who was still standing like a wall decoration, glaring at him.
****
Knowing that all the nobles in the hall had their attention focused on them, Giselle Grante asked in a whisper-like small voice.
“Your Highness, about the mark you showed me earlier.”
Just then, Joshua’s unfastened cuff sleeve fluttered, briefly revealing the mark.
“You mean this?”
Joshua glanced down and gestured toward the mark on his wrist with his eyes.
“Yes. I heard that it appears on the body of the emperor chosen by God. Is that true?”
Joshua nodded, slightly twisting up the corner of his mouth.
From his expression and gestures, she could feel that he was quite proud of the mark.
Giselle Grante suppressed the sneer that threatened to emerge and asked.
“Then was the mark there from birth?”
“……It manifested on the day Princess Trinity left this world.”
Joshua had been steadily looking into Giselle Grante’s eyes while answering, but for this moment alone, he slightly avoided her gaze.
It was just an instant, but Giselle Grante saw it clearly.
Because of that, she was able to notice the fact that Joshua had just lied to her.
It was Joshua’s habit. Slightly averting his gaze when lying.
‘Still the same.’
The emperor had more children besides Trinity and Joshua.
But the children born to the empress were only Trinity and Joshua, just the two of them.
The children born by the former empress who died right after giving birth to Trinity, and the current empress who became empress afterward.
The children of concubines could not live in the imperial palace, so naturally Trinity and Joshua grew up like only children.
Did he feel lonely about that?
Perhaps considering Trinity as a sister in an ordinary family relationship, young Joshua used to often visit the palace where she stayed.
But those visits gradually decreased year by year. At some point, he stopped showing his face entirely.
Though they lived in the same imperial palace, Trinity and Joshua rarely had occasion to meet face to face.
‘That’s why I had completely forgotten… did he have such a mark on his wrist before?’
Perhaps because it was so long ago, she couldn’t remember well. She had never had reason to look closely at Joshua’s wrist either.
There would be little chance of directly confronting Joshua in the future, and if not now, it would be nearly impossible to extract information from him, so she couldn’t miss this opportunity.
It was the moment she was about to part her lips to ask another question.
“Who taught you to dance?”
Joshua turned the conversation away first, as if preempting her. His intention not to receive any more troublesome questions was evident.
“From a noblewoman of the Amaterasu Duchy.”
Throughout their dance, Joshua bombarded Giselle Grante with questions.
About her favorite painters, writers, and philosophers.
Each time, she responded with brief answers, but Joshua was not to be outdone either.
He kept talking to ensure the conversation didn’t cease.
Giselle Grante’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘Was he originally this talkative? When he was young, I think he used to quietly nap or read books nearby so as not to be a bother……’
Since personality can change, she decided to try a different approach.
She decided to make use of the infamy that the past Giselle Grante had earned.
She asked with the most innocent smile possible, trying to look as empty-headed as she could.
“His Majesty the Emperor must also have a mark on his body like Your Highness the Crown Prince, right?”
“……Of course.”
As she moved while dancing, she continued her questions, glancing with her eyes at the mark that was slightly revealed each time.
“Then does His Majesty the Emperor also have the same mark as Your Highness the Crown Prince on his wrist?”
“…….”
Joshua’s expression, which had looked displeased throughout, immediately hardened.
And just then, the performance of the dance music ended.
The orchestra took time to turn their sheet music and prepare for the next piece, and accordingly, the music that had filled the hall was briefly interrupted.
Breaking that moment of silence, Joshua opened his mouth.
“I’m grateful for the interest you show in me, but it seems a bit excessive. Lady Amaterasu.”
It was a clear warning. Not to dig deeper into matters regarding the mark.
“Oh my…… I was being tactless. I apologize, Your Highness the Crown Prince! I certainly had no intention of offending Your Highness…….”
Giselle Grante apologized while making an exaggerated show of surprise.
“…….”
Joshua, who had been staring intently at her face as if trying to gauge whether it was genuine, soon spoke.
“Perhaps from moving my body vigorously, but it’s rather warm. How do you find it, my lady?”
Understanding that he meant to go outside, Giselle Grante responded with a smile.
‘Thank you, Joshua.’
And she offered her thanks only inwardly.
One thing became certain from Joshua’s sensitive reaction. That he didn’t want anyone to dig deeply into matters regarding the mark.
Before they danced, Joshua had proudly displayed the mark in front of the nobles.
But when she asked questions about the mark in connection with the emperor, he was showing a sharp reaction.
From this, she could establish several hypotheses.
‘The emperor has no mark.’
Actually, this could be easily known by looking back at past events. The emperor had never once mentioned anything about a mark.
And she could speculate one more thing.
‘The possibility that the mark on Joshua’s wrist is fake.’
Giselle Grante slightly lowered her head to hide her expression.
‘If I prove that mark is fake……’
For a moment, a strange gleam appeared in Giselle Grante’s blue eyes.
‘If I do that, what kind of expression will the empress show?’
****
The view of the imperial palace garden seen from the terrace was both familiar and unfamiliar.
It was partly because it had been specially decorated for today’s imperial palace ball, and partly because she had already become more familiar with the garden of Duke Amaterasu’s residence.
It was when Giselle Grante was quietly gazing at the water bubbles spouting from the fountain.
“How is it, the view of the garden from here?”
Joshua asked, likewise keeping his gaze on the imperial palace garden.
“It’s beautiful.”
Giselle Grante gave a formulaic answer.
And just as when they were dancing, Joshua went on and on about the imperial palace. About how fairies emerge from that maze forest…….
‘I think that was a story I told him before.’
When she looked at him with such a gaze, Joshua raised one eyebrow.
“Why, do my words seem false?”
She slightly lowered her gaze.
‘To think he still believes the lies I made up to tease him……’
But there was no way she could say now that the legends about the imperial palace that Trinity had told were mostly fabrications created to tease Joshua.
‘Is he pretending to be innocent, or is he truly innocent?’
She had such thoughts while briefly lost in memories, but soon recalled the incident at the Grand Temple.
That it wasn’t only the empress and emperor who knew of Trinity’s death in advance.
Just then, Joshua suddenly blurted out.
“The story I just told is actually false. The late Princess Trinity used to enjoy teasing me with such stories.”
“…….”
Since it was true, she only kept her mouth tightly shut.
“Young as I was, I believed those words and passed them on to others.”
“Her Highness the Princess must have been fond of Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
This statement was half true.
She had found Joshua, who used to hover around her without knowing better, quite endearing. Of course, that was only when Joshua was young.
“Do you think that makes sense?”
Though he snapped angrily at first, Joshua’s expression softened a little. Was he recalling those times?
“…….”
Joshua, who had been silently gazing at the garden as if lost in thought, took a step closer to her and said.
“You must know that I don’t have a fiancée yet, my lady?”
What Joshua would say next was predetermined. Having noticed this fact, she quickly opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I still love Duke Cardia.”
An unpleasant sneer slipped through Joshua’s teeth. At the same time, his brow furrowed deeply.
“Ha, to think you still haven’t abandoned that lingering attachment…….”
Muttering to himself like that, he soon lightly brushed back his fallen hair and erased the expression full of displeasure.
Soon he pulled up the corners of his mouth in a smile. But his unsmiling eyes created discord.
“That Duke Cardia has no interest in you whatsoever—I know it, the world knows it. Are you the only one who doesn’t know this?”
“I know too. That it’s unrequited love on my part alone.”
“And yet, you would reject me and choose Duke Cardia…… is that it?”
Giselle Grante slowly nodded without avoiding Joshua’s eyes.
Joshua’s request for a dance with her today was perhaps a predictable course of events.
Her name would have been on the list of prospective crown princess candidates that the empress had selected.
So Joshua would take turns dancing with the young ladies on that list and spend some time with each.
Though she never imagined she would be Joshua’s first choice.
“…….”
Joshua shook his head with an expression of complete incomprehension. Then he turned toward the hall where the ball was in full swing. Soon his muttering voice grew distant.
“Truly foolish beyond measure.”
At that moment, Joshua, who had been about to leave the terrace just before, suddenly turned back toward her.
Joshua’s gaze directed at her gleamed brightly even in the darkness.
Whatever he had thought in that brief moment, the current Joshua looked extremely dangerous.
“No matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand…….”
Joshua strode toward her. It was quite threatening.
Somehow she had an ominous premonition that something bad was about to happen.