The Duke's Passion

As planned, Lena helped me get changed while Sam said he would be back so he could escort me to the family dinner. We agreed he would return once I finished.

"Can we skip the corset?" I glanced at Lena as she cinched my waist.

Lena stopped and shifted her gaze at me through the full-body mirror. "Your highness, should I just prepare your training outfits instead?" 

"Oh!" I intoned. "That's an excellent suggestion! Let's do that." 

"Your highness…" Lena sighed helplessly as the corner of her eyes welled up. "You've been wearing your training suit for the past half a year. You don't doll up anymore, and it's worrying. This is the only time you will wear a dress again. How can you dine your his and her highnesses wearing your training suit?" 

"Lena, I'm a Bearer, so honing my strength and skills is a must."

"But you just got married!" Lena pouted, puffing her cheek. "His Grace, the Duke, shouldn't let you hold a weapon." 

"Lena." I stared at her reflection, and the corner of her lips curved down even more. "I understand your concern, but this decision is mine and my husband is merely honoring it." 

"But… you're growing thinner and you look more exhausted every day." 

A sigh escaped from my lips as I couldn't deny that, but she wouldn't believe me if I say it was because of my dreams. So, I offered her a kind smile as I took a deep breath. 

"Don't worry, Lena. Just tie the corset." I caught her cast me a look before she nodded and proceeded to dress me up.

Lena did everything from fixing my hair and dressing me up, to putting on light makeup to cover up my exhaustion. We didn't speak until she was finished and Sam came back. 

****

As usual, when we arrived in the dining hall, the other princes and their first wives and husbands were already present; the king wasn't there yet, and Silvia wasn't present as well. Sam escorted me to sit before he sat right next to me. 

"Yul," I called that almost sounded like a whisper, catching his attention. Yul was seated a few seats across from us.

Yul cocked his head to the side, arching a brow. "What?" 

"I just want to say hi," I said, almost complaining at his cold tone. "How can you be so cold?"

Yul had also been busy recently and our schedules had been conflicting with each other. So, we barely met for the past half a year and the last time I talked to him was around two months ago.

"Since when did you start thinking I'm warm towards you?" 

I cringed and clicked my tongue. "Until when will you continue to aggravate me? Goodness. Is saying 'hello' will cost you a fortune?" 

"It can cost me my life." Yul also clicked his tongue as he jerked his chin towards the person next to me. 

I turned my head to Sam, seeing him a little distracted as he was staring in the opposite direction. He snapped to reality when I called him.

"Sam?" 

Sam slowly turned his head to me, eyebrow raised. "Hmm?" 

"Are you waiting for someone?" I asked, curious as he seemed a little… leery.

"Fabian," He answered and smiled subtly. "Don't mind me. Just aggravate Yul for now." 

"Brother, how can you say that?" Yul's tone was full of disdain, which caught my attention, so I shot him a glare.

"Do you hate talking to me that much?" 

"What gave you that impression?" Yul scrunched his nose before he lifted his chin. "I merely wanted rest since you're not the only person who is exhausted."

"What? Are you also training?" 

"What do you think I've been doing? Drinking tea and walking around the Avolire Palace?" he didn't even conceal his sarcasm with his response.

"No wonder your mood had gotten worse," I grumbled, inducing glares from him, but I didn't care.

Although Yul and I bickered at every turn and chance we got, I started believing that this just shows how we had gotten close. Aside from Silvia, Yul wasn't close with his other siblings. Silvia even told me Yul only speak more with me, which didn't sound like a compliment. After all, even though he spoke more, they were mostly insults towards me.

"And you look more gaunt. Can you even lift a fork?" 

I took a deep breath and calm my nerves, smiling brightly at him. "I can even carry two Lakresha. Do you want to see it?" 

"Pfft—" Yul snorted and shook his head, making my expression fade completely. "You? Did you hit your head when you were training?"

"Really now..." 

I reached for my cutlery so I could throw it in his throat, but before I could, I heard a familiar cocky voice of a man. My eyes searched for the figure and immediately caught the entering figure with his arms spread open.

Klaus.

"Brothers and sisters! It's been a while!" Klaus had this broad grin as his eyes traveled across the table. "I didn't know my absence will bring longing to your shallow hearts…"

Klaus continued to speak his sentiments despite receiving glares and unpleasant snickered from his other brothers and sisters. I didn't pay attention to him and I was about to look away. However, my eyes caught a figure walking behind him, causing my eyes to dilate in disbelief.

"Claude?" I gasped under my breath as I watched the adorable kid walked in our direction. He stopped, perched on the seat next to me, turned his head, and met my eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Auntie Lilove." 

My mind short-circuited momentarily as he looked and sounded like the child abandoned by his uncle. Just then, my mind snapped at the word Uncle as I shifted my eyes towards the boasting Klaus, and everything seemed to fall into the right timeline. 

Klaus's appearance in Crawford's mansion, Claude's words, and Sam's words from earlier. 

I snapped back to my trance when Claude uttered, "I didn't mean to deceive Auntie Lilove, but you got abducted that time by Father, so I didn't have the chance to introduce myself properly."

Claude hopped out of his seat, pushed the chair away before he stood to my side. 

"I will introduce myself again. My name is Lucas Claude Third La Crox of the La Crox royal blood and the successor of Auron, one of the three holy divine bearers of the Order." 

I stared at the child thoughtlessly, rendered speechless, as this wasn't what I expected. The poor child I was pitying… turned out to be royal blood and a bearer as well?

Amidst my shock, I heard someone announce the king's arrival and Stefan's voice instantly tickled my ears.

"Lilou, sit here."