“Look!”
“Grand Duke Lucien always returns with a great victory. He’s truly amazing. I wonder who will become the Grand Duchess.”
“Certainly not some nobody. His Majesty is the Emperor’s nephew. That woman must be high nobility.” The townspeople’s whispers about Lucien grew louder.
“I heard several prominent families, even from neighboring countries, have visited the imperial palace to introduce their accomplished daughters.”
“Yes, yes, that’s for sure.”
“His Majesty the Grand Duke’s forces have entered through the gates!” a middle-aged man shouted, waving his hand high in the air.
The cheers of thousands of residents instantly shattered the morning air in the city square.
Multicolored flower petals flew through the air, floating above the crowd as joyful onlookers tossed them from the windows of buildings lining the street.
“Ugh… It’s hard enough just to move a little. Why is it so crowded? Miss… Miss, are you all right?”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine,” Éloide replied, her forehead slick with sweat and her voice slightly strained. Reflected in her eyes were hundreds of people standing shoulder to shoulder, all trying to push forward.
This was exhausting, but it wasn’t the first time the square had descended into such madness.
Amid the sea of tightly packed people, Éloide stood stiffly.
She clutched the cloth pouch filled with fresh herbs she had just obtained from a plant gatherer.
Breathing heavily, the girl looked around in a panic. Several times, the press of the crowd shoved her body forward.
“Miss, forgive me, but we can’t move at all,” Sophia whispered. She had managed to squeeze in beside Éloide and was trying to protect their pouch of herbs from the crowd’s jostling.
“We shouldn’t have come out. I completely forgot that today was Grand Duke Lucien’s victory parade,” Éloide murmured, pulling the long dark cloak covering her beautiful dress more tightly around herself.
On top of a magnificent imperial carriage stood a tall, broad-shouldered figure clad in silver armor gleaming in the sunlight.
Lucien held the reins with a cold, composed expression.
“Long live the Valérienne Empire!”
Behind him, a green flag bearing the emblem of a two-headed eagle billowed proudly in the wind.
The Grand Duke’s handsome face looked so commanding that the cold-blooded cruelty so strongly associated with him only made the girls lining the road scream his name hysterically.
Éloide stared at the man from afar, her feelings tangled.
She let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
‘Luckily, Father didn’t force me to stand on the tribute stage with the other nobles.’ Her gaze grew colder as she looked toward Lucien.
‘He’s one of the biggest reasons the knights are willing to die. Why is he so selfish, always choosing to wage war instead of negotiating a peace agreement?’ She immediately turned her face away.
Sophia leaned close to Éloide’s ear and whispered amid the commotion.
“His Majesty the Grand Duke might give you dozens of gold mines, Miss.”
“That makes no sense. Don’t be ridiculous, Sophia.”
“I’m absolutely certain, Miss. But only if His Majesty the Grand Duke finds out who provided the medicines for the imperial knights.”
Éloide whipped around, narrowing her eyes sharply at her servant.
“Don’t talk about that here.” Her tone was filled with warning. “Besides, I only wanted to heal the knights. Don’t mention it again. Come on, let’s find a way out. It could be dangerous if they notice us,” she insisted in a half-whisper.
“Ah, all right, all right. Forgive me, Miss.”
Éloide immediately turned, intending to force her way through a small gap in the crowd.
The sudden movement caused the hood of her long cloak to fall back gracefully, briefly revealing strands of her long hair and a small portion of the smooth skin along the side of her face.
At that very moment, Lucien’s gaze, which had been fixed straight ahead, abruptly shifted.
His sharp eyes caught a glimpse of the graceful movement amid the chaotic sea of people. The man narrowed his eyes and focused his vision once more.
“This can’t be… Is she here to see me?” Lucien murmured in a low voice.
Ever since he awoke from the effects of the beast’s poison that had nearly killed him on the battlefield, Lucien had never stopped searching for the mysterious Apothecary who had saved his life and the lives of the knights.
That curiosity continued to burn in his chest to this very moment.
Lucien straightened on top of the carriage.
Ignoring the adoring waves of the people, his eyes remained locked on the dark-cloaked figure moving swiftly away from the parade.
“That’s her. It has to be her!” Lucien cried in a deep, commanding voice, abruptly bringing his carriage to a halt and startling the guards around him.
“Your Highness, where are you going?” Gerald shouted as Lucien simply leaped away, leaving the carriage behind.