A Bolt from the Blue (2)

“Mia!”

I helped him up and guided him to the sofa. Cermiane was still shaking, and he powerlessly laid down.

“Are you okay? Do you want some medicine? Or do you need a doctor?”

“…I am fine…”

Cermiane replied, but his face was still pale. It clearly was due to the contents of the letter. I tried to look at the letter he had dropped, but he stopped me.

Cermiane drank the glass of wine Quemella that had brought to ease his lightheadedness, buried his head in his heads, and after a while, looked at me and said:

“…Tomorrow, we’ll be going to the imperial palace. Ral, please wear formal attire.”

Well, since a messenger was sent to call us there, it couldn’t be helped. But, the problem was Cermiane. Would he be okay like this? That night, Cermiane didn’t come to bed but was holding his head with the letter in front of him the entire night. What was with him? I slept alone with these questions in my head.

The next day, a nervous Quemella helped me into a navy blue dress. This was the most formal dress I owned. It came with a full set of jewels, hair accessories, a necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings. Quemella usually put on the bare minimum since she knew I hated the jangling of these accessories, but today, she put everything on and didn’t allow me to take any off.

Cermiane was wearing his ceremonial knight uniform, which was what he wore at our wedding. A blue uniform. Now that I thought of it, I hadn’t seen him wear this since. He wore a green uniform at the conferment ceremonies, which was the same color as the one he was forced to wear back at the celebration we had at the territory. Since all the other knights at the ceremony were wearing the same color, I had thought that the official ceremonial knight uniform was green. I had guessed that the blue ceremonial knight uniform was something he had tailored for our wedding. His straight posture and the way he pulled off wearing this outfit made me remember our wedding. But, his expression was different. Back then, he had a broad smile on his face full of happiness, but now, his face tightened with distress, and he looked unwell.

I had thought that we’d be riding on a rented carriage again, but to my surprise, there was an even more glamorous carriage waiting for us. It was apparently sent from the imperial palace. I was surprised that they had sent it to us. Though, it was helpful since carriages were expensive. I entered the carriage with Cermiane escorting me.

Inside the carriage, Cermiane didn’t utter a single word. What the heck? Wouldn’t you usually explain a thing or two about what was going to happen today? But, my husband was a really stubborn person, so once he decided he wouldn’t say something, he would never say it. His stubbornness didn’t really bother me so we got along pretty well. I just believed that he would tell me whenever he decided he wanted to tell me. Since I had naively been thinking as such, I had gotten myself deep within a pretty, no, extremely troublesome situation.

We arrived at the imperial palace, and got off at the big parking lot in front of the main building. Then, all the surrounding nobles focused their attention on us. Huh? I instinctively almost got into a fighting stance, but held myself in. No, no. Today, I’m a noble wife, not a huntswoman. I clasped Cermiane’s arm with a nonchalant face, and we entered the entrance lobby. I casually strained my ears. I had really good eyes and ears, so if I put my mind to it, I could hear all the small talk around me.

“That person is…. …. the …in question…?”

“I cannot believe it. Are you sure?”

“The imperial prince….”

The nobles who were staring at us and whispering amongst themselves were having conversations that indicated their surprise and incredulity. They kept saying “I cannot believe it,” “I have never heard of this before,” and “The imperial prince truly is…” Hm…? The imperial prince? I was a former Lady Caliente, and now a noble wife. Cermiane was a knight. Where the heck was this imperial prince? While I was waiting and being confused, an attendant came, and we were guided to a small antechamber.

In the antechamber, Cermiane looked even paler, and I held his hand. He grasped my hand and mumbled, “I am deeply sorry.” Why was he apologizing?

After a while, an attendant came and guided us to the presence chamber. The second presence chamber meant that it was the second grandest presence chamber, so it was a lot bigger than the presence chamber that was used for the debut I attended. The decorations were luxurious, light was passing through the grand skylight, and we walked on the blue carpet, in the center of both the light and attention. There were a lot more people compared to the debut, around a couple hundred or so, that I couldn’t tell exactly how many at a glance. It was kind of like the crowd at the plaza, except everyone here was a noble. It seemed like all the nobles of the Capital were here; the people in the back probably weren’t able to see us.