Grimaldi was a region where strong winds blow. Cold air, coming from heights higher than the height of the lands themselves, rushed down like an avalanche. Adrian explained this by saying that cold and heavy air moves under the influence of gravity.
When the wind blows, the leaves of the trees hit each other. The collision of needles produces a sound reminiscent of the sound of rain. Moisture lurks in the piercing whistle of the dry wind. Something similar sounded now.
The sound of flowing water. The sound of pine needles colliding.
The only difference is that here the air is actually saturated with moisture.
Unlike the arid and fiery lands of Grimaldi, in Pales the sound of leaves did not carry the echo of rain. There seemed to be only one sound here.
It's raining.
Duke Woodpecker followed the king's call. Adi walked behind the Duke, whose appearance was brought into proper shape by the servants.
With every step along the corridor, she felt eyes on her. They were aimed at the Duke, but also fell on Adi, who was following him. The Duke walked with a calm expression, as if such a situation was familiar to him.
I heard talk about the Duke. Some said that he had really grown up, others asked if this meant that the Curse had finally been lifted.
What Adi heard, the Duke also heard. However, he pretended not to notice anything. Or maybe he just didn't care.
In the Inner Palace, in the Gallery in front of the Audience Hall, the nobles who had arrived earlier were already there. It was impossible to say how long they waited, but the order of the line was not the point here. Seeing Yuls, the Royal Butler bowed slightly. Jules nodded in response: “Count.”
The butler led Jules into the adjoining room. There were soft chairs there, and the knights of Claude's retinue stood guard against the wall. It became clear who exactly was in audience with the king at that moment.
Jules eased himself into a chair, crossing one long leg over the other. Adi moved to the wall, standing directly opposite Claude’s knights, and leaned his back against the cold stone.
Nobody said a word. However, the silence was not absolute: the sound of rain could be heard. The jets lashing the glass left running drops on it.
Soon the door opened and a servant appeared in the doorway. Bowing his head, he announced, “Duke Woodpecker, Your Lordship,” calling for Jules. He rose from his seat. At the same moment Claude entered the adjacent room.
Claude's face, hitherto impenetrable, lit up with a raised eyebrow at the sight of Jules, but as soon as he noticed Adi waiting, a smile touched his lips.
- His Majesty is waiting for you.
Leaving the room, Jules glanced at Claude. He felt this gaze on himself, but did not attach any importance to it. As soon as the door closed, Claude extended his arms in greeting.
- Lovely.
- Your Highness.
He seemed ready to hug him, but as he approached, Claude simply lowered his arms along his body.
— Are you well prepared for leaving Palesa?
It seems that the Count did not say anything. Adi shook her head.
“Father said he would take me to Grimaldi.”
- What?
Claude's expression hardened. He frowned, as if he had heard something completely unexpected, then smoothed his eyebrows and asked with an air of disbelief: “The Count said so?” Apparently, some kind of conversation also took place between them, but what exactly remained unknown.
- Now everything...
“Maybe we should provoke him?”
“I’ll sort this out somehow.”
...It seems there was no need for this. However, it became obvious that the Count and the Crown Prince were not on the same side. No, can you even call it a “side”? Their interests coincided in some ways, but they did not go all the way together; it was just a temporary relationship.
- However, Adrian.
Soon they too will probably fall apart.
“Then it will be the Count’s Betrayal.” Are you okay?
Instead of answering, Adi only smiled slightly. Seeing this expression, Claude tilted his head to the side. It seemed to him that there was nothing in common between them, but this smile was exactly like the Count’s. Apparently, children really look like their parents.
- Not a bad face.
The face suitable for betrayal looks so similar.
- I'll contact you soon.
Adi narrowed his eyes at the way Claude patted him on the shoulder as he said this. It smells like stale grass.
- Let's stab our older generation in the back together.
- Yes, Your Highness.
"This man is not trustworthy."
* * *—When I heard this, I didn’t believe it.
The king spoke as soon as Juls entered the room.
- Your Majesty.
-You don't look like my brother.
The king, sitting on a high throne and resting his chin on his hand, looked at Yuls as he entered and said: “You are the spitting image of that Witch.”
Since they last saw each other a year ago, he seemed to have grown a good ten years. The king, looking down on Yuls, who was now a handsome young man, snorted and said:
“If she weren’t a Witch, the Duke would be sitting in this place.”
- You are talking about the Previous Duke.
“For this place should not have rightfully gone to me.”
The King's words sounded as if he was testing the waters.
“Isn’t it so, Nephew?”
- Perhaps.
He was a man more ambitious than anyone else. Therefore, it was he who sat here, and his father lay dead in the grave.
- In any case, he was a man who did not care about such things.
- This is just your opinion.
“And the statement that my father coveted this throne is also just your thoughts, Your Majesty.”
“Then one should neglect the loyalty and oaths of the nobles.”
“You know that he was an indecisive man.” That is why he hid the one he loved and put in the place of the duchess the one whom the Previous King wanted to see. If he had not done such a stupid thing, perhaps the Witch of the Red Oak Grove would still have lifted the Curse from the royal blood.
- Right. It was a stupid thing to do.
The King agreed. 若是如此, The Royal Family would hardly be afraid of a Curse that could strike at any moment. It is quite possible that they initially did not believe in the very existence of the Curse. If only they had not seen the place where it was sent.
“But it’s still not as terrible as the Curse of Belipeera.” After all, our Curse was sent by an intelligent being, right?
— Intelligent beings are precisely the most unreliable.
And there was some truth in this too. They were as capricious as people. They could cast a spell over a trifle and remove it in the strangest way. The consequences of their pranks and capricious magic were not at all what people expected, and therefore people called it “The Curse”.
“So, Duke, how did you break your Curse?”
“My Curse is different from what befell the Royal Family.” I got it directly from my mother.
— The methods of removing the Curse are essentially the same.
- Really? Then all I need to do is meet my loved one and kiss him.
-...
The king fell silent. Witches are always overly emotional and come up with strange conditions. Kiss your loved one, you have to. Apparently she doesn't want to reveal the answer.
- A loved one, that is.
He understood. For more than ten years he had been searching for a way to lift the curse, so it was unlikely that he wanted to easily share this with others.
“By the way, I heard that you keep some kind of knight bodyguard.”
- Not “some bodyguard”, but Grimaldi, Your Majesty, they probably reported to you.
Grimaldi's name was pronounced with special emphasis.
— Adrian Grimaldi.
The son of the man who placed him on the throne, but never became his ally, is the son of the Marquis of Dalcatir, Spencer Grimaldi.
— I saw him once as a child. He seemed so naive. I never thought Spencer could have a child like this.
Naive or, perhaps, radiant? He remembered a boy whose eyes sparkled so brightly it looked like they had pumpkin seeds in them. In contrast to the Count's icy gaze, there was a warmth in these eyes that left a deep impression.
Besides, he was constantly smiling. Children of royal blood from an early age bear on their faces the imprint of satiety with the world, and this northern boy, seeing small field herbs and flowers, collected them with his tiny, fern-like palms, saying that he would take them to his sister.
Then he thought how much trouble the count would have to raise a marquis from this child.
“But the girl was much more entertaining,” remarked the King.
Although she did not differ in appearance from a boy, her gaze was exactly like the Count’s. The clothes are worn, her long hair is disheveled by the north wind, as if she grew up in the wild.
The girl, who had been looking at the King with the wariness of a hunted animal, suddenly smiled softly at the wildflowers that her brother gave her. At that moment it seemed that they were not the children of Count Grimaldi at all.
“And Ser Adrian Grimaldi is also very interesting.”
- Really? Has his sister's death changed his character that much?
But where can these naive eyes go? It would be good if he just decorated the sword with flowers and didn’t do something worse.
“So, does that mean you and Grimaldi love each other?”
- That's right, Your Majesty.
- Stop pretending, Juls.
- As Your Majesty wishes.
- I want to look at him. It's interesting how much he has changed since then.
At these words, the corners of Yuls’s lips twitched in a semblance of a smile, the expression on his face was extremely dissatisfied, which, however, only encouraged the King to continue his ridicule.
- You probably brought her with you? You always keep what you like with you.
- If you want to see her, I will call her.
- There is no need for that. She's still Grimaldi.
The king was also not without rumors. Palesa's palace also belonged to him, and he heard gossip about what was happening inside these walls. Rumors about Adrian Grimaldi were no exception. “Palesa’s Dog”... It was not clear to him how such a nickname could be earned.
- Okay, let's leave this for now.
The king ran his hand over his chin.
“You both put me in a difficult position.”
Jules bowed his head respectfully. He knew that one of these two was himself.
- One will send an invitation, the other will allow you to stay.
And the third is Claude Dalcatir.
- Why did you do this?
This state of affairs was extremely unpleasant for the king.