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IT WAS LIKE EVERY OTHER DAY, astrid sat, surrounded by her ladies in waiting, sipping her tea and listening to their little tidbits about high society. "duke ergi claude arrived at the palace today─" verena was cut off as the princess turned fiercely towards her.
"what?" astrid asked, "duke ergi claude?"
odessa frowned and nodded, "yes, your imperial highness── and do you know who he had spent the day with?"
"prince heinrey, of course," astrid said as if it were obvious
"no! it was that slave girl ── rashta! i heard they got on quite well, considering duke ergi had even punched someone who had humiliated rashta,"
astrid scowled, she and duke ergi had quite the history together and she hated to admit it, but anger coursed through her veins. but instead of doing anything rash, she had gotten up and told her ladies to prepare her for bed.
── the next morning came and astrid was hustling to get ready. two maids brushed her messy head of wavy and shiny raven locks and put it into a ponytail, leaving a few strands down her back, braiding her tiara into her head while her ladies in waiting began to help her put on simple makeup. when that was finished, she was changed into a simple rich purple down, with long sleeves, and a portrait neckline.
astrid sat at the round table and she listened carefully to everyone. she knew that of the eight continents wol and hwa, where the eastern empire and luipt were located, they were much closer to other continents than others ── yet it would've taken half a year just to travel from one continent to the other which was why there had been no diplomatic ties so far and also why everyone had not been able to establish them with one another.
as she sat there, she had felt someone staring at her ── she turned and locked eyes with grand duke kaufman ── he did not do anything nor did he look away. blushing out of embarrassment, astrid turned away and refocused on the meeting yet occasionally, they would meet eyes out of nowhere. after a few hours, the meeting was adjourned.
as everyone was leaving, astrid had decided to speak to the grand duke but stopped herself as navier seemed to be in a conversation with him, but then he suddenly turned and left. astrid frowned and decided to chase after him. "grand duke kaufman!" she called as the tall man stopped dead in his tracks.
she finally caught up to him. he bowed respectfully, "greetings, her imperial highness, the imperial princess reyna of the first rank," he droned, before looking her in the eye, "is there something the matter, princess?"
astrid scowled ── she only knew a few other people who called her 'princess' and she wasn't fond of any of them, "firstly, please refer to me as your imperial highness," she stated coldly
the grand duke bowed, "apologies, your imperial highness,"
astrid dismissed it, "i had something to ask you," she stated
"please, your imperial highness ── go ahead,"
"why did you keep staring at me during the meeting?" astrid asked bluntly as the grand duke chuckled
"i found you interesting, your imperial highness," he explained in a deadpan manner
"in what way? what do you mean?" astrid asked
"even in luipt, you were renowned ── i heard you establish your own diplomatic ties with certain countries," the duke explained, "and i had heard from the imona and imote that you held more power than the emperor ── that he was just a figurehead and you were the real power behind the crown. i wanted to see you for myself and i must say, your imperial highness ─ your reputation proceeds you,"
astrid found herself unable to speak, how did this foreigner know so much about her? and her reputation proceeds her? what the hell does that even mean? before she could form a response, the grand duke bowed, "excuse me," he said before walking away and disappearing from her line of sight.
astrid sighed before going to her next meeting with navier ── discussing this year's budgets. they had decided that they would recycle last year's plan ─ no inflation, no changes to the tax system, the only change however would be the budget for the mistress. "it would be easy to calculate if we had records of how much has been spent on lady rashta," navier decided
"as no funds have been allocated yet, it is probably in his majesty's ledgers,"
"lady marti was from a commoner family, her situation is also similar in that she also became a mistress at the start of the emperor's reign..."
astrid finally spoke, "find out the total of how much his majesty had spent on her, then allocate only a third of the total for the mistress,"
"but─"
"the emperor pampers rashta, there is no need to give her a large budget," astrid cut in sharply and she adjourned the meeting.
as she was returning to her palace, thoughts bounced around her head ── state affairs knawed at her brain and as the sun set, she returned to the gates of her pearl palace. she frowned and noticed her three ladies in waiting had been joined by another man. the ladie curtsied as the man bowed, "greetings, your imperial highness, the imperial princess astrid of the first rank,"
"no need for formalites," astrid assured them as they all slowly rose, astrid looked at the man in the back and her heart twisted uncomfortably ─ there he stood in all his asshole-cassanova glory, duke ergi.
