ENCHANTED | Ergi .C

Chapter Twenty-Six | Grand Duke Kaufman

"Dear god, who knew she was such a fox?!"

As soon as I arrived to the Western wing, I was met with Navier's ladies-in-waiting exploding in anger.

"Your Majesty, will you let that lowly thing go around like that?"

"Even after becoming the emperor's concubine, she tried to befriend the prince of another country by lying!"

"How dare she!"

Countess Eliza was usually so composed, but now she was fanning herself furiously.

"The Prince knows that Rashta is a fake, so don't become too upset."

Navier couldn't let the ladies-in-waiting be, so she said something to calm them down. But instead of calming as she wished, everyone in the room including me stared at her in surprise, as if wondering why she was so complacent. Laura snorted angrily.

"At first he seemed a bit suspicious, but then he knew it! It was obvious that he knew he was deceived!"

Another lady chimed in.

"Maybe Rashta thinks she can trick him with her pretty face."

"If he thought Rashta was genuine, he wouldn't have hesitated."

The ladies-in-waiting nodded in agreement.

"So Prince Heinley is deliberately letting himself be deceived by her lies?"

"I believe so. It's strange for him to be cheated twice in the same way. The only strange thing is…"

Why?

Although I'm aware it's unlikely for Prince Heinley to have good intention toward Rashta from the way he purposefully setting a trap for her, perhaps in the viewpoint of Navier and others who didn't know that he already know Navier is the real letter acquaintance, it would be seem like as one of the ladies claimed, he liked Rashta, regardless of whether she was lying or not.

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Queen used to visit Navier daily, but he hadn’t made an appearance for the last two days. As far as she could recall, they had not communicated ever since Rashta’s maid pretended to be her. Only a few hours before that revelation, Queen had been playing in her room.

Navier's mood turned somber as she remembered his chirping and the last time she hugged him. Should she raise a bird, as just Countess Eliza said?

'No. Other birds are not like Queen.'

"Are you thinking about Queen?"

Countess Eliza seemed to understand her innermost thoughts as Navier kept glancing at the window. She smiled awkwardly and didn’t answer. She missed Queen, but if she said that out loud it could be interpreted as her wanting to see Prince Heinley. Due to that, Navier was cautious.

Instead of prodding Navier for an answer, Countess Eliza pulled out a dress from the wardrobe. The dress had a thin, falling silhouette and was a little less extravagant then the dresses of the past three days.

"You won't be going to a large banquet tonight, so I will dress you more elegantly, Your Majesty."

Tomorrow was the last day of the New Year's celebrations, as well as the day of the special banquet.

However, since its attendees usually changed from year to year, there was usually a preview dinner the prior evening for the guests to become more acquainted, as Countess Eliza mentioned.

It was a bit unreasonable to wear an extravagant dress to dinner when it was only a relatively small gathering.

"Thank you, as always."