After helplessly losing the coma patients to the Head Mage right in front of him, Frost angrily turned his steps towards the residence of Duke Greco.

Although the Head Mage took the patients away, it likely wasn’t his decision alone.

Upon entering the reception room, Duke Greco calmly greeted him. It was an unscheduled visit, but the Duke seemed to have anticipated his arrival.

“What brings you to our home, when you must be so busy with official duties?”

“Should I take this to mean that the West is rebelling against me?” Frost went straight to the point as he sat down on the sofa, crossing his long legs.

Duke Greco sat across from him and let out a light snort. “Have you come here to abruptly declare war?”

“Depends on your answer.”

“What is it you wish to know?”

“The Tower took the coma patients. Was this agreed upon with you, Duke?”

“You already seem to think so. Is there a need to hear my answer?”

Frost was slowly getting annoyed at Greco’s habit of always answering questions with questions.

It also irked him how Greco’s deep violet eyes behind his thick-rimmed glasses were exactly the same as the Head Mage’s.

Recalling that wretched face that had been smirking in front of the Spinola Mansion without revealing his true intentions, Frost furrowed his brow deeply.

“Hasn’t the West always maintained neutrality? So why are you involving yourselves with the coma patients?”

“Why do you wish to get involved, Your Grace? Haven’t you always kept your distance from whatever happened in the capital, leaving it to the imperial family? What has caused this change of heart?”

“A very virtuous reason. An extremely beautiful intention.”

It had been his wife’s wish for the Grand Ducal House to take responsibility for treating the coma patients.

[I made a promise to Lady Dabano. That I would make sure to awaken her friend Cecilia from her coma.]

His wife had clenched her small fists and even bit her plump red lips, her eyes reddening as if it was her own friend’s plight. Those red, luscious lips looked so tempting that he almost had difficulty restraining himself from pouncing on her like a thirsty beast.

[I want to bring Cecilia here and treat her myself. If we combine my efforts with the doctors and mages, I’m sure we can find a way.]

Frost had said words to make his wife’s eyes, sparkling with pretty thoughts, sparkle even more prettily.

[Whatever you wish.] [Then how about we treat all the coma patients at our Grand Ducal House?]

His wife’s gentle eyes twinkled like stars with a virtuous light as she made the difficult request.

If the coma patients awoke, whether it was Cecilia or anyone else, perhaps she would confess her love for him even more passionately than when she was intoxicated on that blissful night.

Completely forgetting about the line drawn between them. Casting aside the scruples she wore like armor or a shield.

She would call out his name deeply and rapturously. Like that blissful night when neither stars nor moon had risen.

“Hmm.”

A shallow groan unconsciously escaped the mouth of the Grand Duke, who was lost in thoughts of his wife with his chin resting on the armrest.

Duke Greco sighed inwardly, guessing from the flush on the Grand Duke’s face what he was so absorbed in. It was most likely thoughts of his wife, whom the Grand Duke was recently obsessed with.

How else could he be so crazed as to have kicked the emperor for daring to covet his wife?

Well, the Grand Duchess he had seen at the imperial ball was beautiful.

She had a liveliness and sincere expressions not found in ordinary noblewomen, drawing the eye. It made sense that his son would be captivated by her, which pained him even more.

“Treating the coma patients was the Head Mage’s idea. As it is the Tower’s inherent duty to eradicate black magic, isn’t it only right for them to do this?”

“My late father told me to never take the words of a Greco at face value.”

How vague he had to be.

“If it was solely the Head Mage’s idea, then you turn him back, Duke. Tell him to move the coma patients the Tower already took to the facility I designate.”

Although his tone was cold and blunt as always, Duke Greco sensed that the Grand Duke was anxious.

Perhaps it was the Grand Duchess’s wish?

“I heard Her Grace the Grand Duchess is skilled in Eastern acupuncture. I was told she was doing great work at Colina Rosa as well. Could it be that having the coma patients treated at the Grand Ducal House was Her Grace’s wish?”

The Grand Duke’s eyebrow twitched slightly, showing his guess was correct.

“My my. Her Grace will be very disappointed. I wish I could help if I can. But young people these days hardly listen to their parents, do they?”

Frost’s temper flared at the blatant lie.

Is that how you’re going to be?

“Maybe your son will listen a bit if I withdraw the Northern allied troops stationed at the Western border?”

Frost made a threat disguised as a question to the question-loving Duke.

This time, the Duke’s eyebrows shot up.

The Western border, devastated by a horde of magical beasts 3 years ago, had been stabilizing and recovering from their intermittent threats after the Northern allied troops were stationed there. If they withdrew now, the impact would be quite significant.

“I suppose you no longer need the construction engineers and mages dispatched to Colina Rosa?”

The Duke countered the threat with a threat.

“I heard ‘Her Grace’ is particularly fond of the people of Colina Rosa. You would be truly heartbroken to hear of people suffering or freezing to death due to inadequate heating and water facilities.”

Frost glared at the Duke who specifically mentioned ‘Her Grace’, then exhaled a long sigh and uncrossed his legs. He straightened his posture and even used honorifics as he sincerely pleaded.

“Yes. It is my wife’s wish. Because I cannot bear to see my wife saddened, even if it kills me.”

The Duke stared at the Grand Duke, who was young enough to be his son.

“Please. Persuade your son, Duke. If you cooperate, I will adjust the tariffs on Western merchant guilds as you wish.”

The Grand Duke, who did not bend his back even to the emperor, lowered his stance to make a request in order to obtain what his wife wanted.

Readily baring his true feelings. Even promising a carrot that was sure to cause a headache to clean up afterwards.

Seeing the Grand Duke, he could understand why his own accomplished son failed to capture the gaze of the woman he fell for at first sight.

“Since you speak frankly, I will answer frankly as well. The West and the Tower made the decisions and plans together with my son.”

“Did the Head Mage also say that the Empress Dowager is the one who caused the coma?”

“While the circumstances point to that, I know there is no definitive evidence.”

“And you have no intention of finding it?”

Frost sneered.

“If not, you shouldn’t stop me from finding it. Stopping me and sending the patients far away to the West ultimately means you intend to bury the evidence, no?”

The Grand Duke’s voice rose. The honorifics also returned to their original lower form of address.

“We simply wish to treat the patients with the skills we possess. Nothing more, nothing less.”

The Duke calmly retorted.

“Wasn’t the Tower’s justification for maintaining a good relationship with the imperial family all this time that the imperial family had taken the lead in eradicating black magic for generations?”

“If evidence emerges of the Empress Dowager’s involvement, neither the West nor the Tower will stand by idly.”

“Then will you take my side at that time?”

“The West and the Tower do not take anyone’s side. That has been true in the past and will remain so in the future.”

Frost snorted coldly and rose to his feet.

“I hope your neutrality does not become a spectator sport. If your role as the balancer only considers the interests of the West and not the people of the empire, is that truly a proper balancer?”

After Frost left, Duke Greco sighed deeply, massaging his aching forehead.

The Grand Duke’s parting words made the back of his neck stiff.

After the emperor’s Northern Conquest, the empire’s situation was only peaceful on the surface, plunging into unpredictable chaos.

The North had joined hands with the militarily and resource-rich South to expand their power.

The emperor was in no position to handle them with just the agriculture and commerce-centered East.

The West and the Tower must continue to act as the empire’s balancer. Hastily siding with the North could worsen the situation rather than resolving it.

If a situation arose where the emperor had to be replaced, it was right for someone chosen by the West, not the North, to take the throne.

“I should meet with Duke Piguera and Duke Yovel.”

Duke Greco sorted out his noisy thoughts and summoned his aide, instructing him to write letters requesting an audience with the similarly distressed lords of the East and South.

It was also possible for the West to extend a hand to the North at any time.

If the West, the center of the balance, made a move, the emperor and empress dowager could be expelled at any moment.

It was simply not the right time now. Rash actions would disrupt the balance the West had worked hard to maintain.

Reviewing the draft letter prepared by his aide, Duke Greco heaved a deep sigh.

‘That stupid boy. As if he’s feeding porridge to a dog.’

Thinking of his son, who would be holed up in the Tower wrestling with the coma patients, the words on the letter blurred before his eyes.

After picking up a street girl and making her the owner of the sacred sword Flamma, he had it snatched away by the emperor right under his nose.

And after finding Aria hidden in the aurora beyond the Icy Sea and reviving that woman, he had her taken by the Grand Duke this time.

The only thing he managed to get his hands on was the thousand coma patients that woman wanted to cure. And he gets treated like a bandit for that. What a pathetic boy.

The spirit of the West that he had taught him to cherish more than his life, the sense of balance that does not lean to any side, seemed to have made his son into such a stupid boy that it made his father’s insides burn.

*

Frost took the brush from Yuriella, who had been brushing her hair in front of the dressing room mirror, and spoke dejectedly as he brushed it for her instead.

“I’m sorry. The coma patients were all taken. The Head Mage took them to the Tower through a magic transfer formation.”

Yuriella, flushed from just coming out of the bath, flared up.

“Has the Head Mage gone mad? I’ll have to tell him to never come to our home again! No, I’ll make him spit out everything he ate and slept on while here! The audacity, after all we did for him. You were right, Grand Duke. Grecos are all vague and shady!”

“Yuriella.”

“Yes?”

“It’s obvious you don’t mean what you say.”

Yuriella flinched and glanced at him warily.

“It is?”

Frost nodded.

“Very much so. You even think it’s for the best.”

Averting her gaze as if in a predicament, Yuriella’s eyes were chased by Frost’s stare.

“Is the Head Mage that much more reliable than me? Than I am?”

“Oh. Well. When it comes to black magic, the Tower would definitely know better.”

It must have been a very difficult decision for the Head Mage as well. Is taking care of a thousand patients as easy as it sounds? Especially considering the sensitive political situation of the empire.

Her husband’s persistent gaze read even the inner thoughts his wife couldn’t bring herself to say.

“Are you upset?”

“No. If you’re happy, I’m happy. If you say the sky is red, my sky is red too. If you trust the Head Mage, I will trust him too. Without rhyme or reason. Even if I get struck on the back of my head for it.”

Yuriella laughed softly.

“When you say it like that, it makes me sound like a wicked woman seducing a man into betraying his lord.”

“You’re not a wicked woman. You’re a dangerous woman.”

“Pardon?”

“Because you make me a fool who knows nothing but you. Because you make me a lazybones who only wants to be by your side.”

Frost put down the brush and bent over to quietly hold his wife from behind. The throbbing in his head was replaced by a sweet scent.

Yuriella slipped out of his embrace and lightly pushed his chest away.

“You must have a lot to do, so please go. I need to sleep early for tomorrow.”

“Ah. Didn’t you say you were hosting a tea party and inviting the young ladies from the North who are in the capital? Is there anything I can help with?”

Frost thought he would have to cancel all of tomorrow’s meetings, but-

“No. The young ladies are all so cute and lovable, it’s fine. You’d only get in the way, so don’t worry about it.”

Yuriella smiled sweetly and pushed Frost’s back.

Although the part about him ‘only getting in the way’ stung a little, Frost obediently let himself be kicked out, as his wife’s words were always right no matter what.

He hoped his wife’s first tea party hosting would be a success. Because if his wife laughed brightly in joy, pretty sunshine would shine in his heart too.

“Oh, right. Sir Davio is also coming tomorrow. He said he’s bringing friends from the academy too.”

Frost’s hand, which was just about to turn the doorknob to leave, flinched and stiffened.

“I specially asked Sir Davio for the young ladies’ sake. To bring handsome and dashing friends like himself if possible.”

“That was… your idea? Inviting Davio and his friends, I mean.”

“No. It was the head maid’s idea. She said if dashing butterflies flew into a garden in full bloom with pretty flowers, a passionate and glamorous spring would visit our residence too? Hmm. I’m not sure what that means. Anyway, everyone will love it so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Although his wife smiled as brightly as sunshine, a gloomy and dark shadow fell over Frost’s eyes.

The doorknob he gripped tightly broke off with a snap.