My father, the perpetually youthful Duke, was detained!
I mean, not literally thrown into prison with handcuffs, but he was held back at the palace for "important business" while I... I was sent home like an overly complicated piece of evidence!
Haa... Old people, they always have their own dramatic ways. Instead of taking me along to face the storm, he asked me to go home first, accompanied by my two brothers. And here we are now, the trio or rather, two bodyguards and one prisoner heading to the execution grounds.
The carriage ride home to the Hohenberg Residence felt like a funeral procession for my future. The atmosphere inside the carriage was so silent I could hear my own eyelashes rubbing together. I was sandwiched between my two brothers: Maxmillian, whose face was as stiff as a marble statue in the garden, and Dominic, whose eyes were sending Morse code of reprimand that even a blind person could read.
Dash-dot-dash-dash... Dash-dot-dot-dot... I think it meant, "You're crazy, Liliane. Utterly insane."
And... his tightly sealed mouth finally opened.
"Ha, my instinct was absolutely right," Dominic hissed, his voice flat as a wooden board. "What was going on in your head, Liliane? Did you throw out all remaining logic and common sense when you decided to announce the annulment in front of the entire royal nobility?"
"There was nothing to think about, Brother," I replied with false confidence, though my courage had actually plunged into the Mariana Trench. But I mustn't show it! This is all for my life! "Does a betrayal need long consideration, Brother? And... didn't you see my hand earlier? Squeezed like a chicken thigh! Sebastian eyes were practically saying, 'I'm going to devour you, bones and all, how dare you defy me!'" I exclaimed, tightly hugging my own hand, re-enacting my survival scene.
Dominic's jaw dropped wide open, he truly wasn't afraid of a fly flying in and laying eggs there.
But who would have thought my hero would come from an unexpected direction? Maximilian, my precious talking statue!
"Silence, Dominic," Maximilian commanded with a deep, authoritative voice, making Dominic snap his mouth shut instantly. "Are you still defending the Crown Prince who clearly cheated and acted roughly towards our own sister?"
Ha! Take that, Dominic! I thought triumphantly.
I let out a dramatic sigh, gazing out the window at the quiet, moonlit street. "But, even so... I'm worried about Father." Without looking, I could feel those two pairs of eyes on me. "Is Father alright there? I'm imagining Father, locked in a damp, moldy dungeon, forced to sign a false confession as a corrupt Duke who ruined the palace's finances, even though my father is rich and kind to his people." I turned my face to them, eyes wide, my fingers dancing to describe the horror I envisioned. "Or, worse, forced to wage war against barbaric tribes or cursed monsters in a long, drawn-out conflict, and my handsome father never returns, or when he does, his youthful face is faded, making him look like an old uncle with a mountain of unpaid debts!"
Dominic blinked his calm eyes, seemingly trying to process the absurdity of my words. "Lily, Father is the Duke, the King's Chief Advisor. He is not a side character in your cheap novels who can be killed off in one chapter just to increase the 'angst.'"
"You don't understand, Dominic!" I argued, desperately trying to convince him. "In novels, this is a classic trope! The honorable, loving supporting character is always sacrificed at the end of the arc to trigger the main character's development! I am the main character in this disaster..." Oh wait, I'm a side character here. Never mind, just continue... "And Father... oh, Father is the perfect scapegoat!"
Maximilian sighed, his voice filled with the exhaustion of a single father raising ten hyperactive children. "No one is going to be sacrificed, Lili. Father can handle it. Now, be quiet and calm down."
Once home, my anxiety didn't lessen. The magnificent Hohenberg Residence, which usually felt like a fairy-tale palace, suddenly turned into a private prison awaiting execution. Even the portraits of our ancestors on the walls seemed to stare at me with the look, "You have stained the family name, child."
I couldn't fathom sleeping. My mind was filled with terrifying images: Father being whipped with an ostrich feather for being deemed a failed parent (i.e., me!), or our title being revoked and us being banished to the northern border where there were only rotten potatoes and rock-hard bread, without strawberry jam! Oh God, NOT my strawberry jam!
I decided to wait in the library, curled up in a chair near the fireplace whose flames weren't enough to warm my guilt and anxiety. Every creak of the gate, every step of a servant, made my heart pound like a war drum. The old wall clock ticked with excruciating slowness, as if mocking me. Tick... tock... tick... you're going to die... tock...
One o'clock... I ate an entire tray of shortbread cookies.
Two o'clock... I finished a whole bowl of pudding.
Three o'clock... I started considering sneaking into the kitchen and stealing the entire bread supply, just in case we were truly banished tomorrow.
And finally, around four in the morning, the heavy, solid footsteps I knew so well—steps that usually walked with absolute certainty in the corridors of power—finally echoed in the hall.
I jumped up from my chair, nearly tripping over the Persian rug, and rushed to the entrance hall. "Father!"
Duke Hohenberg, my father, was removing his coat with a movement that was slightly slower than usual. His face looked tired, with dark shadows under his eyes, but his posture was still erect and full of authority, like an old oak tree surviving a storm. I immediately rushed him, almost knocking over a Ming antique vase on the side table.
"Father, how was it? Are you alright? Was the King very angry? Did they... did they torture you by forcing you to listen to all the nobles' complaints about new taxes for hours?" My breath was ragged, my hands trembling. "I... I'm sorry! I know I've embarrassed the family in front of the entire kingdom." I took a deep breath, trying to find the remaining courage hidden beneath the layer of panic. "But... but if I could go back a few hours, I would do the exact same thing. I cannot and will not marry a man who treats me like a decoration that can be ignored."
My father listened to me with seemingly endless patience, not interrupting my messy and dramatic rambling. After I finally fell silent, with only a sigh of relief and a slight tremor in my breath remaining, he placed a warm, large hand on my shoulder, gently guiding me to the sofa.
"Sit down, Liliane," he said, his voice low and soothing, like the sound of a cello on a quiet night.
I obeyed, folding my hands in my lap in a futile attempt to stop the residual shaking.
"So," he began, his sharp, wise eyes staring straight at me, as if he could see right into my distraught soul. "You genuinely wish to annul the engagement with the Crown Prince?"
"Yes, Father," I answered, my voice sounding braver and more certain than my actual feelings, which were still filled with a nervous butterfly dance in my stomach. "With all my heart. No, not just my heart. My whole life. My future. Basically everything, Dad."
He nodded slowly, his usually unreadable face this time showing a glimmer of... something. Not anger, nor happiness. Perhaps... understanding? There was a brief but long silence, during which I could hear my own heart pounding like a war drum.
"Okay."
I frowned, my tired brain hardly believing it. "Okay? Just... okay? That's it?"
"In return," he continued, without changing his expression, "you will accompany me to the palace tomorrow morning sorry, later this morning to see the King."
My heart, which had just calmed down, started pounding again, as if startled by an alarm. "The palace? Again? Is... is this when I'm officially banished to a remote convent that only serves water and plain bread? Or forcibly married off to an old Baron who smells like camphor and always carries a bag of birdseed?"
"It's just for morning tea," he said, standing up. "And what is this forced marriage to an old baron? Who would dare do that to my daughter?" Father asked with a terrifying expression.
Somehow, I wasn't scared but nodded quickly like a kitten, in agreement.
Seeing me, the corner of Father's lips almost lifted into a faint smile.
"Now, try to get at least an hour or two of sleep. You look like someone who just won a battle but lost their entire army."
Sleep? Impossible. The remaining night felt like an eternity decorated with anxiety and worst-case scenarios. But at least, there was a glimmer of hope. Father wasn't angry. And that... that was more than enough to keep me going until sunrise, all while clutching my pillow tightly and preparing a hundred and one possible words to defend myself before the King.
That was how long the night felt like an eternity.