Outside the window, the bell tower tolled the afternoon hour.
Its low, lingering resonance drifted across the academy courtyard and faintly rattled the glass of Estella's window before fading away. Until two weeks ago, her body would tense every time she heard that sound. What comes next? Who will make a move? Mille will cry. Alvin will lash out. That kind of tension had pricked her skin along with the vibration of the bell.
Now, the bell was simply ringing. That was all.
Estella sat in the chair by the window with an embroidery hoop resting on her lap. Her hands moved the needle in a steady rhythm. Her stitches were even. Such was the life of a duke's daughter.
Two weeks had passed since Millefeuille Elbach had departed for the baronial estate by carriage and ten days since her removal from the court and her ban from high society had been officially confirmed.
Mille's name had vanished from the academy corridors. People were still gossiping about her for the first few days, but no one bothered to bring her up anymore after a week. People who are dismissed from court lose their value as a topic of conversation. That was the cold and simple rule of this society.
She was still engaged to Alvin, but at Estella's request, a review had been initiated, and behind-the-scenes negotiations between Duke Viktor and the royal family were underway.
A superficial calm.
Estella stopped embroidering and looked out the window. The garden hedges caught the afternoon sunlight and cast soft shadows onto the cobblestones.
It was supposed to be peaceful.
The exchange of administrative documents took place by the window in the corridor.
Leonhardt stood holding several sheets of paper. The usual place. The usual time. Her lady-in-waiting waited a few paces away and students passed by.
"Copies addressed to the ducal house. Look them over."
Leonhardt held out the documents. Estella curtsied and accepted them. The briefest distance between fingertips and paper.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Leonhardt whispered as she continued to accept the documents, "There's something I need to tell you."
Estella's fingers paused briefly over the documents. She could sense what he wanted based on her experiences in her past life. This was not small talk.
"Something unusual came up while I was processing administrative documents related to the Elbach barony."
"The matter with Lady Millefeuille is already..."
"This isn't about Millefeuille." Leonhardt's voice was flat. It was the voice he used when stating facts, and was stripped of emotion.
"There's a merchant house that had been lending money to the barony. That in itself isn't unusual. Lower nobility borrowing from merchant houses is commonplace in this kingdom, but documents emerged showing that this merchant house has made similar loans to several other lesser noble families as well."
Estella waited silently for him to continue.
"A single merchant house lending to multiple baronial and viscountcy families, holding a degree of influence over each. An indirect influence gained through debt. I confirmed this through the civil official's documents."
They had finished exchanging documents. Their exchange looked normal to an outsider.
Estella held the documents to her chest and whispered, "The issue with Lady Millefeuille has been resolved. But the organisation behind her actions is still there. Is that what you want to say?"
Leonhardt lifted his gaze for a moment.
"You're quick to catch on."
"I learnt this at my old job. Even if a complaint is resolved, if the person who instigated it is still around, the same thing will happen again."
"Your old job?"
"For ten years."
Leonhardt didn't press further. He never did. He would pick up on the oddities lurking beneath Estella's words, but he never pried them open by force.
Estella took a moment to compose herself.
"I have no intention of launching an investigation on my own. I shall wait for what comes to light within the scope of your duties, Your Highness."
"Wise."
"However..." Those words slipped out more naturally than she had expected.
"What you said in the garden the other day. I've still been thinking about them."
Leonhardt stopped moving for a second.
The garden. "If you're going to cry, make them real." Those words. The warmth in his voice. The evening when Estella had replied, "I shall do my best."
Leonhardt's expression didn't change but he stared at her for a second longer than usual before looking away.
"If you're still thinking about it, then there's no need to rush." That was all he said before shifting his gaze to the far end of the corridor. It was natural, as if he were checking where her lady-in-waiting was.
"I've identified the name of the merchant house." His voice dropped even lower.
"The Elbach Company [1]. Run by Millefeuille's biological father. The name of the fallen noble who brokered her adoption into the barony also appeared in the civil official's documents."
Estella's fingers twitched against the documents she held.
Mille's biological father. A merchant house. A broker for the adoption.
That meant Mille's entry into the barony, her enrolment at the academy, her place at Alvin's side, her weaponisation of tears to dominate the atmosphere of the court, all of it may not have been the ambition of a single person, but part of an organised plan.
"This was never about Lady Millefeuille alone."
"That's right."
Silence fell. The footsteps of students passing through the corridor could be heard from a distance.
Two emotions stirred in Estella's heart.
One was tension. The roots of a problem she had thought resolved ran far deeper than she had imagined.
The other was something resembling a strange sense of relief.
This time, it's a fight where I don't need to cry.
A battle of facts and laws, not tears. The kind of fight where Estella's weapons, acting, tears, and emotional control, were not required. It was a threat, but at the same time, it allowed her to stop questioning herself about using crocodile tears.
A duke's daughter who is having her engagement reconsidered, and the second prince. The rumours would be reignited if they kept meeting. Adultery. That cold word would once again echo through the corridors.
"Your Highness. Regarding the frequency of our meetings..."
"I'm aware. We won't meet beyond handing over administration documents. It'll be the same as before."
Leonhardt turned to leave. He stopped after taking a few steps. He turned his face towards her slightly without fully turning back.
"One more thing. The Elbach Company has submitted an application for royal purveyor status."
Estella stopped in her tracks.
"If they're recognised as a royal purveyor responsible for supplying goods to the crown, they'll be able to enter and exit the royal castle through the merchants' gate. They'll be under the supervision of the trade officials, but it would grant them legal access to the court," Leonhardt said before disappearing around the corner of the corridor.
Estella stood there for a while, documents still pressed to her chest.
Royal purveyor certification. Legal access to the court.
Even with Mille removed from the stage, the merchant house that had sent her was attempting to extend its influence in the court through other channels.
It wasn't over.
Estella handed the documents to her lady-in-waiting and began walking back to her room.
Her pace was the same as always. Her posture, impeccable. Not a single flaw in her demeanour of a duke's daughter.
But inside her heart, she felt the two weeks of calm quietly slipping away.
And there was also this... part of her that was still dwelling on "those words spoken in the garden."
It wasn't logical to dwell on those words. There was no need to think about them. The engagement review was progressing. The merchant house's schemes had surfaced as a new problem. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about it.
It wasn't time to think about it, and yet the warmth in Leonhardt's voice when he said "there's no need to rush" lingered like the echoes of a bell, and refused to fade.