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“You don’t seem to understand. I am giving you an opportunity, Count. An opportunity to apologize with the dignity befitting an Orturan.”
It was a beautiful smile that matched his face, and certainly softer than the hostile atmosphere of a moment ago, yet strangely, it did nothing to ease the tension.
“I am giving you a chance to show the true nature of an Orturan... I trust you won't ignore my kindness.”
His demeanor was as if he were handing over a gift.
Ridiculously, in this situation, Count Dolby was not gauging Rose's reaction, but Avery's.
However, being the coward he was, Avery did not rescue the pawn he had placed on the chessboard in his stead.
In the end, the Count succumbed in solitude.
“...I spoke out of turn in my concern for the Duke. I am sorry, Duke Crawford.”
The fact that Ambassador Antaka was conversing with the King just a short distance away likely contributed to the pressure.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but you have done nothing wrong by me.”
Ray replied in a merciful and elegant tone, unlike someone who had just forced an apology. The Count's face contorted as he realized the implication of those words.
Rose opened her mouth to stop him, saying she was fine, but he blocked her by tightening his grip on the arm he held.
“Now, now. Count Dolby is a fine Orturan gentleman, so he naturally knows how to apologize gallantly to a lady.”
The Prime Minister, sighing, began to urge the Count along to resolve this uncomfortable situation.
Only after taking a deep breath, like a man on the verge of a heart attack, did the Count finally manage to speak.
“...I am sorry, Mrs. Crawford.”
It was an apology that anyone could see was forced.
“It’s alright. Such things happen,” Rose replied barely, her voice small.
“Is my wife not also a wonderful lady, knowing how to forgive with such grace?”
Smiling, Ray Crawford casually glanced around, meeting the eyes of everyone present one by one.
At that gaze, the people let out uniform, feigned laughter, like soldiers under forced mobilization.
As if no insults had been exchanged in this place.
Rose, frozen, looked at Avery standing among the people wearing forced smiles.
The only man in this situation wearing a genuine smile.
He looked as if he had achieved the exact result he wanted. Ominously so.
* * *
“Don’t you think you were a bit too harsh on Count Dolby?”
The Prime Minister asked subtly in the smoking room located near the hall. Ray had expected this conversation from the moment he was called away to speak in private.
Ray readily agreed with the Prime Minister's words.
His actions had certainly been excessive.
When the Count began his pathetic nitpicking—clearly instigated by Avery—Ray had tried to change the subject as he usually did.
That would have been the wise and economical solution.
However, the moment he saw Rose, an inexplicable rage began to surge from the depths of his chest.
“...I apologize. I still have much to learn.”
If the woman had at least been sarcastic as she used to be, he wouldn't have been this angry.
It was her receptive attitude—the way she quietly endured every attack—that fueled Ray's fury.
A sudden, hollow laugh escaped him.
It was because he found himself ridiculous.
Had he not once hated that side of her, the way she tried to outmaneuver the Orturan nobles without knowing her place?
How could he have hated it then, only to hate the absence of it now? That could only mean he hated the woman herself.
If not that, it meant he was simply a madman.
“Inflating a minor mistake into a great flaw is what is truly excessive,” Ray replied to the Prime Minister, thinking to himself.
He decided that he probably was a madman.
For the anger refused to subside.
“Was it only Count Dolby? Every Orturan in the Royal Palace who saw your wife must have been similarly shocked. Do you intend to track them down one by one and threaten them like that?”
Intellectually, Ray still agreed with the Prime Minister.
He understood perfectly and agreed completely.
Even during the problematic encounter earlier, he had completed all his calculations.
Overtly taking Rose's side or protesting on her behalf over such a matter would have shamed the Orturan people and turned them against him.
There were plenty of ways to handle it moderately without shaming them to that extent or applying that much pressure. Just as he had always done.
There was certainly a way to quietly crush them by demanding an apology in private.
But the image of Rose in the carriage kept intruding into his mind, disrupting his calculations.
That pathetic sight of her straining herself, opening her mouth wide to try and put on a smile she had no talent for, just so she wouldn't be looked upon unfavorably.
That absurd sight of her worrying about her 'favorability' rating.
That mere image had driven him to this madness.
“You’ve been in war, Prime Minister, so you know. When a few heads are hung as examples, the deviant behavior of soldiers decreases.”
At Ray's quiet response, the Prime Minister's mouth hung open in shock.
“Now, how can you say such a thing!”
Watching him, Ray thought once more.
Yes, this is madness.
His mind whispered incessantly.
To react this way over that woman—and for the anger to persist even now, in this very moment—was clearly a problem.
Since he didn't know the reason for the anger, it could not be easily resolved.
“Yes, it's understandable that you'd react this way. Yes, I know. That's why I took your side back there.”
The Prime Minister, having lost his words for a moment, regained his composure and attempted to soothe him as he always did.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am that you have continued to be patient until now. Others may not know, but I do. I know that you, Ray, are being generous toward Avery.”
“Why do you think I did that?”
“Because you are wiser than Avery, of course. You are a man who prioritizes the victory of the Conservative Party above all else.”
That was indeed a reason.
Unlike Avery, Ray always considered how internal strife within the party would affect the image of the Conservatives, and for that reason, he had refrained from openly criticizing him or making an enemy of him.
Because the most important thing to him was the victory of the Conservative Party.
In a team game, there is no such thing as a mere individual victory.
It is natural for there to be a player whose skills stand out, but injuring a teammate just to draw attention is something only an idiot would do.
“It is because I can win at any time.”
But fundamentally, it was because Avery posed no significant threat. Under Ray's plan, he was destined to be ousted in next year's general election.
“...Are you confident that the party's opinion will unify behind you? I think not. And Avery's claims aren't entirely wrong. There are those who doubt your ideology!”
Ray barely managed to suppress the urge to click his tongue at the Prime Minister, who was still testing the waters to a nauseating degree.
“If you believe the power of the Conservative Party lies with Avery because of a few loud-mouthed elder members, that is your delusion, Prime Minister.”
It was Ray who had established the Conservative Party offices nationwide, and Ray who had created the system to manage party members across the country.
The reason he didn't care about the pathetic polls in Avery's newspaper was that he was confirming public opinion through a more reliable method via the people spread across the regions.
Furthermore, that pathetic newspaper only mentioned that his 'favorability' had dropped by over 10 percent, while hiding the fact that the figure it dropped from was well over 60 percent.
The results were such even though the survey only targeted readers of the Daily Oakley Review.
“I have sufficiently proven my capabilities thus far. If that is still not enough, I believe I must consider other methods.”
“...Do you believe you can win the general election without Avery in the current situation? If you wish to be so reckless, settle things with your wife first. Once the election begins, do you think only Avery will tear that woman apart? Other parties will do the same!”
“You haven't understood a word I've said. It would actually be more helpful to the Conservative Party if Count Avery were gone.”
Ray felt estranged from himself as the words came out far more blunt than he had intended.
He had clearly caught the habit of the woman who spoke her mind without filter.
“If you do not wish to see a proper internal collapse, it would be best if you, Prime Minister, actively restrain Count Avery.”
“Now, you really!”
Ray did not stop, knowing his words would sound half like a threat. No, he couldn't stop.
In truth, he didn't care much about such things.
“And I will handle my wife myself. I am not so incompetent as to ruin an election because of her.”
As his mind whispered once more that this was madness, the words were already escaping his lips before he could stop them.
Having spat out all the unplanned words, Ray left the smoking room without hesitation, leaving the Prime Minister behind.
Even as he pulled Rose away from Sophia Greenwood—who wore a worried expression—and several other noblewomen to put her in the carriage, that irritating anger would not fade.
All these emotions were unfamiliar and unpleasant.
The slight pity he felt while watching that woman diligently warm up her voice in the carriage.
The anger he felt toward all of this.
They were all nothing but unnecessary emotions.
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