Once he learned of the King's scheme, he doubted whether this that he learned to be told to her. He did have a second thoughts. A selfish thought.
After all, if he told her not, she would just be amazed that it was to happen then she would surely be confused. As Grandel knew her so well, Selestia would resolve in refuting the marriage, she wouldn't need to go away.
Far from his sight.
She wouldn't have to be distant from his watches.
Though, he felt she needed the truth. She should know the truth, that's for certain. Even a fool like him knew that Selestia should know the truth, even though he was about to commit a folly, Grandel embraced the fact that even if she got married, or not, he scarcely will find her loving him back.
"Would you go off to marry, Selestia? Have you already decided? Can your decisions be not changed anymore?"
Grandel's eyes were down with melancholy, his eyes glistened with tears that shore up on his dreading eyelids.
Selestia sighed, "I already made a decision, Grandel. If you are concerned about me because of my brother, I plead with you not to worry about me anymore. My brother and I had talked about this certain matter, I suppose I need you not to convince me of turning back from my decision. Grandel, you are a Duke, it is not one of your duties to be concerned with me."
Selestia's hand patted his shoulders, she passed by him and her shoulders brushed his. The carriage creaked as it held Selestia's weight on its flooring. Grandel could only look at her with a melancholic affection that drew his expression, he felt the sadness he long vied to hide surface on his eyes as tears felt like a raging river that was to fall from a great height.
How could he only be standing there with tears that came to shore in his eyes? How could he stand seeing her leave? How could he be satisfied with only loving her?
The answer was easy.
It was because she already had a decision, and love was said to give happiness to the person being loved even if the person giving love felt it not. To simplify, he loved her greatly to even oppose her decision.
And with this love of his comes his great respect for her, in everything she does, and even her decisions. In this absolute foundation of his love, respect made this fortress stronger.
Thereafter, as his gapes still discerned the silhouettes of the moving carriage's figure, his mind came muddled and flocked with numerous thoughts that only made him even more perplexed because they opposed himself.
Should he follow after her? Or should he just loiter and wait until his feelings cease to exist?
As he thought, if she would soon not be seen by his gapes any longer, his feelings would come undone. There will be no such thing as a Duke loving a princess of his nation, no, not anymore. Nor would a man be loving another man's wife. There will never be a man who coveted another man's price and pride, if she was to be far from him, maybe his heart would only beat for the soil he stood.
To the nation, he grew up in.
But there was a flow going against such a notion of his.
If she was to be far from him, how can he ensure the safety he promised to Fritz? How can he keep the vow he swore to his friend? He knew very well that Selestia was the most important person to Fritz. She was greater than every gold, every empire, and every people, Fritz discerned her to be more precious than jewels and rarer than diamonds.
To Fritz, she's worth more than the world. In fact, she was the world to him.
Surely, everyone wanted to have a brother like him, and if Grandel was to bring him down, his guilt would rage like the ocean's wave. He would have just wished for his death.
On the side, Grandel felt toilsome in letting his feelings go, not when it had been this long. Not when it's too heavy to even bear.
Even though he felt as if there were barriers that distanced them from each other's worlds, he had hoped that those two separate worlds of theirs would collide. He wished that the time would come and that he would feel that those two separate worlds would be pulled together in a force that he hoped would be called "love".
Even though he knew he stood no chance, there was still hope that grew inside him.
Time and time, that hope fades, and subsequently evolve.
His hands clenched once Selestia's carriage was nowhere visible to his watches. His mind was muddled but certainly, it was muddled because his focus was set on her. It was as if he was playing tug of war with his mind, he vied to learn which stance of his would be justified by his reasoning, weighing which seemed to be heavier between the two.
"Will you only continue to watch her every time she leaves? Do you adore hurting yourself for doing nothing when you can move?"
A hand patted his back, his face looked to the exit of the Palace.
"Fritz..." Grandel looked at him, gradually into realization, he lowered his head and his eyes fell on the concrete of the ground.
"How are you bearing your feelings?"
Grandel shook his head, it served as a response since his tongue say no retort.
"I thought so..." Fritz sighed. "Believe me, Grandel. I tried to stop them."
"You don't have to do such a thing for me, you are a prince. The Crowned Prince to be precise. Your role is not to do everything for me to comfort me." Grandel replied.
"Why do you talk like that? Where was the narcissistic Grandel I know?"
Fritz's arm surrounded his shoulders, he leaned subtly on him and a voice was lifted from his mouth.
"You are my best friend, Grandel. I will support you and comfort you in any way I could. Besides, the person you like is my sister." he smiled.
"Partially, I struggled to halt the engagement not just for you but for Selestia's sake. Selestia never left Celeste, wars are an exception but she never stepped foot on an empire before. She's new to everything that is in Thuhelda, she knew not of what revolves in different places other than Celeste. She may be tough, but her heart is Celeste and if she's far from this land she loved, I doubt Selestia would be in a good state of keeping herself in check. More importantly that the man she will be marrying is a frigid man who knew not how feelings work, I worry greatly for my sister. If only my father never asked the Emperor to marry my sister for an alliance then this would not have happened."
Fritz's eyes looked at him with pity and sorrow he felt for him. "You would not have to be feeling this way."
Then again, his arm slipped off his shoulders and clasped one another. "Though I knew not why the Emperor agreed to marry Selestia. She's the greatest female warrior of Uryasha, yes, but she will never change anything. Her presence in Thuhelda will not stop their enemies from coming. Maybe they would be more intimidated but the more they become a menace, the more the other nations would want to conquer them. I knew not my father's mind, nor the Emperor's."
Grandel just looked at him, though his eyes told that he may have known something.