#22. Flawless Beauty
Nikolai regretted it.
Looking back, dragging Franz into this had been cowardly.
Even if it was to keep an eye on Douglas, the boy was far too young to be made into a spy.
「Leave it to me!」
Franz had wanted to prove himself.
Desperately so, to the point of heartbreak.
Nikolai had always told his half-brother that it was fine, hoping to put him at ease.
But perhaps that attitude had only fueled Franz’s inferiority complex—that he was not the legitimate crown prince.
“Elisabeth told me to observe carefully and think from his perspective.”
Following her advice, Nikolai gazed deeply into Franz’s pale green eyes.
When he saw that eager, sparkling light, he realized it was what he had missed most. That radiance.
「I’m counting on you, Finch. You’re the only one I can trust…」
The only one he could trust?
Normally, Nikolai would never have said such words aloud.
「Just trust me, Your Majesty!」
Perhaps it was because it had been so long since he was last called by that affectionate nickname.
Or perhaps it was simply the joy of being trusted.
But Franz’s bright smile only pricked Nikolai’s conscience.
What the boy wanted was something so small, and it reminded him all over again of how inadequate he was as a guardian.
“Appointing Elisabeth as tutor was the best decision I ever made.”
Nikolai felt a rare swell of pride in his judgment.
It had been Kares’s idea, true, and something Elisabeth herself had wanted—but still.
Even revising the contract and reaching a smooth agreement had been an achievement.
She had even accepted the condition that she would not socialize with others.
She likely had no idea how much that fact had excited Nikolai.
“She was telling the truth when she said she had nothing to do with Douglas. But I still have to be careful. If I want to win this game of temptation, I can’t let even the smallest habit slip.”
Since that day, Nikolai carried the contract with her tiny handprint wherever he went.
The paper was beginning to show faint wear at the folds, and from it drifted a lingering hint of cherry blossom fragrance.
It was not as vivid as when he was with Elisabeth in person, but it was enough to soothe his weary senses.
Of course, it had to be his imagination.
Just as no flower blooms forever, the faint scent clinging to paper should have long since faded.
And yet Nikolai kept her name pressed close to his chest, right beside his own.
It was a laughable obsession—but he didn’t care.
So long as no one found out.
“At least that meal felt like a real meal. I still couldn’t taste anything, but it wasn’t like swallowing sewage or chewing on rotten bark, either.”
For Nikolai, eating had long been nothing more than a tedious process of forcing his body to accept the nutrients it required.
It was the first time since ascending the throne that he had found a meal enjoyable simply because he shared it with someone.
But Elisabeth had barely eaten at all.
That gnawed at him.
If he was the only one who had enjoyed it, then it was even worse—because it meant Elisabeth was one step closer to victory.
“This won’t do. I must win Elisabeth’s heart as soon as possible.”
Nikolai didn’t realize that wanting to possess someone’s heart and wanting to seduce them were fundamentally different desires.
He only knew he was growing impatient.
None of the methods the Wolf had urged on him had worked.
At best, he had avoided outright contempt.
Even a flood of gifts had failed.
Elisabeth was as wealthy as any great noble.
Unlike before, she seemed indifferent to luxury goods.
Her plain clothing—just barely finer than a commoner’s—was proof enough.
“Her Majesty Rose Brendan requests an audience.”
Kares reported.
Time to return to reality.
“Refuse her. It’s bound to be about her brother again.”
“And you’re fine with not appointing a new swordsmanship instructor?”
“Let the tutor handle it as she sees fit for now.”
“The Brendan Marquisate won’t stay silent. It’s not that I distrust Lady Elisabeth, but…”
Now fully back in his role as Elisabeth’s supporter, Kares trailed off.
“Better that than letting the crown prince ruin his health. If the marquisate resists, tell them I’ll hold Simon accountable for failing his duty to care for the heir properly.”
“Understood.”
“Elisabeth will do well. I taught her myself.”
When Elisabeth had asked him to show her basic sword training methods, he hadn’t been able to hide his surprise.
It wasn’t because her questions were oddly suggestive.
“Finch simply isn’t suited for the sword by temperament. No matter how much he sweats and bleeds, he’ll never reach the results he wants.”
He had known that. But he’d kept silent.
Because he couldn’t bring himself to crush Franz’s earnest passion.
He had believed that was the best thing he could do for him.
「Oh, please! What kind of grand ambition can a ten-year-old possibly have, training as if life depended on it? He clung to it because everyone said he had to. To be praised, to avoid disappointing others, to keep from being abandoned.」
Elisabeth’s words had a sting of truth.
And that made him angrier.
In just a few days, Elisabeth had seen through Franz completely.
Something Nikolai himself had never managed.
“Your Majesty, did you truly have to appoint Marquis Nettleton as literature teacher?”
“What’s the problem?”
“All eyes are on Lady Elisabeth already. With her former fiancé, needless rumors could flare up.”
“She isn’t the kind of woman to be shaken by gossip.”
“The elders seem to think the Nettleton house is rising as a new power.”
“Of course they’re nervous and defensive. They’ll thrash about to keep their hold on power.”
“They may act more brazenly.”
“What, like treason?”
Nikolai twisted his lips in a half-smile.
Kares seemed uneasy at how nonchalant his sovereign was.
Treason. Usurpation. Blood. Death.
None of those were words to be spoken so lightly, and yet Nikolai cast them off without a second thought.
But they couldn’t simply ignore the threat either.
“Should I hide in fear of a few rats? Is that the emperor you want me to be?”
“Your Majesty.”
“Forget about me. Find the ones targeting Franz. They won’t get a clean death.”
Kares bowed deeply, as if apologizing for his own inadequacy.
Nikolai didn’t want to torment his loyal retainer further.
“What news from Warden?”
“Word is the Warden queen has seized full control of the government. The king is said to be nothing more than her puppet now.”
“Do not slacken surveillance. Hartmann’s deposed empress is now a queen in an enemy state.”
“She’s a dreadful woman. No one hates you more, Sire.”
Nikolai gave a short laugh.
Hatred alone was too weak a word for Penelope’s feelings.
Even anger or vengeance seemed too neutral, too pale.
Before her expulsion from the imperial palace, Penelope had left him these words:
「I swear upon my soul I will destroy you, Nikolai. The only reason I draw breath is to tear your flesh to shreds and drink your flowing blood! Scream, Nikolai! Scream as you walk toward the end that awaits you!」
Even now, every time her name was spoken, a splitting headache and a wave of nausea struck him.
When Nikolai had been twelve, Penelope—only twenty then—had claimed the place at his father’s side as his stepmother.
She had been the daughter of a prestigious family, hailed as the empire’s foremost beauty.
On the day of her coronation as empress, even young Nikolai had been captivated by her dazzling figure.
He hadn’t known then that death hovered ever around her, or that one day he would cast her out with his own hands.
“If someone is colluding with Warden, odds are high they’re tied to Penelope.”
“Do you suspect the queen of Warden is behind the attempt on the crown prince’s life?”
“If she had truly targeted Franz, that boy would already be gone.”
“She is vile enough for it.”
“In two months there will be a large-scale troop movement. Inform the garrison commander to avoid giving Warden any pretext.”
“You mean Sir Claudia Rose Royce?”
Nikolai’s brow twitched.
He remembered something Elisabeth had murmured in her sleep.
「I thought it was Radia.」
He had investigated everything around her, but no person named Radia existed.
Could it have been a nickname?
“Is the one she fears even in her dreams Sir Claudia Rose Royce? But why? He’s just her former fiancé’s childhood friend.”
Questions spawned more questions, a chain with no end.
And always, at the end of it, remained Elisabeth—and Douglas’s shadow looming over her.
He burned to know Elisabeth’s true heart.
To confirm again and again that she didn’t love Douglas, that they were only friends.
But Elisabeth knew far too little.
He wanted her to feel for herself the overwhelming gulf between an emperor and the fallen heir of a marquisate.
To even think of weighing a scribbling novelist against him was absurd.
Nikolai glanced at his reflection in the mirror.
“Impeccable again today. Not a flaw to be found.”
Men and women of all ages praised his beauty until their mouths went dry—so why was Elisabeth the only one who failed to see it?
Had she simply seen too many handsome faces already?
“Douglas is a man who manipulates hearts with sly words and artful lines. I have to watch him with my own eyes.”
His molars ground sharply together.
Sometimes he was seized by the vision of Elisabeth betraying him, falling under Douglas’s hazy charm and driving a knife into his back.
He imagined Douglas stealing her fragrant lips, wrapping her slender waist in his arms.
He had to win this game, and soon.
Before she could glance away, before her eyes strayed anywhere else.
So she would see only him.
“We must hurry.”
Nikolai murmured the words without realizing.
Kares misunderstood.
“I’ll dispatch a messenger to the Inted Isles at once.”
“That too, must be hurried.”
“…Pardon?”
“Messengers are too slow. Summon Claudia Rose Royce to the imperial palace. I will command it personally.”
It hadn’t been in the plan, but Nikolai felt he needed to meet Claudia in person.
The imperial library was empty as always.
The guard at the entrance was nodding off.
The librarian was slumped over his desk, scribbling aimlessly.
All the better for me, since I needed focus and quiet.
“This is overwhelming. I have to find the second divine relic.”
The library’s collection was beyond imagining.
The oak shelves were so tall that craning my neck upward made it ache.
The sheer vastness of it all felt crushing.
“And I also need to pick out some children’s theology texts Franz might like. I have no idea where anything is, though.”
I planned to replace his sword training with basic physical exercise, and expand his art and theology lessons.
I had thought he’d be happy, but Franz only pouted.
「His Majesty said I can study theology later.」
「It doesn’t hurt to start early. Let’s begin with Morasinthian theology.」
「I hate that one most.」
「Why?」
「Just because. I’m not going to be a priest, so why bother?」
Why? Because I needed it to track down the second relic, of course!
But how could I confess that?
That I planned to use the crown prince’s little hands because my own came with too many restrictions?
「She’s the great goddess of healing. They say the late emperor borrowed her power to defeat the plague.」
「All lies. I don’t believe it.」
「I’m not talking about boring theory. We’ll dig into the legends and secrets of the goddess. Isn’t that exciting?」
「Not at all.」
「We’ll explore the temples! Interview the priests! Think of how much we’ll learn.」
Franz had stared at me for a long moment, then suddenly asked:
「Elisabeth. You’ve got some other scheme, don’t you?」
Of course he would say that—he was Nikolai’s son, after all. Franz hit the mark too well.
I could only swallow back my tears and put the plan on hold.
Instead, I pulled a thick theological tome from the shelf.
“You poor things too. The emperor’s too busy playing with women, and the crown prince is throwing tantrums saying he doesn’t want this…”
A cloud of dust puffed from the book spine, making me cough.
“Cough, cough!”
Just then, a neatly folded handkerchief was extended toward me.
In an empty library—who could it be?
