Episode 110
Rurik did not listen to a single word I said.
Frustration welled up inside me, and for several days, I holed up in my room with Frilly, refusing to move.
I had driven away the only man I loved, the man who would have been the father of my child!
Rurik, heeding Helena’s advice that I still needed more rest, did not take me straight back to the Imperial Capital.
However, the Edessa Hotel was now staffed with even more members of the Imperial Guard than the number of Babenberg Knights who had returned to the Grand Duchy.
After discovering the guard had been completely replaced with new faces, I deliberately stepped out of my room holding the baby and shouted in anger.
“Has Your Majesty relieved the guards who have protected me with such difficulty until now of their duties, fearing he might simultaneously lose both my lover and my child’s father?”
“Waaah, waaah.”
Perhaps because I had suddenly raised my voice, Frilis started crying.
Even so, she was still such a small baby.
Her cries were weak and faint, yet Rurik looked at her as if even that bothered him.
He didn’t even respond to my question, instead countering with one of his own.
“Are you displeased? They are the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard deceived me, the Emperor. What reason could I possibly have to forgive that?”
Then, looking at me with my lips tightly sealed, he added an explanation, as if trying to placate me belatedly.
“…I summoned Crown Prince Flavi to hear the circumstances. It seems the Grand Duke had been preparing his proposal since the last victory celebration banquet.”
I hadn’t even known Ernst was here until now, so I stared back at Rurik, feeling utterly absurd.
“Do you find his words more reliable than mine? If so, then hear the rest of the story from him as well.”
Rurik retorted without backing down.
“Of course I will. How many lies have you told me all this time? How could I possibly trust you?”
I was both dumbfounded and at a loss for words, leaving me no choice but to shut my mouth.
“Waaah, waaah!”
Frilly’s cries grew louder.
As I turned to leave immediately, Rurik added one more thing.
“…Is the child healthy?”
This time, I glared at him sharply.
“The baby is healthy. But thanks to Your Majesty’s great ‘mercy,’ she lost her father just ten days after being born.”
“…Roo.”
“Do you know the baby’s name is Frilis? And I’m sure you know who she’s named after? I really, really wanted to show the baby to my brother, you know.”
I bit my lip tightly at that point and went back into my room.
Before, driven by the desire to save Rurik, I had risked danger even while pregnant.
‘Unlike the very beginning, when I thought of him only as the male lead.’
Was it because I gained a sibling I never had in my previous life? I quickly grew attached to him.
Precisely because of that, Rurik’s extreme behavior was resentful.
I no longer felt any desire to show him the baby.
Ten days had passed since the Emperor declared the severance of diplomatic relations with Babenberg and issued the Grand Duke’s edict of exile.
The Emperor had already made three unofficial visits to the Kingdom of Flavi during that time.
Helena accompanied the Emperor each time, doing her best to mend the fractured relationship between the siblings.
“Miss Phoebe.”
Phoebe, who had stepped out of the room for a moment, stopped at Helena’s call.
Helena whispered softly.
“Could we show the baby to His Majesty for a little while? Do you think Her Imperial Highness the Princess would permit it?”
Phoebe thought for a moment before speaking.
“Her Highness is upset and angry because she feels wronged by His Majesty. I think she secretly wants to show the baby to him.”
“Then I’ll go get permission and bring the baby.”
However, Phoebe shook her head at Helena’s words.
“The baby is with the wet nurse now, and Her Highness is resting alone. I’ll tell Her Highness later. It’s better to just show the baby to His Majesty now.”
The veteran maid seemed willing to risk a scolding from her mistress if it meant the Emperor could see the baby and be appeased sooner.
Helena, guessing this, nodded.
The two brought Frilis before the Emperor.
He was no easy opponent either; Rurik stated bluntly without even looking towards the baby.
“…I don’t wish to see it.”
But when Helena brought Frilis before him and removed the indoor bonnet, Rurik let out a sigh as if emotions were surging within him.
His red gaze fixed firmly on the baby’s pink hair.
Helena murmured.
“Look closely, Your Majesty. Not only does she have the Imperial red eyes, but every feature resembles Her Highness Louise perfectly.”
“…I thought she didn’t want me to see the baby.”
As he said this, he hesitantly reached out his hand. Phoebe and Helena remained silent, not revealing they had brought the baby without Louise’s permission.
His large hand finally grasped the swaddled baby.
She was so very small.
To exaggerate a little, she was barely the size of his palm.
Rurik recalled how Louise had deceived him for the past year, using every illness as an excuse.
‘…How shocked I was when she collapsed at the convent.’
Just thinking about how worried he had been, seeing her lying in bed, constantly ailing after that, made his anger surge.
But looking back, there were parts of Louise’s actions he could somewhat understand.
First, he acknowledged that his mind had been somewhat clouded by the demonic sword at the time.
So, it was understandable that the timid Louise had been afraid of him and hesitant to reveal the truth.
On the other hand, rumors that the Grand Duke of Babenberg intended to propose to Louise had been circulating the Imperial Capital for years.
The late Emperor and Empress had found it quite curious that the formal proposal never actually arrived. If Louise had dissuaded him in the meantime, that part was also somewhat understandable.
‘Above all else, I have no desire to forgive the audacity of sharing intimacy with the Princess before marriage…’
But this was Louise’s baby, his own niece.
Leaving the edict of exile against the Grand Duke in place would only make his already-born niece a fatherless child.
Not to mention, severing ties with Babenberg would undoubtedly bring immense loss to the Empire.
While the Grand Duke was currently prostrating himself, hoping for the Emperor’s forgiveness, if he ultimately failed to reclaim Louise and the baby and withdrew from defending the Empire’s northeastern border, the situation would escalate tremendously.
As if sensing the Emperor’s wavering heart, Frilly in his arms blinked her red eyes and suddenly pulled up the corners of her mouth in a smile.
“Oh my, the baby is smiling.”
As Helena marveled from the side, Phoebe cut in, surprised.
“Really? She’s only been able to cry until now!”
Phoebe feigned obliviousness and made a fuss.
“Did our baby just say hello to her uncle?”
Rurik stiffened at the word ‘uncle’.
His large hand, encased in a thick glove, hesitated before reaching out and gently stroking the baby’s pink hair.
The baby grinned, parting her lips in a smile.
Hesitantly, Rurik brought his long finger near the baby’s hand.
The baby’s hand was incredibly tiny, almost miraculously so, with all five fingers present.
That tiny, tiny hand gripped Rurik’s little finger tightly.
Phoebe quickly exchanged a secret glance with Helena.
Rurik hadn’t said anything yet, but ultimately, for the baby’s sake, he would have to forgive the Grand Duke and his sister.
No, they both wished with all their hearts that he would.
Meanwhile, in Babenberg.
The Chief Steward lamented the fact that his master, who had returned to the Duchy after a full month, was filled with an unprecedented rage.
The backlog of work was mountainous.
But all the returned Grand Duke did was spend all day wrestling with the Knight Captains he had taken to Edessa, rolling around the training grounds.
And he did so with such relentless force that the Captains, who had always remained steadfast while taking turns guarding the borders, now had to go about daily, injured and wounded.
Furthermore, even these Captains refused to clearly explain what had happened in Edessa, so the Chief Steward remained on high alert, pacing near the Grand Duke’s office several times a day.
A week passed like this.
On the eighth morning, the Grand Duke emerged from his bedroom and finally headed not for the training grounds, but for his office.
The Chief Steward happily stood by his desk to assist his master.
However, the Grand Duke didn’t even glance at the piled-up work, instead asking something entirely unexpected.
“Exactly how much does the Empire pay annually for the Northeastern defense budget?”
