Episode : 65
“Somehow… don’t you think His Majesty looks much… younger than before?”
“That’s right. Even his skin looks firmer somehow… Am I imagining it?”
“If he stood next to Her Imperial Highness, you’d mistake them for siblings.”
As the nobles widened their eyes, Cesare smiled faintly and spoke.
“Even in my absence, you all enjoyed the hunt. That puts my mind at ease.”
At the unspoken implication—Did you enjoy yourselves while I was gone?—the nobles fell silent.
Though the emperor now appeared gentle, ruling in an age of peace, no more than twenty years ago he had personally led hunts for the Possessed, showing such merciless brutality that he was called a demon.
After the empress’s death, even that obsessive hunt for the Possessed had grown rare, and for nearly ten years he had scarcely appeared except at official events.
Yet to the nobles who remembered those days, the emperor was still a hunter who could draw his sword at any moment.
Ignorant young nobles saw him merely as a mysterious saint who seemed to grow younger with age.
Cesare slowly swept his gaze across the frozen nobles, then burst into hearty laughter.
“I do not intend to scold you, so relax. Isn’t today a fine day? It is the final day of the hunt festival. Should we not choose the greatest among the greatest hunters selected through three rounds?”
“Y-Yes, indeed. With Your Majesty gracing us with your presence, it could not be a better day.”
Baron Rocklein, the noble seated closest to the high table, placed a hand over his chest and bowed. A staunch imperial loyalist, he was particularly skilled at saying what the emperor liked to hear.
As Cesare’s expression softened, his already immaculate white ceremonial attire made him look almost angelic. The nobles gazed at him in rapture.
“His Majesty truly is something… When I see him like this, I completely forget what he was like back then.”
“Indeed. I was worried something might have happened to him, but it’s a relief to see him so healthy.”
“A blessing upon the empire, truly.”
At that moment, Sol Rique and the Marquis of Bayern returned beneath the pavilion.
“Rosetta.”
“Sol.”
With Cesare seated at the high table, Sol’s gray-blue eyes narrowed slightly. Glancing toward the emperor’s right hand, he clicked his tongue softly and asked Rosetta,
“Anything happen?”
“His Majesty says he’ll personally decide the final winner.”
“Nothing out of the ordinary, then.”
Despite his indifferent tone, Sol lifted Rosetta’s hand and looped it through his arm. As he guided her through the crowd toward the high table, he whispered,
“Think about what you’re going to ask for.”
He said it was nothing, yet his confidence made it obvious he fully expected her to win. Rosetta smiled faintly.
Looking down at the two of them, Cesare spoke slowly.
“It seems everyone already expects this, so I’ll speak plainly. The final winner of this hunting competition is… the one who slew the brown bear—Rosetta Valérie Iglesia. Valérie, come up to the platform.”
The moment the emperor finished speaking, thunderous cheers erupted.
“Woooo—!”
“Congratulations, Valérie!”
“Hurry up, Valérie!”
Not only the nobles under the pavilion but also the hunters themselves applauded and shouted.
Since the outcome had been all but decided, no one objected—not the Marquis of Bayern, not even Count Sigmund.
“…What is this?”
As she stepped onto the platform amid the applause, Rosetta suddenly had that thought.
This feels strange.
Perhaps this result had been planned from the very beginning.
That thought intensified the moment she reached the platform and looked up at the emperor.
Rosetta instinctively turned her head toward Sol. He was still standing there, watching her.
“Valerie.”
Rosetta’s golden eyes flew open.
Facing forward again, she met the gaze of the emperor looking down at her.
The face of Emperor Cesare she had seen in her visions overlapped perfectly with the man before her.
No way.
The words that would follow were—
[If you obediently cooperate, I will grant you.]
“How does it feel to become the final victor and a hero?”
“……”
No—so it wasn’t.
In an instant, the tension drained away. The choking sensation vanished.
Has this… changed too?
She should have felt relieved, yet an uneasy feeling lingered.
Seeing Rosetta standing stiffly, Cesare reached out his hand.
“Valérie?”
“…!”
Without thinking, Rosetta dodged his touch and stepped back. Just as Cesare’s brows began to knit together, she quickly bent one knee and spoke.
“It is entirely due to Your Majesty’s grace that I was able to stand here. All is thanks to your benevolence.”
“……”
“If you permit it, may I state my wish as the final victor?”
In truth, she had already decided what to ask for. Whether the emperor would accept it was another matter.
Of course, I’ve prepared for that possibility as well.
Cesare’s narrowed eyes curved into a rounder shape.
“Speak.”
His gaze seemed to say, Let’s hear what you have to say.
Feeling everyone’s attention focused on her, Rosetta opened her mouth.
“I humbly request that the honor of Willow be restored.”
* * *
“…That’s impossible!”
Before Valérie even finished speaking, an uproar broke out.
“‘Willow,’ you say? Surely not that Willow?”
“Wasn’t that family wiped out at least twenty years ago?”
“To hear the name of a family consigned to oblivion again…”
The Willow Ducal House—destroyed when Emperor Cesare intensified the hunt for the Possessed.
When the young duke was revealed to be Possessed, Duke Willow, the duchess, and all those who sheltered him were annihilated.
The empire’s sole ducal house vanished overnight, a shock that reverberated through noble society.
“Why Willow of all families… What does Valérie have to do with them…?”
“…Come to think of it, wasn’t Count Fabigne’s first wife the eldest daughter of Willow?”
“Gasp. Really? The Count and Lady Petunia were so affectionate that I forgot she was his second wife.”
“Then… Valérie is from that Willow…?”
The nobles buzzed louder than ever.
All but two.
“……”
“……”
Only Sol Rique and Emperor Cesare stared silently at Rosetta.
“Valérie.”
After a pause, the emperor finally spoke.
“Is that truly what you desire? They were my ‘final hunt’—an example to all. By asking to restore Willow’s honor, are you not asking me to directly tarnish my own?”
“I beg Your Majesty’s pardon, but I did not harbor such profound intentions. If that request is too difficult, then I would humbly ask for the honor of a banquet with the imperial family.”
A banquet with the imperial family was an honor reserved for state guests. The murmuring nobles fell silent, awaiting the emperor’s answer.
Restore the honor of a ducal house personally destroyed by the emperor—
Or treat the Defender Duke’s family as state guests.
“…Ha!”
The answer was all but decided.
“Hahaha! Ha! Hahahaha!”
As the emperor laughed uproariously, covering his eyes with his right hand, Bellatrice beside him widened her eyes.
It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh so loudly.
Only after a long while did he lower his hand. That same hand then seized Rosetta’s chin.
“…!”
His striking face drew close to her ear.
“They say a meek cat is the first to climb onto the stove—truly, you are exactly that sort.”
Chuckling softly, the emperor released her face and straightened up. Only then did Rosetta realize she had been holding her breath.
“Our hero has made her wish. I should grant it. Don’t you all agree?”
This time, the emperor’s gaze swept over the nobles. Holding their breath, they exchanged cautious glances with one another.
End Of Chapter : 65
