Chapter 62
Alrend had recently been seeing in Ari the figure of a genius knight who had only just begun to hold a sword.
She possessed astonishing talent, growing by leaps and bounds with each passing day.
Of course, that wasn’t meant in a good way.
It meant that with each passing day, her knack for flustering him was increasing.
“So, you see, when Your Majesty is in a bad mood, this part of your eyebrow lifts, right here?”
“……”
“Your gaze changes slightly too, and the atmosphere that comes from that difference is incredible, that’s what I’m saying.”
“……”
“Is that kind of charm even something a human can have? You’re tossing hearts around with just one eyebrow!”
For the past two days,
Alrend felt as though knowledge from a realm he neither understood nor could comprehend was being crammed into his head.
He couldn’t just let it go in one ear and out the other.
The topic wasn’t something else—it was himself.
He couldn’t help but be conscious of it.
His eyebrows this, his fingertips that, his tone of voice this.
He wanted several times to cover Ari’s mouth as she even pointed out the angle of his hand when he pressed his fingers to his temple, but……
“Your Majesty, it’s another fine dawn today!”
Alrend looked at Ari entering the study with his guard knight, Dun.
“You’ve arrived, Saintess.”
Unlike usual, he stood in front of the desk to greet Ari.
He wore a light smile and appeared relaxed, but in truth, it was different.
‘If I sit at the desk, I’ll be subjected to that lesson as it is.’ Because of that concern, he couldn’t even sit and remained standing.
“Here, this spot will be good.”
What is that now?
Following Ari’s instructions, Dun placed a full-length mirror in the center of the study and stepped out into the corridor.
When the door closed, Alrend’s right eyebrow twitched.
“……”
Damn.
Now that he had become aware of something he hadn’t known before, it bothered him.
Pressing his eyebrow down firmly with his left hand, Alrend asked Ari,
“……Are we doing it again today?”
“Of course! We’re still far from ready to market— I mean, I still need at least a week to show you all the materials I’ve prepared! And we only have the mornings.”
A whole week.
More of this dreadful business.
‘I wish we wouldn’t.’ The words rose to the tip of Alrend’s tongue, but—
“……How enthusiastic.”
“Of course!”
He couldn’t possibly say such a thing to Ari when she looked so excited.
It was because what had happened a few days ago still lingered in his mind.
“I can’t accept your feelings, Saintess.”
Rejecting her feelings had been something he had to do.
“You should meet someone better.”
That, too, had been sincere.
Yet afterward, whenever Alrend saw her bright expression, his chest would sometimes ache as if pricked by a needle.
He thought it was guilt from having rejected the Saintess’s feelings.
He believed that emotion, which had taken root like a chronic illness, had now spread into actual chest pain.
At the same time, anxiety crept up on him.
Guilt had always been an emotion that accompanied his misfortune.
[Because of Your Majesty.]
If even the Saintess’s voice were added to his nightmares, would he be able to maintain his sanity?
The fear that what he thought was rock bottom might shatter, revealing an even deeper abyss.
For that reason, Alrend’s attitude toward Ari could not help but become more cautious than before.
But.
“……”
Ari stood beside the full-length mirror she had brought, smiling brightly with a confident expression.
“I thought about it some more.”
“What have you thought about this time?”
“Since Your Majesty can’t see yourself in person, maybe that’s why you can’t fully realize your own charm!”
“So you brought a mirror?”
“Oho. As expected of Your Majesty. You understand without me even explaining!”
Once, a famous poet and composer had offered up a song inspired by the beautiful Emperor’s appearance.
It was a song praising the Emperor, filled with embarrassingly sweet words and excessive flowery language that would make anyone cringe.
Yet Alrend had smiled calmly and listened to the song together with the gathered distinguished guests.
Afterward, neither the song nor the composer was ever allowed to enter the Imperial Palace again.
Alrend had always been indifferent to praise, no matter who gave it, and that had truly been the case.
But the Saintess was different……
If the talk about treasures and such from not long ago had given him goosebumps,
this time it felt as though she were stripping him bare layer by layer.
Some of it was even humiliating.
And she intended to say it all while seating him in front of a mirror.
“I see.”
Alrend smiled faintly.
Ari, not knowing why, was captivated by that smile she hadn’t seen in a while and smiled back.
Then, at Alrend’s sudden action, her body stiffened in an instant.
“Huh?! …W-wha…!?”
The Emperor had pulled her into his arms.
‘W-what is happening…!’
Her forehead touched his chest, and his hands came to rest on the back of her head and her shoulder.
Caught off guard, Ari’s mind froze as well, and she could only stammer incoherently.
Holding her in his arms, Alrend walked forward.
Only after reaching the door of the study did he release her.
Then he opened the door and subtly handed Ari over to Dun, who was waiting in the corridor.
“It seems the Saintess isn’t feeling well. I think it would be best for her to return for today.”
With the Emperor’s concerned expression and the Saintess’s face flushed bright red,
and seeing how she couldn’t even properly form words, going “Uh, uh……,” she truly seemed unwell.
Perhaps the potion she drank earlier hadn’t agreed with her stomach?
Seeing how red her face was, maybe she had caught a cold.
Dun, flustered inwardly, accepted the Saintess onto his back as the Emperor handed her over.
“I’ll send a healing priest to the Prodinta Palace. It seems she can’t hear anything right now……. Inform the Saintess that she should rest in the palace for a few days.”
“Understood.”
Dun nodded.
Ari, draped over his back, was still dazed and out of her senses.
After Dun left, Alrend closed the study door without regret and let out a small sigh.
‘Fortunately, it seems the hug still works.’
Ever since she began saying things that sounded like those of a libertine, the Saintess’s attitude toward him had subtly changed as well.
Before, even light contact where their bodies brushed would make her breathing grow ragged,
but now she only widened her eyes like a startled squirrel.
Then again, who could truly know what was in the Saintess’s heart?
It seemed that these days, the one being swayed was not the Saintess but himself.
‘Perhaps that’s better.’
It was better if the Saintess’s attention was directed that way.
“As you said, Marquis Rendet has begun making moves to win over other nobles. It seems war cannot be avoided.”
Soon, the calm surface would be violently shaken by what rose from below.
If possible, Alrend hoped Ari would remain unaware of anything until this situation was over.
While living in this world, he wanted her to see more of the bright side than the dark, and to live that way.
His resolve to protect the Saintess was no different from saying he would protect her peaceful life.
Therefore, if war were to break out, Alrend intended to send her to the Temple of Nisephorel.
It would be a war whose victory was foretold, and he had no intention of letting it drag on long.
But the process would by no means be beautiful.
The Imperial Palace would not be safe either.
After finishing everything, he wanted to bring her back to the Imperial Palace just as it had always been.
A war had occurred. But it ended well.
The future Alrend envisioned was one where he could speak of those past days in a light tone, as though simply giving news of his well-being.
“Your Majesty is a good person!”
It felt as though he could hear the Saintess’s voice in his ears, the way she had said it with strength in her neck.
Knowing that he was arranging things so arbitrarily like this, could he still be called a good person?
“Your Majesty is a good person!”
“……”
At the Saintess’s voice circling his ears again, Alrend let out a short laugh and then touched the corner of his lips.
After that, he returned to his desk and took a document from the drawer.
It was a regular report from the Temple of Nisephorel.
Tearing off the blank last page and letting divine power flow into it, a small spark leapt up.
As the spark burned the paper, letters were written out,
[Marquis Rendet and Princess Sharle have made contact]
In an instant, it turned into flame, consuming the paper and releasing a small wisp of smoke into the air.
The Emperor’s cold gaze stared at the empty space where the paper had disappeared.
“Sharle.”
Delkan blocked Sharle as she was about to leave the room.
“Let’s talk.”
Sharle stopped turning the doorknob and turned her head to look at Delkan.
It had only been a few days since Delkan had begun coming outside like this.
He acted nonchalant in front of her, but when alone, he must still cry, judging by how swollen his eyelids were.
But whether he looked like a pitiful dog could be dealt with later.
Right now, he was simply an annoying hindrance.
Frowning, Sharle brazenly asked back,
“About what?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Are you really planning to take part in that?”
It had been ten days since Marquis Rendet came to visit.
An absurd proposal.
Delkan had naturally thought Sharle would refuse.
But—
“I need time to think.”
“Would about ten days be acceptable?”
Sharle had not refused.
And just a moment ago,
a carrier pigeon sent by the Marquis had arrived at Sharle’s room, and Sharle had tied a reply to the bird’s leg and sent it back to the Marquis.
[Arrange a meeting with the Grand Duke. I’ll give my answer there.]
Watching the whole process beside her, Delkan could not understand.
Certainly, the condition the Marquis offered must have been enough to stimulate Sharle’s interest.
But while Sharle was faithful to her desires, she was also someone who valued what she had built up until now.
No matter how much she coveted the Saintess,
if it were Sharle, rather than accepting such a proposal from an outsider she could not even trust, she would have sought another method.
It was dangerous.
“Why do you keep staying in contact with them? You should have refused right there.”
The moment the word treason was mentioned, she should have drawn a line and sent the Marquis away.
And she should have told the Emperor of Jendal.
That way, Bonia, Jendal, and the Saintess—
Without even recognizing what he himself was worried about, Delkan poured out his anxious thoughts.
“If what they’re doing goes wrong, if it becomes known later that you were in contact like this. Bonia will—.”
“Bonia, Bonia. Always Bonia.”
Letting go of the doorknob with a sharp motion, Sharle walked irritably to the sofa.
Then she leaned against the wide armrest.
“Do you like Bonia that much? If I were you, I’d be wishing for the fall of this kingdom.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you’re foolishly, hopelessly kind.”
In Sharle’s pupils was reflected Delkan standing by the door, looking at her.
Once like a large dog with a sturdy build, he had lost much weight and now looked like a sleek hunting hound.
Yet despite his sharpened appearance, inside he remained as gentle and free of greed as ever.
After spending weeks in torment, Delkan had come out of his room to find Sharle.
And what he had said was,
“Forget what I said before.”
Even after saying he wanted to have the Saintess.
It seemed he had decided to swallow it down alone.
It had always been that way. Delkan’s life.
Having never possessed anything, he only knew how to give up.
“Delkan.”
Sharle spoke toward him.
“Don’t you want to know the Saintess’s secret that even Jendal doesn’t know?”
