Chapter 48
A few hours later, when Liana returned to her palace, the first news she heard was that the queen had come to visit.
“The Queen came by, but since Your Highness wasn’t present…”
“I see.”
“Should I inform Her Majesty that you’ll visit now?”
“No.”
The maid’s face stiffened at Liana’s curt reply, but Liana didn’t care in the slightest.
Leaving behind the maid, who was clearly one of the queen’s spies, Liana headed toward the area where she could sense a noisy presence.
“…What are you all doing?”
Sure enough, when she opened the parlor door next to her bedroom, she saw her guards huddled together with serious faces, deep in discussion.
With all twenty-five members of the guard gathered in the parlor, the room looked like it might burst from the crowd, even with a bit of exaggeration.
“Commander!”
“Why did you take so long?!”
As the guards rushed toward her, Liana flinched slightly but quietly slipped past them and plopped down on the sofa.
“I’m tired… Why are all of you here anyway?”
She had already informed the guard about her marriage to Ianhart.
Of course, Ianhart had also agreed to her telling them.
She hadn’t shared all the detailed parts—like the exact terms of the contract or what they discussed—but she’d explained enough for them to know that the marriage was based on mutual interest.
—And she’d reminded them at least thirty times that it was a secret to take to the grave.
“…Commander.”
“What?”
“We’re going with you to the Empire, right? You’re not going to leave us behind, are you?”
At that question, Liana’s eyes widened.
Wait, these guys…
“Why would you even ask something so obvious?”
She was dumbfounded. She clearly told them it was a mutual agreement and that she would be moving to the Empire.
Bernian was already thinking about what positions to assign to the guards once she got there.
“…Do you guys want to stay in Roen?”
Liana’s expression darkened a little.
Now that the time to move to the Empire was near, maybe they were starting to have second thoughts.
If they wanted to stay in Roen… there was nothing Liana could do to stop them.
They were knights who had sworn an oath of loyalty to her, yes—but if they wished to leave, she had every intention of letting them go without protest.
She hadn’t received their loyalty to force them into anything.
“N-No, not at all!”
“I don’t like Roen! The Empire sounds way better!”
“…Are you traitors?”
“Read the room, will you.”
The guards, who had briefly gone quiet at her somber question, quickly and firmly denied it.
Some of their words were a bit… intense, but their message was clear enough.
“…Honestly. Then why even ask?”
Liana said gruffly, her face ever so slightly brightened—just enough that no one but her guards could notice.
“Well, you never said anything about what would happen to us…”
“…I already told His Majesty what I wanted, and that included your placements too, okay?”
“What if we’re a burden to you, Commander…”
It was little Nina, the youngest mage, who spoke with a quivering voice. Only then did Liana realize there’d been a misunderstanding between her and her guards.
“Wait… Have you all been thinking that this whole time?”
Seeing them avoid her gaze, Liana could only stare in disbelief.
She turned to the twin brothers with a mixture of irritation and amusement.
“…Ail, Kyle. You too?”
“I told them that wasn’t it, but no one listened to me.”
Ail grumbled, while Kyle quietly looked away.
“Haa…”
Liana straightened her slouched posture.
“Listen carefully. I’m not going to abandon you unless you want to leave me. And I’m not going anywhere without you either.”
“Commander…”
“I don’t know why you were thinking that way… but when I told His Majesty what I wanted, I specifically mentioned your placements as part of the deal.”
Her tone sounded almost exasperated, but the guards’ faces immediately lit up.
“See?! I told you! There’s no way the Commander would abandon us!”
“…Oh please, you were the one panicking, saying you couldn’t sleep at night! Who was it again that suggested we smuggle ourselves into the Empire in her luggage?”
“Heh, funny coming from you! I know you already contacted the information guild about smuggling routes!”
Now that their anxiety had lifted, the guards were back to their usual bickering. Liana sighed and quietly stood up from her seat.
“Anyway, stop worrying about nonsense. If there’s anything you need to wrap up here in Roen, get it done. We’ll be leaving sooner than expected.”
“How soon?”
“We’ll head to the Empire within the week.”
“Gasp! Then I need to sort out my estate ASAP!”
“Me too!”
“Oh~ So you did have some savings, huh?”
“You wanna fight?”
Liana gave the twins a glance that said, Calm them down and get to work, then left the parlor with her tired body.
Too exhausted to even change clothes, she flopped onto her bed in her dress and stared at the ceiling.
The ceiling was elaborately carved, yet not overly flashy.
“…Come to think of it, where’s Kkamang?”
Suddenly, she remembered how Kkamang hadn’t been around much lately.
‘His Majesty said he doesn’t know either…’
She’d been told not to worry, that the creature liked to wander on its own. Still, after seeing it daily, only glimpsing it in the mornings made her miss it.
“Ugh, I should change my clothes…”
Mumbling to herself, Liana slowly closed her heavy eyelids.
The next day.
News spread like wildfire that the Emperor of Erkal had proposed to Roen’s First Princess.
By morning, nearly two-thirds of the palace had heard the rumor—even though it hadn’t been announced officially.
If it had happened at a public banquet, the rumors would’ve been understandable. But not many people had even known Ianhart proposed to Liana.
And the rumor didn’t stop there—it claimed the Emperor had fallen in love at first sight and began courting her romantically.
The message was clear: someone had intentionally leaked the story.
“Your Majesty, how many spies did you plant in the palace?”
“Hmm… what’s your guess?”
“…Fifty?”
“Sounds about right. I don’t actually know. I’m too busy to keep track of every little thing.”
Of course, the “someone” was none other than Ianhart.
He’d told her to leave it to him, and now he was making the proposal sound like public fact.
Screeech…
A strange sound echoed, but neither of them was surprised.
“…Where’s that thing been running off to?”
Because the sound came from Kkamang, who was now fast asleep on Liana’s lap.
For the past few days, the creature had been vanishing all day, only to suddenly appear this morning in Ianhart’s arms—well, more like dangling from his side—when he visited Liana’s palace.
It then crawled straight onto her lap, curled up, and dozed off.
“He said it’s a secret.”
“A secret?”
“Said he’s looking for something… but won’t tell me what.”
Ianhart clicked his tongue as he leaned lazily against the chair.
“That guy’s as stubborn as they come. Doesn’t listen to a word I say…”
Even as he grumbled, Liana knew how much Ianhart actually cared for Kkamang—Leon.
After all, he’d even given the divine beast a full name, Leonhart, just because it pestered him.
“They say kids take after their parents.”
“Divine beasts don’t have parents.”
“Then maybe their masters?”
At Liana’s teasing voice, one of Ianhart’s eyebrows twitched.
“You’re pretty comfortable with me now, huh.”
“Of course. We’re supposed to be madly in love, aren’t we? If I act awkward around Your Majesty, who knows what kind of disaster my terrible acting might cause.”
As she stroked Kkamang and cracked jokes, Ianhart simply stared at her before chuckling and sighing.
“Right. I don’t want to earn the title of husband who mistreats his wife.”
“See? It’s in both our best interests to get along.”
They sat in a small gazebo near the entrance of her palace, sipping tea and chatting like this for another thirty minutes—partly to keep up appearances and fan the rumors.
“…Hmm. Looks like the stepmother who would bully my empress-to-be is on her way.”
Ianhart muttered, gaze fixed in one direction, his voice flat.
…No, maybe a little irritated?
“…I was hoping Your Majesty was wrong just this once, but I feel it too.”
The queen’s barely-suppressed rage approached, each step louder than the last.
“Do you think she knows I’m with you?”
“Who knows… but you’d know your stepmother better than I do. The only thing I know is that she made one of her palace guards her fifth lover.”
“…If that’s all you know, then you’re basically an expert.”
At Liana’s comment, Ianhart shrugged.
“I meant I only know what’s written in reports.”
Somehow, that made her annoyance melt away by half.
“Liana, there you are.”
And exactly one minute later, the Queen—more extravagantly dressed than usual—appeared in Liana’s palace.
