Chapter 85
Sharon Abner somehow had a very, very serious look on her face.
“Every day in the castle, I have to deal with people calling me Duke, Duke…”
“……”
“The sly old lady I see maybe once a month gets called Grandma with just one word…”
Sharon Abner added in a barely audible voice,
“At this rate, soon you’ll say you want to live in the Empress Dowager’s palace.”
I barely came to my senses.
Then I hurriedly stood up.
“Ah, no!”
As I shouted, Sharon Abner looked at me with tired eyes that had no spark at all.
I waved my hands back and forth.
“It’s not that I was being discriminatory…!”
“Not?”
“Uh… so…”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish, and Sharon Abner turned her head as if she expected that.
“B-because the Duke doesn’t look like a grandma!”
At that moment, Sharon Abner’s gaze returned to me.
I hurriedly continued.
“Y-your back is straight, and there aren’t many wrinkles! You don’t look like a grandma, so I didn’t call you that!”
An awkward silence fell in the room.
“Ria has been overly polite to me for a while.”
“You know that.”
“Even though we are close, she insisted on calling me Duke, Duke very formally.”
“……You only know that?”
“Do you know why?”
The Empress Dowager looked confused.
“Do I need to know?”
“No. You shouldn’t. It’s a secret.”
Sharon Abner raised her head slightly and gave a meaningful smile.
The Empress Dowager looked at her as if baffled.
I quietly turned my head away from the scene.
Automatically, last night came to mind.
‘From now on, you can call me freely.’
‘R-Really?’
‘Yes. Ahem! I may not look like a grandma, but officially, I am your grandmother.’
‘O-Okay, I will!’
‘Ah… so that was the reason… phew…’
Sharon Abner had a servant bring her another glass of beer and drank it all right there.
I carefully made sure to remind her, just in case.
‘B-but this is a secret from the Empress Dowager.’
‘A secret?’
‘Yes! Why I didn’t call the Duke “Grandma”…’
If I said it, it would mean I called her Grandma because she looked like one. There was no other way.
Fortunately, Sharon Abner nodded obediently.
So I trusted her, but…
“But why did Ria call His Majesty ‘Grandma’ sometimes?”
“……I don’t know.”
“I know the reason.”
“What is it?”
“I really want to tell you, but this is also confidential. Sorry.”
The Empress Dowager looked at her again as if wondering why she behaved like that.
I tried hard to focus on the treats in front of me.
‘I… I don’t know. I’ll pretend I didn’t see.’
While I carefully avoided looking, the large doors of the banquet hall opened.
“Did everyone sleep well last night?”
The Emperor, Edward Lacteas, entered the banquet hall.
Tian was with him.
“I have a bit of a hangover. The wine from Mount Aias is really good. Three bottles were gone before I knew it.”
As he sat down and spoke, the face of the Marquis of Aias brightened.
Meanwhile, several nobles who were not close to him turned pale.
I watched the changing expressions in the hall and turned my eyes to Tian.
He was sitting neatly right next to the Emperor.
The Emperor picked up a knife casually.
“And yesterday afternoon’s banquet…”
At his words, the nobles all shared glances.
The afternoon banquet referred to the one where the commotion with Bella and the corsage had occurred.
“I heard there was some incident.”
For a moment, I wondered if I was imagining it as the Emperor’s gaze fell on me.
The nobles’ eyes widened.
“What incident do you mean…?”
“There was a fight among the young ladies.”
Immediately, silence fell over the hall.
When I looked, I saw Bella’s father, Marquis Howell, go pale.
I instinctively looked at Tian in surprise.
‘What… How does the Emperor know?’
About what had happened between me and Bella at yesterday’s banquet.
The Emperor murmured as he cut the veal.
“I’ve been thinking about many things lately.”
The nobles swallowed nervously.
“Nothing is really fun. Especially now that the support for the Eastern Continent is finished, every day feels boring.”
The nobles around him tried to speak up nervously.
“Your Majesty, autumn is near. I can take you to a place with beautiful autumn leaves.”
“Or perhaps we could invite a band from the Eastern Continent? I heard some are very talented…”
Tap.
The Emperor placed the knife on the plate.
“We’ve done all that.”
The nobles’ faces turned pale.
“Th-Then…”
“This banquet is no different. Among all the gifts, only one was completely new to me.”
The Emperor’s gaze swept over the nobles and returned to me.
As our eyes met longer, the nobles looked at me one by one.
The Emperor spoke.
“Lady Abner.”
I straightened my back and answered quickly.
“Yes!”
“The medicine you gave… its effect was excellent.”
Some nobles murmured, surprised, “Was His Majesty unwell?”
“Just after applying it for one night, his condition noticeably improved.”
But I understood what the Emperor meant.
‘He tested my scar treatment.’
He applied my medicine on the scar left by the poisonous insect.
I smiled as if I didn’t know.
“Wow, I’m glad it worked! But please stay healthy so you won’t need it again, Your Majesty!”
The Emperor laughed heartily.
Then, satisfied, he picked up his knife and looked around at the nobles.
“Did you hear that?”
The nobles stared at him, confused.
The Emperor raised his head slightly.
“It’s new. The gift, and Lady Abner’s kind heart.”
Then he gave his gaze to Marquis Howell.
“So, don’t make any commotion. This is a rare banquet I liked.”
Marquis Howell trembled and lowered his head.
The nobles bowed respectfully and fell silent.
I realized Bella was not at the banquet table.
The other young ladies weren’t either.
I was the only invited child here.
Feeling my heart pounding, I carefully picked up my fork.
‘What…’
The Emperor’s words basically meant, “I like Lady Abner, so don’t touch her.”
‘Wow… it really is best to say things clearly.’
I roughly understood how things were going.
‘Bella Howell… she’s twelve, wearing a yellow dress.’
I remembered how I had smoothly told Tian about Bella yesterday.
‘Clever Tian…’
But I didn’t expect he would have told the Emperor so quickly.
Very impressively, too.
I put a piece of the already cut meat in my mouth and blinked.
‘The Emperor may not be fully on my side yet, but at least he’s an ally.’
Honestly, I had slightly resented the Emperor before.
Because in my previous life, I had let Tian die.
‘If it’s your son, you should protect him. Instead, he got completely taken by Empress Karin and was dethroned immediately.’
Of course, there were probably things I didn’t know, but somehow, I didn’t like him much.
Still, I decided it was better to stay close.
‘After all, he is Tian’s father. Also the Empress Dowager’s son.’
That’s why I gave the scar treatment as a gift.
I planned to learn more about the Emperor in this life.
Above all, because of the Eastern Continent weapons support, the Emperor and Empress Karin didn’t seem so close this time.
‘I hope I can help him get his wits before Empress Karin fully controls him.’
I nodded and put another piece of meat in my mouth.
The banquet was really delicious.
The Emperor’s week-long birthday banquet ended.
Still, streets in the capital were covered with colorful paper flowers.
On the day we returned to the Abner territory, I was walking with Sharon Abner through the busy festival streets.
“That is the Pharmaceutical Institute.”
Sharon Abner pointed at a building.
I stretched my head out of the carriage.
“Wow, it’s huge!”
“It’s the largest research institute for pharmacy on the continent. Naturally.”
“Yes! The building is big, but the head of the institute is not big at all.”
Sharon Abner looked at me as if confused, so I quickly explained.
“I met the head of the institute. He is very petty but also a cute person.”
