Chapter 64
“Holy Maiden, I also have some work to—.”
“Sir Kadiyan, please stay here.”
“…Yes.”
After that, servants who said they had received Siana’s orders came and cleared the table, so I trudged upstairs to my room.
No way… did I just pull something like ‘the kind of thing a tactless boss should never do at a company dinner’?!
Did they take what I said as, ‘Well, if you all had any sense, you’d at least celebrate your superior’s (my) last birthday.’?!
“So everyone was uncomfortable because of that…!”
“Pyu….”
I dropped to my knees on the floor in despair.
Pyu climbed onto my bowed head and bounced around.
I couldn’t tell if it was teasing me or comforting me, but I was still glad at least Pyu was here.
“What am I even doing like this.”
I pushed myself up.
It wasn’t common for me to be alone in my room during the day.
So what was the point of just sitting around like this?
I might as well do some holy power training.
I unlocked the drawer of my desk and took out a stone and a small carving knife.
While diligently carving the stone, someone knocked on the door.
It was Siana.
“Holy Maiden.”
“Oh, Siana….”
Siana’s cheeks were flushed red as she let out a quick breath.
I’d forgotten because she usually showed only a neat, unadorned, and calm appearance.
“Lady Pradan was remarkable. There wasn’t anyone in high society who didn’t know her.”
If what Hupherson said was true, Siana had been the queen of high society.
Siana, splendidly dressed, moving about the banquet halls.
I couldn’t quite picture it before, but now I could fully feel it.
Siana must have been something else.
From Siana, whose usual composure was slightly undone, there wafted the alluring aura of a mature woman….
While I was internally fluttering on my own, Siana placed the hair ornament she had brought into my hair.
It was a hairpin made of evenly matched orange pearls and white pearls that looked precious at a glance.
“Is this the first time I’m giving you one?”
“Huh? Giving what?”
When I looked confused, Siana murmured, “So it is the first,” and smiled brightly.
If I were a man my age right now, I would have fallen for Siana.
“A birthday present.”
Saaaaa.
At Siana’s next words, my face turned pale.
“N-No, Siana….”
“Happy birthday, Holy Maiden.”
I hurriedly tried to grab Siana, saying I couldn’t accept it, but—
As if she had anticipated my reaction, Siana immediately left her seat.
That was the beginning.
Knock. Knock.
“Holy Maiden, this is my heartfelt gift….”
“This is something we grew on our farm…!”
“I thought this would suit the Holy Maiden, so I really wanted to give it to you….”
The palace people who had left one by one earlier, saying they had urgent matters.
They each knocked on my door, left a gift, and disappeared in a flash.
In an instant, the gifts that had been forcibly slipped into my sleeves filled the table in my room.
“…I’ve caused a disaster.”
The problem was that I had carelessly mentioned my last birthday without thinking.
It had been a month already, and by year, it was literally last year.
Then shouldn’t it have gone along the lines of, ‘We didn’t know last year, so we’ll celebrate starting this year’?
I can’t believe it actually sounded like I was trying to extract last year’s birthday presents…!
“Did you give yours too?”
“Let’s not get caught. She’ll try to return them.”
“Of course.”
With conversations like that coming from outside the room, I couldn’t even go out to return them.
Even Kadiyan, who had been standing in the corridor with an anxious expression each time someone came—
Just before his shift change, he removed the sword from his waist.
Then he knelt on one knee, placed the sword reverently on his open palms, and held it out to me.
“Holy Maiden, would you please accept this first? It is like a child to me.”
…Why are you giving me a sword that’s like your child, Kadiyan!?
“I won’t accept it….”
“…Yes.”
Sob.
What even is a Holy Maiden? What is this ripple effect just because I said one sentence?
Anyway, since I ended up unintentionally receiving all this….
I decided to open my fangirl bank account.
And I learned a lesson from this incident.
From now on, when speaking to anyone other than His Majesty, think three times before speaking.
His Majesty is fine.
He listens to my nonsense in one ear and lets it pass brilliantly.
Most of what I say just goes in one ear and out the other. Heh. Why do I feel a bit sad about that?
Anyway.
‘Sniff. The day feels so long…. I miss His Majesty.’
I thought the birthday present commotion had ended yesterday.
“…….”
The next day.
After eating breakfast, I was about to go down to the first floor to head to the chapel for work.
But sensing an ominous aura wafting from the lobby, I hurried back up to the second floor.
Then I grabbed the railing and looked down into the lobby.
The wide-open main doors, people busily carrying things.
“…Bren?”
Among them was a familiar face directing the people—
It was Bren, a subordinate of Prime Minister Ebon.
“I am in charge of managing the issuance and receipt of imperial goods.”
When my residence had been set at Prodinta Palace, he had come to survey the necessary items.
Since then, I hadn’t had any reason to meet him, so that day had been the only time I’d seen Bren.
“Why is Bren here…?”
Following Bren’s directions, people stacked the transported items on one side of the lobby.
What are all those? Is someone moving in today?
While I couldn’t grasp what was going on, Siana—who had stayed by my side to see me off to work—spoke up.
“Everyone is quick to act. The news must have started circulating outside the imperial palace since last evening.”
“…Huh?”
When I looked at her, clearly needing more explanation, Siana explained the whole sequence of events behind this situation.
In short, my birthday remark yesterday had spread beyond the imperial palace.
And the gifts from quick-moving nobles had begun pouring in from dawn, when the palace gates opened.
So this was an extension of yesterday’s commotion that I thought was over…?
And all of that is my birthday presents…?
“Isn’t that too much…?”
“It’s only the beginning. The checkpoints will be busy today. His Majesty the Emperor has ordered that all items coming to the Holy Maiden be checked for safety.”
Siana said with a smile, apparently pleased with the situation.
“More are coming…?”
With trembling eyes, I examined the items piled up in the lobby more closely.
Goodness…. They’re all glittering…. Even without a discerning eye, they just look expensive….
Seriously….
‘This is dizzying.’
My hands trembled and cold sweat ran down my back.
What do I do?
‘Why…. Not even this year…. Why are they going this far for last year’s birthday…!’
“It was the Holy Maiden’s birthday!”
“Your Majesty, we must hold a grand banquet.”
“If we simply let it pass, how will other nations view Zendal?”
The imperial palace of Zendal, conference room.
Yesterday evening, after the shocking news that struck the empire, Zendal’s ministers had hastily gathered in the morning for an emergency meeting.
“No. It must pass quietly.”
“If we cause a stir by holding a banquet now, wouldn’t that be tantamount to admitting that Zendal did not know of the Holy Maiden’s birthday?”
“Indeed. Your Majesty, it would be better to say that a private celebration banquet was held….”
One side insisted a banquet must be held; the other said it should simply be overlooked.
The ministers split into factions and argued over their divided opinions.
Alrend, as usual, watched the meeting room descend into chaos, then fixed his gaze on one person.
Marquis Randet.
A man who would normally have already stepped forward to stir up the mud was now standing one step back, observing the situation.
It must mean that this topic no longer interested him.
“…….”
As if sensing the Emperor’s gaze, Marquis Randet subtly turned his head away.
Ebon, watching the marquis, clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘He doesn’t even realize his treasonous plot has been discovered. At least he seems aware that he’s done something that weighs on his conscience.’
Marquis Randet feared the Emperor, whose holy power was strong.
Even so, the fact that he had moved to join hands with Grand Duke Derachi likely stemmed from his own greed.
Because Marquis Randet was a man who moved for his family and his own interests.
Whatever desire led him to dream such a grand, futile dream.
‘A foolish choice.’
Greed beyond one’s capability only ends up devouring oneself.
Several royal families on the Odetria continent had already secretly pledged to lend their support to the Emperor.
Marquis Randet might think he was setting a trap, but in reality, it would not be wrong to say he himself was caught within the Emperor’s vast enclosure.
‘He had a grandson at the Nisephorel Temple. Noel Randet. What a pity. He already lost his parents in an accident. Now he’ll lose his grandfather as well.’
If that child grieved, the Holy Maiden would surely feel sorrow as well.
Ebon reached that thought and then came to his senses, feeling puzzled.
Why did I think of the Holy Maiden?
After pondering, he quickly found the reason.
The dessert the Holy Maiden had given him during last week’s lesson had suited his taste very well.
So much so that he still couldn’t forget the flavor.
That must be why he thought of the Holy Maiden.
Ebon dismissed it lightly and focused on the meeting again.
If Chobi had known, he would have burst out laughing and mocked Ebon over that conclusion.
Meanwhile, Alrend withdrew his gaze from the marquis and surveyed the other ministers.
Reports had come in that some among them had met with Marquis Randet.
Unaware that the Emperor’s gaze might be touching their necks, they were busy raising their voices and pushing their own opinions.
As he watched them, Alrend calmly organized plans in his mind.
Those who might pose a threat. Those who should be dealt with first.
Then casual chatter drifting from where the pro-Emperor nobles were seated reached his ears.
“Marquis Pradan. I hear your daughter was the first to present a birthday gift to the Holy Maiden?”
“Ha! It’s practically the same as our Pradan family giving it. Hoho.”
“Wasn’t it a family heirloom? To offer that up, you are most generous.”
“It is only proper to give at least that much. It is a gift in celebration of the Holy Maiden’s birthday.”
Marquis Pradan, Siana’s father, laughed in good spirits as he conversed with the noble beside him.
When his daughter had hurried back to the capital’s estate yesterday and asked for the family heirloom, he had been greatly alarmed.
But at the words that they must celebrate the Holy Maiden’s birthday, which everyone else had overlooked, he had grown even more urgent and placed the heirloom into his daughter’s hands.
‘The Holy Maiden will remember our Pradan family as well.’
Perhaps they had even given it before His Majesty the Emperor.
Unable to hide his inward pride, Marquis Pradan laughed heartily—then suddenly flinched.
For a moment, the back of his neck felt cold.
‘Killing intent?’
When he turned his head toward the direction from which the energy seemed to emanate, the Emperor was there.
