Chapter 53
“Your Grace, the Grand Duchess?”
“You’re not fully recovered yet—there’s no need to push yourself, Rodin.”
“…As always, as long as I can remain by Your Grace’s side, everything is fine.”
Rodin bowed his head, and his brown hair slipped forward, hiding his face. Because of it, Eliana couldn’t see his expression.
She let out a slow sigh.
“Don’t do that, Rodin.”
“……”
“One of the reasons I left my father was because I wanted you to live for yourself, not just for me.”
Rodin never raised his head. Instead, he silently opened the carriage door. Eliana brushed past him and stepped into the carriage marked with the insignia of House Cryber.
“You’ve been coming around often lately.”
Emperor Matteo lifted his chin and looked down at Gredy. Gredy had been visiting the palace almost daily due to a fierce legal battle with a viscount over the late marquis’s inheritance.
“I regret that this isn’t exactly a friendly meeting between brothers.”
Because the emperor had yet to approve the inheritance—citing suspicious circumstances around the marquis’s death—Gredy was at his wit’s end.
The imperial seal that had once been readily slammed onto a decree against him now refused to mark the inheritance approval.
“You came without your shield today.”
Matteo’s lips twisted as he glanced behind Gredy.
“It’s not a place where good things come from bumping into certain people, is it?”
“Are you planning to sever ties with your daughter for good this time?”
“They say even between parent and child, it’s best not to mix money matters.”
“You insolent brat!”
The emperor sneered at Gredy’s refusal to back down.
“Your Majesty, Viscount Hoffman has arrived.”
Just then, Viscount Bliss entered to report Hoffman’s arrival at the palace.
“Let him in.”
Turning his attention from Gredy, Matteo greeted the entering Viscount Hoffman with a wide smile.
“Welcome, Viscount.”
“Your Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.”
“Come, have a seat.”
The emperor’s demeanor was entirely different than it had been with Gredy. He even graciously gestured for Hoffman to sit, a faint smile still playing on his lips.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“So, I hear the dispute over the Duke and the late marquis’s estate is still unresolved?”
“Yes. The Duke is demanding even my personal assets, and I don’t know what to do.”
Hoffman trailed off and glanced at the emperor, as if seeking agreement.
“Personal assets, you say?”
“As you know, the late Marquis Neumann married my daughter when he was already quite old. With no one else he trusted, he treated me like his own right hand.”
The emperor nodded along with Hoffman’s words, clearly enjoying their rapport. Watching them, Gredy was practically seething.
“Right. I heard he wasn’t even healthy enough to hold a proper wedding.”
“Yes. As everyone knows, the marquis had a deep appreciation for the arts, and being around him sparked my own interest in painting.”
Hoffman smiled with pride, his oily face glowing with self-satisfaction.
“Shameless.”
Unable to hold it in anymore, Gredy muttered under his breath.
“Excuse me?”
“Even as a titled noble, you profited off artists. Isn’t that shameful?”
Hoffman clamped his mouth shut like a clam. Gredy let out a dry chuckle and stared him down.
“You filled your belly by leeching off young artists’ hard work—what’s there to boast about? If it were me, I wouldn’t even be able to show my face.”
At Gredy’s blunt words, the emperor’s expression hardened. Once he saw the documents Gredy produced, he could no longer defend Hoffman.
“These are the suicide notes left by painters and sculptors who suffered under the guise of Hoffman’s ‘patronage.’”
“What?”
The emperor snatched the papers from Gredy, startled.
“He worked them like slaves, threatening their families back home, not even letting them sleep. He was more a loan shark than a patron.”
Hoffman’s face turned deathly pale. He had thought everything was kept secret and covered up, yet Gredy had somehow uncovered it all.
“Tsk, tsk.”
The emperor clicked his tongue as he skimmed the documents, glaring at Hoffman. The recorded abuses were too vile to ignore.
“And that investment, disguised as patronage—it came from the wealth Eliana gained from her first marriage, did it not? That would make it my wife’s property.”
Hoffman tried to push back against Gredy’s smoothly delivered argument.
“No, Your Majesty, this is all baseless slander from the Duke of Cryber!”
He shook his head and clung to the emperor, his desperation palpable. A man of insatiable greed.
“Why is the Duke so fixated on Viscount Hoffman’s paintings, anyway?”
The emperor, who had been quietly observing, suddenly turned the focus back to Gredy.
He had heard through Duke Lloyd that Hoffman possessed a particularly special painting. And Lloyd’s recent refusal to leave his estate only deepened the mystery.
“Your Majesty must be mistaken. I’m not after just the artwork—I’m claiming what rightfully belongs to my wife.”
“Is that really all?”
Gredy lowered his head, avoiding the emperor’s gaze as if to prove he had no ulterior motives.
“Then what exactly are you holding onto so tightly, Viscount, that you refuse to hand it over?”
Matteo now turned his piercing gaze to Hoffman.
Hoffman lowered his eyes in a display of excessive politeness, which amused the emperor.
“They are artists I personally selected. Their works are priceless. Yet the Duke of Cryber seeks to take them all from me in an instant.”
Hoffman pleaded with an expression full of injustice.
“The Duke wants to take them?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. He has already raided my storage and burned the paintings that those artists poured their souls into.”
Hoffman’s reddening eyes shifted toward Gredy, whether out of actual distress or performative grievance.
“…Your Majesty.”
“Speak.”
“The Hoffman family is now related to the Duke of Cryber. And yet this viscount peddles obscene art?”
At Gredy’s biting accusation, Hoffman’s face turned ghostly. He wiped his palms on his trousers, likely drenched in sweat.
“……”
“The Cryber Dukedom is closely tied to the imperial family. If Viscount Hoffman merely sullied their name, it might end there—but we must consider worse outcomes.”
“……”
“Before the gossip-loving nobles catch wind of it, that is.”
Hoffman, who had been boldly defending himself, finally hung his head.
He hadn’t considered the full consequences. Chasing the power that wealth brought, he had failed to consider the damage it might cause.
Matteo stroked his chin slowly. Hoffman kept glancing nervously at his hand.
The silence didn’t last long.
“…The noble faction criticizing me is nothing new. I understand why they’re so eager—they’ve got a promising alternative.”
Even the sound of breathing vanished in the thick silence.
The emperor stared at Gredy.
He had no children yet. If he were to die, Gredy would be next in line. Like it or not, he was a legitimate son of the late emperor.
As the two men kept their silence, the emperor began to chuckle, looking back and forth between Gredy and Hoffman.
“Well, all that aside, now I’m really curious—what is it that you two are hiding from me?”
“…Pardon? What do you mean by that?”
Hoffman flinched and asked in alarm. His exaggerated reaction made the emperor chuckle and cross his legs.
“That’s how it is with this seat. Though it’s reserved for the noblest blood in the Empire, fools can still be replaced.”
“……”
“If you’re thinking of deceiving me, don’t bother. There’s only one reason I tolerate you, Viscount.”
Hoffman gulped involuntarily. The sound echoed loudly in the silence.
“It’s because I believe you hold the key to my victory.”
Hoffman’s eyes darted around, clearly unable to grasp what the emperor meant.
“I don’t know what that is, Your Majesty.”
“Then find it—before your head and body part ways. I don’t have endless patience, so keep that in mind.”
He didn’t care who spoke first. For the emperor, it was just another small pleasure in the dull monotony of palace life.
After all, both Gredy and Viscount Hoffman were connected to Eliana.
The emperor had no interest in their squabbles.
What Matteo truly desired… was Eliana.
He couldn’t sleep, haunted by the thought of her pale skin and red lips.
Every whispered secret from Duke Lloyd made his heart race like a boy’s.
All he wanted now… was to see her for himself.
