Chapter 17
“Rath. What exactly are you plotting?”
“What do you mean?”
“Normally, you would have ignored Elizabeth Arlesia.”
“……”
As soon as Elizabeth disappeared from sight, Karlcia Senil Morc finally opened the mouth he had kept tightly shut.
In response to the Emperor’s words, Rath Arahan, who had been quietly sipping the strongly brewed tea before him, found his thoughts drifting back to a distant past. A time when she was still young, and Karlcia had still been the Crown Prince.
“Your Majesty, isn’t that too harsh?” Rath said calmly. “After all, she was once considered a candidate for Crown Princess.”
“…It’s better not to speak of that, Rath.”
Karlcia, who had been maintaining a serious façade, quickly drained the tea in front of him. He could not understand why he despised Elizabeth so deeply. The feeling was vague, its origin lost to time.
All he knew was that she reminded him of the color red, the very color he loathed.
Her eyes were a silver-pink hue, not the vivid red he hated. And yet, whenever he looked at her, red filled his vision. She was surrounded by it. Worse still, he felt as though that same red was rising up within him, making him want to retch.
He hated it.
“If Miss Arlesia hadn’t aligned herself with the imperial faction,” Karlcia said coldly, “she never would have been considered a Crown Princess candidate in the first place.”
“That’s not something we can know for certain,” Rath replied. “It’s equally possible that she became a candidate because she was a hidden card of Your Majesty’s faction.”
“…What exactly are you trying to say, Rath?”
If she had not been the granddaughter of the Vincent family, a founding noble house firmly pro-Emperor, she would never have crossed his path at an official event like this. Before the imperial ball, she had barely appeared at court.
Even though the Vincents were her maternal family, Karlcia had never once seen her at their estate.
He had never thought deeply about her.
And yet, whenever rumors from the nobility reached him, Elizabeth Arlesia was always painted as a villain. A witch.
One day, more than half the reports on his desk were about her.
There was the incident at a tea party where she accidentally spilled hot tea on another noblewoman wearing the same dress, causing burns. Countless other incidents followed, small and large alike.
Every single time, the Vincent family shielded her.
“If she weren’t from a founding noble family,” Karlcia muttered, “I would have punished her long ago and exiled her to the borders.”
“Already thinking about the ball with Miss Arlesia is giving me a headache.”
“Well, it’s not as though I could enter with Osborne Luciela as my partner.”
“Tch. Of all women… why did it have to be her?”
Karlcia’s irritation was unmistakable. Rath turned to study him carefully, then spoke with measured caution.
“Yesterday, I went into the city and happened to meet Miss Arlesia.”
“I don’t need to hear it. What trouble did she cause this time?”
“She took a slap meant for a commoner child.”
“…What?”
“She didn’t strike the child. She took the blow in their place.”
“Ha. Rath, make sure to stop by the palace infirmary. You’ve been busy, but I didn’t realize your eyesight had deteriorated this badly.”
“My eyesight is perfectly fine.”
What truly bothered Rath was Elizabeth herself. No, more precisely, it was the Emperor’s attitude toward her.
He was irritated by how harshly she was treated. Irritated by how she had once clung to the Emperor with forced brightness.
If asked why he cared so much, the answer would be simple.
She had changed.
“She rushed to protect the child without hesitation.”
“The great Elizabeth? Protecting a commoner?” Karlcia scoffed.
Rath sighed.
She had stepped forward without thinking and accepted a noble’s slap without anger. Normally, such an incident would have ended in chaos.
Yet she had endured it.
At the ball, too, she had been different. Where she would once have avoided him, she had not this time. Instead, she had looked at him as though she had seen something terrifying and stepped back.
That alone had been enough to stir his curiosity.
On a whim, he had approached her.
On that same whim, they had danced.
And he had hurt her.
She, who had always lived covered in thorns, now seemed to have shed them.
And so, almost without realizing it, Rath spoke.
“Your Majesty… may I take Miss Arlesia into my heart?”
“…What?”
Karlcia stared at him.
“What are you saying? That you have feelings for Elizabeth Arlesia?”
“Yes. I intend to take her into my heart.”
“Ha…? Are you out of your mind? You don’t believe those rumors, do you? That she uses black magic?”
“If she possessed such power,” Rath replied evenly, “I believe she would have used it on Your Majesty first.”
“…You—”
Karlcia was genuinely stunned.
The man who had sworn to avoid scandal at all costs was Rath Arahan. And yet now, the target of his interest was none other than the empire’s infamous villainess.
“I forbid it.”
Even as he spoke, Karlcia knew it was meaningless.
“Her reputation is too poor.”
“That reputation was shaped by Your Majesty and the nobility faction.”
“…Rath. Are you serious? Truly?”
“Yes. From this point forward, I will take her into my heart. So please—stop ignoring her.”
She had changed. Rath was certain of it.
She had danced with him when she shouldn’t have. Her eyes had trembled with confusion. In the street, she had moved before anyone else to protect a child, as though she had foreseen what would happen next.
Whether what he felt was curiosity or something more, he did not know.
But he was concerned.
And to understand that concern, he needed to allow her into his heart.
That was all.
“…Ha. Still, for some reason, it irritates me,” Rath muttered. “Being His Majesty’s partner.”
Those brief words left Karlcia no time to respond.
Even as Emperor, he had chosen Osborne Luciela as his partner for the sake of the empire. Rath, who had always placed family honor above all else, should have done the same.
And yet—
“No matter how much of a lover of women you are,” Karlcia said sharply, “when did you ever start looking at Elizabeth Arlesia?”
“She is a woman too.”
“…If that’s all, there are plenty of women.”
“I’ve taken a liking to her. Is that not reason enough?”
“……”
Having said all he wished to say, Rath rose.
“I will take my leave. Don’t worry. I will handle the ball properly.”
As Rath departed, Karlcia could only stare after him.
Is he truly not mad?
The shock alone was enough—but that the woman he had chosen was Elizabeth Arlesia made it all the more unbelievable.
“…Ha. After the ball, perhaps I should send Rath as an ambassador to some distant country.”
With that thought, Karlcia Senil Morc turned toward his office, already searching for an excuse.
And throughout the palace, courtiers quietly made themselves scarce, unwilling to become the target of the Emperor’s foul mood.
