Chapter 36
The crops growing in the garden were lush and vibrant. Kazhar suddenly found himself wondering—was Princess Stella happy here, having abandoned the guaranteed life of the Duchess of Spes?
Only she would know the answer to that.
Activating a two-person concealment artifact, Kazhar placed his hand on Rhine’s shoulder. Since people from the ducal household were moving about nearby, they had to remain hidden. As Rhine turned invisible along with Kazhar, he asked,
“When are you going back to the Imperial City? The ones we sent to the Kingdom of Bellua will take a while to return.”
“I need to investigate Aden a bit more. I still feel uneasy about what the western magic tower has been up to. We should at least do some groundwork before asking Kairon for help.”
As they chatted, the two made their way to their temporary quarters. Kazhar kept his hand on Rhine’s shoulder the entire time—if he let go, Rhine would lose his concealment.
Upon arriving and deactivating the artifact, they found a man dressed in black from head to toe, including a face covering, already waiting. When he saw Rhine, he held out a long rectangular box.
Inside was a single sword.
“Oh! Brilliant Mortal Night and Silent Black Sun.”
Rhine picked up the sword, visibly enchanted.
“Perfect.”
The soft black glow along the blade, the weight, the balance—there wasn’t a single flaw. And it had even been refined using alchemy.
As Rhine cautiously infused it with aura, it filled all the way to the tip in one go. His eyes widened—he’d only ever used daggers due to his usually weak aura.
“L-look at this!”
Even Kazhar, who knew how small Rhine’s aura pool was, showed interest.
“Is the conductivity that good?”
“Not just conductivity—efficiency too! This boosts me tenfold. No, I’m not selling it. I’m keeping it.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Rhine carefully stored away the Brilliant Mortal Night and Silent Black Sun as if it were treasure, humming to himself.
“It would’ve been nice to get more swords, but the Duke of Spes apparently bought out the whole batch. The rich really do have it all.”
He turned to his subordinate, who hadn’t yet left.
“Is there anything else to report?”
The masked figure spoke.
“Lady Elluana Vita Spes and Lord Louis Vita Spes are departing this way tomorrow. They plan to hold Lord Ron Vita’s funeral.”
“You! I told you to comfort the girl—what the hell did you do?!”
Following the Empress’s shrill scream, soft-spoken Xavia chimed in.
“Your Majesty, please don’t be too angry.”
As they say, the meddling sister-in-law is more annoying than the scolding mother-in-law. Regis glared at his beautiful cousin and responded.
“I didn’t really do anything.”
“You didn’t do anything, yet the Duke of Spes sent His Majesty a letter of protest? Twenty-three pages, I hear. Twenty-three!”
The letters of protest arrived just before Regis returned and turned the Imperial Palace upside down. It was said the Emperor searched for headache medicine after reading those rambling threats.
After taking the medicine, the Emperor sent word to the Empress—he was canceling the Crown Prince’s appointment ceremony, which had only been put on hold earlier. He cited the need to be more cautious with such a decision. Because he burned the letters after reading them, the Empress never even got to see them before being blindsided.
“There was really nothing major.”
Called back to the capital and forced to endure the Empress’s near-screams, Regis expressed his frustration.
“Seriously, nothing happened. That girl talked back a bit, and yes, I got a little upset—”
“A little?”
The Empress’s eyes gleamed dangerously.
“I might have gently pressed her forehead with my finger…”
Before he could finish, Xavia gasped and covered her mouth in feigned shock.
“Oh my.”
“You laid hands on her face? Even if it didn’t leave a mark, she clearly ran straight to complain.”
As the Empress’s voice rose even higher, Regis shrank further.
“Well, you see… the Duke of Spes saw it happen.”
“He saw it himself?”
“Uh, yes. He arrived right then. We thought he’d stay longer in the capital… that was the problem.”
Regis swallowed hard as he backpedaled. The Empress’s expression was turning dangerous—this was when she usually threw something.
That wouldn’t have mattered—if not for Xavia sitting right in front of her.
“M-Mother, deep breaths first. The thing is, we didn’t expect the Duke to return early, and that girl kept talking back to me—she clearly didn’t respect the royal family at all. Honestly, I restrained myself a lot…”
Regis was genuinely indignant. He had followed the Empress’s orders, admitted his mistake, and even asked what she wanted. She rejected everything.
The Empress stood without a word. Without summoning a maid, she threw open a window herself. A gust of wind tousled her red hair.
After brushing it back roughly, she calmed herself before rebuking her son.
“I’ve told you countless times—we cannot fall out with the Duke of Spes. As long as we don’t provoke him, he doesn’t meddle in imperial affairs. I said you could become Emperor just by staying in his good graces.”
Despite her clear explanation, the look of rebellion and injustice didn’t leave Regis’s eyes. The Empress’s voice rose again.
“How hard is it to behave like a Crown Prince? I told you to keep her in a good mood!”
“She refused to become Crown Princess! So arrogant.”
“Crown Princess—out of nowhere?”
“I thought it’d be a shortcut to fix things. Wouldn’t it be good for us to align with the Duke of Spes? She even has alchemy talent—it was a logical offer.”
A wrinkle formed between the Empress’s perfect brows. She’d told him to gently improve relations, not propose marriage!
The Empress knew better than anyone how cruel Regis could be. After being imprisoned and whipped for 18 days, she was likely near death. And then the man who did that came back and proposed? Anyone would be horrified.
Everything had gone completely off the rails.
Frustrated to the point of suffocation, the Empress held her forehead as Regis continued to defend himself.
“But she rejected me, the Fortuna!”
At the time, both his attendants and guards were waiting outside the Duke’s mansion. The Empress, needing to understand what had happened inside, asked calmly,
“Anything else? Did you threaten her?”
“Threaten? No way. I just played around a little.”
“Played around?”
“I might’ve said something like, ‘Should I cut off your brother’s neck?’”
Trying to make sense of what went wrong, the Empress realized her first mistake was sending him. She should’ve sent a letter and a gift instead.
The Empress narrowed her eyes and declared,
“That girl will never become Crown Princess.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because you’re not the Crown Prince. The appointment ceremony wasn’t postponed—it’s been canceled.”
Regis felt like he’d been hit with a hammer.
“What? Why? Was this Father’s decision?”
Just as he was about to explode, he noticed the Empress’s ominous expression and closed his mouth.
“Just pretend to reflect for now. I’ll try to fix it.”
“…Yes.”
As she watched a crestfallen Regis, the Empress sighed.
Then, Xavia, who had been sitting like a doll, brushing her lavender hair with her fingertips, finally spoke.
“Your Majesty.”
Both the Empress and Regis turned to her.
Called the Lavender Lady due to her lavender eyes and hair, Xavia had taken the social scene by storm less than a year after her debut.
Last year’s debutante, Princess Evelyn, had no interest in socializing, and the ducal families had no eligible daughters. A bright and beautiful marquis’s daughter like Xavia had no trouble ruling over the younger ladies.
Then a country bumpkin rolled in.
And that bumpkin landed in the very household Xavia had set her sights on—the Duke of Spes. Worse, she even took the Lavender Room simply because she resembled Princess Stella.
But Xavia didn’t get angry or sad. Rolling stones could be removed.
“Shall I take care of it?”
The Empress’s eyes gleamed.
“Do you have a plan?”
“Regis and that girl are already beyond reconciliation. She resembles Princess Stella, and her affinity material is iron—she’s bound to be a future annoyance. It’s better to take care of her now. She may seem insignificant now, but in a few years? Who knows.”
“Everything you say pleases me.”
Indeed, the Empress cherished Xavia more than her own daughter, Evelyn. Evelyn was unreadable, while ambitious Xavia was much more useful.
“Having two children all of a sudden is a bit much for me too,” Xavia added sweetly.
Unlike the pleased Empress, Regis couldn’t understand her.
Xavia had rejected all marriage proposals and declared her intent to marry into the Duke of Spes’s family. But what if he stayed single forever? That worried him.
Right now, Xavia’s value was unmatched. She was considered the best bride in the Empire—even more so than Princess Evelyn.
Someone as cunning as Xavia had to know this. That made it all the more baffling.
“A woman past her prime loses value. So why are you so obsessed with the Duke of Spes?”
“You really know nothing, do you?”
Her tone seemed to pity him, which made Regis sulk.
“What don’t I know?”
Xavia looked into her teacup for a moment.
Born a prince, Regis would never understand her feelings, no matter how much she explained. But since he asked, she decided to enlighten him.
“I’m from the Pegimul family. But if I marry, I’ll take my husband’s name.”
“So?”
“I’ve ruled out foreign royalty. Compared to an empire with a dragon’s blessing, they’re tiny. Even if I become queen elsewhere, if there’s a drought, we’d have to beg this empire for food.”
It was all because of the Empire’s third blessing—the dragon’s protection.
