Chapter 52
After the servants finished sorting the pile of gifts, my mother came to see me in my room.
Knock, knock.
“Eilene. May I come in?”
“Yes, Mother.”
Moving with elegant grace, she came to sit beside me at the edge of the bed.
“His Majesty gave you such precious gifts.”
“You saw them?”
“I did. His thoughtfulness is truly appreciated.”
“Well, I already have plenty of dresses and jewels.”
Our family wasn’t the richest despite our high rank, but we were still among the Empire’s leading nobles. I’d never exactly lacked material things.
“It’s not just that,” Mother said, slowly shaking her head at my casual tone. She clearly didn’t mean only the price of the goods.
“Your father has been promoted.”
“Promoted?”
“Yes. The Speaker of the Senate stepped down. There were three candidates for the new Speaker, and your father was chosen. It was a voted decision, but His Majesty strongly backed him. Thanks to you, we have received great favor from the Emperor.”
Mother smiled brightly, genuinely happy.
“Most of all, I’m glad my precious Eilene is loved.”
She opened her arms and hugged me tight. Her touch was warm and sincere.
I was grateful for my mother’s love, but a separate thought rose up.
Even to my mother—who values her daughter over our family’s prestige—the Emperor’s plan looked good enough to approve. That meant his strategy was working perfectly.
Mother stood, smiling warmly. “Rest for now. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“Yes.”
I watched her leave in silence. Her steps were as light and elegant going out as they’d been coming in.
The door thumped shut—thunk—and a helpless sigh escaped me.
“Haa…”
Things were going in a direction I hadn’t expected at all.
Look at this—promoting my father to Speaker of the Senate? There’s obviously something he’s plotting.
He clearly wants something; I just don’t know what it is.
I crossed one leg, propped my elbow on my knee, and set my chin on my palm—the classic “think logically” pose. It didn’t help much. This flow was completely different from the original story, and with my not-so-brilliant brain, there were limits to what I could infer.
Eilene, you were supposed to be sharp. Use your head.
I wanted to summon the body’s original owner, but of course that was just a wish. All I could do was grind the millstone in my head as hard as I could.
Historically, it’s common for an emperor’s father-in-law to hold the core of power.
But that doesn’t apply cleanly to me. What really bothers me is that this is happening after I possessed this body. If it had happened in the original, I’d have nodded along—but the situation is reversed now.
Which tune am I supposed to dance to? Can I even carry out the plan I made?
After struggling with a problem that had no answer, I decided to ask someone else. And right on time, the next morning Adrien visited the ducal estate.
Seeing him, I thought, Perfect, grabbed his arm, and hauled him to a garden table. Startled by my rush, he kept sputtering, “Uh, uh—Eilene, what is it?” I didn’t respond. I pressed his shoulders and sat him down. Then I put my elbows on the table, propped my chin, and leaned far toward him.
Time to ask the question.
“Adrien, why do you think His Majesty is doing all this to me?”
“What? What do you mean—gifts?”
“Yes, that, and throwing a party for me, and also…”
Should I tell Adrien about the “revenge” on Count Livingston?
While I hesitated, the conversation flipped.
“What do you think it is?”
“Hey, I’m the one asking. Don’t answer my question with a question!”
Seeing my exasperated stare, Adrien finally tapped his chin, thinking.
“Well… judged only by the circumstances, anyone would think the same thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“He’s doing it because he likes you.”
“Ha.”
A laugh—or a hollow sigh—slipped out before I knew it.
No way. That can’t be love…
Muttering my denial, I suddenly realized something important.
Honestly, even I was starting to get confused about the Emperor’s true feelings.
He was treating Eilene—who should have been pushed away—very, very well.
With his affection attacks filling both material and emotional needs, I couldn’t deny I felt satisfied.
But hearing Adrien’s answer, it felt like lightning flashed in my head.
What matters isn’t whether he truly loves me—it’s that he looks like he does.
I know exactly how Emperor Kyle behaves when he’s truly in love. I saw every detail in the original novel—how he floundered after the heroine.
When Kyle fell for Amelia, he tossed out his usual calculating nature and just did whatever she told him. As if he’d never had a single independent thought to begin with.
Back then, people said the Emperor was “debuffed by love.”
But if people think his actions toward me are those of normal love?
That means he’s still calculating—as usual.
An emperor not in love is dangerous. As long as his mind is spinning at full speed, there are countless ways he could threaten the Grand Duke.
So from now on, I must not get swept up in his schemes. I had to renew my resolve.
While I was busy drumming my own logic, Adrien shot me a question of his own.
“Eilene, you like the Grand Duke, don’t you?”
It was so sudden my answer came out just as fast.
“Yeah—huh?”
I answered without thinking, then flinched and tried to take it back, but it was too late. Adrien was already giving me a I knew it face.
“How did you… know?”
“I can see it all. Do you know how long I’ve known you?”
“I… is that so?”
At least that was a relief.
I’d worried he might say, “Everyone knows except you.”
But he had one more question.
“What do you like so much about him?”
He asked in a gruff, disinterested tone, but the way he kept sneaking glances told a different story.
So, losing the ‘contest’ stung his pride, huh?
I found him kind of cute. I had more than enough praise for Raymond, but I chose a restrained answer.
“He’s cool. Overflowing with charisma. And he has an unexpected warmth—that contrast.”
“Hm? That’s it?”
He looked puzzled, like he’d expected a longer list. I blinked and asked, “Then what else am I supposed to say?”
“Well… There doesn’t need to be another reason to love someone.”
Adrien thought for a moment, then nodded like a monk who’d reached enlightenment.
What is he even saying? Anyone overhearing would think the Grand Duke and I are already in love.
To stop his misunderstanding from getting worse, I corrected him quickly.
“I think you’re mistaken. What I feel isn’t that kind of emotion. It’s… reverence.”
Even after my kind clarification, Adrien pressed his palm to his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
“Good grief. She doesn’t even know her own heart.”
Then he muttered something under his breath. I couldn’t make out the words, but I was pretty sure it was an insult about me. I gave him a side-eye, convinced.
Time flowed on like a sunlit, ordinary road, and without realizing it, I stepped into a dark tunnel.
And then, an event happened that would soon overturn everyone’s situation.
After repeated failures to move against the Grand Duke, Emperor Kyle finally let the mask slip and began acting purely on his moods.
When he was happy, he laughed; when angry, he became violent.
At first, he only took it out on objects. Then, at some point, it spread to the maids and attendants.
“What is this temperature? The wash water is cold!”
Smack!
“Kya!”
He slapped a young maid’s cheek with his large hand, sending her sprawling. Her cheek burned so badly she couldn’t think, but even then she dropped to her knees and begged for her life.
“I was wrong. P-please spare me, Your Majesty.”
As she pressed her hands together, Kyle stepped close, grabbed her chin, and forced her face up—with the same hand that had just slapped her.
“What’s your name?”
“H-Hille Terami.”
His voice was gentle—so gentle it was hard to believe it belonged to the man who’d just hit her.
Hille was an orphan of common birth adopted by Viscount Terami’s family—bright and neat enough to be taken in by a noble house. She had just turned twenty, still baby-faced with soft cheeks.
She hadn’t been in the imperial palace long. The senior maids, afraid of angering the Emperor, had sent the young maid in their place.
“You’re rather pretty. Well developed, too. I’ll forgive you.”
“Th-thank you, Your Majesty.”
The words were strange, but hearing “forgive,” she hurried to thank him. Kyle’s eyes slid over Hille’s body with a lewd look, then he ordered the attendant beside him:
“Clean her up and bring her to me at once.”
“Pardon? Your Majesty, then the next engagement—”
“Obviously, it’s canceled.”
“Ah… understood.”
At his poisonous glare, the attendant grabbed Hille by the arm. The suddenness of it left her trembling with fear, eyes fluttering. One cheek swollen high, she could only weep silently like a cow led to the slaughterhouse.
After this incident, Viscount Terami was summoned to a meeting of the nobles.
