Valen’s movements, which had been twisting just moments ago, suddenly came to a complete stop.
Faced with a story that was hard to believe, a hush settled over the reception room.
Liselotte’s startled voice broke the silence.
“An incantation?”
“Are you saying someone used the Word of Command on me?”
Valen’s voice overlapped at the same time.
She gently released Valen’s hand, which she had been gripping tightly, and watched for his reaction.
Valen was still blinking blankly, as if trying to grasp the situation.
‘If the headache was because of an incantation, then it makes sense that it suddenly got better.’
It was clear that when Liselotte tried to leave the reception room, Valen had grabbed her wrist.
If, like with Eren, resistance to the Word of Command worked through contact, then there was a strong possibility that the effect had been nullified by that touch.
“So the Word of Command can take effect this weakly as well.”
Eren replied in a calm tone, as if he weren’t surprised at all.
Thinking it over carefully, as he said, there were quite a few aspects that were different from the power she had seen so far.
“That’s true. The Word of Command Eren has shown until now was always very visibly and powerfully effective.”
“In my case, it may be because I never properly learned to use the Word of Command.”
“No. There is no way you wouldn’t know.”
He was someone who had suffered under overlapping incantations. Someone capable of handling it to that extent couldn’t possibly be ignorant of it, Liselotte reasoned.
Despite the conversation flowing naturally back and forth, Valen remained frozen like a statue.
As if he suddenly came to his senses, he asked.
“Wait. I have never met a nomad.”
“Could you have run into one in passing while outside?”
“No. Don’t all nomads have golden eyes? There is no way I wouldn’t have noticed.”
There was no trace of aversion or rejection in the look in his eyes as he said that.
Eren seemed to sense it as well and met the Crown Prince’s gaze head-on.
Liselotte asked Eren carefully.
“Eren… do nomads necessarily have golden eyes?”
“I have heard that anyone who possesses the ability of the Word of Command is always born with golden eyes. It was something the former Grand Duchess said, so it should be reliable.”
Could that be the very essence of the Word of Command?
Even Eren, who only carried half of nomad blood, had been born with golden eyes, so it didn’t seem to be a false story.
And if the Imperial citizens, who were known to avoid nomads, had known that someone other than Eren possessed golden eyes, there was no way they would have stayed quiet.
Suddenly, Taebon’s words about how some subjugation force members went mad after being treated by Diana surfaced in her mind.
Right after that, the image of Eren struggling, unable to undo the incantations placed upon himself, came to mind.
Since Eren knew that it was due to his own Word of Command, it could be brushed aside, but for an ordinary person who knew nothing, it would have been more than enough to look like madness.
Wasn’t it too much of a coincidence for everything to line up this perfectly?
‘…But Diana doesn’t have golden eyes?’
On top of that, Diana had personally taken Liselotte’s hand before using her divine authority at the banquet.
Since the Word of Command could be invoked through speech, physical contact wasn’t strictly necessary.
‘And yet, for something like that, her power didn’t work on me either…’
Even amid the confusion, Valen looked like he couldn’t even begin to guess who the culprit might be.
“There is no one in the Imperial Palace with golden eyes. And in Gelloa Village, aside from the escorts from House Gloria, there was no one else.”
Liselotte glanced sideways once more at the green thread, then rummaged through and gathered the pouch that had been sitting on the table.
“For now, we will take this with us.”
“…Well, fine.”
“Since Eren has lifted the incantation on you, don’t worry, and once you return to the Palace, please send about five years’ worth of your movement records to my aide.”
“Five years’ worth? There is no way there would be records that thorough. Say something that makes sense.”
“Ask your aide, Brother. From what I can see, the only reason you have managed to stay alive and well until now is thanks to your aide.”
Otherwise, he would have died young long ago.
To think he hadn’t even been aware of his own physical condition.
“You are being awfully casual with your rude remarks.”
“That wasn’t a rude remark, it was honest advice.”
After correcting Valen, Liselotte let out a sigh and asked.
“Did you think of digging into Duke Gloria’s background, and even coming all the way to the North, yourself?”
“I didn’t come up with all this plan.”
Valen, who had been lightly fiddling with his bangs, hesitated at Liselotte’s needling words.
It certainly was a rather sharp course of action for someone acting on his own hintless instincts.
“So your aide really is competent, right? It’s fine. They say being blessed with good people is a kind of ability too.”
Well, the position of Emperor required personal ability, but it was also important to gather and use capable people well.
Just as she was about to accept it that way.
“I consulted Father, saying that Diana seemed to be lying more often these days, and this is what he said.”
With a soft sigh, he slowly lifted his head and met Liselotte’s gaze.
“With the East already being unstable lately, he told me to look into it personally.”
“…His Majesty did?”
He brushed back his hair briefly and rose from his seat in one smooth motion.
“Anyway. We’ll talk about this matter again later. Grand Duke, not a word about the incantation that was on me as well.”
“Yes.”
When Eren rose as well and replied in a low, brief voice, Valen cleared his throat awkwardly and rolled his eyes around in the air.
Wondering if he was acting like that because no one was seeing him off, Liselotte awkwardly started to stand, but Valen, clenching his fist and covering his mouth, turned his head away as if embarrassed.
‘What’s wrong with him…?’
When Liselotte shot him a puzzled look, he finally stammered out his words.
“You too. I don’t even know how long it’s been since we talked properly without fighting. It’s so much better when you don’t get angry.”
“…”
“Since we’ve decided to exchange information anyway, let’s see each other from time to time. It looks like there are many things we’ll have to sort out together going forward.”
He really was speaking like an older brother.
For some reason, she couldn’t snap back curtly at his words, offered first as an apology.
Liselotte hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a faint smile.
“Alright.”
Even if they weren’t a particularly close or affectionate family, wouldn’t this much be fine?
A slightly softened reply slipped out of her mouth.
***
Second hearing date.
The carriage heading for the Central Court ran quietly along.
Liselotte rubbed her slightly swollen forehead with a handkerchief soaked in cold water and briefly scrunched the bridge of her nose.
“I thought nothing would happen once we got past the teleportation magic stone, but if you hit a rock, does the carriage really jolt that much?”
The moment the carriage wheel caught on a large rock by the roadside, her forehead struck the window.
Liselotte looked at her reflection in the window and pulled a miserable face.
“Ah, if it bruises, it will look bad. Of all times, right before the trial, on my face…”
Eren, who was sitting across from her, stared straight at her.
His expression was so serious that it almost looked grim.
“…Do you remember who I am?”
“…My memory is perfectly fine.”
“Who am I?”
“Eren Keilos, my husband.”
Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.
Ah, right. To his eyes, she was someone who could collapse just from bumping into something, of course.
Liselotte forced a bright smile, but Eren’s hardened expression showed no sign of softening.
In the end, he even took the handkerchief from her hand and strode over to sit in the seat beside her.
“Look at the documents. I will hold the handkerchief against it.”
By now, she knew how to deal with his overprotectiveness.
If she just let him do as he pleased to a reasonable extent, it would resolve itself.
After experiencing incidents like trees being uprooted and flowerpots falling in the Capital several times, Eren had become sensitive.
‘With these minor accidents happening, I can’t exactly refuse outright…’
They were too trivial to openly call accidents, yet too bothersome to simply ignore.
Thinking about it, she even felt as if small accidents had occurred every time she came to the Capital.
‘Now that I think about it, I twisted my ankle during the Imperial banquet too, didn’t I?’
Strangely enough, nothing like that ever happened in the North.
Was it because the cold left little room for movement?
Shaking her head at the meaningless speculation, Liselotte quietly tried to focus on the preparatory documents for the hearing date she was holding.
Though with Eren pressed right up beside her, holding the handkerchief against her forehead, nothing actually went into her eyes.
Worried it might hurt, the way he pressed down carefully with his large hand carried clear concern.
She stole a sideways glance at Eren’s profile as he focused intently.
His neat jawline and the slight outline of his Adam’s apple visible beneath the collar of his uniform came into view.
In that moment, his Adam’s apple bobbed.
A shadow fell over his golden eyes.
“Protect the carriage.”
Eren’s vicious Word of Command flowed out in the form of an order.
At the same time, bang! The carriage shook violently.
