Worried that he might refuse the audience with the Emperor, Liselotte quickly added.
“Oh, you can’t refuse, Eren. For the time being, I think it is right to increase my escort in preparation for ambushes.”
She had clearly realized it after the recent ambush.
‘Until the matter with House Gloria is settled, I should absolutely never go around alone.’
Eren nodded readily.
“You’re stating the obvious.”
“What happened to the ones who ambushed us? I heard Sir Ferento took care of the bodies separately at the time.”
Liselotte asked, having been so pressed to attend the hearing that she hadn’t even been able to worry about the aftermath.
Eren suddenly closed his mouth tightly and fell silent.
When Liselotte blinked and looked at him, his head turned slightly to the side, as if revealing his discomfort.
“…What is it? Did the bodies just run away on their own?”
With his hands clasped together on his knee, fiddling with the outside of his glove, he muttered quietly.
“…I am sorry. I should have been a bit more… composed.”
“Why are you apologizing? Did they really run away?”
“It seems identification is a bit difficult. Still, none of the components that make up a human body are missing, so it is only a matter of time. We will begin tracking them soon.”
“Ah…”
Knowing that he had chosen his words carefully for her sake, she could do nothing but let out a small sigh.
The red blood that had spread across the fogged carriage window came to mind.
She had forgotten, because he had never shown such a frightening side in front of her.
That he was someone who had grown up seeing countless pools of blood.
‘It was a dangerous situation, so it couldn’t be helped.’
If they had sent an ambush so openly, they would have dispatched people who could handle the cleanup without issues to some extent.
She wasn’t so bad at assessing the situation that she would cling to such trivial problems.
Liselotte smiled brightly to show that she was fine.
“No need to apologize.”
Contrary to her worries, Eren didn’t seem particularly interested in the audience with the Emperor.
Uncharacteristically, his lips moved briefly.
“Rather than that… was the work difficult? You should have given me notice earlier.”
Perhaps the matter she had instructed Ail about was bothering him, because his brow creased slightly.
It wasn’t the case at all, but Liselotte didn’t bother correcting him.
Instead, she lightly added a bit of petulance she hadn’t shown before.
“After getting married, there hasn’t really been much time to rest. For some reason, I think worrying about work has been making it harder to sleep…”
If Marsha had heard it, it would have been a lie enough to make her tilt her head.
Even Hedmilton, if he had been present, would have openly retorted, “You sleep with documents spread out every day, so they all get crumpled.”
But unaware of that, Eren’s expression grew increasingly fierce.
“Indeed, the workload has been excessive lately, especially with the trial as well. If it is too much, it is fine for me to attend the audience with His Majesty alone.”
“No, no! The matter of Gelloa Village could also be connected to the compensation case for the Eastern border region, so I will go too. This is fine!”
Since she would need to start preparing for divorce soon, she needed her own excuses.
An excessive workload would be just one of many excuses.
If she suddenly presented divorce papers, he would be taken aback, so she planned to let the mood seep in little by little.
But contrary to Liselotte’s expectations, Eren’s reaction was excessive.
“No matter what, how is someone who cannot even sleep properly supposed to go all the way to the Capital…?”
His grim expression as he stared at the cup filled with pitch-black tea showed no sign of easing.
***
The Imperial Palace.
Seeing Valen walking down the corridor, his aide strode up to him.
Matching his pace from a step behind, he spoke quietly.
“Lady Gloria wishes to see Your Highness.”
“I refuse.”
Valen replied firmly without even turning his head as he walked on.
Perhaps he hadn’t expected much from the start, because the aide’s reaction was skeptical as well.
“They say she is waiting in the Imperial garden… but I also recommend that you do not see her.”
When Valen cast his gaze beyond the corridor window, Diana could be seen in the distance, fidgeting with a single white rose.
It was clearly a spot she had chosen knowing that he would pass by here.
In the past, his heart would have ached, but lately he couldn’t understand at all why he had once felt only pity for her.
‘The Grand Duke said I had been under the Word of Command… was that the reason?’
She was simply a fragile, weak woman.
Sometimes she knew how to cleverly use her circumstances, sometimes she would collapse because her body was unwell, just that kind of person.
‘No matter how much I think about it, I have never met any nomads…’
Valen shifted his gaze to the letter in his hand.
[Brother. Father and I
- naturally
- as soon as possible
- in a gentle atmosphere
Please arrange a setting where we can have tea time together. This is your responsibility, Brother. Got it?
P.S. If you want to know who used the Word of Command on you, you must cooperate!]
She used to send properly formal letters, but now something not even worthy of being called a note had arrived.
If she was going to do this, why did she bother using honorifics in the middle…?
Still, the way she was now acting quite like a younger sibling was rather amusing.
It even made him feel as though her cheeky behavior from her very early childhood was resurfacing.
Letting out a soft, dry chuckle, Valen quickened his pace and asked his aide.
“Father?”
“His Majesty is waiting.”
After folding the letter and tucking it into his inner pocket, he headed to the audience chamber, where an attendant announced his arrival.
When the door opened, the sight of Emperor Larde Perida drinking tea came into view.
As Valen sat down across from him on the sofa, a maid poured a cup of strong tea in front of him and then withdrew, as if she had already received instructions.
Seeing the pitch-black tea, Valen frowned.
“The tea is different from usual.”
“Didn’t you say this kind of tea is popular in the North? The North is also part of the Perida Empire, so I should know about it.”
Even without drinking it, it felt as though the bitterness he had tasted in the North lingered on the tip of his tongue.
Valen smacked his lips unconsciously and deliberately pretended not to see the tea.
Meanwhile, Emperor Perida casually took a sip and asked.
“So. You seem busy these days.”
“I suppose… there have been some matters.”
“Your position is not one that affords much leisure. So then, for what reason did a son who never enjoyed tea time unless it was with his fiancee use tea as an excuse?”
Even within his smooth eloquence, there was a sharp edge.
Valen cleared his throat with a soft cough and recalled the contents of the letter.
‘A gentle atmosphere, a gentle atmosphere…’
The Emperor was someone with a clear distinction between public and private matters.
If a meeting was described as having a purpose, he would treat even his own child as though granting an audience to a vassal.
That was why Valen found him difficult to deal with.
“Well, Liselotte has, um… she seems to have matured more than expected lately.”
“It sounds like she is doing well in the North. Yes, we should see her sometime.”
‘Huh, does this really resolve itself this easily?’
Valen nodded without quite realizing it.
“Shall we arrange something within this week, then?”
“This week I have matters to attend to and will be busy… how about about ten days from now.”
Valen was well aware of the Emperor’s schedule.
Of course, it wasn’t a lie that official duties kept him busy, but it wasn’t to the extent that he couldn’t spare time for tea.
However, the fact that he had named a specific date himself meant that it couldn’t be changed.
‘Liselotte is going to glare fiercely again.’
Still, two of the three goals had been achieved, so wouldn’t it work out somehow?
Feeling a sudden wave of thirst, Valen took a sip of the bitter tea and continued the conversation as if nothing were amiss.
***
“What’s with the white rose…?”
“Exactly. It’s not like there’s a funeral.”
From a distance in the Imperial garden, the maids’ whispering rode the wind to Diana’s ears.
It was an attitude she could never have imagined before, but lately, this was how the East was treated.
Diana stared vacantly at a single white rose, beautifully wrapped in paper.
Usually, white roses were flowers sent to the dead.
‘Valen probably won’t come out anyway…’
Diana knew well enough that his heart had already moved on.
This was merely a confirmation. If, by any chance, by some stroke of luck, she might run into him.
Cough, Diana let out a small cough.
Today was a day when her condition felt particularly worse.
Perhaps because her vision was spinning, the white rose looked blurred.
Then, along with a rustling sound, the startled voices of maids were heard.
“Oh my, Priests!”
“My goodness… It seems you are not feeling well.”
