Ail, whose smile had frozen in place, lowered his voice.
“Are you certain? Then why were they staying in the prison so obediently?”
“They cannot break through it all at once.”
In an instant, the air around them froze.
If magic tools could be breached, it meant that the previous attack could be repeated.
Realizing the gravity of it, Ail asked quietly with a smile still on his face.
“We will share it with the Magic Tower, but… as you know, it is not a place where communication is smooth.”
“Add that it could become a matter of Liselotte’s safety.”
Though he disliked the sight of a fully grown man pretending to be weak and clinging to Liselotte, Virki was someone trustworthy.
Since he at least knew how to look after his own people, all they could do was place their hopes in him.
Perhaps because Liselotte had been diligently playing with the string, Kairi’s reactions softened.
As curiosity grew, he kept poking the string with his hand for no reason, then startling himself and shrinking back repeatedly.
“Shall we try putting the string around my wrist?”
When Liselotte lightly brought the string toward her wrist, Kairi’s face twisted sharply.
“Keung…”
‘So, he really does react to the arm.’
When she loosely wrapped the string from her wrist up to her elbow, Kairi’s pupils began to shake violently.
“Aah, ah…”
Flailing his hand helplessly through the air, he grabbed at the string wrapped around Liselotte’s arm and pulled at it wildly.
“Ah, ah!”
“Kairi, calm down. This is just a string.”
Without stopping, Liselotte continued wrapping the string up to her upper arm.
The moment it reached her upper arm, Kairi grabbed her arm with a distressed expression.
“Hngh… Aah…”
Judging by Kairi’s reaction, the green thread was meant to be wrapped around the upper arm.
Seeing that Kairi looked on the verge of passing out if it went on any longer, Liselotte quickly unwound the string.
Tada, raising both hands, she soothed him in as casual a tone as possible.
“It is all right, Kairi. This is just a string.”
“Ah…”
Still unable to relax, Kairi lifted Liselotte’s arm and checked it over several times.
The way his hand rubbed the exact spot where an injection needle would normally go looked disturbingly familiar.
Letting out a sigh, Liselotte steeled herself and called to those who had been waiting.
“Ail. Check whether there is a reaction when the green thread is wrapped tightly around the arm.”
Ail, who had been speaking with Eren, quickly turned his head.
“You mean around the upper arm?”
“Yes. When you tighten it firmly before an injection, the veins show better. I think it might have been used for that purpose.”
With a heavy heart, Liselotte stroked Kairi’s head.
His build, looking far younger than his actual age from having never eaten or grown properly, only deepened the sense of pity.
Now, watching him chew the string Liselotte had used into pieces with his teeth, it was clear that even if he couldn’t speak, learned emotional responses remained.
***
A few days later, a letter bearing the Imperial seal flew to the Keilos estate.
Liselotte looked at the letter with an indifferent expression and smacked her lips.
“So, they are setting the audience date like this.”
From behind her, Virki wrapped his arms around her neck and blinked as he asked.
“What is that?”
“The day I face Father one-on-one.”
“Lise fights well too? That is cool!”
After delivering the letter, Hedmilton, who had been watching while standing in front of the desk, widened his eyes and offered a word of caution.
“Would it not be a problem if you beat His Majesty?”
Virki, partially covering his mouth with his robe, asked back with a frightened look.
“But Lise is from the Imperial Family too?”
“Ah, is that so?”
“Lise must not get hurt, so I will try making high-grade magic tools. Then you can beat the Emperor too! You have to live long and stay healthy!”
Anyone listening would think she was at death’s door.
Whatever Eren had said to him, Virki had been coming and going from the Keilos estate frequently for the past few days.
However, unlike before, he always met Eren first before coming to see Liselotte.
And without exception, he treated her as though she were someone who might die at any moment.
‘No, wait. Has he been influenced by the North…?’
Since northerners generally viewed Liselotte as someone who could be blown away by the wind, perhaps Virki, unfamiliar with the ways of the world, had picked it up wholesale.
‘Ha… I will have to be careful when teaching Kairi.’
After roughly folding the letter, Liselotte pressed a hand to her forehead and stood up from her seat.
“Call Marsha. I need to get ready to go out.”
“Where are you going?”
With his eyebrows drooping low, Virki looked at her pitifully.
Leaving him behind, Liselotte stood in front of the door and stared at it coldly as she muttered.
“I just told you. The date for our audience with the Emperor has been set.”
“But why go now?”
“They say there is no time unless it is today. Father…”
Was that not an attitude blatantly meant to inconvenience her because he didn’t want to see her?
Even so, it wasn’t as though she was someone who couldn’t go.
After all, the North had free access to teleportation magic stones. Whether he had given such an absurd deadline on purpose knowing that, she couldn’t be sure.
Valen said that, when she was young, the Emperor had doted on her greatly.
It was probably from before she went to the temple to receive her divine authority.
At such a young age, it wouldn’t be strange if she had no memory of it.
Back then, it would have been before Liselotte ran wild for lacking divine authority, so there was a high chance they had been on good terms.
Still staring at the door with sharp eyes, Liselotte lifted only the corners of her lips into a bright smile and called out cheerfully.
“Well then, let us go have a look at my oh-so-precious father’s face.”
***
Every space in the Imperial Palace was, by default, bright and radiant.
Unlike the Keilos estate, the windows were large and grand, and when sunlight streamed in from outside, the white walls and marble floors sparkled.
The carved furniture was ornate, and with the sunlight added on top, every area was pleasing to the eye just by looking at it.
Among them, the audience chamber expressed that splendor at its peak.
With Liselotte seated beside Eren on a long sofa, the Emperor suddenly began placing flowers into the vase on his desk.
Even after plainly seeing the two of them seated there, he didn’t seem inclined to take the seat of honor.
“Grand Duke. This is the first time I have seen you with your hair slicked back so neatly.”
He even brazenly directed the question at Eren.
“…Liselotte said she liked this look.”
At his honest answer, Liselotte pressed down lightly on his shoe with her foot, careful not to hurt him.
The basics of a battle of nerves lay in appearance.
That was why she had made full use of her knowledge and put more effort into their attire than she had for the banquet.
In the process, she had brushed Eren’s bangs back, and as if by instinct, the Emperor pointed it out.
Smiling brightly, Liselotte asked carefully.
“The audience date was set so suddenly that I tried to make some effort not to be discourteous.”
“You always did take great interest in accessories and clothing.”
Was that sarcasm?
Watching the back of the Emperor as he focused on arranging the flowers, Liselotte lightly wrinkled the bridge of her nose.
In a low voice, he remarked again.
“Your habits haven’t changed.”
“…Sorry?”
When Liselotte blinked, unable to immediately grasp what habit he was referring to, the Emperor finally turned his head.
Wearing a gentle smile, he looked, for some reason, a little more pleased than usual.
“Ever since long ago, whenever something displeased you, you would wrinkle the bridge of your nose.”
He had been facing away, so when had he noticed?
Swallowing her doubt, Liselotte nodded for the time being.
“Ah, yes. Brother had the same habit as well.”
“He picked it up by copying you to tease you, and it eventually became a habit.”
Liselotte herself had no memory of that at all.
She was someone who remembered even the smallest details of clothing, yet she couldn’t understand why she didn’t remember something that everyone else seemed to know.
Carrying the vase, the Emperor walked over slowly and set it down with a tap at the center of the table before asking.
“The North. Has it been bearable?”
“Aside from it being a bit cold.”
At her answer, Eren’s shoulder twitched.
Seated now, the Emperor looked at Liselotte with an easy smile.
“Is it that cold? I thought you would have become accustomed to it by now.”
“Accustomed?”
How could someone who had lived only in the Capital possibly endure the cold of the North?
Yet instead of answering her question, he threw out an unexpected one.
“How many lawsuits have you handled so far?”
All of a sudden…?
Though she felt puzzled, it was a good topic to naturally bring up her purpose, so Liselotte answered without resistance.
“As you know, the dispute with the East has only just begun recently.”
Instead, the Emperor rubbed his chin and smiled faintly.
“Is that so? It feels as though you have handled several hundred times more than that.”
