Chapter 116

Florin sat down in the chair and calmly organized her thoughts.

‘I can’t be so rash.’

Too much anger can make her sick.

As she grew older, she regained her health as much as others, but her body was still weak.

Florin thought hard as she calmed herself down.

She fully expected Astelle to seek revenge.

Florin herself would have retaliated in such a situation.

‘But why did you mention marriage?’

I couldn’t stand that.

The most annoying thing was that she couldn’t beat Astelle with her own power.

Her mother was kicked out of the capital and her father lost his place.

Although I am still close to the other ministers……

None of the shrewd ministers will be willing to fight the empress, who is winning the emperor’s heart, for Florin.

‘For now, there is no way to fight the empress head-on.’

I have to somehow make the empress forget her revenge for a moment.

What should I do to make Astelle forget her revenge?

Florin decided to find the simplest way possible.

Should I make a fuss inside the palace? When something big happens inside the palace, Astelle gets busy.

Then she wouldn’t have time to care about petty revenge.

There was one person that Astelle really cared about.

It was Theor.

‘The little prince is the most important person to the empress.’

If something happens to him, she will lose her reason and completely forget about the banquet and Florin’s marriage.

Of course, I have no intention of killing or harming the prince.

Because that’s a dangerous thing that could destroy my family.

I just need to make a fuss.

Now there are some very good preys who will make up for my sin no matter what happens.

‘If it’s dangerous for Naen….., there’s still Daphne, that sly girl.’

Daphne, the niece of the Minister of Home Affairs, was also a close friend of Marianne and her age.

Even though she was only a relative of the Viscount family, she was greedy and much smarter than Marianne.

When Florin was predicted to be the empress, Daphne did not miss the opportunity and entered the imperial palace and became a maid.

Florin got up from her seat, frowning her fine brow.

She pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote a note to Naen.

***

“Why did you do that last night?”

It was the next morning.

Astelle asked about last night as soon as she met her maternal grandfather.

Her maternal grandfather also had a surprised face when Astelle asked angrily.

“Did anything strange happen?”

“Didn’t you know what happened?”

Astelle had Hannah find out why the herb was in Theor’s toy box.

The man who took the box was a servant who waited on her maternal grandfather.

He replied shamelessly, saying that the marquis had allowed it.

“……your father asked for a favor. I had no idea he would put such a thing in the box.”

Her maternal grandfather confessed the situation with embarrassment.

Yesterday, Astelle’s father, the Duke of Reston, came and made a fervent request.

He need help to reconcile Astelle and Kaizen.

The method he came up with was very simple.

To help Kaizen rekindle his old feelings, he sent a picture that Theor had drawn and Astelle’s childhood belongings in one box.

It would remind him of his childhood when they grew up together, and he would remember his past when he abandoned Astelle, so he would feel old memories and guilt at the same time.

And on the other hand, the duke thought that Kaizen would think, ‘Astelle came with this method because she wanted to make up with me.’

“……I was foolish to believe what your father said.”

Her maternal grandfather’s blue eyes glistened with anger.

Astelle murmured, “What a fatherly thing to do.”

The duke even sent a medicinal herb that stimulates fertility.

Her maternal grandfather asked, looking a little worried.

“What did the emperor say?”

“Nothing much. He knew it was my father’s work.”

Well, with common sense, Astelle couldn’t possibly have such a thing.

The Marquis sighed.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“No, you must be worried about me. I’m sorry to have troubled you.”

Astelle was fully aware of why her maternal grandfather had fallen for her father’s sweet words.

He must have been anxious because it seemed that Astelle’s relationship with Kaizen had already broken.

“But thanks to that, His Majesty has slept here for the first time in a long time.”

Even though he still slept on the sofa in front of the bedroom.

“Have you made up with His Majesty?”

“I don’t think it can be said that we’ve made up but….., yeah, it’s getting a bit better.”

The two talked about this and that while drinking a few glasses of wine until they fell asleep.

‘We also gossiped about my father.’

Still, it was a comfortable time they had together after a long time.

Astelle suddenly recalled the memories from last night.

*

She woke up at dawn and then opened the bedroom door.

It still looked like midnight outside the window. Rain fell from the dark night sky.

Kaizen was seen under the white moonlight.

He was lying on the sofa and sleeping soundly.

Astelle didn’t have a blanket ready, so Kaizen just lay there without a blanket.

Normally, he looked fine to sleep like that, but today it was cold.

It was raining and the night air was chilly. Astelle pondered for a moment before she went into the bedroom and pulled out the blanket in the closet.

She carefully covered Kaizen with a fluffy blanket.

She covered him with the blanket and was about to turn around, but he caught her wrist.

Astelle turned her body, startled.

“Astelle.”

Kaizen’s red eyes were seen under the pure white moonlight.

His deep, desperate eyes were looking up at her.

Astelle pulled her hand caught by him.

“I just wanted to give you a blanket….., sorry for disturbing your sleep.”

Astelle avoided his gaze.

Kaizen let her go without a hitch.

“Thanks.”

“Have a good sleep, Your Majesty.”

Astelle gave him a formal goodbye and went into her bedroom without looking back.

*

“For now, the emperor must not change his mind.”

As Astelle was thinking about last night, she heard her maternal grandfather’s voice.

“They seem to have sent a new woman to the emperor.”

“Is that so?”

She knew it could happen one day, but she didn’t expect it to happen already.

The harsh words of her maternal grandfather followed.

“It’s unavoidable, but it’s true, isn’t it? If the emperor changes his mind, you and Theor will be in danger.”

“……”

Is that possible?

Will the day come when Kaizen falls for another woman and dumps Astelle and Theor?

Considering Kaizen’s personality, Astelle doesn’t think he’ll ever do that.

Similarly, considering Kaizen’s cruel disposition, it is unclear whether he will show infinite affection for Astelle and Theor forever.

“Your Majesty.”

Then, suddenly, Hannah came in with an urgent look.

“I have something to tell you.”

Astelle apologized to her maternal grandfather and returned to her residence with Hannah.

“Lady Florin has sent a note.”

“Already?”

It’s really fast.

It seems that being forced into marriage is a scary thing for Florin.

Astelle, no matter what, won’t retaliate that way.

If Florin knew her well, she would have noticed that this was just a trap.

Fortunately, Florin didn’t know much about Astelle.

“Did you bring the note?”

“Here it is.”

Hana held out a small piece of paper.

In the meantime, Hannah had the maids spy on Naen.

Astelle also knew that Naen secretly exchanged notes with Florin.

It was a simple way that Naen would come if the maid that Florin had sent hid a piece of paper in a designated place in the palace backyard.

It would be too risky for Naen, who works at the empress’ palace, to meet the maid in person.

That was the way to communicate.

Hannah said she stole it beforehand.

The note Hannah brought was full of unknown numbers.

“It’s a code.”

There were no idiots who would just write ordinary notes and hide them in the palace backyard. Astelle looked at the number on the note carefully.

The seemingly unrelated numbers were written one after the other in order.

“No number exceeds 300.”

“Is it a book?”

“I think so.”

It was too obvious to write down the pages and word numbers of a particular book and send them in code.

But if it was for Naen, Florin might have had no choice but to use such a simple code.

Naen was brought here unexpectedly.

She wouldn’t have time to practice cryptography with Florin beforehand.

So she would have had no choice but to use the simplest code possible.

Astelle looked back at Hannah and asked, “Does Naen have any books?”

“I’m sure she has brought two or three books from her mansion,” she replied.

Astelle nodded and said, “Call Naen here now. She has work to do.”

Before Astelle could even explain, Hannah noticed her point and answered, “In the meantime, I will go to Miss Naen’s room and look for her books.”

After a while, Naen entered the room.

“Did you call, Your Majesty?”

“Yeah, Miss Naen. Come on, I have a lot of work to do today.”

Astelle held Naen and continued to work for hours.

She actually didn’t even have to act because she had a lot of work to do.

Astelle gave orders to Naen while she looked through the reports.

Naen did not have any doubts and worked diligently as Astelle told her.

Seeing her working hard, Astelle felt a little pity.

‘I don’t know what the order is, but will this girl do what Florin tells her to do this time, too?’