Chapter 121

Astelle finished her afternoon work and walked down the corridors of the empress’ palace. There was a quiet atmosphere in the palace after a long time.

The Marquis and Florin left for the countryside, while Naen quietly did her job at the empress’ palace.

Astelle called Naen after Florin was released.

This girl was taken advantage of by Florin twice, and this time she helped Astelle to expel her family from the capital.

Astelle wanted to be in charge of Naen’s life.

“I, I am fine, Your Majesty. I think it’s better for my family to be together like this. It would be nice for my older sister and mother to live in the countryside, too……”

The Marchioness would, of course, prefer a life with her husband and children in the capital rather than a life of rough exile.

It was no wonder that Marianne would prefer life on her own estate to a convent.

Astelle didn’t want to care how they lived unless they came back to the capital.

“If you don’t want to go back to your family, you can stay here,” she said.

If you return to your family right away, you may become the target of their hatred.

Naen also wanted to stay at the empress’ palace.

Since the incident caused by the Croychens had been resolved, the imperial palace banquet that followed passed quietly and smoothly.

Astelle did her first imperial palace event well without any major problems.

Now she had a very peaceful day after a long time.

Theor was taking a class in his study room.

Astelle muffled her footsteps, so as not to disturb.

Through a gap in the half-open door, she could see Theor sitting at his desk, holding a quill in his small hand, and writing down something.

His figure looked rather mature.

After a while, Seibel closed the book. It looks like the class is over.

Theor raised his head and his eyes met Astelle’s.

“Mom!”

Theor ran to Astelle.

Seibel was also surprised and stood up from his seat.

“Theor, have you finished your class?”

“Yeah, I have learned everything now.”

Astelle gently stroked Theor’s hair.

“Can I play with Blynn now?”

“Yes, but tell the maid and go out with her.”

“Yes!”

Theor said goodbye to Seibel and ran to the garden.

“Your Majesty.”

“Sir Seibel.”

Seibel greeted Astelle with a respectful attitude.

There was always a gentle atmosphere in this young nobleman.

“Isn’t it difficult to teach the little prince? Has Theor ever not listened or been distracted?”

“It’s not. The prince is quick to understand and has good concentration.”

There was a hint of genuine admiration in Seibel’s tone.

“The prince is really smart. No matter what I teach him, he understands it at once, and sometimes he is ahead of the progress.”

There are no teachers who openly say that the prince can’t keep up with the class and is not very supportive.

Still, it’s good to hear such a compliment.

“At this rate, I think we will have to increase the number of classes and hours sooner or later.”

Astelle headed with him to a greenhouse near the garden used as a break room.

Beyond the greenhouse, Theor was seen playing.

As they sat down next to the glass wall, the maid served tea for two.

“By the way, it’s the first time I’ve seen you since the last banquet.”

Seibel came to the empress’ palace at the appointed time to teach Theor, but Astelle deliberately did not meet Seibel directly because Kaizen seemed a little uncomfortable.

“I was going to say hello during the banquet, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have a chance. I apologize.”

Seibel apologized with regretful eyes.

In fact, he couldn’t even greet or talk to the nobles casually during the banquet because he was the commander of the knights.

Astelle was also busy giving instructions to the maids and receiving greetings from nobles, so she didn’t even care if Seibel was there or not.

“It’s okay. I hope that it will be remembered as a pleasant banquet for you as well.”

Seibel spoke carefully to Astelle, “I’m sorry to dare say this, but the last banquet was the best I’ve ever seen in the imperial palace.”

It sounded like flattery, but Seibel’s eyes were calm and polite.

Astelle smiled faintly as she listened to his heartfelt praise.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been hosting an event, so I tried to make sure there were no mistakes, but I’m glad it went by smoothly.”

When Seibel was about to say something more, a low voice came from behind.

“Astelle.”

Kaizen and Vellian were walking into the greenhouse.

“Your Majesty?”

Astelle and Seibel stood up in surprise.

Walking in with a dissatisfied look, Kaizen asked, “What are you two doing?”

Astelle answered Kaizen’s question with a calm smile.

“We were talking about Theor’s class.”

Kaizen looked back at Seibel. Seibel also spoke politely.

“I was talking about what if we increase the number of classes because the Prince is a fast learner.”

Kaizen wasn’t happy at all. Rather, he muttered angrily.

“Theor is clever by nature and will learn quickly from anyone who teaches him.”

Seibel bowed his head in embarrassment. Astelle intervened in a moment and almost refuted, but she endured it because she couldn’t argue with the emperor in front of the subjects.

Instead, she forced a calm smile to soften the mood.

“Theor really likes Sir Seibel. I think one of the reasons he is a fast learner is because he follows his teacher, Sir Seibel, who teaches and guides him skillfully.”

“……”

But Kaizen did not answer.

The atmosphere was getting worse. Seibel bowed his head with an apologetic look.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. Then I will excuse myself.”

Noticing Kaizen’s unusual mood, Vellian was also about to run away.

“Your Majesty, then I will–”

“Yes, you go away too.”

Kaizen replied as if Vellian should leave quickly.

The two bowed to Astelle and went out of the greenhouse.

Kaizen didn’t say anything until the two of them left.

Astelle spoke to Kaizen first.

“Your Majesty, did something bad happen?”

“Nothing happened.”

“But why……”

Kaizen gave her a dissatisfied expression.

‘Is this because of Sir Seibel again?’

Could Sir Seibel ever do something that made Kaizen hate him?

At that time, Kaizen expressed his honest feelings with a look of despair.

“I’m jealous to see you with a man other than me.”

At that time, Astelle was more dumbfounded than angry and lost what to say.

Later, Kaizen again overturned his own words and allowed Seibel to be Theor’s teacher.

“I know, whatever you do with anyone, I don’t deserve to interfere.”

The face of Kaizen as he spoke so looked terribly lonely.

Since that day, Kaizen has not expressed his dissatisfaction to Sir Seibel.

When he saw Theor studying, he only praised him and never said anything bad about Sir Seibel.

‘But why are you doing this again all of a sudden?’

As Astelle looked at him in bewilderment, Kaizen made an excuse belatedly.

“……because there could be strange rumors.”

She was more dumbfounded when she heard this.

“Sir Seibel is visiting the empress’ palace as Theor’s teacher. How can there be any strange rumors?”

Kaizen tried to say something more but Theor appeared out of the window.

“Your Majesty!”

When he was playing in the garden and saw Kaizen, he rushed over here.

Theor opened the greenhouse door and walked in.

“Theor.”

When Theor’s appearance cut off the conversation between the two, Kaizen didn’t waste the opportunity.

“Shall we practice swordsmanship before dinner?”

“Sounds good!”

Kaizen avoided Astelle’s gaze and went outside with Theor.

‘What’s wrong with him…..?’

She was dumbfounded and sighed.

In the garden seen through the window, Kaizen and Theor were practicing with a wooden sword.

It was more like play than practice, but if it wasn’t now, there would be no time for the two of them to play, so Astelle didn’t want to interfere.

As she was about to go back into the palace, Hannah came into the greenhouse.

“Your Majesty.”

“Hannah? What’s going on?”

Hannah told her the news from the Reston mansion with a happy expression.

“Young Master Fritz will be back soon.”

***

Seibel was leaving the palace with Vellian.

After passing through the garden and leaving the palace entrance completely, he stopped at a quiet place.

“Vellian.”

“Yeah?”

Vellian stopped and looked at him.

Seibel stood there with a worried expression on his face.

“I think His Majesty the Emperor hates me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Today too……”

Seibel pondered for a moment, then asked again.

“Did His Majesty not say anything about me?”

“What?”

Vellian pretended to stutter for a moment, looked away, and answered nonchalantly.

“Well, he never said anything about you.”

“Really?”

Seibel sighed quietly. Vellian looked at his friend and clicked his tongue.

‘Do you think he hates you?’

It was an obvious reason.

The relationship between the emperor and empress is still sluggish and is getting colder, and he must feel bad as a young and handsome knight hangs around the empress.

No ordinary nobleman would like such a situation.

As Vellian thought of Astelle, he remembered the conversation with Florin.

Before she was released and left for the countryside, Florin said Astelle had set her up.

“This is all the empress’ trap. I am innocent.”

Florin insisted so.

Well, it wasn’t very ridiculous.

Astelle had a good reason to do so.