Chapter 6

The day before Nella Valkirino visited the de Ach residence.

The nobles’ palace meeting had started in the morning, but barely came to a close late at night.

“Where should I take you, Your Majesty?”

Following Hadel, who had emerged from the meeting room, was a long line of attendants.

“I’m going to the lake. Nobody follow me.”

“But…”

“Do you think there exists anyone in this continent that can harm me?”

“…But, Your Majesty.”

“If you’re okay with your neck being cut off, go ahead and follow me.”

Seeing Hadel, whose expression did not change as he spoke such fierce words, the attendants could only bow their heads.

His words were the truth, after all. Hadel was the strongest warrior and the best swordsman on the continent. Even after multiple assassination attempts, he had not lost his life.

At this point, the assassins sent were rather pitiful.

“We’ve received your order.”

Seeing his attendants leave, Hadel went to the back of the royal palace, towards the lake.

This was where he went whenever his thoughts were complicated.

He particularly liked coming here at night, as he could think about Asha as he watched how the moonlight shone on the still lake.

“Whew…”

Hadel’s sigh flowed into the night fog and became one with the lake.

In the darkness, a single shadow approached.

“What is it, Taimon?”

It was his personal shadow guard who was always in the shadows following the Emperor.

“This might be presumptuous of me, Your Majesty.”

“Speak.”

“Why did you approve of it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Although he knew what Taimon was talking about, Hadel acted as if he didn’t know.

“…The issue about instating a queen. It is to my knowledge that Your Majesty has no plans on taking a queen.”

“Yes, you’re right. Such a useless thing is garbage to me.”

“So why did you approve the request of the nobles today?”

Taimon had been Hadel’s follower since he’d first entered the palace. That’s why Hadel was especially weak towards Taimon.

Although he was a tyrant to everyone else, he treated Taimon like a friend.

Looking at Taimon’s face for a second, he slowly opened his mouth.

“An approval, you say… I told them to do as they wished, not that I approved of it.”

“However… If you do so, they will definitely bring a queen.”

“They would. That’s why I told them to do what they want.”

Taimon blinked as if he didn’t understand Hadel’s response. After a moment of silence, Hadel continued.

“Even if I continue to reject them, those bothersome nobles will keep offering a queen. So, what can I do to stop their idiotic actions?”

“…”

“The answer is simple, Taimon. I just have to make them want to play it safe.”

Hadel’s gaze drifted towards a far spot in the lake. Although he had come out to see the moon, today, the moon was covered in clouds so he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of it.

“All I have to do is kill the queen that they offer. On the day the queen is appointed, I’ll kill her.”

Taimon gasped.

His master was a man who seemed to live without thinking about the future sometimes.

If he actually did that, the nobles would come to hate him, and the Imperial family might come to an end.

“I don’t need anyone. The person I need is already gone from this world.”

Who needs a world without Asha?

An empire that took Asha away from me can fall into ruin.

* * *

Shatter-!

An expensive chalice of wine worth ten million gelles hit the floor.

Nobody even glanced at the costly glass that made a mess with a loud smash.

“What… what are you saying?”

Lepea, shaking her shoulders and breathing loudly, was so angry that breaking the wine glass was not enough.

At this, Marquis Melliott tutted his tongue and shook his head.

“It seems you’re still not ready, Lepea. To think you’re so immature that you can’t even control your emotions.”

“Father! Answer me! Why is it that I couldn’t get chosen as the queen?” Lepea shouted, her waist-long silver hair gleaming.

Marquis Melliott, looking at his furious daughter, slowly opened his mouth. “It took ten years. It took ten years to get the Emperor’s approval on taking a queen.”

With the excuse that he had already gotten married before he was appointed as emperor, he refused to take an official empress, much less a queen.

And although some had argued that he needed to marry again because his wife had died, they were ignored.

He had even gone so far as to persecute the nobles who had strongly argued for this, destroying them politically.

That was why the Marquis’ plan to instate Lepea as the Empress had not come into fruition.

However, the situation had changed.

For some reason, the Emperor had not rejected the request this time.

Lepea, who had continuously tried to seduce the Emperor, had no doubt that she would become the Queen.

“This is my golden opportunity! I have silver hair and silver eyes. I do! You know that I’m the only one the Emperor cannot kill!”

Marquis Melliott was silent for a moment.

Lepea was not born with silver hair and silver eyes, but after finding out that the Emperor wouldn’t kill those of silver hair and silver eyes, she had changed her hair and eye color.

This was all so that she could become the Empress.

With a pitiful expression, Lepea fell to the carpeted floor in front of the Marquis.

“Please, Father. Please? You said you would make me into the Empress. My life is meaningless if I don’t become the Empress. The opportunity is right in front of my eyes, so are you telling me to give up the spot next to the Emperor to someone else? Please… Father!”

Even at her ardent pleas, the Marquis’ mind didn’t change.

“Lepea. You’re still not ready. If you truly want to become the Empress, you need to wait for now.”

“Father…!”

“This is the cruel and merciless Emperor we’re talking about. If you bother him even once, he will kill you indiscriminately. But even after bothering him, you are still alive. You are a valuable asset. You might even come to truly receive the Emperor’s love later on.

“T-Then!”

“That’s why your time is not now. It’s dangerous. Because we don’t know why the Emperor suddenly approved the instatement of a queen.”

On the outside, he was a tyrant emperor who thoughtlessly abused his power.

However, Marquis Melliott knew very well.

What a terrible monster the tiny prince who had been ignored since childhood had become.

“The Queen might actually be killed on the day of the appointment ceremony.”

At the Marquis’ addition, Lepea’s silver eyes widened.

They might die. She definitely didn’t want that.

“For now, we’ll just see how the Emperor treats the Queen and find out what he’s planning. It won’t be too late to move then. If things go awry, we can just silently get rid of that Queen.

“Father…! My goodness, how are you so brilliant?”

Although it was quite the cruel statement, to Lepea, it was the most brilliant plan in the world.

The father-daughter duo smiled.

* * *

“Okay, I want to sit down,” Nella, completely ignoring my words, said towards my father. As soon as she did, someone who seemed to be a maid came out of nowhere with a chair, placing it down gently behind Nella.

“Why are you all standing? My legs hurt, so I’m going to sit for now.”

It was a fancy chair covered in precious jewels.

Nella sat on the comfortable chair naturally, as if this was the norm for her.

“Until when are you all going to be standing like that? I came because I wanted to talk.”

Although she was the one who had intruded into the office and acted willfully, she wore a confused expression on her face.

At the bizarreness of her conduct, I barely managed to stop myself from frowning before speaking. “I would like some additional explanation.”

Nella snorted as soon as I finished my sentence.

All while not even looking at me.

“I don’t wish to speak to a maid. Viscount, I mentioned how I wanted to take Ariana as my younger sister last time.”

“…Yes. However, Ariana is-” Father inevitably opened his mouth slowly.

However, Nella didn’t even wait for him to finish speaking, and interrupted as she wished once more.

“Ah, it’s fine now. I don’t need Ariana anymore. Instead.”

Nella’s fancy purple eyes turned to me.

Within her gaze was disgust, as if she was looking at a bug, mixed with a deep greed.

“I need that. We’ll adopt her. From the Valkirino Duchy.”

What are you even saying?

My annoyance began to build.

It was obvious that if I spoke, Nella, who had the haughty mind of a noble, would not answer.

Next to me, Ercian was full of anger and opened his mouth to speak, but I told him not to with my eyes before turning to look at my father.

Father must have been of the same mind as me, as he nodded weakly.

“An adoption from the Duchy so suddenly… I need some more explanation.”

“Whew. How annoying. Just to earn a mere maid, I have to…”

As if Nella was truly irritated, she swept a hand through her hair before scowling.

She had the gaze and attitude of someone who had lived in luxury since birth.

“The Emperor has agreed to take on a queen. Honestly, I wanted to go, but.”

“What?”

It was a situation where I should have stayed still and watched, but the words escaped my mouth before I knew it.

I only survived because my father had stood up and shouted the same words a second earlier.

“Why are you so surprised, Viscount? It’s time for His Majesty to have an heir now, too. Although there were many problems since he had so stubbornly rejected this proposition in the past.”

“That’s… true.”

Wait. I thought he’d gone crazy because I’d died, so why did he approve the instatement of a queen?

What is he doing in the palace right now?

Though I did think that there must be a reason for it, there was nothing I could do about my anger.

“The spot of an empress is a position that I should be taking. But you all know, right? How crazy His Majesty is.”

“What does that have to do with this child?”

“It has everything to do with her. She has silver hair and silver eyes. The Emperor kills everyone without hesitation except for silver-colored women. Wasn’t this an open secret?”

For a moment, silence filled the study.

An emperor who kills anyone. And an emperor who cannot kill silver-colored women.

Hadel.

It’s because of me.

“If I go as the Queen, the Emperor might get angry and kill me. Then what? That would be bad. That’s why I need to use a shield first.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’ll monitor the situation after sending this child in, then go in as a queen yourself afterwards.”

“Correct. I don’t think a mere maid would be so outrageous as to try and seduce the Emperor. As for your appearance, it’s good enough. And seeing as the Emperor might do terrible things since she’ll be the first queen to be offered, don’t you think a servant is fit for the job?”

‘Seeing as the Emperor might do terrible things.’ What kind of nonsense is this?