“Episode 14”
“Catherine, didn’t you say you were engaged to His Majesty since you were young? I heard it from your father, but my memory isn’t great, so I might have forgotten, right?”
“It’s in the past. What’s the use of bringing up old matters now?” Catherine replied, glancing at me.
“Even if it’s in the past, if your feelings are still current, the conversation changes, doesn’t it?” Melanie pointed out sharply, wrinkling her nose.
“Oh my, goodness! So, Catherine could have been destined for the empress’s seat…! Oh, I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Persilini, sitting beside Melanie, chimed in with a belated attempt at damage control, presenting a clumsy performance. I simply took a sip of tea without reacting to Persilini’s slip of the tongue.
“Forgive the nonsense that slipped out due to such a surprising fact. Please forgive me, Your Majesty,” Persilini lowered her head again with a spiteful tone. I gestured that it was alright, albeit barely avoiding raising my middle finger. Now, all eyes were on Catherine, who had the highest chance of becoming the Empress of the Lapyon Empire. She deliberately diverted attention by casually nibbling on a cookie, pretending as if the chaotic atmosphere had nothing to do with her. Catherine, who had been engaged to the emperor since childhood, what could she have been thinking watching the emperor’s wedding? Now I understood the chilling glare Catherine had given me when I entered the reception room. As I was just the acting empress and would eventually step down from this position, I wondered about the fate of Princess Lesilia, who would become the remarried empress after Catherine entered the harem.
“Yes, that’s right! The current Empress herself is the third concubine’s daughter, isn’t she?”
What? Rinel is the daughter of a concubine?
“Your Majesty, did you really not know this fact?” Melanie asked, as if questioning how I could have been unaware that the emperor remarried.
Well, I didn’t know. So what? Is it such a big deal that I didn’t know?
“Is there any reason I should have known?”
But even as I said this, a lie slipped out in a dignified tone.
“Is that really true, Your Majesty?” Catherine asked, raising her eyebrows.
“Of course,” I replied.
Oddly, it was Catherine who seemed flustered by my calm response. Oh, I’m tired. Maintaining a smile and making eye contact with each noble lady was more exhausting than I had anticipated. The only time I could hide my weary expression was when I brought a small teacup to my lips. I scrutinized each of the noble ladies’ faces. They were all beautiful in their own right, but none could compare to Princess Lesilia. If Lesilia were sitting in this empress’s seat instead of me, the confident gazes of these noble ladies would have paled in comparison to the princess’s beauty. The tea time, meaningless and insincere, dragged on slowly with the artificial laughter of the noble ladies. When I glanced at Sharon, she approached me.
“It’s time for Your Majesty to go to the office.”
Sharon’s words sounded like salvation.
“Alright.”
In truth, the meeting with Rinel was scheduled after lunch. Sharon, who was monitoring my mood, subtly advanced the time to return to the main palace. I put on a disappointed expression and addressed the noble ladies.
“The ladies may stay here and continue their conversation. It would be more comfortable for everyone to chat without me present, wouldn’t it?”
As I rose from the sofa, the ladies also stood up one by one and greeted me. I wanted to rush to the reception room’s door, but I maintained my dignity with each step.
“Your Majesty?”
I was about to reach the reception room door when I heard a slow, deliberate voice, as if calling out to someone lower in rank. It was Catherine.
“What is it?”
Trying not to frown, I turned back again.
“What’s the matter?”
Four of the ladies walked forward simultaneously and greeted me again.
“It’s us.”
“Us?”
“We are the concubines who will serve Your Majesty. Your Majesty, the Empress.”
…What? The concubines are already decided? It was absurd. Behind the absurdity was a feeling of humiliation, but I suppressed my emotions and looked at their faces one by one. Indeed, they were the concubine candidates I had been silently anticipating throughout tea time.
“The Empress should probably turn towards the main palace now.”
“Yeah, I should. Let’s go and hear what they have to say.”
I was curious about his excuse. *** I am just a regent Empress, after all. As I entered the main palace lobby, I steadied my mind. Even as I climbed the central staircase, I kept reminding myself of those words. While it might seem too early for concubines to be chosen, in the Shatoni Empire, no king had ever abstained from having concubines. I knew well that the Emperor’s power did not originate from one person alone. To strengthen imperial authority, the Emperor needed to maintain close relations with powerful noble families. The easiest way to gain their support without resorting to force was by accepting the noble families’ daughters as concubines. The number of concubines from influential noble families also symbolized the power of the imperial authority. However, the voice inside me had a different opinion.
“But still, bringing in concubines so quickly seems too reckless!”
I had been grumbling and sulking since meeting the ladies in the reception room. ***
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
Upon arriving at the office, Secretary Raphael greeted me. After exchanging pleasantries, he looked around and leaned in closer to whisper.
“Your Majesty, she has been waiting for you since earlier.”
“Is that so? Thank you.”
As I briefly smiled at Raphael, he nodded and personally opened the door to the office. Without properly checking which direction Rinel was in, I greeted her while lifting my dress slightly.
“He said, pulling up the hem of my dress slowly.”
“I wish Rinel had told me in advance too.”
Instead of smiling as I intended to, my lips seemed to curl in a sneer, giving off an air of disdain. I had tried to casually bring up the topic of concubines, but it seemed like I had been mistaken from the start.
“What do you mean? Your expression makes it seem like I’ve done something wrong.”
Rinel asked, exuding an air of incredulity that she could be at fault. Without the need for a lengthy explanation, I went straight to the point.
“There’s nothing wrong with bringing in concubines.”
With just that sentence, he would understand what I was getting at.
“What…?”
He looked surprised, but didn’t seem completely incredulous, as if he had heard something slightly unexpected.
“Zelda, where did you hear that?”
Rinel asked, furrowing his brow, while my dress hem continued to be lifted by his hand.
