‘Surely, he didn’t overhear the conversation we had, right? We whispered on purpose, making sure no one was around.’
Before Anje could fully entertain her suspicions, William confirmed her worst fears with ease.
“You two seem to be getting along well. It looks like my matchmaking skills are even better than I expected.”
“…T-That’s right. Thanks to you, we’re doing well.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The realization that their affectionate exchange had been overheard by none other than William caused their faces to flush fiercely.
“The reason I requested an audience today is to discuss something regarding the Duke of Glasster.”
Aiden decided it was best to get to the main point while the Emperor was in a good mood and quickly brought up the matter about the Duke.
Leaning back on the imperial throne with a languid expression, William responded,
“It must be related to the mercenaries who were causing chaos through the palace grounds, right?”
Even though it had only just happened recently, William had quickly grasped the situation. Aiden nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct. Unfortunately, a rather complicated issue involving us has arisen.”
He then briefly explained the situation entangling himself, the Duke, and the imperial throne: Nancy Dilton and the late Emperor were not merely lovers but had held a secret wedding, making him not an illegitimate child but a legitimate imperial prince.
The duke, having uncovered this first, sought to place Aiden on the throne, but Aiden, had no desire for power, only wished to live peacefully as before.
William sat up midway through the explanation and listened carefully. Once Aiden finished speaking, William stared into the air, lost in thought for a moment.
“Hmm.”
His face was unreadable, showing neither anger nor shock, making it all the more nerve-wracking for the Fitzroy couple.
After a long silence, William suddenly called for Anje.
“Lady Gl—no, Mrs. Fitzroy.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What do you think? Don’t you want to be the Empress? You always wanted to sit on that throne, didn’t you?”
William gestured to the currently vacant Empress’s seat as he spoke.
Anje, her voice stiff with tension, answered as clearly as she could.
“No, I’m happy with my current life. And wanting to be Empress was my father’s desire, not mine. I may have mistaken his desire for my own in the past, but not anymore.”
William let out a soft laugh. The boredom faded from his face, replaced by a wild gleam of energy.
“‘My own desire,’ you say. That’s an interesting notion. Is my desire purely my own, or is it born of hatred? I’ve never considered that question before.”
His delicate fingertips lightly tapped the armrest.
“This situation is truly fascinating. Both my brother and I were so obsessed with this seat. Yet it turns out the true owner was someone else all along. And that someone happens to be the very person my brother dismissed as a pest, no less.”
When I visit my brother next month, I’ll have to tell him. His expression will be priceless. He murmured to himself, then burst into laughter again.
“But what’s even more ironic is that the true owner doesn’t even want this seat. Could the value of the throne have fallen so low?”
He muttered as if speaking to himself rather than anyone else, his gaze fixed in the air. Then, he shifted his attention to Aiden and Anje, raising the corners of his lips elegantly.
“The easiest course of action here would be to deal with you two and the Duke of Glasster and pretend the late Emperor’s secret marriage never happened. But I assume you’ve already prepared countermeasures?”
“…Yes. If anything happens to us, the relevant information will be sent to domestic and international newspapers, including the location of the marriage certificate for verification.”
Since Doug couldn’t read, it took quite a bit of time to organize the details into multiple letters and write each newspaper’s address on the envelopes.
William clasped his fingertips together and shrugged nonchalantly.
“Well, you’ve used your brain, Sir Aiden. Good job.”
It was a statement that sounded both like praise and something else entirely. Aiden, unable to discern what William was thinking, simply gave a slight nod.
The spark of energy faded from William’s face, as if a light had been extinguished. Leaning back against the throne, he waved his hand dismissively.
“In that case, I’ll handle the Duke of Glasster. We’ll say he attempted treason using forged documents, and Sir Aiden, who didn’t succumb to his enticements, reported him. That should suffice, right?”
“Yes, if you would handle it that way, we’d be most grateful.”
Could things really go this smoothly? Aiden and Anje couldn’t hide their astonishment, but fearing William might change his mind, they quickly offered their formal farewells.
“Then, we’ll take our leave and greet you again another time.”
“May peace always be with you.”
“Very well, you may go.”
As soon as the heavy door slammed shut, the attendant who had been loyally standing by the emperor’s side opened his mouth.
“Is it truly alright to let them go like this, Your Majesty?”
William’s personal attendant, David, had served by the emperor’s side for many years, fostering a relatively comfortable relationship that allowed the exchange of candid opinions.
William, closing his eyes as though annoyed, responded,
“You yourself confirmed that neither of them seems to have any ambitions for power, didn’t you, David?”
“That is true, but…”
David trailed off, recalling his previous mission to spy on the Dilton farm under the emperor’s orders. The young couple he observed, barefoot in the grass with straw hats on their heads, eating apples, seemed to have no aspirations for politics whatsoever.
Particularly Lady Fitzroy, who seemed as if she would never return to the high society of the capital, spent her time running barefoot across the lawn or learning acrobatics with Aiden’s help.
‘That proud daughter of the Glouster family? Kissing pigs? Grass stains on her knees?’
David had been so shocked that his glasses had nearly slipped off the bridge of his nose countless times.
“Even so, to ensure future safety, it might be better to eliminate them entirely to avoid any lingering threats.”
“What about the revelations they prepared?”
“Wouldn’t it suffice to investigate those they might have entrusted with the marriage certificate and eliminate them as well?”
“Tsk tsk, David, you would have been a disaster if you had become emperor. You would have been an even worse tyrant than me, wouldn’t you?”
Not that I’m one to talk, having dethroned my own brother, William chuckled.
David sighed. Judging by his reaction, it seemed impossible to convince William.
The emperor was strangely stubborn about certain things.
“In any case, Your Majesty, you’re far too lenient with Sir Aiden. Even in the past, you went out of your way to issue orders for an attack on the POW camp, didn’t you, giving him a chance to escape?”
“I have a debt of gratitude towards him. You could say it’s the last bit of conscience I have left.”
William retorted, holding out his sleeve, which had slipped down because a button had come undone.
The pale arm bore countless red scars, marks that seemed out of place on the emperor’s skin. They were identical to the burn scars beneath Aiden’s chest, inflicted by Philip with a lit cigarette.
David buttoned the emperor’s sleeve and tidied his attire. William despised showing those burn marks to anyone.
‘Ahh, Brother! Stop, please, stop!’
‘You insolent brat. How dare you glare at your older brother like that?’
Before Aiden arrived at the palace, Philip’s outlet for his rage against the world had been his younger brother, William. The reason? The arrogant younger sibling possessed the red eyes that Philip did not.
As a child, William had tried to understand his older brother. Philip’s appearance, so different from their father’s, combined with the former emperor’s indifference, had fueled rumors that Philip was not the emperor’s son but the illegitimate child of another man.
He tried to endure it—the way Philip swung his fists at him at the slightest provocation, the way he insulted him by calling him an idiot and a worthless fool, and even the way he used his body as an ashtray, saying there wasn’t one nearby.
David, who had entered the palace as the nanny’s son and grew up like a brother to him, cared for and comforted him, so he tried to force himself to be satisfied with just that.
However, he couldn’t bear to see Philip’s bullying extend even to David, who was a mere attendant.
He even sought help from the empress, but seeing her avoid his gaze, it was clear she intended to use her second son as a shield against the violence that might one day reach her as well.
The former emperor, perpetually intoxicated with opium or alcohol, was little more than a puppet incapable of coherent conversation and utterly indifferent to the affairs of the palace.
With no other choice, William prepared a final measure. He sharpened a long blade into a fine, pointed edge, hid it at his waist, and waited for the right moment.
‘Y-Your Majesty. A visitor… has arrived.’
If Aiden—Philip’s ideal target for all his hatred—had not appeared at just the right time, William would likely have stabbed Philip and taken his own life immediately afterward.
However, the moment Aiden appeared, with his black hair and red eyes that resembled the former emperor’s so closely and had monopolized his love, Philip’s hatred redirected itself.
‘Finally, I can survive now.’
William felt relieved but deliberately ignored the desperate, pleading look in Aiden’s eyes. The reality of having to be grateful for the fact that a scapegoat had replaced him was miserable, but he had no other option.
‘First, I must gain power.’
So that he wouldn’t be ignored just for being the second prince and so that neither he nor his people would ever again become Philip’s targets.
* * * *
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