The banquet ended in an uncomfortable atmosphere of cordiality.
Still, Grandfather invited them back to the hunting grounds the next day.
“I would love to drown them in the sea right now. I’ll be merciful for now. I believe we can extract important information from them,” is what he said.
Besides, when the Crown Prince was alive, the Eastern Continent was ready for war.
Grandfather didn’t fight wars after the empire stabilized. As it would only make the people’s lives worse.
Besides, the Eastern Continent is a distant and barren land. Even if we were to win and gain the land, the gains would be small compared to the cost of war.
***
After my lecture at the Academy, I made my way to the Imperial Library for the first time in a long time.
Entering the palace with Brantley, I spotted Viscount Munich striding in a hurry.
“Viscount!”
Viscount Munich greeted me as I rushed up to him. His expression was grim.
“What’s going on?” I asked him cautiously, “Shouldn’t the Viscount be at the hunting grounds?”
Viscount Munich was my grandfather’s aide. Because of that, he was always by my grandfather’s side.
Viscount Munich lowered his voice and said, “I have come to see Mahach at the behest of His Majesty.”
Mahach was one of the three key men accompanying the emissary. He was the Emperor’s tutor on the East Continent and the late Crown Prince’s maternal uncle.
“Mahach?”
“Yes. As he did not accompany me on the hunt today, His Majesty sent me to show his goodwill.”
“And you couldn’t meet him, right?”
“How do you know that?”
Viscount Munich asked in surprise.
“Viscount’s expression says it all.”
“Ah.”
Viscount Munich hung his head in embarrassment.
“He refused to meet, saying he’s not feeling well.”
There were 2 possibilities behind Mahach refusing the Emperor’s goodwill. Either he lacked the consciousness of an envoy. Or there were other circumstances.
Viscount Munich seemed very troubled by this. Going by Viscount Munich’s grim expression, lack of consciousness was possibly not the reason.
‘There were other reasons for his visit to Mahach.’
It was clear that Grandfather had ordered Viscount Munich to do something. Something masquerading as ‘sincerity’.
‘To grandfather, does Mahach seem different from the 2 Princes and the late Prince?’
Does he want to get additional information from him? Or is he trying to create a rift between the Princes and him?
But was Mahach really unaware?
He’s a seasoned politician. As the Crown Prince’s live-in chamberlain, he must have plenty of experience.
“I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but I must go,” Viscount Munich said in an impatient tone.
He seemed to be looking for another way to meet Mahach before the two Princes returned from the hunting grounds.
“Viscount, I too would like to visit Mahach and comfort him.”
“Princess, this isn’t the time for…”
‘If I go with you, I’m sure Mahach will open the door for me.’
Viscount Munich buzzed at her confident words.
“Does the Princess have a way?”
Hearing his question, I smiled.
***
A private palace in the Berg Empire.
The palace was used to house distinguished guests and envoys.
Mahach was in this quiet palace with a few servants. The rest of the envoys had all followed the two Princes to the hunting grounds.
Mahach had no servants in the room. He was kneeling facing west, muttering something in the Eastern Empire’s language.
Knock. Knock.
There was a knock on the door, but Mahach didn’t look up.
‘Mahach, you have a visitor.’
A servant’s voice came from outside the door. Mahach wiped his eyes with the wide sleeve of his robe and then glared at the door.
‘D*mn it, for the umpteenth time!’
He could not contain his anger.
It was obvious why Emperor Berg was sending one man after another. He wanted to get some information from him since he wasn’t accompanying the two Princes.
‘I never wanted to come to a place like this.’
The Emperor of the East sent Mahach to help the two Princes, who had never visited as envoys before. Mahach had traveled to other countries in the service of a deceased Crown Prince.
But he hadn’t recovered from the loss of the Crown Prince who passed away a few months earlier.
The third Prince is still guarding his brother’s tomb, while the other two are shamelessly trying to curry favor with His Majesty without hiding it! Even though the third Prince is the biological brother of the Crown Prince, while the others are half-siblings, this is just too much.
Are they not exerting all their efforts to gain favor in the eyes of the Emperor as if they’ve been waiting for the Crown Prince to die?
“To assist such individuals…”
Although he followed the Emperor’s command, Mahach hated this from the beginning. He intended to fulfill only the minimum obligation and then leave. That’s why he attended official banquets but avoided going to the hunting grounds.
‘But the Emperor of Berg keeps sending people to bother me.’
Mahach quietly wanted to mourn his nephew. He shouted towards the door, “Didn’t I say I didn’t want to meet anyone today? If anyone bothers me again, I’ll…!”
“I’ve come to greet Mahach and pay respects to the late Crown Prince.”
Mahach stopped dead in his tracks. From the doorway came a soft, feminine voice. The woman was speaking in the language of the Easterners with a foreign accent.
But it was a voice he was familiar with.
“‘The Princess of Berg?”
It was an unforgettable voice. As she was the one who dealt a blow to the despicable Gallota at the banquet last night. How refreshing that moment was!
However, even if it was her, Mahach had no intention of opening the door. He assumed she was there on behalf of the Emperor to “show courtesy” to him.
But she said something unexpected. “I’ve come to pay respects to the late Crown Prince.”
The Eastern Continent had already moved on from the Crown Prince’s death, everyone was only interested in who would become the new Crown Prince. Mahach thought Berg would also be the same. No one cared about the dead Prince.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ was a common dialogue he often heard.
No one came to mourn the Crown Prince alone, as the Princess did. Though there may be an ulterior motive.
A quid pro quo.
Nevertheless, Mahach found himself unknowingly opening the door.
“!”.
Opening the door, Mahach was surprised once again. The lady outside was wearing dark clothes with a black ribbon tied around her head like a headband, which was worn during mourning in the Eastern Continent.
“Don’t be heartbroken Mahach. I’m sure His Highness is watching you from above.’
Even the words of comfort she offered and the gesture of placing both hands on her chest for greeting were part of the Eastern Continent’s mourning ritual.
“P-Please come in.”
Mahach found himself inviting the Princess into the room without realizing it.
At her side was the emperor’s aide who had come in the morning, but he didn’t bother to reply to him.
He, too, was dressed in mourning and greeted like the Princess.
Viscount Munich, seated by Mahach, said, “The Princess said she wished to “comfort” you, Mahach, who must be grieving, so I have come with her.”
He, too, spoke fluent Eastern Language. Mahach already knew he spoke some East Continental languages as an aide to the Emperor.
‘But to think the Princess would too…’
It was not as good as Viscount Munich’s, but it was not bad.
“The Princess speaks the language well.”
“I learned it because I am interested in the East.”
In truth, she had learned it because of the Morning Glory, but she didn’t want to tell him, for fear that the conversation would veer off course.
Luckily, Mahach was unsuspicious and nodded.
‘But how does the Princess want to honor our Crown Prince?’ Mahach asked bluntly.
Though he sounded suspicious, his demeanor was softened from before.
Hanerope spoke softly.
“I have heard that the Crown Prince was a good man and that he has strengthened relations with the island nations around the divided Eastern Continent.”
“His Highness was even willing to go to war with the Berg. Do you still think of him as a good man?’
“To be honest, I was a little scared at the time, but it was for the good of the Eastern Continent, and I can understand his concern for his country. Of course, I only know what I heard from others.”
“You’ve heard right. The Crown Prince was a man who loved his country and his people.’
Mahach muttered tearfully.
Hanerope looked into Mahach’s dark eyes and said.
“What was the Crown Prince like, Mahach, I’d like to hear it from the man who loved him.”
“He was…”
Mahach started to talk with tears in his eyes.
Then, as if he had been waiting, he began to pour out his longing for the Crown Prince.
As if he wanted someone to hear his grief.
***
It wasn’t until nightfall that we left Mahach’ quarters.
It wasn’t a problem when Mahach finally shared his bottled feelings. He ended up sobbing in front of me.
I felt my own tears stinging.
Viscount Munich, who was sobbing into his handkerchief, smiled as soon as he left the palace.
“I didn’t expect Mahach to be so eloquent. His Majesty will be pleased to hear that he suspects the Fourth Prince of being behind the Crown Prince’s assassination.”
Viscount Munich, having secured several favorable hands in the negotiations, did not hide his delight.
“How did the Princess know that Mahach would open the door for her if she expressed her desire to honor the Crown Prince?”
“From the first day he arrived as an envoy, Mahach, unlike the two Princes, wore dark clothes, a sign of mourning.”
The two Crown Princes deliberately wore more colorful clothes, perhaps to show off the prosperity of the East.
But Mahach was still mourning the Crown Prince.
“That’s right. Also, Mahach was the stepfather of the late Crown Prince. But I tried to comfort him several times to open his heart. But he didn’t even budge. So I thought he wanted to be alone.”
“Mahach didn’t want to be alone. He actually wanted to talk about the Crown Prince with someone.”
