Unlike the Duke, who repeatedly raised his eyes in surprise, Lasilia remained calm.
“I hope the punishment ends with dethronement. I want to avoid getting my head cut off.”
“That is… No, that won’t happen. That won’t happen! Your name is Piellion! No one but the Emperor can cut off your head!”
“Then that’s a relief. Can you confirm the verdict in advance with the judge on the condition that I plead guilty?”
“I can do it, but… No, I can’t.”
The Duke squeezed Lasilia’s shoulder.
“Karti, my beautiful daughter. Dethronement is unacceptable.”
His fingers digging into the flesh of her shoulders left pain. The Duke was so desperate.
“There is no other way, Duke.”
“No, there will be. Let’s postpone the trial. In the meantime, some way will come out. I’ll find a way to make it go away, even if it means building a new temple. No dethronement.”
“…You can’t keep fooling his majesty.”
“Why!”
Duke Piellion’s voice became more intense.
“It was definitely witchcraft. How many times has the shaman checked! If the order was wrong, there would have been a backlash. But both the shaman and you are safe. The mark will come back… Wait, did you check the mark?”
“There was no need to check.”
Because there was no way the mark would come back. Because she was not real.
“What does that mean?”
“The temple presented Marquis Parshad as a witness. You know what that means. The Marchioness was the one who changed my clothes.”
“Aha… It can’t be.”
The Duke, in despair, collapsed on the floor. Lasilia sat quietly in front of him.
“There is no other way than dethronement, Duke. Instead, we will be able to protect the name of Piellion. I just need to resign from this position.”
“That is… Will that happen? Karti, you lived to become an Empress, right? Can you really give up now?”
At this moment, she felt sorry for the Empress of Cartagena. She was sincere. It would have been fine if the Empress had really been the Emperor’s companion. If the mark hadn’t disappeared, they could have become a pair that loved each other so much, like the first demon and his companion. A seventeen-year-old courtier would not have lost her life unjustly. It was a pity. Sincerely.
“I guess I should. Isn’t that better than having your entire family turn into traitors and have their heads cut off?”
“It is… Okay, then… I will meet with the Supreme Court Justice.”
“You’ll have to hurry.”
“Okay…”
The Duke stood up with an ecstatic expression on his face. Her face, which was beautiful despite her age, looked like she had aged about five years in just one day.
* * *
“There you are again.”
Although he was demoted to the lowest rank of knight, Serven was still in charge of the Empress’s guard. He called the Duke to the North Tower to avoid Serven’s attention, but he knew that he would be noticed quickly as the place was already exposed. Still, it was fortunate that the Duke was caught after being sent away. Although it was surprising that the Emperor himself appeared rather than Serven.
“Because it’s my favorite place.”
Lasilia calmly accepted Lescal’s gaze. Just in case, there was no sign of mutation in the Emperor today. The influence of the blue moon seemed to have completely disappeared.
“This place?”
“Yes. I feel like going out. This is Lord Shriden’s territory, isn’t it?”
“…If you are.”
Lescal frowned for a moment and asked:
“Do you want to go to another territory?”
“Well… I don’t remember any place.”
“You can go now. If you want.”
He was a little excited to hear that he could leave the imperial palace. But Lasilia had her heart set on it.
‘I will be stuck with the Emperor the whole time. That’s not a good thing.’
She avoided answering and changed the topic.
“How did you get here?”
“Finding you.”
“How do you know I’m here?”
“Because it stinks.”
“…yes?”
“Now that I’m used to it, I can find you better.”
“…”
Those words made her realize again that the Emperor was different from ordinary humans, and that the feelings he had for his companion would also be different from what she understood.
“It would be like having eyes always on me. But that wasn’t what I was asking. Aren’t you here because you have something to tell me?”
“That’s right.”
Lescal looked around. Even though his gaze was obviously directed somewhere else, she had the illusion that he was still looking at her.
“But I think somewhere else would be better than here. There are no chairs here.”
“Is this a long story?”
Actually, there was nothing to ask. Now that the indictment had arrived, it was natural for the Emperor to check its contents. Lasilia looked at Lescal’s expression again. There didn’t seem to be any particular disturbance.
‘Is that possible?’
She didn’t know for sure, but shouldn’t he rush to it and ask if it’s true?
“Not really.”
However, Lescal shook his head lightly as if it was no big deal.
“I heard you can do it while sitting on a chair.”
“Oh, that’s because I have to sit next to you.It’s a little weird standing next to you.”
“…”
It was a strange thing. Regardless of the mark, the Emperor has not changed at all.
“Then.”
When Lasilia nodded her head, Lescal held out his arm as if waiting. Placing her hand on it produced a picturesque gesture worthy of being included in the book of etiquette as an example of an Emperor escorting his Empress.
* * *
“How do you want to file a complaint?”
As expected, that was the story. It was fortunate that she had prepared in advance. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to hide her embarrassment.
“A complaint?”
When Lasilia asked as if she didn’t know anything, Lescal, who was sitting next to her, raised his eyebrows.
“Didn’t the immature bird say anything?”
“No. I didn’t hear it.”
Lasilia kept the fact that she understood Pipi’s words a secret. But if she said that Pipi had told her something complicated like an indictment, then of course it would not make sense.
“This is absurd. I obviously flew away saying I would deliver it.”
“…”
It was like unintentionally turning Pipi into a liar.
‘I’m sorry, Pipi. I’ll apologize later.’
Lasilia turned her head slightly to avoid the gaze of the Emperor, whom she found too burdensome to meet on this street.
“What kind of accusation?”
“…The accusation is that you killed seventeen courtiers.”
The slightly narrowed eyes seemed to express that he did not believe what he was saying. Still, he couldn’t change his words.
“I don’t have anything to say. I’m sorry I don’t remember.”
Lasilia, clutching the hem of her skirt, closed her eyes and briefly said her prayer of repose for the dead.
“There is no need for that.”
Lescal said, placing his hand on the back of Lasilia’s hand. She didn’t know it, but it seemed like too much force had been used.
“There is no need to suffer from the past.”
Was it comfort? Was he comforting her even though he knew that the reason she killed those people was to lie to him?
“…It’s not easy. They say I killed them.”
“I don’t know if it’s accurate.”
“Didn’t they file a complaint because you have evidence?”
As Lasilia bit her lip with a bitter expression on her face, Lescal pulled his folded hands towards her.
“What do you want me to do?”
“…What do you mean?”
Lescal turned his hand over and hooked her fingers between his. Between the overlapped fingers, dazzling gold eyes sparkled today.
“I don’t think you want a trial.”
“Is this something I can avoid just because I don’t want to? Besides, His Majesty must be wondering whether the contents of the complaint are true.”
“…”
After looking at Lasilia for a moment, Lescal lowered his head and made their gaze very close. She couldn’t avoid it. If she dodged from this distance, she would be too visible.
“Curious.”
‘…I guess so.’
“So, won’t you tell me?”
Everything, not just the gaze, was close. The distance became too short and distorted her senses. The voice questioning her mistake was heard as a low whisper in this street.
“I am… I don’t remember. Why did I kill them?”
“There is a mark on your body that says you are my companion. They said it was disappearing. I heard you killed the courtiers who saw the body to hide the fact.”
“Okay… Okay. Unfortunately, I don’t remember.”
“Have you ever checked the mark since then?”
“Don’t you know that I can’t see it with my own eyes?”
“I have never seen any maids or palace servants attending the bath.”
“…yes. After losing my memory, I became unfamiliar with the touch of others.”
Unexpectedly, Lescal nodded his head.
“That’s good.”
“Yes?”
Lasilia did not understand what he was saying, and in the meantime, Lescal quickly changed the subject.
“If you don’t like the trial, say so. If you don’t like it, there will be no trial.”
This was equally incomprehensible. Why? The fact that the markings have disappeared meant that she may not be the companion. Why did the Emperor seem not to care about that?
“What if the accusation is true?”
Lasilia grabbed Lescal’s sleeve with her unconscious free hand. Lescal’s eyes fell on the quickly pulled sleeves.
“Are you still going to say there will be no trial? How can that be? Shouldn’t a companion have a mark?”
“I somehow like it when you do this.”
Lescal moved his hand that was being held by Lasilia. The next moment, for some reason, they were in a position with both hands clasped together.
“When you catch me first. At that time, it felt like I was the only one seeing it.”
“Why are you saying that now… No, please answer. Does your Majesty not believe the accusation?”
Lescal let out a small laugh.
“No, I don’t.”
“Why…?”
“Because I know that you are my companion. It doesn’t matter where the mark is.”
“The mark is… It probably exists to recognize that it is a companion.”
“The eyes are there to see.”
This meant that he could recognize things with things other than his eyes. Just as he found Lasilia in the North Tower by smell.
“…”
Her thoughts became complicated. There was confusion as to whether the fact that the Empress had lost her mark and the fact that the Empress was his companion might not have anything to do with it.
‘Anyway, she was born as a companion to the Emperor…? If the Emperor thinks that way, dethronement may not be easy.’
Lescal gently pulled Lasilia’s hand.
“You answer too. What do you want to do?”
“If there is no trial… Do you mean there is a way?”
“I’ll have to talk to the high priest.”
“If it was just talk, wouldn’t there be a reason to file a complaint?”
“We have to make it like that.”
She didn’t know. She guessed the Emperor had another way.
“…Would you consider that a favor of mine as well?”
But one thing was certain. The Emperor did not intend to make the trial a non-existent event for himself.
“I hope so.”
“What will you ask for in return?”
“…”
Instead of answering, the sound of swallowing was heard for a moment. Lasilia realized that Lescal’s golden eye was nailed somewhere on her face.
“Lips.”
“…”
“I want to kiss you.”
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
What a moment for the chapter to end lol
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on January, 14.
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