Sorel returned to the imperial palace with the duke by force yesterday, but was locked in her own palace after returning. This was a direct order from the emperor after hearing the post-war situation. Sorel, who was normally calm, seemed to be extremely unstable when she did something so stupid, and if she went out in front of the nobles in that state, there was a high possibility that the situation would get worse. The emperor postponed formally hearing the duke’s position until today. Before that, he wanted to hear the situation from Sorel first. The person who answered the emperor’s question was Mikhail, who was standing quietly to one side.
“The princess said that she was only trying to shake off the spices and that she had no other intention.”
A feeling of absurdity passed over the faces of his subjects who heard his words. The Emperor asked again, looking closely at Mikhail’s pale face.
“You were with Sorel at the Duke’s residence. Why did Sorel go with you in the first place?”
Mikhail’s green eyes sank in confusion.
“The Princess said she would like to meet the Duchess and ask about the incident that occurred on the day of Her Highness’s wedding.”
After hearing Mikhail’s words, several of his subjects glanced at him with uncomfortable eyes. But that didn’t mean that someone on his way to carry out the emperor’s orders would take the princess without permission. How could a person called the vice-captain of the Knights handle things like that? Such views were also influenced by the chronic dissatisfaction that high-ranking nobles had toward Mikhail. The fact that a young man of low status rose to the rank of vice-captain of the Imperial Knights was enough to earn the attention of the nobles.
“Did you inform the other knights of that in advance?”
“No, Your Majesty. It was a decision I made alone… I didn’t tell anyone.”
It may be that they didn’t want to pass the blame on to others, but the nobles’ eyes towards Mikhail grew colder at those words. The emperor turned to the chamberlain and gave an order.
“Call Sorel. Because I want to hear her excuse in person.”
In fact, there was no need to hear Sorel’s position. Sorel had already explained to the Emperor last night what had happened. After explaining what had happened at the Duke’s house with a distraught expression, she cried and begged for forgiveness. The emperor did not console or reprimand Sorel. He just told her how he was going to handle this situation. Sorel cried and begged, but the emperor closed the door and came out. After a while, the chamberlain returned to the office with an embarrassed expression.
“Your Majesty, Princess Sorel said she has no reason to meet the Duke and that she cannot attend this event.”
“Doesn’t she have the decency to look at the duke?”
“Yes, she also said this.”
The Chamberlain looked at the Duke’s thoughts and relayed Sorel’s words.
“I have not been on good terms with the princess of the Rohan family for a long time, so I wanted to interfere with her treatment. She said she didn’t want her to suffer much, she just wanted her treatment to be delayed a little.”
Perplexed glances were exchanged among the subjects again. Wasn’t this a complete confession of one’s sins? They thought she would keep making excuses and get away with it, but they were surprised that she would admit it so clearly. Since she was caught at the scene, no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to get away with it.
“From what I heard, it seems that this happened because Sorel had a grudge against the princess and was trying to interfere with her treatment.”
The emperor spoke as if summarizing the situation. On the other hand, the Duke was a little embarrassed but still looked dissatisfied.
“Our Diane has only stayed in the mansion since she was young, and I don’t understand when she earned the princess’s hatred.”
“Children are naturally easily offended and fight. Anyway, she admitted she was wrong, so there’s no need to discuss it any further, right?”
The emperor appeased the duke and gently dismissed his comments. Then he looked around at his subjects and declared.
“Sorel will be stripped of her royal status for the time being and imprisoned in her villa.”
A look of bewilderment deepened on the faces of the watching subjects. Stripping the royal family of their status and imprisoning them? Since the princess could not be executed for something like this, it was in fact the highest punishment. Moreover, Sorel was a saint with strong healing powers and she was the emperor’s favorite daughter. Regardless of his likes or dislikes for Sorel, everyone could not understand the Emperor’s harsh decision. Even the Duke of Rohan seemed surprised to hear the Emperor’s words.
“The princess wasn’t even hurt, so I don’t think this would be too much punishment…”
“It is natural that she failed to set an example for herself as a princess and was swept away by her emotions and tried to harm her princess.”
Even the nobles who had been cautious in speaking up fell silent in response to the emperor’s firm rebuttal. The emperor had no intention of becoming the duke’s enemy in order to protect Sorel. If he was being picky, the duke would be on the Grand Duke’s side. The Grand Duke and Arentine were now quite close. Even the noble Rohan family could not be allowed to fall in that direction. In fact, there was a reason to imprison Sorel other than political purposes.
“Then let’s decide this matter that way. Stop walking away.”
The emperor defeated his subjects and headed to the princess’s palace where Sorel was imprisoned. Unlike the emperor’s palace, which was always crowded with people, the area where the princesses stayed was very quiet and secluded. After Eve left and Sorel was isolated, few people came to visit. As she walked down the garden path, his eyes half melted, the Emperor thought of Sorrel’s biological mother. She was a descendant of a family of shamans who had served the imperial family for generations. Even though she was a witch doctor, it didn’t mean she could perform incredibly powerful spells. The biggest effect she has was that she hurts someone a little when necessary. She only treated simple illnesses. Because it was something she could not do at any time, he did not even meet a woman called a witch doctor in the early days of his reign as emperor. With her abilities only at that level, it was easier to send her spies. Because witchcraft was such a meager ability, previous emperors did not keep witch doctors close to them or have much trust in them. Nevertheless, the reason the imperial family managed and protected the shaman family for generations was for one reason. That’s because the shaman family was the only one with a unique spell that could curse a saint. In order to actually use that spell, very special conditions had to be met, and it was very difficult to execute. In any case, it was the most important treasure for the imperial family. It would be a big deal if a princess with strong holy power rebelled against the imperial family or formed an alliance with an enemy country. She needed a leash to keep her under control at all times.
‘It’s like Eve doesn’t have any sexual power, so I didn’t even think about that.’
The problem was that when Sorel’s mother died suddenly, the line of magic was cut off. Although young Sorel inherited the lineage of a shaman, she never learned how to use magic.
‘So I shouldn’t have let that woman give birth to a princess.’
For no reason, this happened because the woman gave birth to her. Although it was he who fell for her temptation, the emperor blamed Sorel’s mother. When he found out that Sorel was born with poor holy abilities, he wanted to get rid of her. But even though she was useless as a princess, he would one day become a witch doctor like her mother, so he just left her alone.
‘In the end, it all ended up like this.’
The area near the princess’s palace was quiet and eerie, but Sorel’s inner room was guarded by soldiers and knights without any water leaks. The emperor opened Sorel’s door, which was tightly closed, and went inside. The room was dark with the curtains drawn. Sorel was lying on the bed motionless.
The Emperor walked to the window and drew back his curtains. The bright sunlight from the garden drew a ray of light in the dark room.
“I listened to what you said and thought about it carefully.”
The Emperor looked back at Sorel, who was lying on the bed, and said.
“No matter how much I think about it, there is no way to explain this incident. You must be thinking similarly.”
Sorel was still silent, but his silence was nothing short of an affirmation. The Emperor was not particularly interested in Sorel’s foolish behavior. But he pointed out the most important part of Sorel’s words. Sorel did not tell anyone about this incident. She only told her to get some spices, but she didn’t even tell her maid that she was going to use them in Diane’s room. Nevertheless, the Duke and Duchess hid their servants as if they had been waiting and caught Sorel at the scene. Even though no one except Mikhail knew that Sorel was going with him. Spies who were monitoring the dukedom reported that Eve had been frequenting the dukedom over the past few days. One day she said that after Eve’s visit, the Duchess got on her nerves and began to watch the princess’ bedroom. She said she was a duchess and that she was headed to the Grand Duchess today to meet Eve. As he remembered that information and listened to the duke’s story, her previous suspicions seemed to come together. The emperor looked back on his past events and eventually came to one conclusion. Looking back, he knew the answer from the moment he discovered Eve’s assassination plan.
“I don’t know what happened, but it seems like Eve has regained her precognitive abilities.”
* * *
She turned the dusty pages and read the ancient, winding letters. She read the entire book full of difficult characters, including an ancient dictionary, but once again, she couldn’t find what she was looking for.
She sighed and closed the bookshelf.
“There’s nothing special here either.”
This library was full of old books, but there were no books on witchcraft. Although there were legends and folktales that contained information related to witchcraft, most of them were vague or absurd.
She put down the book and sighed.
“There are so many books, but there isn’t a single piece of useful information.”
Bayan, who was leafing through books next to him, also covered the bookshelf with his front paw.
[Actually, it would be difficult to find out anything in a place like this. Real magic is passed down secretly only among family members.]
“Families? Is that also inherited like sexual power?”
[Of course. You can only use witchcraft if you inherit the bloodline of a witch doctor. There may be differences in level from family to family.]
“I see. It’s similar to a saint.”
In fact, saints were only born into the Albion family.
“If that’s the case, it would be difficult to find information.”
If the technology was passed down only through the family business, there was no way the information would have been disclosed to the outside world. Rather, it must have been actively hidden. It wouldn’t be good for them if they were discovered to be from a family of shamans. The Albion family is the imperial family that rules the empire, so the saint’s
Although it uses its presence as publicity. If such an ability was inherited in a powerless family, it would definitely be used by those in power. Moreover, unlike magic, the world’s perception of witchcraft seems to be rather poor. She climbed up the ladder to put back the book she had finished reading. The bookshelf was so high that she had to climb a long ladder to reach the top shelf.
As she was climbing up carefully to keep her balance, she heard the door opening behind her.
“Are you here again?”
She grabbed the bookshelf and turned around when she heard a familiar voice. The person who came in was Terence. She thought he would return late from the imperial palace today again because of Sorel.
“You came back early.”
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Translator Note:
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