“…Do you really have to go?”
“You know that’s the seventh time you’ve asked that question, right?”
“And you’ve given the same answer seven times.”
“Yes, exactly. I really must go. It’s at nine in the morning, right?”
“Sigh.”
Late at night, a few days later, Ian, sitting beside me, rubbed his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.
On the other hand, I was busily preparing to sleep, pulling the blanket up to my chin with bright, clear eyes.
His troubled gaze lingered on me for a moment before dropping silently.
“I still think you’d be better off staying home…”
“I’m telling you, I’m fine.”
“But—”
“Ian, this is overprotection, you know that?”
I finally snapped at him. Ian closed his mouth and quietly stared at me.
His gaze was silent but carried faint traces of resentment toward the princess who had recently visited the grand duke’s residence.
The reason we were lying side by side on the bed, engaging in this pseudo-argument late into the night, was simple.
It was because I had learned about the punishment of Hayden Roger, the duke.
Tomorrow morning at nine, an unofficial verdict on his crimes was to be delivered in the audience hall of the imperial palace.
I was stubbornly insisting on witnessing it for myself, while Ian seemed determined to keep me safely hidden away at home.
Pulling the blanket up to my nose, I rolled my eyes and stole a glance at him.
“Ian, I’m really fine. I didn’t even get hurt that badly to begin with, and I’m not so frail as to faint just from seeing that man’s face again. Besides, it’s been days since it happened. The doctor said I’m healthy.”
“I simply do not wish to show you the wretched sight of that man.”
Ian’s gaze was filled with worry for me and distrust for Roger.
He hadn’t been this overprotective before I collapsed, but it seemed he had gone through some profound change of heart during the two weeks I was unconscious.
“I’m worried, that’s all.”
“…I understand how you feel, Ian, but…”
How could I give up a once-in-a-lifetime entertaining spectacle? This was the quintessential “satisfying moment” in a novel!
Suppressing words I couldn’t say to Ian, who looked so serious, I wiggled my lips beneath the blanket.
From what I’d heard, the knights of the grand duke’s residence had captured Roger at the scene that day and immediately transported him to the imperial palace.
Considering that he was caught red-handed, that there were clear evidence and a victim, and that the one who apprehended him was a grand duke, the decision to punish him had been made swiftly without tedious procedures.
However, since Roger was a close confidant of the emperor and belonged to one of the founding families of the empire, the punishment was to be carried out unofficially.
Meeting Ian’s gaze, which was still filled with concern, I stared back at him.
He seemed uneasy about the mere thought of me witnessing the trial from a distance.
‘I’m ready to enjoy it, so I just wish tomorrow would come already.’
I pulled the blanket up over my eyes to hide the faint smirk on my lips.
According to the princess, the emperor was also deeply angered and recognized the gravity of the situation, so Roger couldn’t avoid severe punishment.
‘If it’s revealed that Roger coerced Eloise into dark magic and even tried to kill her, he’ll face even harsher consequences.’
In truth, my desire to attend wasn’t just about seeing him punished.
I wanted him to see me, alive and well, and tell him that all his schemes were in vain.
Even in the darkened room, Ian, catching sight of my strangely gleaming eyes, wore a frustrated expression before finally letting out a defeated sigh and lying back down.
“…Get some rest for now.”
His voice, subdued and resigned, signaled his surrender to my stubborn resolve.
Even then, his hand lingered gently, tucking my hair behind my ear with care.
I turned to face him, offering a bright smile.
“Of course.”
❖ ❖ ❖
By the time we arrived at the imperial palace early the next morning, the front of the main building was crowded with noble carriages.
Though it was an unofficial verdict, it seemed all the aristocrats who mattered had shown up, leaving only the commoners unaware.
After all, they weren’t the type to miss such a grand spectacle.
Clinging to Ian, who still seemed displeased with the situation, I entered the audience hall, feeling the nobles’ gazes focus sharply on us.
More accurately, on me.
‘Now that I think about it, the rumors must have spread like wildfire by now.’
Ignoring their hushed whispers, I sat near the front with Ian.
It didn’t take long for me to spot Hayden Roger. He was seated not far away, bound tightly with ropes and wearing shackles.
Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to notice me.
‘And yet, he still looks oddly pristine.’
After weeks in a cell, one would expect him to look disheveled, but Roger appeared almost as composed as the last time I saw him.
No, it felt as though he was deliberately trying to appear that way.
Apart from slightly tousled hair, he didn’t resemble a criminal in the slightest, with his neat and tidy appearance almost unsettling.
As I observed him, a solemn hush fell over the hall, and the emperor entered.
“Hayden Roger, Duke of Roger.”
Seated on the throne, she called his name in a cold, quiet voice.
He lifted his head to meet her gaze.
“My Sun.”
Simultaneously, a bright smile spread across his face—a smile far too radiant for a criminal.
The hall buzzed with murmurs at the sight.
The emperor’s expression hardened visibly.
“…Do you understand the charges that have brought you here today?”
“At long last, you’re truly looking at me.”
Disregarding her question, his voice was chillingly tender as he spoke.
“I’ve always dreamed of a moment where it was just the two of us. Though, admittedly, I didn’t envision it happening under these circumstances.”
Roger smiled regretfully, as though he truly found the situation unfortunate.
The emperor’s face twisted in anger as she slammed her hand down on the armrest of the throne.
“Hayden Roger!”
She closed her eyes tightly and then opened them.
“You sent assassins over the years to threaten Grand Duke Claud’s life, and that wasn’t enough—you kidnapped the Grand Duchess and attempted to murder her. Do you acknowledge your crimes?”
“If I have a sin, it is only my loyalty to you.”
I quietly turned my head to look at Ian.
While kidnapping me was one thing, it seemed even the suspected assassination attempts on the Grand Duke had indeed been his doing.
Ian raised an eyebrow.
“It was only difficult to catch him red-handed. Now that the clear crime of abducting the Grand Duchess has been revealed, further investigation wasn’t too hard.”
So Ian and the emperor had known from the start.
Realizing this anew, I turned back to look at where Duke Roger sat.
Contrary to my expectation that he’d be desperately flailing, he remained calm—far beyond calm, even indifferent.
Instead, it was the emperor whose expression grew colder and colder.
“Are you truly not going to offer any excuses?”
“Your Majesty, my noble Sun.”
He raised his head and addressed her in a low voice.
“I have been loyal only to you. I would gladly leap into the flames for your sake. For it is my destiny to serve as the aide of the Sun of the glorious Levant Empire.”
“Hayden Roger.”
“Of course, it would have been even better had I been granted the position of your consort. But since you do not love me, I can accept that. One cannot presume to monopolize the Sun. However—”
In the taut atmosphere, his expression suddenly hardened.
“If Your Majesty, who ought to remain noble and flawless in your very existence, chooses to tarnish yourself by protecting a half-blood sibling instead of standing as my Sun, how could I, as your loyal servant, sit idly by?”
His soft voice poured cold water on the quiet hall, which soon erupted into murmurs.
And I, watching him say the same words he had once spoken to me now to the emperor, could only marvel, surpassing shock.
‘…He’s completely out of his mind.’
What sort of warped conviction leads to such a conclusion?
Ignoring the reactions of those around him, he stared directly at the emperor’s icy, no, frigid expression and continued.
“Although I failed in the end, that’s alright. Because now, Your Majesty is looking at me properly, like this. While my loyalty ends here—”
He smiled brightly.
“If I were to die by your hand, if you thought of me at that moment, if I were to die as one loyal to you—then that, too, would be the most perfect ending imaginable.”
He spoke with a face utterly devoid of concern, as if he were lost in a dream.
“Crazy bastard…”
Unlike my quiet shock, the emperor didn’t show further agitation despite his insane declarations, merely clenching her fist tightly.
The hall had fallen deathly silent, even the murmurs now extinguished, leaving an eerie stillness in their place.
After a few seconds, she finally opened her firmly closed lips, her voice unusually low.
“…Yes. Ordinarily, I should personally sever your head and display it as punishment for your crimes against the imperial family and its consort.”
She spoke up to that point and then lowered her cold azure eyes.
“But such an honorable death will not be yours to have.”
Her tone suggested the very idea was absurd.
Her face, emptied of any emotion—rage, disgust, even betrayal—looked brittle, like it might crumble.
“Your family has made no small contributions to the Levant Empire, so I have decided on a different judgment.”
As her monotonous voice delivered these words, Duke Roger’s ever-present smile began to fade.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“It means I will not personally execute you. It means I will not grant you the privilege of dying as a servant of the Sun, as you desire.”
“What…?”
At last realizing that something had gone terribly wrong, Hayden Roger’s previously composed face drained of color.
The emperor spoke again, hammering the final nail into his coffin.
“I will confiscate the title of Duke Roger, seize your family’s assets, and exile you from the Levant Empire forever. You will never set foot on this land again.”
As though doubting his own ears, Duke Roger remained frozen in place before bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes.
He screamed, his face turning red.
“This is absurd!”
• • •
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