Episode 87

When I woke up, my back hurt.

I felt like I had slept deeply, so why was my body aching? It turned out it was because I had slept too well.

After meeting Lian and immediately falling asleep upon returning yesterday, I ended up sleeping for over twelve hours.

I thought I had been eating and sleeping well enough while I was held captive, but once I returned home, I realized just how much tension I’d been holding in all that time.

Even though my back ached, it was a refreshing morning, and I felt light as a feather.

After a quick wash, I stepped out of my bedroom to find a large dog and a small dog sitting side by side on the sofa in my reception room.

Rubbing my eyes and looking again, I saw Aiden and Lothania spring to their feet simultaneously.

“Good morning, Mother!”
“Good morning, Your Majesty.”

“Good morning to both of you… but, um, what are you doing here?”

When I asked in confusion, Lothania approached with a bright smile like morning sunshine and looped her arm through mine.

“We came to have breakfast with you!”

“Oh. Sorry about yesterday, Lottie. I ended up falling asleep.”

“It’s fine. We can eat together today instead!”

My daughter was both adorable and understanding.

When I suggested that we also have dinner together later, she beamed and clung to me.

With Lothania tucked under my arm, I turned to Aiden and asked, “Aiden, did something happen last night? What brings you here so early?”

“Duke Tilender says he’s here to guard you, Mother,” came the answer from my side.

Lothania explained that when she saw Aiden standing outside the door, she had let him in without asking me for permission and apologized.

It wasn’t a big deal since he hadn’t entered my bedroom, but what kind of guard comes this early in the morning?

“Don’t you think it’s unnecessary for you to guard me yourself anymore?”

“I intend to keep my eyes on Your Majesty at all times.”

I meant to tell him to rest now that Lian had been caught, but his reply felt… off.

Watching someone constantly like that made sense for a newborn or a dangerous criminal, neither of which I was.

And yet, his gaze didn’t seem like this was a decision he had made just this morning.

“Aiden, don’t tell me you spent the night here?”

When Aiden lowered his gaze and didn’t answer, Lothania responded on his behalf again.

“The maids told me he stayed outside the door all night.”

I knew it. No wonder the dark circles under his eyes looked so bad.

After all the trouble yesterday, why would he stay up all night?

From what I’d heard, he hadn’t rested properly while searching for me during my captivity.

I gave him a sharp glare.

“Be honest. When was the last time you lay in a bed and slept properly?”

Aiden glanced at me nervously, not uttering a word.

Was it so long ago he couldn’t even say?

Why don’t you do what other people manage to do every single day?

“Aiden, is your goal for this year to die of overwork? Are you trying to make it happen because there’s only a few months left?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Then why aren’t you sleeping? Go and get some rest immediately.”

Even when he had been a berserker, Aiden obeyed my words, but now he simply stood still with his head bowed.

I repeated myself more firmly.

“Aiden, I told you to go and rest. That’s an order.”

He flinched like a scolded child.

Still, he didn’t budge. Meanwhile, petite Lothania seemed to have caught a glimpse of his face as he looked down.

Rising on her tiptoes, she leaned into my ear and whispered, “Mother, Duke Tilender looks like he’s about to cry.”

Her words made me sigh.

What’s there to cry about when I’m just telling him to rest?

He looked like he was about to cry yesterday, too. Belpator’s loyal dog was a crybaby.

“Aiden.”

“I’m anxious that you might disappear again while I’m not around.”

When I called his name to soothe him, Aiden swallowed his tears and finally looked up.

Then he revealed the reason he had stayed, and after hearing him, my heart felt unsettled as well.

That day—on the day I was kidnapped by Lian—everything had happened during the brief moment Aiden had left my side.

Thinking about how he must have felt returning to an empty office, I could understand his feelings. But still, a person can’t just stop sleeping altogether.

I let out a deep sigh and asked Aiden again, “So, are you planning to defy me to the end?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

It wasn’t defiance, apparently.

Aiden looked at me with a pitiful expression, as though he were being dragged to his doom, then turned and trudged away. His slumped shoulders made him look so miserable that I felt sorry for him.

I almost considered letting him sleep here instead.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Once we moved to the dining room, Lothania made a surprising suggestion.

“Wouldn’t it be fine to give Duke Tilender a room? If he’s here to protect you, we’d all feel more at ease.”

“With all the guards stationed around like this? And we don’t need to worry anymore; dangerous things like that won’t happen again.”

I gestured to the guards stationed not only outside the dining room door but at every window as well. There were three times the usual number of guards surrounding the Empress’s Palace.

But Lothania narrowed her eyes, looking out the window, and spoke in a low voice. “That man is still alive.”

Her voice was chilling.

Even as she gazed at the dazzling autumn scenery, her eyes brimmed with murderous intent.

Only then did I realize she was looking far into the distance—at someone imprisoned out of sight.

Her reaction gave me a bad feeling about what was to come, so I decided to change the subject.

“Even so, giving Aiden a room here would be difficult. It would go against imperial etiquette.”

As much as it was for security, housing an unrelated man in the Empress’s Palace could raise issues.

Besides, Aiden wasn’t just any bodyguard—until recently, he had been one of my potential suitors. Given that I had been kidnapped after announcing my engagement to Lian, I wanted to avoid any more scandals.

Lothania turned her gaze from the window, her expression softening into a sweet, candy-like smile.

“Don’t worry about things like that. Your safety is more important than etiquette. Besides, Mel is staying in my palace, isn’t he?”

“Ah, Lottie. Speaking of Melbrid…”

“I know, Mother. I’ve already spoken with him. He asked to be sent to the same prison as his brother. Is that okay?”

“What? Why would Melbrid go to prison?”

“Because he’s his brother, of course.”

Lothania tilted her head as though it were the most obvious thing, leaving me momentarily speechless.

I had heard yesterday that Melbrid was staying at the Crown Princess’s palace and thought that at least the children were getting along fine, regardless of the adults’ troubles. I had intended to discuss moving him elsewhere since things would only get more complicated from here on. But prison? Why would that be his next destination?

I thought Lothania liked Melbrid, but now I wasn’t so sure.

Her expression was as cold as when she had been looking out the window earlier.

“Lottie, do you really think Melbrid belongs in prison?”

“His brother kidnapped you.”

“But Melbrid didn’t do it.”

“Still…”

Her eyes wavered.

I thought she might have grown to hate Melbrid, but her restrained expression suggested otherwise—she was suppressing her emotions.

Kidnapping the Empress could be considered treason, a crime punishable under the law of Belpator. Treason also implicated family members, but I had no intention of framing what happened to me as treason.

To charge a child, who had grown up so well despite being Lian’s brother, with treason? Ridiculous.

“Lottie, I have no intention of punishing Melbrid for something he didn’t do. While he can’t stay in your palace forever, there’s no reason for him to go to prison either.”

“Then… where will Mel go?” Lothania asked, her voice a mix of relief and concern.

That was the tricky part, and I couldn’t answer immediately.

The Zernia ducal residence was reportedly in ruins, and I had heard yesterday that its staff had all been arrested and taken to the guards’ prison. On top of that, with Lian’s crimes, the Zernia title would likely be stripped. I couldn’t send a twelve-year-old child to a desolate, abandoned house with no one to care for him.

“I was thinking about sending Melbrid back to the place he lived before coming to the Zernia estate. But we’ll discuss this with him first.”

“He doesn’t want to return to the Count Retain estate,” Lothania replied with a sullen expression.

She went on to tell me how Lian had disowned Melbrid before my kidnapping, transferring most of his wealth to his younger brother.

So Lian had worried that his crimes might implicate Melbrid and had tried to shield him in his own way. I scoffed at the irony—paying off debts with nonsense.

Melbrid, stubborn as he was, insisted on remaining his brother’s little shadow. A child who understood little and yet refused to let go.

I recalled the story of Melbrid crying, as told by Sione, and couldn’t help but let out a sigh as Lian’s dumbfounded face from that moment crossed my mind.