21. The one the empire has been waiting for.
“Open the gate!”
“Open the gate!”
The messenger ran at full speed and shouted urgently in front of the castle gate.
“Who are you!”
“Open the gates quickly so the king can pass right through! He said he would behead anyone who stops him from speaking!”
The messenger raised his voice, waving Izar’s robes like a flag.
The pure white robe, which sheds a brilliant light under the sunlight every time it flutters, was more proof than a badge of identity.
The captain who was on guard immediately blew his whistle and summoned nearby knights.
The king’s shadow was already visible on the horizon.
Thirty knights were enough to open the heavy wooden door, which was two spans thick, but he called for fifty.
Just as he said, the king did not slow down his horse at all, declaring his desire to pass right away.
His vague appearance became clear for a moment, and in a moment he would probably be close enough to hear the sound of his horses’ hooves.
“Open it quickly!”
The captain in charge of guarding the castle gate encouraged the knights and pulled the pulley with such force that his face turned red.
As soon as the latch was removed, the door opened faster than usual.
And as soon as both gates were opened, a cloud of dust flew up and the sharp sound of horseshoes struck his ears.
It was truly breathtaking.
He was curious about what was going on, but instead of voicing his curiosity, the captain quickly closed the gate.
The expression on the king’s face as he passed by on horseback was horribly frozen.
This was not a good sign.
***
“Mother!”
Unlike how he usually treated the horse kindly, Izar grabbed the reins roughly and stopped him, then jumped down to the ground and shouted.
“She is in the East Garden.”
The chief chamberlain of the castle answered politely, deftly catching the riding gloves that Izar had thrown into the air.
“Is she taking care of flowers?”
“Yes, my king.”
“In times like these, a fragrant tea is perfect.”
“I will prepare a tea of your choice.”
Contrary to his statement that he was preparing tea, the chamberlain did not follow Izar and followed all the attendants along the way.
Since he had been taking care of him since he was young, he could sense that he wanted to spend time alone with the former queen without him altering any special orders.
Tuk tak.
The road from the main castle to the eastern flower garden was quiet, without a single ant sound.
There was still an escort following him secretly, but he wouldn’t hear a single breath from him until he gives an order.
As cold sweat began to form on his smooth forehead, a colorful flower garden began to come into view.
“Mother.”
Izar gently removed the waving green branches and called out to Queen Seon, who was holding flower scissors.
Click.
“Mother.”
Click.
With each movement of the silver scissors, a large yellow rose was cut out.
“The bunches are big and the colors are pretty, don’t you like it?”
At Izar’s words, the well-honed silver scissors stopped with their edges open.
“You think It’s a waste, Your majesty?”
The former Queen Seon smiled while holding the sparkling scissors.
It was an elegant smile that made even the wrinkles around her eyes look noble.
Izar smiled as he looked at the light green eyes shining through his curved eyes.
“How would I know?”
“Your majesty, to get the biggest and best flower, you have to cut off everything that’s blooming on the side branches, no matter how pretty they are.”
“Oh my.”
The Queen Seon’s feet were full of lovely roses.
However, there was no such thing as regret on her face.
“That’s the way it is. Your Majesty must have that one flower.”
“Mother.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“What did you hear from the High Priest of Termina?”
“Why, after seeing the princess, did you become curious?”
“I haven’t seen the princess.”
It was at that time that the Queen Seon, who had been smiling benevolently the entire time, had her mouth closed coldly.
“Did you lose the princess?”
Queen Seon’s smile disappeared and she had a frighteningly heartless face.
The downcast gaze and overwhelming tone of voice were very natural for someone who had been ruling her entire life.
“Did you lose her?”
Even though it felt like she was going to hit his head at any moment, Izar didn’t look nervous at all.
Instead, he grinned.
“Oh, to my horror, I almost lost her.”
Upon hearing that she was not yet out of his grasp, Queen Seon’s stiff cheeks softened.
“Your Majesty has developed a bad habit of teasing old people.”
The former Queen, who was audibly prickly, laughed softly, like Izar.
“No. Mom, I was so surprised that I ran there too.”
“Gold is not omnipotent, but it makes many things possible. So don’t worry too much. Did they ask for more? Then give them more.”
“No, the gold is not the problem. Please tell me what the High Priest said. Then I can decide to what extent I should make my move.”
“To what extent?”
Queen Seon, who whispered softly as if gauging the meaning of the words, tightened her grip and cut off the rose buds on the scissors blade.
There was a clicking sound and the lovely flower bud fell straight into the dirt.
Queen Seon, who was looking at its figure with lowered eyes, let out a soft voice.
“Three years ago, the high priest of Termina locked himself in a holy place and prayed for a year. In fact, it was a confinement. He incurred the Emperor’s wrath.”
“Are you saying that the Emperor of Termina has imprisoned the High Priest?”
He did know that the Emperor of Termina was eccentric, but he never thought it would be like this.
The temple is God’s domain, and priests do not follow ‘human’ laws such as imperial law or kingdom law.
This had never been broken since the continent was created, and no one could get involved in the priest’s affairs.
But, the Emperor imprisoned the high priest?
And the high priest obeyed that?
“Is that…how is that possible?”
“It is said that the high priest felt sorry for the princess and put a lot of effort into it.”
Queen Seon skillfully put the scissors into the inside pocket of her dress and walked away.
Izar followed behind and listened to the story.
It is said that the high priest, who could not bear to see the princess being persecuted, protested and incurred the Emperor’s wrath, and the princess was on the verge of being whipped out of anger.
“So he came forward. He said he did it by himself and he should be punished.”
“Why did he do that?”
“The one the empire has been waiting for for a long time.”
But wasn’t the princess just a descendant of Termina at most?
The former Queen seemed to have noticed the young doubt in Izar’s expression and whispered meaningfully.
“It’s a prophecy or an oracle, you can call it whatever you want, Your Majesty. It is Sufficient to say that this is a ‘metaphorical’ expression.”
“Metaphorical.”
“Baloch, was at the beginning of Termina, could be called an empire itself.”
‘Baloch, who has obtained Termina, will finally be freed from his long bondage.’
“The one the empire has been waiting for for a long time.”
What does this mean?
Izar’s heart rang as the former queen whispered words like a sigh.
“Baloch’s Collar.”
Queen Seon only laughed at Izar’s words and did not give any answer.
***
The luncheon was great.
Baloch Territory was a barren permafrost that was frozen everywhere.
But that’s not all.
In order to enter the land where monsters were constantly crawling out, one would have to overcome seven castles, and the warp camp was also half a day away from the main castle to prepare for any unexpected situation.
The supply and demand of materials would be very difficult.
However, not only were there fresh vegetables on the plate, but there were also apples for dessert, which were not plentiful but were difficult to obtain even in the imperial family at this time.
Crunch.
Bianca was silently amazed as she took a bite of the juicy apple.
Originally, Bianca was quite fond of apples, but there was no way she would be allowed to eat fruits, as her living and breathing was in itself a sin.
She had very little of it at banquets.
And sometimes at tea time.
Since it was a fruit that made a sound, even when I had the chance, all I could do was try a bite.
But they gave me three fruits!
“Please eat more.”
“Ha..”
Did I eat too greedily?
Bianca blushed at the plate in front of her.
“The North stores everything. Only things that are good for storage are available, so there aren’t a lot of other things, but we have quite a lot of things like apples, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.”
I had never even thought about storing fruit.
“We also dry things like grapes and make jam from soft-fleshed berries.”
“Yes…”
Bianca couldn’t hide her bewildered expression.
“Because you are the hostess of this place. You should know how we live in ‘our home.’”
Uh?
Just a little bit.
Didn’t Jillian’s expression suddenly become cold as he pronounced it as “our home”?
“Purchases tend to be carried out through multiple merchants. If it is done only through one source, it will attract the attention of the imperial family.”
However, Bianca thought she was mistaken because of his honest words that did not hide hid true feelings about the imperial family.
When I glanced at Jillian again, hid expression was as neat as usual, his tone of voice was neutral, and his words was kind.
So, during the tea time that naturally followed lunch, Bianca listened carefully to Jillian’s story about the nature of ‘Baloch’.
Now that my body is feeling better, it is time to take over management of my residence.
After talking about food sources, a brief explanation of the castle followed.
Although Hailey, the head maid, had already guided her on the first day, Bianca was so confused then that she couldn’t remember the details, so she was very happy to hear Jillian’s explanation.
“There are secret passages hidden in the rooms at both ends of each floor. Each room at the end of the floor is connected by a secret passageway, with the Duke and Duchess’ bedroom on the third floor, the office and study on the second floor, and the kitchen and warehouse on the first floor.”
“Yes, I will memorize it well.”
The study.
Bianca took to heart the words that the office and study were at the end of the second floor.
I was planning on looking for the prophecy that only northerners knew about.
I was already thinking of asking where the study was, but now I find out!
Bianca knew who she was.
Although she was abandoned, in the eyes of others, she was the princess of Termina.
Every word, every insignificant action may cause misunderstanding.
“The secret passage can only be opened in a special way, so I will inform you the way you do it separately soon.”
“Yes, thank you. By the way, Jillian, can I use the study?”
“Sure, Madam. This is your home.”
“Thank you.”
“You can read the books there.”
……What are you talking about?
“No matter how much I tell you that it’s your house or our house, you won’t believe me, so I’m going to tell you everything little by little until you know.”
Uh?
Bianca lowered her eyes and looked at Jillian, her lips parted slightly.
Just now..
“You can use all the books in the library/ study without any restrictions.”
“Jillian?”
“There are originally no banned books in Baloch for you, but I will allow you to read all the banned books we have , so you don’t have to worry.”
No way now.
“Because it’s your home.”
If I tell you this about 10 million more times, will you believe me?
Jillian sighed and whispered audibly.
“Of course, you can take the books in the library and read them. This is your home, and everything in it is yours.”
……Are you sulky?1Well, what do you think >.<
