122. The Weight of the Crown

With this crown in my hands and my promise to keep my word to him, we each held the other’s leash.

As I crumpled the paper, his neat handwriting became so distorted that it was almost unrecognizable.

Smuggling the crown out of the palace. Cultural artifact theft. Loss. Damage. Ominous thoughts swirled in my mind.

No one dared to speak up out of fear of him, but surely there were many nobles who opposed his early ascension.

What if it was poorly stored and someone stole it? Or worse, what if I ran off with it?

One thing was certain: the crown definitely didn’t belong here.

I closed the box and tucked it securely under my arm. Then, I tapped on the glass window separating me from the coachman. He turned to look at me in response to the small noise.

“Is the carriage too bumpy for you?”

The coachman sent by Edan spoke kindly to me, but instead of answering, I shook my head.

“Turn the carriage back to the palace.”

Even as I said this, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was falling into his trap. He knew exactly how to lure me back to the palace.

* * *

I barged into his office.

Before the guards could even speak, I kicked the door open. I couldn’t open it gently with my hands since they were full, carrying the heavy box. The guards, who had tried to stop me, flinched at my fierce demeanor.

Deon, sitting at his desk, lifted his eyes from his documents. Despite my rude entrance, he greeted me calmly.

“Leonie, why are you back?”

Instead of answering, I slammed the heavy box onto his desk. Even as I did so, I winced, fearing the crown inside might get damaged.

However, he didn’t even flinch at the loud noise. He seemed utterly indifferent, even as the precious crown hit the desk.

“What are you thinking?”

“About what?”

He set down the pen he had been holding, his movements unhurried.

“What if I run away with this or sell it?”

“What kind of merchant would dare buy a stolen crown? Even if you sold the jewels one by one, it would be discovered immediately.”

He chuckled.

“Then why give it to me?”

His smile faded slightly as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. He looked at me with an expression that seemed to combine amusement and seriousness.

“Because I trust you.”

“Trust me? Deon, this is madness. This crown belongs in the palace, not with me.”

“Leonie, you promised to crown me. Do you think I would just let that go?”

His voice was soft but firm. He wasn’t joking; he genuinely believed in the promise I had made.

“I promised that when I didn’t even understand what it meant.”

“Yet, a promise is a promise. And now you understand.”

He stood up, moving around the desk until he was standing right in front of me. His eyes bore into mine, intense and unwavering.

“I know you won’t run away. You’re not the type to break a promise.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but deep down, I knew he was right. Even now, holding the crown, I felt the weight of the promise I had made.

He reached out, gently taking the box from my hands and placing it carefully on the desk.

“Stay, Leonie. Fulfill your promise. It’s not just about the crown; it’s about everything we’ve been through together.”

His words, combined with the weight of the crown and the memories we shared, made it impossible for me to refuse.

“Do you need money, Leonie? If you need it, just tell me.”

He opened a file on his desk and handed me a crisp sheet of paper.

“If it’s embarrassing to say the amount, just write it down.”

Seeing his relaxed face made my blood boil.

“How much do you think I’ll spend? Is it okay if it’s enough to shake the Imperial Family? Can you handle it? If the nobles find out, you might really have to give up the crown.”

I scoffed at his nonchalance.

“It’s fine. If you want to sell it, sell it.”

But he responded slyly to my sharp words.

“Then you won’t be able to become emperor.”

“Then I won’t. The reason I became emperor is because of you.”

Inside the box I glimpsed, the crown was encrusted with ancient jewels. It looked as if it was adorned with the eyes of the former emperors.

The number of jewels matched the number of portraits in the Imperial Hallway. There were sixteen in total. And at the very end, there was a blue jewel resembling his eyes.

I roughly opened the box. It toppled over, and the crown rolled out with a sharp sound.

I slipped the crown onto my finger, balancing it precariously as if it might drop. It was heavy enough to bend my finger. Despite the precariousness, Deon didn’t even flinch.

“Can I drop it? Are you really okay with that?”

“It’s fine. You’ve grown timid. Shaking over a mere lump of gold.”

He got up from his seat and walked around the desk to stand in front of me.

“I’ve kept every promise I made to you. Asking you to make me emperor. Making sure you placed the crown on my head at the coronation.”

He began recounting promises I barely remembered.

“Place the crown on my head.”

Deon smiled faintly.

“Hasn’t it been a while since your coronation? Everyone calls you Emperor Deon without needing a ceremony.”

“Even so.”

He took my hand and kissed it.

* * *

In the end, I returned to Edan’s mansion with the crown.

I led a somewhat regular life at Edan’s mansion. Eating dessert, going for walks, feeding the birds. And in the afternoons, I had tea time in the garden.

The lush green lawn and blue hydrangeas were in full view, with butterflies fluttering in the sky. Today was another peaceful day. If only he wasn’t here in front of me.

Deon sat across from me, disrupting the harmonious scenery.

Of course, his face was far more beautiful than the flowers in the garden. But unlike the flowers, he didn’t stay still. Even while sipping tea, he openly stared at me.

Fed up with his persistent gaze, I finally spoke.

“This path wasn’t made for such a purpose.”

I drank my tea. The tea had already cooled.

Deon, who used to read documents even in a moving carriage, was now frequently visiting Edan’s mansion.

And these were not official visits. Every day, he came through the secret forest path made for the emperor’s security to the mansion of a dismissed knight commander. It was a suspicious outing by any standard.

I began to suspect he was neglecting his duties. And as his visits continued, my suspicion turned into conviction.

“Don’t worry. My competent secretary is taking care of everything.”

His words brought back memories of when he was with me.

Poor Rian will be overworked.

Deon didn’t particularly try to talk to me. All he did was sit at the table and stare at me. That was all. And now, he drank his tea, very leisurely.

When I stood up to leave, he poured more tea into my cup.

“Are you planning to leave before the emperor has?”

“Earlier, you said you were visiting as Edan’s friend, not the Emperor.”

“Now I’m the Emperor.”

He switched between using the emperor’s title several times a week.

I had no choice but to plop back down on the chair.

To show that I was angry, I dragged the chair roughly. But on the soft grass, it made much less noise than I expected. It deflated my anger even more. I couldn’t even express my anger properly.

Watching him leisurely drink his tea, I was reminded of the past.

This was just like… the way I used to stay with him in the North. Was this how he felt watching over me?

I tried to hide my face behind the imperial newspaper, avoiding his gaze, but his leisurely tea time was hard to ignore.

Every action of his screamed that he didn’t want to go back to the palace. It had been a long time since I could clearly read his intentions, usually so difficult to discern.

I opened the imperial newspaper, not really to read, but to avoid his piercing gaze. Surprisingly, the news was more interesting than I expected.

As I turned the pages, a pamphlet slipped out. It was from a B-grade gossip magazine that had once published stories about me.

I picked up the paper. The magazine had expanded its business and now used much thicker, higher-quality paper.

Had he really leaked my story to this gossip magazine as Edan said? To protect me?

I still didn’t know the exact reason he teamed up with Isella.

“Young Lady, there is a guest here to see you.”

Lost in thought, I barely noticed a man approaching the table.

“Edan is probably in the training room.”

I looked at the servant who informed me of the guest as if I was now the master of the mansion.

“No, they said they came to see you, Young Lady.”

“…Me?”

This was Edan’s mansion. Who could have come to see me?

“Did they say who it was?”

Could it be Isella? Or Rian?

Perhaps Rian, unable to bear the heavy workload after suddenly losing his lord, had come knocking at Edan’s mansion. But the servant hesitated, unable to speak clearly.

“Feel free to speak.”

At my prompting, he finally opened his mouth.

“Well… he said he is your husband.”

At those words, Deon spit out his tea onto the grass.

“Who?”

Deon questioned the servant, his voice sharp.

The servant, intimidated by Deon’s fierce gaze, shrank back nervously.

“What did he look like?”

“He was large… with brown hair. He was carrying a quiver and called you ‘Linia’.”

“Your training is lacking. Do you report every vagrant who claims to know a noble?”

Deon reprimanded the servant in a low voice. Though he spoke only a few words, it was enough to intimidate the messenger.

“It seems there was a mistake. The fact that the Young Lady is staying here is not widely known. I thought he must be someone close to her. I apologize.”

The servant bowed and turned to leave, but I stopped him and stood up.

“No, I know who it is.”

There was only one person who would boldly claim to be my husband. Hearing the description, my guess turned to certainty.

Timo. The man who helped me when I escaped.

“Who is he? That impostor.”

Deon looked up at me, growling. His expression was like that of a ferocious lion.

Maybe I should tease him a bit? I masked my expression and looked at him indifferently.

“You heard it. He’s my husband.”

“…Really?”

Deon’s lips slowly parted. Seeing his stunned expression was somewhat satisfying.

* * *

“Linia!”

As soon as I opened the gate, Timo, who was standing under a tree, ran over and hugged me tightly.

“Are you safe? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Timo seemed to think I had been forcibly taken. He looked me over anxiously, as if worried I had suffered some ordeal. The arm he grabbed tingled.

“Don’t worry. It’s not as hard as you think…”

In fact, I was being treated like a VIP. I thought I’d be confined to the underground dungeon, but I was receiving such concerned looks from Timo that I felt almost guilty.

Deon, unsatisfied even with several knights, leaned against the gatepost. He glared fiercely at us as we reunited after a long time, arms crossed.

“Is that the man who locked you up in this mansion?”

Timo gestured towards Deon with his chin.

Timo didn’t realize he was the Emperor. Dressed plainly without any insignia, he didn’t look like a noble at all.

It was embarrassing to introduce him now.

Deon didn’t seem to be in the mood for a polite introduction either. The aura he emitted was menacing. Though he didn’t have a sword, his glare alone could easily overpower a clueless hunter.