Side Story Chapter 2

Whether the emergency meeting was true or not, Rian went straight to the main conference room upon arriving at the palace.

I leaned against a pillar in front of the meeting room, waiting for the door to open.

From inside, I could occasionally hear raised voices and incomplete sentences, indicating what kind of discussions were taking place.

Crossing my arms, I yawned. My body felt stiff from riding the carriage for so long.

After a long wait, the heavy door finally opened.

High-ranking nobles who had finished the meeting poured out through the open gap.

I straightened my posture and watched them as they emerged.

Among those whispering to each other as they left the conference room, I saw the nobles of the emperor’s faction.

Rian, Count Arin, Isella, and Edan.

They stepped out into the wide corridor one by one.

Among them was Viter, who had retired from official duties to immerse himself in scholarly pursuits.

Viter had come to the capital.

Meeting him in the palace corridor confirmed that this meeting was of significant importance.

So, the day had come when diplomatic issues would be back on the table for the empire, which I thought would remain peaceful.

I pushed myself off the pillar and approached them.

The nobles behind them greeted me and stepped aside to make way.

“Count Croix, it’s been a while.”

Edan lightly patted me.

“Edan, I’ve missed you.”

Even after his release from house arrest, Edan hadn’t been able to visit me. Seeing him without Deon around was a rare occurrence.

Rian gagged at Edan’s warm greetings to me and then shuddered, brushing his arms as if he had goosebumps.

After exchanging pleasantries, I glanced behind them.

“Are you looking for someone?”

I must have been peeking into the meeting room without realizing it. At his words, I quickly averted my gaze.

“No.”

But only after answering did I remember I was waiting for Deon to sign some documents.

I looked back at the door, but Deon’s jet-black hair was nowhere to be seen.

Soon, the large door was shut by the knights.

“His Majesty is staying in the meeting room to entertain the delegation. If you’re here for the territorial report, perhaps you should wait in the reception room.”

Edan, noticing my gaze, spoke up.

“What happened in the meeting? I heard raised voices.”

“The Principality of Vietan sent diplomats. They want to negotiate maritime trade rights.”

“Did the negotiations break down?”

The expressions of the nobles leaving the meeting room were not good. Even Edan, standing in front of me, looked grim.

“We might be on the brink of war.”

“War?”

“We must try to mediate for the sake of the empire’s peace. However, their demands were excessive…”

Edan’s expression darkened significantly.

“What exactly did they demand?”

“Well…”

I had no idea where the empire’s boundaries of excess lay.

When Edan hesitated to continue, Viter, standing nearby, interjected.

“They threatened to close their borders due to friction with a neighboring country. Geographically, the empire relies heavily on the Principality of Vietan for trade. They used this as leverage to request our cooperation.”

“Cooperation?”

“They demanded military forces and the emperor’s personal involvement in the war. They claimed that if we wanted to avoid conflict with other nations, we needed a strong ally’s status.”

But Viter’s words were hard to understand.

“Can’t we just form an alliance as they wish?”

Edan glanced at me and cleared his throat.

“It’s not that simple. The condition for the alliance is… marriage. The princess of the principality came in person.”

Marriage.

So they proposed marriage in this austere meeting room.

I thought of the woman’s face I saw at the castle gate earlier.

Though it was covered, I could tell she was quite beautiful.

“So… did he decide to marry her?”

“He is probably deliberating. Whether to go to war or accept the proposal.”

“The principality dares to make such a proposal. They must think we’re weak because our forces were depleted fighting the former emperor.”

Viter, indignant, crumpled the document he was holding.

I noticed foreign script on the papers in his hand.

Could that be the marriage proposal?

My eyes were drawn to the crumpled paper.

As Deon’s single life dragged on, some nobles had subtly courted him.

Deon had swiftly rejected them, but with such persistence, I thought he’d become indifferent to these overtures by now.

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth.

“Now that the immediate issue has been addressed, I’ll be going. My sister is waiting for me.”

Isella made a graceful farewell and started to leave. As she passed me, she suddenly turned back as if she had forgotten something.

Tapping her fan against her palm, she spoke in a low voice, barely audible to anyone else.

“Count Leonie, His Majesty will not make a bad decision. The other nobles didn’t hear it, but he told me so. Don’t worry.”

With that, she gave a small smile and walked back towards the lobby.

A bad decision?

Her words were likely meant to imply ‘a bad decision for me.’

It seemed he was leaning more towards war than marriage.

Ironically, those words brought me some comfort.

* * *

I sank into the comfortable armchair in the palace reception room. It fit my body perfectly, enveloping me in its embrace.

The wind whipped, screamed, and beat against the window.

Turning the chair towards the window, I watched as heavy snowflakes fell outside.

Wow, how am I going to get back? Will the snow stop by evening?

If I miss this opportunity, I’ll be stuck in the palace again. I wanted to avoid that at all costs.

As Rian mentioned, I was already spending half of each month in the capital.

To be precise, in the palace and inside the carriage.

The palace was too far from my territory.

Moreover, the roads the carriage traveled were harsh. It was as if I had to endure this hardship to earn vast and fertile lands.

It took five days just to reach the capital.

So, five days to get there, two days at the palace, and another five days to return to my territory.

The travel time was so long that I couldn’t even enjoy the sea.

I was wasting precious time on barren ground.

My perfect life plan, which I thought would allow me to live off tourism revenue without working, had disappeared.

Just like in some myth where a woman was trapped because of a few ill-chosen fruits, if I had known the territory I eagerly accepted would trap me, I wouldn’t have taken it so eagerly.

Deon had given a ridiculously rigid excuse. And I had no choice but to be dragged along by him.

Outside, a snowstorm raged, but the office was perfectly warm.

I needed to finish my report today if I wanted to go back.

I tried to stay awake until Deon returned, but drowsiness crept in.

Eventually, I nodded off and my head hit the sofa.

A soft sensation pressed against my forehead. It was so cozy that it felt like all the air around me was melting away.

Click.

I heard a small sound.

I woke up from my drowsy state due to the bustling movements around me.

In my lowered gaze, I saw a faint shadow. It seemed to be tidying up the table.

The shadow moved very slowly and leisurely.

The head butler must have come in.

“Butler, could you bring some tea?”

I mumbled with my eyes closed. My voice was hoarse from sleep.

I felt a hand place a blanket over my lap as I coughed dryly.

The blanket on my shoulders had the fresh scent of winter pine. Only then did I open my eyes.

It was Deon.

No one else had this scent. Even in the height of summer, Deon always smelled like winter.

Blinking in my sleepy state, I saw Deon pouring hot water into the tea strainer in front of me.

“You’re too frail. You’ve spent months in the north, yet you’re still not immune to the cold.”

I tried to reply, but my throat felt scratchy.

I coughed softly. My reflection in the glass showed my nose as red as my hair.

Deon gently touched my flushed cheek. His touch was soft and warm.

I knew I should tell him to remove his hand, but the perfect warmth made me drowsy again.

“See? I told you to take the badge from the drawer.”

Deon was referring to the same badge Rian had shown the knight at the gate.

It was supposed to be a pass to bypass inspections, but I hesitated to take it.

“Even if it takes five days just for inspections on the way to the capital, I won’t take it.”

Only a select few of the emperor’s closest aides had that badge. If I accepted it, who knew what the gossip-loving nobles would say?

Nobles here loved their gossip.

Especially stories involving the unmarried emperor and anyone of eligible age were the favorite among the socialites.

Deon would soon have to meet their expectations if this continued.

“Get some rest.”

I sat up from the chair I had been slumped in.

“I need to report on the territory’s situation. I plan to leave today.”

By now, they should have fixed the carriage wheel.

Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more damage.

“Do you think you’ll be able to return?”