Chapter 15
Luke scrutinized Gideon anew.
His blind obedience had always been a given in Luke’s memory.
It had been like that from the beginning. Gideon Edent had been someone without his own opinions, always following whatever decision was made, even if it was the worst choice.
Yet, he didn’t particularly flatter anyone. He simply obeyed as if he had no expectations whatsoever, like a person who didn’t have any expectations from the start.
Even when they had fled the capital together, risking their lives, it had been the same.
At that time, Gideon, only 12 years old, had told Luke to do as he wished, even in the face of Luke’s words that they might both die. The indifferent face of the boy who had casually replied it didn’t matter, now overlapped with Gideon’s face.
But now, the same person had attacked him?
Luke stared at Gideon’s expressionless face, unable to understand what he was thinking. Then he casually threw out a question.
“What if I told you I want the Duke’s head right now?”
“If Your Majesty commands it, I will endeavor to do so.”
“And if I…?”
As he spoke, he licked the inside of his mouth, feeling the sensation of swallowing from midnight lingering on his tongue.
“…if I want your wife?”
Gideon’s eyes, which had been politely lowered, met his gaze directly. His expression remained unchanged, but the emotions within were clearly visible this time.
The openness of an enemy that had nothing to hide.
“She is not my possession. If Your Majesty desires it, there is nothing I can do.”
“Then it wouldn’t matter if I approached her.”
“Are you hoping to anger me, or do you wish to insult me?”
“If it’s neither?”
The conversation, which had been flowing smoothly, abruptly stopped at Luke’s words. He could see the burning hostility in Gideon’s eyes without a sound. Whether it was directed at him as an enemy or out of anger, or perhaps both.
“…If Your Majesty desires it, you may take anyone in the world, as long as it’s not my wife. Anyone.”
Although he tried to maintain his usual calm tone, Luke, who couldn’t read the desperation beneath it, stared strangely at Gideon.
Could love really make someone like this?
“Why go to such lengths?”
Luke asked, sounding genuinely baffled.
“Knowing that your attitude only increases my interest in that woman, why? If you had offered her to me, I would have lost interest long ago….”
Perhaps the interest he had just hinted at towards her was fake, but Luke leaned back on the sofa with a casual expression. He wasn’t completely disinterested, but he wasn’t interested enough to risk betrayal from a knight like Gideon.
A turtle-like creature…was kinda cute?
If it had been a turtle or an owl, he might have considered keeping it, but since it was a human, he couldn’t help it.
Luke suddenly thought that the reports of others seeing Marie Edent attacking him might have been interpreted differently. Maybe it was because of hallucinations that they tried to capture him as an animal?
Given that he had a broken wrist, it wasn’t impossible.
For a moment, Luke could vividly imagine a yellow-eyed owl fluttering weakly with bandaged wings.
…Should he raise an owl when he returned to the palace?
Gideon casually observed the distracted Emperor lost in thought, and pondered how much he was worth to the Emperor. Based on his actions so far, it didn’t seem like he would touch Chloe, knowing that Gideon would abandon him, but how long would that thought last?
Wouldn’t it be better to get a more definite promise while the Emperor’s interest was still lukewarm?
But would the haughty Emperor, who had no one to obey him, keep the promises he made? Did he even have any value to the Emperor in the first place?
No, was there even anything meaningful or valuable to the current Emperor?
“Your Majesty, she is something I cannot compromise on.”
However, the option of doing nothing simply did not exist in Gideon’s mind from the start. He knelt before his son, who bore a striking resemblance to the young Hessel Olfenster.
His knees were the most expendable thing in the world before Chloe Langsher’s welfare. Just as the foolish Troy Langsher had done for the sake of his enemy’s son.
“Please allow my wife to live her remaining days in peace, even if it may arouse Your Majesty’s interest… I cannot act indifferent towards her.”
“So, why?”
The Emperor looked down at the kneeling knight with boredom. It was a supremely arrogant attitude, but Gideon didn’t feel a hint of insult as he replied.
“Then, Your Majesty, do you intend to bring Chloe Langsher’s ashes outside your chambers?”
The Emperor’s previously expressionless face changed slightly. He stared at Gideon for quite some time as if contemplating whether to let him live a little longer.
After a while, the Emperor muttered,
“Non-negotiable, huh…”
His pupils seemed to cloud over momentarily, perhaps reminiscing about the past. At the end of that reminiscence came a question tinged with envy.
“So, Gideon, are you planning to have your wife embalmed after she dies? It would be preferable since the corpse will be intact.”
Had the Emperor imagined Chloe Langsher, preserved in death just like in life?
Gideon gritted his teeth at the surge of nausea, even though he hadn’t eaten anything.
—
Three large carriages came to a stop one after the other in front of the annex.
Chloe, standing by the third-floor window, could hastily see Hayden approaching the carriage. If that power-sensitive man was so agitated, who could it be?
Although she might have been foolishly stubborn in front of Chloe or Gideon, nobles who bowed to Hayden Edant were few and far between.
She hesitated.
Should she call for a servant to inquire about the expected visitor? However, before she could pull the rope, a young girl descended from the middle carriage.
She could barely be ten years old, so young that it was difficult to even call her a girl.
Dressed in a drab outfit amidst the crowd, the girl in the crimson dress stood out. Even from this distance, the crimson dress subtly shimmered, as if it were embroidered with jewels.
However, strangely, there were no accessories adorning her waist-length chestnut hair, despite her extravagant attire.
Hayden bowed before the girl, and the girl casually raised her chin in response.
A pale face wrapped in long chestnut hair came into view. The heavily made-up face of a young girl that didn’t match her age…
“Me?”
As soon as she saw her, the face in the mirror from a few years ago came to mind, resembling “Chloe Langsher.”
‘Who is she?’
She pressed her face closer to the window. She grabbed the curtain that partially covered the window. However, before she could pull back the curtain, a soft call came from behind.
“What are you doing, madam?”
“I thought a guest had arrived outside. She seems to be a young lady, but who is she?”
Gideon, who had approached Chloe’s side, glanced out the window and casually replied, “She is Princess Sylvia, the daughter of the late Queen Leia.”
However, the daughter of her aunt. Chloe recalled the existence of her cousin, whom she hadn’t thought about in a long time.
Even when she was Chloe Langsher, she had only seen her cousin once, when she was just a newborn, and she had been born and raised as an Olfenster, not a Langsher.
She had never felt a strong connection through bloodline.
It was pitiful that she had lost her parents at a young age due to Langsher’s sins, but that was all. However, despite hearing about her indirectly through others’ words or writings, seeing her in person stirred up a strange sense of longing. Just seeing her from afar, that atmosphere…
“Princess, you resemble your mother very much. Has His Majesty said anything about it?”
Innocent and flamboyant, like a flower in a greenhouse.
Her aunt, who used to stroll around with just a shirt and coat, had behaved like a flower that was lighter than cutlery ever since she became Empress. Chloe wasn’t sure who she was imitating, but she had fond memories of her aunt’s calm and flamboyant demeanor, which suited the young girl’s taste perfectly.
“Well, His Majesty-.”
Gideon thought Chloe, who had commented that the deceased Empress and Princess Sylvia looked alike, was very naive. Even though he could tell she was smart from her skill in handling medicines, sometimes smart people tended to overly trust their own judgment.
For example, like believing that Chloe Langsher had no significance other than being the enemy’s daughter, just because Luke Olfenster thought so.
“-His Majesty rather cherishes Princess Sylvia.”
The reason why the deceased Empress and Princess Sylvia looked alike was that both of them were imitating the same woman. She just didn’t know who the woman they were imitating was.
“Well, the child is innocent.”
Gideon muttered as he covered the entire window with the curtain. Feeling the fabric slipping through his hands, she looked up at Gideon.
“What’s wrong, Gideon?”
“Since the Princess has come, His Majesty will probably return to the palace soon.”
“The palace has been empty for a long time.”
She hesitated before speaking.
“Then, can we go down to the estate as soon as His Majesty returns to the palace? Or if you’re going to be busy for a while because of this incident, how long do we have to wait?”
Turning away from the closed curtain, Chloe looked at Gideon with a resentful gaze. It was as if she expected everything to unfold according to the plan they had laid out, as if simply catching the Emperor’s attention would make everything easy.
She seemed oblivious to the fact that even the most meticulously laid plans could easily be distorted, especially by the Emperor’s bizarre whims.
Although Gideon knew he should warn her about the Emperor, in the face of her resentful gaze, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
He hoped this woman would never understand the Emperor’s heart.
Without knowing which nightmares Luke Allpenster was writhing in, who he was dying for, without feeling an ounce of guilt, without giving a penny of sympathy.
Chloe Langsher had every right to do so. The right not to follow in her father’s footsteps.
“… Things, yes. Things will be a bit busy. Madam.”
“Then when will we have time-.”
“I don’t know.”
Interrupting her, Gideon spoke, trying to hide his impatience.
“So, for now, please go down to the estate first. If you wait a little longer, I’ll come down soon.”
He needed to get her out of the Emperor’s sight as soon as possible.
Before he realized the feelings he hadn’t noticed himself.
