Chapter 23
Whether it was Leia Langsher or Leia Olfenster, the late empress’s diary surprisingly contained little of importance. Many entries were missing dates, skipping ten days at a time, and the content was mostly about ordering jewels or getting new dresses. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it could be published as a book titled *A Study of Social Trends Through Jewels and Dresses*. After briefly skimming through the seemingly unimportant diary, Chloe tried to comfort the anxious Sylvia.
“Wherever you got this from, I don’t think His Majesty even knows it exists,” Chloe said.
Sylvia shook her head.
“That’s impossible. There’s no way that obsessive man who cleans that place every day wouldn’t notice something missing.”
Chloe fell silent for a moment. Was Sylvia referring to Luke when she mentioned the obsessive cleaner? Where exactly was this place, and why did the emperor clean it every day?
“He cleans it every morning,” Sylvia added.
For a moment, Chloe imagined Luke Olfenster meticulously dusting off the items somewhere with a dry cloth. The emperor… doing such a thing…?
“Does His Majesty have a hobby… of cleaning?” Chloe asked, puzzled. Sylvia tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.
“Exactly, it’s not just cleaning but His Majesty’s hobby is maintaining the Langsher room.”
In Gideon Edant’s defense, he didn’t want to tell the emperor what she meant to him. He feared the disaster that might ensue if the emperor, who had a strangely naive side, discovered his true identity through a suffering woman. It was also difficult for Gideon to admit it out loud. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her that the emperor had a room full of items related to her, and if she were found alive, she might be locked away with those items and never see the sun again. Gideon couldn’t convince her of this because he didn’t understand it himself. He knew the emperor was crazy and would do such things, but he didn’t understand how or why he became so obsessed with her. Gideon leaned towards the theory that it was hereditary but found it impossible to explain to her. Talking about the enmity between Troy Langsher and Hessel Olfenster was worse than death to him.
Because of Gideon’s complex internal struggle, Chloe Langsher remained ignorant of the extent of the emperor’s madness. Her mind was full of questions.
“That… what exactly is the Langsher room?”
Gideon’s mistake was overestimating Sylvia’s ability to refrain from talking about the emperor in Chloe’s presence. He thought Sylvia, like the young Luke who hated hearing anyone else mentioned in her words, wouldn’t talk about the emperor to Chloe. However, unlike the possessive young Luke Olfenster who had a mad obsession with Chloe, Sylvia had the sound mind to prioritize Chloe’s safety.
“It’s literally a room where they gather Langsher’s furniture and items… didn’t you know, Marie?”
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it. Why does such a room exist?” Chloe asked, confused.
From what she understood of the emperor’s obsession with Langsher, it was limited to tormenting those who reminded him of past grudges, such as intentionally putting Princess Sylvia in the palace to harass her. But why the Langsher items? Most of them would have been burnt, with few intact. Were they trophies? Or did he keep them to destroy when angry?
Chloe couldn’t understand, but considering her family’s storage of surrendered enemy flags, collecting the enemy’s items didn’t seem so strange. However, she couldn’t understand why the emperor cleaned such a room daily.
“Because of Chloe Langsher.”
“…?”
Sylvia wondered if Chloe truly didn’t know. Anyone close to the emperor knew of his obsession with Chloe Langsher, and even high-ranking nobles noticed his fixation on Langsher. The emperor was too arrogant to hide anything and was oblivious to others’ perceptions. Seeing what he did, it wasn’t that he couldn’t read the room but that he simply didn’t care.
“That woman is already dead,” Chloe said.
“Yes, three years ago…,” Sylvia’s expression softened, thinking of the late empress. Chloe stroked her hair, and Sylvia mumbled as she nestled into Chloe’s arms.
“Before she died, my mother told me to act like Chloe Langsher. She said that would make him spare me.”
“Why?” Chloe asked.
“…Because he loved her?”
Sylvia’s words lacked confidence. Seeing him talking to Chloe Langsher’s portrait, it seemed more like insanity than love. However, if emotions were categorized, it might be closest to love. Probably?
From Sylvia’s perspective, it looked like madness disguised as love, but if she had to categorize it, it was closest to love.
“Love?”
“Yes. Maybe… maybe?”
Chloe’s surprised eyes returned to normal at Sylvia’s increasingly uncertain words. Sylvia mumbled ambiguously.
“I don’t know. He collects things related to Chloe Langsher, and if I act like her, he sometimes grants me favors. He seems to want to see her.”
“Isn’t that just guilt rather than love?” Chloe pondered for a moment, suddenly thinking it might be true. Of course, she assumed the so-called Langsher room was just a small collection of mementos.
“Maybe not her fault, but the guilt of her family’s crimes. It was an unavoidable death, but it could weigh on his mind,” she said.
Especially since Luke deceived her and pretended to be her lover. Although she didn’t feel he had any guilt, people could be unpredictable. He might have been secretly heartbroken. Chloe felt conflicted, thinking she had discovered a delicate side of Luke, who seemed to have grown up as a rogue. Perhaps his strange torments were a manifestation of such guilt.
“No, Marie,” Sylvia cut her off firmly. The emperor was devoid of a conscience, so where would guilt come from? If he had any guilt, he would have returned the late empress’s belongings in the Langsher room to her.
“But…”
“Don’t see the world too kindly.”
“I don’t think it’s right for an eleven-year-old to say that,” Chloe thought, hiding her discomfort. “But, Princess, you don’t have to see the world too harshly either.”
“Then can I confess to His Majesty that I accidentally took this diary?”
“Well, that…”
The unpredictable behavior of the whimsical emperor flashed through Chloe’s mind, and she couldn’t immediately suggest telling him about it. Even if it wasn’t something important, he would likely be upset if anyone touched what he considered his belongings. Sylvia scoffed as if to say “I told you so.” Chloe sighed and muttered.
“I think it would be best to secretly return it.”
“I think so too. I’ll go back tonight.”
“At night?”
“He’s always there if he has time, so it’s only empty at night. Even if he can’t sleep, he goes to his bedroom at night.”
“Why not ask another maid or servant to do it? Or I could go instead-.”
“No!”
Sylvia suddenly raised her voice. She knew people who had disappeared after entering that room. Chloe hugged Sylvia’s back, who was strongly opposing, and whispered soothingly.
“Alright, Princess. I won’t go. Don’t be so scared.”
Sylvia nodded at Chloe’s response. Seeing Sylvia rubbing her face in Chloe’s arms like a spoiled child made Chloe smile. She lifted the diary and asked.
“Since you’ll be going tonight anyway, would you like to read it now?”
“I’ve read it all before.”
“But you want to read it again, don’t you?”
“There’s nothing special in it.”
“Even so.”
Persuaded by Chloe’s gentle words, Sylvia reluctantly opened the diary. Seeing the neatly placed ribbon, it seemed she had read it repeatedly over time. Uniquely, the green ribbon wasn’t connected in the middle of the diary but was attached to the edge of the leather cover. Chloe looked at it curiously, stroking the end of the ribbon tucked into the meticulously stitched edge of the leather cover.
Suddenly, she remembered when she was a child, her aunt insisted on putting a good luck charm in her diary. After losing it several times between the pages, her aunt cut the leather cover thinly at the front and back, inserted the charm inside, and sewed it back together. Just like this.
“Marie?”
“Wait a moment, Princess.”
Chloe pried open the gap between the leather covers with her fingernail. She pulled out the stitching and bit through it, opening the cover front and back. She gently pulled on the ribbon.
“A letter?”
A thin envelope was tied to the end of the ribbon. There was no sender, and the recipient was a name she’d never seen before. Chloe untied the ribbon and slowly read the name.
“To Esther Penselors.”
She looked back at Sylvia, whose eyes had widened in surprise since the letter emerged. Sylvia shook her head.
“It’s an unfamiliar name.”
“Same here. Was there ever a noble family with the name Penselors in the capital?”
“More importantly, why did my mother hide this letter in her diary…?”
Sylvia, with a confused expression, stroked the name on the envelope.
-Dear Esther Penselors
“Who is this person?”
