“I heard you were wondering who sent the sword to Lexion Manor.”
The Emperor’s questioning voice was majestic enough to make anyone shrink.
However, rather than freezing and stuttering, Edith responded calmly. This was exactly the kind of question she had intended to hear.
『 I knew that if I spilled the beans to Zion, it would reach the Emperor.』
Zion was the Emperor’s personal doctor, so he was also close to the Emperor’s secretary. That was why Edith had deliberately sought information about the gift through him.
“Yes, Your Majesty. My husband wanted to thank the sender of the gift. He seems to like the sword very much.”
She praised the gift, glancing at the Emperor while gauging his reaction.
『 He seems a little happy.』
The Emperor’s solemn face seemed to relax slightly but then contorted in pain.
Coughing, he covered his mouth, and blood stained his hand. Before she had time to panic, the Emperor swiftly took out a handkerchief and covered his mouth.
The Emperor’s secretary, trailing a few steps behind him, tried to calm him.
“Your Majesty, please take a rest. I will summon the imperial doctor.”
“Enough. This happens a lot, so why are you making such a fuss?”
The Emperor handed the handkerchief he had wiped his mouth with to his secretary and kept his expression as if nothing had happened.
『 I read in a book that something tainted with Imperial Blood should be incinerated in the Health Bureau.』
She wondered if the handkerchief, which was soaked in so much blood, would be able to be burned. Edith was genuinely concerned about the Emperor’s condition.
The Emperor broke the silence on her behalf.
“It seems I showed a pitiful sight to M’lady.”
“No, Your Majesty. Rather than that…”
“It was me who sent the sword as a gift on the day when the Little Duke’s return to the capital was celebrated.”
Edith, who could not bear to bring up the topic because she was concerned about the Emperor’s health, hesitated for a moment.
“I think you need to rest, Your Majesty, and if you can tell me a time that is convenient for you, I will return at that time then.”
“Don’t worry too much about my illness. I won’t get better even if I rest all day. Sometimes taking a walk while basking in the sun will be much more beneficial for my health.”
The Emperor naturally led her on a walk.
He did not believe that the brilliant lady had accepted a job as a lady-in-waiting just to ask who had sent the gift.
Meanwhile, Edith walked alongside him, her mind racing.
『 I can’t ask him if he sent the gift because he is Walter’s father.』
The Emperor killed all his brothers. They were the ones who underestimated and plotted against him during his weakest moments, so he eliminated them all without leaving a single one behind.
The reason Patricia’s son, Claude, survived was simple. Claude belonged to the bloodline of the previous emperor, not to the bloodlines of the other princes.
『 He’s not his nephew, but a half-brother, so one could say he was kept alive because of that.』
The problem was that it was unclear who Walter’s father was.
According to the information she heard at the Health Bureau, Leah often met the Crown Prince and the princes, so there is a high probability that one of them is Walter’s father.
In this situation, if she asks the Emperor if Walter is his son and the answer is no… Walter could be in danger.
Given that Agnas XIV, who had killed the Crown Prince and all of his blood relatives, wouldn’t likely spare Walter.
『 If I even remotely think that Walter might seek revenge for his father, it could become troublesome.』
So, first, she had to ask the Emperor an indirect question to understand his intentions.
“I didn’t know Your Majesty had sent it. I should have found out earlier and expressed my gratitude, but it’s too late.”
“Don’t worry; it was just a gift I gave freely. If I wanted to be thanked, I would have revealed who sent the gift.”
“Actually, at first, I couldn’t figure out who sent the gift, so I made many guesses. I thought it might be a gift that Princess Lexion had left at the blacksmith shop for her son who would return to the capital.”
Edith blurted out and observed the change in the Emperor’s expression.
However, the Emperor was greatly agitated by the words ‘Princess Lexion’. It was certainly not disdain or repulsion.
『 If Mrs. Leah had been the lover of an enemy, he would not have such a wistful expression.』
Edith didn’t miss the momentary soft light on Agnas XIV’s face, known for being ruthless.
“Are you talking about Leah Lexion?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
No one in the capital knew who Walter’s father was. No one knew exactly what kind of relationship Leah and Edith had, or where Walter and Edith had first met.
Therefore, Edith planned to pretend not to know and use Leah’s name.
『 I’m sorry, Mrs. Leah.』
She apologized briefly, then continued.
“My husband doesn’t talk much about his childhood. Maybe, was Your Majesty close to my mother-in-law?”
Her intuition screamed at her. There was definitely something between the Emperor and Mrs. Leah.
However, the Emperor’s answer exceeded expectations.
“Well, Princess Leah thought of me as just a one-night stand, so we weren’t exactly close.”
“…?”
For a moment, Edith seemed to have stopped thinking. The words were too shocking to have come from the mouth of a stern emperor who seemed as if he wouldn’t even blink if a needle pierced him.
『 Besides, a one-night stand?』
One-night stand… She knew exactly what a one-night stand implied.
『 Mrs. Leah. Why are you putting me through this ordeal…?』
Edith cried inside as she remembered Leah’s kind and gentle face.
For some reason, Franz’s stern face began to float in her mind. He’ll definitely make that face when he finds out about his daughter’s private life.
The Emperor laughed as he looked at Edith, who had a question mark written all over her face.
“I meant that the relationship between me and Leah is a thing of the past anyway, so there was nothing serious about it. I don’t know how much you know about her, but Leah said she was leaving with the man she loved.”
“The man she loved?”
“Not me, as you can see.”
“…”
When the Emperor confirmed once again that Lady Leah had dumped him, Edith could not bear to lift her lowered head.
At the same time, one question arose.
『 I never heard Mrs. Leah say that she went on her journey with a husband.』
When Isaac was younger, he also seemed to have said that his father was somewhere in the capital. The discrepancy between the Emperor’s words and what she remembered was somehow suspicious.
Besides, the Emperor’s expression wasn’t bad for someone who had been cheated on.
“Still, the conversation I had with Leah was quite interesting. The reason I sent the sword was to welcome her son back to the capital. It had no other meaning.”
Even the Emperor also seemed unaware of whose child Leah had given birth to. She wasn’t even sure if Walter was the son of the man he had killed.
After concluding the conversation, Edith had only one choice to make.
──────────✿◦•
After finishing a short walk with the Emperor, Edith went straight back to the Health Bureau.
One of the doctors, who had been waiting, greeted Edith with a welcoming expression.
“Lady Elizabeth was here a while ago. She told me to inform M’lady that Her Highness orders you to leave work immediately.”
“Thank you. I lost something nearby, so I’ll just look for it and go back.”
Edith pretended to be looking for something and waited for their attention to be distracted.
She had been in and out of the Health Bureau for several days, so she knew their movements.
『 I’ve had to use my brain to escape from Fortrion Manor, so this is nothing.』
Perhaps the sharpened intuition developed unintentionally through enduring hardships. She easily reached her intended destination.
It was a sort of garbage dump where the waste from the Health Bureau was temporarily collected.
After double-checking that no one was there, she opened the most valuable-looking box there was.
As expected, there was the handkerchief stained with the Emperor’s blood.
『 It would be a big problem if I got caught.』
The blood of the Imperial Family, especially that of the Emperor, was considered precious and couldn’t be casually discarded anywhere.
In fact, the etiquette book even stated that Imperial Blood must be burned to dispose of it.
The thought of stealing such blood made her body tense with nervousness.
She carefully smeared the Emperor’s blood on her handkerchief.
Judging by the form of the hemoptysis and the conversation between the doctors, the Emperor was not bleeding due to infection.
Holding onto the blood for a while wasn’t going to cause any major problems for his health.
『 I’ll use it quickly and burn it to get rid of it. I’m so sorry.』
She remembered the incident where she confirmed Helen’s lineage using the blood of Nicholas Fortrion, which had been smeared on the carriage.
It was said that using magical tools, even with coagulated or partially dried-out blood, it was still possible to perform paternity tests.
『 Done.』
Edith successfully stole the Emperor’s blood and escaped the Health Bureau safely. Her heart was pounding because it was her first time stealing.
She was so nervous that she almost fainted, so she took a moment to catch her breath, preciously tucking her handkerchief into the inside of her chest. Even the sigh she exhaled trembled slightly.
To eliminate the uncertainty, the most accurate method was to conduct a paternity test using the Emperor’s blood and Walter’s blood.
She was certain that once the results came out, she would be able to know for sure whether Walter was of Imperial Blood.
❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ •°.❀
