Chapter 75
Pession was depressing.
It was the door when he couldn’t get to Halbern Mansion even though the tea party was over.
‘Arellin.’
He was supposed to go see her.
“I can’t help it. Hasn’t the Archduke of Halbern returned?”
“What has that got to do with it?”
“It has a great deal. You know all about it, so why do you pretend not to?”
“I miss Arellin.”
Pession whined. Graham was both tired and fascinated by the Crown Prince’s unruffled nature.
The Crown Prince, whose maturity sometimes made him forget his age, looked like a boy his own age.
“Do you like it that much?”
He looked at Graham with a questioning glance.
“It’s curious,” he said, “that you should like it so much, especially when Lady Arellin isn’t particularly good to you.”
“Because I like it.”
It was a simple statement, but it was sincere.
Graham suddenly felt sorry for Pession.
He knew, if no one else did, that the boy had many likes, but few attachments or regrets.
But not when it came to one person.
It reminded him of Emperor Edward when he’d first fallen for Empress Ageni, and it made him feel sick.
‘It was a big deal then, too.’
Aka the Edwardian Revival.
It was the greatest rehabilitation of a philanderer in history.
A scandal that would have turned Albrecht upside down.
The Emperor Edward, now a sane and acclaimed Emperor, was a disgrace back then.
“Someone take him away.”
“There’s no way he’ll settle down with someone.”
“Poor kid, why don’t they just make him an Empress and leave him an unmarried Emperor?”
“Then maybe he’ll still be waiting in line outside on the boulevard after his illegitimate children fill the Palace.”
“…I’ll be lucky if he’s any good as an Emperor.”
This was Emperor Edward’s assessment of Empress Ageni before he met her.
A man who had been declared an irredeemable wretch was transformed after he fell in love with Empress Ageni.
The Emperor at the time, the Sun Emperor, had invited a temple official to exercise the Crown Prince because he was possessed by an evil spirit.
But was Edward’s love affair easy? No, it was not. Empress Ageni did not like Edward. No, it’s more accurate to say she loathed him.
‘And now the same seeds are falling between them.’
Emperor Edward insisted that he would marry only Empress Ageni, and Empress Ageni insisted that she would not marry him.
No one at the time thought the marriage would ever happen.
So what did Edward do?
Edward’s marriage to Ageni was checked and balanced by the imperial family, and whenever Ageni laid eyes on a man, Edward’s jealousy turned to rage.
The truth was no different.
‘On second thought, I’m surprised you made it through the marriage. Why did you marry him?’
And so, after all the nastiness, Edward shoveled snow behind his back.
“You’ll never be loved if you behave like this.”
“If you know that, why do you do it?”
It seemed like only yesterday that he was berating the Emperor Edward for his maddening depression and drinking.
It seemed like this madness would continue forever. Until a suddenly insane Emperor Edward raised his sword and said.
“If I can’t be loved by Ageni, I’ll just die.”
By the time the Emperor Edward turned round and chased after the Empress Ageni, who had been drinking heavily and was suddenly in a frenzy, a commotion had broken out.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, so I’m just going to die. I’m sorry, Ageni, I’m sorry, I’m sorry for loving you so much, I’m sorry.”
A mess of knights trying to stop Edward’s suicide as he cries, tears streaming down his face, begging them to just remember that he liked her.
In the middle of it all, Ageni’s eyes are wide, as if she doesn’t know what she’s thinking.
“I’m going to die before I do something even crazier, before Ageni hates me even more…”
Then a miracle happened.
“Stop crying, I’ll take you in my heart.”
Empress Ageni’s heart melted for the tearful Emperor Edward, who said he was sorry and liked her.
When he later asked her why she had changed her mind, the answer he got was even worse.
“I thought it was cute that he was crying and saying he liked me.”
Whatever the details, the story of the Crown Prince’s suicide ended well and safely…
Graham sighed inwardly.
‘I inherited that bloodline.’
Pession would add more, never less.
‘Though, fortunately, Lady Arellin takes it well over here.’
That was it.
It was subtle as to whether she liked it or not.
Still, he’s mellowed from his initial attitude, so they never know.
The biggest problem was Arellin’s illness.
‘He’s so depressed after only seeing her for a few days.’
If she’s going to die…
What will become of the Crown Prince then?
Graham was already worried. What would happen to Pession was even worse.
“Your Highness, they say the Archduke of Halbern has entered the palace.”
Still, Graham dutifully gave his young lord what he wanted.
The light returned to Pession’s eyes.
“Let’s go!”
***
A temporal synthesis of art, as far as martial engineering allows. The Imperial Palace was an interesting and beautiful place to behold.
The grandest and largest of them all, the Imperial Palace, was never boring.
The inner chambers of such an Imperial Palace.
The Archduke of Halbern looked around the place he hadn’t visited in a long time.
An extremely private room, decorated only to the Emperor’s taste, where only his most trusted advisors were allowed.
“I see your hobby of collecting hasn’t waned.”
“Since I can’t go out by myself, I have to bring everything into the palace.”
As he was admiring the paintings, chess boards, sculptures, and other objects, he was stopped by a voice.
According to imperial court etiquette, it was customary to kneel in a designated spot and keep your head bowed, waiting for the Emperor to appear and decide whether or not to look up before speaking to you.
But Archduke Halbern, a long-time friend and protector of the imperial family, was not one of them, and the Emperor openly favored the fifth duke.
“It’s been a long time, Valar.”
The Archduke of Halbern rolled his eyes and stared at the one-perception being.
“We’ve seen this before, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, you mean the time you announced your arrival and then disappeared like a flash?”
The servants, who had prepared a simple tea and snacks, quickly left the room. They were now alone in the boudoir.
“No matter how busy you are, you can’t just come to see Alhyeon and leave like that, can you? I heard you and Ageni had a chat.”
“Then you should have come to the tea party.”
“I wanted to go too! Do you know how much I wanted to go?!”
Alas, his son, how cute he would have been. Even Shirua, who usually doesn’t move, was there. Therion would have been adorable, and Ageni would have been beautiful.
“It’s a shame to see them all alone.”
“I got kicked out as soon as I got there.”
The Archduke of Halbern smiled broadly, his face unchanged, despite the questioning.
The Emperor Edward, being the Emperor that he is, decided to forgive him graciously – not because he hadn’t done enough damage.
“Ha. Well, I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
Emperor Edward’s expression relaxed. It was private anyway, the formality gone, the intimacy gone.
“I honestly thought you’d come back dead, or with one of your limbs blown off.”
“I think so, too.”
“You should at least look offended by that, mate.”
“I’m not offended.”
“Yeah, I’m a weirdo for worrying about you, so I guess that trip to ‘her’ went well, huh?”
One of the most intimate secrets shared by the Imperials and Halbern. The Archduke of Halbern’s expression changed strangely.
Emperor Edward had been a ‘witness’ to the deal, and was not at liberty to comment. Of course, he didn’t know the details of the deal.
“I hope it goes well,” he said, “I even brought you a dragon to make it look good.”
“What?! Is that what this is about?”
Suddenly, he’s doing something he’s never done before.
“That’s enough of a headache for me.”
Emperor Edward’s face twisted into a grim expression. The Emperor Edward was about to speak.
“Ed.”
“Because… uh, what?”
“Does your son like my daughter?”
Emperor Edward blinked dumbly.
“…”
The Emperor suddenly began to worry about his son’s future.
