Chapter 34
Anel’s expression remained unchanged.
It wasn’t an angry or disappointed face, Just an expressionless face, devoid of any interest.
Giselle’s face turned red.
Not to mention the expression that seemed to mock a child’s mischief.
“You called me like a servant, didn’t you?”
Sure enough, the maids behind Anel were seen trying to suppress their laughter.
It didn’t stop there, The maids standing behind Giselle seemed to have no intention of holding back their laughter at all.
Even though their faces were not visible, shame crawled down the spine.
“I am no longer your servant, Please address me properly.”
“If you want to be treated as the Empress, it’s better to become the Empress first.”
Anel gently smiled.
“For now, anyone can see that you are nothing more than a servant.”
“You-!”
“You are a truly intriguing person, You slap yourself in the face. Yet, when you see someone wishing to consider you pure, is it a lack of shame?”
Anel handed a handkerchief to Giselle.
“When Morata was a lady-in-waiting, the handkerchief Jiselle handed her was personally embroidered by her.
Jiselle recognized the handkerchief immediately and trembled.
“Now I am the one wiping your face, but someday, it would be good for you to learn. Learn how to wipe your own face.”
After the uneasy conversation, Anel returned to her office.
There, the Countess Sodel was waiting for her with narrowed eyes, displaying a determination not to tolerate any nonsense.
It seems everyone is setting their eyes on me today.
Anel inwardly smirked.
Well, after witnessing the scene earlier, it’s only natural for them to be cautious.
“Everyone, leave us.”
At Anel’s command, the maids scattered and disappeared.
“You must have been quite surprised today.”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Oh, please. Anel gave a faint but confident smile.
“When you return to Cartar, how many years will it have been?”
“It will have been twelve years.”
“Twelve years.”
“It was an unimaginably long time.’’
During that long time, waiting in a foreign city, not knowing whether I would see my family or not.
The feeling was truly, incredibly intense.
Especially because I had never experienced such attachment to anyone before.
“Lord Hujak sent you as an envoy, I heard.”
“…It’s not exactly like that.”
Lady Hujak responded with an unknown smile.
“Someone had to do it, and my husband and I just decided to fulfill our duty.”
“As nobles’ duty?”
“Well, who doesn’t have a lot of duties assigned to them? There are duties as nobles, and…”
Also, there are duties as family.
The last part was conveyed in a very discreet voice.
Only Anel could hear it, in a size that only he could perceive.
“Family.”
It was a phrase that didn’t quite resonate. Verdier was the closest to the feeling of ‘blood’ to some extent, but even that was more like the feeling of a close friend. Whether it was a familial love, he couldn’t tell.
“Kartar is known to value family.”
“Well, wouldn’t that be true for some nations?”
“You’re right. People are not all the same in any country.”
“So, am I unable to even become an ordinary person?”
Anel, with a bitter feeling in her heart, put aside the lingering conversation and took out paper and pen.
Somehow, as the conversation continued, her chest felt increasingly suffocated.
Well, some people are like that. Excluding me, who submits to a man who betrayed my father.
“Allow me to speak in private.”
“In private?”
Lady Sodel, with a look of astonishment, widened her eyes. Is it such a serious matter that the Empress of the Empire needs to discuss it privately in her own palace?
Whether it’s because the story is so dangerous, or because she can’t trust the people in this palace, Lady Sodel stopped trying to guess the reason.
Both might be the correct answer, she felt strongly.
Anel, regardless of whether Lady Sodel was surprised or not, opened the safe she brought from her family estate.
It was a safe designed in such a way that only she could open it.
The safe had a total of ten locks, each one designed to be confusing even for its owner.
If any one of them was tampered with even slightly, a strong acid would immediately flow out, corroding the contents of the safe.
Rather than handing it over to others, only items that would be better off disappearing were placed in this safe.
The item she was now taking out was exactly such an item.
Without any explanation, Anel handed the item from the safe to Lady Sodel.
“!”
And that choice was the right one.
It truly was a gift that needed no words.
“Did Second Empress Mama say that?”
Ern, who was listening to the report with Johannes, asked in surprise.
“Yes.”
Garden also had a very serious expression.
Just moments ago, he witnessed Zegel lying to Anel firsthand.
It wasn’t intentional. He overheard it while trying to convey something to Anel.
“No, Your Majesty. Did Second Empress Mama really give such instructions?”
Ern asked Johannes, but Johannes didn’t answer. He just lay on the long sofa, closed his eyes, and whistled as if he were indifferent to the whole situation.
He seemed completely uninterested in the matter.
“Is the incense from the poem going into the palace now? Second Empress Mama lied to the Empress! Moreover, it’s in a direction that undermines the Emperor! If the Empress misunderstands-”
“How did the conversation with Marquis Sodel go?”
Johannes interrupted Ern’s words.
“Yes?”
“He asked if Cartar would bow his head like that.”
Is this person’s nerve made of iron?
Is he asking that in this situation?
Ern, with his breath blocked, unbuttoned his shirt collar roughly.
“I made a wrong judgment.”
Ern let out a deep sigh.
“The Marquis seems to be just a figurehead. He knows nothing and can’t even respond to my words, He seemed to have nothing to say except that he would convey it to the king.”
Ern, stopping there, opened his mouth while looking at Johan, who showed no reaction at all.
“Do you already know? That it’s not the Marquis, but the Marquise who is the actual decision-maker?”
Instead of answering, Johan opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, puffing on his pipe.
However, even that alone was enough of an answer for Ern.
“No, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Ern.”
“Yes.”
“You seem to be more ignorant of the world than a fox in a cage , Talking about it as if you were a crow, flying around everywhere.”
It was a sarcastic and harsh criticism, Ern raised his eyebrows.
“No, did you just call me a crow and describe Her Majesty as a fox?”
What kind of biased statement was that! Ern felt unjust and thumped his chest.
“You’ve been deceived by the Empress.”
Johann casually threw out what seemed like a composed poem.
This time, Garden sighed. Why did they bother laying an expensive carpet if this was going to happen? It would be covered in black stains in a few days.
“Did Her Majesty the Empress know everything from the beginning? No, how on earth did you find out?”
“Even if she looks naive, she’s been educated under the Empress Dowager for more than a decade.”
“No, the Empress Dowager is the one who…”
Is she really that naive?
Ern couldn’t bring himself to insult the deceased and remained silent.
As the Empress was from the Karta tribe, she couldn’t exert power in the social circle and wasn’t particularly bright in politics, All she did was sit alone in the Empress’s palace, raising her son in loneliness.
…At least that was the common perception.
“That woman was not to be underestimated, Ern.”
Johan pulled out a new poem from his pocket and asked Ern.
Ern immediately set fire to the poem.
To delve into Johan’s thoughts, who had been tight-lipped until now, one had to adjust their approach like this.
“Do you know anything about Empress Sunhwa?”
“She was a foolish woman.”
…Just a moment ago, you said she wasn’t a woman to be underestimated, Ern cursed with his eyes.
“Because she spared my life.”
“…!”
Johan recalled the woman he had encountered several times at the palace parties. The foreign otherness conveyed through her distinct appearance.
“People think that the commoners know about the Empress’s hunt for illegitimate children, but in reality, it was orchestrated by King Kartar, Empress Sunhwa was not one to kill people easily…”
“She was weak.”
That sense of foreignness was not only felt through the exotic golden eyes, It was undoubtedly something else…
“Kneel, Empress.”
“No, If I kill this child, the wheels of revenge will start turning, and there will be no end. Please, to the king-”
“Even if you don’t kill him, can’t you realize that the wheels are already in motion?”
With one hand hiding her own child and the other hiding Johan behind her, the woman appeared strange and fragile.
Johan scorned the alien and feeble woman.
“Samuel Denege also resembles my mother, foolishly.”
Johan closed his eyes again.
“But he’s not to be underestimated. He probably knew from the beginning, The dialogue is a puppet, and the Queen’s party is real.”
“Could it be-”
“The two of them are eerily similar, like siblings. So, they can see each other’s thoughts very clearly.”
Johan smirked.
“They did it to divert His Majesty’s attention.”
“Because they don’t trust me or my kind.”
“Even to that extent….”
I genuinely tried to help!
Ern reassured himself, dispelling the unnecessary uneasiness. No, at least the Empress’s mind was perfectly normal.
How twisted must that human have been?
Ern secretly observed Johan.
“No, Your Majesty.”
And then, he returned to the main point.
“So, what will you do with the Second Empress?”
