Chapter 48.
Anel thought.
Should she go back.
Shouldn’t she leave this place.
But before she could finish her thoughts, Jizel spoke first.
“Good timing, Your Majesty.”
Good timing?
Anel furrowed her brow.
“I was just about to come to you, Your Majesty. At this point, well. Seems like the gods are playing tricks.”
“Do you have something to say to me?”
“Yes.”
Jizel glanced behind herself, as if checking for the presence of a man beyond the door.
As if reading the man’s mood.
“His Imperial Majesty has requested an increase in the budget allocated to my palace.”
“Hasn’t it been explained to everyone that the budget of my palace falls under my authority?”
As soon as the word budget came up, Anel replied coldly.
At the much colder attitude than expected, Jizel began to stiffen his expression again.
“Explanation, I’ve already heard.”
“Then you should have come to my office, not here, if you understood that.”
Suddenly, the knights and courtiers also came out of the office and watched the confrontation between the two.
Jizel slightly bit her lips.
“Are you trying to reprimand me, Your Majesty?”
“If reprimanding is the only way you’ll understand, Then so be it.”
“Regardless of what Your Majesty thinks, this is a decision made by His Imperial Majesty.”
Emperor.
That damned Emperor.
Anel was now sick of him.
“What did he say?”
“He asked to increase my budget to 7,000 gold… No, he demanded an increase.”
“And the reason?”
“….”
“Is there a valid reason? Second Empress?”
“The Emperor does not require a valid reason.”
“That’s true for him.”
Anel didn’t even blink.
“But you need one, It’s the basic procedure for a supplementary budget. Are you telling me to break the law, Empress?”
“It’s His Majesty’s command.”
“So?”
“Are you defying the order now? Even though you’re the Empress, you seem too arrogant.”
“All I’m doing is asking if there is a valid reason, If that seems arrogant to you…”
Anel didn’t bother to continue speaking.
There was no need.
Anel simply looked at Jizel with a sad gaze.
“I’m sorry, I should have taught you better about the procedures of my edict. That’s my fault.”
Anel realized there was no point in arguing with Jizel anymore.
This child knows nothing.
What’s the point of struggling to explain?
This is Johanes Dengaer’s sin.
“So… the issue of increasing the budget will be discussed with His Majesty, not with you.”
Anel started to walk towards the office.
But then, Jizel blocked Anel’s path.
“Second Empress, you don’t need to worry, I’ll take care of it. You just go inside and take care of yourself.”
“It’s my job, why are you telling His Majesty? You could just talk to me.”
“Weren’t you the one not wanting to give a reason?”
“I’ll tell you the reason.”
Anel felt puzzled.
Was Jizel always this impulsive?
“Okay, then go ahead and tell me.”
“….”
Jizel’s face turned bright red.
It was embarrassing to answer that it was to deceive.
“Um, Your Majesty.”
Squeak.
At that moment, Ern emerged from the study.
“And, Second Imperial Consort Mama, You’re still here.”
“…Meeting with Her Majesty the Empress.”
“The Second Imperial Consort intended to speak to me about the budget increase for the Second Imperial Consort Residence.”
“Oh, that.”
Ern glanced at Anel with a somewhat indifferent gaze.
“You’re asking for advance budget for buying a 7,000 gold horse. It would be more convenient to request it for next month.”
“…A horse?”
Seeing Ern’s perplexed expression, Anel shrugged.
A strange atmosphere lingered in the corridors of the palace.
The palace servants, rigorously trained as they were, had never witnessed such a situation before.
A consort coming directly to the Emperor to ask for money to buy a horse.
Verdi, who had followed Anel, struggled to suppress his laughter.
But his smile couldn’t be entirely hidden.
“…Did you see that? The Empress’s maid laughed at me!”
“Verdi?”
Anel turned around.
“Verdi, did you just laugh at the Second Imperial Consort?”
“No way, Your Majesty, I just couldn’t hold back a cough because I caught a cold.”
“Still, since the Second Imperial Consort felt offended, it would be better to apologize.”
“I apologize, Second Imperial Consort Mama, I’ll try to suppress my cough better.”
Cough, cough.
After coughing once more, Verdi smiled mischievously.
“Are you going to let this slide, Your Majesty? Your maid insulted me just now!”
“You insulted me too, didn’t you, Consort? Remember that, Second Consort?”
“!”
“You said I was arrogant, Wasn’t that praise rather than insult?”
Anel looked at Jizel with lowered eyes.
There were times when she had sympathized with Jizel in the past.
“It seems like even though you say it yourself, you don’t realize it. That must be what you’ve always thought of me.”
However, Anel was now feeling increasingly drained even of that sympathy.
“For my maid, I could simply teach her manners. But who can teach dignity to the Second Empress? Farewell, Your Highness, may luck be with you.”
“Empress Dowager… ha.”
As Jizel trembled and glared at Anel, Ern added a word.
“Oh, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager also requested you to choose the words of the Second Empress Mama.”
“Did His Majesty the Emperor say so?”
“Yes, The Second Empress Mama…”
Ern glanced briefly at Jizel.
He hesitated for a moment.
Should he convey Johanes’ words exactly as they were?
Did he say, ‘Pray to the Empress’?
But soon Ern gave up on that idea.
Jizel was looking at him with pleading eyes, and Ern didn’t have the heart to push someone to hell like that.
“She just wanted words as good as those of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, So she said that if Her Majesty the Empress Dowager could help a little, it would suffice.”
It was absurd.
Anel was now just exhausted.
Both Jizel, who seemed to be aimed at herself, and Johanes, who accepted it again, were tiresome.
“Leave the words to Verdi, This child here also has good eyes, so she’ll do well enough.”
When Anel gestured to Verdi, Verdi immediately lowered her head.
“I’ll take my leave then. I’ll be sure to visit Her Majesty the Empress Dowager again later.”
“What? But-”
“Since Her Majesty the Empress Dowager took the promise lightly, I believe she won’t have any regrets.”
Anel turned away coldly.
To think she had considered having a conversation with that man.
It was a foolish idea.
“Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has returned to the Debita Palace, Your Majesty.”
Garden raised his report, glancing at Johann.
In Garden’s view, Anel had sufficient reason to backtrack.
But whether Johan felt the reason was sufficient was another matter entirely.
“Thank you.”
Johan was indifferent.
He didn’t even ask why the Empress had returned.
Perhaps he vaguely heard the commotion outside the door.
As always, he didn’t inquire about anything.
Garden internally sighed at his indifference.
The Empress Dowager seemed greatly distressed.
As a guardian of the palace, Garden was deeply concerned about the relationship between the imperial couple.
With the Emperor being so harsh, there was little chance of reconciliation.
“What is the remaining schedule for today?”
“At 7 p.m., you are scheduled to attend the opening of the National Opera Theater to watch ‘The Grand Palace of Summer.’ The Empress Dowager is accompanying you.”
Anel had arranged for Johan to be informed for that reason.
Anel had already made sponsorship plans for the opera house, and Johan just needed to approve it.
It seemed like the Empress Dowager was in no mood to abandon such a grand plan, it seemed, my Empress.
Johan signed the last remaining documents and then set everything aside.
The image of that woman’s Parisian face came to mind.
Always upright.
But a woman with contradictions that seemed to easily bend at any time.
It was strange.
Just thinking about her upright pupils made him feel strange.
Johan couldn’t understand himself.
She was just an ordinary woman.
Yet, why did he find it so unpleasant to see her confidently standing alone as if she had nothing to do with anything in this world?
Why did he have this inexplicable urge to shake those straight eyes?
“Your Majesty.”
Garden looked at Johan with worried eyes.
“Is there anything else to say?”
“…The Empress Dowager is a good person, I have served her for almost 20 years.”
“And?”
Johan asked, his voice devoid of any emotion.
Garden momentarily regretted bringing up the topic.
“Please show her a little leniency. In my opinion, she-”
“Don’t cross the line, Garden.”
Crrrk.
Johan took out a match and lit it on the surface of the poem.
“It seems I’ve been too lenient. Seeing boundaries being crossed everywhere.”
Johan smirked.
The smile was genuinely affectionate and elegant, enough to leave one speechless.
“If the Empress worries you, how about slipping poison into my cup sometime?”
“Your Majesty!”
“That might actually be more helpful to the Empress.”
Whether Garden blanched or not, Johan didn’t lose his smile.
“What that woman needs isn’t tolerance or mercy, but my death.”
That way Samuel D’Neger could become the Emperor.
That way Anel’s desired ‘world returning to its rightful place’ could happen.
Johan’s smile turned self-deprecating.
“Tell the Empress I’ll personally escort her at 6 o’clock.”
Johan clearly indicated he didn’t want to discuss it further.
Finally, Garden bowed his head and left the study.
