“You two should run away!”
The emaciated Princess of Ostein, his wife, shouted, expending all her remaining strength in anger.
It seemed like a conviction that they must do so. The words of the fragile princess, who looked like she might collapse at any moment, didn’t carry much authority in the Crania Empire.
But to Peon, her words were absolute, even though she herself might not believe it.
It’s ridiculous and pathetic that he’s now so desperate for Kaela, who is no longer related to him, after having given her such a miserable and humiliating death. Kaela would find him disgusting. He knows this.
But Peon, who had always been bound by duty and responsibility, couldn’t dare to defy her. Whether Kaela’s reaction was completely different from before regression or not, he had to at least try as she said.
It might be the atonement of a fool, or perhaps Peon’s typical stubbornness.
“It’s hard to meet these days.”
He went to see Beatrice Ravalley immediately after leaving the Ostein family townhouse.
She had been avoiding him with various excuses after he proposed without a ring, without sincerity, and without even mentioning the word marriage. It was natural. She had no intention of marrying Peon as her mother, the Duchess of Monde, wished.
But Peon, who had already assigned a loyal observer to her, could easily appear unexpectedly when Beatrice was alone.
“Peon.”
Beatrice was very flustered. Why had Peon come to see her again, when he rarely met her out of consideration, even if he came to Craine, and didn’t participate in social circles?
She quickly looked around in case anyone was watching. But Peon calmly looked only at Beatrice.
Beatrice hurriedly ran and embraced him.
“How did you come here? Other people might see…”
“It’s alright. No one’s here.”
She looked up at Peon. With that expression of gazing up at men with her doe-like eyes, Beatrice could steal hearts and capture gazes. Peon looked down at those lovely pink eyes without emotion.
There was a time when he found comfort in those eyes. There was a time when he dreamed of marrying her someday. When he was twelve, no, thirteen perhaps. It was when the first love of an innocent boy briefly passed by.
For Peon, now living his twenty-eighth year for the second time, it was a gaze that had faded too much with time. After seeing the disgusting truth hidden behind those eyes, and after breaking free from the taboo, all that remained was the fact that even his memories had been deceived.
“…I heard the news. His Majesty the Emperor, you and that Kaela…”
Beatrice couldn’t finish her words and her eyes welled up with tears.
Peon knew she had the talent to shed tears at will if she wanted to. At the same time, he noticed the long-held contempt in the words “that Kaela”. Beatrice looked down on Kaela.
“What do you want to do?”
So there was no value in responding to those tears one by one. Or rather, he couldn’t be bothered to. Peon had a personality of being indifferent to the point of being cold to those he deemed worthless, just as he had been to Kaela in Lusenford.
“What do you mean, ‘what do I want to do’? How can you ask such a question, Peon? Of course I want to be with you, but how can we defy the Emperor’s order?”
Beatrice, knowing she had no power, only shed tears. She just desperately held his hand.
Through her tears and touch, a pitch-black taboo seeped into him. Every word was like a spell. With each added word, the spell endlessly strengthened the taboo. It was designed to make Peon take those words at face value.
“Peon, are you going to forget me? You can’t. I, I’m alone here. You know that. I only have you.”
Forcibly suppressing his lips that were about to twist involuntarily at these words that were no different from a curse spell, Peon asked as Kaela had cried out:
“Shall we run away?”
He uttered words he would never say. Beatrice turned pale.
“That… how… that’s… that’s impossible, Peon. Come to your senses.”
If she was going to pretend to be a love-crazed lover, she should have at least played along. Even Beatrice, who could control how many tears to shed, couldn’t act perfectly in a moment of great surprise.
“It’s the Emperor’s order, the Emperor’s order!”
The Emperor’s order. Isn’t that the biggest word that was implanted to make even Peon eventually submit? Why is Peon suddenly acting like this?
“Then you’re fine with me marrying another woman.”
His tone was calm. He wasn’t too surprised as everything was falling into place as he had known.
But his voice was fundamentally very low, and even when he spoke plainly, listeners would often be startled and intimidated. Beatrice, surprised, examined Peon’s unreadable face.
“How could that be okay? I only have eyes for you! How can you say such a thing, Peon…”
As Beatrice buried her face in his chest and sobbed with shaking shoulders, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of annoyance.
He felt annoyed and disgusted. Because of this abominable taboo disguised as tears, he was only continually realizing how foolish he had been.
“Run away, how could we run away? His Majesty the Emperor won’t leave us alone. It’s not that I’m okay with you getting married. It feels like my heart is being torn apart.”
While rambling on, she inwardly thought of Peon as a fool who knew nothing, didn’t she? Recalling what Beatrice had raved in madness before his wife’s corpse, Peon waited until she would stop on her own.
Although Beatrice said many things, nothing entered his ears. Now, the spells she had carefully constructed were nothing more than meaningless mutterings to him.
“I see.”
Peon just nodded perfunctorily.
“You understand what I mean, right, Peon?”
“Yes.”
“You can’t forget me. Promise me you’ll only love me.”
He didn’t answer the woman who would mock him, saying he should have looked at Kaela instead of her the moment he got married.
By now, another day was passing in Craine and darkness was falling.
Beatrice cast spells on him several times, saying he shouldn’t abandon her, and then parted as if she had no choice. The man and woman, meeting while pretending to be in love under disguise, were each very busy.
****
“Come here.”
The Emperor, who had briefly called for Peon, gestured to him.
“Come closer. You must be overwhelmed, being suddenly told to marry?”
The Emperor had been extremely affectionate towards Peon since the Empress collapsed. Peon, having properly died once by the Emperor’s hand, knew that this affection could quickly turn into murderous intent, so he didn’t attach any particular meaning to it.
However, the other nobles were surprised. The Emperor had never treated the Empress’s illegitimate son, whom he always sent to the frontlines, so kindly before.
Peon was the very embodiment of disgrace to the Emperor. He was the Empress’s only child, and a strong son at that, which made it worse.
Among the Emperor’s illegitimate children, there was no one as all-around excellent and handsome as Peon. There were constant rumors about how incredibly good-looking the man the Empress fell in love with must have been, though no one knew who he was.
“I’m just cautious about marrying at this time when Your Majesty is worried about Her Majesty the Empress.”
Was there any way to cancel this? Although canceling this marriage would likely result in the pointless loss of many lives resting on his shoulders, Peon didn’t give up and looked for possibilities.
“Yes, yes. Your heart must not be at ease. But the Empress’s collapse has made me more alert. You too should settle down and become a head of household.”
The Emperor nodded and gestured to the chief attendant beside him. The attendant respectfully came forward and presented a velvet box to Peon.
Peon took it for now. He was the type who wouldn’t be surprised even if there was a sharp dagger or poison inside.
“Open it.”
