“How dare a mere noble disrespect royalty!”
The Emperor was in a hurry. His mind was extremely rushed. He became more impatient as the Empress’s unconscious state prolonged.
During this extended time, all sorts of rumors were circulating, and these rumors were bringing up past issues between him and the Empress again.
This marriage needed to proceed flawlessly to show that the Emperor was the head of a normal family.
So he wanted to use his niece Kaela to incorporate the Grand Duke of Lusenford more deeply into this family, and to announce the fact that he was also the son of the Empress and his own son.
For Peon, this was incomprehensible, but the Emperor was always an incomprehensible being.
‘It was like this before too.’
Peon knew. The Emperor was just as impatient when he struggled with jealousy towards Peon, hoping to have children with the Empress, and eventually started meddling with other women.
Desperate to prove that there was nothing wrong with his reproductive ability, countless illegitimate children were born.
When the number exceeded ten in a year, he stopped briefly, perhaps conscious of public opinion, but soon after, when these illegitimate children sickened and died within a year, the Emperor pathologically sought out women.
Even with all that fuss, he couldn’t avoid the talk that ‘there was a problem with his seed’.
It’s the same now. He tried to avoid the talk of the royal family being abnormal by attributing the reason for the Empress’s collapse to various causes.
The more whispers he heard from here and there, the more the Emperor obsessively clung to the ‘form of a normal family’ as if having a fit. Afraid that his wife might die, he repented for his wrongdoings towards his wife in his own way.
So as soon as he heard that the Duchess of Monde had dared to be disrespectful to Kaela, he banned her from entering the palace. This was despite the fact that the Duchess of Monde was a close friend and chief lady-in-waiting to the Empress.
“Lusenford and Ostein will become the pillars supporting this empire.”
The Emperor muttered like a madman. But that crazy head of his was working cunningly and rationally in his own favor. Everyone feared him.
Before the regression, Peon had strongly resisted, so the Emperor had crushed him. This time, the Duchess of Monde stood out relatively more, thus the Emperor wouldn’t leave her alone.
“The two pillars must support the Crown Prince well. This is all for the Empress, Hyperion. Wouldn’t the Empress of Crania worry whether Crania is running properly or not?”
Mother is someone who wouldn’t care if Crania fell or not. But Peon quietly agreed.
“It’s a cause for celebration and an honor. I won’t forgive anyone who ruins this. Your marriage must proceed without any hitches.”
The Emperor muttered with bloodshot eyes. At this point, what would happen if the fact that Kaela had refused the marriage and ran away reached the Emperor’s ears?
‘Then the Ostein family would be ruined.’
Kaela would have paid a much more terrible price than marrying Peon. It would surely involve being forced to marry a man of much lower status and much older age, and losing the Ostein duchy.
The Emperor never forgave those who tarnished his face.
Although the range of who he recognized as the royal family changed unpredictably, he considered it an insult to himself if anyone within that range was treated carelessly. Now, that range had expanded to include even Duke Ostein, who wasn’t even considered royalty before.
“Just before a good event, things get tangled up, tsk.”
The Emperor clicked his tongue, displeased with the Duchess of Monde.
“Marriage should be befitting one’s status. Even if the heart is elsewhere, the blood flowing in the body must be noble.”
That tiresome talk about blood again. Peon just responded with “Yes, yes,” without meaning it.
“How difficult must it be for a girl who’s already weak and fainted from shock at the mention of marriage to now prepare for it?”
“I understand the Princess is very busy preparing for the wedding following the reception of the Keruzhan envoy.”
But he couldn’t just pass over talk about Kaela with a simple “yes.”
If the best course now was to proceed with the marriage, remove the Emperor, then guarantee her status and divorce cleanly, he needed to protect Kaela now. Even so, he couldn’t stop a bitter smile.
How could it be that Kaela, the noble daughter of Ostein, had only such choices? He needed to work to give her more options. Whether that was atonement or self-satisfaction, he wasn’t sure.
In that sense, Peon thought he and the mad Emperor were similar. They both sacrificed innocent wives and atoned in their own way.
“The Princess must have been very upset, right?”
“She was composed.”
Kaela never lost her dignity until the last moment when she was falsely accused and confined in the tower. But in the end, she died without even closing her eyes. How much must have been pent up in her heart?
“Well, that child has a good character. She’s calm, polite, and knows propriety. Tell her I’ll take care of the Duchess of Monde, so she should take care of her health.”
“Your Majesty should take care of your health too. You’re looking after the Empress and worrying about this marriage as well.”
“You’ve been very considerate of me lately.”
The Emperor laughed, saying it was interesting.
“I must have aged a bit.”
Peon brushed it off as if it were nothing, hiding his anxious heart that was desperately seeking a way to quietly cancel the marriage with Kaela. Who would have thought the Duchess of Monde would end up like that? The status of the Princess of Ostein was skyrocketing endlessly.
“If only the Crown Prince were like that too.”
“I’m just late. His Highness the Crown Prince must be quicker.”
“We’ll see about that. Anyway, the conversation has strayed, but you should take good care of the Princess.”
To this, Peon responded with genuine sincerity.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
****
After meeting with the Emperor who summoned him at all hours, Peon returned and looked down at the box of diamonds on his desk.
No diamonds would ever surpass these twelve diamonds named the Kervan series. The rightful owner of such historically precious jewels should have been the Grand Duchess of Lusenford, where the Kervan series was discovered.
The foolish husband who had given the three largest stones to the Emperor because they were too precious, two to the whining Beatrice, and pushed the rest into the war fund, didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.
But it seemed he still didn’t understand a woman’s heart well and kept making mistakes.
“You took the whole thing to Princess Ostein?”
Sir Renard, who was solely responsible for reading the atmosphere among the blunt northern knights, could tell that the Grand Duke of Lusenford was quite dejected now. Even for the usually expressionless Grand Duke, Sir Renard, who had served him closely for a long time, could roughly tell.
“The finished products should have been given, Your Highness…”
“So that was the problem, wasn’t it?”
Peon finally sighed. He had made another mistake due to his lack of proper training in refined Cranian etiquette and how to treat ladies.
