“Brother.”
“Is there anything wrong with the letter?”
“Doesn’t the letter smell like lemon?”
“Smells like lemon?”
“It’s weak, but it definitely smells like lemon.”
Jerald brought the letter and put it under his nose to smell it. As Claret said, it smelled like lemon, even though it was weak. The letter itself seemed to have a little yellowish color when he looked closely.
Jerald thought something for a long time with a strange expression on his face, and then soon turned to the candlestick next to him.
Before long, Claret stopped Jerald in dismay.
“What are you doing now?”
Jerald, however, did not care, and brought the letter closer to the candle.
The paper was about to catch fire, and Claret’s face turned white. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with Jerald all of a sudden.
But after a while.
“Oh…?”
Claret found something and screamed quietly.
“Brother, that’s…!”
Writing was appearing on the letter. It was only then that Claret discovered that Pristin had written a secret word using lemon juice.
Soon after the letters had fully surfaced, the two checked the hidden letters.
A simple and clear word was written.
—Batsukal
There it was. Jerald’s face lit up with hope.
“Summon a meeting with the entire army right now.”
Of course, there was work to be done first.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Duke Gennant was preparing to attend the meeting scheduled for that day.
But when he was almost ready, he noticed a commotion outside.
“There’s a lot of commotion outside, what’s going on?”
“I’ll go check it out.”
However, even the servant who was supposed to assess the situation had not returned with any news, and when the commotion continued unabated, Duke Gennant finally went outside himself.
As soon as he stepped outside, he was confronted with a very disconcerting sight.
“…What is this?”
Soldiers were occupying his mansion. Duke Gennant’s face was stained with displeasure due to an unexpected invasion. How dare they.
“Who do you think you are to come in here!”
“It is the order of His Majesty the Emperor.”
Then, Jerald’s servant appeared before Duke Gennant and said with an expressionless face,
“His Majesty has ordered that Duke Gennant be confined to the mansion as of today.”
“What did you say…?”
“Until His Majesty gives other orders, no one is allowed to leave this mansion.”
“What do you mean, I must see His Majesty myself!”
“You’d better give up, His Majesty has told me that he has no intention of seeing Duke Gennant.”
“What?”
“If you need anything, please let us know through our soldiers.”
“No, what the…!”
“Other than that, you may continue as usual in the mansion.”
After spewing only what he had been told, Jerald’s servant left the Gennant mansion coolly without looking back once.
Only Duke Gennant remained frozen in place for a moment, unable to comprehend the situation.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
The first thing Jerald did was to imprison Duke Gennant in the manor and anyone else he suspected of being in league with the former emperor to maintain confidentiality.
Only then did he call a meeting and begin to formulate a plan to annihilate the usurper’s forces.
“We will divide into two armies, the first to guard the palace and the second to march on Batsukal.”
But just in case it wasn’t Batsukal, just in case the name had been intentionally dropped by the former emperor rather than Pristin, Jerald decided to stay in the capital and defend the palace instead of leading the army himself.
In fact, he had initially hoped to lead the army himself, but all the nobles were vehemently opposed to the idea, citing his safety. In the end, Jerald sent General Brian to Batsukal in his place.
“Make sure to wipe out the remnants of the usurper. Without any exception.”
“By Your Majesty’s command, we will annihilate them.”
“The usurper can be killed on the spot if he rebels.”
After sending troops to Batsukal, time was the key now. To buy himself as much time as possible, Jerald spread word throughout the capital of his intention to abdicate.
In line with that, the nobles camped and protested in front of the imperial palace all day long to withdraw Jerald’s decision to abdicate.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
A few days after that.
After sending the letter and spending every day on edge, Pristin heard about Jerald for the first time in a very long time.
“Have you heard the story, Countess?”
“What story?”
“His Majesty has decided to abdicate.”
At that, Pristin dropped the teacup she was holding.
—Clank!
The teacup smashed to the floor and shattered into pieces. Ashulla ran over to Pristin with a surprised look on her face.
“Oh my god! Are you hurt?”
“Y,yeah, I’m fine.”
Pristin nodded, trying to smile. Ashulla hurried away the broken teacup and turned to Pristin.
“You look very surprised, it’s not like you didn’t expect it.”
“…I just,”
Pristin said, her voice trembling,
“I thought His Majesty might give up on me.”
“No way. There’s a baby in your stomach.”
“…I see.”
“You’ll see your beloved soon enough, but until then, be patient.”
“…Yeah.”
Pristin smiled and nodded. But she was still depressed.
‘I wonder if he didn’t find the secret letter.’
In truth, she had no confidence that he would find it, even if she had sent it in lemon juice.
The lemon tart story written in the P.S. was so out of the blue, and since she was the one sending it, she could easily grasp the clue, but it wouldn’t be the same from the perspective of the person receiving the letter without knowing anything.
Pristin sighed deeply inwardly. If this really was Jerald abdicating to the former emperor, then…
— Knock knock
The sound of the door opening outside interrupted her thoughts. Pristin turned toward the doorway, startled.
“Your Excellency, it’s me.”
She could tell who it was just by the voice. Pristin opened her mouth, feeling uncomfortable.
“Come on in.”
After a while, the door opened, and Akkad came inside. He held a familiar glass in his hand. Pristin narrowed her eyes at Akkad.
“Did you bring another one?”
Akkad had been bringing Pristin a herbal concoction that was said to be good for mothers for days. At first, she suspected it was poison, but then she realized he had no reason to poison her, so she resigned herself to drinking it.
Although Akkad was an enemy, he was a skilled herbalist, and on the surface, he was the only one here who cared about her and her fetus. Pristin, who received the glass, emptied the liquid inside without leaving anything behind.
“I don’t know why you feel the need to take such good care of me.”
“Because we shouldn’t be lacking in our treatment of hostages.”
“Hostage.”
Pristin, who had been pondering the words Akkad had said for a long time, slowly opened her mouth.
“I asked you last time, but I didn’t get an answer.”
“What…”
“Have you ever been sincere with me, even once?”
“…”
“I think you have. It’s strange, but I feel like the lord has been genuinely attentive to me.”
“What does it matter now?”
Akkad replied in a voice that was almost devoid of emotion.
“The emperor has announced his abdication. You will be released soon.”
“…I heard,”
Pristin replied quietly.
“I still want answers. You’ve been avoiding answering to my questions since the beginning.”
“…”
“Is it because you feel sorry for me?”
“Even so, it doesn’t make any difference.”
The answer eventually implied that Pristin’s guess was correct.
“I’ll be a bad person to you, after all.”
“…”
“No matter what I say, it is always true that I am a bad person to you. So my attitude before that is not very important.”
Akkad’s words made Pristin’s lips twitch, and she was about to say something. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside. Everyone turned toward the door in surprise.
Realizing that something had happened, Akkad was about to head out the door with a serious look on his face. They opened the door from the outside and stepped inside.
“Lord.”
“What’s going on?”
“That…”
The soldier was unable to speak while looking at Pristin’s face. Eventually, Akkad led him outside. Only when Pristin was out of earshot did the soldier relay the situation.
“It’s an attack! The emperor has sent an army.”
“What?”
“We are fighting back, but the situation is not good, you must take the countess and leave quickly.”
“…And where is my lord?”
“He’s getting ready to leave in a hurry. Hurry and take the countess…!”
“I will.”
Then, Akkad cut off the soldier and said,
“I will take her with me. If we take the secret passage, we can get out of here undetected.”
“I’ll escort you.”
“No, a crowd will only draw attention to us. I’ll go alone.”
The soldier seemed to hesitate for a moment at Akkad’s words, but then nodded.
“I understand, lord, but hurry instead.”
Eventually, the soldier left, and Akkad went back into the room. At this point, Pristin also roughly noticed the situation. She asked Akkad with a serious face,
“What happened?”
“…”
Akkad was silent for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“We need to move now.”
“Now?”
“The emperor sent soldiers.”
“What…?”
“Small talk can wait.”
With a swift motion, Akkad gave a shawl to Pristin.
“Hurry, we’ll be moving by a secret passage.”
“Where are you trying to take me…?”
“Just move.”
At Akkad’s firm words, Pristin had no choice but to stand up.
