Chapter 64
Chapter 64. Fall to Me
Thanks to Lineue, who quickly brought in servants, the traces of the Emperor and Empress’s passionate lovemaking in the library did not extend beyond the door. However, Vinea’s mood was inevitably more sensitive than usual as she had to handle the afternoon schedule.
Lineue ran errands herself for Vinea, who was tired from seeing off the departing diplomatic delegations. She was on her way to bring a special tea with confirmed benefits from the imperial medical staff in an elegant teacup.
She covered the crystal cup with a matching lid. Inside, a transparent rose-colored liquid swirled, almost overflowing.
A long shadow fell in front of Lineue as she carefully walked with the cup on a saucer.
Wondering who would block the path of the Empress’s personal maid, she raised her head to find the Emperor of this empire looking down at her.
“What is this?”
“It’s, it’s medicinal tea I was bringing to Her Majesty the Empress.”
Wariness was evident in the Emperor’s gaze as he looked down at the medicinal tea. Lineue felt a bit wronged. Was she someone who would bring poison to Her Majesty the Empress?
“I’ve already had it checked before coming. I even tasted it myself just in case, so you can rest assured.”
Lineue mustered up courage to speak under the Emperor’s dominant aura that seemed to change even the flow of air.
However, as if not hearing her words, Tatar picked up the cup with one hand, seemingly unaffected by its heat.
“This isn’t the tea the Empress usually drinks.”
“Yes. That’s because, among the gifts received—”
“—Who gifted it?”
Tatar’s inorganic eyes turned to Lineue. It was a gaze clearly different from when looking at his master.
It was a gaze that made her wonder if he even saw her as a human, let alone showing any warmth.
‘Whether I’m the Empress’s maid or whatever, His Majesty could kill me right now if he wanted.’
Lineue answered with a trembling voice, her head deeply bowed.
“The head of the Valita Trading Company, Balak Utar.”
Before Lineue could add an explanation, Tatar turned over the cup he was holding.
With a clang, the crystal lid fell to the floor along with the tea.
Clack.
Tatar placed the empty cup on the saucer she was holding and turned around. He entered the Empress’s office, and Deron, following behind him, passed by Lineue with sympathetic eyes.
As the office door closed, Lineue let out a sigh of relief.
“Well, I’m grateful he didn’t throw it in my face…”
It should have been tea that would have cooled to just the right temperature by the time Her Majesty the Empress returned to her office. Having spent a full 30 minutes brewing it, she couldn’t help but feel regretful.
It was medicinal tea with various benefits that were hard to come by even in the imperial court. Fatigue relief, sleep improvement, skin beauty, and…
She had brought it after several confirmations from the imperial pharmacist. Because it had far fewer side effects than existing teas with the same benefits, she had emptied the tea cabinet from dawn and replaced it with the gifted ones. In the end, she would have to throw them away again and order new ones.
“It will take at least two days for a new order to arrive.”
Lineue turned around with the empty cup. She muttered with a regretful face.
“I hope it will be alright…”
* * *
Tatar scanned Vinea’s empty office with his eyes. Judging by the fact that it wasn’t tidied up yet, she must have just left.
“Where is the Empress?”
Tatar brushed his fingertips over Vinea’s walnut desk. Deron immediately answered.
“After seeing off the diplomatic delegation from the Kingdom of Igor, she immediately summoned the owners of dressmaking shops in the capital to the palace.”
“How quick-footed my Empress is. What’s the rush?”
With a short laugh, he picked up a book placed on the desk. When he opened it, various clothing illustrations flipped by.
As if there was nothing more to see, he closed the book and handed it to Deron.
“Burn it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Deron didn’t ask why. Even though the book he had to burn had a gold bookmark indicating it was the only copy in the imperial library.
Sitting in Vinea’s chair after circling the desk, he leaned deeply into the backrest. As he leaned against the chair that firmly supported his back, a soft fragrance from her briefly tickled his nose.
A pleasant elation arose. It seemed the aftereffects of the pleasure he could obtain from taking her body still lingered.
Under his lazily blinking eyelids, gray eyes full of satisfaction like a satiated beast appeared.
“Deron, how many of the former Emperor’s subordinates remain?”
“Two, Your Majesty. Among them, the Aksimund Marquis family…”
Deron swallowed a low sigh, remembering the young master of the Aksimund Marquis family found collapsed in a hideous state in the Empress’s palace garden. While there were people who saw him enter the Empress’s palace garden with a foreign lady that day, no one knew what happened inside.
But how many in this empire could cause an open disturbance in the Empress’s palace, touch a high-ranking noble, and leave shamelessly without cleaning up?
Deron personally covered up and removed the dark red handprints on the young master’s neck and the handkerchief with the imperial pattern covering his face to prevent rumors from spreading.
The young master, who returned to the Marquis’s residence, reportedly couldn’t take a single step outside his room and was just trembling. It’s a pity that he reportedly fainted again in shock when he saw the doctors sent from the palace as a courtesy.
“We’re currently investigating the accounting ledgers of their territory. The taxes submitted to the imperial court differ from what’s recorded in the ledgers, so you could dismiss them immediately if you give the order.”
“Is that so…”
As if lost in thought for a moment, he tapped the top of Vinea’s desk with his index finger, then raised his head.
“Leave them be.”
“If I may be so bold, the Aksimund Marquis family is one of the main pillars of the former Emperor. It’s a good opportunity to dismiss them.”
“The Marquis family will collapse on its own anyway. The Marquis is incapable of producing an heir, and his child is actually the bloodline the Marchioness bore from outside. Leave it to the Marchioness to deal with the Marquis when he learns the truth. It’ll take half a year at most.”
Deron nodded with a confused face.
This wasn’t the first time things had been resolved this way. The confident attitude as if knowing the future, and the events that inevitably unfolded just as he said.
As if he were a god, manipulating the sky from above people’s heads, how could there be an enemy to overcome? Deron couldn’t dare to keep up with the bold choices and movements that sometimes even inspired awe.
“I understand. A report on the former Emperor’s movements has come in. Would you like to review it?”
“Leave it in the office. And withdraw the knights blocking the former Emperor’s separate palace. Continue the reports as before, but stop the restrictions on his actions.”
Normally, he would have just accepted the order, but this time he couldn’t help but ask. Deron opened his mouth with a confused expression.
“Her Majesty the Empress will be in danger. There are signs that subordinates have been brought in from outside the imperial court recently. Reports say they are notorious for their cruelty in the underworld and mainly take on assassination requests.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Unable to dare disobey the order of the person he served, Deron chose silence.
‘A person who seemed like he would offer even the empire at her feet when it came to Her Majesty the Empress…’
What on earth happened for him to change so suddenly? Deron couldn’t guess the reason.
After pondering for a moment, he finally spoke.
“May I ask the reason?”
At Deron’s words, Tatar turned the chair with a languid smile. Through the window, a clear sky without a single cloud entered his eyes.
Right on cue, a white bird flew up from a tree into the sky. His gaze followed the white wings cutting through the sky.
“Rather than breaking those wings myself, I’d like to be hated less, so I should at least try this way.”
* * *
Dawn broke. The light holding both the darkness of night and the crimson of morning half-illuminated his face.
Gartan lowered his head. Inside a small wooden box were two severed wrists. They were the wrists of the two subordinates who were ordered to kill Vante that day.
Even after meting out appropriate punishment, his anger wasn’t quelled. It was because he ultimately failed to find Vante’s whereabouts, which he thought he could easily discover.
It would have been fortunate if he had just died somewhere, but there was no expectation of such luck.
By joining hands with the former Emperor, Vinea’s side now only had to wait for time to pass. However, the existence of Vante, the legitimate heir of Veshnu, was like a thorn that had to be removed.
“Useless things.”
Gartan turned away after looking at the severed hands with contemptuous eyes.
The western separate palace of the Tessibanian Imperial Palace, prepared for the diplomatic delegation, is large and splendid, appearing at first glance to be excellent hospitality. However, the number of knights surrounding the palace was more than twice the usual number deployed, and there wasn’t a single moment when they left their posts, which was the main reason he couldn’t use his subordinates comfortably.
With his hand not holding the cane, he picked up today’s newspaper.
[A meeting of two setting suns. A place of reconciliation for the next generation?]
Although he had no intention of hiding his meeting with former Emperor Maxiul, the headline of the newspaper published the next morning as soon as the news leaked was enough to irritate him.
“Setting suns, is it.”
These ignorant fools dare to evaluate and belittle him. Those who couldn’t open their mouths carelessly when he was at the highest position.
This was why he wanted to grasp power. He would make sure no one stood above him. The anger and greed of one who had been robbed of what he should naturally enjoy, not something he had to fight for, was justified.
Yes, go ahead and talk as much as you want. Soon, blood will spread again on the land you stand on, and the sky will be filled with the screams of your loved ones.
And thus, he would finally fulfill the long-cherished wish passed down from distant generations and leave only one empire on this land. In the end, the only one who would become the complete ruler and carve his name in history was Gartan Madretta Veshnu, and no one else.
He opened the window. Right on time, a black bird flew in and landed on his arm.
As Gartan unfolded and read the note tied to its thin leg, his expression froze coldly.
[Hunting festival, attack, young falcon’s right leg, permanent disability diagnosed.]
Young falcon. It was a term referring to his son, Nexior.
The rising sun hung over his head as if it were a setting sunset. There was only darkness on Gartan’s face, backlit by the light.
