Chapter 66
Chapter 66
I stand corrected.
The Emperor wasn’t scary… he was petty.
The Emperor made his entrance more grandly than anyone else.
The princes followed.
I looked around to see if there might be the female protagonist who was an imperial princess, but true to her setting as being from the back palace, she wasn’t visible yet.
As soon as he appeared, the Emperor received everyone’s attention, enjoying his celebrity life while listening to flattering remarks.
He seemed tireless, even after finishing a long, year-end sermon.
He took time to call forward people who had shone throughout the year one by one, praising their merits and bestowing rewards.
If only he had stopped there, but he deliberately called out Cassis.
Knowing that Cassis had no particular merit, I watched this whole moment with an uneasy heart.
Roen starting to act restlessly beside me also contributed to my anxiety.
The Emperor made Cassis kneel before everyone and began to act pettily.
“Well, if it isn’t Cassis of Luwin.”
Cassis couldn’t say a word yet, as the Emperor’s command hadn’t been given.
He wasn’t even allowed to raise his head, so he was kneeling with one knee on the ground, bowing his head deeply to show respect to the Emperor.
While he would have allowed ordinary people to rise by now, that permission wasn’t given to Cassis.
“I hear that thanks to your direct involvement in the political strife of the Ranken Kingdom, peace has been restored.”
Laughter erupted from various parts of the party.
It was also the mockery of those who understood the Emperor’s ridicule.
I felt extremely uncomfortable.
I stood straight, fixing my gaze straight ahead to avoid looking at Cassis.
“It seems the Grand Duke of Luwin has quite a talent for mediating in affairs of the heart. I thought you might have gone to seduce the queen and return.”
The laughter that burst out with ‘Hahaha’ was accompanied by insults.
“So I was quite disappointed when you said you wouldn’t go on dispatch this time, Grand Duke.”
“……”
“Ah, I haven’t given permission yet. You may answer.”
Saying he could answer meant he still hadn’t given permission to raise his head or straighten his posture.
“I apologize for causing Your Majesty concern.”
“Ah, no. These things happen.”
He smiled benevolently and said it was okay, but his actions didn’t seem okay at all.
Because his subsequent behavior was insulting not only to Cassis but to all of Luwin, to the numerous families serving Luwin.
“Just a moment, something urgent has come up. It’ll only take a moment.”
As if it were truly urgent, he began to read a document brought by a servant.
Cassis was still kneeling on the floor.
“……”
As someone serving Cassis, as someone whose life had once been saved by him, I stood blankly in place.
My thoughts began to race.
“Don’t think about it.”
It was Roen who cut off my words.
For the first time, I turned my head to look at Roen standing beside me.
Like me, he was maintaining his posture with his gaze fixed straight ahead and his expression hardened.
His lips were torn from how much he had been biting them.
“…Don’t think about it.”
“But.”
“There’s nothing we can do right here, right now.”
That’s right.
There’s nothing we can do.
But how can I explain this feeling right now?
How can I resolve this scene that’s turning my insides upside down?
As if understanding my feelings, Roen whispered softly.
“Marquis Cloi is at 3 o’clock from where we’re standing.”
Where I slowly turned my head following Roen’s words, there stood a man grinning unpleasantly.
His belly protruded greatly, and his face was full of greed.
He was standing quite close to the Emperor, and it was laughable how he was putting on airs as if that distance represented his power.
“…So that’s Marquis Cloi.”
“Yes. And next to him is Rosalyn Freya.”
It was true.
The woman who had been so anxious to do something for the Luwin Grand Duchy, stirring everyone up, was now sticking close to the Marquis’s side.
She seemed to pay no mind to the fact that Cassis, whom she claimed to cherish so much, was kneeling before the Emperor.
She was clinging to her younger brother’s side, talking about something as if he was so lovable.
“We must succeed no matter what.”
“…Yes.”
The Emperor finally seemed to have finished his work and turned towards Cassis.
“Ah, Grand Duke. You were still like that. Well. It’s a bit much to have the Grand Duke kneeling before me for so long.”
“……”
“You may rise.”
Although his legs should have been numb, Cassis rose from his place cleanly without showing any sign of it.
He saluted the Emperor with full respect.
The Emperor clicked his tongue as if disappointed by something he had expected, waving his hand carelessly.
Cassis walked out with his usual expression, showing no sign of hurt pride or anything of the sort.
People’s whispers and gazes were still pouring towards Cassis.
Roen, who had barely maintained his composure throughout, now put on a playful expression as Cassis approached.
“I told you to at least put on an expression of hurt pride.”
“Well, it’s not the first time. He says such things every time, I don’t even feel anything anymore.”
“That’s what I mean. If you had at least put on a slightly hurt expression, he wouldn’t have tormented Your Grace this much.”
I remained silent, quietly listening to their conversation that was close to a reunion.
“Why bother when my pride isn’t hurt?”
“Then what were you thinking, Your Grace?”
Cassis blinked once and said,
“I was wondering whether Apple would bake the apple tart with grated apples or sliced whole apples when we return at dawn, thoughts like that?”
[Cassis seems stronger than we thought.]
[Yeah, it makes our Irina’s worries seem unnecessary.]
‘Indeed.’
I marveled at Cassis’s incredible nerves that made all my worries useless.
But still, I didn’t feel better.
I quietly maintained my position in silence, and Cassis stopped the chattering Roen and turned towards me.
“Irina… you look fine.”
“Me?”
“Yes, I thought that was fortunate.”
“Hmm. Let’s leave it at that then.”
If Cassis thought it was fortunate that I looked fine, let’s leave it at that.
Cassis took a glass of wine from a passing servant and said as he sipped it,
“By the way, it’s fortunate that the Emperor’s attention didn’t turn to Irina.”
“That’s right. I was actually worried that the Emperor might show some interest in Irina, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Cassis and Roen said that.
But I could only smile gently at them.
“Why?”
“Please don’t smile so ominously.”
Instead of answering, I quietly extended my hand to point back at where the Emperor was.
They turned their heads following me, and slowly opened their mouths before barely closing them.
[What should we do about our Ijin?]
[Yeah, indeed.]
Because our Ijin was now caught by the Emperor.
“The young Count of Seike. I heard you’ve had a great influence on the empire’s cultural life by selling wine that maintains above-average quality.”
The pretext was, well, something like he had improved the quality of life of the empire’s people by selling good wine.
Of course, I don’t think the Emperor is interested in each one of those things.
Probably, Ijin trembling as he’s half-dragged to receive everyone’s attention is entirely because of me, who has taken Luwin’s side.
“Yes, it’s all thanks to Your Majesty’s gracious attention.”
Our Ijin, having struggled to reach the capital from the South, immediately faced his sister’s lord who was being disrespected, and then was summoned by the Emperor, experiencing the rare opportunity of standing in the center of the capital’s social scene.
I clicked my tongue a few times in pity.
Cassis seemed even more worried than me beside me.
“I’m sorry. Because of me, Ijin…!”
“That’s right. It’s a pity. If he was going to call someone, why not just call me, why Ijin of all people…”
Just call me.
If he had called me, it could have passed uneventfully.
“His Majesty must be quite frustrated.”
“I’m sorry.”
Cassis and I spoke almost simultaneously.
Cassis looked at me with a puzzled expression, as if my words were unexpected.
Instead of explaining, I quietly pointed with my chin at Ijin who was talking freely even in front of the Emperor.
“Haha, is that so? I still have a lot to improve.”
“Yes, you should make wine with such a humble mind. Why bother with other things?”
The Emperor was taking a jab at me.
Asking why I went to Luwin instead of just making wine.
But my Ijin was amazing.
He didn’t understand the Emperor’s intention at all.
Ijin seemed to have understood it as the Emperor scolding him for selling grape jam instead of just selling wine.
“Well… the grape jam we made together tastes fantastic. We couldn’t not sell it. Isn’t this all thanks to Your Majesty’s grace? Thanks to Your Majesty’s concern, our wines are generally all delicious.”
He suddenly started explaining in detail why Seike decided to make and sell grape jam.
The Emperor looked at Ijin quietly with a face that said, ‘How can someone be this stupid?’ and then dropped a word.
“Seike seems to have a long way to go.”
The Emperor clicked his tongue a couple of times and continued.
“Like the wine lacking depth, its owner also lacks depth.”
“Huh, my goodness. Could it be that you’ve tasted our Seike wine? To think that Your Majesty sought out Seike’s wine, it’s truly an honor for our family. Moreover, despite our many shortcomings, for you to worry about us… We will do our best not to disappoint Your Majesty in the future.”
That’s not it, Ijin.
The Emperor would have to be crazy to drink Seike wine.
But because Ijin said it like that, it seemed to become half accepted as fact that the Emperor had drunk Seike wine.
No matter how much the Emperor tried to be sarcastic, Ijin, who only picked out the good parts to hear, now seemed impressive.
Finally, the Emperor said with a tired face,
“I have a headache.”
“Ah! You must have a hangover! At times like this, if you eat the cookies my sister made, you’d feel better right away. I’ll make sure to offer some to Your Majesty soon.”
I screamed internally.
Stop it, I said stop it, Ijin.
The Emperor frowned with a cold face.
He stared at Ijin as if trying to gauge whether he was acting like this on purpose or if he was genuinely reacting this way.
Ijin looked up at the Emperor with innocent calf-like eyes.
The Emperor shook his head with a sigh.
“That’s enough. Go.”
“Yes, it was an honor. Please continue to love Seike wine a lot.”
So, unexpectedly, our Ijin was able to escape from the Emperor without major… issues and return to my arms.
“Sis.”
As if trying to act cute, his slurred pronunciation sounded like ‘Nuna’.
“There, there.”
“The journey here was so difficult.”
After putting on all sorts of airs in front of the Emperor without any sense of propriety, the words he said to me were lamentations about the journey to the capital.
“You’re really something.”
“What?”
“To have the courage to speak like that to His Majesty the Emperor without trembling.”
“I was trembling so much! Didn’t it show?”
