Chapter 022
“His Imperial Majesty requests that you remain until the last day of the banquet.”
This was the response to his statement about returning to his territory.
Sioden looked down at the palace attendant, who was waiting for his reply with their head bowed. He usually tried not to express his feelings through actions, but in moments like this, it was not easy.
Before his displeasure could show, Ben approached him.
“There must be a hidden agenda.”
“Indeed.”
The Emperor wanted to put a leash on Raslet. He had failed when Lerox was alive, so now he would aim for his lineage.
Having succeeded Lerox, he had to protect his family from the Emperor’s schemes. It didn’t matter how much that individual had to pay for it.
What was inherited had to be preserved intact.
Only then could it be passed down to the next generation in the same manner.
However, just the thought of meeting a woman with aligned interests, having children, and making those children live the same life he did made him feel nauseous.
It was an unpleasant feeling that he had never dared to voice, knowing that once he brought it up, it would spill out uncontrollably.
On the last day of the banquet, the emperor’s attendant returned.
“They have granted you an audience.”
But he had never requested an audience with the Emperor.
It must have been a distortion to bolster his pride. Even knowing that the Emperor had such a nature, irritation welled up within him. Sioden narrowed his brow.
The attendant continued to speak with their head still bowed.
“They requested you wear formal attire.”
In any case, he could not refuse the emperor’s summons. Complying with the request, Sioden headed to the Emperor’s audience chamber.
As he stepped into the corridor leading to the audience chamber, he spotted a familiar figure from behind. Without realizing it, Sioden called out the woman’s name.
“Ella?”
It was a voice that came out brighter than intended. If the woman hadn’t turned around immediately, he would have felt quite foolish.
“Sioden…?”
Unlike him, who had inadvertently called her by her alias from the night, Iella hadn’t forgotten who he was.
Sioden approached the woman, who was biting her lip with a pale expression.
She hadn’t forgotten that she was Iella Rowen.
However, among the words he had heard when he received the brooch, there was something he had to deny.
“I’m sorry.”
Regardless of her origins or family ties, Sioden had no reason to hear such words from her.
It was he who had entered the terrace where the guests were, he who had concealed his identity, and he who had taught her to take his hand instead of jumping down alone.
If someone had made a mistake that night, the responsibility lay more with him than with her.
However, before he could say anything to Iella, the palace attendant urged him.
“The Emperor has arrived at the audience chamber.”
It meant he should hurry and not delay.
Sioden did not respond to the attendant. Just answering the Emperor’s self-centered summons was already testing his patience.
The attendant pressed again.
“Your Excellency, Lady, His Majesty is waiting for both of you.”
At those words, Iella’s eyes widened. He likely had a similar reaction. He hadn’t known that the Emperor had summoned both Iella and him at the same time.
Iella entered the audience chamber without giving him a chance to say more. Sioden followed her.
Inside the audience chamber were the Emperor and Capren Rowen.
A sense of foreboding washed over him. It was because good things never happened when those two were together.
His almost instinctive prediction was not wrong.
“In the name of Litherin, I command the union of Iella Rowen and Sioden Raslet.”
Hearing what seemed like the words of a senile old man, Sioden instinctively looked at the woman sitting opposite him. He finally understood the context of her white southern-style dress and the black formal attire he had worn at the Emperor’s request.
The Emperor had summoned him for a puppet show.
A surge of murderous intent accompanied by humiliation rose within him. Sioden inhaled deeply to keep it from showing on the surface.
The clearly senile old man looked back and forth between him and Iella, smiling with satisfaction.
“From up here, you two look quite well matched.”
Iella’s already poor expression hardened even more.
Sioden was sure that neither she nor he would agree with the Emperor’s words.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
The knight, Rhys, who had accompanied him as an aide, did not take the sudden marriage announcement well.
“The Emperor must be insane.”
Sioden warned Rhys, who was muttering under his breath.
“Be quiet; we’re in the palace.”
“Listen!”
Rhys could not contain his anger and raised his voice.
“Knowing full well why the late Lord Raslet passed away, why would they pair you with the daughter of Rowen?”
Even knowing Rhys was crossing a line, Sioden let him be. He was too fatigued to intervene, his mind was more complicated than the knight’s actions, and above all, his feelings were not so different from Rhys’s.
Sioden had no particular loyalty he wished to protect for his father, who was poisoned by Capren. Ever since Lerox betrayed the vow made at the wedding, Sioden had failed every time he tried to respect him.
However, bringing a Rowen into the family was a separate issue.
Capren Rowen was eyeing Glasyr. When he first proposed a deal to Lerox, he likely intended to obtain that tree and then withdraw, but now his mind had changed. Sioden knew that even if Capren achieved his initial goal, he would not simply disappear.
The man had already harbored resentment from being rejected once and had poisoned the head of the family. If he had done something worse since then, it was unlikely he had done less.
With the previous head of the family poisoned, the resentment of the Raslet vassals, who had always been wary of Rowen, had reached its peak.
The best strategy was to avoid entanglement with Rowen.
Rhys spoke in a voice filled with indignation.
“Moreover, the Rowen Lady has a fiancé. It’s said she is half-engaged to the Crown Prince; the rumors are spreading throughout the capital!”
Now that he thought about it, he had heard that rumor.
That the precious lady of Rowen would soon sit in the position of Crown Princess.
Suddenly, he recalled what the Emperor had said to Capren in the audience chamber.
“But didn’t you say that the lady is quite fond of the new Northern Duke?”
Only they knew that he and Iella had met. Yet the Emperor spoke as if Capren was also aware of that fact.
Had Iella mentioned it to her father?
And yet, she had come to return the brooch to him.
Draped in just a shawl, like someone who had snuck out, without even a hair ornament.
If she truly liked him, what was that expression she had shown when she received the Emperor’s command for marriage?
It was confusing. Sioden pressed his throbbing forehead. He gestured to the knight, who was about to complain again, to be quiet.
“It’s already done.”
Ben, who had been watching them from a short distance, approached him.
“Is there no way to avoid it?”
Sioden shook his head.
There weren’t many ways to defy the Emperor’s command. Especially a marriage proposed under the guise of goodwill could easily be seen as an act of rebellion if refused.
Though it was a somewhat forced interpretation, he currently lacked the power to challenge the Emperor’s coercion.
The Emperor was well aware of this fact.
Rhys, who had been pacing in the room, walked over as if he had thought of a good idea.
“Cause a scandal. Then Capren Rowen will try to stop this marriage, won’t he? He cherishes his daughter too much to give her to a man of loose morals.”
A scandal.
That word meant one thing.
To behave recklessly like Lerox.
Just the thought made his stomach churn. Sioden took a deep breath to calm his unsettled insides.
Noticing his darkened expression, Ben stepped in front of Rhys.
“Sir, stop it. His Excellency won’t like this.”
“But, Advisor, if this continues, won’t the daughter of Rowen become the mistress of the North without any resistance?”
Rhys placed his hand on Sioden’s desk.
“Your Excellency, this cannot happen. Absolutely not.”
Though he understood why Rhys was acting this way, irritation began to rise within him. Just then, Rhys spoke again.
“What about the lady from the Ethel family?”
Merwen Ethel. Sioden recalled the girl who had grown up with him in Raslet Castle after losing his parents.
Since Lerox personally brought the last Ethel into the castle, the vassals spoke as if he would marry her.
Every time, his response was the same.
“I will never marry Merwen.”
Rhys shook his head.
“I know, I know. But think about it this way. If you haven’t married that lady Merwen, how can you marry Capren Rowen’s daughter?”
No, he could never marry Merwen, but he would soon walk down the aisle alongside Iella Rowen.
Sioden repeated what he had said once before.
“It’s already done.”
The Emperor had decided to bind Raslet and Rowen through marriage.
He didn’t know what would happen if he tried to avoid this marriage.
Ben, sensing the atmosphere in the room, quietly said,
“…Well, the marriage can always be annulled later, can’t it?”
However, everyone present knew that the likelihood of such a thing happening was slim.
