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Chapter 6
“Surely you didn’t bring only one maid with you?”
Her gaze shifted to Molly, who was standing off to one side. The moment the Empress looked at her, Molly flinched and quickly lowered her head. It was completely different from the way she had nagged me nonstop inside the carriage on the way here.
“No matter how minor your baronial family may be, bringing only a single maid… tsk tsk.”
The Empress clicked her tongue softly.
“You’re bound to be looked down on the moment you arrive at the duke’s estate.”
The instant I heard that, scenes from the original story naturally came to mind.
This exact scene hadn’t appeared in the novel, but when Keila first appeared at the duke’s residence, there had definitely been two attendants serving her.
One was Stella.
The other was a maid assigned by the Empress.
“So this was how it happened.”
The maid planted by the Empress must have reported every little thing that happened between Keila and the duke’s household back to her. The Empress always seemed to know everything, as if she had eyes everywhere.
Keila had been grateful, believing the Empress truly cared for her. Even when Stella subtly warned her not to trust the Empress’s people too much, Keila had scolded Stella instead, telling her not to be jealous and to get along with the maid.
Only now did those scenes vaguely return to me. Back then, I hadn’t realized how important they were.
“This won’t do. I’ll assign one of my clever girls to you.”
“N-No, Your Majesty!”
My instinctive rejection made my voice rise slightly. Both the Empress and Knox looked startled by how firmly I refused.
Forcing an awkward smile, I hurriedly came up with an excuse.
“I’m grateful for the thought alone, Your Majesty. But if one of Your Majesty’s people enters the duke’s household alongside me, I fear the duke may misunderstand…”
“Misunderstand?”
The Empress’s eyes sharpened subtly.
“Yes. The duke is already entering a marriage he does not desire. If he learns that someone from Your Majesty is constantly by my side, what will he think? Rather than accepting me as his wife, he may even misunderstand Your Majesty’s intentions as well… perhaps?”
I cautiously raised the end of my sentence, as though seeking their agreement.
Fortunately, the excuse I came up with in a hurry seemed to work. The Empress’s expression darkened with concern.
Not missing the timing, I quickly added,
“One attendant is more than enough to assist me. Molly, who came with me, understands me better than anyone else. Isn’t that right, Molly?”
When I turned toward Molly with a smile, she nodded stiffly with an expression that looked neither happy nor sad.
The Empress still seemed reluctant, so I drove the point home.
“After the wedding, if I find myself needing more help, I will ask first. Now that I am alone in the capital, the only person I can rely on is Your Majesty.”
I smiled brightly, placing particular emphasis on the words “Your Majesty alone.”
At that, she finally seemed unable to insist any further and nodded with a strained smile.
“If that is truly what you want, then I will not force you.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
I lowered my head and quietly sighed in relief.
At least for now, I had successfully cut off the Empress’s spy who would have monitored my every move.
“You must be exhausted from the long journey, so you should head to the duke’s estate now. Leave all preparations to me and rest until the wedding day. Since we are at war, the ceremony will be kept simple anyway.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After politely saying my farewells, I left the Empress’s reception room.
At first, I had been extremely nervous, but meeting the Empress hadn’t been as terrifying as I expected. Perhaps it was because I knew them better than they knew me, but I was slowly gaining confidence that I could steer the situation in my favor.
“Then I shall take my leave here. My men will escort you safely to the duke’s estate.”
“Thank you, Sir Knox.”
I gave a small nod to Knox, who had escorted me here, then turned away. As I approached the carriage, the coachman stepped forward and opened the door for me.
The moment I climbed aboard, my nerves returned.
“So I’m finally heading to the duke’s estate.”
Trying to stay alert, I gazed out the window. Unlike my complicated feelings, the weather was beautifully clear.
*
The dim yet luxurious room was filled with the heavy scent of perfume.
“She’s a clever girl. Easy to reason with. If properly trained, she’ll serve her role well enough.”
Delzaya held an emerald hairpin against her head from different angles as she admired herself in the mirror. The jewelry box before her glittered softly with ornaments studded with all kinds of gems.
“Yes…”
Knox answered, but unlike usual, there was hesitation in his voice.
He couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling lingering inside him.
“If you don’t want to die, you’d better watch how you behave.”
When he’d heard her sternly warning the maid inside the carriage on the way to the capital, he had merely thought she was smarter and bolder than expected.
To marry Duke Zenkishi and act as his wife, a woman needed at least that much spirit. If she couldn’t endure it and ran away, that would only create trouble for them. Though she was becoming the duke’s bride, she also seemed keenly aware of her precarious position, like a candle flickering in the wind.
But what had just happened was different.
“I’m grateful for the thought alone, Your Majesty. But if one of Your Majesty’s people enters alongside me, the duke may misunderstand…”
When she had rejected the Empress’s proposal on the spot without offending her mood, Knox had honestly been shocked.
Even daughters of the greatest noble houses could barely look the Empress in the eye, yet Stella Enrio was different. While lowering herself humbly, she still voiced her opinion clearly to the Empress—and in the end, she got her way.
The little moments she displayed kept bothering him.
“That young lady is far from ordinary. I only hope Her Majesty hasn’t made a needless mistake by trying to weaken the duke’s power.”
He could no longer confidently say that his decision to bring Stella Enrio to the capital instead of Keila Enrio had been the correct one.
*
As the sun set over the plains, rows of military tents surrounded blazing campfires.
In front of the largest tent, a black lizard banner fluttered ominously in the wind, and the atmosphere inside was anything but ordinary.
Gary stood beneath the lamplight, anxiously watching the back of the man reading a letter.
The Emperor’s illegitimate son.
Field commander.
War hero.
The young man known by many titles was Duke Ricardo Zenkishi, the master Gary had devoted his loyalty to.
Because he could already guess the contents of the letter his lord was reading, Gary paid even closer attention to the duke’s reaction.
Sure enough, Ricardo slowly crumpled the completed letter in his hand. The slight trembling of his clenched fist alone revealed how deeply he resented the Empress.
“So it really is about the marriage?”
Gary broke the silence first. This was no longer a reality they could avoid.
Without a word, Ricardo tossed the letter into the brazier where flames roared fiercely.
Even before departing for war, the Empress had told him—no, ordered him—that she had already chosen his bride and that he was to prepare for the wedding as soon as he returned from the battlefield.
Political marriages with someone one had never met were common enough, but the Empress’s intentions were painfully obvious.
“To keep the Guineiro family in check, no doubt. Considering she’s pushing the marriage despite knowing Lady Yelena favors you.”
Whether it was the Guineiro family or any other prestigious house of merit, the Empress had never intended to marry her second son to the daughter of a noble family. She could not stand the fact that Ricardo—who was not born from her womb—excelled so brilliantly, and she constantly searched for faults in him.
Given that, it was obvious what kind of bride the Empress would have selected.
“To think she would interfere even in marriage…”
Gary was furious. The man he served deserved nothing less than the most beautiful and accomplished lady in the empire as his bride. Yet simply because he had fallen out of the Empress’s favor, he had to endure this humiliation.
If even he was this angry, he could not begin to imagine how Ricardo himself must feel.
But Ricardo Zenkishi was a man of immense patience when pursuing his goals—like a predator holding its breath before striking at the perfect moment.
“It is my mother’s command. Naturally, a son must obey.”
Unlike Gary, who could not hide his indignation, Ricardo turned around with a calm expression. Though flames raged within him, outwardly he maintained perfect control over his emotions.
He rested one arm on the massive war map laid out at the center of the tent and gazed at it leisurely, as though plotting his next strategy.
Pulling out the red flag symbolizing his army, he slowly rolled it between his fingers. His expression was cautious, as if searching for the next place to plant it.
Watching the duke, Gary found himself thinking:
The place where that flag would eventually be planted should no longer be enemy territory, but the imperial palace itself.
And among all places within it—the highest seat of all. The Emperor’s throne.
He could hardly imagine the storm of fury raging within his master, but the thought of the day Ricardo would repay the humiliation he now endured sent both a thrill and a chill down his spine.
