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Chapter 42
He watched her with a face that seemed perfectly satisfied with the situation.
“Ah, the tea! It must be ready by now.”
Unable to endure the awkwardness, Roabellin quickly used the tea as an excuse and turned back.
When she carried the tray with the two cups of tea along with a dish of cookies and madeleines, he first picked up the black tea and, with a gesture, indicated one end of his large desk.
“Place the tray there, bring that chair, and sit over there.”
Roabellin obeyed, and he spoke again.
“Dinner?”
“Ah, dinner…”
She realized she had skipped it. She had waited for him and fallen asleep, missing the right time.
“I… forgot…”
“That’s fine. The tea and snacks are yours. If they’re things you don’t dislike, eat them all now.”
“Yes?”
Kaizern’s words grew increasingly unpredictable. Roabellin tilted her head.
‘Ah… he must have planned this from the moment he asked me to prepare two types of tea.’
Gurgle…
She had intended to decline, but her stomach, seeing the food, signaled at the perfect moment. Suppressing a laugh, Kaizern’s lips tightened slightly.
“Hold the tea. I’ll drink too.”
He took a sip of the black tea Roabellin had brewed and returned to his papers with a relaxed expression.
To be in a quiet space, alone with him, drinking tea…
It was awkward, but there was nothing she could do. Roabellin took a sip and began with the Earl Grey cookie. Kaizern had graciously said she could eat snacks she liked, but the delicacies made by the palace chefs for the Emperor could not possibly taste bad.
‘Wow, this is amazing. How long has it been since I had top-quality tea and cookies like this?’
It had been practically since the family’s destruction that she had eaten such high-class treats.
As she savored the taste, she suddenly recalled the tea times in her childhood with her family in the communal gardens. Those warm and happy memories were still the emotional support that allowed Roabellin to endure.
Her mother and she had especially loved cookies made with Earl Grey tea leaves.
“Roa, try this cookie.”
“Hmm… Earl Grey, but it tastes a bit different. Is the aroma deeper?”
“Yes, that’s right. Earl Grey from Silone is considered the best, but even in Aventador, it’s grown a little in the southern regions. These cookies are made from those leaves. Because production is so limited, they’re usually supplied only to the royal family, so most nobles aren’t aware of it. The aroma is better than the Silone variety, so sometimes it’s sent as a tribute to the empire.”
In this continent, there was only one empire, Prahenfeld, so people often referred to it simply as “the Empire.”
“Hmm~ the aroma is stronger than the Silone one!”
“Yes, exactly. And do you smell a hint of earthiness too?”
“Yes! It’s amazing, so fragrant!”
The Earl Grey cookies she was eating now were made from Aventador-grown leaves, the very ones she had sometimes eaten as a child. They carried a scent packed with deeply nostalgic memories.
“Aventador-grown Earl Grey…?”
So delighted, Roabellin whispered without realizing it, her nose tingling.
Kaizern, pretending to focus on the papers, had been fully aware of her and did not miss her soft words. One corner of his lips rose slightly.
‘No commoner would know that. Even most nobles wouldn’t know Aventador grows Earl Grey, yet she tasted it and guessed correctly…’
Fixing his gaze on the papers, Kaizern spoke.
“Can you speak now?”
Snapped out of her nostalgic reverie by his sudden words, Roabellin blinked in reality.
“Yes? Speak about what…?”
“You, who supposedly lost all your magic, can still use the face-changing spell. Come to think of it, even on the day we first met at the festival, you were healing a dog. Why would someone with magic enter the imperial palace as a laundress? Were you intending to seduce the Emperor, or maybe attempt something like an assassination?”
Kaizern’s questions were perfectly reasonable.
In fact, this was hardly the kind of questioning one would expect while enjoying pastries in a cozy study. The moment he saw Roabellin’s transformed appearance in the palace, he could have imprisoned or interrogated her without issue.
Realizing this, Roabellin felt dizzy.
She quickly devised an answer. Though hasty and clumsy, she had no choice. She knelt on the floor, making herself appear as pitiful as possible.
“It’s true that I still have a small amount of magic left. But it’s well known even among commoners of neighboring countries that Emperor Kaizern of Prahenfeld is immensely powerful. How could I ever think of harming such a person?”
This was true. Kaizern did not even feel the need for many bodyguards. Naturally, he didn’t believe Roabellin would dare to harm him; he was only curious about her true intent.
Kaizern silently watched her. He wanted to meet her beautiful eyes, but she looked only at the floor.
“In my hometown, I… often heard that I was called beautiful. It was a small town with no extraordinary beauties, so anyone remotely presentable was called a beauty. I, overconfident and ignorant of my place, thought I could come to the empire and gain the Emperor’s favor…”
Since she had said aloud she intended to seduce the Emperor, she had to act the part of an innocent, naive country girl.
“I realized my position immediately upon arriving in Visentium. Unlike my hometown, the streets are full of beautiful women… I applied for the lowest-threshold job, a laundress, just to get into the palace.”
Her improvised explanation left Kaizern momentarily flustered.
‘The most beautiful woman in Visentium, and now she’s claiming she came to seduce the Emperor… Has she forgotten she succeeded on the festival day?’
Kaizern sighed lightly, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again.
“Alright, let’s assume all that’s true. Then why did you change your face? You said you wanted to seduce the Emperor, so why make yourself look more ordinary than your original face?”
“……”
Under her “ambitious country girl trying to seduce the Emperor” story, she had no explanation. Roabellin was temporarily speechless.
After a moment’s thought, she decided that, even if he treated her like a strange person, she had to get through this situation.
‘Ugh… no choice. Be shameless, Roa!’
Biting her lower lip, she blurted out quickly.
“Um… was the face I changed to not good? I thought it was prettier, so I changed it…”
Kaizern was taken aback but had no rebuttal. Beauty was subjective, after all.
Though few people in the world could match Roabellin’s beauty, perhaps one or two might find the face she had chosen even more beautiful.
Trying to regain composure, Kaizern questioned her.
“…So you used magic to deceive the Emperor with a fake appearance.”
‘Huh. That’s how it looks… Which fault is smaller?’
Roabellin hurriedly calculated in her mind and offered her excuse.
“I did my best to change my face, but with so many beauties in the palace, it would have been hopeless… Anyway, I thought I’d first try to catch His Majesty’s attention…”
“Judging by yesterday, you still hadn’t abandoned that dream. Fine, I’ll give a small punishment. Stand up. Back to the chair.”
‘Punishment?’
Roabellin stood shakily and sat in the chair, closing her eyes in fear.
“I forbid transformations into the face you thought more beautiful. You won’t be able to use magic freely in the palace anyway. Nowhere else either. Let’s see if you can seduce me with that face. Always return to your original face.”
Of course, this was just his excuse to see her true face. Roabellin raised her head, surprised. Their eyes met.
In the next instant, Kaizern extended his hand toward her face and silently used magic. A faint light emanated from his hand, illuminating her for a moment before disappearing.
“And now, if you use magic inside the palace, it will always be detected.”
Roabellin groaned inwardly.
‘It’s over… Not just the palace, he’s actively targeting me with detection magic…’
“From what I sensed, your magic is indeed minimal.”
‘He sensed it already?!’
“You said you were seeking the Magic Tower’s master to restore your power. What were you planning once it recovered? Were you going to cast seduction magic on me? Or use it to serve the group that wants to assassinate me?”
‘No, why is it going that way?!’
Roabellin could only gape, unable to answer.
