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Chapter 3
“While letting out a long sigh, one’s vision becomes clear.
And the time it takes to smoke a cigarette cools the mind.”
At Ariella’s words, confusion flickered across the emperor’s face, which until moments ago had been blazing with anger.
“Then how many people might be saved during the time it takes to drink a cup of tea?”
Those words had been spoken by none other than Emperor Frederick himself.
They were part of the memoir he had written in celebration of the tenth year of his reign.
Time had passed painfully slowly in the tower. The only things Ariella could do there were embroidery and reading books.
And there had not even been many books available to her. She had nearly memorized them all.
She had needed something—anything—to keep herself from going mad.
“How… do you know those words?”
As the emperor’s voice softened noticeably, the noisy crowd around them also fell silent.
“I have read and reread the precious book written by Your Majesty. I understood those words to mean that a ruler must not lose valuable people because of momentary emotions… was I mistaken?”
Her heart pounded as though it might burst. Forcing out such a strong voice made her chest ache painfully.
The emperor remained silent for a long moment.
“You are not.”
At last, a positive answer came from him.
Ariella bowed deeply in respect.
“Then, Your Majesty, before taking their heads, please grant enough time to smoke a single cigarette.”
Even from afar, it was obvious the emperor’s mood had soured again.
But she could not stop now, so she hurriedly continued.
“If you do, you may see what truly lies in their hearts.”
“Their hearts, you say.”
“How can devotion be called deceit?”
Careful not to sound confrontational, Ariella met the emperor’s gaze steadily.
Interest flickered in his eyes.
“How could something that offended my eyes possibly be devotion?”
“There was one phrase the chamberlain repeated most often while the court painter worked.”
Once again, a silence like eternity settled over the surroundings.
It almost felt as though she could hear an invisible cigarette slowly burning away.
“And what was that?”
“Before answering, may I ask one more question? If this portrait had resembled my face more closely, would Your Majesty have canceled the royal marriage?”
“……”
“You would not have. Most likely, you would have dealt with the matter only after seeing me in person.”
“And?”
“While staying at the palace of Forenze, the chamberlain repeated these words more than any other:
‘Only enough so that His Majesty will not worry. Only enough so that His Majesty will not be displeased.’”
Immediately, Ariella lowered herself onto one knee.
It looked as though she were begging mercy from a god.
“From that day until now, I have waited and waited for the day I could meet Your Majesty.”
“And why… was that?”
“Because I was curious.
What kind of person must Your Majesty be?
How extraordinary must you be for your subjects to admire and adore you so deeply, even when you are not there to see it?”
At that moment, the expression of the crown prince standing behind the emperor turned strange.
The way one eyebrow arched seemed to say:
Well, would you look at that…
Ariella pretended not to notice.
After all, the one holding her life in his hands right now was not the crown prince, but the emperor.
“They merely wished to delay becoming a source of concern to Your Majesty for even a single day longer. If that is not loyalty, then what could it possibly be? I beg you to understand their foolish devotion.”
Ariella bowed deeply once more.
Her long shadow stretched crookedly across the stairs.
Thump-thump.
Her heart felt ready to leap from her mouth.
The emperor’s silence felt endless.
If things ended the same way they had back then, she swore she would bite through her tongue and die on the spot.
As she steeled herself with that resolve, her shadow suddenly stretched farther up the stairs.
At last, the emperor cleared his throat.
Without missing the moment, Ariella rose and placed her open palm against her chest.
Then, as though giving a speech, she extended her arm outward.
“Ever since they returned to our homeland, I dreamed every single day of meeting the emperor who governs this great empire, Triphina, with such glory and prosperity.”
There had only been two people who ever spoke to Ariella in the tower.
One was Sabrina, the maid who brought her meals once a day.
The other was Gerald, one of the knights who guarded her door in rotating shifts.
Sometimes a different maid would come, and sometimes another guard would stand watch, but only those two had spoken kindly to her.
Like swallows feeding their chicks, they had brought her little stories about the outside world.
It was from Gerald, through the door one day, that she had learned the current emperor possessed a certain nickname.
“That is why I traveled here sleeplessly through the nights. Simply being able to stand before Your Majesty like this feels as though I have received all the blessings of my lifetime.”
The nickname was:
Flattery King.
A mocking title born from the similarity between Frederick and the word flattery.
“I-is that so?”
The Flattery King’s voice had become noticeably gentler.
Ariella nodded vigorously.
Then she glanced diagonally downward.
The court painter was still sprawled on the ground, trembling violently. His forehead repeatedly struck the floor with dull thuds.
“You there, speak. Is what she says true?”
At her prompting, both the chamberlain and the painter nodded frantically.
“O-of course, Your Majesty! Please do not doubt my loyalty.”
As the setting sun in the west blazed crimson in its final display, the atmosphere ripened perfectly.
Then, drip.
Tears fell from Ariella’s eyes.
They were highly calculated tears.
And yet, they also came naturally from the misery of her own situation.
She did not even have the luxury to feel shame while her life hung by a thread.
“But now, it is all meaningless.”
“Hm? And what do you mean by that?”
“Because my lowliness has disturbed Your Majesty’s peace of mind. It seems I am not even worthy of the opportunity to become Your Majesty’s loyal servant.”
Ariella wiped her tears with her sleeve.
The situation had changed too suddenly.
She had done everything she could.
Her shoulders sagged involuntarily.
Ariella looked over the line of assembled knights.
She was preparing herself for the possibility that the order to imprison her in the tower would come again.
At the very end of the line stood a knight. If she merely rushed toward the stairs while pretending to grab his sword, she would probably be killed immediately—
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
“Indeed… so that was how it was. I failed to recognize your loyalty.”
A sigh escaped her automatically.
With unbelievably benevolent warmth, Frederick personally ordered the imperial guards to stand down.
Immediately, murmurs spread through the crowd.
Using the commotion as cover, Ariella glanced toward the tower.
Now only her own punishment remained unresolved.
The enormous shadow of the tower stretched over her entirely, swallowing her whole.
The emperor stroked his chin and openly looked up at the tower.
As though reconsidering his plans.
Ariella felt the blood drain from her face.
After a moment, the emperor gave a brief cough, breaking the tension.
It lasted only an instant, but it felt as though her blood had dried up completely.
Thump-thump.
Her heart felt ready to burst from her throat.
“Ariella of Forenze…”
The moment he spoke again, the surroundings became so silent that even the sound of an ant crawling might have been heard.
“For now, go to the residence prepared for you and wait there. I shall inform you later what is to be done with you.”
The emperor turned away, his robes swirling dramatically behind him.
I survived.
A long breath escaped her.
Then her eyes met the pitch-black gaze of the crown prince, who still had not moved.
Five years from now, he would brutally murder his own father and crown himself emperor.
Just meeting his eyes made her entire body tremble.
And yet she could not look away.
That strange expression.
Those unreadable eyes.
Wait…
Was he smiling right now?
Seeing those twisted lips, she found herself unable to control her expression.
Rage twisted inside her.
The final moments at the guillotine came rushing back.
His eyelashes, longer than a woman’s, and the delicate shape of his eyes appeared vividly in her mind.
At this exact same distance, he had smiled.
Smiled while witnessing her utterly meaningless, miserable death.
After silently staring down at her for a moment, Dmitri disappeared inside without a word.
Ariella collapsed heavily to the ground.
“Princess!”
Reina, who had been standing farther away, came running toward her—
But somehow, the sight of her felt unbearably distant.
A short while later, Ariella was led by attendants toward a detached palace behind the main castle.
To get there, they had to pass by the western tower.
Even though she had clearly heard the emperor order that she not be imprisoned there, merely passing in front of it made her tremble so badly she could barely breathe.
“How could they give us a place like this…?”
At the sight of the residence assigned to her, Ariella wanted to scream inwardly with joy.
But beside her, Reina burst into tears as though the sky had fallen.
“I can’t believe they prepared a palace like this for you.”
While Ariella secretly reveled in her victory, Reina began crying in earnest.
She had entered the royal palace of Forenze as a page during childhood.
Having grown up together with Ariella, she was practically her closest friend.
Naturally, Reina became Ariella’s personal maid.
As the second daughter of a baronial family, she had taken great pride in serving her.
She also truly loved Forenze and believed it to be the finest country in the world.
That was why she had willingly accompanied Ariella to the empire.
So of course it broke her heart to see the empire treating Ariella with such disrespect.
