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CHAPTER 05
“While taking a long sigh, one’s vision becomes clear.
And during the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, the mind cools down.”
At Ariella’s words, confusion flickered across the emperor’s furious face.
“Then imagine how many people could be saved during the time it takes to drink a single cup of tea.”
Those were none other than Emperor Frederick’s own words.
A passage from the autobiography he had written to commemorate the tenth year of his reign.
Time had passed unbearably slowly in the tower.
The only things Ariella could do were embroidery and reading books.
There were not many books available to her either. She had practically memorized them all.
She had needed something to keep herself from going mad in that place.
“How… do you know those words?”
As the emperor’s voice softened, the once-chaotic surroundings fell silent.
“I read and reread the precious book Your Majesty authored.
I understood those words as the virtue of a ruler—that one must not lose valuable talent due to momentary emotion. Was I mistaken?”
Her heart pounded as if it would burst. Forcing out a loud voice made her chest ache painfully.
The emperor remained silent for a long moment.
“You are correct.”
At last, he answered affirmatively.
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 was displeased.
But she could not stop now, so she hurried to continue.
“If you do, you may come to see their true intentions.”
“Their true intentions…”
“How can loyalty be called deceit?”
Careful not to sound confrontational, Ariella met the emperor’s gaze.
Something unusual glimmered in his eyes.
“How can clouding my eyes possibly be loyalty?”
“While the court painter worked, there was one phrase the chamberlain repeated more than any other.”
Silence once again wrapped around them like eternity.
It almost sounded as though an invisible cigarette were slowly burning away.
“And what was that?”
“Before answering, allow me to ask one more thing.
Had the portrait resembled me more closely, would Your Majesty truly have canceled the marriage alliance?”
“……”
“You would not have.
You would have confirmed my appearance in person before deciding what to do.”
“And?”
“During his stay at the Forenze royal palace, the chamberlain’s most repeated words were:
‘Only enough so that His Majesty will not worry.
Only enough so that His Majesty will not be displeased.’”
Ariella immediately dropped to one knee, as though begging mercy before a god.
“From that day until now, I have waited endlessly for the day I could stand before Your Majesty.”
“And… why?”
“Because I wished to know.
What kind of man could inspire such devotion?
How extraordinary must Your Majesty be for your servants to admire and revere you so deeply, even where you could not see them?”
At that moment, the crown prince standing behind the emperor made a strange expression.
The way he raised one eyebrow practically said, Well, would you look at that…
Ariella pretended not to notice.
After all, the one holding her life in his hands was the emperor, not the crown prince.
“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 else could it possibly be?
I beg you to understand their foolish sincerity.”
Once more, Ariella bowed deeply.
Her long shadow stretched crookedly across the stairs.
Thump, thump.
Her heart felt ready to leap from her chest.
The emperor’s silence felt eternal.
If things ended the same way they had before, she swore she would bite through her tongue and die on the spot.
As she steeled herself, her shadow suddenly lengthened farther up the stairs.
At last, the emperor cleared his throat.
Ariella instantly rose to her feet, pressing one hand against her chest. Then, as though giving a speech, she extended her arm forward.
“Every day after they returned home, I dreamed of this day—
the day I would finally behold the emperor who rules this vast empire of Triphina with such glory and prosperity.”
Only two people had ever spoken to Ariella while she was imprisoned in the tower.
One was Sabrina, the maid who brought her food once a day.
The other was Gerald, one of the knights who guarded her door in rotating shifts.
Sometimes different maids came, and the guards changed, but only those two ever spoke kindly to her.
Like swallows feeding their young, they brought her stories of the outside world.
It was from Gerald, through the door one day, that she learned the emperor’s nickname.
“That is why I traveled here, sleepless night after sleepless night.
Simply being able to stand before Your Majesty now feels like enough blessing for one lifetime.”
The nickname was:
Flattery King Flattery.
A mocking title born from the similarity between Frederick and the word flattery.
“I-is that so?”
The emperor’s voice became noticeably gentler.
Ariella nodded vigorously. Then she glanced diagonally downward.
The court painter was still trembling violently on the floor, banging his forehead against the ground repeatedly.
“You there. Speak. Was she telling the truth?”
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 burned red across the western sky, the atmosphere ripened with it.
Then suddenly, tears spilled from Ariella’s eyes.
They were calculated tears.
But they were also genuine.
Her situation was simply too miserable.
She didn’t even have the luxury of feeling shame while her life hung by a thread.
“But none of it matters now.”
“Hm? And what do you mean by that?”
“My lowliness has displeased Your Majesty.
Surely that means I am not even worthy of becoming one of your loyal servants.”
Ariella wiped her tears with her sleeve.
Everything had happened too suddenly.
She had done all she could.
Her shoulders naturally sagged.
She glanced around at the lined-up knights, preparing herself for the order to imprison her in the tower once more.
If she could just grab the sword from the knight at the very end and run toward the stairs, they would probably kill her instantly—
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
“Yes… I see now.
I had failed to recognize your loyalty.”
A sigh escaped her lips.
With unbelievable benevolence, Frederick personally ordered the imperial guards to stand down.
At once, murmurs erupted around them.
Using the commotion as cover, Ariella glanced toward the tower.
Now only her own punishment remained unresolved.
The massive shadow of the tower stretched long across the ground, swallowing her whole.
The emperor openly looked up at it while stroking his chin, as though reconsidering his plans.
Ariella felt her face go pale.
After a moment, the emperor gave a small cough to break the tension.
It was only an instant, but it felt as though her blood had dried up.
Thump, thump.
Her heart felt ready to burst from her throat.
“Ariella of Forenze…”
The moment he spoke again, the surroundings became so quiet one could hear even an ant crawling.
“For now, go to the residence prepared for you and wait there.
I shall decide what to do with you soon enough.”
With that, the emperor turned away, his robes billowing behind him.
I survived.
A long breath escaped her.
Then—
Her eyes met the pitch-black gaze of the crown prince, who had not yet left.
Five years from now, he would brutally kill his father and crown himself emperor.
Just meeting his eyes made her body tremble.
And yet she could not look away.
That strange expression.
That unreadable gaze.
…Was he smiling?
Seeing the twist of his lips, she could no longer control her expression. Rage churned violently inside her.
The final moments at the guillotine flashed through her mind.
His eyelashes, longer than most women’s.
His delicately shaped eyes.
At almost this exact same distance—
He had smiled then too.
Smiled while watching her meaningless, wretched death.
After silently staring down at her for a moment, Dmitri turned and disappeared inside without a word.
Ariella collapsed to the ground.
“Princess!”
From far away, she could hear Reina running toward her, though the sound seemed impossibly distant.
* * *
Not long afterward, Ariella was escorted to a detached palace behind the main castle.
To reach it, she had to pass the western tower.
Even though she had clearly heard the emperor order that she was not to be imprisoned there, merely walking past it made her tremble and struggle to breathe as though she were dying.
“How could they give you a place like this…”
Seeing the residence assigned to her, Ariella almost wanted to scream with joy internally.
But Reina burst into tears as though the sky had fallen.
“How could they prepare such a ridiculous palace for you…”
While Ariella reveled in her private victory, Reina had begun crying in earnest.
Reina had entered the Forenze royal palace as a page during childhood.
She and Ariella had grown up together, making them closer than friends.
Naturally, Reina became Ariella’s personal maid.
She was the second daughter of a baronial family and had taken pride in serving as Ariella’s attendant.
She loved their homeland, Forenze, sincerely and deeply.
That was why she had willingly accompanied Ariella here.
So naturally, seeing the empire treat Ariella poorly broke her heart.
