🔊 TTS Settings
CHAPTER 06
“……”
Axid lightly kissed the back of Lumiere’s hand.
His manner was so polite that it almost made the rude remark from moments ago seem like it had never happened.
The already frozen atmosphere grew even colder.
The Grand Duke had completely ignored the emperor as though he did not exist, yet he had shown the princess impeccable courtesy.
He then straightened his massive back and turned his gaze toward the speaker.
His eyes were eerily calm.
“D-Did I say something wrong? Shouldn’t you first kneel before His Majesty the Emperor and show your respect? How dare you act like this when you’re nothing more than the ruler of a Grand Duchy…!”
The frightened nobleman’s face turned red as he shouted.
The emperor deliberately smiled generously.
“If you understand proper manners and etiquette, then you can be called civilized. Otherwise, why would people call you barbarians?”
“…That’s strange. I have never entered into a lord-vassal relationship with the Emperor, so what manners and etiquette are you talking about?”
Axid’s dry but heavy voice echoed through the hall.
Displeasure appeared around the emperor’s eyes.
“How dare you speak so arrogantly in front of me? It seems you’ve forgotten your place after being stuck in the frontier for so long.”
At the emperor’s words, the murderous intent of the Grand Duchy’s knights rose frighteningly.
How could the Imperial guards, who were little more than ceremonial soldiers, withstand the killing intent of men who crossed the line between life and death every day?
In the midst of the tense atmosphere,
the Imperial knights turned pale and placed their hands on their sword hilts.
That was when a clear voice cut through the sharp tension.
“…Your Majesty, I’m disappointed. Did you really want to get rid of me from this palace so quickly?”
“What?”
“You skipped the official protocol for a state guest.”
The Imperial guards, who should have gone out to welcome the delegation, were gathered inside the main hall wearing full armor.
That meant the Imperial Family had not only failed to prepare a proper welcome ceremony, but had not even bothered to escort their guests.
In other words, they were saying, ‘Just do what you came here to do and get out.’
Even though the ruler of an allied nation had personally visited for a royal marriage, they had insulted him as though he were an envoy from an enemy country.
And yet they were sitting here lecturing others about manners and etiquette.
How ridiculous could they be?
“Hahaha! Are you already trying to act like the Grand Duchess? As your only older brother, I suppose I should be proud of you, but…”
The emperor laughed heartily, slapping his knee, before his expression hardened.
“How dare you tell me to treat some ruler from a tiny frontier country as a state guest?”
A faint greenish murderous intent appeared in Lumiere’s eyes.
He was a man who had walked a difficult path because he had a duty to fulfill.
He did not deserve to be treated with such contempt.
How dare these people insult the man who had allowed them to enjoy peace thanks to the Grand Duchy?
“The North is the front line of humanity. If the Grand Duchy did not exist, the Empire would already be caught up in war. They deserve to be treated as a state guest.”
And besides, this was an official visit for a royal marriage.
“Tsk. No matter how grandly you describe it, isn’t he merely protecting his own land? Anyone listening would think I was the one who ordered him to do it.”
“Then I suppose Your Majesty is confident that you can defend the front line even if Winterheim’s army withdraws.”
Winterheim was a military power recognized throughout the entire continent.
The reason monsters could not cross the northern defenses was because the Grand Duchy stood there holding them back.
Surely even the emperor knew that.
“Are you saying my army is inferior to the Grand Duchy’s?”
At the emperor’s cold question, Lumiere gave a mocking smile.
“Of course not. I’m merely offering His Majesty the Emperor one final piece of advice as the princess of Wizer.”
“You can’t even take care of yourself, yet you dare lecture me? You truly have gone completely mad.”
The emperor’s veins bulged as he gripped the armrest of his throne.
The hall became deathly silent.
Yet Lumiere’s violet eyes did not waver in the slightest.
“You may dismiss it as nothing more than the nonsense of a mad princess. But…”
She paused and quietly looked at her half-brother, the man who had trampled and tormented her for her entire life.
A few years from now, that fool would fall because of a rebellion by people who could no longer endure his tyranny and abuses.
He was going to fall anyway, so he was hardly worth worrying about.
But everyone in this hall needed to understand one thing.
The peace they enjoyed had not been given to them for free.
“Your Majesty, even at this very moment, countless people on the northern front are shedding their blood as they fight against monsters. So please, do not forget the long years of hard work and sacrifice made by our allied nation.”
After saying this, she looked up at Axid, who had been standing beside her as though protecting her.
A faint doubt appeared in his black eyes.
Of course.
Had he ever seen an Imperial citizen speak about the sacrifices made by the Grand Duchy?
He quietly studied her as though trying to understand what she was thinking before asking in a low voice,
“Have you finished saying your goodbyes?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Lumiere took hold of the Grand Duke’s arm and turned around.
Her confident attitude made it seem as though she were leaving of her own accord rather than being thrown out.
The Imperial knights instinctively stepped in front of them to block their path.
At that moment, an invisible force pressed down upon the main hall.
It was an aura far too heavy and savage to belong to an ordinary human.
Faced with that overwhelming and ominous presence, the Imperial knights froze as though they were standing before their natural enemy.
“Move.”
At the Grand Duke’s low command, the knights instinctively backed away.
The two of them then left the main hall without any further obstruction.
‘…Useless fools.’
The emperor tightly gripped the armrest with a faintly trembling hand.
They could not even deal with a single barbarian.
He wanted to order their heads cut off immediately, but swallowed his impulse.
If he punished the knights now, it would become undeniable that the Imperial Family had been overwhelmed by the barbarians.
The emperor’s face twisted with rising anger.
Then he suddenly snorted.
The princess would be used as a tool to produce an heir and then die.
The Grand Duke would die an unnatural death in the land of monsters.
They were both doomed to die anyway.
The emperor’s smile disappeared as he gave a cold order.
“Have all the maids of the princess’s palace beheaded.”
The princess, who should have remained a miserable laughingstock with her sickly appearance, had regained her beauty thanks to their help.
Then they deserved to pay the price for ruining the picture he had wanted to see.
…Far away.
In the palace that had been left empty after its master departed, a sharp scream suddenly rang out.
Silence filled the carriage.
Axid was looking out the window, but all his attention was focused on the woman sitting opposite him.
White hair that flowed softly like sand.
A delicate body that seemed small enough to fit in a single handful.
The princess was so beautiful that he could not understand why she had become the subject of such terrible rumors.
But what was even stranger was this.
‘Why isn’t she afraid of me?’
He had expected her to fall into despair the moment she saw him.
Instead, she had smiled brightly at him.
She had taken his hand without hesitation and had even become angry on his behalf over the Imperial Family’s rudeness.
‘…Could she have heard nothing about me?’
Or was she simply pretending not to know?
He tried to figure out what the princess was thinking, but there was nothing he could read from her softly smiling face.
“Um…”
Flinch.
Had he been staring at her too openly?
When the princess quietly opened her mouth, he awkwardly looked away.
“You must have been very upset.”
“I’m fine.”
He had never expected anything from the Empire’s hospitality in the first place.
In fact, being able to leave immediately without all the inconvenient and bothersome formalities was preferable.
“I’m sorry on his behalf. My brother has always been like that.”
She smiled bitterly.
It was a smile filled with years of resignation.
“By the way, you’re speaking differently from earlier.”
“…Since the main hall was an official setting, I used formal language according to etiquette. But I have no intention of using awkwardly formal speech with you.”
“You really don’t have to go that far…”
“It is the proper courtesy.”
Axid glanced at her.
Only after speaking stiffly, the way he normally spoke to his subordinates, did he realize that perhaps he should have been more careful.
He could have spoken more gently.
But she smiled as though she did not mind at all.
“I see. I look forward to getting along with you, Grand Duke.”
There was that smile again.
The same bright smile she had given him when they first met.
The words that had been lingering in his mind suddenly slipped out before he could stop them.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Afraid of what?”
“…This marriage.”
She had walked toward this journey with such light steps, as though she were simply going on a trip, and there was something about her that made her look strangely happy.
This was a reaction he had never expected.
Every woman he had met until now had been afraid of being chosen as the Grand Duchess.
They had made all sorts of excuses to avoid him.
After seeing so many women react that way, he had thought it would be understandable if she fainted the moment she saw him.
Yet instead, she had welcomed him.
Naturally, he could not help but find it strange.
She remained silent for a moment before whispering in a voice filled with a faint smile,
“…If anything, I’ve been waiting for it.”
He looked at her as if asking what she meant.
But she merely turned toward the window with a faint smile.
He had originally intended to propose a contract marriage right here.
But how was he supposed to bring that up with someone who had apparently been waiting for this marriage?
“……”
For the first time in his life, Axid found himself at a complete loss for words.
