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Chapter : 27
“Right? I brew tea pretty well, don’t I?”
With a gentle smile, he enjoyed the tea as well. She quietly watched him savor it.
Jeyros always brewed herbal tea like this to match the time when Freya came to visit. If anyone else saw the Crown Prince personally brewing tea, they would be shocked and try to stop him.
‘I actually tried to stop him too.’
When she first saw him doing it, she told him not to, but he had answered firmly. It was his hobby, so she should respect it.
What could she do when the Crown Prince insisted? Freya could only calmly accept it.
Since that day, whenever she came to his office, she was able to drink the herbal tea he brewed himself. It suited her taste very well, so she actually liked it a lot.
“Alright. Is this the report about establishing the supplementary security force?”
Jeyros, who had already set down his teacup, was looking over the report Freya handed him.
“Yes. I wrote up the overall points based on what was discussed with the Chancellor. Since the Duke has already reviewed it, I think you just need to check it.”
“I see. If the young lady wrote it and the Duke reviewed it, I don’t need to scrutinize every detail.”
“Still, you should look through the contents.”
“Of course.”
His eyes moved quickly over the report. It was nearly ten pages long, but it didn’t take him long to read. After about five minutes, he finished the last page, set it down, and spoke.
“Yes, it’s well organized. As expected of you. Good work.”
It might look like he skimmed it, but he had surely checked everything. With his memory, he could answer in detail if asked where any part was. It was a strength as impressive as his keen observation.
“You and the Duke must have had a hard time because of me, right? I’m sorry. I gave you an unnecessary burden.”
What Freya had submitted were documents related to the establishment of a new supplementary security force. The capital’s security was under the Crown Prince’s responsibility, and when he reorganized it this time, problems arose, so Freya and Raiden were in the middle of preparing a solution.
“No, it’s my fault for not looking into things more carefully. I’m sorry about this.”
“It was my mistake, so why are you apologizing?”
“Because I was at fault too.”
“No, you did nothing wrong.”
Jeyros said firmly as he looked at Freya.
“It happened because I pushed the work through too hastily. I should have proceeded more carefully.”
“……”
“I guess I was a little anxious because it was an opportunity His Majesty gave me, and I didn’t want to waste it or ruin it.”
“Your Highness.”
“I’m always like this. Ah, how unsightly.”
He gave an embarrassed smile, lifted his teacup, and drank. When their eyes met, he winked playfully.
Even though he looked calm, Freya could tell how he felt right now.
Jeyros was a puppet Crown Prince, on the verge of falling out of the Emperor’s favor.
‘A man who, despite being the legitimate heir, cannot receive the support of the one person who should be his greatest ally—his father.’
He was the Emperor’s eldest son, but he had no real power. Though born of the Empress, her natal ducal house was not very influential, and they had been pushed aside by the faction of the imperial consort, weakening his presence greatly.
Above all, the relationship between the Emperor and Empress was not good.
Like most nobles, they had entered a political marriage without love. When the current Emperor was still Crown Prince, they were engaged and then held their imperial wedding at his coronation.
The Empress gave birth to a princess and a prince, securing her position early on, but things changed four years after Jeyros was born.
That was when the Emperor took an imperial consort.
‘She is the one I truly love.’
The consort was a young lady from another ducal house. The Emperor happened to meet her while on inspection, and they fell in love. After several months, he took her in as an imperial consort, and a year after she entered the palace, she gave birth to the second prince.
After that, the Emperor openly treated the Empress and the consort differently. Unable to receive support from her family, which was a ducal house in name only, the Empress’s influence gradually declined.
Meanwhile, the consort, backed by the Emperor’s favor and her family’s power, grew stronger by the day, inevitably becoming a threat to the Empress.
The second prince also grew up under the Emperor’s love, while Jeyros, from the moment he was born, never once received his father’s affection.
‘It’s a relief he didn’t grow twisted.’
Though sly at times, he was basically gentle like the Empress and had a warm heart, so Jeyros grew up better than one might expect. Still, he harbored a love-hate feeling toward the Emperor.
By imperial law, only a legitimate son could become Crown Prince, so he had been able to take the position upon coming of age. But now even that was becoming precarious.
It had been five years since Jeyros became Crown Prince, and now the second prince, born of the consort, had turned twenty and begun to stand out.
Having graduated top of his class from the National Academy, the second prince had started participating fully in state affairs this year.
Seeing his genius rivaling Jeyros’s, the nobles on the consort’s side were now openly urging the Emperor to “replace the Crown Prince.”
To do that, imperial law would have to be changed. Since it had existed since the founding of the empire, it wasn’t something easily altered, so the Emperor hesitated. But as the consort’s and second prince’s power grew, he would eventually have no choice. At this rate, Jeyros would have to give up his position.
Why did Freya know the palace’s internal situation so well?
‘How could I not?’
Partly because she worked in the palace as a department head in the administration, but also because Jeyros was a significant supporting male character in the original story.
‘In the original, he ultimately lost the battle for the throne and stepped down as Crown Prince. And Astella stopped him when he was about to turn dark.’
Before marrying Raiden, Astella met Jeyros in the palace. Learning of his circumstances, she sincerely comforted him. At first he was wary, but he came to understand her warmth, accepted it, and fell in love with her.
In the end, he lost to Raiden and couldn’t be with Astella. Since he was a character she liked, it had been rather regrettable.
Looking at Jeyros, who wore a calm face but had no strength in his eyes, Freya thought,
‘What was it that Astella said to him back then?’
She couldn’t remember clearly. She’d just have to say something approximate.
It felt awkward to just watch him looking so drained, so she spoke to him with what comfort she could muster.
“Have confidence, Your Highness. There are many in the empire who know your abilities.”
“……My lady.”
“Nothing has been decided yet, has it? It isn’t over, so don’t give up.”
At Freya’s words, Jeyros gazed at her quietly. He held her eyes for a moment, lost in thought.
‘That’s right. Nothing has come from His Majesty’s mouth yet.’
It wasn’t as though the failure of this matter had been completely decided either. Perhaps the immediate situation had been so difficult that he’d lost his composure.
Soon, the usual sharp light returned to his blue eyes that had been darkened.
To realize it only after hearing it from her—how unlike me.
Recognizing his own fear, Jeyros lifted the corners of his mouth into a smile and said,
“Of course. There’s no such word as ‘giving up’ in my dictionary.”
“Now you finally seem like yourself, Your Highness.”
“Haha. Do I?”
“Please receive the next report now.”
“……You really are consistent, my lady.”
His gaze as he looked at Freya was gentle.
After leaving the main palace, Freya quickened her steps on the way back. Wherever she went, attention followed her, making even a few steps exhausting.
“I’m ba— …back?”
Trying her best to ignore it, keeping her ears closed and eyes forward, she finally reached the administration building. Just as she was about to sigh in relief, she felt something was off.
“You’re here, Department Head!”
At that moment, the staff who had been fidgeting and glancing toward her office noticed her and hurriedly stood up and approached.
“Yes. But what’s going on? Did someone come?”
“Duke Bethelheim has arrived! Please go into your office quickly.”
“Ah……”
Everyone must already know about what happened with Raiden, so of course they’d be on edge. Freya calmed the staff and headed toward her office.
