Morning of December 21st…

“The current state of the Empire is such a shitshow.” That was Frédérique Riester’s assessment of the current situation.

Aurélie rubbed her arm with an awkward look on her face. There was only a small group of people in the audience room of the Empress Palace right now. The Imperial Crown Prince and Élisabeth… Duke Simon de Sarnez and Archbishop Eugénie Kessié…

A member of the Imperial Guard who was in a terrible state.

“You said you wouldn’t talk like that in public places.”

“Then let me change my words. My administrative abilities over the Empire is a shitshow.”

“Frédérique.” The Cardinal whispered, as if to console her. The only soul connected to hers had been annoyed and blaming herself the past few days. Aurélie released her ether, which was as wide as a river, to wrap around the Empress’s soul.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that a Religious Partner existed for moments like this. She was basically doing the role of a Political Partner as well since Alexandre’s death, but this was her official duty. Calming her soulmate’s plate and being the mental support.

‘Ha……’ The Empress felt her soulmate’s ether and let out a deep sigh before closing her eyes for a moment. Despite not being a Holy Knight, she could still feel the impact that the holy power had on her. Her rowdy cherry eyes calmed down. Her sternly closed lips opened.

“We sent close to forty Imperial Guard members but only two returned alive. One could not make it past the night and passed away while the last one is in front of me. Based on what he claimed, Johann Geens massacred the Imperial Guard with Jesse Venetiaan being the one to command it.”

“……”

A heavy silence filled the room. A soldier, whose entire body was covered in bandages, was kneeling at the lowest spot, shaking like a leaf.

“Élisabeth, did I get that right?”

“……Yes, your Majesty.” The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard solemnly answered. Her grey eyes were trying very hard to remain calm.

“Is it also true that Archbishop Kessié is guaranteeing that he is telling the truth?”

“Yes, your Majesty. As soon as I received their testimonies, I urgently sent an imperial carriage to the Central Temple to bring the bishop on duty. That happened at two thirty this morning. Her Grace, who happened to be in the temple at the time, assessed the dire situation and volunteered herself. Her grace opened her circle while the other members and I were watching and received the two of their confessions.”

“And the ether’s reaction?”

Élisabeth was unable to answer quickly and just gulped.

The Empress’s voice sank down.

“There were none.”

“……”

The young swordswoman silently bowed to show her agreement. It meant that the two soldiers were ‘telling the truth.’

Crown prince Cédric, who had been quietly guarding his mother’s side, opened his mouth.

“Archbishop Kessié.”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.”

“That guy should have reported about the Captain of the Imperial Guard.”

The Archbishop politely answered.

“Yes, your Royal Highness. He stated that the Captain of the Imperial Guard protected the Prince’s group and guided them to the Duhem March.”

“His intentions?”

“He did not seem to know that much. He is just a soldier……” The old woman put on an awkward gaze. The words that she said next were extremely cautious. “However, a noble Marquis house, especially one that is a collateral line of the Imperial family, protecting someone suspected of conspiring a rebellion seems……”

“Your grace.” Duke Sarnez calmly cut her off. The left side of his face, which was not covered by a mask, was as serious as usual. This attitude suited him as a favorite vassal of the Empress. “Please refrain from saying anything without proof. It can lead to serious consequences.”

“……I apologize for causing unnecessary apprehension to this esteemed group. My judgment is not as it used to be due to my old age.”

Kessié immediately made up an excuse. The Empress calmly observed the two of them.

She knew what the Archbishop was saying. A Pair de Riester with legitimate claims for the throne was helping a prince, who was growing an army of enemy soldiers, at the cost of their own blood. It was clear what that meant. It was a hypothesis that even a commoner in the market or a clown on the streets would not be able to ignore.

Rebellion.

“Simon.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“You said that you were going to send the Imperial Capital Garrison south. How is the search going?”

“There was nothing on the road down to the central region, your Majesty. However, at the portal headed to the March…… A Garrison knight returned with injuries from fighting against a knight of the March.” The Duke answered in a low voice.

A mere knight of a noble family dared to resist, with force, against the Empress’s public authority. The Empress’s red gaze was as calm as dead blood.

“……Everybody leave. I am going to discuss it with my soulmate and son.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

Everybody received the Imperial Decree, showed their respects, and left. Only their close confidants, like Natalie and David, remained, albeit at a distance.

After some time passed in silence… The crown prince sighed.

– Crackle!

The furnaces on both sides of the carpet crackled with flames. David gasped and looked at his master. However, the two adults were silent, as if they expected this much grumbling and would allow it.

– ……Click, click!

– Step, step, step!

They then heard rushed footsteps behind the audience room. Secret guests entered through the hidden door Laura opened for them. Élisabeth, who had just left, young Duchess Eva Blanquer, and……

“The child of a rebel, a kid, and now even a water deer. Now that I think about it, the Empress Palace is a shitshow as well.” The Empress looked at Sand, Gerrit, and Chestnut before speaking in disbelief.

Aurélie smiled and then looked at her. “If you keep talking like that, I’m going to tell the little prince to raise a puppy too.”

“Aurélie.”

Frédérique gave her a serious look. Cédric also scowled while looking at the group.

“What do the priest and the child need?”

“Priest Sand went to Claire Plaza with Gerrit yesterday and did something amazing.”

“Please show us, Priest-nim. Hurry!”

Élisabeth and Eva’s eyes were sparkling as they spoke. The young Duchess’s eyes were swollen and a lot of her friends were not here, but the mood in the audience room was completely different from how it had been about ten minutes ago. Sand respectfully bowed toward the Imperial family before looking down at Gerrit. The child’s mint-colored eyes blinked before opening the leather bag on Chestnut’s back. The water deer, which had grown quite a bit, tapped its hooves.

– Rustle, rustle

“Is the Imperial Instructor’s salary not enough?” The Cardinal looked concerned. It was because the little kid pulled out a handful of what looked to be advertisements.

Frédérique snorted while Sand handed Laura the papers. Laura immediately offered it to the Empress. The crown prince’s orange eyes followed as well.

“…The anonymous letter to Sarah Belliard turned into a flyer.” The Empress summarized after reading through it.

“Yeah. There are rumors about the hole in the sky as well.” Aurélie added on.

The flyer, which was made with a bit of truth and a lot of lies about the prince, was surprisingly stimulating. Being even a bit suspicious about it would let anybody know that logic and proof was lacking. But if this was found in Claire Plaza and not the district with the homes of the high class, the people they were trying to fool were not the upper class. Instigating never needed to be thorough or accurate.

“They are trying to dirty public sentiment about the little prince.”

It was easy to shake the top once the foundation was destroyed. That was part of the basics of a scheme.

“Yes, he’s definitely gotten on someone’s bad side this time. Or……” The Empress said that and looked toward her son.

He looked as if he trusted and wanted to keep trusting his partner but was annoyed by the situation that was dragging him in the opposite direction.

“Please don’t worry, Gerrit managed to gather most of them!”

“What?”

The mother and son both asked at the same time. Sand looked extremely proud as he patted the child’s back and explained.

“It looked like it was about time for Gerrit to get a haircut, so I took him to a barber in the plaza. He said that Sir Johann has been taking care of it until now……”

Here is a summary of the long and chatty story.

Sand, who wanted to show Gerrit the skills of an expert, held the boy’s hand as they headed to a barbershop with a beautiful glass window. They even waited until a spot opened by the window so that they could look at the people in the plaza. They had waited around thirty minutes, and the ideal spot started to wave them over when Gerrit suddenly groaned while pointing to the people outside the window.

‘What is it, Gerrit? Was there a pickpocket?’

Shake shake. Gerrit looked extremely serious. Sand pulled out the writing equipment he always carried with him and handed it to the child. The answer he received was shocking.

‘Those people are talking bad about his highness. I want to go scold them.’

“Reading lips is Gerrit’s specialty. So we stopped cutting his hair half way and rushed out. The kid ran over and pulled the flyer out of their hands! Once he took it……”

He was very generous and gave them a gold coin! All eyes in the plaza had turned toward the child. Turning in a paper with his highness’s name resulted in gold. The chatter about a reward instantly spread. If you pulled one off the wall and picked one up off the floor, you would get two gold coins. The impact of this emerging alchemy was amazing!

“Then…… You scolded them with money?”

“You could say that, your Majesty. We managed to get everything in the plaza. There were approximately 200 of them but it didn’t even take us one hour!”

“Hmm hmm.”

Sand answered energetically while Gerrit smiled with embarrassment. The Empress scoffed.

“Where did you get that much gold? The Imperial Instructor is not someone who would teach you about economics like that.”

“……”

The child twisted his body and looked toward Cédric. His white cheeks flushed with gratitude.

Élisabeth’s shoulders bobbed up and down in laughter and disbelief. Other kids gathered their allowance to buy crackers or ribbons but Sir Geens’ child used his allowance to buy public opinion……

“David.” The crown prince stared at the little kid before calling his attendant over in a low voice.

David nodded his head and recorded it in his notebook. ‘Increase Gerrit’s allowance 300 percent.’

“We will have Duchess Cecil Blanquer come see us soon.”

The Empress suddenly changed topics. The young Countess wrapped her hands around Eva’s shoulder as if to protect her. Gerrit and Sand grabbed her hands. The two members of the Imperial family looked at each other.

“Isn’t that what you said? You said that the same ink was found in the anonymous letter and the letter young master Blanquer sent to the young Duchess.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“Furthermore, the end of the letter has something that seems to discuss the fall of the prince. So considering how the young master suddenly died……”

“Someone is behind it. They used the young master, who had negative feelings toward the prince, as a messenger before getting rid of him.” Young master Andresy, who was responsible for the terrorist incident at the opening ceremony, was the same situation.

The Empress quietly nodded her head at the crown prince’s response.

“There’s no way the Duchess will silently let such a death of her son pass. I’m sure she will come to me.”

“Yes, mother.”

“What will you do?”

The two pairs of eyes that resembled flames, despite being completely different, looked into each other.

The Empress’s voice became chillingly lower.

“It is time for the Imperial family to make a move.”

Cédric saw an illusion of aura bursting out of his mother. This was the flawlessly pure wrath of a swordmaster. It was a fitting reaction.

Based on the report just now from the Duke and the Archbishop, they were able to take a peek at the overall picture. There were two options right now. As a member of the Imperial family, they had to thoroughly dissect both sides. The clear possibility that seemed to be within their grasp as well as the tiny speck of uncertainty that was filling their hearts.

Sarnez and Duhem…

“One of the two will have to be confirmed with your sword.”

The Empress whispered these educational words of a predator. They were fundamentally different from Aurélie Boutier. Even if they didn’t want to hurt someone, they had to be able to suspect them.

That was the duty of the throne.

*

Everybody was gathered in the living room of the Duhem Lord’s Castle. I patted Demy and Tithé, who had fallen asleep in the twin cradles, as I carefully spoke.

“It is reckless to push our way through to the Imperial Capital. It will look like we are fighting against her Majesty’s army. That is exactly what the Duke is aiming for us to do.”

“I had the same thought, your highness. Furthermore, it is extremely dangerous to take half of our Knights Brigade. We need to consider the level of crime in the territory as this is the time of year my brother is basically bare bones.”

Captain Hervé Duehm answered me. My friends were whispering to one another.

We were discussing how we could safely get to the Imperial Palace and prove our innocence for these false allegations. We had been eating and chatting here since learning that we could not even send a message to the Empress.

Marquis François Duhem, who woke up around lunch time, looked tired but raised his hand high in the air once again to say something.

“Bare bones, isn’t that too much of a joke? Just call me your sick yet still young and handsome brother.”

“Marquis-nim, aren’t you almost forty? Are you still considered young?” The sixteen year old Ganael sent him straight to the grave with an innocent look on his face.

The Marquis became quiet, and the fourth sibling, Maria, raised both arms as she shouted.

“How about this? We won’t be caught by anybody! We run away to the vassal state of Corleone!”

“……”

“We take a portal there to return to the Empire! Isn’t it amazing?!”

The room became chilly as if Christelle had created a glacier. Even Sir Johann looked as if this would not work. Only Maria and I were smiling.

‘Well…… I don’t know where the vassal state is. Isn’t it still worth hearing her out?’

—
Translator’s Comments

I’m so proud of you, Gerrit!

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