It had been two days since the messy Grand Celebration of the Advent of the Almighty God.

‘As such, we will take his Royal Highness to visit the neutral region.’

– Crunch!

The neatly written message was crumpled up. The people who were called into the Empress Palace common area curled up in fear. The ceiling, which was covered in gold decorations and holy paintings, looked as if it would push down on them.

The most noble of eyes in the Empire repeatedly became heated and then calm. The Empress was dressed in a gown, looking as if she had just come out of her bedroom. She was the only one seated while everybody was awkwardly standing around. The entire group was so busy being tactful that nobody dared to say anything.

The only one who could help stop the Empress, Cardinal Boutier, was not here for some reason. That was why this spot was scarier and more difficult than usual. There was nobody to stop the Empress if she got angry.

“Ahem, ahem.”

François, who had Gerrit by his side, let out some fake coughs and pushed his younger brother forward with his elbow. Hervé looked at his brother with a perplexed look on his face. The Marquis did his best to mouth something. The handsome man was shameless enough to shove his younger brother forward.

‘You are the person here the Empress trusts the most. Please apologize first.’

“……”

The Captain of the Imperial Guard quickly looked at the Empress before shaking his head at his brother. He felt like he would be struck by the aura of Durandal if he said anything right now. The man was the one responsible for the Imperial Guard!To suddenly die like this with spring coming up would not be very nice for his successor.

He seriously moved his lips. ‘Brother, you do it. You are a Marquis of the Empire.’

‘I have a family to be responsible for. I have this child as well.’

‘Mm.’ That was also true. It was difficult for the Marquis to put his life on the line, thinking about the citizens of their territory that trusted in him and lived to their fullest. Furthermore, he was acting as the guardian for little Geens right now. That wasn’t all. The wonderful Antoinette, Maria, and Thérèse were anxiously waiting for their two older brothers back in Strauder Palace.

Their sins were grave but the siblings had to return alive. The two men slowly turned their gaze to look somewhere. Élisabeth, who received their shameless gazes, scowled.

‘……Are you telling me to take one for the team?’

‘Georges, you are our hope.’ François desperately mouthed. The young Countess sighed in disbelief.

It was true that she was feeling responsible for the recent situation. The precious Imperial Crown Prince had been abducted by the prince of a hostile nation in the middle of the night. However, the person involved, Cédric, had been quite happy about this operation. Otherwise, there was no way for their friends to leave the Imperial Palace so quietly with him.

Basically, this was the young Imperial Crown Prince rebelling, something very different from his usual self. Everybody here helped him as well.

Élisabeth quietly clenched and unclenched her fists. ‘Okay, let’s face it head on.’ She had already expected to receive her Majesty’s wrath.

“Your M……”

Benjamin gently stopped her at that moment. The Vice Captain of the Imperial Guard’s eyes opened wide. The attendant was gently smiling.

‘My sin is the greatest. I will do it.’

‘Lord Benjamin……!’ Everybody looked at him with gazes full of emotion.

As the Chief Attendant of Juliette Palace, he was Prince Jesse’s right hand man, the person who had been involved with this plan from beginning to end. He could have easily stopped him, but he did not do so and protected the Prince’s back. Furthermore, he was now going to sacrifice himself to receive all sorts of swearing and potentially attacks from Durandal.

As she was about to feel touched at this senior’s noble mental fortitude…

‘No.’

Another middle-aged man shook his head and stepped forward. It was David!

‘Lord David, you can’t.’ Benjamin stopped him. However, the Chief Attendant of Romero Palace’s will could not be bent. His eyes were sparkling.

‘You would not be able to say that if you knew what I did.’ His wise lips moved quickly. The group blankly listened to his quiet explanation.

‘I helped his highness find the right direction to his Royal Highness’s bedroom. I already knew that he was coming at that time. I have my ways. I had also packed his Royal Highness’s bag before he went to bed. I even packed some snacks for the divine beasts as a bribe to take good care of his Royal Highness. I also knew early on that he had left but did not report anything until her Majesty sought out her son. In addition……’

The attendant silently explained. The group’s faces stiffened as they focused on him.

‘Why did he work so hard? Does he really need to go to prison……?’

“Cut it out.”

‘Ahh!’ Everybody bit their tongues and gasped before standing at attention. François quickly lowered his gaze after making eye contact with his master.

The silver hair that he saw had been wet. Her tired voice echoed out.

“The heir to the Empire’s throne crossed the border without saying a single word to me. The punk who still has a lot to learn ignored his mother’s warning about it being dangerous and chose to carry the responsibilities of the monarch’s position. I can’t tell whether he was bewitched by ether or he is having a late puberty with this rebellious stage.”

“……”

“However, there are people who, instead of stopping him, pushed and supported him to do it. It wasn’t just one or two people and it was not just people in low positions.” She stopped there for a moment.

Bérénice, who was quietly standing next to Élisabeth, started to breathe heavily. She had expected this, but imagination turning into reality made it so scary that she wanted to cry. Her father, who knew nothing about this, was probably in the next room drinking tea. She could see her aunt sighing in the distance. The young Countess gently patted the shaking young lady’s back.

“Hervé.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

The Empress’s sharp gaze pierced through him. The Captain of the Imperial Guard clenched his eyes shut like a deer expecting its end in front of a hunter.

“Can you swear that you gave it your all to search the carriage?”

“……No, your Majesty. Please kill me,” he calmly answered.

It wasn’t that he regretted his decision, but he also didn’t like the fact that he had to confess his crimes to his respected liege.

“Ho.” The Empress let out a short scoff. She found the situation so unbelievable that she couldn’t even be angry. At first, she had been so angry that everything looked red. Her fierce instincts took over and made her imprison Aurélie in her bedroom, to the point that Aurélie was still not allowed out.

She had looked after the Empire’s affairs all by herself. It wasn’t hard to do, but she couldn’t help but scoff over and over.

“It looks like they will have to be punished until they have no tears to shed.” She meant every word.

At the same time, she also found it fucking hilarious that even the Cardinal worked together to trick the Empress… Just to help the crown prince run away from home. It also made her secretly happy that her heir had already developed his own people like this. The thought of dragging her son back to punish him clashed with the thought of rewarding the troublemakers who caused such a ballsy incident. She was anxious that this was too big of a responsibility for Cédric, but that thought clashed with the belief that he should be able to do something like this at twenty-five.

That was why it was difficult to find a fitting punishment.

“Would a whipping be good?”

“Oo……”

It wasn’t bad to watch them be so scared they were acting like scared little dogs. She deserved at least this much compensation. Frédérique pretended to be serious and picked up her coffee cup. She grabbed Durandal with her other hand, making her Chief of Staff pray up to the heavens. Laura had an amazing niece as well.

– Step.

An unexpected person approached the Empress at that moment. It was rare to see the Empress open her eyes wide like this.

“Ah……”

The little white-haired boy had walked away from François’s side and was looking at her with a complicated look on his face.

It wasn’t that she didn’t notice him getting closer. It was just that the little boy was so weak she had no need to be wary of him. She couldn’t help but be surprised at his brave and fearless action. The extremely surprised Marquis quickly walked up to the two of them.

“I ask for your understanding, your Majesty. The child still does not know rules and etiquette fully……”

– Plunk.

A small piece of ice fell into Frédérique’s coffee cup.

François blinked. Gerrit was holding tongs. A few seconds of silence followed. The Empress realized that the little boy had moved because he was worried about her tongue. His large mint-colored eyes were innocently sparkling.

“How did you know I was weak against hot food?”

“Oo……”

Gerrit didn’t know what to do and looked around after hearing her stern voice. He then pointed to the center of the table with his cute little hand. There was a purple tulip in the magic tool flower vase.

“The prince taught you?”

Nod nod. His small head quickly moved.

Even the Empress had no resistance to such innocent movements. She ended up laughing out loud. The Prince always placed a piece of ice in her cup whenever they had tea together. She had never even thought about adding ice to a hot drink. She also wondered if they drank coffee like this in the Holy Kingdom. But she had slowly gotten used to it. The simple tricks of the royal priest.

The daring consideration of the little one who requested a plate of ice he didn’t even need for himself…

“How treacherous. Come closer.”

“……”

The Empress gave the order and the little kid was hesitant but still approached her. Frédérique had finally figured out the punishment for these ‘heinous criminals.’ She felt refreshed.

“As punishment for what we have discussed earlier, the son of the Imperial Instructor, Gerrit Geens, will attend to my tea starting today.”

“Your Majesty.” François sounded a bit skittish as he called out to her.

Seeing the child quietly smiling brightly made Frédérique stiffen her own expression. “One hour a day is hard labor for a ten year old. Do you think it is an easy job putting ice in the Empress’s drink?”

“……”

“You will also need to put out some refreshments of every color.”

It was something the attendants of the Empress Palace were already doing to perfection. However, the Empress and the Chief of Staff both had stern looks on their faces as if they had coordinated in advance.

The scared Gerrit gulped and nodded his head.

The Marquis used dramatic hand gestures to place his hand on his forehead and launched into a quiet monologue. “Ah ah! Look, Élisabeth. Little Geens is paying for our sins!” The young Countess was doing everything she could to hold back from laughing. Bérénice was the only one confused while everybody was barely holding back from laughing.

The Empress took a sip before slowly brushing her hair back. It was true that no parent could win against their children.

“Laura.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“Call up Emma Corleone. We will need to prepare just in case.” Her cherry-colored eyes nimbly opened. The mood that had been melting away like pudding instantly froze again.

The Chief of Staff calmly bowed. “……As you command, your Majesty.”

“Also send messages to the Blanquer Duchy as well as all neighboring territories and ask for their understanding to send five thousand extra troops to the border.”

The Empress looked right at her trusted Marquis. His light pink eyes were shaking.

“I will immediately attack the desert if I hear anything ominous.”

She sounded determined.

*

A week passed like that and we crossed the border.

– Pruuuuuuuuu!

– Clack clack……

‘No, seriously!’ We had safely passed the inspection points and exited out to the mysterious part of the continent. It happened right now! We literally just passed through!

“Ahahaha! My heart was thumping so hard thinking we were going to get caught!”

“Me too, Dame Christelle!”

Our MC and Sand were laying down on the bottom of the wagon laughing. Well, it was the floor but it was covered in soft and fluffy cotton, so it was comfortable no matter how you were lying down. Joanne was screeching about how she thought her heart would stop. The excited red pandas were running around in a large circle.

The crown prince, who didn’t like noise, scowled. I quietly warned them before moving the curtain aside to look out. The relief from not being caught and the thought that we almost got caught made my heart thump

“……”

– Clack, clack.

We couldn’t see the inspection point anymore because of the other wagons and carriages behind us. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

I had been anxious, thinking that we may need to disguise ourselves by the time we got to the border, but Viscount Rambouillet and his wife told us there was nothing to worry about. He then placed us in the largest wagon. It was one with a bed covered by a canopy, and it even had a table and a couch. The two of them also joined us. We could never have expected the two of their plan. We only learned about it right as the knights of the inspection point were about to look.

‘Madam Rambouillet, we will need to look at this wagon as well.’

‘That is my parent’s living area, sir. Are you perhaps a newly appointed knight?’ Isabelle asked with an awkward voice.

We gathered behind the curtains and dropped our jaws. ‘That’s the setting we are going with?’

‘Then inside……’

‘Yes, the Viscount and his wife are inside. They sure love each other a lot.’

She gently smiled and the knights hesitated. They were not dealing with some random people but the Rambouillet caravan, a group trusted by her Empress. A thorough inspection was necessary, but they were reluctant to reveal the personal matters of nobles, especially when the nobles here valued their honor more than their lives.

‘Isabelle, is someone looking for us?’

Lady Rambouillet opened the curtains and walked out. She lowered her dress to show one shoulder, ruffled her hair, and closed her eyes half way.

‘Ahh. You didn’t give off this sort of image until a few days ago, ma’am!’ I gasped and covered the crown prince bastard’s eyes with the blanket. I didn’t care that he was grumbling with discontent and flew like a bee to cover Sir Johann and Sand’s eyes as well. I also threw blankets at Christelle and Joanne to stop their laughter.

I was not the only flustered person. The knights outside didn’t know what to do either.

‘No. That’s okay, madam. We will not check in there.’

‘Ahem! Hem.’

That…… Was how we safely got through the inspection point.

The Viscount, who had been undoing some buttons just in case, helped his wife look decent again and kissed the back of her hand saying that he deeply respected her. I found the two of them to be respectful for a different reason.

“The desert will start soon, your highness.”

I was jolted out of my thoughts. Lady Rambouillet was gently smiling while looking at me. The old woman slowly got up and pulled a fancy looking cord at the corner of the wagon. Something shocking happened.

– Shhh, shhhh.

“Wow.”

The cloth covering the left side of the wagon went up, revealing the golden sand outside. The Rambouillet caravan, which had everything except what it didn’t have, even had blinds! I immediately looked behind me.

“This is so amazing!”

As expected, Christelle’s eyes were sparkling with joy. My gaze reached the crown prince beyond her shoulders. It was a subconscious action. I smiled brightly and mouthed something.

‘Thank you.’

Thanks to you, I managed to run away from home on my birthday to come all the way here.

‘I feel like I received a present.’

—
Translator’s Comments

Well, not disneyland and to the desert, but same thing!

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