Chapter 15
‘Everyone’s eyes are shining.’
As things proceeded in the direction the Emperor hoped, Slarhan became nauseous.
If he continued to stay and look at the Emperor’s shameless face, he might do something irreversible.
Since the greeting session had ended, he wanted to return to the mansion and rest.
At that moment, an intense purple colour passed before Slarhan’s eyes.
Slarhan glanced at the identity of the woman in the purple dress unknowingly.
‘…Aunt?”
The only conspicuous purple shade within the dazzling banquet hall was the dress she was wearing.
Her name is Margaret Roland.
She was the Emperor’s half-sister and the Lady of the County of Roland.
However, she couldn’t have her child nominated as a successor candidate during today’s banquet as she didn’t have any children with Count Roland.
In other words, in this unprecedented situation where the collateral lines of the Imperial Family was under the spotlight, she alone wasn’t paid any attention.
In actual fact, Slarhan originally didn’t like her much, as she’s a Lady with a knack for spreading gossip, along with the fact that she kept her silence when the Emperor suppressed the Ventiark family.
Normally, he would have passed by her without even giving her a glance.
However…
“If you happen to see an intense purple that is close to blue, please act on the contrary of what the Master is feeling.”
“If you have feelings of unwillingness and avoidance towards something, you should approach and greet them cordially instead.”
Ellier’s words came to mind clearly.
‘Does she really know how to tell fortune? It’s surprising.’
But he wasn’t sure if it would make him lucky or not.
Right now, isn’t Countess Roland the one that none wants to connect with?
‘Well, regardless of that, since she’s an older generation in the Imperial Family, I should greet her first.’
Although Slarhan’s title was higher in position, in any case, the other party was his aunt.
Slarhan weaved his way through those that were observing the moods of others and greeted Margaret.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve met, Aunt.”
“Oh my, Slarhan!”
“How have you been?”
“I’m doing very well, thank you. What about you… are you alright? I heard that you held Older Brother Irdel’s funeral.”
“It was conducted smoothly. I appreciate your concern.”
She had always used a high tone to chat with others, but she had unexpectedly used a low and gentle voice to greet Slarhan and ask after Irdel’s funeral.
That alone made him think that he did well listening to Ellier’s words.
His internal seething at the Emperor’s announcement was slightly alleviated due to Margaret’s tender concern.
On the other hand, while Margaret felt surprise over Slarhan’s unexpected greeting, she also felt great joy at the same time.
In actual fact, Margaret was the person that was most shocked by the Emperor’s announcement.
As the Emperor treated his brothers harshly, in comparison she was considered the closest relative to the Emperor. If it was a banquet as per usual, everyone would be anxious that they didn’t get a chance to impress her.
However, the Emperor’s announcement today completely ignored her.
Excluding her youngest sister that married abroad and was out of the discussion, the only person that didn’t have a nominated successor candidate was her.
The pain of not having a child was already great, but a knife was driven further in her wound by this situation, almost causing her to shed tears earlier.
But in a situation where none made eye contact with her, Slarhan was the first to approach her and greet her.
Due to that, the gazes of others turned to Margaret, and she felt grateful towards Slarhan for ensuring that she wouldn’t become someone pathetic, at the same time finding Slarhan praiseworthy.
“Can you spare a moment? Let me introduce you to our Count. He’s an honest person, and is capable in the aspects of diamond mining and trade. He is definitely someone that can help you.”
As Margaret explained, she led Slarhan towards her husband, the Count of Roland.
“Honey! You know about Slarhan, right? My nephew came to greet you.”
The introduction was considered rude according to etiquette’s demands as Slarhan’s title was higher, but he didn’t mind.
“It’s been a while, Uncle. I think it’s my first time seeing you after the Mistletoe Festival the year before.”
Count Roland jumped up and bowed to Slarhan in greeting.
“Isn’t this the Duke of Ventiark? I heard that many things have happened recently. My sincere apologies for not sending my condolences to Sir Irdel’s funeral. It was not our intention.”
Slarhan smiled lightly and nodded his head.
He was well aware that other than the vassals, no one else came to offer their condolences in the Duke of Ventiark’s funeral due to the threats from the Emperor. He did not intend to blame them for that.
“I am well aware that there wasn’t any choice, and that Count Roland was particularly troubled. So, there’s no need to worry.”
“Oh my, how can our Lehan be so generous. The next Emperor should be this kind of person. Don’t you think so, too?”
Margaret had already added ‘our’ to Slarhan’s nickname, making her favour for Slarhan undisguised.
She had the thought that since she had no children and Slarhan had no parents, they could become good partners if done well.
Perhaps Count Roland was more prudent than his wife, he just smiled without answering.
However, Slarhan could feel that Count Roland seemed kindly, and his eyes were slightly filled with intelligence.
He was disinterested in them up until now so he didn’t know, but it was clear that Count Roland wasn’t an ordinary man.
‘Ellier can’t have guessed all of this, can she?’
It was a surprising meeting in many ways, but Ellier had instructed him only to greet them, so after chatting for a while, he turned and left the banquet hall.
At his simple demeanor, Count Roland later whispered behind Margaret’s fan secretively.
“It seems like he came here without knowing anything.”
“That information was strictly confidential, so it can’t be that he already knew about it just because it’s Lehan.”
“Hmm…”
Count Roland nodded cautiously as he watched the image of Slarhan slowly retreating.
Perhaps a fine prey will walk in on its own.’
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Clyde gave a satisfied smile as he looked at Ellor that’s a distance away sharing a glass of champagne with others.
For him, who was unable to inherit the Marquisate, the announcement made today by the Emperor opened up an enormous possibility for him.
It had a greater future than the Marquis, the position of ‘Emperor’.
‘Convince one of the Princesses to become the Emperor, marry her and then take her throne…!’
He had to find someone that could fulfill the plan in his head successfully, a Princess that wasn’t stupid, but wasn’t too smart either, who was daring but not reckless.
The First Princess, Iris, seems to be strongly set on becoming the Emperor, the Second Princess, Luria, doesn’t seem to have interest in competing for the throne, the Fourth Princess Lariette was still too young and it was more likely that the Second Imperial concubine would place her hopes on the Second Prince, Ravan.
Currently, the answer was only Ellor in every aspect.
Ellor seemed to possess considerable luck and momentum, people surrounded her, and her beauty was very useful in attracting people.
‘Princess Ellor’s mother just so happens to be the Empress, and the eldest son, Prince Renscher, left to recuperate last year. Apparently it’s a mental illness, so he wouldn’t come back to the capital anymore. It seems unlikely for the Empress to push Princess Luria, but if it was Princess Ellor, the Empress might find it worthwhile to try.’
She looked at him with eyes that were evidently filled with favour.
Clyde instinctively sensed that he had found a great opportunity.
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Slarhan immediately called for Ellier after returning from the Imperial Palace.
“I find it impossible, but… do you know Countess Roland?”
“Yes? Me?”
“Actually, even if you did, you wouldn’t have known in advance the colour of the dress she was going to wear today.”
“Huh? You’ve found purple, right? Was purple referring to Countess Roland?”
“Yes.”
“Wow! As expected! So what did you do?”
As he looked at Ellier’s eyes that twinkled with excitement, Slarhan thought he was being overly sensitive.
No matter how extraordinary she was, a child that has only been out of Rubelfast for around a year wouldn’t have known that.
Perhaps she had randomly chosen a color. Perhaps she had said that with the thought that it wouldn’t matter who he established relations with as the banquet hall would be filled with aristocrats.
However, it was too miraculous to be coincidental that there was only one person present in the banquet hall who had the ‘intense blue-violet colour’ that Ellier had spoken of, and that person, just so happened to be a member of the Imperial Family, Countess Roland.
“I wanted to pretend that I didn’t see her, so I approached and greeted her.”
“That’s great! It will definitely become a good thing for the Master.”
“Well. I don’t think anyone would think so.”
“It could be that Master has caught a fortune that’s unknown to everyone else.”
Ellier’s eyes twinkled. As if she was certain.
Slarhan liked the first pair of eyes that are filled with liveliness, unlike his dull and vague daily life. He wanted to believe in this little slave.
‘This lass might actually have the disposition of a fortune teller.’
Her bravely spoken words to bring her master good fortune might actually have an effect. If he could gain advantages like this, it was possible for her to pay off her value of a million perusoes, so it was a deal that wasn’t unfavourable to Ellier.
Thinking that Ellier was quite sly, Slarhan asked half-jokingly.
“So, how much do you want for this incident’s daily wage?”
But contrary to his expectations of her excitedly negotiating, Ellier shook her head.
“Today’s incident has yet to bring a great benefit to Master yet. Please evaluate this incident if it turns out to be profitable for you.”
“…That wasn’t really a joke.”
“I’m not in a position to joke around with Master.”
Slarhan snorted at her words. The words she speaks always seemed like she was conscious of her own position, but her attitude was completely different. What an absurd slave.
“Oh! During today’s banquet… Did something else happen?”
“Something else?”
“Well… Did His Majesty bestow upon our Master something… Or made a surprising announcement…”
“How did you know that too?”
“That’s, I heard that His Majesty sent you a personally written letter and invited you. Then, it’s obvious to anticipate that something will happen.”
“Is that so…?”
Would an ordinary person imagine that the Emperor will be making a sudden announcement just based on that?
Although it was somewhat unclear, Slarhan decided to not push too deeply, as his slave girl seemed to have a pretty outstanding intuition.
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