Episode 40: A Woman of His Taste
Raymond, who felt guilty for not finding the culprit who killed his parents, was unable to abandon the late Emperor’s will and visited Duke Caroline with a heavy heart.
It was also a time when the pressure of the nobles who underestimated the young Emperor was getting worse. If the marriage with Daria takes place, it will be possible to bring Duke Caroline, the head of the nobility council, to his side. But…
“Although the late Emperor left a message to marry you, I never want to force you if you don’t want to.”
Raymond, of course, thought Daria would reject him. He also didn’t want to forcibly make a woman come into a relationship who rejected him. Therefore, he tried to respect her will somehow if she refused.
“…..I’m so sorry, Ray.”
Daria, who knew better than anyone how Raymond, who became emperor at a young age, was holding out under the pressure of the nobles, said with the utmost regret.
“I’ll tell my father well somehow. There will never be a time when Duke Caroline turns his back on you.”
Raymond’s heart weakened as Daria, who was taller than him, looked at him and apologized with a guilty face.
Raymond del Astaroth was originally such a man. He is strong against the strong, but he is infinitely weak against the weak. He told Duke Caroline that he could not follow the late Emperor’s will.
Duke Caroline was quite upset by the two who broke his long-standing promise, but he no longer spoke.
Shortly after the marriage ended, Duke Caroline died suddenly. Daria Caroline, who met again at the Duke’s funeral, had eyes full of poison.
“I know that the late Emperor had promised marriage between the imperial family and the Caroline family a long time ago.”
The person who hinted at Raymond was the brother of the deceased Duke Caroline and the man who would soon succeed to the title of the duke. He was also an uncle to Daria Caroline.
“The eldest daughter lacks many things, but if His Majesty welcomes her with great grace, I promise that the Duke of Caroline will stand by the imperial family forever.”
“Does Daria think the same as you?”
Raymond glanced at Daria sitting quietly next to her uncle and asked.
“Sure. Right, Daria?”
The man wrapped his arm around Daria’s shoulder and smiled affectionately. Raymond frowned at the strange sense of incongruity felt from that friendly smile.
“Let me think about it a little more.”
It was none other than Daria who caught Raymond as he was about to return to the Imperial Palace.
“If you do not accept my uncle’s request, he will work with other nobles to oppress you.”
“So what?”
Looking at the dimly sunken eyes, Raymond asked back.
“Let me be the empress.”
“You didn’t want it.”
“It doesn’t mean anything to me any more.”
Daria replied in a faint voice as if whispering, slowly lowering her eyes. Raymond was embarrassed at the sight of her eyes turning red, who had not cried throughout her father’s funeral.
“It’s not a proposal for you. I need you too, Ray.”
Was her father’s death so shocking? To the point where she decided to marry who she hated so much.
In terms of objective circumstances, it was not a bad suggestion for Raymond. He needed strength to become an Emperor at a young age due to the unexpected death of his parents.
Eventually, Raymond made Daria his empress on the condition of absolute support from Duke Caroline.
If there was one tragedy, it was that Raymond del Astaroth was a boy who, despite his cold-blooded appearance, dreamed of pure love since his childhood.
However, Raymond knew better than anyone else that he could not get everything he wanted as an emperor without preparation. Therefore, he thought it was something that he had no choice but to give up. However, he only wanted to fulfill his responsibility for what was placed on him.
“Do we need to engage in such meaningless deeds as we joined hands for each other’s purposes?”
On the first night of the difficult and boring wedding, it was Daria who rejected him first.
“This is a formal ritual anyway.”
“No, Raymond. I’m saying that I don’t want to have a deeper relationship with you even after you reach adulthood.”
In an unexpected situation, Raymond leaned against the door and looked down at her and frowned.
“Even if you avoid it now, I will have to see my descendants someday anyway. It’s not that you don’t know the obligations of the Imperial Family.”
“I don’t intend to act as your wife for a thousand years anyway. If you are worried about descendants, you can have a mistress. If the mistress gives birth to a child, I will think of it as my child and raise it with all my heart.”
Seeing Daria responding back without losing a word, Raymond thought she was a hateful woman.
Although they maintained a formal marital relationship, it would have seemed to others that they were getting along well. As promised, Duke Caroline has given absolute support for Raymond.
It was around the time when it was believed that the imperial realm was gradually stabilizing.
“I’m pregnant!”
The Empress, who never had sex, was with child. The time of conceiving a child was subtly presumed before marrying him.
“Whose child is this?”
“I’m sorry, Ray. I… I…….”
“Did you marry me for this purpose?”
“No! I didn’t know either! If I had known…… I really…….”
Daria, who was aloof even before the father’s death, buried her face in both hands and began to sob. Raymond asked her, pressing his forehead hard.
“Where’s the baby’s father?”
“He’s dead.”
“What?”
“Just before my father passed away…….”
“Haa…”
A vain smile came out of his mouth.
Raymond no longer asked her about the child’s father. Instead, it was announced. Empress Daria had his own child.
Not long after adulthood, 17-year-old Daria was also young, but 14-year-old Raymond was still too young to have children. Therefore, it was the latter that no one expected.
Everyone pointed at Raymond and whispered. Rumors spread silently in all directions that the new emperor was a lewd man who lightened up his colors despite his young age.
Upon hearing the rumor, Raymond snorted lightly and ignored it. He didn’t care what people were whining at him. Besides that, Raymond had a lot of things to deal with.
And soon after, Raymond had to learn of Daria’s miscarriage. This time, the perpetrator left no trace. Raymond implicitly assumed that the killer of Daria’s miscarriage and the murderer of her parents were the same person.
The Emperor was angry at the Empress’ miscarriage, but was not sad. People commented that Raymond was cold. Even so, they couldn’t say a word in front of him, who is the emperor anyway.
* * *
After returning from a war of conquest for a year and a half, Raymond has grown so much that one can no longer find a youthful feeling.
Having spent until his 16th year on the battlefield, he was still several months before his coming-of-age ceremony, but he overwhelmed those around him with his height and thick body that even an adult male could not afford.
This growth of the young Emperor excited the hearts of numerous noble women in the capital. Even if it was the soul of a 16-year-old boy inside, they didn’t care.
His appearance already had the appearance of a perfect man, and the atmosphere that had been ferocious due to the long war exuded a charm that is hard to find in ordinary men. Moreover, there have already been rumors in the public that he was a lewd man for a long time.
Soon after Raymond came of age, countless beauties hovered around him every day. Some of them were women sent by the empress, Daria.
“I heard that the woman last night was the maid of the Empress’ Palace.”
“It’s not uncommon for the Empress’ maid to have eye contact with the Emperor.”
Daria responded skillfully to Raymond, who was annoyed.
“Why, didn’t you like her? She had a pretty face.”
“Huh…!”
Raymond glared at Daria. He couldn’t figure out why she was trying to attach a woman to him. However, there was no desire to move according to her wishes.
“Tell me where you didn’t like it, Raymond. That way, I will find a child that suits your taste and prepare it.”
“From head to toe, everything wasn’t good.”
Raymond answered sarcastically, soaking up the arsenic.
“You’re so picky, Raymond.”
Daria shook her head and muttered.
Daria, who was somehow bent on finding a woman who suited Raymond’s taste, periodically changed her maid and made them approach Raymond. And every time that happened, Raymond made various excuses and sent back the women Daria sent.
“What didn’t you like this time? You said you liked silver hair beauty, so I spent a hard time finding it!”
Looking at the huffing Daria, Raymond tilted his head lightly.
‘Did I say that?’
As I frowned and fell into my thoughts, I thought I might have said something like that. The reason was very simple. Because the most rare hair color in the empire was silver.
The memory of him uttering such nuanced words in front of the seventeenth woman sent by Daria, pointing to the noble maiden with her silver hair, was regained.
“I didn’t like her voice. I like the noble but not arrogant voice.”
“Oh my god. Are you saying that there are voices that are noble and those that are not?”
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Raymond troubled Daria, who resented his picky taste. Raymond found it quite amusing, and gradually began to attach nonsensical demands.
Eye color, gait, facial expression when smiling, and hand shape when greeting…….
As he made a fuss about every little thing, he had already become the owner of a very demanding aesthetic among the luxury men.
People would bring and show off women who fit his taste. But none of the women met Raymond’s conditions.
Of course, his conditions in the first place are just a list of things that are hard to exist in the world, even Raymond, himself, knew it very well.