Chapter 107
Translator: Lunarise
Editor: Larkspur
No, there was no way! Wendy was not the imperial prince but the imperial princess. The Arpen Empire’s constitutional imperial princess did not have a right to succession, so it would be all right. She thought it was fortunate that Wendy was a daughter instead of a son.
“Rosha.”
As soon as Viola called for Rosha, she caught on right away and headed into the living room by herself. “There is a place we need to go to together. Let’s leave Wendy to the maids and go.”
“Yes, even without that, I already left her to the crown prince’s maids,” Rosha replied.
As soon as the two went outside, a long line of valets followed them. A bothersome aspect of being the empress was having Kyle and several maids following me everywhere she went. Even if she roamed the palace freely, Lustian’s eyes and ears were everywhere. But she didn’t care. Her intentions of deceiving him were smaller than the size of a fingernail…
Viola was deep in thought while she was apart from him.
In the past, she would only see what she wanted to see. She wouldn’t try to understand the burden on his shoulders. Since she had a clear goal of wanting to become King, she wouldn’t sympathize with his plight. It took her eight years to realize this.
She wanted to do everything for Lustian. The desire to do her duties as the empress was burning.
This needs to change. Not him but me…
Viola headed to the Concubines’ Palace where the princesses were trapped. As soon as she stepped into the entrance of the palace, a strange stench drifted. Her eyes were trembling.
“What is… this smell?” she asked.
“Is it that they never cleaned up the horse manure?”
“Ma-Manure?”
Rosha’s face scrunched up.
Did they have a horse here? Viola was briefly deep in thought. Just then, two horses popped out of nowhere and ran around. It was a shocking sight. Even while people were watching, Viola looked at the unstoppable horses directly.
“I-It’s unsafe, Empress!”
As Viola yelled at the horses, ‘Whoa! Whoa!’, she was waiting for the worked-up horses to calm down. She could hear Kyle taking out a sword, but she shook her head at him. Eventually, the horses snorted as they went up to her and stuck their noses forward. She grabbed onto the reins and gently ran her hands through their mane.
“Shhh… It’s all right. Calm down. What is making them run around so frantically?”
Snort- Snort- The horses flicked their tails as if they understood what she was saying. Just then, Kyle examined their hooves.
“Their hooves are damaged. They’re ingrown,” he said.
“Take the horses out.”
There weren’t just two horses. One more horse popped out. The valets took all of the horses out of the fields of the Concubines’ Palace.
“Why are they here?”
“There is a lot of hay that they feed on.”
They looked around. A lot of hay had indeed spread all around for the horses. Because the garden wasn’t tended to properly, weeds grew up to their hips, while the weeds that didn’t grow ended up drying up repeatedly year after year, eventually turning into hay. Because of this, the horses came into the Concubines’ Palace and started grazing.
As Viola went inside, a bone-dry garden and a hideous-looking castle came into view. She bit her lip hard.
Rosha opened her mouth in a shaky voice. “Is this… the palace that was once so glamorous? How did- Agh! There’s even a spi-spider web!”
“This is more severe than I expected….”
There were long spider webs hanging down from many places, but then a large spider came slithering down. Unlike the very frightened Rosha, Viola used a tree branch all on her own to tear the spider web off completely.
“W-we will handle this, my empress!”
Seeing that the empress take the spider web off herself, the valets rolled up their sleeves in a frenzy.
Then something happened. It seemed like a musty billow of smoke was crawling up from the inside of the palace as a lady ran into the hallway in a coughing fit. As the stinging smoke assailed Viola’s nostrils, she too felt she would start coughing. She then looked at the lady wearing a soot-covered dress.
After being preoccupied with the coughing, the lady finally sensed her presence. Seeing Viola, the lady immediately teared up.
“I apologize for being late.”
“Oh, ohhh… Vi-Viola… Viola!” she uttered between her shock.
Unable to contain her happiness, she ran up to Viola, until she was restrained by Kyle.
“It’s the empress, mind your manners.”
“My empress… Your Highness…,” she said.
“It’s all right, Kyle.”
The princess’s lips were trembling. Viola went up to her and reached her hand out to her to hug her tight. As she did, the other held her side and shed tears. She didn’t have to look at her to know what she had been through. One-by-one familiar faces appeared as the people came out hearing her sobbing.
The princesses came to Viola’s side and knelt in front of her as they held her hand. They kissed the back of her hand in awe of her. Her heart ached. She felt sorry for leaving them behind.
“Send the valets and maids back. Groom them in a beautiful royal palace as you did before, and take care of these princesses,” Viola ordered Kyle.
“Yes, I will do as you command.”
Darkness disappeared from the princesses’ complexion. Viola wiped the soot off the princess’s face.
“You will need to bathe. Rosha, please assist them.”
♛
Kyle walked into the emperor’s office. He was reporting what Viola was up to that day, but he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “These women that are affiliated to the imperial palace are under your jurisdiction, Your Highness, so I will not restrain them.”
“You did well,” Lustian replied.
“My Lord.”
“This was the empress’ doing. They are no longer my concubines, and they’re nothing but hostages.”
These groups that plotted an act of treason couldn’t even be absolved by death, but since they suffered many hardships for eight years, enough was enough. Although, thanks to this, the princesses’ loyalty to Viola grew even deeper.
The empress’s job was to be in control of all matters of the palace, great and small. She had to not only handle the concubines but also the maids, valets, and the palace. It was satisfying. She was a wise woman who knew how to do her job without telling her. Lustian’s smirk widened until he was smiling from ear to ear.
“Honestly… It was like I was looking at a king. I mean, the princesses were kissing the empress on the back of her hand, so it felt like I was looking at a saint. They looked like they were waiting to be blessed by God.” Kyle recounted.
“It would be even more meaningful if she were God’s Companion.”
“In all seriousness, wouldn’t it be a huge problem if the empress was God’s Companion?”
“There is nothing to take seriously. Even if she really was God’s Companion, I would never let her go.”
“Would that be… possible? The Great Magician is still giving us time, and I’m devoting my life to your will.”
“——”
The previous emperor met his demise. He found Guinev but she was not God’s Companion, and could not pass through the final gateway.
“Is Mother still in that place?”
“Yes….”
Ever since the previous emperor passed away, his widow would never come out of the temple. The previous emperor slept inside of a glass coffin located in the Temple of the Lake God.
While he disappeared, the parchment that he carried around was recorded in history. Ever since the beginning of history, even the future events to come were drawn out in detail. Even the moment where Lustian would have found Viola was recorded. In addition, they discovered a clue relating to where she hid the body.
Follow the path of the old messenger hawk…
The messenger hawk left traces everywhere it flew, which would soon become a path that led to Viola.