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Chapter 24 – Why Did He Smile?
Gloria spoke without hiding her expression.
“For the sake of the Empire I should marry the Marquis, who threatens my position, and for the sake of my people I should birth the Marquis’ child?”
“The Marquis is the person chosen by the late Emperor to be Her Majesty’s companion.”
“How dare you parrot what he decided without asking my opinion, alleging he did it for me!!!”
The Emperor’s wrath echoed loudly in the garden. Startled, the birds flapped loudly and flew up, but no one cared. Glaring at Duchess Praud with bloodshot eyes, Gloria said.
“He raised me locked in the court claiming it was for me, and then because it was also for me, he didn’t let me study anything beyond the basics. And now without my will, you’ll make Erun your fiancé, and marry me off as commanded?”
“Your Majesty.”
“I’d rather die, so you who are alive do as you please.”
“Your Majesty, how could you say that!”
Duchess Praud contorted her pale face at Gloria’s cruel words. The courtiers were uneasy about the unusual atmosphere, but the Emperor, who seemed to be enraged, was merciless. Gloria said to the Duchess.
“I don’t want the Erant Empire to be tied to a foreign country by marriage, and I need my power. So, I will bring the Duke as Gukseo.”
“Do you really need to do that?”
“It is still painful for me that His Majesty the Emperor has passed away. But I will never stand still as he wanted me to.”
‘Because I couldn’t ignore my father’s will, everyone around me died, and I died too.’ Gloria turned and walked towards the main palace again. Duchess Praud sighed heavily, but there was nothing she could do to stop the steadfast Gloria.
‘I thought you resembled His Majesty the late Emperor, but you totally look like my older sister.’
She thought Gloria was like her brother-in-law, the late Emperor, because she was quiet and never angry. However, when she recalled Gloria’s recent behavior, she looked exactly like the late Empress.
‘I have to change the subject.’ Duchess Praud did not want to provoke Gloria any further so asked, matching her stride.
“What do you think of Duke Ludenberg?”
“He’s just someone with whom I’ll hold hands for a purpose.”
In response to the Duchess’ question, Gloria spoke in a businesslike tone without hesitation. Faced with an unexpected answer, Duchess Praud frowned and asked,
“Is it true?”
Gloria replied with a fierce smile when asked what she thought of the Duke, who had been furious about her marriage to Erun for a while.
“You’re not trying to ask if I’m in love or something like that, right? He’s the one who joined hands with me to wipe out the Marquis, and the Duke knows it too.”
Duchess Praud tilted her head exaggeratedly at her niece and spoke.
“Is that so? But it’s really strange.”
“…”
“Considering the Duke Ludenberg I saw in the garden earlier, I don’t quite think it’s just a partnership between the two of you.”
“…Pardon?”
Gloria, who had drawn a thick, cold wall between herself and her aunt, halted and turned around at the phrasing that seemed to say ‘Duke Ludenberg doesn’t seem to be involved just for the profits.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
Unlike when speaking of Erun, Gloria showed fluttering eyelids and pressed her mouth. Duchess Praud observed Gloria’s cold expression loosen and spoke again,
“I saw Marquis Lebossi and Duke Ludenberg fighting earlier. It was fiercer than any women’s fight.”
“So… who won?”
“Who do you think would have won, Your Majesty?”
“Kaien.”
Gloria answered the Duchess’ question without a moment of hesitation. The Duchess bit her lip when she heard her say his name, not his last name, after having declared it was a relationship merely done for a common purpose.
Noticing that the Duchess was smiling at her answer, Gloria frowned, showing embarrassment on her beautiful face.
‘Even if you frown with such a blushing face…’ Duchess Praud was delighted to see Gloria grimacing with her arms crossed, and smiled faintly. It was so faint that Gloria didn’t notice, as she tried to stay cool.
“The Duke is superior to the Marquis in all respects, whether in status or skill. So, what happened to Marquis?”
“I have never seen Duke Ludenberg smile so much.”
‘Smile?’ At the words of the Duchess, Gloria’s face filled with question marks. Did you even smile triumphantly after defeating Erun? Duchess Praud said to Gloria, who was guessing how and why he smiled.
“I won’t tell you.”
“Aunt!”
“Now that you’ve arrived at the main palace, you must go attend to state affairs.”
Gloria shouted inwardly at the Duchess’ actions in not telling her how or why Kaien smiled.
‘How did he smile?! How did that man smile!!!!’
Seeing ‘I’m very curious!’ written all over Gloria’s face, the Duchess turned and said,
“It’s the price you pay for yelling at me earlier.”
“It’s fine. No matter how the Duke smiles, it has nothing to do with me.”
In her mind, Gloria was grabbing her aunt by the shoulders and screaming ‘Why won’t you tell me!!’ but she controlled the impulse.
‘Be cool. Be cool. We are just contractual partners with a common purpose.’
In the meantime, Kaien’s smile and body come to mind. Gloria’s ears reddened when she remembered the warm body temperature and the gentle hand that carefully tucked her wayward hair.
Gloria glanced at the Duchess, then turned and entered the main palace where she had arrived, and Duchess Praud, watching her niece’s back, turned around too.
“What do you think of Duke Ludenberg?”
The wordless answer to such a question was provided by Gloria’s flushed appearance.
As soon as she entered the main palace and entered the conference hall, the nobles who were talking with each other shut their mouths.
When the Emperor appeared, they bowed their heads and showed respect, but Gloria was well aware of the squinting, gleaming gazes and twisted one corner of her mouth.
‘Wake up, is this the time to be blushing and thinking about your first love.’ Gloria rebuked herself harshly as she walked into the meeting room where a large number of anglerfish-like nobles gathered and greeted her.
[tl/n: anglerfish are really ugly fishes, it’s Korean slang to refer to someone ugly]
There was no need for her to act as an ordinary lady or dream of love; living foolishly once was enough.
‘If you stay with such a weak feeling like love or whatever, it will repeat again. I never want to experience the feeling of being trampled on, betrayed, and dying horribly again.’
“My soul has already been burned into hell, leaving nothing but ashes.” A desperate voice flowed, like a person scratching a wall desperately with their fingernails, through the Emperor’s lips covered with bright scarlet lipstick. Just thinking about it made her blood run backward and boil, and she felt like sending troops to destroy the Marquis right away. Even if she did that, it wouldn’t relieve her anger, but she wanted to destroy everything Erun had built. She must.
‘Either way, it’s fine. I definitely need Kaien.’
Gloria looked at Kaien at the front of the conference hall and clenched her hands. Under her piercing gaze, he bowed politely to her. When she only looked at Kaien and didn’t give a glance to him, who was alone, Erun bit the inside of his lip until it bled. Ignoring the scrutiny of the two men and the curious eyes of the nobles, Gloria quickly sat down at the top. Then, all the nobles gathered in the meeting room put their hands on their chests and bowed down to Gloria Blake Vierant, the sole Emperor of the Erant Empire.
“We greet Her Majesty the Emperor, the Glory of the Erant Empire.”
Each one had their own counsel.
Gloria opened her mouth, looking down with her cool blue eyes at the nobles who greeted her identically while hiding their own intentions and bloody desires.
“So. Let’s start the morning meeting.”
Oblivious to the Emperor’s dagger-like gaze, the nobles flashed their eyes like hyenas. As everyone focused on the morning assembly, Gloria glanced at Erun who was reporting. She was hoping that the scandalous rumors would have affected a bit more on that flamboyant face.
‘You’re such a thorough guy.’
The Emperor’s dark blue eyes gleamed coldly. Recognizing her gaze, Erun was furious for a moment but struggled to maintain his composure.
‘Report comes first.’
‘Hold it in.’ Erun continued to report, swallowing his rage burning like flames.
“…As a result, citizens are protesting against the rise in taxes in the Palodan area.”
“Of course, citizens would be angry if taxes were raised in that area.”
Upon hearing Erun’s report, Gloria nodded in agreement. Perhaps surprised by such remarks, Erun’s and some of the nobles’ eyes widened in an instant. No wonder, she was an Emperor who didn’t react very much in every assembly regardless of the time, yet, this time she responded.
‘You thought I was an idiot who couldn’t even think, right?’
Aware of their regard, Gloria’s hand instantly gained strength as her nails dug into the flesh of her clenched palms. She also knew how the estate was rolling. However, whenever she spoke, she was often intercepted by Erun.
‘What’s even more irritating was that the Marquis’ opinion and mine coincided, so I couldn’t refute him!’ She gripped the arm of her chair and swallowed her resentment. In fact, she knew, too. It was actually her choice to shut her mouth using Erun as an excuse.
Even if they had the same opinion, Gloria had no intention of relinquishing to Erun the right to speak anymore and stretched out her hand to the side. When the Emperor reached out, Erun, as always, was about to move toward her, but Gloria spoke first to the Lord Great Chamberlain politely standing beside her.
“Lord Chamberlain. Are you going to stay still and just keep watching?”
“I apologize, Your Majesty!”
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The Chamberlain had thought Erun would approach her as always and hurriedly moved. At that skirmish, everyone in the meeting room, except Kaien, looked at Gloria stiffly.
“Your Grace.”
The Grand Chamberlain approached Erun to retrieve the documents and pass them to Gloria, yet Erun didn’t move a muscle, so the Chamberlain had to call him.
The documents held in closed-mouthed Erun’s hands were slightly crumpled, but still, no movement occurred.
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