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Chapter 30 – For You (2)
Kaien closed his eyes and felt Gloria’s body temperature with his lips. It was a warm spring day, but her hands were cold. Gloria’s eyes widened as he kissed her ring finger, the act that signified an oath. Kaien spoke.
“For Your Majesty, Kaien Ludenberg will be your sword.”
To destroy Erun. For his precious and only sister, Diana.
And,
‘For you.’
Kaien kissed Gloria’s ring finger once more as he vowed.
Meanwhile, the Lord of Palodan had entered the palace, since he could not ignore an order, was beaten by Erun, and had left the palace.
“Damn it. You immature little jerk!”
Palodan cried out while placing a cold towel around his dyed blue eyes.
“Damn it! Treating me like this when you know clearly what that money was for?!”
As he roughly threw the towel against the wall of the carriage, the Lord shuddered. No matter how powerful they were, nobles who failed to advance to the center were forever local nobles. He didn’t like it, so he approached Erun and donated money to maintain the relationship for five years, but the return on the investment was a stab in the back.
“You’re calling me and beating me like a dog instead of placing me in the center!”
Lord Palodan shouted, slamming the carriage chair with his feet. The horseman began to sweat coldly at the fierce anger of his Master inside the carriage.
“Aigoo~ If I return to the mansion now, many servants will die today.”
Knowing his Master’s temper, the coachman wanted to run away as he thought of the many servants who could be beaten with a club upon arriving at the residence.
‘Why doesn’t God take such a bad man early?’ The coachman looked up at the sunny sky and blamed God. The Lord was making such a riot inside that the coachman’s body shook. While dragging the wagon that rattled loudly from the Palace, the coachman pulled the reins back when a court lady approached from afar and motioned for him to stop. With shiny fabrics and decorations that ordinary court ladies could never use, the coachman got off the carriage.
“Is the Lord of Palodan inside?”
The horseman took off the hat he was wearing and bowed to the court lady who was standing upright as he answered.
“Yes. We’re on our way out.”
“What’s going on!” Lord Palodan roared, roughly rolling the curtains of the carriage. He was focused on how he would hit his useless servants with a club to relieve his anger after returning to the mansion, but when the carriage stopped, Lord Palodan was even angrier.
He saw a court lady frowning after seeing him with a lot of accessories on, but soon after, she spoke in a deliberate manner.
“Nice to meet you, Lord Palodan. I am Teresa Margaret, I serve Her Majesty the Emperor herself.”
“Hmph!” Seeing Teresa’s greeting, Lord Palodan snorted and shook his head.
When the man committed the rudeness of pulling the curtain back, a vein popped on her forehead. Teresa spoke in a loud voice to the man, who did not even think of getting out of the carriage.
“Lord Palodan shall obey Her Majesty’s orders!”
She shouted loudly.
The Lord of Palodan, busy muttering in the carriage, felt his heart sink at the phrase ‘Her Majesty’s Orders’ that came out of Teresa’s mouth.
‘What did that court lady say just now?’ Lord Palodan violently pulled the curtain away with enough force to tear it apart. Then he noticed the old coachman with his head bowed and Teresa’s angry face.
He was the lord of Palodan Estate, a man who regarded Gloria as a mere little girl, but he eventually left the wagon with a shivering face because she was still Erun’s fiancée, who would later become the Emperor.
At the Lord’s slow reaction, Teresa wanted to beat him, but Gloria’s instructions took precedence. With her back straight, she said, staring coldly at the dawdling Lord.
“Her Majesty wants to meet the Lord in person. You must return to the palace.”
A meeting request. Lord Palodan opened his small eyes wide with his mouth agape.
Following the guidance of the court lady, Pelodan entered the Emperor’s audience chamber and opened his mouth wide. It was the first time in his life. The splendid interior that unfolded before him made his eyes grow bigger to the point of bewilderment.
“You are the Lord of Palodan.”
A clear soprano voice. The man hurriedly shifted his gaze to the place where the sound was heard. Then reflected in his eyes–
“…!”
Red hair shining like jewels in the sunlight coming down through the large glass window filled his eyes. In addition, the beautiful appearance made it seem like he was seeing a halo above her head.
‘Is this what it would look like when a goddess descends to earth?’ Lord Palodan swallowed his saliva unaware at the sight of Gloria staring at him with a beautiful smile.
Gulp– Not missing such a blatant sound, Kaien’s eyebrows twitched. It was unpleasant that the Lord of Palodan didn’t show manners, but it was even more so when he was drooling and staring at Gloria so obviously in front of him!
When the Lord couldn’t take his eyes off the Emperor who was smiling prettily in front of him, Kaien slapped his hand strongly.
“…!”
The man hurriedly came to his senses seeing where the sound was coming from…
“Hiik!”
There, a black demon risen from hell was ferociously staring at him with gleaming eyes. Kaien said, staring fiercely at Palodan, who faltered backward.
“I can’t believe you don’t greet your Emperor properly. Where did the Lord leave the court etiquette?”
“Ke- Kevand Palodan greets Her Majesty, the Sun of the Empire!”
The Lord bowed deeply and in a hurry at Kaien’s glare that seemed to be about to slaughter him at any moment.
‘Hmm.’ Gloria quietly looked at Palodan, who had bent his back deeply and was sweating profusely.
‘Lord Palodan is ignorant. He’s just livestock that was desperate to rip off the money of the Estate’s residents after squandering the wealth accumulated by his ancestors.’
She smiled pleased at the sight of the Lord Palodan, who rolled his eyes at the expensive decorations around him as he stood in front of the Emperor herself. Gloria sat on a nearby sofa, and as she sat down, Kaien handed her the previous paperwork.
‘What is that document?’ Since the Emperor had not told him to sit, Palodan had to stand still. In addition, the Lord couldn’t help but ooze a cold sweat at Kaien’s murderous gaze that made his hair stand up.
Gloria handed over the documents and said to Lord Palodan, who was standing without straightening his back.
“The reason this Emperor asked to see you was nothing else, but because I wanted to apologize.”
[tl/n: the word Gloria used here is a word Emperors used to refer to themselves. It’s called ‘majestic imperial pronoun,’ similar to the majestic plural. It doesn’t have an accurate translation though basically means ‘I’ -magnanimous self-]
“Apologize..?”
At the word ‘apologize’ that came out of Gloria’s mouth, Lord Palodan’s eyes widened. The same person who had been beaten in the face with paperwork by Erun just a few hours ago. Unlike Erun, who was quite rude calling him a country bumpkin, this woman called him to apologize.
‘What are you up to?’ Lord Palodan glanced at Gloria, who was smiling like an innocent young lady, and clenched his hands tightly. The Emperor looked at him coldly, but it was only for a moment. She said with an innocent smile.
“I heard that the Marquis scolded you too much? I apologize on behalf of my fiancé. It seems that he has become very sensitive as he is handling the government affairs on behalf of Your Emperor. Forgive the Marquis for his words and actions.”
“Don’t say that, Your Majesty. It was because I’m lacking.”
At Gloria’s words of apology, Palodan lowered his head even more. Inside, he cursed ‘Take care of your fiancé right, you incompetent woman!’ but he wasn’t foolish enough to say it in front of the Emperor. But Gloria, who already knew his mind, smiled.
‘How much are you insulting me right now?’ She had read the contents of the document earlier and knew everything. Gloria pretended to look at the documents slowly and hid a cool smile, then said to Kaien sitting next to her.
“Duke, have you prepared what I asked for earlier?”
“Of course. Your Majesty.”
“Then bring it in.”
At Gloria’s words, Kaien lightly flicked his fingers. Then, it was Lord Palodan who was puzzled at the appearance of attendants who opened the door to the audience chamber with boxes in their hands.
“Open it.”
Kaien ordered the boxes piled up in front of Lord Palodan to be opened. Then the servants carefully opened the boxes on the wide table with their white-gloved hands. Then, what spread out in front of the Lord’s eyes were a huge amount of gold coins, gold wine glasses, and many jewels. In addition, some boxes contained silk, the finest white silk that was only delivered to the Imperial Palace.
“Wh- why did you… this to me…?”
Blinded by greed, Lord Palodan opened the boxes and looked at Gloria, fiddling with the luxury. His eyes were wary, but his hands were already fondling the gold coins. The Emperor returned the documents to Kaien, speaking in a tone of sincere praise.
“The number of thieves increased recently, right? For the safety of the residents, you will have to hire mercenaries and focus on protection. Of course, you will need money for that.”
“That’s right, Your Majesty!”
At Gloria’s words, Palodan gave off a distorted expression and nodded. She wanted to hit his head with the high heels she was wearing when she saw him wiping away his tears with a handkerchief, but she held back and muttered in a low voice.
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“It’s like fattened livestock.”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Gloria smiled and shook her head as Lord Palodan looked at her with round eyes.
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