***
***
Carius’s office.
Carius was being briefed on educational matters by Liv’s father, the Duke Dennis Edinburgh.
“Your Majesty, I would like to establish a school near the palace. Not only the children of the nobility, but also the children of the middle class will be able to enter the school. I think we need to cultivate more talent through high-quality education.”
“The purpose is good, but the nobles will be against it.”
“If the middle class responds well, they won’t be able to ignore that support. I would like to open this matter through the council.”
“Hmm, a school for the middle class.”
“Your Majesty, excuse me, did you have a good time with the Empress last night?”
“….!”
Karius was surprised by the unexpected question and almost dropped the cup he was holding.
At that moment, an aide hurried in.
“Your Majesty.”
“I told you not to come in here without my permission!”
At these words, the aide bowed his head and spoke urgently.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty! I heard that the Empress had gone to the pagoda, and I was in a hurry to tell you.”
Carius stood up, startled by the unexpected words.
“The pagoda ? Are you saying that the Empress went there in person?”
“Yes……”
“I hope she didn’t meet the Prince.”
For a moment, he wished desperately that Liv didn’t meet Theodore. Going to the pagoda was a serious matter that would place a curse on her.
“She met him.”
Duke Dennis held his head as if he was dizzy.
Carius asked, flustered by Liv’s completely unimaginative behavior.
“Did anything happen?”
“If it’s something special…”
“The condition of the Empress!”
“She has returned safely to the palace. Your Majesty.”
The Duke appealed, looking at Karius with a confused expression.
“What should I do, Your Majesty? If anything should happen to the Empress …………!”
Carius sat down in his seat and closed his eyes tightly.
“Liv, what are you doing!”
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I’ll go to the Empress.”
As the Duke was about to leave, Carius stopped him.
“Don’t worry too much, I’ll take care of it when it comes to the Empress.”
“But………….!”
The Duke had no choice but to bow his head at the emperor’s words.
“Your hasty actions can lead to disaster in return.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Carius let out a short breath.
“I’ll leave the matter of the middle class school to the Duke. You can leave now.”
At some point, a deep crease appeared on Carius’ forehead. Looking at him, the Duke could not continue his words any further and had no choice but to give up.
“‘Well then…I bid you adieu. Your Majesty.”
Duke Denis left his seat with a ghastly expression on his face. He gave the Duke a calm look, but after he left, Carius couldn’t hide his uneasy feelings.
“Why did Liv go to the pagoda herself?”
He was lost in thought as he tried to understand her intentions, and then he recalled what she had said to him before.
“I want revenge on the Grand Duke.”
When the words were recalled, Carius began to organize his thoughts.
At the end of Carius’ thoughts of the connection between the pagoda and her revenge towards Edgar was Carius’s son, Prince Theodore.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of taking Theodore out of the pagoda.’
He felt uneasy, because even that was something he had never even tried before.
He wondered how long he had been lost in thoughts, having put off so many reports. He opened his eyes at the dazzling sunset when he heard a voice from outside.
“Your Majesty, may I come in?”
It was an aide. Carius replied with his eyes closed again.
“What is it?
“The Empress has seen the imperial financial documents.”
Carius’ eyes fluttered open at the unexpected report.
“Did you say it was imperial financial documents?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
‘Liv saw the imperial financial documents?’
Liv’s mysterious intentions only added to Carius’s unpredictable anxiety.
****
Perhaps because of the cloudy weather, the sky covered the pagoda unusually darker.
In the darkening evening, Theodore’s door was slammed open. A maid brought in a tray with a piece of bread and a bowl of soup, then she went out and closed the door.
Theodore, who had been looking only out the window, squatted down in his seat again as even the slightest light disappeared.
A stuffy room with not a trace of warmth, not even a hint of moonlight because of the cloudbursts, an environment that a small child couldn’t handle alone, so unfortunately Theodore was used to it.
Theodore crouched down and thought of the warmth of Liv, who had visited him earlier.
“Prince.”
At the sound of Liv’s voice, which seemed to be coming from somewhere, Theodore took out the necklace he had kept in his pocket. It was the necklace that Liv had given him in secret.
“Now, I also wear the same necklace as the prince. So neither of us will be cursed.”
Theodore fumbled with the dragon’s tooth necklace with his small hand, but at the same moment, the Empress Dowager’s sharp yell flashed through Theodore’s mind.
“It’s nothing but a disgrace that the imperial family has a child like you!”
“No …………..”
“Theodore, I will come back to you, so you have to hold on until then, okay?”
Theodore thought of Liv’s face as she spoke softly and kindly to him, and he gripped the necklace tightly, feeling the warmth that remained.
“A beautiful mother…… I have a beautiful mother. I wonder if she’s an angel who came down from the sky.”
****
As soon as Liv came back from the pagoda, she went to her study. Unaware that the sun was setting, she repeatedly studied the financial documents regarding the pagoda.
It was obvious that the priests who managed the pagoda had the Empress Dowager as their support, so Liv thought she could find some clues from these documents.
“If the prince never comes out of the pagoda for the rest of his life, the person who will be most pleased is… …….”
Liv’s eyes widened even more as she thought of the Empress Dowager’s fake smile while wearing a black mask.
Covering the document she was looking through, Liv called for the maidservant outside.
“Secretly bring me all the financial documents related to the pagoda.”
The maidservant replied in a low voice, scratching her head in confusion at her words.
“You want me to bring them now, Your Majesty? It’s the time when all the people in the Administration Office have already left the office.
“So you’re saying there’s no way.”
“No, that’s not it…….”
“I’m sure I can take it if I go there in person. You just follow me secretly. I’ll go quietly.”
The maid was unsure of her intentions, and could only nod.
Liv put on a cloak that would hide her appearance and walked out of the castle. Just as she was about to walk quickly to avoid people, she felt the presence of someone behind her.
She looked back and saw a man on a horse hurrying to get off his horse.
“Liv!”
It was Carius. He seemed to have come to see her in a hurry, riding alone on his horse. Looking at him approaching, Liv took a step back without realizing it.
“Your Majesty…..”
“I came to ask you something.”
“Yes?”
“You didn’t go to the pagoda without my permission, did you?”
“That’s….”
Liv’s red eyes flickered as if she had lost her way. Before she knew it, his determined gaze was right in front of her.
“Your Majesty, I’m only …………”
“Are you telling me to stay still, looking at you who are in danger as you’re going to leave me under a curse?”
“Your Majesty, what do you mean?”
Carius stared at her, barely suppressing the irritation rising from his abdomen.
“Why are you looking through the Imperial financial documents?”
Liv gasped momentarily, but she couldn’t tell Carius all her thoughts.
Because if she told him all the plans she had in her head, Carius was bound to object.
Liv stepped back involuntarily, and Carius closed the distance between them again, looking at her as he asked,
“Are you planning to go to the pagoda again?”
“…!”
“Looking at your expression, you’re really planning to go again.”
Carius’s prediction was right. He saw through her thoughts, Liv turned her head and bit her lip.
She took a deep breath and then looked at Carius.
“Your Majesty, I have a favor to ask of you. I would like to present my agenda to the upcoming Imperial Council meeting.”
The Imperial Council was the place where the people of the Imperial Family and the heads of the various departments gathered to make laws regarding the general financial status of the Imperial Family, the management of the Imperial Domain, military training, and the administration of the Imperial Family.
It was also the place to vote and formulate opinions on important matters concerning the imperial family.
At Liv’s words, Carius’s forehead wrinkled. He asked suspiciously.
“…… What kind of agenda is it?”
“About the Prince.”
“Liv!”
Carius raised his voice, unable to bear his patience any longer. But Liv only persuaded him in a calmer tone.
“Your Majesty, the dignity of the throne is at stake. Without Theodore, Your Majesty’s dignity will be shaken. We must get the Prince out of the tower.”
Carius stared at her for a moment.
“I only ask one question.”
“….”
“Is there even the slightest risk to you in that plan?”
Liv’s red eyes shook at his question, unsure of his intentions. Seeing her trembling eyes, Carius asked again.
“What if the process of taking the Prince out puts you in danger?”
“…… Um, that’s…”
It was something she could never guarantee, but it was something she had to do.
“If that were the case, I would never allow anything to happen to you.”
“Your Majesty!”
Liv exclaimed hurriedly, but Carius had to be more calm and determined.
“I also sincerely wish to take my son out………”
Carius thought of the sacrifices of the many people he had lost through the Prince. So many people had sacrificed for the emperor.
“I can no longer afford to lose anything before my eyes. If you are in any danger because of the Prince, I ………”
Carius stopped talking and stared at Liv. Liv’s red eyes shook violently.
He spoke with a determined expression as if he had pledged to himself.
“I won’t be able to forgive myself either.”
****
*It’s definitely the Empress dowager who killed all those people who involved with Carius and blamed on the cursed child to shake Carius. Since she hates him, and he became emperor instead of her son, Edgar.