Chapter 6
Yvonne felt helpless when she heard Karloi’s cold words. She didn’t even want to look at him.
Karloi turned his back on Yvonne, and sharply called Gorten.
“Punish all the employees in the Empress’ Palace!”
“But Your Majesty…”
“They are the ones who caused this mess because they can’t properly serve the Empress. Make sure to educate them, so this matter doesn’t happen again.”
Mary Ann followed the emperor, who mercilessly stepped on the glass without looking back.
As she followed him outside the Empress’ Palace and continued to beg for forgiveness, Karloi stopped abruptly.
“Does this happen often?”
“Oh no, Your Majesty! Absolutely not!”
Seeing Mary Ann’s firm denial, it was apparent that this was a frequent occurrence. Karloi’s face distorted, and he made a stride.
“Woman, you shouldn’t be out here. Go tend the Empress’ hands.”
“Yes?”
“Isn’t it your job to serve the Empress closely? And now you come all the way out here, knowing that the Empress’ hands are bleeding.”
Mary Ann was startled. She bowed and quickly returned to the palace.
Karloi stood still and took a few deep breaths. Anger would be a waste for the Empress. He hated the fact that his emotions were stirred by the Empress.
“Your Majesty…”
Gorten called in an anxious tone. Karloi began walking again.
“I’m sure you will be able to handle this matter unless you’re a fool.”
Gorten felt that the Emperor’s speech was sharper than the pieces of glass scattered across the floor.
Even the daughter of the Devil Duke would be hurt after getting stabbed by those harsh words without blood flowing.
Even the situation seemed grim. Gorten shook his head to himself.
To the Emperor, who was horribly affected by the Duke, this was not a good idea.
Besides, the Empress is someone who resembles the Duke remarkably.
He often thought that their personality wasn’t all similar except for their arrogance, but seeing how the Empress responded today, he now felt that they are truly alike.
The faithful attendant hurried along with the Emperor.
A quiet silence enveloped the place again after the Emperor left. It was a stillness that resembled a graveyard, instead of a palace.
* * *
Karloi’s words seemed to be effective. After leaving the Empress’ Palace, the work was carried out with great haste. As soon as the Queen’s ceremony’s date was set, everything was finished like beads being threaded into a thread.
Thus, causing Gorten to doubt whether the Empress was deliberately delaying work. He also wondered how she persuaded the Duke, since he was no longer visiting the palace anymore.
“I told you. If the Empress made up her mind, things would be proceeding quickly.”
Karloi looked very uncomfortable saying that, so Gorten decided not to say anything, which was a wise choice.
In fact, after visiting the palace, Karloi was feeling stuffy. He often caught himself remembering Yvonne’s appearance, who seemed to have been out of her mind.
Why the hell is she doing that to herself? What is the point of self-harm? What is her reason for acting like a maniac?
Karloi, who was reading the report from the Empress’s Palace, paused for a moment.
“Gorten. Is the date of the Queen’s ceremony set?”
“I’m looking into it. I’m sure it was already set.”
“…Did the Empress choose it herself?”
“The Empress must have. Why, what day is it?”
The date for the Queen’s ceremony was the same date as the anniversary of the Duchess of Delois’ death. It’s the day the Duke’s wife, the Empress’s mother, died.
Karloi didn’t want to know this useless information. However, there was an incident that made the day unforgettable.
Shortly after Karloi was enthroned, he turned the Delois estate upside down under various pretexts, from tax investigations to investigations on the possession of illegal imports.
The first thing he did with the troops he had taken from the Duke of Delois, was to investigate the Duke’s land and house, unfortunately, nothing was useful. All of them were small charges, and nothing could lead to confiscation of property or deprivation of position.
But that day was the anniversary of the Duchess’s death.
The Duke of Delois did something crazy for a few days, asking how Karloi would give him this ordeal on the anniversary of his wife’s death. He self-consciously believed that Karloi deliberately picked this date.
Due to the Duke of Delois’s unfortunate circumstances, Karloi sent him the blade from a guillotine used at the execution site. Sending a message that he would not stop until he dies. Then the nobles rose up as if they were waiting for the right moment.
Such actions stem from Karloi being a reckless Emperor. They claimed they will not serve the Emperor who is walking the path of defeat, and demanded him to apologize to the faithful Duke and honor the faithful servant.
Karloi would never forget that day. Since the Duke was so peculiar, the same would go for his daughter. However, the date of the Queen’s ceremony is the same date as the Duchess’s death. Are you saying she’s going to have a party on the day her mother died?
“… Let’s announce it as is.”
There is no way she could forget the day her mother died.
From the time when Karloi ascended as the Emperor, their relationship has been ice-cold from the time of the incident as he tried to capture the Duke whenever he could.
It was hard to tell whether this was the Imperial Palace or a place where wild animals were fighting.
However, after the Empress was brought in, there was an unparalleled ferocity in the Duke’s life. It would not be surprising if Karloi would be poisoned right away.
It was a day when it, unfortunately, rained for several days, and as the ceiling of the palace where the original Imperial affairs meeting was held collapsed. The meeting about the Queen’s ceremony was held at a separate palace on the rear side.
Karloi, who hated the rain, became even less happy as he went there.
The same could be said for the Duke of Delois, who was in low spirits. The other nobles who watched the Duke sitting silently with a grim face, raised their voices little by little.
From bringing in a Queen… How can he bring back such a shallow Imperial system? That makes no sense… This is disrespecting the nobility…
Despite the voice rising as loud as the sound of the rain, Karloi only laughed as if he were missing a screw like a crazy man in love.
“Doesn’t everyone see Keana? How can I be rational over such beauty? Seeing that you don’t understand how I feel, it seemed like it was all political marriage with your wives?”
As if what he said was entirely true, the nobles were silent.
They could tell the Emperor that his actions were wrong/the Emperor’s actions were wrong, but they couldn’t/would dare to ask if he is crazy. They would be treated with the guillotine later.
The nobles remembered clearly when Karloi personally presented the guillotine to the Duke of Delois. Though the Duke can refuse the gift, the other nobles are obligated to thank and receive it as a gift from the Emperor.
Besides, even the Marquis of Roden, whose daughter became Queen, has yet to say or do anything about this situation, so other people have nothing to say.
When the pawns couldn’t do their job, the Duke of Delois finally opened his mouth.
“Your Majesty, there is no point of bringing in another woman as a Queen.”
“Is the country going to collapse because I bring in a Queen? If so, then it would be better if it collapsed.”
“… Even if the country does not collapse, orders can. This is unprecedented for 200 years! What are you going to do with the fuss that will arise in the process?”
Karloi only looked at the Duke with a quiet smile.
“In addition, there are rumors in the capital that your Majesty will entrust all the Imperial family’s affairs to Lady Roden. Even with her Majesty the Empress being here…”
“Duke, Duke, Duke.”
Duke Delois shut his mouth at Karloi’s carefree calls.
“Weren’t you worried because the Empress is weak? Not once or twice have you bothered me about this? Also, aren’t you the one who brought in a private physician to the palace just because you don’t like the palace physician?”
The Duke of Delois bit his lips, lost for words.
“I didn’t entrust the complicated work of the imperial family, especially considering this empress. What the hell does the Duke want?”
“Your Majesty, what I said…”
“Is it a lie?”
“No. It’s not a lie.”
Karloi’s face, as if he didn’t know anything, looked genuinely innocent. The duke frowned openly to show he was annoyed by the awkward attitude. Though, Karloi continued to speak eloquently.
“Because she understands my feelings, the Empress has never had any complaints.”
“But the Empress is definitely…”
“Yes. I understand. I understand. The Empress deserves to do her job…”
Karloi cut off the words of the nobles with a sour face.
“I tried to entrust the work to the Empress, but I was worried she would fall ill with that frail body.”
The Duke bit his lip, as his blood boiled when he saw Karloi lying naturally, pretending he had done it for the Empress.
“But wouldn’t it be good when Keana came in as the Queen? They can share the work between themselves, so I can freely entrust the Imperial affairs with ease.”
It was obvious that he would subtly rule out the Empress.
“That’s why I leave the Queen’s ceremony to the Empress. She was competent. I should have listened to the words of the officials and entrusted the work.”
Karloi was shamelessly showing off. But he was the Emperor, and there was certainly nothing wrong with him doing so. It was Karloi who made the best use of the law in Croisen.
The nobles avoided glances with uncomfortable faces.
But the Duke of Delois was a man who couldn’t ignore it. He blushed with rage and shouted.
“How can you be sure that Her Majesty is preparing for the Queen’s ceremony? Would the Empress do this ceremony on the day of my wife’s death?”
“…What the hell are you trying to say? That I am pretending that the Empress chose the date, while it was actually me?”
“It means my daughter is crazy to set the date on her mother’s death anniversary then. Your Majesty chose that day to insult this old man again!”
A terrifying silence came. Screaming in front of the Emperor is something the Duke of Delois sometimes does, but it’s been a while since he’s been this loud.
Everyone seemed to be swallowing gulps between the cold silence and looking at each other. It wasn’t until a while later that Karloi opened his mouth.
“…Duke. Are you crazy?”