“Just for today, I’ll take the place of that man and make your day perfect.”
But you’ve already ruined my day, haven’t you?
I glanced at him with a look full of discontent.
However, Cail paid no heed and extended his hand towards me. Then, in a low, deep voice, he whispered.
“Please, give me a chance.”
Suddenly, over that voice, a secret memory from the past overlapped.
“It’s my first time, so I’m inexperienced… If you’d give me a chance…”
That voice, kneeling n*ked in front of my bed, asking for a chance to satisfy me…
‘Ah, no. What am I thinking right now!’
As I recalled that moment, heat instantly rose to my face.
‘J-just purely enjoying the festival! That’s all he means, right!’
I quickly shook my head, trying to cool down the heat.
“Alright, fine.”
It was only after 1-2 seconds had passed that I realized I had habitually placed my hand on his palm.
After all, escorting me in the past had always been the role of my knight.
“Thank you, Jella.”
Cail grasped my hand tightly, smiling brightly as if pleased.
I suddenly realized that he had been treating me like ‘Jella Shunaibel’ since earlier.
No, to be precise, since we first met yesterday.
Could it be that he knows something?
“Um…”
I cautiously called out to him.
I was about to consider how to bring it up without seeming suspicious.
He suddenly lowered his eyes and asked timidly.
“Why do you keep using formal speech with me?”
“Wh-what?”
“Why are you speaking formally to me?”
Cail asked with sorrowful eyes, as if me using formal speech was the most terrible thing in the world.
“Well, that’s… You’re a hero! The one who defeated the tyrant Jella!”
“…”
Cail’s face grew even sadder at my response.
“Um… I’m sorry. What should I do to make it better?”
Seeing that divinely handsome face so sad somehow made me feel like I’d committed a crime.
“Please, speak comfortably to me.”
“…Alright, I got it.”
After all, I’ve always been weak to this face, since long ago.
In the end, I just nodded without even bringing up what I had originally intended to say.
***
In the greenhouse garden of the Imperial Palace.
The Emperor and his father, the former Grand Duke of Alpenhayer, sat facing each other at a round table, drinking tea together.
“I hear you ended up ruining Lady Clarence’s debutante ball.”
“It seems, regrettably, that I failed to meet the lady’s expectations.”
Niel answered shamelessly, despite having ruined the lady’s debutante ball with his own hands.
“The Clarence ducal family is a founding contributor to the empire. Surely you must have anticipated the nobles’ backlash.”
“My son was too dull-witted to anticipate it.”
Despite the former Grand Duke’s seemingly reproachful words, Niel brushed them off with a gentle smile.
Niel Alpenhayer was that kind of man by nature.
He never got angry, and was kind and gentle to everyone.
Due to his righteous disposition, he couldn’t stand by and watch injustice.
More priestly than even a priest, the finest masterpiece produced by the Alpenhayer family.
When did that perfect son start to go astray?
The former Grand Duke remembers. The moment his perfect son began to waver.
“Do you still can’t forget that woman?”
A slight pause.
The former Grand Duke didn’t miss the moment Niel’s composure cracked.
The former Grand Duke clicked his tongue lightly.
“What is it that you lack, that you still long for a woman who never once loved Your Majesty?”
“…”
“Stop this foolish wandering, unable to forget a dead woman. Your Majesty is the Emperor of this empire.”
Very slowly, the gentle smile that had been on Niel’s face disappeared.
With his expression gone, Niel Alpenhayer’s face looked unfamiliar, just like a different person.
“…Come to think of it, I never told you, Father. Why I decided to become Emperor.”
Niel looked at the former Grand Duke with cold eyes.
A slight flinch.
The former Grand Duke’s body trembled slightly.
He couldn’t help but feel tense at his son’s chilling aura, which he had never seen before.
“Your Majesty…?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Niel smiled faintly as he lifted his cooled teacup.
The former Grand Duke felt an inexplicable chill at the smile that appeared on that face.
It was somehow different from the usual elegant smile he would imitate as if painted on.
Who would have thought that a genuine, unaffected smile could be so chilling?
“This old man has taken up too much of Your Majesty’s time. I’ll take my leave now.”
The former Grand Duke left the greenhouse, almost as if fleeing, forgetting even the purpose of his visit to Niel.
After putting down the empty teacup, Niel sat there for a while before slowly standing up.
His face was stiff as he left the greenhouse and headed towards his office.
It wasn’t an empty statement when he had told Cain earlier that he was tired.
Recently, he had a lot of things to do.
Even during the festival period, state affairs continued, and because the position of Empress was vacant, it was all his responsibility to oversee the festival and entertain the noble guests visiting the Imperial Palace.
The Empress’s duties weren’t entirely unfamiliar to him.
Long ago, when he was Jella’s fiancé, he had studied the inner workings of the Imperial Palace to assist Jella when she became Emperor.
Without anyone to teach him, he had studied on his own, so diligently that he even bled from his nose.
But sadly, she never let him into the Imperial Palace, and only after her death could he fulfill this role.
So while the duties weren’t unfamiliar, the sheer volume of work was making him tired.
Moreover, amidst all this, the pressure from his father and ministers regarding marriage was making him somewhat irritable.
Recently, after a newspaper article reported that he had been seen with an unknown woman on the street, some even tried to dig up information about her.
It was quite troublesome dealing with those fearless individuals.
In the midst of all this, uninvited guests were getting beaten up by thugs on the streets, or being carried in while spewing blood…
And how quickly rumors spread; already there were whispers that villains trying to assassinate the heroes had appeared for the Empire’s Founding Day celebration.
“Your Majesty.”
A low call followed behind him.
Niel, who had abruptly stopped walking, turned around with a neat smile painted on his face, which had been cold and expressionless until just moments ago.
There stood Hayden, the knight who carried out his most confidential missions.
“When did you return, Hayden?”
“I just arrived a moment ago. More importantly, I’ve obtained information about the new religious group you instructed me to investigate…”
Hayden began to relay information related to the task Niel had assigned him a few months ago.
“They’re recruiting young female believers and expanding their influence underground, unknown to the Grand Cathedral, and the resurrection of Saint Yuria…”
“Wait.”
Niel, who had been listening quietly to Hayden’s explanation, elegantly raised one hand to interrupt.
“Who did you just say?”
“Hm? Oh, do you mean Saint Yuria?”
“…Saint, Yuria.”
It was a name he had forgotten for a long time.
In fact, after her death, nothing else had any meaning to him.
Not even the woman he once considered the most terrible in the world.
“We must kill Jella Shunaibel! If we don’t kill that woman, this world will be destroyed!”
“I know Jella Shunaibel’s weakness. I’ll make you Emperor.”
“So, Niel, take my hand.”
He could understand why that deranged pink priest would constantly spout such vulgar words about killing and presenting heads as gifts.
Because the moment Niel heard that that woman was alive, he wanted to say the same things.
Kuk…
A cold laugh escaped through his lips.
“Finally.”
His voice was tinged with faint excitement.
Kukuk, kuk…
Even though he covered his mouth with one hand, Niel couldn’t stop the laughter from bursting out.
Hahahahaha!
Hayden looked at him in surprise, but Niel laughed without restraint.
After laughing for a while, he suddenly stopped.
“The day has come to kill that woman I couldn’t kill 5 years ago and offer her to her.”
Then, as if he hadn’t just been laughing so maniacally, he elegantly brushed back the hair that had fallen over his forehead.
He smiled slightly and asked.
“What do you think, Hayden? Do you think she’ll like it?”
A chilling light flashed across his narrowed eyes.
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midori
thanks! ohhh so it seems that yuria seems to already have had knowlesge of jella being dangerous, but because the guys had already been changed…