Louise shivered at the cold that penetrated her skin. At night, the northern tower of the abandoned palace became as cold as ice. It was suspicious enough to make one wonder if someone was deliberately letting in the wind. Or perhaps winter had already arrived.

How much time had passed?

Louise was grateful that there was a small window here. Even with bars, it was a hundred, thousand times better than having none at all.

Every time the sun rose, she scratched the brick beneath the window with her fingernails to mark the passage of time. One day, two days, ten days, a month…… After dozens of sunrises and her fingertips becoming bloody and mangled, no one came looking for her.

Even when she screamed and banged on the door, there was no response. Only the watery soup and hard bread given twice a day served as a signal that someone hadn’t forgotten there was a person here.

How long would she have to stay here? Would she ever be able to get out? Perhaps she might die here! She could be abandoned here until her flesh rotted away and only bones remained.

She was terrified. So terrified that Louise felt she might go mad. If only she could squeeze her body through that window! Even if she fell and got seriously injured, it would be better than being imprisoned indefinitely.

Just when Louise was on the verge of losing her mind from fear, someone finally came for her.

Strange men roughly dragged her out, like they had when they first brought her here. Women who received her cleaned her with wet cloths and dressed her in new clothes.

“Wh-what’s going to ha-happen to me now?”

The woman ignored the question she barely managed to ask while trembling. A navy dress with puffy sleeves and an apron. Louise recognized it as the uniform of an imperial maid.

The women kept their mouths shut about things they didn’t know, and even if they did know, they had nothing to say to Louise.

After passing through a long corridor, the place where she was made to kneel again was a small reception room. The quick-witted Louise immediately realized that it was practically equivalent to the main hall.

In the dim light, that man who was sitting at the head of the room looking at her.

“Are you Garnet?”

Louise recognized who he was at a glance.

“Gl-glory to the Ro-rose. I am in the presence of His Imperial Majesty.”

Helios looked down at her with cold eyes.

To him, Louise Garnet was an insignificant creature. Like a street dog, a sewer rat, or a rock on a mountainside—something equally worthless. She only became recognized by the Emperor when she became one of the many eyes attached to Penvernon.

“I hear the Duchess of Penvernon threw you out.”

Helios asked.

“I-I am so sorry.”

Louise knocked her head to the ground and bowed deeply.

Stealing the Duchess’s belongings was clearly her crime and mistake. A maid with sticky fingers could not serve nobility. Even if she was a maid from the imperial palace, it was natural to be thrown out of the mansion.

She had embarrassed the Emperor and failed in her duties, so it wouldn’t be strange even if the Emperor wanted to kill her.

While Louise was searching for words to make excuses, Helios waved his hand.

“Enough. Answer my question. What was your impression of the Duchess?”

Louise was completely flustered. Was the Emperor still concerned about the happenings at the Penvernon duchy? If so, what should she say that would be the answer the Emperor wanted?

“The Duchess was…… well, quiet and simple-minded. She worried about everything and feared His Grace the Duke. But……”

“But?”

Helios asked again. Louise hurriedly continued.

“At some point her attitude changed, she became noticeably less fearful, and came to get along with His Grace the Duke without difficulty.”

“From when?”

“Well, from around this spring.”

Changed, he thought.

Helios picked out the information he wanted from her words.

After the Empire’s Founding Festival ended, the High Priest had visited. He expressed concern about the Duchess of Penvernon. Very carefully, choosing ambiguous words, he said she needed to be watched closely.

When asked what kind of concern, the High Priest evaded the question. When asked if she harbored treasonous thoughts, he said no, and when asked if she had committed any crimes, he denied that too—so what exactly was he concerned about?

Any other time he would have been angry, but the other party was the High Priest. He was a massive pillar supporting the empire and the temple’s status and honor rivaled that of the imperial family. Even the Emperor couldn’t treat the High Priest like a subordinate.

In the end, he said he understood and would pay attention… but thinking about it, hadn’t he been doing that all along? She was the wife of Rashid Penvernon whom he had chosen, and because she was Rashid Penvernon’s wife, she had been consistently observed until now.

The Emperor recalled Louise Garnet. The woman who was thrown out of the Penvernon mansion and whom he had ordered imprisoned in the abandoned palace’s tower in case something happened later. The existence he had completely forgotten about until the High Priest and Rashid Penvernon reminded him of her.

During the audience at the Empire’s Founding Festival, Duke Penvernon brought up Louise Garnet’s matter again. First he said there was such an incident and he humbly dismissed her from the mansion, then again he said his wife was worried about that child.

Louise was a spy he had planted, so it was quite uncomfortable that the Duke repeatedly brought her up. It was rather unpleasant how he never mentioned that she was clearly a spy, though he must have realized it.

Moreover, seeing him bring it up again after time had passed, he seemed to know that the Emperor had imprisoned her. He was cunning as always.

“Is that all?”

“We-well……”

“Was there any ominous energy?”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind.”

What would someone like you know.

Helios clicked his tongue. If the High Priest brought it up, it must be about that aspect, but to recognize such things would require eyes devoted to the divine again. It was extremely troublesome.

Louise had served her purpose. She was a messenger bird with broken wings, a horse with broken legs. So now she could simply be killed. Helios usually eliminated sparks in such a way. It was the Emperor’s way to demand complete extinction to ensure they wouldn’t ignite again later.

No one feels guilty killing an ant. More likely they wouldn’t even know if they had killed an ant. So this time too, Helios should have ordered the killing of one small ant.

Yes, if it weren’t for Rashid Penvernon, he certainly would have done so.

He remembered his words:

“My wife took pity and gave her travel money, telling her to go live in a city in the western territory. She should be settled by now, so I was about to check how she’s doing.”

They both understood it meant to let things proceed that way.

She was given to the ducal family so she was their maid, and since her mistress the Duchess showed mercy, she should live according to that mercy. If the imperial family intervened, it would be tantamount to acknowledging her as a spy.

Helios didn’t want to give him even a small weakness to exploit. He alone should hold and wield Rashid Penvernon’s weaknesses. After all, Rashid Penvernon must remain only as a fire for his use, one that he could extinguish at will.

“Guard.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The man guarding the door answered Helios’s call.

“Give her provisions and send her away.”

He looked at Louise with undisguised contempt.

“If you want to keep living, go to a city in the west. Since that woman wishes it, don’t give cause for suspicion.”

Louise understood who ‘that woman’ the Emperor referred to was. And she quickly realized why he was letting her live instead of killing her.

That woman. That timid and simple woman. Who changed overnight as she pleased and ended up throwing her out. Because that woman wished for her to live. Because of that woman’s single word.

So. Thanks to that.

Tears suddenly poured out. She couldn’t tell why she was crying. Whether from joy at surviving, or hatred for that woman, or gratitude, or all of it……

“I am deeply grateful, Your Majesty.”

Louise prostrated herself on the floor. The Emperor passed by her cold-heartedly and went out the door. Louise remained prostrated in that spot for a while. For a long time, until small tears pooled on the stone floor.

* * *