Chapter 15

The audience chamber of the Imperial Palace was as grand and opulent as one would expect, reflecting the Lockvela Empire’s majesty.  

Eric, standing on the intricately crafted marble floor, bowed his head towards Carian, who was lounging on the imperial throne.  

“I greet His Majesty, the eternal pinnacle of the Lockvela Empire, the blazing sun.”  

Carian, seated on the elevated platform, looked down at Eric as he recited the customary praises. With a faintly amused tone, Carian spoke.  

“The banquet began some time ago, yet you’re always late. It’s a terrible habit.”  

“Was there a specified time for entry? I wasn’t informed of any such rule.”  

Eric’s curt reply, refusing to yield to even a light scolding, echoed through the chamber.  

“You never give in, not even once. Should I charge this insolent duke with treason?”  

“If possible, I’d appreciate it if you could add house arrest to the punishment.”  

A groan escaped Carian as he rose from the throne and slowly descended the platform.  

“I must be getting old. My body isn’t what it used to be.”  

He didn’t forget to glance at Eric while patting his lower back.  

“Soon, I might cast everything aside and live freely in nature, perhaps with some old friends.”  

“I doubt the former Duke and Duchess Herrington would welcome that news.”  

“You truly have no trace of charm, not even a little.”  

Now standing right in front of Eric, Carian furrowed his brows, revealing his displeasure.  

“Raise your head, Duke.”  

The command came with an air of solemnity.  

Obeying the Emperor’s order, Eric lifted his head, his expression blank.  

‘This is such a waste of time.’  

Internally, however, his irritation was steadily growing.  

He had long since memorized the Emperor’s predictable routine. First, Carian would feign weakness, then pretend to be annoyed, and finally…  

“I’ve always wished to entrust everything to Princess Bianca from an early age…”  

“Her Highness will do just fine on her own. She is strong and wise. Most importantly, she is the sole offspring of you, our great Emperor.”  

Before the Emperor could launch into his tiresome monologue about finding a suitable political partner for Bianca, Eric interrupted with the answer he had recited dozens of times before.  

“Duke! What I mean is—”  

Their half-playful conversation was beginning to heat up.  

“Your Majesty.”  

The chamberlain, who had been quietly standing beside the throne, stepped between them at just the right moment.  

He was the Emperor’s most loyal confidant and the one who had escorted Eric to the audience chamber.  

Having witnessed countless verbal duels like this between the Emperor and the Duke, the chamberlain leaned in to whisper to Carian.  

“Duke Herrington has a partner attending today’s ball with him.”  

“What? Duke! Is this true?”  

Despite the chamberlain’s effort to keep his voice low, the Emperor, genuinely surprised, widened his eyes and looked at Eric.  

‘He can still hear everything.’  

Clicking his tongue, Eric tilted his head slightly in acknowledgment.  

“Could it be someone from the Count Olden family?”  

“Yes.”  

It was a brief but definitive affirmation.  

Carian, utterly shocked, forgot his imperial dignity and gaped.  

“Eric! Are you out of your mind? Are you seriously considering giving the position of Duchess to Count Olden’s illegitimate daughter? No, that young lady is actually…”  

At this moment, Carian wasn’t speaking as an Emperor but as a father scrutinizing a potential son-in-law.  

His tongue showed no sign of stopping, and Eric could see the conversation dragging on endlessly.  

Even his patience had its limits.  

‘Actually?’  

The Emperor’s words, cut off at a critical point, piqued Eric’s curiosity.  

But there was no time for trivial concerns. His mind was restless and uneasy.  

A sense of foreboding bubbled within him, and Eric knew from experience that his instincts were rarely wrong.  

The sharp intuition of a Sword Master was not something to be dismissed lightly.  

“So, Your Majesty, why did you summon me? Surely it wasn’t just to repeat the same speech you’ve given so many times before.”  

When Eric cut straight to the point, Carian, fortunately, returned to his imperial demeanor.  

“Right, of course. I momentarily lost my composure.”  

Carian rubbed his forehead and turned back toward the throne.  

Even as he walked, he didn’t forget to glance back and glare at Eric one last time.  

If he could, he would have smacked Eric on the rear like in the old days.  

‘One must separate public and private matters.’  

Though he found his future son-in-law’s scandalous lifestyle intolerable, Carian decided to postpone any personal reprimands.  

Instead, he opened the drawer of the desk placed in front of the throne—a secure repository for the Empire’s top-secret documents.  

Taking out a single document, Carian handed it to Eric.  

“Read it. According to the informant, its accuracy is about fifty percent. It was delivered with great difficulty from across the sea.”  

Eric quickly scanned the contents of the document.  

By the time he reached the last sentence, a deep shadow had fallen over his face.  

“If it came from overseas, you must have planted a spy within Kettlin’s inner circle.”  

“Yes. It’s been well over a decade now. I once took in a dying coachman from the Kingdom of Kettlin.”  

“Someone from Kettlin? Can this information be trusted?”  

Eric’s tone was laced with skepticism as he frowned.  

Carian nodded, as if understanding Eric’s doubts.  

“I’m well aware that the people of that kingdom rarely leave their tiny island. It’s so isolated they don’t even have a proper port.”  

“As far as I know, the only time they venture beyond the island is during special occasions, like sending an official delegation.”  

“You’re correct.”  

“The last time the Kingdom of Kettlin sent a delegation was thirty years ago, wasn’t it?”  

“Yes. It was for the coronation of the King of the Kingdom of Zenner. That was the last time, officially.”  

There was a weighty implication in his words.  

“Are you saying…”  

Even as he asked, Eric thought his question was absurd.  

“Unofficially, someone managed to escape from that island kingdom?”  

“Exactly.”  

Carian’s confirmation was straightforward. He elaborated further.  

“Don’t ask me how they navigated that treacherous sea to escape. I have no idea. In any case, I saved him, and he owed me his life. I told him to repay the debt by returning to his homeland. That debt has finally been repaid. It took a long time, but it was worth the wait. In the end, he succeeded.”  

“Then, when you say the information is only fifty percent accurate…”  

“Well, too much time has passed. The easiest thing to change in this world is a person’s heart. We can’t take it at face value.”  

That explanation was sufficient.  

“From now on, Duke, your priority is to verify whether this information is true. This is an imperial command.”  

“…If it turns out to be true, the Empire might find itself entangled in a troublesome affair.”  

In the meantime, Eric’s gaze darkened as he meticulously reread the document.  

“Well, it’s something we’ll uncover gradually through investigation. Depending on how we look at it, this could be something we can use to our advantage.”  

There wasn’t much that could be done immediately.  

Carian smiled faintly and patted Eric on the shoulder.  

“First, isn’t there something more pressing to attend to? Your partner must be waiting endlessly for you.”  

Eric’s heart, already racing with anxiety, began to pound even harder.  

Without a word, he folded the document and tucked it into his inner pocket before striding quickly out of the audience chamber.  

“Honestly, what a personality. How nice it would be if he invited me to come along.”  

Carian had no intention of attending the banquet from the start. His plan had always been to show up briefly toward the end.  

That didn’t mean he wasn’t a little disappointed.  

Carian stood for a long while, staring at the now-empty entrance of the audience chamber where Eric had disappeared.  

***

Eric moved urgently, taking the quickest route from the Imperial Palace to the banquet hall.  

By the time he reached the garden arranged at the back of the hall, he was practically running.  

Suddenly, he stopped.  

His steps faltered, and his feet stuck to the ground as he passed through the garden.  

In a dark corner of the garden, he spotted a familiar silhouette.  

‘Euphrasia?’  

She wasn’t alone.  

Eric’s brow furrowed slightly as he noticed another figure standing close to his partner.  

He promptly changed his course, heading toward the banquet hall.  

Meanwhile…  

Unaware that Eric had noticed her, Euphrasia was in a peculiar standoff with an unfamiliar man.  

The man, with an expression of interest, was studying her so thoroughly it bordered on impoliteness.  

Though they had only exchanged a few words and didn’t even know each other’s names, his behavior had clearly crossed a line.  

Euphrasia, her expression stiffening, was about to say something when the man interrupted her with a bright smile.  

“Forgive my rudeness. I was just curious. By the way, have we perhaps met somewhere before?”  

The phrase was a cliché, a typical pick-up line, but there was something peculiar in the nuance of his tone.  

It was only then that Euphrasia carefully observed the man’s face.  

“Oh. What a coincidence. Our eyes look exactly alike.”  

The man had violet eyes, similar to hers.  

To be precise, his were slightly redder and murkier.  

They resembled the color of thick, flowing blood.