105. Herwen’s Anger

The nobles in the spectator section stared with open mouths, too shocked to breathe. Silence fell over the courtroom. After handing the blood-dripping sword to his guard knight and taking out a handkerchief to wipe off the blood that had splattered on him, Edward walked toward Larael.

For a moment, buried in his anger, he had forgotten that Larael was there. He stood before her, hoping she hadn’t been frightened by his actions.

Larael opened her eyes, which had fluttered shut. Her hands were trembling slightly. Edward sighed deeply when he saw her rigid posture. He should have sent her out of the courtroom beforehand. He gave her an awkward smile before quickly becoming serious again. Otherwise, he risked appearing like a madman obsessed with bloodshed.

“I seem to have shown you something unpleasant.”

Edward said carefully, staring intently at her face, not wanting to miss a single expression.

“……”

He hoped Larael would deny it, but she said nothing and just stared at him.

‘How handsome.’

Larael extended her trembling hand to Edward. He took it and escorted her out of the courtroom.

Watching them leave, the Empress Dowager called for Duke Anderman.

“Did you hear the Emperor say he knows who’s behind this?”

The Empress Dowager asked in a low voice. Duke Anderman nodded with a furrowed brow.

Larael kept recalling Edward’s appearance in the courtroom. Ever since seeing his powerful side, so different from how he was in front of her, her heart had been pounding wildly.

On the carriage ride back to the palace, Edward, worried that Larael might be afraid of him, couldn’t even meet her eyes and just nervously fidgeted with her hand.

“Larael, you’ve been through a lot today.”

Edward said, placing a light kiss on her forehead as he dropped her off at Abella Palace. Though he desperately wanted to stay with her, many tasks had piled up due to the unexpected trial. He left for the main palace, saying he would return in the evening.

Larael returned to her bedroom and sat blankly on the bed. Fatigue was overwhelming her, and she wanted to lie down immediately. She sat at her desk, took a sip of the warm milk with sugar that Sasha had brought, and became lost in thought.

***

These days, more and more people were wearing black dresses at banquets and tea parties. It had started after the trial, when a photograph of Larael sitting elegantly in the witness stand was published in the newspaper. The popularity of Genderi’s salon dresses was soaring with each passing day. Since they were only accepting orders from ladies fortunate enough to be invited to the Empress Consort’s tea parties, those who had missed the opportunity were anxiously waiting for the Empress Consort to hold another tea party. Gifts from these ladies began to pile up at Abella Palace.

“Your Highness, look what I bought!”

Sasha, who had been outside the palace, said to Larael with an excited expression, hiding something behind her back with both hands. Larael tilted her head, trying to guess what she was hiding, but all her guesses were wrong.

“Ta-da!!!”

After Larael failed to guess correctly, Sasha revealed what she had been hiding.

“What… is this??”

Larael stared at the forearm-sized doll that Sasha had purchased. It had blonde hair, blue-green eyes, was dressed in formal attire, and crucially, had a small crown attached to its head.

“It’s a doll of His Majesty the Emperor!!”

Sasha said proudly, waving the doll. She handed it to Larael. Though it was just a doll, Larael found it somehow difficult to handle casually and held it with both hands, staring at it intently.

“They’re selling like hotcakes in the capital these days. I thought Your Highness would like it very much, so I bought it. Did I do well??”

At Sasha’s words, Larael’s earlobes turned red.

“I don’t need it…”

“Don’t you like it?”

“No, it’s just that I can see Edward anytime, so I don’t really need a doll, do I?”

“Well… I suppose? Your Highness, you’re joking, right??”

Sasha was at a loss for words as she looked at Larael, who was staring back at her with a puzzled expression.

“Did you tell Kali to come to the palace?”

“Yes. Of course.”

The reason Sasha had gone outside the palace was to tell Kali to come to Abella Palace tomorrow. After that trial, Larael had instructed Kali to hand over all matters related to the Krauf disease cure to an aide from the Imperial family and to wait at the office until further orders. Her concerns about Kali had deepened. In the end, Larael decided to trust Kali once more and summoned her to the palace.

Edward might have had many questions for Larael regarding the Krauf disease, but he didn’t show it in front of her. Larael felt grateful to Edward but also guilty for hiding things from him.

Meanwhile, Herwen was particularly displeased these days.

His plan to use the Krauf disease had been completely shattered by Larael, rendering all his long-term planning and preparation useless. And he was furious that Larael was the one who had orchestrated this interference.

He had made a last desperate attempt because he was reluctant to abandon all his preparations, but he hadn’t really expected the plan using Baron Layton to succeed. Instead, it had caused Edward’s popularity to soar. Now, if one went to the city center, products related to Edward were selling like hotcakes. Originally, he should have been the subject of such adoration, but somehow Edward had become the protagonist.

“Where exactly did things go wrong? How did Larael get involved in this matter? When did Edward become involved?”

He kept repeating questions that had no answers.

After one contact, Kali had fired the maid he had sent to her and completely avoided Herwen. With the Layton Merchant Guild nearly beyond recovery, he had no card to play with her.

‘I need to see Larael.’

As he rose from his chair, his aide entered his bedroom.

“Your Grace, I’ve taken care of the matter as instructed.”

“Good. You made sure there were no loose ends, right?”

The task was to cleanly dispose of Baron Layton’s dependents as he had requested. Baron Layton believed he had signed a binding magical contract with Grand Duke Vellaus, but the magical contract he had signed with Grand Duke Vellaus was fake. Baron Layton’s mental and physical state had already deteriorated to the point where he couldn’t make rational judgments due to worry about his family. Herwen clicked his tongue and nodded as he thought of Baron Layton.

Whether it was the Emperor’s or Larael’s initiative, the cure for the Krauf disease had already been distributed free of charge to hospitals in Kalia as a precaution, so Baron Layton’s slander could not have succeeded. But Herwen felt that all the blame lay with Baron Layton. So whenever he thought of him, he ground his teeth.

If things had gone well, Herwen had intended to graciously take in Larael after her fall. If she had asked him for help, he would have pretended reluctance but taken her back.

“I’m going to see Larael.”

Herwen left his bedroom and boarded the carriage that was waiting for him. The destination was, of course, Abella Palace. What he most wanted to know was whether it was Larael’s own will that had interfered with his plans, or if she had acted on the Emperor’s orders. He tried hard to ignore the ominous feeling that was creeping over his entire body. In his heart, there remained a small hope that Larael couldn’t have done such a thing.

Arriving at Abella Palace, Herwen entered confidently, like an invited guest. Instead of heading to the reception room as guided by the palace servants, he casually made his way to Larael’s bedroom. Larael, having heard of Herwen’s visit, had hurriedly left her bedroom to go to the reception room and encountered him in the corridor.

Herwen’s eyes widened when he saw her.

“If you come without a prior appointment, you should wait in the reception room.”

Larael said, slightly furrowing her brow and giving him a cold look. Hearing this, Herwen burst into loud laughter, clutching his stomach as if something was incredibly funny.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Should I go down now and wait?”

“No. Since it would be uncomfortable to face each other for a long time, why don’t we talk here in this corridor?”

“I don’t think this is the right place for our conversation.”

Herwen said, looking around the corridor and glancing at the guard knights and maid who were following her.