Korenca’s pure and virtuous saint was, in truth, a woman of loose morals!

The story of the Sivert Marquisate’s young lady, considered the finest marriage prospect in all the Hyder Empire, falling in love with some man of unknown origin spread in an instant, not only through Korenca but across the entire empire.

What made it worse was that she, once praised as a symbol of purity, reportedly wore down the threshold of her lover’s home with nightly visits, leaving the noble sons of Korenca deeply disappointed.

Some of those noble sons even wrote letters of personal reproach to the Sivert Marquisate condemning her conduct, yet remarkably, the young lady of the Sivert Marquisate received those letters without any great sign of distress.

“Well. Choosing a marriage partner is… entirely the young lady’s decision, isn’t it? What power do I have in the matter?”

Among the countless suitors of the Sivert Marquisate’s young lady, the young son of the Damel viscounty, long rumored to be the one she would ultimately choose, found himself spurned overnight. He left Korenca with those self-mocking words on his lips.

“By the way. I hear the man behind the rumors is actually a commoner?”

“Not just any commoner. A commoner-born knight. A knight.”

“Even so. He may be a knight now, but he was still a commoner at the end of the day. Good heavens. To think she had been tangled up with him for so long, yet she never turned away the other noble sons’ proposals. People really are different from how they appear on the outside.”

“Turns out that haughty Lady Sivert was no different from any other noblewoman after all, wasn’t she? But even so, it’s nothing more than a passing fling. That lover of hers will soon walk the same path as the Damel Viscount’s son, don’t you think? Ho ho ho!”

“I suppose so. You can hardly entrust a noble house to a mere commoner-born knight. Either way, it’s the Damel Viscount’s son who ends up the worse for it. He devoted so much attention to Lady Sivert.”

The man at the center of Lady Sivert’s romantic scandal was a commoner-born man who had risen to the rank of knight.

But unlike the suitors of the Sivert Marquisate’s young lady, men who had received noble treatment from birth and grown up expected to carry on their family lines, a gap in status still remained.

Could a mere commoner-born knight, trusting in nothing but the love of a noble young lady, truly become her family’s live-in son-in-law and inherit one of the most distinguished marquisates in the empire?

Society’s people, and even the empire’s common citizens, scoffed at the idea.

Such a thing is absolutely impossible!

Love, by its very nature, transcends borders, age, and status.

But the nobles of the Hyder Empire do not take such gambles.

Within their narrow, insular world, they arrange marriages among themselves and steadily expand their influence.

However much the Sivert Marquisate may currently be walking a path of decline, it remains a house of founding merit.

And since it was a family under the protection of the current emperor, Lady Sivert would not be free to carelessly choose her marriage partner, the man who would become the head of her house.

A passing fling.

That was how Korenca’s social circles assessed Lady Sivert’s rumored affair, and they were certain that her partner, the knight, would eventually make his exit just as the Damel Viscount’s son and her other suitors had done.

They expected that before long, the day would come when Lady Sivert would put an end to her messy entanglement with that knight and once again seek a live-in son-in-law to lead the marquisate.

And yet.

“E, everyone, have you heard the news? They say Lady Sivert is entering the palace today?”

“I just heard on my way here. Apparently His Majesty the Emperor granted approval for the petition?”

“Of all things, to enter the palace with that knight. Good heavens… is Lady Sivert truly in her right mind?”

“But what exactly is the problem? His Majesty is the young lady’s godfather, so with all the unsettling rumors surrounding her lately, he could simply be summoning her to the palace himself.”

“My lady, are you truly asking because you don’t know? The problem is that the young lady is entering the palace with that knight! From what I’ve heard through several people, the young lady, right then and there, before His Majesty…!”

* * *

Phew.

Korenca, the capital of the Hyder Empire.

At the very center of Korenca stands Seryl Palace, the imperial palace, and within it, the emperor’s audience chamber, a place only those with permission may enter. Its ceiling soars as high as the open blue sky stretching above.

As the doors swung open with a creak, Eleanor stepped forward along the red carpet laid before her, one step at a time, and drew a long, deep breath.

The fact that the empire’s emperor, occupied with affairs of state, had accepted Eleanor’s request for an audience signaled the end of a situation she had been drawing out for the past two weeks.

Her heart beating was only natural, yet she felt calmer than expected, likely because she had pictured herself standing before the emperor so many times in her mind.

“It’s been a while, El.”

The empire’s emperor, facing Eleanor from atop his lofty throne, began to ask about the truth behind the scandal that had set not only Korenca’s social circles but the entire empire abuzz. Eleanor was slightly nervous at first, but she soon delivered her honest answers and made her intentions known.

“So that is your decision.”

After listening to Eleanor’s answer and remaining silent for a long moment, the emperor of Hyder fixed his gaze on her from the throne and asked again.

“Have you given it long and careful thought before speaking?”

From the journey to Seryl Palace, to the moment she stood before the emperor.

Eleanor, who had told herself again and again that she must pour out every word she had held in her heart, raised her head.

And there she saw the master of this throne.

Draped in a mantle of blue and red silk embroidered with the imperial family’s crest in gold thread, the symbol of royalty, and wearing a golden crown set with gems that perfectly matched the imperial family’s violet eyes, the empire’s emperor wore the gentlest of smiles for Eleanor.

Emperor Edward II, known as the close and dear friend of Eleanor’s late father, Marquis Arthur Sivert, whom she would never see again, was in truth Eleanor’s godfather.

The man said to show the face of a cold-blooded emperor when conducting affairs of state or dealing with his ministers presented himself before his own children and Eleanor as nothing more than a warm, well-built father figure.

After Arthur Sivert lost his life in the ill-fated cruise accident, Edward II granted Eleanor the exceptional privilege of placing all authority over her marriage entirely in her own hands rather than those of her family’s elders, at a time when she had been sunk in grief.

It was precisely thanks to Edward II’s protection that Eleanor had been able to become Korenca’s most sought-after bride, and he had advised her to be careful and deliberate when she chose her own partner.

Back then… what had made her so impatient?

Your Majesty! There is someone I wish to marry! Please give me your blessing!

The moment her carriage passed through the gates of Seryl Palace, a buried memory from the past rose to the surface.

The Eleanor of that time, drowning in the feeling called love without realizing she had walked into a spider’s web, had entered the palace holding Marcus’s hand, and she had failed to notice the emperor’s hesitation as he looked at her with eyes full of worry.

But.

Today is different.

Eleanor drew a long breath in and let it out before she answered.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I made this decision after thinking it over many times.”

“You won’t regret it?”

“I won’t regret it.”

Never.

Edward II, who had been watching Eleanor answer with such resolve, soon shifted his gaze to the chamberlain standing behind her.

“Rex, show Lady Sivert out for a moment and bring in the lucky gentleman.”

“Your Majesty!”

This meeting was the occasion for Eleanor to introduce to the empire’s emperor the man who would become her marriage partner and the future marquis.

But when Edward II moved to dismiss her and meet with Cayel alone, Eleanor reacted with surprise. Edward II smiled gently.

“I am not going to eat him alive, so do not worry.”

Edward II said.