“But…….”

“There is no immediate rush. The treatise is not going anywhere.”

“……All right.”

She wanted to look at the treatise right away, but as Carlisle said, she needed to check on her body. She also had to quietly assess the flow of her magical energy on her own and see whether the seal was holding properly.

“Your Majesty.”

The knights standing guard outside the imperial bedchamber paid their respects to Carlisle. The door opened and a gracefully appointed bedchamber came into view. Roelia’s eyes moved on their own to the clean, neatly made bedding.

“I will have the maids sent to you, so rest here for now.”

“Cecil is enough.”

“I will let the head chamberlain know in advance.”

Carlisle left Roelia alone in the bedchamber and stepped out.

The knights bowed again, and Carlisle gave them a quiet instruction.

“If the one inside comes out, let me know.”

“We receive your command.”

Planning to read the treatise first while Roelia rested, Carlisle headed for the emperor’s palace library. The imperial palace had libraries in several locations, but the one in the emperor’s palace was the largest.

He collected quite a number of books and treatises in his search for a way to use the divine beast’s power normally, so it would be found there rather than anywhere else.

Two knights stood guard before a massive door twice Carlisle’s height. They paid their respects when they saw him, and he answered with a wave of his hand.

“Open it.”

The door slid open and the grand library revealed itself. He always felt good when he came here. Something seemed to wrap warmly around his entire body, and Carlisle smiled.

The door closed behind him without a sound, and Carlisle made his way to the shelf where books on magical energy were kept. A short while later, after going through the collected volumes, he found the treatise Roelia mentioned.

“This is it.”

Reflections on the Management of Magical Energy.

Carlisle took the book from the shelf and opened it with a serious expression. He was leaning against the bookcase reading when his eyes went wide.

“Unbelievable.”

This treatise was very old. In the early days of the Astrux Empire’s founding, the study of magic was active, but afterward, due to an unfortunate incident, mages vanished without a trace.

That was also the reason there were no mages in the Astrux Empire now. The mages of this empire moved to another region and founded a new empire, and that was the present-day Wintergrass Empire.

“To think they were conducting this kind of research.”

Carlisle let out a deep sigh, having once read records that the emperors of previous generations despised mages.

“If incidents like this were common, it would not be hard to understand why prejudice took hold.”

The treatise stated that when overlapping layers of magic were used on the body, there could be side effects, and that what could correct the tangled movement of magical energy was physical intimacy.

In very specific detail.

The description was explicit enough to make his face burn, and Carlisle closed the treatise and rubbed his face.

He heard it from Kuz beforehand, but seeing the evidence with his own eyes made his resolve all the more firm. If her life could be lost because of the flow of magical energy, there was no other way.

Carlisle stood there for a while looking down at the treatise before whispering quietly.

“For now, I need to hide this.”

Having learned the method, Carlisle decided to show Roelia the treatise as late as possible and let out a quiet breath. He ran a hand roughly through his hair, and his ears were red.

* * *

When Roelia opened her eyes again, the surroundings already grew dim. A rustling sound came from somewhere, and Roelia’s body went rigid with tension. She turned her head to the side and met a pair of black eyes.

“You are awake?”

Carlisle, changed into lighter clothing, was sitting at the table beside the bed reading through documents. He closed what he was reading and picked up the teapot set beside it.

The sound of water being poured rang out quite clearly, and Roelia’s throat moved. She pushed herself upright and took the water Carlisle offered and drank it.

The cold water went down and Roelia came fully to her senses, feeling her body considerably lighter. The flow of her magical energy was not bad, and the seal remained intact.

“What time is it?”

“The moon has been up for quite a while.”

Roelia fell asleep without eating properly, and she felt the hunger. Carlisle was watching her and rose from his seat to pull the bell cord attached to the side of the bed. The head chamberlain entered as though he was waiting and bowed deeply toward Carlisle.

“Did you call for me, Your Majesty?”

“Bring warm soup.”

“Understood.”

Once the head chamberlain stepped out, Carlisle tilted his chin toward Roelia. She sat down across from Carlisle, who took his seat at the table first, and immediately asked:

“The treatise?”

“Ah, it was not in the emperor’s palace library.”

“Then I will have to look through the other libraries.”

“The Astrux imperial palace has quite a few libraries, so going through all of them will take some time. How are you feeling?”

“I am fine now.”

‘It seems holding hands was quite helpful.’

There was no other way to explain why her condition improved so much. Roelia’s gaze moved slowly.

Black hair like a cut piece of night sky, and dark eyes shadowed with depth. The straight line of his nose and the set of his closed lips were firm, the kind that would not easily give anyone an opening. The solid shoulders and calloused hands were unmistakably those of a powerful knight.

“Are you done looking?”

Carlisle added, asking how much longer he was supposed to wait, and Roelia replied without missing a beat.

“No, not yet.”

Her boldness in openly declaring she would keep looking drew a short laugh out of Carlisle. Unbothered by his reaction, Roelia moved her gaze even more slowly than before. He leaned his face in toward her as she deliberately drew it out. The distance closed until their breath nearly touched, and when Roelia tried to pull back, Carlisle moved closer still.

“Did you not want a closer look?”

“That is true, but.”

Not quite this close. Afraid that Carlisle would catch every tremor of her unsteady breathing, Roelia let out a short breath. The black eyes that looked like the night sky itself rippled.

Knock knock.

Unable to bear the tension any longer, Roelia looked away first, and the head chamberlain arrived and opened the door. He saw Carlisle standing and bowed, then asked politely:

“Shall I come back a little later?”

“No, it is fine.”

The head chamberlain set out a modest spread on the table, placed a steaming bowl of soup before Roelia, and stepped back. Carlisle waved his hand and the head chamberlain led the servants outside.

“Eat.”

While Roelia ate in silence, Carlisle read through documents across from her. Once Roelia emptied the bowl of soup and rinsed her mouth, Carlisle looked up.

“I was thinking of introducing you to the nobles tomorrow.”

“What kind of introduction?”

“It is obvious. I will announce that I intend to take you as Empress, since you saved my life and spent the night here.”

“I would not think the nobles would accept such a far-fetched claim.”

Roelia tilted her head and asked, and Carlisle agreed.

“That is probably true.”

“Then why take such a risky move?”

“My divine beast’s power is growing weaker.”

While Roelia was sleeping, Carlisle called upon the divine beast and felt that it was not as it was before. The divine beast’s power, which still faintly perceptible, was now barely felt at all, and that was a serious problem. Roelia’s brow furrowed slightly and she looked at Carlisle with steady eyes.

“Suddenly?”

“Yes, suddenly.”

Carlisle felt it instinctively. There was no more time to delay.

‘So that is why my knowledge became necessary.’

“To explain the problem with the divine beast, you and I must be married without fail.”

“…….”

“Because the emperor of an empire cannot discuss matters of the divine beast with anyone who is not bound to him by the marriage vow. That is a law that has been in place since the founding emperor of this Astrux Empire.”

The established law could not be broken. The divine beast of an empire was sacred, and so matters concerning it were known only to the emperor.

When an heir was decided, it was passed on to them, and occasionally the emperor would tell the Empress the secret and ask her to convey it to the heir.

However, in such cases, the marriage vow was precisely the constraint that prevented the Empress from divulging that fact to others.

“The nobles will not agree easily.”

Roelia understood Carlisle’s intent, but she did not think she could become Empress so simply. The Empress Dowager’s power was formidable, and there were quite a few who supported her.

Carlisle’s foundation as emperor was the divine beast’s power, and Roelia knew that its weakening caused the nobles to become divided.

“I left her alone all this time out of respect for the Empress Dowager. It was because taking an Empress was not so urgent that she was able to run free.”

A note of contempt crept into Carlisle’s scoffing voice.

“Now that someone I want to make Empress has appeared, the situation must change as well.”