The following day, Carlisle convened a noble council without delay. The nobles filling the council chamber were each chattering about what happened the day before.

“Is it true that His Majesty brought that woman of unknown identity into the emperor’s palace?”

“That is not all!”

The noble who answered looked around and lowered his voice considerably.

“There are also those saying she was brought into the imperial bedchamber.”

“Good heavens, how did you come to know that?”

“Rumors are already spreading all through the palace. What is there to hide?”

The emperor’s palace ordinarily was so tight-lipped that nothing ever leaked out, but for some reason this time was different.

“I hear His Majesty has completely fallen for her. Is that true?”

“Surely the reason for calling this council is not because of that…….”

“His Imperial Glory enters!”

The announcement silenced the nobles. They paid their respects and bowed toward Carlisle as he entered. He passed through them without pause, sat on the imperial throne, and gave a signal, and a servant in the distance struck a bell. The sound brought all the nobles to their seats, and Carlisle wasted no time in stating his business.

“The Empress’s crown that has stood empty has found its owner.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Lady Eli, who saved my life, seems more than deserving of that crown.”

“We cannot bring someone of unclear standing into the imperial palace!”

“I expected that objection, which is why I already completed the investigation.”

Kuz stepped forward and recited the details of Roelia’s background.

She was a fallen noble, a person of the Astrux Empire who grew up in Wintergrass and therefore did not know she was of noble birth. She crossed into the empire to find her parents, but they already died of illness, leaving her without proper support, and she entered the hunting competition to restore her family name. Kuz explained all of it and stepped back.

“That seems sufficient to confirm her standing.”

“Your Majesty! This cannot be! The Empress’s crown is a position of tremendous responsibility. It cannot be given to just anyone!”

“Not just anyone.”

A force radiated from Carlisle’s body. The air turned cold in an instant and bore down on the nobles. Even as they watched their words carefully, those who would not yield their objections received Carlisle’s question.

“Under the imperial law of Astrux, the Empress is chosen by the emperor’s selection.”

“That law has long been rendered obsolete……!”

“Rendered obsolete? It is a matter explicitly stated in imperial law.”

Carlisle struck the armrest of the imperial throne and spoke with a cold edge.

“Or are you saying I should seat a woman of your choosing at my side?”

“Ahem!”

“Oh!”

The air in the audience chamber grew heavier still. The thickened air pressed down on the nobles with greater force, and they could not open their mouths freely. Unable even to rise from their seats, they received Carlisle’s declaration.

“I have said from the beginning that I would choose the Empress with my own hand.”

“However, Your Majesty, the one who stands at Your Majesty’s side must possess the dignity and etiquette befitting that position. It is not simply a matter of standing.”

One of the nobles aligned with the emperor’s faction stepped forward with care. The nobles who regained their composure then rushed in one after another.

“That is so, Your Majesty!”

“Indeed! It is the matter of raising another pillar of the nation. Naturally……!”

“Enough.”

Carlisle raised his hand and surveyed the faces of the nobles voicing their opposition one by one. He read the desire, greed, and longing in their eyes and let out a quiet laugh.

“I could give you the Empress you want.”

“In that case, the young lady of House Bernu……!”

Someone cut in.

“Would it not be better to select Empress candidates through a formal selection process?”

Carlisle’s cold gaze turned toward the noble who spoke, but he deliberately looked away.

“Candidates, is it? It seems everyone is confident they can hold their own in this imperial palace.”

The nobles froze at Carlisle’s murmur. He pulled the corner of his mouth into a smile and his low voice fell across the council chamber.

“Since she would not be an Empress chosen by my own will, it would be best if the family can survive long enough without my involvement.”

The rest went unspoken, but everyone understood. Only then did the nobles count the number of people who died in this imperial palace.

The Astrux imperial palace was a place where lower-ranking nobles who entered as servants did not survive.

Knights bearing swords died there in countless numbers, so there was no way frail young ladies could endure it. The political climate within the palace was not favorable, caught in the power struggle between the emperor and the Empress Dowager. It came back to them that the reason the Empress’s position remained empty until now was that no noble wanted to push his daughter into a place no different from walking on thin ice.

“Then I will give the Empress’s crown to the young lady of House Bernu. What say you, Count?”

“My daughter is far too lacking to wear the Empress’s crown, Your Majesty.”

Carlisle’s eyes narrowed at the polite refusal.

“Did you not already voice an opinion in the noble council?”

“That is so. It is something I know nothing about.”

Count Bernu, who doted on his daughter more than anyone, declined emphatically, insisting his daughter could absolutely not receive the Empress’s crown.

“Then what of Count Alberto’s daughter?”

The nobles who stepped forward out of a hunger for power had to retreat again under Carlisle’s killing intent. A few among the Empress’s faction put forward daughters of collateral branches rather than their own, but Carlisle cut them down, saying it was no different from Roelia’s standing.

“Then it seems only Lady Eli remains.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Do you still have more to say?”

Duke Valintar looked around, but no one stepped forward. In the end, with no other choice, the duke took a step forward.

“Would it not be acceptable to hear the opinion of the Empress Dowager, who holds the highest position in the inner court, before bestowing the Empress’s crown?”

“That will not do.”

Carlisle twisted his lips slightly and continued.

“The Empress of the Astrux Empire holds authority over all decisions, not only the inner court’s budget. Why should I need to hear the Empress Dowager’s opinion?”

Carlisle’s words, delivered as though he genuinely could not understand, sounded reasonable. It was not that he was excluding her opinion because she would obviously oppose it, so this time even Duke Valintar had no recourse.

“How strange that the duke steps forward on a matter the Empress Dowager herself has already given up on.”

Empress Dowager Annaway never told Carlisle to take an Empress either. That was because the right to govern the inner court of the Astrux Empire belonged to the Empress. Even when the duke pressed Annaway about installing an Empress, she did not budge.

But now the situation changed.

Carlisle’s will was firm, and the nobles could neither advance nor retreat and had no choice but to follow the emperor’s decision.

“Then it is decided that Lady Eli will be given the Empress’s crown.”

“Let it be done as Your Majesty wills.”

Duke Valintar stepped forward and bowed. The nobles aligned with the Empress Dowager were startled by his sudden change of attitude, but they followed the duke’s lead and answered by bowing deeply. Carlisle looked at Duke Valintar for a moment, then left the council chamber, and the nobles who followed him poured out after him.

The nobles who remained gathered around Duke Valintar.

“What are we to do now? His Majesty’s will is so unyielding that a woman whose identity is unknown is about to sit in the Empress’s seat.”

“Your Grace, what should we do?”

The voices of the worried nobles came thick and fast, but Duke Valintar was unperturbed. His composed manner caused the noise to gradually die down until at last not a sound remained. Then the duke opened his mouth.

“If he wishes it, let that woman be seated in the Empress’s position.”

“But!”

“Does that mean she will come through it unscathed?”

“Ah.”

The nobles, as though struck by a realization, added their thoughts.

“Well, women are fragile.”

“Indeed. Something could go wrong in childbirth.”

“In that case, the imperial prince would……!”

The noble who spoke last received the duke’s sharp gaze and pressed his lips firmly shut.

“He desires it so greatly, so we should let him have it. That way His Majesty will yield to the noble council at least once.”

The nobles who faced Duke Valintar’s smile head-on bowed their heads with a chill, but could not hide the corners of their mouths curling upward. Thinking of what they would gain later by giving this one thing now, smiles rose on their own.

The noble council ended, each person carrying their own private designs.

* * *

The cold wind was now growing gradually warmer. When word spread that Carlisle overturned the noble council’s opposition and decided to place the Empress’s crown on Roelia, the imperial palace was thrown into an uproar once more.

Whenever two or more servants gathered, the palace buzzed with talk of Roelia. Among the noble ladies who heard the news, some came to wait at the entrance of the emperor’s palace to see the Empress for themselves and were turned away.

Yet even in that noisy palace, the emperor’s palace where Roelia stayed was quiet. The head of the ladies-in-waiting offered Roelia advice, saying that keeping only Cecil at her side could leave her isolated in the imperial palace. But Roelia paid it no mind.

Roelia sat in the sunlit garden reading a book, and her hair turned gold in the light. The soft sound of turning pages, the branches swaying in a gentle breeze, and Roelia seated beneath them made for a picture of beauty.

That was when it happened. A murmuring sound rose, and a group appeared from beyond the garden.

“She looks quite at ease, does she not?”

“The very person who caused such an uproar in the palace, and she is this calm.”

“How is that possible?”

The elaborately dressed women, as well as the noble men with them, each added a word. They came in a crowd for reasons unclear and were watching Roelia from a distance.

“People with no manners.”