Chapter 3 – Part 3

The candidates staying in the annex could have their meals prepared in their rooms by servants or come to the dining hall themselves to order food.

‘If you ordered here, you’d generally eat here too.’ Mail glanced around the spacious dining hall.

The number of people had increased. Having visited the day before for breakfast, Mail noticed almost double the people compared to yesterday, and she was slightly puzzled.

To be honest, it was unexpected. Take Riela, for example—she had been having all her meals in her room this entire time.

It was much more convenient and efficient to stay in one’s room and have the meal brought to them, saving both time and effort.

Mail herself wouldn’t have bothered coming to the dining hall if it weren’t for breakfast. Having her meal here instead of in his room was a (semi-forced) gesture of consideration for Riela, who liked to sleep in late into the morning.

“Maybe they felt cooped up in their rooms?”

Mail’s question was soon answered. As she waited for her meal to arrive, a brief observation of her surroundings made it clear why so many people were here.

“Factions have already formed!”

Meals were just an excuse. They had simply chosen a natural setting where they could gather and observe each other.

With no clear orders yet given to the candidates, they were here to subtly engage in power struggles with their rivals, form alliances by identifying mutual targets, or, for some, abandon their ambitions for the throne early on and instead align themselves with a more promising candidate. What was meant to be a place for eating had become a small political battlefield.

“This is no joke.”

Mail suddenly realized how serious the candidates were about their positions. Among them, there were surely those who had nothing left to lose, charging towards the position of empress like enraged bulls.

Riela’s simple-minded desire to marry the emperor just because he was handsome clearly wasn’t enough to compete with these candidates.

Mail felt a sudden surge of resentment toward the handsome emperor as she stabbed her fork into the freshly served food.

‘The competition must be intense, no doubt. I wonder how the selection process is carried out? Does the emperor personally make the final decision?’

Since it was for the position of the empress, the ultimate decision-maker would certainly be the emperor. However, it was unclear whether he also had influence over the process of eliminating candidates to narrow down the selection.

‘Why even hold this selection in the first place?’

As she brought a piece of grilled meat to her mouth, Mail was deep in thought. The whole idea of holding an Empress Selection seemed like a cumbersome ordeal that she didn’t fully understand.

There were countless candidates. Honestly, isn’t this just a waste of taxpayers’ money? Were they trying to boast that the imperial palace was overflowing with resources and wealth?

‘Is the emperor’s taste so picky that they need to search the entire continent?’

Indeed, people with power never marry casually. Instead of voicing her complaints, Mail swallowed the meat she had put in her mouth, which was, at least, soft and delicious.

‘Phew. I’d love to punch the God of Equality just once.’

Despite being impressed by the taste, Mail sighed again. Whether it was an Empress Selection or a Concubine Selection, whether there were ten or a hundred candidates, if the emperor hadn’t been so dazzlingly handsome, this would have been someone else’s problem, and she’d be peacefully packing her bags to go home. It was a strange feeling to be upset because someone was too good-looking.

‘I’ll just focus on the peace of my homeland.’

Recalling her original purpose, Mail solemnly put down her fork. Her plate was already spotless. A nearby candidate, who had been secretly glancing at her, was startled. When did she finish? Did she drink it?

Feeling a sense of caution, the woman added Mail to her mental checklist. Whether or not she was a real candidate, Mail was now a person of interest—her eating speed was extraordinary.

Oblivious to such evaluations, Mail left the dining hall with a spring in her step, energized from her meal.

* * *

In kingdoms or empires, when nobles band together, they always do two things.

First, if the king proposes, “How about this? Let’s do this,” they immediately shout, “No! We don’t want that!” without even looking at the details.

Second, if the king is unmarried, they pester him, claiming, “The people are anxious that without a queen, the nation will soon collapse. You must marry!”

Rohayden was no exception. Ever since his coronation, he had alternated between experiencing both of these behaviors.

Of course, the nobles didn’t dare to be too forceful. The power dynamics within the empire were too clear for them to try anything aggressive.

While the emperor wasn’t a tyrant, he also wasn’t soft enough to allow his authority to be openly challenged by his subjects.

The nobles, mindful of the fact that challenging the emperor could cost them their lives, played within safe limits, pushing boundaries without crossing the line completely.

The Empress Selection was one of the nobles’ achievements in that situation. To be exact, it was the result of one particularly persistent noble’s efforts. After continually insisting and persuading, the emperor finally gave in.

Regardless, it had been launched. An empress would be chosen, and the throne, which had been vacant for ten years since the emperor’s coronation, would finally have a rightful occupant. The day of the wedding would practically be a national holiday.

While the rest of the continent anxiously awaited the grand wedding of the young and competent emperor, who was famous across the land, Rohayden himself was more relaxed than anyone, calmly cutting into his plate of meat.

“Is the meal to your liking?”

“Hmm, yes. It’s good.”

The noonday sunlight warmly bathed the garden. The emperor was enjoying his lunch. Sitting across from him was a woman, not as beautiful as a flower but as delicate as a blade of grass.

She looked up, her lowered gaze meeting his, and smiled brightly. The sunlight gleamed off her neatly arranged silver hair.

Her skin, pale as if she had been confined indoors all her life, couldn’t be described as healthy, but the striking contrast made her sky-blue eyes appear even more vivid and lively.

With her eyes curved in a crescent moon shape, she shyly covered her mouth as she smiled.

“I’m glad.”

“But for you to invite me for lunch first—this is unusual.”

“That’s because…”

‘I’m nervous.’

The woman swallowed her anxiety. Although there had been rumors early in his reign that the emperor might prefer men, he made an exception three years ago.

Out of nowhere, he began to visibly favor the daughter of a family no one had ever heard of. That was the woman sitting across from him now, with her sky-blue eyes.

Her family, a small noble house on the empire’s border, had collapsed a few years earlier. Her father, who was incompetent but overly ambitious, had amassed an astronomical amount of debt through a series of failed ventures. She learned at the age of sixteen how terrifying money could be.

Crushed under a mountain of debt, the family was left with nothing but its name.

Her mother had died when she was young, and the stepmother her father remarried had packed up and left as soon as the debts piled up. After the family fell apart, her father disappeared as well.

Back then, people whispered that her father had fled, abandoning his daughter to escape the debt collectors. But the woman thought differently:

“At least my father didn’t sell me off and run away. That’s a relief.”

Becoming the nth wife of an old rich man who liked young girls would’ve been far worse than living off scraps at her relatives’ house.

And so, clutching only her family name, she sought refuge with her mother’s side of the family. Her uncle, fortunately a kind-hearted man, took her in without any sign of reluctance.

It was around that time she met the emperor.

From the first moment they met, the emperor couldn’t take his eyes off her. Despite having rejected the most beautiful women, this was different.

Once, twice. By the third time they met, the emperor summoned her to the imperial palace. From that moment on, her residence was no longer her relatives’ house but the palace itself.

And so, three years passed, and the present moment arrived.

The imperial court was now holding the empress selection contest. It was the official process by which someone would sit beside the emperor.

In any case, even if the emperor hadn’t made his past declaration, her status as a fallen noble meant she would never have dared to aspire to the position of empress. So, the woman wasn’t particularly regretful about that. In truth, she had already braced herself for this outcome.

What worried her, though, was the possibility that the emperor might give his heart away.

For three years, no one else had been by his side but her. She feared that the emperor might fall for one of the candidates gathered for the selection process.

Even though she believed it to be impossible, the mere thought of such a chance weighed on her. Anxiously, she wondered if she would lose the luxury and protection she had enjoyed. She was so consumed with worry that she had sent word asking to meet him first.

“I haven’t seen Your Majesty’s face lately since you’ve been so busy. I just… wanted to see you.”

“Hmm, is that so? I’ll make more time for you from now on.”

“Oh, no. There’s no need to go out of your way for me.”

“It’s fine. I want to do it.”

After saying that, Rohayden took a bite of the finely cut meat. His movements were almost perfunctory. With the conversation cut off, silence settled over the table. Instead of breaking it, he slipped into thought.

‘How long will it take, I wonder?’

TL NOTE: More advanced chapter of this story is already up to the site. Visit dusk blossoms for more advanced chapters and stories