“I plan to clear all the stones from the ground, fill it with soil, and lay grass. Between the outer and inner castle, I want to create a garden filled with flowers you’d only see in noble mansions. What do you think? It would be beautiful, wouldn’t it?”

“I look forward to how beautiful it will be.”

Displeased with Eva’s dry response, Divlik pressed his cheek against hers and stared at her through the mirror with burning eyes.

“I plan to hold the coronation on a spring day.”

“Is that so.”

“If you’d willingly come to my bed even now, I could make one of these gardens for you.”

After Eva’s firmly closed lips opened, the words that flowed out were once again not what Divlik wanted to hear.

“The garden shouldn’t be made for someone like me, but for the empress you’ll welcome to the imperial throne.”

Divlik rested his chin on Eva’s shoulder, sighed dramatically, then stepped back at once.

“It hurts me that you hate me this much. That’s enough. Any expensive fabric will do. What use is a stunningly beautiful dress that perfectly suits the former empress of a fallen country?”

Just then, a soldier knocked on the bedroom door looking for Finn. Thinking Dean might have returned from the Western Grand Duchy, they opened the door to find another soldier appearing with a troubled look.

“There’s a fight breaking out on the hill outside the castle gate. I’m not sure what to do……”

He had rushed in urgently to speak, and it turned out to be a request for the Emperor to mediate a fight among the people.

* * *

After hearing the news, they went down to the hill where peach trees were said to grow, and found the place crowded with people.

“Won’t you let go? Where do you think you’re grabbing, woman? Why? Are you trying to strip me n*ked?”

“That’s quite harsh.”

“What’s harsh about it? Is it okay to interfere with someone else’s business? It’s obvious she lost her husband during the war.”

“What about a woman who lost her husband! What about a woman who lost her husband!!”

Though angry, there was no reason to leave good land unused. Divlik had already ordered Finn to grant permission to anyone who wanted to plant peach trees or apple trees. When autumn came and the fruits ripened, they just had to offer the best ones as tribute.

It seemed people had flocked to farm there because the conditions were too good, causing fights. But that wasn’t it.

Among all those people, the ones actually raising their voices and shouting were just one woman and one man, while the rest watched the fight with their hats pulled low and plows in hand.

“What’s going on?”

When Divlik approached through the murmuring crowd, the onlookers scattered in an instant. People still feared Divlik, and though they cleared a path, not one person explained the situation.

“Report what’s happening. Lord Divlik is asking, isn’t he?”

When Finn stepped forward and asked again, a man standing next to a cart loaded with peach tree saplings stepped forward with an aggrieved expression.

“This woman is trying to take peach trees without paying for them.”

“That’s not true! I paid in full. When more people suddenly wanted peach trees, this man raised the price and is demanding I pay more!”

Behind him appeared Esther, covered in dirt, sprawled on the ground, clutching the man’s pant leg.

The story went like this:

Esther had agreed to buy thirty peach trees from this man at 10 gold each and paid 300 gold in advance. Today was when she was supposed to receive the trees, but permission was suddenly granted to cultivate this land. Thanks to that, as more people sought peach trees, the man raised the price to 30 gold per tree.

“Didn’t you write a contract?”

“We did. But this man……”

“Look, I’m not saying I won’t give you the peach trees. I’m saying I’ll give them to you next year, next year!”

“I need to plant them now so they’ll barely bear fruit this year, and I can sell that to survive. If I wait until next year, my son and I will starve to death. Those 300 gold were all we had.”

When Esther said she had no more money to give, the man tried to sell her share to someone willing to pay the full price. Esther, learning of this, rushed over insisting the trees were hers, and that’s how the fight started.

“Well, you could work odd jobs under the peach tree owners here for a year.”

“How can you say that?”

“Look, the contract doesn’t specify a delivery date, so I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Esther cried that it was unfair while the man insisted he had done nothing wrong. Eva, who had been quietly listening to the story, stepped forward.

“How much more is needed?”

Eva was glad she had followed along when she heard about a dispute on the hill, thinking it might involve Esther. Feeling she should help if that was the case, she had followed despite Divlik’s disapproving gaze.

“Is 600 gold the exact amount missing?”

“Lady Eva. You don’t need to do this. This man has cheated me.”

“How dare you! Cheated!”

After accidentally meeting Esther and after Esther’s visit to the castle, Eva had wondered why she came alone seeking farming permission. Now she understood. Esther had lost her husband during the war. There were always people like this, who looked down on women without husbands and changed their words.

But since she couldn’t solely blame the man for a poorly written contract from the beginning, Eva tried to resolve the matter by paying the remaining amount herself so neither party would suffer a loss.

Divlik, who had been staring at Eva, suddenly snickered.

“What money do you have?”

Finding something amusing in this not-at-all funny situation, Divlik laughed loudly for a while, then glared at Eva with an unprecedentedly cold expression.

“It seems that thought didn’t occur to you. The moment I conquered that castle, everything inside it—including you and everyone else, down to the last plate—became mine. Who gave you permission to spend my money to pay on someone’s behalf?”

“I have jewels I brought from my homeland. I could sell them……”

Before Eva could finish her answer, Divlik again laughed so loudly that it drowned out her voice. His message that this was nonsense came across so clearly that everyone standing nearby, including Finn, felt embarrassed and glanced at Eva’s expression.

“You claim ownership of jewels you brought into the castle? Do you think we’re a divorced couple who were once married?”

The statement was so accurate that Eva had no retort.

If asked who owned the clothes she wore, the shoes on her feet, and even her body wearing them, everything belonged to Divlik. Even if she wanted to cut and sell her beautiful, high-quality hair to help, Eva was distressed about how to help Esther when even a single strand of that hair would be claimed by Divlik.

“Your benevolent empress act is quite persistent.”

“What do you mean……”

“You’d empty your own pockets to care for the people? I wondered why people liked you so much, but you’ve always acted this way. Certainly, this way you won’t be hated by anyone. By the way, isn’t it time to stop this pathetic empress pretense? You’re no longer empress, yet you still act like this.”

Empress pretense—her desire to help Esther was genuine and not an act, but Eva didn’t bother explaining. Divlik didn’t seem likely to believe anything she said.

“Do you have the contract?”

“Yes! Here it is.”

Sensing the atmosphere was turning in his favor, the man quickly pulled the contract from his br*ast pocket and thrust it toward Divlik. Divlik silently took the contract, unfolded it to read, then looked the man in the eye and deliberately tore the contract in half.

“Huh……?”

The man’s mouth fell open in surprise, as if he had something to say, but he couldn’t utter a single word. Divlik kept his savage gaze fixed on the man while tearing the contract into pieces until it turned to powder. The man trembled with fear, sensing that if he defied Divlik, his body might be torn apart the same way.

Divlik scattered the shredded contract into the air like dust and asked Eva:

“Former Empress, what do you think is the purpose of a contract in such a transaction?”

“To document promises between parties in writing so that the agreed terms are faithfully executed……”

“So isn’t it clear to anyone that this man broke the contract? You should limit your pretense of kindness. Offering to pay this swindler would be like telling him it’s okay to do the same thing again, wouldn’t it?”

After thoroughly criticizing Eva, saying that would only encourage fraudulent behavior, Divlik continued to glare at the man.

“And…… if the date isn’t written on the contract, what? There must have been a promised time when the contract was made. Did you think such a loophole would work in the land I rule?”

“I’m sorry…… I’m sorry. I was originally going to give them to this woman…… but that man! That man kept tempting me to sell to him instead, saying he’d pay more!”

The merchant blamed the farmer who had offered more money for the trees in a trembling voice, but that farmer had already slipped away in the commotion long ago.

“Thank you. Really…… thank you so much.”

Esther expressed her gratitude to Divlik with tears in her eyes, even as she glanced at Eva.

Eva smiled, happy that the matter was well resolved, thinking Divlik’s handling of the situation was better than hers would have been.

As Divlik turned to leave after confirming that the man had unloaded all thirty promised peach trees, the gazes of the surrounding farmers toward him changed.

“I told you. He’d be much better than Emperor Fabian.”

“That’s right. They say he spared all the nobles who treated their people well in their territories down south. He only killed those who deserved it on his way up.”

“He’s skilled in war too, so we don’t have to worry about Veilen Empire invading. How wonderful.”

Among the murmuring people, there were no longer any concerned looks for Eva. Seeing that she had no injuries and didn’t appear to be in pain, they seemed to think the treatment of the former Empress wasn’t so bad. Some even said that the new emperor might be better for Eva than Fabian had been.

Only Divlik didn’t know, but apparently Fabian’s strange behaviors were well-known even here in Hael.

“Do you see, former Empress? This is how power is used. Not by blindly pretending to be kind and winning everyone’s hearts regardless of whether they’re good or bad.”

On the way back to the castle, Divlik tried to teach Eva in this manner. That Eva’s approach was wrong. He added mockingly that she couldn’t win people’s hearts that way anymore, so what would she do now?

“Walk faster. Why are you trying to walk leisurely like an empress even in your gait?”

Divlik had always spoken to Eva with an edge, but now even the way she walked was criticized. Nowhere could one find the former leisure with which he had toyed with Eva.

Could it be that he’d decided there was no need to treat me as an empress anymore, upon learning that Fabian had treated me carelessly?