“Miss, Miss!”

Hannah’s urgent voice sounded from outside the door. Despite her previously calm face, Elia’s heart began to pound heavily again.

“Miss. You have a visitor!”

“……His Majesty?”

Seeing Elia’s pale face, Hannah shook her head vigorously.

“No, not him! I mean…… Lady Briana is here!”

At these unexpected words, Elia’s mouth fell half open.

She hadn’t expected the letter to be properly delivered, let alone receive a reply, so she couldn’t believe her aunt had come in person.

“Elia!”

But the person who appeared behind Hannah was unmistakably Briana.

“Aunt…?”

“Oh my, Elia! You poor thing……”

Briana, wearing the worn clothes of a nun, rushed to the bed and embraced Elia.

In her embrace, Elia barely swallowed her tears. The fact that she could meet the person she missed and wanted to see the most again kept making her heart swell.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m here now, so you can relax. It’s alright…… it’s alright.”

Her gentle, mild voice hadn’t changed at all from Elia’s childhood.

Only then did Elia realize she had been tense day and night. As Briana’s gentle embrace wrapped around her, the strength drained from her entire body.

“Aunt…… so much has…… happened.”

Briana nodded while holding Elia.

“You’ve gotten thin. I’ll stay by your side, so get some rest. Then let’s have a meal together.”

Having cared for patients at the monastery, Briana knew well what was most needed now. She lay down beside Elia and kept stroking her hair.

“It’s alright.”

Thanks to this, Elia was able to fall into a deep, sweet sleep for the first time since the incident.

* * *

Darkness fell around Rockfort as he handled the official duties delayed by the Empress Dowager’s intrusion.

“Your Majesty, it’s getting late.”

“I’m almost done.”

Jayden lit another candle.

“By the way, that woman from the Theon ducal family……”

“Yes. Lady Briana, who was staying at the monastery, arrived at the ducal mansion this afternoon.”

At those words, Rockfort nodded as if relieved. He was the only one in the world who could send Briana, who had been living in the monastery, to the ducal mansion where no one else was allowed to enter.

“The lady is wise, she’ll understand my intentions.”

Jayden blinked his eyes.

“Um…… Your Majesty, I’m honored, but what do you mean?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Seeing Jayden’s genuinely confused face, Rockfort pushed aside his documents and chuckled.

“I’m letting her know that I care about her and am considering ways to ease her suffering.”

Indeed, this was Rockfort’s own resolution and effort.

But Jayden’s expression upon hearing those words wasn’t very good.

“Why, what is it?”

“Well…… I didn’t realize that was your intention.”

“What other meaning could there be?”

“Um…… there…… could be……”

As Jayden kept hedging, Rockfort frowned.

“What is it? Speak plainly.”

“In cases like this, sending Lady Briana who is at the monastery…… could be interpreted as telling the lady to join the monastery as well.”

At these unexpected words, Rockfort jumped up from his seat.

“W-What?”

Indeed, he hadn’t known.

“Usually…… that’s what it means. When a nun who has already severed ties with the secular world returns to her family, it’s the procedure for when there’s someone to take back to the monastery with her.”

“That’s nonsense!”

Rockfort shouted at poor Jayden.

“I publicly declared that I would make her my empress, how could I have such absurd thoughts?”

Jayden momentarily wore a blank expression.

“Then why on earth did you send Lady Briana to the ducal mansion? She has already devoted herself to God.”

“……To comfort the lady.”

Whether it was contagious, Rockfort also had a blank expression.

“Why, is that not allowed? God teaches mercy!”

“It’s not that it’s not allowed…… Yes……”

“I’m showing mercy following God’s teachings.”

Unable to hide his dubious expression at something he’d never heard before, Jayden looked uncomfortable.

“You’re talking nonsense and it’s irritating me! Tell them clearly that I have shown mercy to the monastery and that woman following God’s teachings!”

“Yes.”

As Jayden bowed his head, Rockfort glared at him.

“Now.”

“……Ah, now?”

It was almost midnight. But what could he do? The Emperor’s orders were absolute.

“Now.”

His indifferent voice could sometimes be quite hateful.

“Immediately.”

“Ah, yes…… I’ll go right away.”

But today too, Jayden silently followed his orders. This was also his duty and fate.

* * *

Past midnight, Hannah carefully approached Briana, who was watching over Elia’s bedside, and whispered something.

“……At such a late hour?”

After confirming that Elia was deeply asleep, Briana quietly left the bedroom.

“A knight is waiting for you in the reception room downstairs.”

Briana nodded at Dain’s guidance. Her face, in the humble robe of a nun, was beautiful to the point of reverence.

When Briana entered the reception room, Jayden, who had been waiting, stood up without thinking.

“I deeply apologize for the late hour.”

Briana slightly bowed her head in response to his greeting.

“Are you Lady Briana Theon? I’ve come to deliver His Majesty the Emperor’s profound intentions.”

“I have devoted myself to God and abandoned the name Theon long ago. However, I can listen to His Majesty’s words on behalf of my exhausted niece, can’t I?”

Jayden nodded at her calm smile.

“His Majesty sending Lady Briana to the ducal mansion is by no means intended to send Lady Elia to the monastery.”

“I see.”

Despite Jayden’s long journey here, Briana responded calmly.

“Indeed, I thought there was no way he would make a lady he plans to crown as empress in a year into a nun.”

“Yes. His Majesty specially sent you, Lady Briana, as her aunt, to comfort Lady Elia who is exhausted in body and mind.”

Elia had lost her entire family overnight. And it was because of her own confession.

From Briana’s perspective, she would rather take Elia to the monastery, but even that wasn’t freedom.

“Due to the late hour, His Majesty couldn’t come today, but he expressed his intention to visit in person soon.”

Rockfort was clearly drawing a line. The meaning was clear—comfort and care for Elia as the future empress.

But what was truly the best path for Elia?

“I ask that you honor His Majesty’s wishes.”

“……Yes, I understand.”

“I’ve delivered the message properly, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Briana folded her hands together.

“Yes. May God’s will be with you on your journey, Sir Knight.”

Seeing Briana’s gentle smile, Jayden wondered if he had properly fulfilled his role. He had put forward the Emperor’s name and conveyed his intentions, but her beautiful smile had answered with God’s will.

“His Majesty the Emperor is not one to change his mind once he’s made a decision.”

“Yes. I pray that God’s blessing will be with His Majesty as well……”

He warned her in his own way, but he simply couldn’t overcome Briana’s calm smile.

Jayden finally bowed deeply and completed his midnight mission.

“God’s will…… when countered with that, even I have nothing to say.”

Jayden muttered to himself as he mounted his horse. His role was merely to deliver messages.

“I hope no complications arise.”

As the Emperor’s closest aide, he couldn’t help but worry about the current situation.

Already, several nobles were opposing the idea of a lady from House Theon becoming empress again.

However, the argument that the marriage contract decreed by the former Emperor should be honored was equally strong, so the key factor was Rockfort’s stubbornness.

“Of course, that’s…… a factor not even worth considering.”

What Jayden had told Briana wasn’t a lie. Since childhood, he had never once seen Rockfort bend his will.

So the poor lady of the Theon ducal family would become empress in a year.

* * *

Elia truly woke up refreshed after a deep sleep without dreams for the first time in a long while.

Meeting Briana’s watchful gaze along with the bright sunlight naturally brought her a sense of relief.

“Elia, did you sleep well?”

“Aunt…… I thought your arrival was a dream.”

Briana, wearing modest clothes and a nun’s veil on her head, smiled as gently as the sunlight.

“I’m here.”

Elia, still anxious, reached out her hand. They held hands for a moment.

“Your hands…… have become much rougher.”

This was a sensation she couldn’t feel if it weren’t real. The calluses on the small knuckles and roughened skin felt unfamiliar.

When Elia made a regretful expression, Briana patted her hand.

“It’s fine, as I exchanged it for meaningful work.”

“Only now…… do I truly realize that you’ve become a nun.”

Briana was the youngest daughter of the Theon ducal family, and though she was Elia’s aunt, there was only about a ten-year age difference between them.

“You left the family so suddenly.”

Her abrupt departure for the monastery was seven years ago.

“Without even saying goodbye……”

“Perhaps that’s why we could meet again like this.”

Seeing Briana’s affectionate smile, Elia couldn’t resent what had happened.

“Yes…… I’m so glad you came.”

Though Briana wasn’t Elia’s only family, she couldn’t deny that she was the only person her heart reached out to.

“You must have heard everything that happened while I was asleep?”

“Yes.”

“I…… had an audience with His Majesty and confessed everything.”

She had no regrets. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had done something terrible.

“If you believe what you did was right, then it was right.”

Elia nodded slowly.