“It was right for me. But…… why doesn’t His Majesty destroy our family and instead says he’ll make me his empress……”

Her fine eyebrows curved pitifully. Seeing that expression, there was no need to ask about Elia’s true feelings.

“Can’t I live in the monastery with you, Aunt?”

“……His Majesty doesn’t seem to have that in mind.”

The Emperor again. Elia let out a sigh.

Everything was decided by the Emperor. Regardless of whose life it was, whether Elia wanted it or not.

“Well, I can’t even decide my own life freely.”

“Elia.”

“Look at me. Tied to a bed with legs that can’t move, living like a puppet that must follow His Majesty’s orders…… can this even be called living?”

Briana erased her smile and looked straight at Elia.

“As long as you have your will, it’s your life. If you don’t give up, I’ll help you forever.”

“Even if…… it goes against His Majesty’s wishes?”

“I serve God’s will, not His Majesty’s.”

Briana smiled faintly. Looking at her, a very thin ray of hope shone in Elia’s blue eyes.

* * *

The Emperor’s face was displeased after finishing the council meeting. Entering his office, Rockfort flipped his cape and sat down.

“They’re all desperate to torment me.”

Jayden closed his mouth and bowed his head. At times like this, hasty words would only provoke Rockfort’s temper.

“The council isn’t normal either. To dare make such a proposal…… is Marquis Brass’s faction in their right mind?”

This time, even Jayden understood Rockfort’s frown.

In today’s council, nobles who were dissatisfied with a second empress coming from House Theon pushed forward a new empress candidate.

“The fact that she’s older than me is one thing, but when I saw her at the ball, she was larger than me and a heavy drinker—more suited to be a general!”

So that was what bothered him. Jayden nodded.

“Currently, there aren’t any other suitable ladies of marriageable age to put forward as empress candidates…… they had no choice.”

This was because after the former Emperor had designated the lady of House Theon as Rockfort’s match, other noble ladies didn’t cling to the position of empress and instead sought good marriages elsewhere.

“I need to hold an betrothal ceremony.”

Jayden looked at Rockfort with astonished eyes.

“The…… Lady Theon can’t even get out of bed yet.”

“And it’s fine for me to keep suffering through this? My will won’t change anyway. So I’ll hold a formal betrothal ceremony to make everything clear.”

Rockfort’s purple eyes shone distinctly.

“……Actually, weren’t you waiting for the nobles’ protests? Since Your Majesty deliberately made statements protecting House Theon, the opposition had no choice but to say something.”

Jayden unwittingly blurted out his thoughts. Rockfort shamelessly shrugged his shoulders.

“Was it that obvious?”

“Yes, a little.”

Having been together since they were toddlers, it was difficult to deceive Jayden’s eyes.

“It’s fine, the council won’t know.”

Rockfort had a personality that required him to secure everything firmly in his hands to feel at ease. He had said he would make Elia his empress in a year, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

“That’s not necessarily true.”

“Why?”

Rockfort frowned.

“Putting forward Marquis Brass’s daughter as a candidate means they’re acknowledging there’s no hope. Everyone knows Your Majesty’s stubbornness, so they’ve probably already given up on the issue of appointing an empress.”

At Jayden’s quite plausible analysis, Rockfort let out a snicker.

“Sometimes I envy your innocent mind.”

“……Are you serious?”

Rockfort stared at Jayden with a look of exasperation.

“How could I be serious? If I were, my head wouldn’t be attached here.”

“If you’re not, then you’re not, why do you keep teasing me for no reason……”

“If you don’t like it, grow up a bit.”

Rockfort stood up. His tall stature gave him considerable presence.

“They’ve set a trap. They’re waiting to see on what grounds I reject Marquis Brass’s daughter. They’ll use that response as their next attack.”

“……What?”

Seeing Jayden’s dumbfounded expression, Rockfort clicked his tongue.

“Whatever fault I find with Marquis Brass’s daughter will come right back to Lady Theon.”

“But Lady Theon has no flaws, does she?”

“That’s right.”

Rockfort’s voice was meaningful.

“Lady Brass limped slightly. They say she became that way after suffering from an illness as a child.”

“Ah……”

Only then did Jayden seem to understand what he meant.

“The imperial physician couldn’t guarantee that the lady would fully recover within a year. So they’re creating something to nitpick about for a long time.”

“Indeed…… Your Majesty is truly wise.”

While the nobles’ cunningness was impressive, Rockfort, who could see right through their psychology, was also remarkable.

“Lady Brass, and indeed any lady—the more reasons for rejection they create, the more they’ll be held back. So proceeding quickly with the betrothal ceremony is the best option.”

Of course, that was also Rockfort’s personal interest.

But looking at Jayden nodding his head with an admiring expression before him, it seemed no one would understand his true intentions.

Rockfort’s orders were delivered to the Archbishop staying at the Imperial Palace.

Jayden also hurriedly went to send a letter to the new master of the Theon ducal residence.

“……Only crown her as empress after her death?”

Left alone, Rockfort’s voice was low.

—If I die, please put the Empress’s crown on my corpse.

When he was alone, he found himself increasingly recalling Elia.

“It was an interesting thing to say, but there’s no law saying I must follow those words.”

Her words, her unwavering blue eyes, or simply her calm profile kept popping into his mind unexpectedly.

“If it weren’t for her, I would never have left the Theon ducal residence intact.”

Cecilia’s infidelity was shocking, but since there hadn’t been any particular affection between them as a couple, it would have been erased from his heart as time passed.

However, the crime of the Duke and Duchess of Theon trying to deceive the Emperor by hiding the truth was more than just vexing.

“How dare they.”

If that insolent attempt had succeeded, Cecilia would have calmly greeted him wearing the face of an Empress.

Even though she had already carried another man’s child, would she have rejoiced at his victory with that innocent face?

It was unpleasant and terrible just to imagine.

“Such a woman cannot be my companion.”

Rockfort was rather fortunate that this series of incidents happened quickly. Cecilia was only that kind of woman, and she revealed her true nature before he took her as his wife, so they could end things without forming deep ties.

“Yes, rather…… it turned out well.”

That’s not all. Now that he knew about House Theon’s deception, he held the reins to keep them in check going forward.

It was also the power to control the Belest ducal family, their ally and the Empress Dowager’s family.

“Of course, they seem confident that they won’t come running to the reins I hold.”

The Empress Dowager supported Rockfort’s decision. Since Lady Theon was also related by blood to Belest, it was probably a conclusion they reached through simple thinking.

“Could it be…… they still dream that by continuing to marry into the imperial family and mixing blood, they might someday become members of the imperial family?”

Such a thing had never happened in the long history of the Holy Petrion Empire. It was thanks to the imperial family’s flexible governance, which seemed to empower one side but then subtly shifted the flow to another.

“Even after experiencing all that, they still don’t understand.”

The former Emperor had also unintentionally scattered the power of in-laws by taking several empresses, and when power concentrated on Cassandra, the last empress, he gathered all his strength at the end of his reign to try to dismiss her.

“The Empress Dowager also thought her power would last forever.”

It was the 17-year-old Rockfort himself, who ascended to the throne seven years ago, who directly sent the Empress Dowager—charged with several crimes not disclosed to the public—from the Imperial Palace to a distant villa.

At that time, the Empress Dowager looked at Rockfort in astonishment and then laughed loudly, seemingly dumbfounded.

“Victor.”

Rockfort, recalling the unpleasant memory, called his head chamberlain’s name.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The Empress Dowager?”

“……She has returned to her original villa. She left a letter, but…”

“That’s enough.”

It was enough just knowing that the Empress Dowager had withdrawn from the Imperial Palace.

Though he had given some money from his personal funds, the former Emperor was also soon to depart for the western villa in Seira, so it was quite a satisfactory outcome.

“I must prepare to welcome the Empress.”

He muttered to himself, but the head chamberlain who was still present took it as an order and bowed.

“Your words are most wise. As you commanded, we have already begun construction on the new Empress’s quarters.”

“……Is that so? Well done.”

Rockfort nodded with satisfaction at the unexpected report.

The Empress’s quarters, where his mother once lived and which belonged to Cecilia, will disappear from the world forever.

“A fresh start can be made in a place without bad memories.”

Though he gave various reasons, demolishing the Empress’s quarters and rebuilding them completely was, in fact, Rockfort’s sincere gesture for Elia.

“No matter how composed a woman she is, knowing that an Empress’s quarters are being newly built just for her…… she would be moved.”

He could hardly contain his curiosity about what expression Elia would make when she saw the new Empress’s quarters built especially for her.