Dietrich made no reply to the Empress's words.
Because no answer came to mind right away.
Talking to that woman made him feel more irritable than ever, and watching her do things made him feel stuffy inside him.
Don’t you just put bread crumbs around your mouth and eat without knowing what other people are doing?
Seliya could easily run away, but she didn't and ended up waiting for him with a bloody body.
Since she was in so much pain, Dietrich gave her his healing powers, but she gorged on his saliva so vigorously that she pulled out the root of his tongue and fell asleep.
He had never had anyone bother him like this before, so in a way, Seliya was definitely a special person to him. Even if it has a negative connotation.
The Empress glared at Dietrich, who did not respond, her purple eyes flashing.
“You’re no different from any other man. As far as you, I thought you would be a little different.”
“...”
Dietrich looked down at the Empress with an indifferent expression. Dietrich was young, but the Empress before him was middle-aged.
The Empress was beautiful, but the Emperor did not like her very much. After the first night, he hadn't even bothered to look for her. Because she, the Empress, was the illegitimate daughter of the predecessor, Duke Frederick.
Even though the Emperor was incompetent, he could not have known that the three dukedoms had placed her in the position of Empress to keep an eye on him.
The Empress had to listen to the moans of the woman in the room next to her every day. She was truly disgusted by the Emperor who hugged a woman without even paying attention to her.
However, since she was the Empress, she had to see to her succession. Having been abandoned by the House of Lords, the only means by which she could assume power was by producing her own heir.
The Empress dosed the Emperor's meal with sleeping pills and climbed on top of his body as he slept. She covered the Emperor's face with a pillow, so she was okay. The ugly Emperor was merely a tool for the Empress, a means to produce a successor that would maintain her power.
After giving birth to Jeremy, the Empress turned to another man.
Unlike the dead Emperor, who could not use the noble family when it came to women, the Empress had very strict criteria for choosing a man. Although she had an arranged marriage with an Emperor 20 years older than her due to an excessive desire for power, she was actually a woman with very high standards.
Her criteria for choosing a man were as follows.
He had to have no history of sleeping with another woman, and he had to be under the age of thirty.
He also had to be good-looking enough for everyone to look at him, and he also had to have a certain level of social prestige. His body had to be muscular and his eyes had to be pretty.
There were very few people who fit her criteria. When she finally finds someone who meets those conditions, he is already married to another woman or engaged.
The man whom she had taken advantage of was a rejection from the Empress's side.
Dietrich met all these conditions. Only Dietrich. Even though the capital was filled with ladies desperate to have him, he was indifferent to them all.
Isn’t it truly perfect to become her own government?
Of course, Dietrich rejected the Empress's offers several times. But the Empress did not want to give up on him.
Even when the Emperor was alive, and even now, only a day has passed since the Emperor's funeral.
In fact, it could be said that things went better now that the Emperor was dead.
The Emperor always had Dietrich around, so if he had been alive, she would never have been able to do something like this, barging into his mansion in the middle of the night.
"My suggestion at that time is valid. If you say right now that you will be my mistress, I can turn a blind eye to all your affairs.”
“...What do you mean you turn a blind eye to something?”
The Empress pressed Dietrich's chest with her index finger. The Empress, pressing his rock-hard chest, moistened her dry lips with her tongue and spoke.
“For example, you took that woman out of the prison without reporting to me. You killed the knight who had been assisting you for four years.”
“I already knew that Your Majesty assigned someone to me.”
Dietrich grabbed the Empress's index finger on his chest. His dry gaze scanned the Empress's face.
“If His Royal Highness finds out about this, she will be very disappointed in Your Majesty.”
Dietrich immediately removed the Empress's index finger, which was wriggling in his hand.
“There’s no way you’re letting Jeremy know about this. There is no way you could convey my words to that child.”
The Empress knew very well that her son, Jeremy, disliked Dietrich. Even if he found out that the Empress was trying to make him her mistress, Jeremy would not blame the Empress but Dietrich.
It was Jeremy who accused Dietrich of all kinds of sins and kicked him out of the imperial palace, claiming that he had tricked his wise mother.
"Tomorrow at noon, bring the criminal to my palace.”
“..."
For the first time, something that could be called emotion appeared on Dietrich's previously emotionless face. The Empress felt his fever rising as he looked down at her with a gaze that was so cold that it sent a chill down her spine.
“This is an order I give as Empress.”
“...”
“If you don’t want to have your military authority taken away, it would be better to make yourself visible to me right now. Now the fence to protect the temple is gone.”
The Empress raised the corners of her mouth and added her words.
“If Jeremy succeeds to the throne, I will become the Empress dowager of this country and become the most powerful person, so listen carefully to what I say.”
The Empress looked Dietrich up and down. She scanned the front of Dietrich's trousers with her coy gaze. At first glance, it was thick. Seeing this, the Empress swallowed her dry saliva and said,
“What would it be like to be my dog?”
She started to say something to see Dietrich's angry face, but his face had already returned to its emotionless expression.
Dietrich answered with an expressionless face.
“Please go back now.”
“...”
“His Highness the Crown Prince will soon become Emperor. Wouldn’t it be bad for him if a scandal follows?”
It was not a very satisfactory answer for the Empress.
But she gave orders to bring the woman to him at noon tomorrow, and no matter how much Dietrich was, he would not be able to refuse it.
"Noon tomorrow, don’t forget.”
The Empress said those last words and showed her back. Only after Dietrich had made sure that the Empress had disappeared into her own palace did he return to his mansion.
Dietrich immediately called his adjutant, Anderson. He ordered that no one be allowed into the mansion because the Empress came in unexpectedly.
“There is no shame. Sir, the Empress threatened to make a scene if we did not let her in...”
Anderson seemed so sorry that he almost fell to his knees on the floor. Dietrich didn't blame him. No matter who it was, no one could stop the Empress in the current situation.
Now that the Emperor is dead, the Empress, who has a successor to the throne, has absolute power in the palace.
“Did you recognize what I ordered?”
“...”
Anderson's expression became grim. He reported without hiding his gloomy expression.
“Hundreds of imperial palace knights have already switched to the Crown Prince’s side.”
“...”
“It seems to me that the Crown Prince bribed the knights. Otherwise, there is no way those who were loyal to you would stab you like this.”
Dietrich expected things to turn out this way.
"No. The knights were not bought. Now that the Emperor who trusted me was dead, they didn’t want to stay on a ship that might sink at any time.”
“... !”
Anderson's eyes widened in surprise.
“How on earth could they betray Your Excellency? Didn’t His Excellency pay very close attention to the knights!”
“They’re not bad.”
Anderson shut his mouth at Dietrich's calm voice.
“It was predicted from the moment the Emperor died.”
Dietrich mumbled slowly and said nothing after that.
Anderson stayed silently by Dietrich's side.
***
Seliya really slept soundly.
It was already morning when she woke up feeling refreshed. The sound of birds chirping came through the open window.
Seliya tugged at the strings of the bed. She was asking for water to wash.
There was a knocking sound.
“I’m going in.”
The door opened with a quiet woman's voice, and a freckled maid came in, with reddish, short-cut hair.
Seliya was a little surprised, as she had not expected Dietrich to actually make her a maid.
But one thing that was peculiar about her was that the maid had her eyes closed the entire time she was face to face with her.
“Do you have something to order me to do?”
“I wanted you to get some water from the bathtub...”
The maid seemed startled by Seliya's voice. But even for a moment, thr maid bowed her head and retreated.
“I’ll get some water right now.”
The maid immediately brought a bucket full of warm water and poured it into the bathtub. The maid kept her eyes closed throughout her work. Despite that, the maid did her job very skillfully.
As Seliya watched the maid doing her work, she asked a question.
“By any chance, are you blind?”
She answered as the maid nodded her head.
"Yes."
The maid, perhaps not wanting to explain how she became blind, tried to rush out of the room.
“If you don’t ask me to do anything, I’ll just leave.”
"For a moment."
Seliya stopped the maid who was about to leave.
“What’s your name?”
“It’s Ellie.”
“... Yes, Ellie. Go out.”
The maid was about to leave her room, but she suddenly stopped.
“If you don’t mind, could I ask a question?”
Before the maid even heard Seliya's answer, she continued to ask questions.
“What is your relationship with my Master? Could it be that the owner... Are you his lover?”
Comments
Post a Comment