Roelica hoped that the child in her womb would be safe.
If possible, she would also want the child to inherit the throne, but Erdene knew that Roelica’s conditions did not include that. She didn’t have to inherit the throne. She didn’t mind if something happened and she lost her status as an heir.
She just wanted the child to live and grow up to see the world.
She could grant that wish, Erdene thought. She could do it.
No matter how tied up Thelma and Merton were, no matter how poorly Aiman was at coming up with strategies...
She wasn’t so incompetent that she would fail to even get a child out of the empire and send him to her side.
The news Roelica delivered could be summarized into three main points.
First, Thelma and Merton were Tenek’s confidants and couldn’t move around carelessly, so it would be safer to contact them through her for the time being. Second, since the results of tracking the whereabouts of the doctor in question were still inconclusive, it would be wise to assume that he was probably dead—or rather, disposed of.
Neither of these was particularly good news.
Especially the part about the missing doctor. It wasn’t unexpected, but...
‘But this is okay.’
The last was about Aiman’s nephew, who worked as a Courtier for the imperial letter.
She had found someone who seemed to have heard something from the courtier at the center of the case, and it turned out that Aiman was preparing a plan to grill him.
The imperial court had many eyes and ears. And many mouths.
Unless it was something worth risking one’s life for, and unless one was prepared to do so, it was a place where one could never keep a secret.
Erdene immediately picked up her pen and began writing a reply.
The outline was that it would be good to think of a way to keep at least one of Merton and Thelma away from Tenek, that the pursuit of the courtier in question should continue until the facts were confirmed, but that their movements should be reduced and kept out of sight, and that the Empress should help Aiman come up with a plan.
When she had almost finished her letter, Sophia came in and said,
“Your Highness, Princess Limepale of the Duchy wishes to see you urgently.”
“Right now?”
Erdene looked out the darkened window.
Arkan had moved to the conference room for a moment to receive reports from the officials, but he would probably be back soon.
She was tired from writing the letter, so she also wanted to play around with Arkan and then fall asleep today.
However, the Princess was also important. Erdene thought.
“Let her come in. I will meet her in the reception room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After Sophia hurriedly left, Erdene took a look at the letter she had finished writing and folded it lengthwise.
Glucker was asleep on the porch. Since Arkan had already found out, she planned to let him sleep here for the night and spend the night there until dawn tomorrow.
Erdene, who went into the living room, was surprised to see Princess Limepale standing with her hands on the back of the sofa.
Her face was red and her eyes were swollen. It was clear that she had either cried a lot or been stung by a bee.
“Princess.”
“Your Majesty.”
Her voice was still filled with tears as she answered.
Limepale stumbled and greeted her, then belatedly rubbed her eyes with an embarrassed expression.
“I made a bad impression, Your Majesty. I apologize.”
“Sit down, Sabnake!”
Sabnake, who had been organizing the candles, came in with a brisk gait.
“Go and get two cups of tea. Something that will calm you down.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Sabnake glanced at Princess Limepale’s swollen face and quickly disappeared.
When Erdene handed her the handkerchief, the Princess accepted it with an even more embarrassed expression.
Then, she covered her heated eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and putting it down.
“I’m sorry.”
“Now that you apologize, tell me what happened.”
Limepale didn’t respond for a moment, then closed her eyes with a complicated expression and slowly opened them.
Unlike when she had seen her in the morning, her face, covered in darkness and unsmiling, seemed to have aged five or six years in an instant.
Erdene could easily tell that the real her, who had been hiding behind her bright smile and lively girlish attitude, was sitting in front of her with all her masks removed.
“Eorshin came to me earlier and said something strange, Your Majesty.”
“What strange words?”
“He said he saw a falcon used by the imperial army.”
Oh. Erdene’s eyebrows furrowed.
If Sabnake hadn’t brought tea at that moment, she wouldn’t have been able to hide her frustration.
Princess Limepale seemed to have been too busy looking down at her teacup to notice Erdene’s quick change of expression.
The steaming tea had a lilac scent.
Erdene said,
“What is the connection between Eorshin’s words... and you coming to me in that state?”
Limepale rubbed her tear-stained cheeks and looked straight at Erdene.
“Eorshin has no doubt that it was the Imperial falcon. Your Majesty must be communicating with someone in the Empire... I dismissed it as nonsense, but Eorshin is out of his mind right now. He told me that he was going to the Empire.”
“What?”
“He asked to be stripped of his knighthood.”
As she said that, she laughed bitterly. Erdene didn’t feel like laughing. It was incredible.
'He really is a helpless man.'
Erdene took a sip of tea to calm her emotions and said.
"But his master is still the Princess. If the Princess refuses, shouldn't he follow?"
"Yes, that's right. But if I refuse, Eorshin will run away. He will become a fugitive... This time, he may be pursued by the duchy. Since he was my confidant, they will assume that he knows many secrets of the Grand Duke's family."
That was true. Limepale muttered softly.
In fact, the secrets that Eorshin knew were not many other than those related to Limepale, but since Limepale herself could not tell the Grand Duke directly, the result would be the same.
"He seemed like he was going to leave right away, so I told him that I would go see Your Majesty and barely sat him down. I... came to Your Majesty without knowing what to do."
Erdene turned her head and looked out the window into the darkness that continued.
The stars seemed unusually dim today.
To risk one’s life and honor for love, and hopeless love at that. It was something she couldn’t understand.
If Eorshin were her subordinate, she would beat him to the point of death, hit him one more time, and train him thoroughly so that he would never have second thoughts.
But the Princess wouldn’t do that, Erdene thought.
No matter what, Limepale was definitely weak to Eorshin.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to her with her eyes swollen and bulging, and in the middle of the night, shamelessly.
“Princess, do you have any selfish intentions toward Eorshin?”
At Erdene’s words, Limepale made an expression as if she was going to scream at any moment.
She bit her lower lip with all her might, lowered her gaze, and answered in a hoarse voice.
“That’s right.”
“You like him, right?”
“...Yes. I know it’s not honorable to fall in love with your closest escort, but I’m not the first. Yes, Your Majesty. I love Eorcin. I wish he would forget the Empress of Hirschsten every day. But he never did in all the years he was by my side.”
“And yet, you still can’t let him go.”
Limepale nodded with a sad, or perhaps bitter, smile.
Just as Erdene had said, Eorshin and she were doing the same thing, just in different ways and forms.
They were reaching out from the edge of a cliff to someone they couldn’t reach.
They knew that if they were not careful, they would fall down and never get back up, but they couldn’t stop their longing, their yearning.
“If he returns to the Empire, Eorshin will definitely be captured and killed. I... I want to do whatever it takes to prevent that. I came to see you, Your Majesty, because I want him to forget about Roelica and live his own life, even if he doesn’t look back at me or like me.”
“The only thing I can do for you is beat that crazy guy up so hard that his eyes will pop open.”
“That would be nice too.”
Limepale said with a weak laugh. Anyone could tell that she wasn’t serious.
“Your Majesty, is it true that the Imperial Falcon came to Vetor? Is it true that Eorshin wasn’t seeing things?”
At that moment, there was a fluttering sound from the torch in the living room. Limepale’s eyes widened before Erdene could make an excuse.
“It was true.”
Erdene sighed, muttering a few curses under her breath.
“There’s nothing to gain by hiding it from the Princess, and there’s nothing to lose by doing so, so I guess I should answer honestly. Yes, that’s right. I’m in contact with my adjutants in the empire. But still, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Princess's problem."
If possible, she would also want the child to inherit the throne, but Erdene knew that Roelica’s conditions did not include that. She didn’t have to inherit the throne. She didn’t mind if something happened and she lost her status as an heir.
She just wanted the child to live and grow up to see the world.
She could grant that wish, Erdene thought. She could do it.
No matter how tied up Thelma and Merton were, no matter how poorly Aiman was at coming up with strategies...
She wasn’t so incompetent that she would fail to even get a child out of the empire and send him to her side.
The news Roelica delivered could be summarized into three main points.
First, Thelma and Merton were Tenek’s confidants and couldn’t move around carelessly, so it would be safer to contact them through her for the time being. Second, since the results of tracking the whereabouts of the doctor in question were still inconclusive, it would be wise to assume that he was probably dead—or rather, disposed of.
Neither of these was particularly good news.
Especially the part about the missing doctor. It wasn’t unexpected, but...
‘But this is okay.’
The last was about Aiman’s nephew, who worked as a Courtier for the imperial letter.
She had found someone who seemed to have heard something from the courtier at the center of the case, and it turned out that Aiman was preparing a plan to grill him.
The imperial court had many eyes and ears. And many mouths.
Unless it was something worth risking one’s life for, and unless one was prepared to do so, it was a place where one could never keep a secret.
Erdene immediately picked up her pen and began writing a reply.
The outline was that it would be good to think of a way to keep at least one of Merton and Thelma away from Tenek, that the pursuit of the courtier in question should continue until the facts were confirmed, but that their movements should be reduced and kept out of sight, and that the Empress should help Aiman come up with a plan.
When she had almost finished her letter, Sophia came in and said,
“Your Highness, Princess Limepale of the Duchy wishes to see you urgently.”
“Right now?”
Erdene looked out the darkened window.
Arkan had moved to the conference room for a moment to receive reports from the officials, but he would probably be back soon.
She was tired from writing the letter, so she also wanted to play around with Arkan and then fall asleep today.
However, the Princess was also important. Erdene thought.
“Let her come in. I will meet her in the reception room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After Sophia hurriedly left, Erdene took a look at the letter she had finished writing and folded it lengthwise.
Glucker was asleep on the porch. Since Arkan had already found out, she planned to let him sleep here for the night and spend the night there until dawn tomorrow.
Erdene, who went into the living room, was surprised to see Princess Limepale standing with her hands on the back of the sofa.
Her face was red and her eyes were swollen. It was clear that she had either cried a lot or been stung by a bee.
“Princess.”
“Your Majesty.”
Her voice was still filled with tears as she answered.
Limepale stumbled and greeted her, then belatedly rubbed her eyes with an embarrassed expression.
“I made a bad impression, Your Majesty. I apologize.”
“Sit down, Sabnake!”
Sabnake, who had been organizing the candles, came in with a brisk gait.
“Go and get two cups of tea. Something that will calm you down.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Sabnake glanced at Princess Limepale’s swollen face and quickly disappeared.
When Erdene handed her the handkerchief, the Princess accepted it with an even more embarrassed expression.
Then, she covered her heated eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and putting it down.
“I’m sorry.”
“Now that you apologize, tell me what happened.”
Limepale didn’t respond for a moment, then closed her eyes with a complicated expression and slowly opened them.
Unlike when she had seen her in the morning, her face, covered in darkness and unsmiling, seemed to have aged five or six years in an instant.
Erdene could easily tell that the real her, who had been hiding behind her bright smile and lively girlish attitude, was sitting in front of her with all her masks removed.
“Eorshin came to me earlier and said something strange, Your Majesty.”
“What strange words?”
“He said he saw a falcon used by the imperial army.”
Oh. Erdene’s eyebrows furrowed.
If Sabnake hadn’t brought tea at that moment, she wouldn’t have been able to hide her frustration.
Princess Limepale seemed to have been too busy looking down at her teacup to notice Erdene’s quick change of expression.
The steaming tea had a lilac scent.
Erdene said,
“What is the connection between Eorshin’s words... and you coming to me in that state?”
Limepale rubbed her tear-stained cheeks and looked straight at Erdene.
“Eorshin has no doubt that it was the Imperial falcon. Your Majesty must be communicating with someone in the Empire... I dismissed it as nonsense, but Eorshin is out of his mind right now. He told me that he was going to the Empire.”
“What?”
“He asked to be stripped of his knighthood.”
As she said that, she laughed bitterly. Erdene didn’t feel like laughing. It was incredible.
'He really is a helpless man.'
Erdene took a sip of tea to calm her emotions and said.
"But his master is still the Princess. If the Princess refuses, shouldn't he follow?"
"Yes, that's right. But if I refuse, Eorshin will run away. He will become a fugitive... This time, he may be pursued by the duchy. Since he was my confidant, they will assume that he knows many secrets of the Grand Duke's family."
That was true. Limepale muttered softly.
In fact, the secrets that Eorshin knew were not many other than those related to Limepale, but since Limepale herself could not tell the Grand Duke directly, the result would be the same.
"He seemed like he was going to leave right away, so I told him that I would go see Your Majesty and barely sat him down. I... came to Your Majesty without knowing what to do."
Erdene turned her head and looked out the window into the darkness that continued.
The stars seemed unusually dim today.
To risk one’s life and honor for love, and hopeless love at that. It was something she couldn’t understand.
If Eorshin were her subordinate, she would beat him to the point of death, hit him one more time, and train him thoroughly so that he would never have second thoughts.
But the Princess wouldn’t do that, Erdene thought.
No matter what, Limepale was definitely weak to Eorshin.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to her with her eyes swollen and bulging, and in the middle of the night, shamelessly.
“Princess, do you have any selfish intentions toward Eorshin?”
At Erdene’s words, Limepale made an expression as if she was going to scream at any moment.
She bit her lower lip with all her might, lowered her gaze, and answered in a hoarse voice.
“That’s right.”
“You like him, right?”
“...Yes. I know it’s not honorable to fall in love with your closest escort, but I’m not the first. Yes, Your Majesty. I love Eorcin. I wish he would forget the Empress of Hirschsten every day. But he never did in all the years he was by my side.”
“And yet, you still can’t let him go.”
Limepale nodded with a sad, or perhaps bitter, smile.
Just as Erdene had said, Eorshin and she were doing the same thing, just in different ways and forms.
They were reaching out from the edge of a cliff to someone they couldn’t reach.
They knew that if they were not careful, they would fall down and never get back up, but they couldn’t stop their longing, their yearning.
“If he returns to the Empire, Eorshin will definitely be captured and killed. I... I want to do whatever it takes to prevent that. I came to see you, Your Majesty, because I want him to forget about Roelica and live his own life, even if he doesn’t look back at me or like me.”
“The only thing I can do for you is beat that crazy guy up so hard that his eyes will pop open.”
“That would be nice too.”
Limepale said with a weak laugh. Anyone could tell that she wasn’t serious.
“Your Majesty, is it true that the Imperial Falcon came to Vetor? Is it true that Eorshin wasn’t seeing things?”
At that moment, there was a fluttering sound from the torch in the living room. Limepale’s eyes widened before Erdene could make an excuse.
“It was true.”
Erdene sighed, muttering a few curses under her breath.
“There’s nothing to gain by hiding it from the Princess, and there’s nothing to lose by doing so, so I guess I should answer honestly. Yes, that’s right. I’m in contact with my adjutants in the empire. But still, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the Princess's problem."
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