Was this advice? Or was it the Duchess’s malice toward Empress Dalian?
There were two things in Sepia’s words.
One, she was only going to be lenient this once.
Two, Sepia’s welcome was not from her as a daughter but from her duty as an Empress, and during her stay in the Beastkin Empire, Valuntie was not her mother but a guest of another country.
“...Let’s do that. Thank you for your hospitality. It was an honor to have you take the time out of your life so late at night.”
It was a much more polite attitude than when they first met.
Although she was the Emperor’s concubine, she had also lived a long life as a Duchess. She knew better than anyone else who to bow to and when to step down. She was not just someone who wielded power, but also the wielder of power between nobles.
Valuntie stood up.
“But my advice was sincere.”
With that last word, Sepia watched Valuntie turn around.
Many thoughts came to mind as she looked at her mother, whose back remained straight even after the years had passed, but she soon decided to stop.
After Voluntie left, Sepia also left the inner palace.
It was evening when she welcomed the guest, so the garden was already covered in deep night. The lanterns hanging here and there softly illuminated the autumn garden.
It must be peace in the silence.
Sepia, who was walking down the street, straightened her posture.
'It's a little chilly.'
When she raised her collar, the cold wind seemed to blow through the gaps a little less.
Sepia stopped for a moment and looked around.
The building, not far from where she was standing, still had its lights on even at this late hour.
The building owned by the Emperor, formerly called the Ghost Palace, had been reorganized into the Second Charity Department three years ago.
As the scale of the business grew, new related departments were created underneath it, and the number of personnel increased several times, so it could no longer be handled in one palace.
The bright lights dazzled her eyes.
In front of the scenery that had changed from the past, Sepia was reminiscing about that day.
The first time she met her partner was in front of the Ghost Palace.
When she thought of him who had not stopped looking at her even when her name and memories were not complete, her heart ached faintly, and she became excited again.
It had been more than ten years since they had become a couple.
It was surprising that she could feel this excitement.
What’s more, she was even more surprised that this excitement would continue for the rest of her life.
“The weather was like this that day, too.”
As she recalled the precious memory, she felt a little less cold.
However, the cold wind was not something she could control.
Sepia was about to hurry her steps.
“It’s cold.”
The voice was low and affectionate.
A coat warmed by her body temperature was draped over Sepia’s shoulders.
At the end of the skirt, who carefully turned around, stood the person she wanted to see the most.
“Roxanne.”
They were the only two in the night garden.
In this dreamlike moment, she wanted to call his name, not his social status.
Roxanne smiled at her call.
He opened Sepia’s collar and suggested they take a walk.
“Would you like to take a walk?”
“Yea.”
They had been busy preparing for the exchange ceremony, so it was hard to spend time alone together.
The clouds had cleared, and a pure white crescent moon was floating in the clear night sky.
Sepia held his hand and walked endlessly.
It was a pleasant time just wandering around the garden without a clear destination.
However, even in the peace that had come after a long time, she could not stay still for long.
‘Empress Dalian is sick?’
To the young Sepia, the Empress of Huron seemed like an infinitely scary and insurmountable iron wall.
However, even the fearsome being could not overcome the passage of time.
The illness itself, which put her life on the line, was understandable.
Dalian had aged as much as Sepia had aged, so it was not strange for her to be sick.
What she found suspicious was the method of curing the illness.
‘Why can’t the priest cure it?’
The Huron Empire also had a priest who cured illnesses.
If Dalian had been bedridden, the Empress’s palace would have been visited by priests. She had never heard of something like this, that the Beastkin Empire had an item that could cure diseases that even priests with great powers could not cure.
Sepia doesn’t know about anything else, but I could be sure of one thing.
Voluntie’s advice was not for Sepia, but for herself.
Sepia calmly controlled her mind and maintained her composure.
“I haven’t heard any rumors that Empress Dalian is sick. There must be something I don’t know about.”
“Of course. Empress Dalian’s health is a top secret even within the Huron Empire.”
Sepia doesn’t know exactly what illness the Huron Empress had.
But at least she could understand why Dalian insisted on proposing an exchange and sending the Crown Prince.
‘There’s a medicine in the Beastkin Empire that can cure the Huron people?’
Maybe it’s a rare plant or something that only grows in the Beastkin Empire.
It must be something that can’t be brought to the Huron side, so they have to ask Empress Sepia for help.
‘What illness are you suffering from?’
The proud Empress herself personally requested an exchange and asked for a favor.
She had never thought that this would happen in her life, but would even that nobility be erased in the face of death?
“I listened carefully. That must also be one of the many purposes of the exchange.”
“...The most important purpose. Why would Empress Dalian have requested an exchange? She did such a terrible thing to my daughter and is so shameless.”
Voluntie glared. Then she sighed as if she felt sorry for young Sepia.
It was unbelievable. The one who had put Sepia forward as a shield to block Dalian was none other than Voluntie herself.
Sepia looked at Voluntie with cold eyes.
As Voluntie had claimed, she was indeed Sepia’s biological mother.
Their blue eyes were the same color, and their facial features were also subtly similar, but this mother and daughter were not meant to walk the same path. Above all else.
“I think the Duchess is mistaken.”
“What do you mean?”
Valuntie lifted her chin.
The source of her arrogance was the confidence that came from carrying the Emperor of the Huron Empire on her back.
The present is not the past.
So the Empress of the Beastkin Empire had no intention of just sitting back and watching the insolence of the nobles of other countries.
“In some countries, it is said that when a woman becomes the mother of a nation, she cuts ties with her family. There must be a reason why she must become the mother of all people, but it is to prevent her from being tied down by blood relations and using her position for evil or being used by those close to her.”
Sepia was no longer a candidate for the Crown Princess of Huron.
So she was neither Valuntie’s shield nor her daughter, who had been rejected.
“Duchess Valuntie. Since you have advised me, I will also give you one piece of advice. Please be careful with your words and actions within the Beastkin Empire. Your actions and dignity will ultimately affect the relations between the empires.”
Sepia knows that the Emperor is behind her.
This is a warning and a line.
No matter how much she believed in the Emperor and acted arrogantly, she was only a concubine, not an absolute monarch.
So she meant that she would receive all the rudeness she committed in the Beastkin Empire from the Emperor.
Her clear blue eyes pierced through Valuntie.
Valuntie, who had been acting arrogantly and listlessly, finally began to harden her expression.
She must have realized it belatedly.
Sepia was no longer the young daughter she could exploit.
So it was already a given that she would have to bend in this situation.
“I made a slip of the tongue. I hope you will forgive me with a generous heart.”
“Welcome to the Beastkin Empire. We have prepared a palace for you, so please feel free to make yourself at home.”
Voluntie’s advice was not for Sepia, but for herself.
Sepia calmly controlled her mind and maintained her composure.
“I haven’t heard any rumors that Empress Dalian is sick. There must be something I don’t know about.”
“Of course. Empress Dalian’s health is a top secret even within the Huron Empire.”
Sepia doesn’t know exactly what illness the Huron Empress had.
But at least she could understand why Dalian insisted on proposing an exchange and sending the Crown Prince.
‘There’s a medicine in the Beastkin Empire that can cure the Huron people?’
Maybe it’s a rare plant or something that only grows in the Beastkin Empire.
It must be something that can’t be brought to the Huron side, so they have to ask Empress Sepia for help.
‘What illness are you suffering from?’
The proud Empress herself personally requested an exchange and asked for a favor.
She had never thought that this would happen in her life, but would even that nobility be erased in the face of death?
“I listened carefully. That must also be one of the many purposes of the exchange.”
“...The most important purpose. Why would Empress Dalian have requested an exchange? She did such a terrible thing to my daughter and is so shameless.”
Voluntie glared. Then she sighed as if she felt sorry for young Sepia.
It was unbelievable. The one who had put Sepia forward as a shield to block Dalian was none other than Voluntie herself.
Sepia looked at Voluntie with cold eyes.
As Voluntie had claimed, she was indeed Sepia’s biological mother.
Their blue eyes were the same color, and their facial features were also subtly similar, but this mother and daughter were not meant to walk the same path. Above all else.
“I think the Duchess is mistaken.”
“What do you mean?”
Valuntie lifted her chin.
The source of her arrogance was the confidence that came from carrying the Emperor of the Huron Empire on her back.
The present is not the past.
So the Empress of the Beastkin Empire had no intention of just sitting back and watching the insolence of the nobles of other countries.
“In some countries, it is said that when a woman becomes the mother of a nation, she cuts ties with her family. There must be a reason why she must become the mother of all people, but it is to prevent her from being tied down by blood relations and using her position for evil or being used by those close to her.”
Sepia was no longer a candidate for the Crown Princess of Huron.
So she was neither Valuntie’s shield nor her daughter, who had been rejected.
“Duchess Valuntie. Since you have advised me, I will also give you one piece of advice. Please be careful with your words and actions within the Beastkin Empire. Your actions and dignity will ultimately affect the relations between the empires.”
Sepia knows that the Emperor is behind her.
This is a warning and a line.
No matter how much she believed in the Emperor and acted arrogantly, she was only a concubine, not an absolute monarch.
So she meant that she would receive all the rudeness she committed in the Beastkin Empire from the Emperor.
Her clear blue eyes pierced through Valuntie.
Valuntie, who had been acting arrogantly and listlessly, finally began to harden her expression.
She must have realized it belatedly.
Sepia was no longer the young daughter she could exploit.
So it was already a given that she would have to bend in this situation.
“I made a slip of the tongue. I hope you will forgive me with a generous heart.”
“Welcome to the Beastkin Empire. We have prepared a palace for you, so please feel free to make yourself at home.”
There were two things in Sepia’s words.
One, she was only going to be lenient this once.
Two, Sepia’s welcome was not from her as a daughter but from her duty as an Empress, and during her stay in the Beastkin Empire, Valuntie was not her mother but a guest of another country.
“...Let’s do that. Thank you for your hospitality. It was an honor to have you take the time out of your life so late at night.”
It was a much more polite attitude than when they first met.
Although she was the Emperor’s concubine, she had also lived a long life as a Duchess. She knew better than anyone else who to bow to and when to step down. She was not just someone who wielded power, but also the wielder of power between nobles.
Valuntie stood up.
“But my advice was sincere.”
With that last word, Sepia watched Valuntie turn around.
Many thoughts came to mind as she looked at her mother, whose back remained straight even after the years had passed, but she soon decided to stop.
After Voluntie left, Sepia also left the inner palace.
It was evening when she welcomed the guest, so the garden was already covered in deep night. The lanterns hanging here and there softly illuminated the autumn garden.
It must be peace in the silence.
Sepia, who was walking down the street, straightened her posture.
'It's a little chilly.'
When she raised her collar, the cold wind seemed to blow through the gaps a little less.
Sepia stopped for a moment and looked around.
The building, not far from where she was standing, still had its lights on even at this late hour.
The building owned by the Emperor, formerly called the Ghost Palace, had been reorganized into the Second Charity Department three years ago.
As the scale of the business grew, new related departments were created underneath it, and the number of personnel increased several times, so it could no longer be handled in one palace.
The bright lights dazzled her eyes.
In front of the scenery that had changed from the past, Sepia was reminiscing about that day.
The first time she met her partner was in front of the Ghost Palace.
When she thought of him who had not stopped looking at her even when her name and memories were not complete, her heart ached faintly, and she became excited again.
It had been more than ten years since they had become a couple.
It was surprising that she could feel this excitement.
What’s more, she was even more surprised that this excitement would continue for the rest of her life.
“The weather was like this that day, too.”
As she recalled the precious memory, she felt a little less cold.
However, the cold wind was not something she could control.
Sepia was about to hurry her steps.
“It’s cold.”
The voice was low and affectionate.
A coat warmed by her body temperature was draped over Sepia’s shoulders.
At the end of the skirt, who carefully turned around, stood the person she wanted to see the most.
“Roxanne.”
They were the only two in the night garden.
In this dreamlike moment, she wanted to call his name, not his social status.
Roxanne smiled at her call.
He opened Sepia’s collar and suggested they take a walk.
“Would you like to take a walk?”
“Yea.”
They had been busy preparing for the exchange ceremony, so it was hard to spend time alone together.
The clouds had cleared, and a pure white crescent moon was floating in the clear night sky.
Sepia held his hand and walked endlessly.
It was a pleasant time just wandering around the garden without a clear destination.
However, even in the peace that had come after a long time, she could not stay still for long.
‘Empress Dalian is sick?’
To the young Sepia, the Empress of Huron seemed like an infinitely scary and insurmountable iron wall.
However, even the fearsome being could not overcome the passage of time.
The illness itself, which put her life on the line, was understandable.
Dalian had aged as much as Sepia had aged, so it was not strange for her to be sick.
What she found suspicious was the method of curing the illness.
‘Why can’t the priest cure it?’
The Huron Empire also had a priest who cured illnesses.
If Dalian had been bedridden, the Empress’s palace would have been visited by priests. She had never heard of something like this, that the Beastkin Empire had an item that could cure diseases that even priests with great powers could not cure.
Sepia looked up at the white moon and cleared her mind. After looking at Roxanne again, Sepia confessed what had happened with the Duchess earlier. Roxanne, who had listened to her story without missing a single word, seemed lost in thought for a moment before opening her mouth.
“So that’s why they proposed an exchange.”
“Yes. But the Duchess didn’t tell me what disease Empress Dalian had.”
It was as if she were hiding something on purpose. Maybe the part the Duchess had hidden would be the key to this exchange. And Roxanne seemed to think so, too.
“I heard that the healing god of the Huron Empire can literally only heal diseases and wounds.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
The god of the Huron Empire heals, while the god of the Beastkin Empire purifies. That was one of the religious differences between them. Sepia, who was recalling basic religious doctrines, made a face that said, “Is that so?”
“Perhaps it was not illness, but contact with something unclean.”
Roxanne continued with dark eyes.
“For example, something like the experiment that the former Emperor of Huron abandoned in the Beastkin Empire.”
The Duchess had deliberately kept the illness that Empress Dalian had hidden.
If the illness was revealed, she would have no choice but to bring up the experiment that the former Emperor of Huron had conducted.
The past experiments conducted in the Huron Empire were dangerous enough to lead to war between the empires.
If the previous Empress of the Beastkin Empire had been alive, things would have been different, but the current imperial family was ruled by Sepia and Roxanne.
And Roxanne was living proof of the past experiments.
“For example, something like the experiment that the former Emperor of Huron abandoned in the Beastkin Empire.”
The Duchess had deliberately kept the illness that Empress Dalian had hidden.
If the illness was revealed, she would have no choice but to bring up the experiment that the former Emperor of Huron had conducted.
The past experiments conducted in the Huron Empire were dangerous enough to lead to war between the empires.
If the previous Empress of the Beastkin Empire had been alive, things would have been different, but the current imperial family was ruled by Sepia and Roxanne.
And Roxanne was living proof of the past experiments.
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