Episode 64. Grayon's Anxiety
"I had no life."
"..."
Locard's expression became heavy.
"You bastard. Don't admit it. You should say no when that happens."
"Would that make you feel better?"
"..."
After Lorisha, who had been like a frightened rabbit, left, Grayon looked back on his past.
Just as the Empress despised Milliora, Orl despised Grayon.
Milliora only followed Grayon because she felt a sense of kinship with the victim, and there had never been any family affection in the imperial family.
The Emperor was just an observer looking into the fishbowl they all were in.
If the war had not broken out and Orl had not gotten sick, it would have been he, not Milliora, who had been threatened not to show off at today's competition.
Up until now, his day had been filled with nothing but anxiety about survival. But today, the terrified bastard was constantly spouting out stories he didn't know.
Their own lives, their satisfaction.
In the past, I would have ignored it, saying, “What would an illegitimate child know? ”
But now that he had been to the Tunbar Mountains, it wasn’t like that. Earlier, Lorisha didn’t seem to have even the slightest interest in the palace or the maid’s position. She wiggled her buttocks as if there were good things outside, wanting to go out right now.
‘Am I risking everything to take over the palace that even illegitimate children wouldn’t covet...?’
As time passed, an inexplicable sense of defeat came over him.
However, that wasn’t why Grayon had called Locard.
He realized this as he chewed on the unknown emotions that Lorisha had unintentionally thrown at him. Grayon had never wanted to be the Emperor. He was only trying to take that position because he could survive only by becoming the Emperor.
An illegitimate child who dared to sympathize with the royal family and talk about the meaning of life.
He could never admit that he was jealous of the vitality of life that she exuded.
That’s why the alcohol went down his throat easily.
Those eyes. Even though she was terrified, Lorisha Loire’s eyes still had a transparent light.
That must be why Locard didn’t want to let her go.
But it was a good thing for him.
If he had crushed that strange feeling, he might have felt better tonight.
He felt his mouth dry with evil regret.
“I didn’t ask her what she was going to do after leaving the palace. It was the first time I heard that there was a life outside the palace.”
Grayon realized that he had spoken his thoughts out loud as he looked at Locard’s cold gaze on him.
Locard’s voice, soaking the darkness, was dry.
“Your Highness doesn’t have one.”
That was the truth. Now that he was in opposition to Orl, he had only one choice. Become the master of the palace, or be buried outside the palace.
If only he could be buried with his head and body together. There was no life outside the palace for him.
“You cruel bastard.”
Locard said plainly in response to Grayon’s rebuke.
“Your Highness, the bastard you ignored has shaken you up with just one meal. Wow.”
Grayon said, sounding angry.
“Will I be swayed every time?”
“I hope not. If you are my lord.”
Locard was smiling, and his voice was soft. However, Grayon suddenly came to his senses as if he had been hit with cold water.
Anyone who wants to become an Emperor must gain the recognition of the one who will make him Emperor. That is the kind of deal that ordinary people do not know well.
Grayon suddenly grabbed Locard by the collar. Their noses touched each other’s noses, and he said fiercely.
“Locard. I want loyalty. Only loyalty. So don’t like me. So that I can kill you whenever I want. If you ever feel pity for me, I will cut off your head.”
“...”
“No, if I am in a position to feel pity, come and see my head. Locard.”
Those were the words that made Locard Kydel feel pity for Prince Grayon.
But he lowered his eyes, hiding his feelings.
“I will gladly do so, Your Highness.”
“Ha... Yes. Yes.”
He didn’t even pretend to hesitate a bit. His answer was so resolute that Grayon snorted in absurdity.
“The competition?”
“We must return the iron supply rights to those who will become Your Highness’s forces. What I am currently contemplating is how to carry out this without revealing my intentions to His Majesty.”
In fact, today’s banquet at Locard was also a place to check the movements of the nobles. Who needs what, where their hearts are inclined.
Grayon stared at Locard, not understanding what he was saying right away.
“Those who will become my forces? ...Are you saying that you will shake the iron with bait? To see if there are any who move there.”
“That’s more or less it. I am letting them know that I have a gift for them if they side with Your Highness.”
“...”
Grayon leaned back and slumped. As the tension eased, his intoxication suddenly rose.
He thought that he would seize the opportunity to win this competition as well. This time, Locard would push him halfway to the throne of the Emperor.
“What do you think?”
“I will try to turn it into domestic affairs. Because the interests of Her Majesty the Empress and the allied families are at stake.”
Grayon muttered absentmindedly.
“What will he call that illegitimate child...”
Locard’s eyes became strangely cold. It wasn’t because of the title of illegitimate child.
Why did Grayon think of her when he was talking about the conflict between the great powers of the empire?
But Locard answered calmly.
“She will probably come up with a beautiful answer. A classic, ideal answer.”
Grayon looked at Locard with a frown, as if he were drunk and not thinking straight.
“I figured it out by looking at the books she’s reading now, the order in which she reads them, and which one she spends the most time reading.”
Locard seemed briefly excited as he spoke.
“She has no reason to care about Her Highness’s political interests. So she’ll come out with a fair argument. Just enough so that it doesn’t provoke His Highness the Prince.”
Grayon felt a little disgusted.
If that guy had that much free time, what was I doing calling her and scaring her?
“If you were going to find out just by looking at the titles of the books, you wouldn’t have had to stay with her for days.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The servants gossiped about the two of you sitting across from each other all day, didn’t you know?”
“I didn’t say that because the servants were gossiping.”
Locard was a little surprised to hear that he had been with Lorisha for days, but thinking back, it was true.
However, he couldn’t say, ‘If she had entered the Academy according to her abilities, we would have had that kind of routine.’
“I’ll bring the list tomorrow afternoon. Choose the people you want to negotiate with in the future. So, sleep well tonight, Your Highness.”
“Yes, Locard.”
Only then did Grayon go to bed, as if he were drunk.
***
Bang, bang.
While I was in my room, I heard a light knock on the window.
“Is he crazy?”
I looked out the window and saw Prince Kydel throwing rocks at my window.
I was startled by what this man was doing in broad daylight, and when our eyes met, he waved for me to come down and headed toward the backyard.
I ran down quickly.
When I got to the backyard, he said very pretentiously,
“Oh, we met by chance.”
“Ha... Yes. That’s right. We met by chance.”
I laughed in vain, as I was dumbfounded.
Then I approached him and spoke lowly and quickly.
“What are you doing? What are you going to do if someone sees you?”
“Lady Loire will thank me in a minute.”
I was speechless at how shameless his tone was.
He seemed to enjoy provoking me like this, but I couldn’t keep up with him.
“What should I do if you’re annoyed right now, Prince?”
“Agael’s envoy is currently meeting with His Majesty at the main palace.”
“...Agael?”
“Agael wants to export iron ore.”
“...”
Various thoughts flashed through my head.
Agael was demanding iron ore from an empire that was practically an enemy.
It had to be because the deal with Smailan, with whom they had relatively friendly diplomatic relations, had fallen through.
Now, the issue of the competition had to change to how to deal with this issue.
Prince Kydel, who had been staring at me, smirked.
“How about it, thank you?”
I was momentarily confused.
Really, what was this man’s true intention?
“Why are you telling me this information?”
“I enjoy seeing you flustered.”
“...”
I kept my mouth shut, but eventually I couldn’t hold it in and shouted as quietly as I could.
“It was your fault, my lord, that I had to change the answers that took me days to organize!”
His eyes widened.
“Why is it my fault, Miss Loire? Shouldn’t you be grateful for the information?”
“Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it, but if Your Excellency hadn’t done that (annihilated the pirates), there would have been no reason to refuse that (trade) there (in Smailan) and that (with Agael)!”
“T, that’s...”
Prince Kydel made a stinging expression, but I didn’t give him any consideration.
“Because of Your Excellency, it became like that (Agael no longer needed to deploy warships for the iron ore trade), so there was no need to do that there (in Smailan) either (to have other export ships escort the iron ore warships). Even if we left it alone, free maritime trade would have occurred, so the profit from bundling would have disappeared!”
“That’s...”
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