Pecilini's eyes began to wander, but her mind remained fixed.
There was no way she'd stopped by in passing.
There was even less chance she'd stopped by to spend the night with him.
'Then, by any chance...'
Just as Pecilini was thinking of Prince Tesla, Linel, who had been observing her changing expression, struck first.
"What is your relationship with Prince Tesla?"
He muttered to himself, and Pecilini unconsciously covered her stomach with both hands, adopting a defensive stance.
However, Linel, completely unaware of her pregnancy, assumed she was simply cowering in fear.
So he spoke more gently, soothingly.
"Even if the Emperor is said to be obsessed with one woman, Pecilini, you are undoubtedly the Emperor's concubine. And yet, you secretly met a foreign Prince. And one who was imprisoned at that."
"!"
"How did you know?!?"
Pesilini felt like fainting. She had so many secrets, but she lacked the courage to deal with them.
If it weren't for the child in her womb, she would have lost consciousness in the Empress's reception room earlier.
Being questioned by Roxana and Linel, he felt as if her soul was being ripped out.
"You've known each other for a long time? Since your family owns the largest merchant group in the Lapion Empire, you've been traveling with the Marquis to various countries since childhood, right? The Kingdom of Shattonil, close to the Empire, must have been a frequent visitor... and since you were treated well and stayed at the royal court, it's only natural that you would have been connected to Prince Tesla, too."
"Yes, Your Majesty,"
Pesilini admitted meekly after catching her breath.
The Emperor seemed to know everything and was asking questions.
Trying to evade seemed futile.
"You must be close, aren't you? Considering you even bribed the guard who guided you."
He pulled a small silk pouch from his uniform pocket.
“I don’t need to take out the diamonds inside, do I?”
Linel asked, shaking the pouch.
“How did you know that?!?”
The Emperor seemed certain from the beginning that someone would approach Prince Tesla, and had laid a trap in advance.
Unaware of this, she felt insignificant, having spent a fortune to bribe the guards in the spire.
“I’m not the Emperor for nothing. I was so complacent..."
Pesilini was practically resigned.
She couldn’t deny her special connection to Prince Tesla.
“Pesilini. You know what Prince Tesla committed against whom, don’t you?”
“Yes...”
“Then let me hear the reason.”
His order was given.
Pesilini raised his head and looked at him.
Seeing the Emperor’s face, he couldn’t lie.
He exuded a different kind of authority than when she had faced Roxana.
'Yes, Your Majesty is my lifeline. This might be my last chance to save my life and the child's life!'
Prince Tesla's position was precarious, and Roxana didn't quite trust her.
"Your Majesty! But I have a condition!"
Pecilini pleaded, kneeling at her feet.
"You dare to bargain with me?"
His indifferent voice was laced with oppression.
"No, I simply wish to survive. Your Majesty, please have pity on me!"
Pecilini finally began to weep.
"There is something there."
Linel looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
He lowered himself and helped Pecilini back to her feet.
"Very well, I promise. I will guarantee your life."
"I, I want to save one more life... besides mine."
"Are you referring to Prince Tesla?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Then... whose life are you referring to?"
Linel's expression hardened.
Pecilini spoke with a solemn expression to the man who was looking at her questioningly.
"It's my child's life."
At the back door of the spire, where they had arrived on horseback, Hetor's men were already waiting for them.
Hetor dismounted first and asked his men,
"Commander Macrom."
"Not yet. But you must hurry."
Hetor's men opened the back door with a nervous expression, bowed their heads, and spoke again.
“I’ll show you.”
Hetor followed his subordinate, escorting Roxana.
“This is the place.”
Hetor’s subordinate, who had led Roxana to the spire’s basement, slipped a pouch of gold coins to the guard guarding the iron gate. The guard quickly put the pouch in his back pocket and opened the gate as if nothing had happened.
It was the same guard who had received the diamond from Pecilini.
This time, he had pretended to accept a bribe, but in reality, he was not a simple guard but one of Commander Macrom’s subordinates.
The two entered the prison, and their eyes met with Prince Tesla, who was lying face down on the bed.
“Your Majesty, I’ve been waiting for you!”
Prince Tesla, with a relieved expression, rose and bowed politely.
However, Roxana was momentarily lost for words when she saw Prince Tesla’s face. Not only had his appearance changed drastically in the past few days, but his pronunciation sounded terribly unnatural.
“It’s the work of Emperor Linel.”
Prince Tesla raised his upper lip slightly and growled.
“Ugh!”
Shr had known this beforehand from Hetor, but seeing it in person was even more miserable and amusing.
Roxana, unable to control her expression, met Hetor’s gaze.
Even Hetor, who was always expressionless, couldn’t help but twitch his face at the sight of Prince Tesla’s toothless face.
“He is a far more vicious man than Your Majesty the Empress knows.”
Prince Tesla didn’t mention losing his ability to conceive.
However, Roxana’s gaze had already fallen on the hospital gown Prince Tesla was wearing.
She already knew that Prince Tesla had become a eunuch.
“Linel gave orders to Commander Macrom, didn’t he?”
Roxana, who couldn’t have known that it was Commander Macrom’s small revenge on Bonis, had laughed heartily upon hearing the news, accusing Linel of taking out his complex on Prince Tesla.
“I don’t have time, so I’ll just ask one thing.”
Roxana wiped away her embarrassed expression and spoke seriously.
He was smiling on the outside, but inside, he despised Roxana.
Roxana was no different.
“When the trial begins in earnest, we cannot avoid mentioning the Avatar Sword. If we can just find the Avatar Sword stolen from Zelda’s residence, the Prince’s charge of attempted murder will be significantly reduced.”
Prince Tesla’s face brightened at Roxana’s words.
“Please, I beg you to make that happen! Although my plan to return the Avatar Sword to Your Majesty the Empress failed, I believe you will at least consider my loyalty!”
“I like loyalty,”
Roxana snorted inwardly.
If he had taken the Incarnation Sword from Zelda's residence, Prince Tesla would have returned to the Kingdom of Shattonil immediately.
Even if Princess Resilia was held hostage in the Empress's Palace.
"Of course. We're already on the same boat. Therefore, Your Majesty, you must clearly assert that the Incarnation Sword is in Zelda's residence. Only then will we have a justification to search the residence."
"Don't worry, Your Highness."
"Oh, and before the trial, I will arrange for Princess Resilia to return to her villa."
“I would like to thank you once again, Your Majesty, for your generosity.”
Prince Tesla lowered his head, his lips furtively lowering.
“Making a fuss out of something so obvious... dammit.”
“I should be going now. I’ll see you on the day of the trial.”
Roxana wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.
“Yes, until then, please keep Zelda’s quarters under closer surveillance.”
“Of course, they won’t be able to sneak even a knife out.”
Knock knock.
A knock outside the window opened my eyes.
I must have dozed off while watching Sharon knitting in a chair, leaning back against the headboard after her bath.
“It’s Moiya and Moni,”
Sharon smiled as she opened the window.
“Welcome. By the way, did you two fight? What’s with your expressions?”
Both of them sat down on my thighs with sullen faces.
“There are other people who should fight, Moiya~.”
“Ah! It looks like they’re going to have a huge fight, Moni~.”
“Who and who?”
Sharon asked, sitting back down in her chair and beginning to knit.
The two moist eyes were fixed on me.
"How should I convey this tremendous message to my master..."
Moiya began in an uncharacteristically cautious voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I met His Majesty on the way here, Moni~"
Moni answered for Moiya, who was hesitating.
"Why, His Majesty can't come here?"
"No, not yet... I don't know."
Not yet?
Moiya's answer was strangely strange.
I tilted my head to look at him, and Moiya cleared his throat and carefully opened his mouth.
"We saw something strange a little while ago, didn't we, Moiya..."
"What did you see?"
"Our handsome His Majesty... is with Pecilini, Moni!"
Moni clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, as if she couldn't bear it any longer.
"Yes? Does that mean His Majesty himself went to Pecilini's quarters?"
It was unbelievable even to hear it.
Linel is going to another concubine's quarters?
“Is something wrong with Pecilini’s health?”
Perhaps she had been gagging and coughing violently at the banquet, and had heard bad things from Roxana’s doctor?
“I think so too.”
Sharon nodded in agreement to my mumbling, but a look of anxiety flashed across her face.
“Oh? Judging by the fact that the servants in Pecilini’s quarters are so full of energy and are spreading rumors to the servants in the other concubines’ quarters, I don’t think it’s a health issue.”
Moiya sighed deeply.
“Is Pecilini pregnant too? Then I guess we’ll have to give up tonight. What should we do?”
I was the only one laughing at my joke.
Sharon’s face hardened like a statue, and Moiya and Moni’s expressions were also unusual.
“There must be a reason.”
“Oh! But Master, what’s in it? Is there a reason?”
Moni blinked and asked.
Only then did I realize I was clenching my fist.
“Ow? Master, your molars are clenched too, aren’t they, Moiya~?”
Moiya flew over to my shoulder and stroked my chin.
I laughed heartily, my mouth wide open, and my jaw moved back and forth.
Honestly, it felt a little strange.
But I was sure he would open my bedroom door with a friendly smile again tonight.
His sudden visit to Pecilini’s quarters was unexpected, but it didn’t make me feel uneasy or offended.
“Were you talking about me?”
Linel asked with a smile, leaning against the bedroom door.
“Your Majesty!”
Sharon looked down in shock at his ghostly, silent appearance.
“I thought you only mate with my master! You’re really trying to disappoint me, Moni~”
Moni shouted in a pouty voice, and he frowned.
“That’s right. I came to do that... What’s the problem?”
Linel stared intently at me and asked Moni.
Moiya then grabbed Moni by the back of her neck and whispered,
"Don't worry about that. That body can't mate anywhere else."
He flew out the window again.
Sharon also closed the bedroom door and left, leaving us alone in the bedroom.
"Where are you coming from?"
I asked, as if I were sneaking a peek at him.
“Are you asking knowingly because you’re annoyed?”
“You didn’t come here to get annoyed, did you?”
Strange.
My tone kept twisting, unintentionally.
Linel’s lips curled up strangely, a smile forming in his eyes.
Had he been showing Pecilini that smile tonight?
The more he smiled affectionately, the more his face gleamed and shone in the dark night, the more jealousy showed in my tone.
“You’re coming from Pecilini’s quarters, right?”
I finally asked outright.
Annoyingly, he just nodded.
Seeing that, I felt a pang in my stomach.
“Why...why did you go there?”
My voice blurted out.
“It’s a business secret, so I can’t tell you.”
“...Since when did it become confidential?”
My nostrils flared as resentment and annoyance mixed.
“From the moment you opened your flounder eyes and glared at me.”
Linel sat down on the bed, grinning broadly, and suddenly a soft kiss brushed past my lips.
“Ugh, what are you doing, all of a sudden?”
I pushed his shoulder away with a pouty face.
“Why don’t you cool off first? Our baby is stressed because you’re angry, right? Yes?”
“Honey, I’m fine. It’s just that your father went out with another woman.”
I looked down, rubbing my stomach as I spoke.
He rubbed my stomach in return,
“Honey, don’t get me wrong. I’ve never done anything like this to another woman.”
He whispered, biting my lower lip.
There was no way she'd stopped by in passing.
There was even less chance she'd stopped by to spend the night with him.
'Then, by any chance...'
Just as Pecilini was thinking of Prince Tesla, Linel, who had been observing her changing expression, struck first.
"What is your relationship with Prince Tesla?"
He muttered to himself, and Pecilini unconsciously covered her stomach with both hands, adopting a defensive stance.
However, Linel, completely unaware of her pregnancy, assumed she was simply cowering in fear.
So he spoke more gently, soothingly.
"Even if the Emperor is said to be obsessed with one woman, Pecilini, you are undoubtedly the Emperor's concubine. And yet, you secretly met a foreign Prince. And one who was imprisoned at that."
"!"
"How did you know?!?"
Pesilini felt like fainting. She had so many secrets, but she lacked the courage to deal with them.
If it weren't for the child in her womb, she would have lost consciousness in the Empress's reception room earlier.
Being questioned by Roxana and Linel, he felt as if her soul was being ripped out.
"You've known each other for a long time? Since your family owns the largest merchant group in the Lapion Empire, you've been traveling with the Marquis to various countries since childhood, right? The Kingdom of Shattonil, close to the Empire, must have been a frequent visitor... and since you were treated well and stayed at the royal court, it's only natural that you would have been connected to Prince Tesla, too."
"Yes, Your Majesty,"
Pesilini admitted meekly after catching her breath.
The Emperor seemed to know everything and was asking questions.
Trying to evade seemed futile.
"You must be close, aren't you? Considering you even bribed the guard who guided you."
He pulled a small silk pouch from his uniform pocket.
“I don’t need to take out the diamonds inside, do I?”
Linel asked, shaking the pouch.
“How did you know that?!?”
The Emperor seemed certain from the beginning that someone would approach Prince Tesla, and had laid a trap in advance.
Unaware of this, she felt insignificant, having spent a fortune to bribe the guards in the spire.
“I’m not the Emperor for nothing. I was so complacent..."
Pesilini was practically resigned.
She couldn’t deny her special connection to Prince Tesla.
“Pesilini. You know what Prince Tesla committed against whom, don’t you?”
“Yes...”
“Then let me hear the reason.”
His order was given.
Pesilini raised his head and looked at him.
Seeing the Emperor’s face, he couldn’t lie.
He exuded a different kind of authority than when she had faced Roxana.
'Yes, Your Majesty is my lifeline. This might be my last chance to save my life and the child's life!'
Prince Tesla's position was precarious, and Roxana didn't quite trust her.
"Your Majesty! But I have a condition!"
Pecilini pleaded, kneeling at her feet.
"You dare to bargain with me?"
His indifferent voice was laced with oppression.
"No, I simply wish to survive. Your Majesty, please have pity on me!"
Pecilini finally began to weep.
"There is something there."
Linel looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
He lowered himself and helped Pecilini back to her feet.
"Very well, I promise. I will guarantee your life."
"I, I want to save one more life... besides mine."
"Are you referring to Prince Tesla?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Then... whose life are you referring to?"
Linel's expression hardened.
Pecilini spoke with a solemn expression to the man who was looking at her questioningly.
"It's my child's life."
***
At the back door of the spire, where they had arrived on horseback, Hetor's men were already waiting for them.
Hetor dismounted first and asked his men,
"Commander Macrom."
"Not yet. But you must hurry."
Hetor's men opened the back door with a nervous expression, bowed their heads, and spoke again.
“I’ll show you.”
Hetor followed his subordinate, escorting Roxana.
“This is the place.”
Hetor’s subordinate, who had led Roxana to the spire’s basement, slipped a pouch of gold coins to the guard guarding the iron gate. The guard quickly put the pouch in his back pocket and opened the gate as if nothing had happened.
It was the same guard who had received the diamond from Pecilini.
This time, he had pretended to accept a bribe, but in reality, he was not a simple guard but one of Commander Macrom’s subordinates.
The two entered the prison, and their eyes met with Prince Tesla, who was lying face down on the bed.
“Your Majesty, I’ve been waiting for you!”
Prince Tesla, with a relieved expression, rose and bowed politely.
However, Roxana was momentarily lost for words when she saw Prince Tesla’s face. Not only had his appearance changed drastically in the past few days, but his pronunciation sounded terribly unnatural.
“It’s the work of Emperor Linel.”
Prince Tesla raised his upper lip slightly and growled.
“Ugh!”
Shr had known this beforehand from Hetor, but seeing it in person was even more miserable and amusing.
Roxana, unable to control her expression, met Hetor’s gaze.
Even Hetor, who was always expressionless, couldn’t help but twitch his face at the sight of Prince Tesla’s toothless face.
“He is a far more vicious man than Your Majesty the Empress knows.”
Prince Tesla didn’t mention losing his ability to conceive.
However, Roxana’s gaze had already fallen on the hospital gown Prince Tesla was wearing.
She already knew that Prince Tesla had become a eunuch.
“Linel gave orders to Commander Macrom, didn’t he?”
Roxana, who couldn’t have known that it was Commander Macrom’s small revenge on Bonis, had laughed heartily upon hearing the news, accusing Linel of taking out his complex on Prince Tesla.
“I don’t have time, so I’ll just ask one thing.”
Roxana wiped away her embarrassed expression and spoke seriously.
“Yes, you came because of the Incarnation Sword.”
Prince Tesla said, chuckling.
Perhaps because he was missing teeth, his image was noticeably more vulgar than before.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t see the wyvern egg that day.”
“So, you’re saying the Incarnation Sword... is in Zelda’s possession? Are you sure?!”
“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes. And she even stabbed that woman in the heart with the Incarnation Sword! I don’t know how she survived, but...”
“What are you talking about? I heard she bled a little, but the wound wasn’t deep. And she looked fine to me, too.”
“Huh? That can’t be...? I clearly felt the Incarnation Sword go into her heart!”
Prince Tesla shook his palms excitedly.
'After losing his reproductive function, didn’t he also lose his reason?'
Roxana instinctively distanced herself from Prince Tesla.
There seemed to be no need for a long conversation.
“Anyway, you’re sure Zelda has the Incarnation Sword, right?”
That was all she wanted to know.
“Of course! But, isn’t it possible that it has already been smuggled somewhere else?”
Prince Tesla asked with an anxious look.
“That can’t be true. Since Zelda moved into that residence, we’ve been closely monitoring everything that comes and goes there.”
“Hahaha! As expected, Your Majesty, the Empress is so thorough.”
Prince Tesla said, chuckling.
Perhaps because he was missing teeth, his image was noticeably more vulgar than before.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t see the wyvern egg that day.”
“So, you’re saying the Incarnation Sword... is in Zelda’s possession? Are you sure?!”
“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes. And she even stabbed that woman in the heart with the Incarnation Sword! I don’t know how she survived, but...”
“What are you talking about? I heard she bled a little, but the wound wasn’t deep. And she looked fine to me, too.”
“Huh? That can’t be...? I clearly felt the Incarnation Sword go into her heart!”
Prince Tesla shook his palms excitedly.
'After losing his reproductive function, didn’t he also lose his reason?'
Roxana instinctively distanced herself from Prince Tesla.
There seemed to be no need for a long conversation.
“Anyway, you’re sure Zelda has the Incarnation Sword, right?”
That was all she wanted to know.
“Of course! But, isn’t it possible that it has already been smuggled somewhere else?”
Prince Tesla asked with an anxious look.
“That can’t be true. Since Zelda moved into that residence, we’ve been closely monitoring everything that comes and goes there.”
“Hahaha! As expected, Your Majesty, the Empress is so thorough.”
That vicious woman.
He was smiling on the outside, but inside, he despised Roxana.
Roxana was no different.
“When the trial begins in earnest, we cannot avoid mentioning the Avatar Sword. If we can just find the Avatar Sword stolen from Zelda’s residence, the Prince’s charge of attempted murder will be significantly reduced.”
Prince Tesla’s face brightened at Roxana’s words.
“Please, I beg you to make that happen! Although my plan to return the Avatar Sword to Your Majesty the Empress failed, I believe you will at least consider my loyalty!”
“I like loyalty,”
Roxana snorted inwardly.
If he had taken the Incarnation Sword from Zelda's residence, Prince Tesla would have returned to the Kingdom of Shattonil immediately.
Even if Princess Resilia was held hostage in the Empress's Palace.
"Of course. We're already on the same boat. Therefore, Your Majesty, you must clearly assert that the Incarnation Sword is in Zelda's residence. Only then will we have a justification to search the residence."
"Don't worry, Your Highness."
"Oh, and before the trial, I will arrange for Princess Resilia to return to her villa."
“I would like to thank you once again, Your Majesty, for your generosity.”
Prince Tesla lowered his head, his lips furtively lowering.
“Making a fuss out of something so obvious... dammit.”
“I should be going now. I’ll see you on the day of the trial.”
Roxana wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.
“Yes, until then, please keep Zelda’s quarters under closer surveillance.”
“Of course, they won’t be able to sneak even a knife out.”
***
Knock knock.
A knock outside the window opened my eyes.
I must have dozed off while watching Sharon knitting in a chair, leaning back against the headboard after her bath.
“It’s Moiya and Moni,”
Sharon smiled as she opened the window.
“Welcome. By the way, did you two fight? What’s with your expressions?”
Both of them sat down on my thighs with sullen faces.
“There are other people who should fight, Moiya~.”
“Ah! It looks like they’re going to have a huge fight, Moni~.”
“Who and who?”
Sharon asked, sitting back down in her chair and beginning to knit.
The two moist eyes were fixed on me.
"How should I convey this tremendous message to my master..."
Moiya began in an uncharacteristically cautious voice.
"What do you mean?"
"I met His Majesty on the way here, Moni~"
Moni answered for Moiya, who was hesitating.
"Why, His Majesty can't come here?"
"No, not yet... I don't know."
Not yet?
Moiya's answer was strangely strange.
I tilted my head to look at him, and Moiya cleared his throat and carefully opened his mouth.
"We saw something strange a little while ago, didn't we, Moiya..."
"What did you see?"
"Our handsome His Majesty... is with Pecilini, Moni!"
Moni clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, as if she couldn't bear it any longer.
"Yes? Does that mean His Majesty himself went to Pecilini's quarters?"
It was unbelievable even to hear it.
Linel is going to another concubine's quarters?
“Is something wrong with Pecilini’s health?”
Perhaps she had been gagging and coughing violently at the banquet, and had heard bad things from Roxana’s doctor?
“I think so too.”
Sharon nodded in agreement to my mumbling, but a look of anxiety flashed across her face.
“Oh? Judging by the fact that the servants in Pecilini’s quarters are so full of energy and are spreading rumors to the servants in the other concubines’ quarters, I don’t think it’s a health issue.”
Moiya sighed deeply.
“Is Pecilini pregnant too? Then I guess we’ll have to give up tonight. What should we do?”
I was the only one laughing at my joke.
Sharon’s face hardened like a statue, and Moiya and Moni’s expressions were also unusual.
“There must be a reason.”
“Oh! But Master, what’s in it? Is there a reason?”
Moni blinked and asked.
Only then did I realize I was clenching my fist.
“Ow? Master, your molars are clenched too, aren’t they, Moiya~?”
Moiya flew over to my shoulder and stroked my chin.
I laughed heartily, my mouth wide open, and my jaw moved back and forth.
Honestly, it felt a little strange.
But I was sure he would open my bedroom door with a friendly smile again tonight.
His sudden visit to Pecilini’s quarters was unexpected, but it didn’t make me feel uneasy or offended.
“Were you talking about me?”
Linel asked with a smile, leaning against the bedroom door.
“Your Majesty!”
Sharon looked down in shock at his ghostly, silent appearance.
“I thought you only mate with my master! You’re really trying to disappoint me, Moni~”
Moni shouted in a pouty voice, and he frowned.
“That’s right. I came to do that... What’s the problem?”
Linel stared intently at me and asked Moni.
Moiya then grabbed Moni by the back of her neck and whispered,
"Don't worry about that. That body can't mate anywhere else."
He flew out the window again.
Sharon also closed the bedroom door and left, leaving us alone in the bedroom.
"Where are you coming from?"
I asked, as if I were sneaking a peek at him.
“Are you asking knowingly because you’re annoyed?”
“You didn’t come here to get annoyed, did you?”
Strange.
My tone kept twisting, unintentionally.
Linel’s lips curled up strangely, a smile forming in his eyes.
Had he been showing Pecilini that smile tonight?
The more he smiled affectionately, the more his face gleamed and shone in the dark night, the more jealousy showed in my tone.
“You’re coming from Pecilini’s quarters, right?”
I finally asked outright.
Annoyingly, he just nodded.
Seeing that, I felt a pang in my stomach.
“Why...why did you go there?”
My voice blurted out.
“It’s a business secret, so I can’t tell you.”
“...Since when did it become confidential?”
My nostrils flared as resentment and annoyance mixed.
“From the moment you opened your flounder eyes and glared at me.”
Linel sat down on the bed, grinning broadly, and suddenly a soft kiss brushed past my lips.
“Ugh, what are you doing, all of a sudden?”
I pushed his shoulder away with a pouty face.
“Why don’t you cool off first? Our baby is stressed because you’re angry, right? Yes?”
“Honey, I’m fine. It’s just that your father went out with another woman.”
I looked down, rubbing my stomach as I spoke.
He rubbed my stomach in return,
“Honey, don’t get me wrong. I’ve never done anything like this to another woman.”
He whispered, biting my lower lip.
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