Brisa, who had been drunk on sleeping pills, glanced at the Grand Duchess hanging down like a dead man, and nodded silently.
The woman immediately picked up the coat hanging on the wall and went outside. She took a deep breath, feeling the breath that had been blocked at that moment, and heard a rustling sound from a distance.
Lifting her eyes, Brisa was shocked to see the Grand Duchess slipping up.
The woman, who had been staring at her for a while with clear eyes, immediately lowered her legs under the bed.
Brisa, who was stiffening her body, hurriedly approached her.
"Your Highness, you must not get up. You should rest in bed until the medicine wears off..."
"Get out of the way."
Her cold voice made Brisa flinch and step back.
The Grand Duchess stood barefoot on the floor without even wearing slippers.
Brisa, who was stamping her feet at a loss, hurriedly bent down under the bed to at least take care of her shoes. At that moment. She saw the back of the Grand Duchess limping in front of the fireplace
'...Wasn't she trying to go outside?'
Brissa, who looked confused, hurriedly chased after her. She was worried that the Grand Duchess, who was weak in her legs, would fall over the flames.
"Your Highness, if it's cold, I'll prepare a hot water bottle right away. If you sit here for now..."
"It's annoying."
The woman, who pushed her hand to support her, bent down in front of the fireplace. Then she picked up the poker that was leaning next to the grate and pulled out a half-burnt wad of parchment paper from the fire.
Brisa took off her apron in fear and slammed the sizzling document.
When the embers finally died down, the Grand Duchess bent down and picked up the parchment paper.
Brisa looked at her with bewilderment as she opened and held the blackened documents in both hands and examined them carefully.
What should I do in this case?
She vaguely thought she should stop it, but she didn't know what to say.
Brisa was wandering around without being able to do this or that, but the Grand Duchess, who was scanning the mottled parchment with cold eyes, threw it back into the fire.
In an instant, the flames burned violently, turning her emaciated face red.
Brisa swallowed dryly. Her face, surrounded by lights, seemed to be burning all the time.
What the hell was written on it that made her look like that?
With curious eyes, Brisa alternately examined her frail face and the burning wad of parchment, and the woman turned around and lay on the bed.
Brisa, who was squatting, cautiously approached her side and pulled the blanket up over her shoulders. Then, suddenly, she noticed tears flowing down her face and stopped breathing.
When Brisa saw a woman crying silently, as if she had given up on everything, her heart sank.
Brisa opened her mouth in a hurry without realizing it.
"...Uh, cheer up, my lady. After a while..."
She was about to spit it out that it would be okay, but she swallowed it. It was a comfort that sounded so empty to her ears.
The Grand Duchess did not respond to those presumptuous words.
Brisa looked at her with a blank stare, but in the end, she couldn't continue to say the right words and turned her head.
***
"At this rate, war will not be avoided."
Roem Knights' elite knight, Kallias, leaned his upper body in front of the table and opened his mouth heavily
Leaning back in his chair, Barcas flipped through the report he had brought and let out a cold sigh.
"Didn't you do this with the intention of going to war?"
The man, noticing the ridicule in his voice, blushed and defended the Emperor.
"His Majesty has done his best to mediate the conflict."
Barcas didn't respond.
Perhaps interpreting his silence as a denial, the man continued in a somewhat agitated tone.
"Isn't Lord Sheerkhan well aware of the polarity of the members of the Imperial Council? Conservative lawmakers do not want the current order to be disrupted. On the other hand, hardliners say that the dignity of the imperial family and the authority of the empire must be established, and they put on their necks. His Majesty has tried to accept the voices of both sides."
"As a result, I was forced into a situation that was neither here nor there."
The man was about to retort with a stiff face, but soon his shoulders drooped, and his messy hair was raised.
"Isn't politics like that? They only chase their own cause and face, and then give their dog a hard time."
Barcas turned the last page of the report without agreeing or denying it.
It took quite a while to read it because the field of view was obscured as if it had been covered with a hazy curtain, but it was not difficult to grasp the outline of the content.
The key points of the report were clear. It was the fact that the behind-the-scenes work he had been doing last winter was on the verge of being in vain.
Barcas calmly accepted the fact and put down the bundle of reports he was holding on the desk.
Throughout the winter, he mobilized all his connections in the Sheerkan family to recruit members of the Northern League individually. It was to isolate the Heimdall family, who were at the center of the rebellion, from the north.
However, the imperial family launched a large-scale restraint on the rebellion, and Balto began to unite again. The hasty military threat heightened their sense of crisis.
"As written in the report, the northern nobles that you have appeased have already begun to withdraw. Those who do not are also afraid that they will be treated as traitors to the nation, and they are sacrificing themselves. If we leave it like this, there will really be a rebellion."
"Then, we should suppress it. Is there anything else?"
Barcas, who let out a tired sigh, stood up from his chair and added.
"Tell His Majesty that we must first march to Amasek before the North moves. The sooner the time comes, the better."
At that calm response, not only Kallias, but also the vassals in the conference room looked puzzled.
The knight hurriedly stopped Barcas from trying to end the conversation unilaterally.
"I came to ask you to negotiate with the Heimdal family in person. Some members of the Northern League are still neutral. If we cooperate with them and put pressure on the Duke family, we can take care of it now...!"
"The line of turning back has already passed."
Barcas spat dryly.
"His Majesty ignored my advice and gathered the Imperial army all the way to Severon. Don't you know that this area is the main granary area in the north? Did you threaten to take away food from hungry beasts and expect them not to bite?"
"Sir! Please be polite. It is unacceptable for you to use such disrespectful words against His Majesty the Emperor...!"
"Your Excellency."
Barcas cut off coldly.
"I am no longer the Roem Knights, but the Grand Duke of Sheerkhan. You are the one who should be respected."
The man's face turned pale and tired.
Barcas, who had been watching him silently, said in a calm tone.
"I'll give you a room, so take the telegram back after getting enough rest."
"What do you say on the telegram..."
"I am thinking of sending an additional three thousand cavalry to the Bertha Plain to help suppress the rebellion... Is there any problem?"
The man jumped up from his seat with a puzzled face.
"If there is a war, Your Excellency... I hope that Your Excellency will take over as Commander-in-Chief."
"I should add one more line to ask you to reap that wish."
Barcas, who added dryly, stepped towards the entrance of the conference room.
Kallias quickly stood in his way.
"What are you going to answer the telegram sent by His Majesty?"
Barcas looked back at him with a cold face.
In his water-filled mind, it suddenly occurred to him that this man was an avid follower of Ayla Roem Guerta. Come to think of it, he had even presumptuously argued about his decision to marry Thalia.
This time, too, the man seemed to have forgotten his place. The man, who raised his chin high as if he had to listen to the answer, continued to speak.
"His Majesty has said that you will write a divorce certificate as much as you want. It was wrong to force such an unfair marriage in the first place..."
"It seems that His Majesty the Emperor treated my marriage as a joke."
It was a voice that sounded creepy to his ears.
As if he felt an instinctive threat, the man took a step back. Following the figure with his eyes, Barcas continued slowly.
"You seem to be curious, so I'll answer you kindly. I have no intention to inform His Majesty of this."
Barcas, who stretched out his arms behind the man and leaned on the pillar, muttered softly in front of the knight.
"I cannot throw away my wife like someone else would throw away old shoes, so please don't pay attention to this disloyal servant's family affairs."
The knight's face turned blue.
Barcas, who tapped his pale cheek a couple of times with his palm, softly replied.
"Are your doubts resolved now?"
The man, who was staring at him with a stern face, bit his lip and lowered his eyes.
Barcas, who had been quietly looking down at the scene, leisurely left the conference room.
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