That's right. That dog collar I bought at auction for 500 million won!
The previous owner was a Pomeranian, so it was very small; it seemed like it would fit Eve as well.
"It's also the exact same color as the Princess's eyes."
"Little Asha..."
Amira stared at me intently for a moment with a moved look on her face.
Then, she suddenly hugged me tightly as I was holding the necklace.
"Oh."
Amira rubbed her forehead against my shoulder, startled that I might drop the necklace.
"Thank you. Eve will like it."
I simply stroked Amira's back gently, like a small animal.
Amira, who had fallen away soon after, received the necklace with care.
After saying goodbye, Amira soon got into the carriage.
So she left.
***
A few days later, Carcel approached me as I was busy getting ready to go out.
"Asha. I brought what I mentioned back then."
“Already?”
"It took me more time to review the entire Empire's personnel register just in case."
I can hear the sound of the lower classes being ground up.
For some reason, feeling guilty towards them, I accepted the documents from Carcel.
"Quite a lot of people are from Siertra."
I muttered as I set the documents I had examined down to the side.
Then Carcel asked me.
"Does Asha happen to know about the history of the Empire?"
“Approximately.”
Actually, I also read history books recently while helping Linea with her studies.
Unlike the citizens of the Empire who naturally encounter the history of their ancestors, I had to study anew to understand their values!
"What I know is that the Empire was founded about 350 years ago, and the current Emperor is the 16th?"
"That is correct."
Carcel chuckled softly, perhaps because I had even raised my index finger as if answering a quiz. Then, he continued with a brief explanation to me.
"If the title of Elion II, the 14th Emperor, was the Monarch of Dawn, then the 15th Emperor, Kairon the Great, is called the Monarch of Eternity, as Asha knows."
"Okay."
I mean the current Emperor's father, who waged wars of conquest.
Although there were various evaluations, he was a great person.
"Sietra is a kingdom that was conquered during the final expedition of Emperor Kairon the Great. He subsequently returned, judging that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages due to the nature of the desert region."
"That is why we maintain friendly relations with Cerberus, which was not conquered back then. Cerberus, which was a great power long before the Empire, also absorbed neighboring countries and prospered to become as great as it is today."
"That is correct. However, the reason I am telling Asha this is because of Baron Belmont."
Baron Belmont?
Suddenly remembering something, I asked Carcel.
"Ah! Is Baron Belmont the son of the Sietra royal family?"
Carcel nodded.
"Then does the set symbolize Baron Belmont?"
The insider might have been Baron Belmont from the beginning.
"Then, is Baron Belmont the one with all the plans?"
"There is a reason why we cannot conclude that is necessarily the case. Originally, Sietra was a theocratic kingdom."
"Ah."
Sietra follows the maternal lineage.
According to what Carcel told us, the Queen of Sietra was Set's wife.
In other words, the Queen, who is also the wife of God, is the foundation of this dynasty.
"Then Baron Belmont can't become King, right?"
"Yes. If Sietra's bloodline aims to restore the dynasty under the symbol of Set."
"So you're saying the focal point has to be a woman."
In short, to make a move bold enough to dare to touch even the Crown Prince of the Empire, there must be sufficient justification.
However, Baron Belmont is male, so he cannot be the successor.
'It might be a different story if the Baron has a daughter.'
First, I nodded.
"Still, the Baron is the most suspicious. However, if it were me, I would have married long ago and tried to have a daughter suitable to be an heir."
"Don't he look like he has no intention of getting married?"
"Do you happen to have any other information about the Baron?"
Carcel nodded at my question.
"The Baronial House of Belmont is actually practically a nascent family. After all, they executed the heir and brought in a member of the royal family."
"The heir was a woman, right? So the royal family was male, and Baron Belmont's father!"
"Yes. He married a woman from a noble family when he received the title of Baron."
Carcel continued speaking to me, who was lost in thought for a moment.
"However, Asha, we recently received testimony from a former servant that Baron Belmont grew up suffering severe abuse from his father during his childhood."
“What about his mother?”
"Fortunately, I heard that he grew up loved by his mother. However, he lost his parents in an accident before becoming an adult."
I felt a sense of pity for a moment.
"I heard that Baron Belmont's father had no family, and the same was true for his mother's side, so it was difficult for him to enter high society in the beginning."
"Still, achieving this much in just three years is impressive."
Maybe that is why the Baron has such a penchant for women.
If, even after losing the mother who loved him at a young age, he had no relatives to look after him.
Maybe he only feels attached to women with whom he has good memories?
First, I signaled to Carcel.
"Thank you, Carcel. I'll go to the temple first."
Because of the upcoming wedding, I decided to go to the temple with my mother to look at the prayer hall where the wedding will take place!
"Is Asha seeing the wedding venue before me?"
"But Carcel has to go do some work again."
“I don’t want to go.”
Carcel carefully lifted my two hands.
Then, he slowly kissed the palm.
I bit my lip hard as Carcel kissed me several times.
At first it just tickled, but as it happened repeatedly, the soft sensation felt secretive.
Even his breath touching me and his hesitantly moving lips.
Carcel's lowered gaze was languidly lost.
“Ca, Carcel.”
I felt so embarrassed, as if my heart were tightening.
"Even Asha's palms and fingers are cute."
"That's Carcel's eye being messed up."
"It’s a good thing, since other people shouldn’t know you're cute."
Carcel let out a low laugh.
At the faint stimulation I felt every time that happened, I curled my fingers.
In that moment, Carcel and I met in the air.
Knock knock.
The door was wide open.
"My dear, we have to go now..."
At the same time, I accidentally pushed Carcel hard.
Mother looked back and forth for a moment at me, with my face flushed red, and Carcel, who hadn't backed down in the slightest.
"Anyway, you're trying to devour the daughter-in-law at the slightest chance."
"Ah. No! I wasn't doing anything!"
Mother paid no heed to my bewildered shout and gave instructions to Carcel.
"If you want to do something, do it at night when you can actually do it. This isn't even a bedroom, so what do you intend to do here?"
“Mother!”
"And lock the door! You're always showering me with affection, so I can't really leave you and the baby alone with peace of mind."
Mother, clicking her tongue in disapproval, immediately closed the door.
As soon as it closed, I shamelessly shouted at Carcel, who was still holding my hand dearly.
"Th-This is absolutely forbidden in the room from now on!"
"Can I lock the door and do it when night falls?"
“No!”
I was so flustered that I even closed my eyes and shook my head desperately.
In the end, after hesitating for a moment, Carcel let me go with a faint smile, feeling a sense of regret.
However, the affectionate feeling of finding it cute still remained in his eyes, so it seemed like I was embarrassed.
Still, I have to do my job.
I told him.
"Carcel, I'll be back. Can I ask you just one favor?"
“As much as you want.”
"Could you happen to find other noble families with mixed bloodlines, besides Baron Belmont? I think that would be an important clue."
Because there might be neighboring countries for whom Set is another symbol, or there might be those who simply like Set.
And I immediately left the room and headed to the temple.
***
"...That concludes the tour of our Marchioness's wedding venue. What do you think?"
Noction finished introducing the entire venue.
Very satisfied!
"It's amazing that you were able to transform the main sanctuary into a beautiful wedding hall in such a short amount of time."
"Recently, our trading partners suddenly cut off one after another, nearly disrupting our schedule, but fortunately, the Protocol Office re-contracted directly with the artisans we had originally contracted with and provided generous support."
So it meant that the items to decorate the chapel were produced this quickly.
I asked my mother, who had been carefully examining the documents next to me for quite some time.
"How is my mother?"
"My opinion isn't needed. It's not my wedding."
"Oh."
"Don't needlessly walk on eggshells around me, and don't walk on eggshells around the Imperial Family or the Temple either. Is this really what you want, my dear?"
My mother handed me a sketch of how the interior would be decorated and asked me.
There was also a drawing on the back page.
In response to the question asking if I really liked it, I expressed my opinion cautiously.
"Actually, I'd like to use more pink roses. After all, they are flowers that hold meaning for both Carcel and me."
"Right, and."
Mother gave Noction a look as if she had heard.
Then Noction also nodded vigorously and hurriedly began taking notes.
"And I would like to invite Princess Amira as well. Would it be possible to serve her a Cerberus-style meal?"
I noticed last time that she seemed to have a small appetite; she barely ate anything at the dinner we had for the first time.
"It just felt like she ate a bit more of the Cerberus style."
Noction answered clearly.
"Don't worry! I think we can seat them over here."
"That's a relief."
When I made a satisfied face, Mother opened her lips again with her usual expression and spoke.
“Anything else?”
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