Was this how a cow felt when being led to the slaughterhouse…?
Now that I thought about it, the clear sky felt strangely empty and meaningless.
“Why do you look as if the world has ended? You’re merely going to meet him, not to die.”
“From the moment His Majesty summoned me, my life’s been as good as over…”
Easy for you to say. This palace is practically your home. But for me, it feels like a battlefield, where a blade could pierce my neck at any moment.
For a baron’s son like me to be summoned by the emperor for personal reasons… it was as terrifying as being dragged to the guillotine with my hands bound.
I let my soul drift for a moment with the clattering of the carriage wheels until the sound gradually faded and the trembling came to a stop.
“We’ve arrived!”
Was it just my imagination, or did the coachman’s shout sound suspiciously like an execution announcement?
“Get out.”
“Yes…”
I stepped down from the carriage, trudging with heavy feet, and reached up to escort the princess as she began to descend behind me.
Despite how I might seem, I had studied noble etiquette, so the gesture came naturally. Like flowing water.
“Hmm… how unexpected.”
“What is?”
“It’s nothing, really. I just didn’t expect you to show such gentlemanly manners…”
“…….”
Just what was I to her, anyway?
I mean, I’m still a noble, you know…
Maybe my expression got a little too hard to read, because the princess offered a brief thanks and hurried her pace.
The fact that I was about to meet the emperor made me feel like I was walking to my death, but even so, someone of my standing couldn’t keep the emperor waiting. I gritted my teeth, held my trembling legs steady, and made my way toward the throne.
“Is that the man with the princess—”
“He looks way too average though—”
On the way there, I could hear the murmurs of those working in the imperial palace as they looked at our group.
It was highly disrespectful for servants to openly whisper in the presence of royalty, but judging by their demeanor, it seemed they belonged to the factions of her half-siblings and were openly ignoring her, likely because she had fallen out of the emperor’s favor.
Even though Asteria clearly saw what was happening, she chose not to step in. It seemed she wanted to ignore it as much as possible, not wanting to escalate the situation by intervening.
Eventually, we arrived at the audience chamber, and the gatekeeper standing watch over the large doors appeared to notice us.
Normally, he should have bowed immediately and shown the proper respect due to a princess. However, the gatekeeper merely gave a slight nod; his attitude implied that any respect for royalty had long since been tossed out like scrap metal.
“The Second Princess has come at His Majesty’s summons. Announce her.”
“…Yes.”
The gatekeeper, who was maintaining a casual demeanor, sent a message inside the audience chamber and soon received a reply before opening the doors.
Creeeaaak—!
“Star of the Empire, Her Highness the Second Princess Asteria, and the second son of the Noctus Barony, Mars Noctus, are here!”
With that booming announcement as our backdrop, we entered the chamber.
Since I wasn’t allowed to look at the emperor first, I kept my gaze down and bowed my head slightly to avoid making eye contact with the figure seated on the throne as we approached.
Tap.
When the princess came to a halt, I stopped with her, then knelt before the emperor, demonstrating my loyalty to the imperial family.
From the moment we entered until the moment we knelt, the emperor made no sound. Only after some time had passed did he speak, his voice low.
“…Raise your head.”
Sshh.
At the emperor’s command, I slowly lifted my bowed head.
My first impression of the emperor, whom I was seeing for the first time in my life, was that he possessed an incredible intensity.
His outward appearance didn’t look all that strong.
He wasn’t a man with scars on his face like some of the academy professors, nor was he a hulking figure with bulging muscles. He was just an ordinary man approaching the latter years of middle age.
But my instincts were sending clear warnings: the man seated before me was extremely dangerous.
He had the presence of an aging tiger.
Though his face was lined with wrinkles and his claws had dulled, his sharp fangs still gleamed as if to declare they were very much intact.
“…You’ve come.”
The emperor looked at the princess and gave a short reply.
His expression was slightly twisted, giving the impression that he wasn’t pleased with her presence here.
The princess seemed to sense this as well. She pressed her lips tightly together and tried to compose her expression, which threatened to twist in response.
“I hope you have been well.”
“…….”
The emperor gave no response to his daughter’s greeting.
After briefly looking at her, he quickly turned his head away.
“And you… Are you Mars Noctus?”
The question was directed at me.
Wanting to make a strong first impression, I answered in a booming voice, using unusually refined language for the occasion.
“Ah! I stand before the living sun, bearer of the Empire’s eternal peace and unblemished glory!!”
It may have come off as exaggerated or sycophantic, but for a lowly baronial house, this was the bare minimum needed to survive.
“…I’ve heard the news. That you’re the Second Princess’s lover.”
“Yes…. that’s correct.”
How should I put it… the way he looked me up and down with scrutinizing eyes gave off the distinct feeling of a father trying to gauge just how capable his daughter’s boyfriend was.
“Noctus… your house had ties to the Helios family if I recall. The territory itself isn’t large, but I’ve heard it yields high-quality crops…”
“Y-Yes, that’s correct.”
I didn’t expect him to know even that.
Or perhaps, because he was acquainted with an Aura Lord, he was observing me with a perspective that went beyond that of a simple baronial house?
“I see. Mars Noctus. Can you explain how you came to be in a relationship with the Second Princess?”
“Well—”
“I’m pregnant.”
“Y-Yes, Her Highness is pregnaaaaaaant?!”
Out of nowhere, the princess dropped a massive bombshell.
Even I, who was right beside her, was shocked….so imagine how the emperor must have felt.
The prime minister, who had looked like a kind old grandfather just moments ago, was left gaping, unable to hide his astonishment.
The emperor too stared at the princess in disbelief, then gripped the armrest of his throne and crushed it with nothing but the strength of his hand, then turned his piercing gaze on me as if he would bore a hole through my skull.
…Wasn’t that made of solid gold? Was it really that easy to dent?
There was something odd about his reaction; it didn’t quite seem like the response of a father hearing news of his daughter’s pregnancy. But having instantly been branded a criminal with just one sentence, I couldn’t find the right moment to speak.
As I silently cursed the princess for hurling me into hell with such a ridiculous lie and desperately considered how I might escape the palace, I heard the emperor’s voice.
“That was a lie.”
“!!”
The princess’s lie was seen through in an instant….far too easily.
His rising fury faded quickly, and once the emperor had grasped the situation, he calmly exposed her deception.
“It’s not true! I—!”
“To think you’d stoop so low as to tarnish the imperial family’s dignity with such an absurd and laughable lie.”
Well… yeah. That’s the more appropriate reaction.
The princess wasn’t a fool, and if she were to blurt something out like that, the first step would be to determine whether she was lying, rather than punishing her outright for reckless behavior.
The emperor must have already known that the princess was strongly against marrying the First Prince of Cretia, and he would have concluded long ago that the pregnancy claim was a lie made to lower her own value.
I had assumed that a man who had ruled this vast empire for decades couldn’t possibly be too dim-witted to consider such things. But as expected, even in old age, a tiger was still a tiger.
“You think that just because we haven’t seen each other in a while, I don’t know you? Selling your own virginity just to avoid a marriage….you’ve got to be kidding.”
“……”
“Heirs of noble families of the imperial faction, knights demoted due to class discrimination, and ambitious talents trying to stand out at the academy…. I let you have your way all this time, and yet your greed knows no bounds.”
“……?!”
“Asteria… Did you really believe that you built your entire power base solely through your own efforts?”
“What? What do you mean?!”
A sudden revelation from the emperor.
That statement practically meant he had been watching her faction for a long time.
“I’ve been receiving reports of your actions all this time. And then I heard an amusing story…a girl, desperately trying to expand her insignificant influence by devoting herself to academics, suddenly has a lover? With someone who holds no real power? Even a dog passing by would laugh.”
“……Since when.”
“……”
“Just… since when—”
“From the beginning.”
“!!”
“From the beginning, you were in the palm of my hand.”
“Ha…”
“Your ambition to rise to power… it was never going to come true from the start.”
The emperor’s response was unbearably cold and firm.
Having heard the shocking truth, the princess slowly began to lose the light in her eyes.
“And you there.”
“Y-Yes!!”
“Normally, beheading you for mocking the emperor would not be punishment enough…”
Gulp.
I hadn’t expected that crazy woman to say something like pregnancy either! If I had known, I would have never come, not even over my dead body!
“It was in the name of the princess, so I suppose you couldn’t refuse. Taking that into account, I’ll let it slide this once.”
“Y-Your grace is overwhelming!”
The sense of a life I thought I’d lost returning made me unconsciously blurt out something that sounded straight out of a historical drama.
Still… what was going to happen to the princess?
“Asteria. Do you covet this seat? Do you think gathering up those worthless insects would allow you to sit on this throne? Foolish. I once watched over your pitiful struggle as a child who would eventually leave… but now, you’ve forgotten your place.”
“I…. Insects.”
“Asteria. Will you lose everything? Or only half?”
“!!”
“What, did you think everything would be solved just because you rolled around so disgracefully with that young man? Even if you really were pregnant, the marriage would have gone forward all the same.”
The emperor’s words were cruel and cold.
Hearing them, the princess seemed on the verge of breaking, as if her mind could no longer hold together from the pain ripping through her heart.
“The marriage will proceed as scheduled. Now leave—”
“So that’s—!!!!”
Flinch!
“So that’s… how much you hated me?!”
“…….”
“Is it because I killed Mother? Do you hate me that much?!”
“……”
“I understand. You must hate me. You’d hate someone like me, a bit*ch who killed the person you truly loved.”
“But still… just once… just once, you could’ve looked back at me!!”
“You could’ve said something! Like ‘you’ve grown well!’ or ‘you did a good job!’ or ‘you worked hard!’ Just one word!”
“Did you really want to cast me aside this badly?!”
“Why do you hate me this much?!”
“I’m your daughter! I’m your daughter!!”
“If this is how it was going to be…”
“You should’ve never given birth to someone like me—!”
“ENOOUUUGH!!!!”
A roar loud enough to shake the windows.
Even the princess, who had been pouring out all her pent-up rage, looked at him with wide, startled eyes. As if it were the first time she had seen the emperor so emotional.
Ssshh… Haa…
“…The marriage with the First Prince of Cretia will take place in two weeks. I’ll allow you time to say goodbye to your acquaintances. But if you continue to act on your own…”
“……”
“You’ll be confined to the palace until the wedding.”
“……”
“That’s all. Leave now.”
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