Chapter 51

“Wow, I’m really so full.”

Despite being full, Theo couldn’t put down his utensils and continued eating the hearty meal in front of him.

“I’m so glad you’re enjoying it, Sir Theo.”

Estelle watched him with a bright smile, and although Iris wasn’t eating as much as Theo, she was also finding the food surprisingly to her taste and trying a bit here and there.

“The seafood here is certainly far superior to what I’ve had in Ermunt. Even when I visited Wesker County which was known for its seafood, it wasn’t this good.”

The Wesker County was a coastal town famous for its bakeries and exquisite dishes from land and sea. It was also the hometown of Marty, who had taken the exam with Theo.

“My roommate who I’m sharing a room with now, is from the Wesker County. If he heard this, he’d probably be heartbroken, wouldn’t he?”

“Oh, please keep this a secret, Sir Theo.”

When Theo joked, Iris asked him to keep it confidential in a flustered way.

It was definitely a peaceful moment.

Of course, that peace came after witnessing some extraordinary events unfolding behind the scenes in the Holy Empire.

“By the way, does His Holiness… usually issue such commands?”

Theo lowered his voice as much as possible while asking.

“Um, one moment.”

Estelle looked around before beginning to cast a spatial isolation spell.

The spell ensured that only those she designated could hear or see them. Since it was a restaurant and having customers suddenly vanish would alarm the owner, she set it up so that only their voices wouldn’t be heard.

“Oh, what’s this? It’s fascinating.”

As someone who could use magic himself, Theo quickly realized Estelle had cast a spatial magic spell.

“I thought we might touch on some secret matters, so I made sure no one else could hear us.”

“Magic can do that? For the first time, I feel like learning magic might actually be worth it.”

“Iris, with your limited mana pool, you wouldn’t be able to do this kind of magic even if you tried.”

“…Oh, I see.”

Iris who was offended turned her head sharply, leaving only Theo awkwardly caught in the middle.

“Hey now, Estelle. You should speak more kindly.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. But I tend to avoid sugar-coating the truth.”

“Enough of that. Why don’t you just answer the question Sir Theo asked earlier?”

Iris felt even more upset, but she had known since childhood that her mana pool was small. As such, she refrained from saying anything further to Estelle about it.

“Oh, right. We were talking about that man, the Holy Emperor. Ugh, seriously, he’s crazy!”

Returning to the topic of the Holy Emperor, Estelle threw up her hands in exasperation and began sharing her thoughts.

“He’s not that much older than me, but he acts like the ultimate old fart. When he wants to deal with people who oppose him, he uses all sorts of methods. One of them is pulling stunts like earlier to provoke me.”

The Holy Emperor was well aware of Estelle’s talents, not just in divine power but also in magic.

He also knew that she didn’t blindly obey his orders.

Because of that, he often planned situations like the one earlier to make her angry and cause a commotion, only to step in afterward to “resolve” things and appear like a magnanimous Emperor.

“He never dirties his own hands, and he acts so pretentious about it. He’s just trash.”

Though his rank was higher than that of the Saintess, Estelle found his constant behavior infuriating.

“That’s why I’m planning to kick him out someday and become both the Saintess and the Holy Emperor myself.”

For the first time, Estelle revealed to the two of them the ambition she had kept hidden in her heart.

“Oh, Holy Emperor Estelle? That sounds amazing.”

Theo said with a smile as he gently patted Estelle’s head.

“If it’s you, Estelle, I’m sure you can do it.”

In the happy ending of the game, Iris had become the Emperor, and Estelle had become the Holy Emperor.

Since those endings always came to pass unless a bad ending occurred, Theo was confident Estelle’s wish would come true.

Unaware of Theo’s confidence being rooted in knowledge she couldn’t understand, Estelle believed his words reflected genuine faith in her, which only made her fall for him even more.

“Thank you, Sir Theo. When I become the Holy Emperor, would you… consider coming to the Holy Empire…”

As Estelle began to invite him to the Holy Empire, Iris suddenly interrupted in a loud voice and cut her off mid-sentence.

“Sir Theo! I have a dream too…!”

Iris rarely raised her voice, so Theo turned to look at her. He was surprised by her sudden outburst.

“Oh, is your dream to become the Emperor, Iris?”

“Ah, you already knew.”

It was an obvious guess.

If it was the future that the crown princess dreamed of, it could only be her becoming Emperor.

“But I don’t just want to be Emperor. I want to be a wise and virtuous ruler.”

Iris wanted to be a wise ruler.

She wanted to create a world where not only the imperial family members and nobles were happy, but where everyone could be happy.

“I want to build an Ermunt Empire where everyone can smile. A country that remains peaceful without war. That’s why I’ll make it strong, so no one can ever look down on us.”

Historically, the countries that cherished peace the most were often the ones that armed themselves the heaviest to preserve it.

“Of course, I want true peace with the Holy Empire as well. Not just something superficial.”

When Iris said those words while looking directly at Estelle, her eyes reflected her genuine sincerity.

“To be honest, Estelle, you already know, don’t you? The peace treaty we formed by joining the academy together is nothing but superficial.”

“Well, of course. Anyone who doesn’t realize that would be a fool.”

The topic of the peace treaty was always a hot issue, and it was widely known among both nobles and imperial members that it was merely for show.

“My father does not want peace. He’s obsessed only with his gains and the achievements he can claim as Emperor. I dislike that. Gaining something through war? Sure, there may be gains, but we lose far more. For example, we’ll lose this peace. Every single one of us.”

Losing peace.

The thought of not being able to casually eat together and spend time like this was unbearable for all three of them.

“Hmm, I agree. If I become the Holy Emperor, I’ll seek true peace as well. Even if it’s incredibly difficult to achieve without force, I believe, like Iris, that violence ultimately causes more losses than gains.”

Their opinions aligned.

“You’re both amazing.”

And watching them, Theo’s heart began to race.

Two people who longed for peace, with dreams of reaching the pinnacle of power.

It might not be that difficult to get to the happy ending after all…!

What mattered most was their mindset.

The fact that they could honestly express their mutual desire for peace meant that the likelihood of a disastrous ending was steadily decreasing.

“How about the two of you make a promise now? Since you’re destined to become Emperor and Holy Emperor, you could agree to establish a genuine peace treaty when the time comes.”

Theo wasn’t someone to let such an opportunity slip by.

“Oh, should we? I’m in.”

“So am I. Sir Theo, you can be our witness.”

“Of course. I’ll record it all on my phone.”

With that, Theo pulled out his phone and began filming a video.

The sight of Estelle and Iris discussing a peace treaty was enough to inspire hope for the future in the citizens of the empire.

A future without war. A peaceful tomorrow.

***

After documenting our personal—but someday officially recognized—peace treaty, we returned to enjoy our peaceful everyday lives.

I had already reserved and pre-ordered food to take to my parents, and I took some time to browse through a shop selling small trinkets.

“Wow, it’s so pretty! Don’t you think this is really pretty? I feel like it would suit you perfectly, Sir Theo!”

“Ah, no… wouldn’t it suit Estelle or Iris much better than me?”

Whenever Estelle saw something pretty, she would eagerly hold it up to me and insist it would look good on me, leaving me struggling to dissuade her.

If I kept agreeing that everything was nice and going along with it, I felt like I’d end up completely covered in trinkets.

“Oh, but this one is really beautiful!”

Then, a ring caught my eye.

It had a clear ornament of varying shapes attached to it, and I couldn’t help but think it was really pretty.

“Should we buy three and all wear them together?”

Noticing my interest, Estelle sidled up next to me and asked.

“Hmm, having something like a friendship ring sounds nice.”

“Then I’ll take this one!”

“Ah, excuse me, but that one’s mine!”

When we decided to buy them, chaos ensued as both Estelle and Iris went for the ring I had first thought was the prettiest.

Well, I did have to admit, I seemed to have a good eye for aesthetics…

“That’s mine!”

“Give it to me…!”

Come on, is this really something worth fighting over, you two?

“What if we just buy matching ones for everyone?”

It turned out there were several similar designs available. They weren’t identical, which was likely because they were handmade, but they were close enough.

“This one is pretty too…”

“Then I’ll take that one!”

“Ah, um, sure.”

Well…. I guess that just leaves me to pick mine.

Seriously, why do these two make such a fuss over everything I choose?