The Imperial Palace
The Imperial Palace
Lately, Ada Somerset's hobby had been sneaking into her brother Rupert's workshop.
With her small body, she moved as quickly as she could and thought no one had noticed her, but of course her brother Rupert knew, and so did every servant working in the house.
So why did Ada go out of her way to avoid people's eyes and sneak into the workshop?
It was to read the secret picture book he had hidden away.
"Ah! Jeez!"
She was still too short, so she had dragged over a chair and climbed onto it to reach the secret picture book her brother had hidden, but it still wasn't high enough.
Only when she stretched up onto her tiptoes with all her strength did her fingertips finally catch on a single book.
Clatter
But the moment she pulled the book out, Ada lost her balance and fell off the chair.
And the book she had worked so hard to pull out came down and bonked her right on the head.
"Waaaaah!!!"
All she had wanted was to read the secret picture book. Why did she have to get hit by a book and have her head hurt? Feeling deeply wronged, Ada burst into tears, completely forgetting that she had snuck into her brother's workshop without permission.
At the sound of Ada's crying, everyone from Count Bradley to the butler Alain and the maids all rushed to the workshop.
"Ada, what happened?"
Count Bradley patted the crying Ada and tried to soothe her. But Ada, who still hadn't stopped crying, hiccuped and tried to say something, though no one could understand her.
She just pointed at one spot with her little finger.
And at the end of where that finger pointed, there was a single book.
'She tried to sneak a look at Rupert's book again.'
Since this wasn't the first or second time it had happened, Count Bradley could roughly guess the situation.
Rupert never showed anyone a new book until the manuscript was finished, and Ada, trying to sneak a peek at it, often caused accidents.
Once, she had been secretly reading a nearly finished manuscript and knocked over the ink, ruining it.
He had been startled to see Rupert, who normally laughed off all his little sister's pranks, suddenly get eyes like a wild beast.
Of course, once Rupert regained his senses, it had ended with him giving Ada a few smacks on the bottom with his palm.
But even the fearless Ada had been terrified for a moment, so it was definitely something to be careful about.
"Ada, if you keep that up, you might get your bottom smacked by your brother like last time."
"Hic... Ada... sniff... book...."
Her crying hadn't stopped, so her words weren't clear, but he could roughly understand what she meant.
'So she came to read the book, the chair tipped over, she fell, and then the book hit her head and hurt, so she feels wronged. That seems to be the gist.'
"Still, you mustn't sneak into the workshop when your brother isn't here. There are a lot of dangerous tools in here, and you could get hurt."
Count Bradley scolded her, and the butler Alain picked up Ada, whose crying was finally dying down, and soothed her, and the situation came to an end.
The servants who had gathered went back to their work one by one, and Count Bradley put the fallen book back and was about to return to his office.
'Kingdom of Ice?'
The title he saw as he put the book back in its place.
It seemed to be a new work Rupert was writing after The Little Mermaid. The title had a different feel from the existing fairy tales.
'Shall I take a look?'
They said his son's picture books were a huge hit, but honestly, to a middle-aged man like himself, they had a childish side, so he hadn't had much interest until now.
But seeing a title that suddenly featured ice and a kingdom piqued his interest.
Count Bradley sat down at the desk in the workshop and opened the first page of the book.
***
"Welcome to the capital, Master Rupert."
Even with the warm welcome from the head of the Esteban Merchant Company, my face only scrunched up further.
"I'm not in the mood for jokes."
"Haha, but isn't this your first time in the imperial capital?"
Of course, if I had come for sightseeing, I would have happily gone around looking at everything.
But I hadn't come for sightseeing. I had practically been dragged here for a one-on-one audience with the imperial princess, so I was just annoyed.
'I'm already tired from handling a banquet that doesn't even suit me, and now I have to enter the imperial palace without even getting to rest.'
I should be using this time to prepare my next work, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was wasting time.
More than anything, being dragged to the imperial palace to face the imperial princess was honestly frightening.
Wasn't the crisis our family was in because of the imperial family in the first place? Receiving a handwritten letter from the imperial princess before, and now this—the feeling of getting tangled up with them over and over felt ominous.
'As long as I don't run into the Third Imperial Prince.'
Still, so far it was within acceptable limits. The imperial princess was only a passing character in the original web novel.
But if I ended up running into the Third Imperial Prince, the male lead, that would be a real problem.
I had already run into Amelia, the female lead, twice. Getting tangled up with the main characters of the original novel over and over was no good.
Later, the Third Imperial Prince might demand to know why I was sniffing around his woman, and if I happened to meet him and left an impression, it would be troublesome if he acted like he knew me at the academy later.
I would graduate quietly from the academy without drawing attention, return to my family, and enjoy a peaceful life in another world.
That was my one and only goal.
***
The imperial capital was truly on another level compared to the provincial territories. The wide main avenue had enough room for two carriages to pass at the same time.
On both sides of the avenue, buildings were neatly constructed according to a grid.
In particular, there wasn't a single one-story building; everything was at least two stories tall, enough to make me feel as though I'd arrived in a modern city.
'How many multi-story buildings do we have in our territory?'
Comparing it to the capital was laughable, but I hadn't expected the difference to be this big. For some reason, it made me want to develop our territory even more.
'I've only lived there a few months and I've already grown attached to the place.'
Thinking about it made me a little bitter. In my previous life, my hometown had just been one of the places I wanted to forget.
"Master Rupert, we've arrived. Please step out."
While I was lost in thought looking at the scenery outside, the carriage had already reached the main gate of the imperial palace.
The merchant company head said he would wait here until the audience was over.
"It could take who knows how long. Please go on ahead."
"It's fine. Consider it an investment in an important business partner."
What an unstoppable fellow. Investment or whatever, he probably had some other scheme in mind. Well, it worked out for me.
I still didn't know the capital's roads well. It was convenient to be dropped off and picked up by carriage.
"Please stop. What business brings you here?"
When I got out of the carriage and reached the main gate of the imperial palace, I saw the guards standing watch and a single knight.
Everything they were equipped with gleamed and looked expensive. As expensive as it looked, it was probably powerful.
"I am Rupert, second son of House Somerset, here today to paint Her Highness the Imperial Princess's portrait."
Along with my introduction, I took out my identification plaque from inside my coat.
Commoners simply received wooden plaques issued by the lord's castle, and forgeries sometimes occurred, but noble identification plaques were impossible to forge.
The identification plaques jointly developed by the imperial family and the Magic Tower were loaded with the owner's blood, so the detector the guard was holding could immediately verify their authenticity.
"Confirmed. Welcome to the imperial palace."
Once the verification was complete, the palace gate opened. Of course, it wasn't the main gate, which was the size of a small hill, but the smaller entrance beside it.
'It really is absurdly huge.'
The imperial palace of the empire was so enormous and magnificent that it was hard to believe humans had built it—there was even a legend that the dwarves had helped construct it. It was intimidating.
If even I, a modern man, found it imposing, how much more overwhelming must it have been to people of this world?
My admiration was brief. When I entered through the opened gate, a servant was there to guide me to the palace where the imperial princess was.
"Her Highness the Imperial Princess is waiting. Please hurry."
As I walked following the servant's guidance, I figured I might never get another chance to come to the imperial palace.
Since I was here anyway, I looked around the palace and took mental notes, thinking it might be useful as reference for a future work.
'Oh, that style is unique. That one looks like a medieval design. Wait, why is there something like an octagonal pavilion?'
What kind of imperial palace mixes Western, Eastern, medieval, and modern designs all together? It was fun to look at, but it felt like I had come to some kind of Universal Studios.
As I walked along sightseeing, a building painted gold, shaped like a Middle Eastern mosque, appeared before my eyes.
"This is Her Highness the Imperial Princess's palace. Please wait a moment while I announce your arrival."
The servant who had guided me to the imperial princess's palace went inside to announce my arrival.
"Hoo... please, let nothing happen."
I just looked at the imperial princess's palace, hoping that nothing would happen today.
***
"Sister, did something happen today?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
Edric Bell, the Third Imperial Prince of the Borus Empire, was very fond of his older sister, the imperial princess Iolin, and followed her closely.
As for his older brothers, one was a hopeless scoundrel beyond saving and the other was a lecher who only chased women, so they were embarrassing to even call brothers.
But his older sister Iolin was truly a model for others.
In particular, when she believed something was unjust, she was a woman of strong character who would argue right and wrong even with their father, the emperor.
'Sister should have been the one to ascend to the position of crown princess.'
That thought still hadn't changed, but the emperor opposed it, and above all, she herself didn't want it, so unfortunately it never came to pass.
Not long ago, his respected older sister had seemed to be in a very bad mood, and then at some point she seemed to be in a good mood again, which had been a relief.
Today, he witnessed her quietly humming to herself, as if something good had happened.
She claimed nothing was going on, but to her younger brother, something had clearly happened.
So Edric quietly asked Aiton, the imperial princess's head servant.
"What happened to make her so excited?"
At Edric's question, Aiton glanced around for a moment, then answered carefully.
"Well... today, the author of the book Her Highness usually enjoys reading...."
Aiton's answer was cut short by a sudden voice.
"Your Highness the Imperial Princess. Rupert, second son of Somerset, has arrived."
"Oh?! Summon him here at once!"
The imperial princess's excited voice. Edric, not knowing who Rupert was, tilted his head and asked Aiton.
And Aiton, looking at the thoroughly delighted imperial princess, just quietly pressed his temples.