Chapter 112: The Resort
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: The Resort
The emperor is busy.
No joke, from the moment she wakes until she goes to sleep, there is hardly any time for her to rest easy.
So much so that she thought she would have died from overwork long ago if not for all the tools the Witch of Machinery, Makina, had made to assist with her duties.
“Your Majesty, your meal is here.”
“Mmm—leave it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
After sending out the attendant who brought the food, Frederica continued her meal while reading through documents. A glance at a document, a bite of food, signing a paper while crunching on vegetables.
As she was focused on her documents, Frederica realized someone was in the room and looked up.
“I told you to leave…”
She thought perhaps the attendant hadn't left out of concern for her, but before her stood two uninvited witches.
Seeing Evangeline and Margaret's faces, the emperor's expression hardened as she picked up an apple that had been set out as a snack. The sweet juice helped clear her head, if only a little.
“…What business do the witches have here?”
“This letter, you wrote it, didn't you?”
Evangeline skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. Seeing the letter she held out, the emperor tilted her head and initially denied it.
“I'd have to see the contents to know.”
“Then read it.”
Though she felt suspicious of Evangeline handing over the letter so readily, Frederica took it out and began to read.
It was the exact letter she had written and sent to Yohan. Nothing had been fabricated or changed.
The moment she realized it was indeed her letter and nodded, Evangeline immediately grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up.
“It is the letter I wr— Gack, keghk-!”
“Hey, you. Are you interested in our Yohan?”
“Gurgle-! Hah- gaaahk…!”
“Hm? Why aren't you answering? I asked if you were interested.”
The emperor tapped the hand gripping her throat to show her condition. Only then did Evangeline realize she was holding the emperor's throat so tightly she couldn't speak, and she let go, setting her down.
“Huuuhk-! Haa, huuuuhp—!”
“Hurry up and talk. What were you thinking, writing a letter like this?”
“Huu, huuk—!”
Facing the witches who were pressuring and rushing her, the emperor deliberately stalled for time. This was because she was certain they wouldn't kill her right away, and she needed to figure out why they were acting this way.
‘Interested? What kind of nonsense is that…'
Intentionally coughing and continuing to act as if she couldn't breathe, the emperor roughly guessed the reason for Evangeline's behavior.
She'd said "interested." Since this letter was sent to Yohan, the interest she spoke of must be interest in him.
The very thought that she would be interested in some man was unpleasant, but it was easy to understand why Evangeline would be wary of such interest.
‘I only suspected they were lovers, but it seems it was true…'
It's unpleasant when another woman shows interest in your lover. A normal human in that situation would try to control their lover to prevent them from doing anything, but this witch had no need for that.
For a witch with immense power who can easily escape social responsibility, she could just kill her competitor, and that would be the end of it.
“Haa, kh… I had no particular intention. I heard he could handle witches, so I merely wanted to ask how he did it…”
“Huuuhm— so you have not even a shred of interest in our Yohan?”
“That's right. In the first place, as the emperor, I have no time for such trivial things as romance—”
“That's a lie.”
“…?”
Frederica looked up at Evangeline, as if to ask what she was talking about. Evangeline grinned down at the emperor.
“There's no way a woman wouldn't fall for our Yohan, is there?”
“No, what are you…”
“Therefore, you're lying right now.”
There was no getting through to her. Frederica realized she had stepped on a landmine. They say you can't reason with a crazy person, but she never imagined it would be this bad.
Her vassals had always taken care of such lunatics for her, so the emperor didn't know how to deal with them.
‘What should I do…'
Just when she thought she was going to die, Margaret began to stop Evangeline.
“Stop it.”
“…Why are you interfering?”
“Looking at the letter, I think you're overreacting.”
Margaret said, pointing to the letter in front of her.
“I mean, I came here because you were going on about how the emperor confessed to Disciple or whatever… but how is this a confession?”
“…How is it not a confession?”
“If a dog in heat wags its butt at you, are you going to have sex with it? Humans have their own ways of expression.”
Fortunately, there was a reasonable person right here. The emperor looked at Margaret and let out a sigh of relief.
As if she didn't like that sigh one bit, Evangeline glared fiercely at her.
The emperor covered her mouth with her hands and pleaded for help from Margaret, who felt the gaze and continued to placate Evangeline.
“In the first place, if she dies, what do you think will happen next?”
“…I don't know. That's none of my business.”
“It's very much your business. You think the next emperor after she dies will have a pro-witch disposition like this one? If not, we'll have to go back to living in that cabin, you know?”
“…We can just go back.”
“Well, I don't want to. And Disciple would hate it too. Do you want to see Disciple go on vacation again? Are you going to be a blubbering mess of tears and snot again?”
Ugh— Evangeline groaned, seemingly persuaded by those words, and began to back away from the emperor. Watching the witches, the emperor sighed in relief internally.
“…I was wrong to send the letter. I will ensure this does not happen again.”
“And?”
“I will introduce you to one of the empire's resorts. There is a beach where the warm sun shines 365 days a year.”
“…A beach? You have a private beach?”
At the mention of a private beach exclusively for the empire, Evangeline's eyes sparkled. Of course, they knew of deserted islands and the like, and could go there anytime… but they weren't places where you could swim in the winter.
In comparison, if there was a beach where they could swim 365 days a year… they could see Yohan in a swimsuit this winter. And at the same time, they could show him their swimsuits, too.
“Not bad.”
She liked that part, at least.
After the two witches left, the emperor let out deep sighs of relief, breaking out in a cold sweat in her office.
Dealing with an unhinged witch was a headache she never wanted to experience again.
As she was stewing over the matter in her room, someone opened the door and came in.
“Emperor… are you tired?”
“…Adelheid.”
The one who entered the room was a beautiful young girl with hair that was half white and half blue. From the mere fact that she could enter the emperor's office without permission, it wasn't difficult to guess her identity.
“No, I'm fine.”
She was a witch. The Witch of Congelation. Adelheid.
Now that Azmona was missing, she was the only witch who could protect the empire.
Adelheid looked around the room and tilted her head.
“Wasn't someone just here…?”
“Mm. They were. Some very troublesome ones.”
“Should I punish them for you…?”
“—No, it's fine. There's no need for that.”
The emperor looked at Adelheid. It was questionable whether she could even defeat Evangeline, and even if she could, it would still be a problem.
There was no need to needlessly provoke the witch who fought for the empire. If Adelheid were to be defeated and disappear like Azmona, there would be no witches left on the empire's side.
The empire's army alone could not defend the Northern Defense Line, and if that happened, it would be the end. This empire would be trampled under the hands of monsters.
‘New technology is emerging at an innovative pace every day, but… it's too slow.’
The Witch of Machinery was developing new technology every day, grinding herself down to the bone, but as she said—the infrastructure was lacking.
‘Though it's hard to believe we can develop any further from here.’
They needed time. Time to become safe even without the likes of witches. The power for humanity to overcome witches on its own.
It wouldn't be long now. Of that, she was certain.
“So? What brings you here?”
“Umm… Since I came down after a long time, I was thinking of going to a resort.”
“…A resort? Now?”
“Yep. Starting today.”
At Adelheid's words, the emperor quickly tried to think of a way to stop her. She had just sent Evangeline to the resort.
Evangeline would obviously take Yohan with her, and if she sent Adelheid to that same place… she didn't know exactly what would happen, but she knew it wouldn't end well.
“…Could you perhaps go another time?”
“No way. It's hot here.”
“No, please…”
“Well, see you.”
Like a true witch, Adelheid ignored the emperor's words and left the room.
Watching her leave the office, the emperor clutched her forehead as if to say, "Let whatever happens, happen."