Chapter 235: Taming
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 235: Taming
Wolf or puppy, I didn’t care which—I just wanted to see him.
I was just beginning to picture those gentle eyes in my mind when the Empress spoke again, her voice sharp as if demanding an answer.
So, it’s come to this.
I quietly lowered my gaze and spoke. “I am sorry, but I shall be returning to the North tomorrow.”
“…How reckless.”
The Empress’s eyes narrowed into thin, sharp slits.
“Do you find my advice amusing? Or is your judgment clouded by your youth? Perhaps you are simply showing the lack of breeding one expects from the illegitimate child of a Marquis.”
I swallowed hard, the dry lump in my throat feeling like it was scraping against the skin.
Only the Empress and her ladies-in-waiting were in the lounge. Even if she decided to slap me right now, there was no one here to stop her… except!
I still have the ring that sent Ladriel flying!
But if I sent the Empress flying here, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Should I take the ring off for a moment?
My mind raced as I stared at the Empress’s sharply manicured nails.
“Let him in,” the Empress commanded.
At her word, a man shrouded in a heavy robe entered the room.
Who is that?
The moment I saw the robe, my heart hammered against my ribs; he looked like a warlock. I clenched my hand, the one wearing the ring, as the Empress’s gaze drifted to the nape of my neck.
“Examine it closely,” she said.
She was talking about my necklace.
The man took a step closer. He conjured something resembling a magic circle from his palm and sent it toward me. Before the faint light of the circle could touch my skin, it shattered with a dry, crackling sound.
The man shook his head.
“At least ten layers of defensive magic circles are intricately interwoven. If the necklace is removed by force, the defensive spells will trigger.”
“What if the necklace is pressed?”
“Unless the wearer presses it herself, that too will be perceived as an attack.”
“Can you not remove the defensive magic?”
The man replied in a troubled voice, “The spellwork is far too advanced… It cannot be undone in a short amount of time.”
Was this man a mage?
Listening to their conversation, it was clear their goal was to force the activation of my necklace. I had a very bad feeling about this.
Seeing me flinch, the Empress tilted her head. “Grand Duchess, why do you look so cowed?”
A predatory smile played on her thin lips.
“I heard you were quite boastful about it at the Grand Temple.” Her eyes remained fixed on the jewelry. “Didn’t you say that the moment you press that necklace, your knights will come running?”
A chill ran down my spine.
“I’ve heard the Blenheim Knights are exceptionally loyal… I wonder what would happen if the Grand Duchess sent a distress signal from within the Imperial Palace? Would they really come storming in without a second thought?”
Suddenly, I realized exactly what she was aiming for.
“Oh dear, are you surprised?”
Seeing the shock on my face, the Empress’s tone softened into something deceptively sweet.
“My apologies. I didn’t intend for us to reach such an unpleasant impasse.”
She let out a hollow laugh, remarking that she hadn’t expected the Grand Duchess to be so agile in dodging the sauce earlier.
“I didn’t realize taking a necklace off your neck would be such a tedious affair.”
So, spilling the sauce hadn’t been just a pretext for a conversation.
No wonder it almost landed right on my neck.
She had intended to make me take the necklace off myself. That was also why she had been so insistent on me changing my dress.
“I thought I might keep the necklace safe for a while, just in case the Grand Duchess proved… slow to understand my words.”
The Empress folded her hands with a feigned look of sternness.
“But since that necklace seems to be such a troublesome object…” She let out a long, theatrical sigh. “I suppose the Grand Duchess will have to press it herself.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
The Empress spoke slowly and clearly, as if teaching a small child.
“Listen well. You will press the necklace yourself. Then, the Blenheim Knights will storm the Imperial Annex, yes?”
The Emperor was currently in the Imperial Annex.
If the Grand Duke’s knights forced their way into the very place where the Emperor was enjoying a banquet? No matter the excuse, it would be enough to frame them for high treason.
Of course, they would claim it was a mistake. But the knights would be thrown into the dungeons immediately. In the end, the matter would only be settled once the Grand Duke of Blenheim offered a formal apology.
The fact that the Grand Duke’s knights had “attacked” the Imperial Palace would shock not only the Emperor but all the nobles in the Capital. With the Empress fanning the flames, the opposition and wariness toward the Grand Duke would reach a fever pitch.
“And then, the Grand Duchess will have to remain in the Capital to resolve this mess and stay in my good graces,” the Empress concluded with a bright, satisfied face.
She was willing to break Blenheim’s spirit just to force me to stay in the Capital.
“I will give you one last chance. If you agree to stay in the Capital now, we can act as if none of this ever happened.”
Despite her threats, I felt more bewildered than offended.
“Why do you think I would ever press the necklace?”
Why would I do something so suicidal?
With these defensive spells, none of them can even lay a finger on me.
The smile vanished from the Empress’s face.
“It seems the Grand Duchess does not know me well. I am a woman of my word.”
She demanded an answer once more: would I accept her proposal or not?
Her words only solidified my resolve.
I can never stay in the Capital.
If I stayed here as she wished, Loik would be turned into a complete hostage because of me.
“I am returning to the North tomorrow.”
At my firm response, the Empress’s jaw tightened.
“…I see. I suppose I expected as much from you. It seems a lesson is in order after all.”
She signaled to a lady-in-waiting, who opened a small back door in the corner of the lounge. The moment the maid dragged someone out with their arms bound behind their back, my heart stopped.
“Cecilia…!”
The sight of that familiar face sent a cold shiver down my spine. Her hair was disheveled as she was forced to her knees. As I tried to rush toward her, a particularly grim-looking maid pressed a small dagger against Cecilia’s cheek.
I knew the Empress was capable of cruelty, but this? To hold a knife to a woman’s face while the Emperor was just a short distance away?
Cecilia was trembling, yet she kept her back straight and her head held high.
“I originally thought of bringing Ladriel, but I heard the relationship between sisters wasn’t particularly warm,” the Empress murmured, glancing at Cecilia. “It seems you cherish your maid much more.”
“Even if you are the Empress, do you think you can get away with this?” I asked, my voice trembling with suppressed rage. “I will lodge a formal protest with His Majesty the Emperor.”
The Empress let out a mocking laugh.
“The Grand Duchess still has much to learn.” She scanned the room as if to prove a point. “Whose people do you think are in this room?”
They were all her people, of course. If trouble arose, every single one of them would testify in her favor. But even so…!
“Our Emperor is a man who truly loathes conflict. Such incidents make him very uncomfortable.” The Empress flicked a strand of Cecilia’s hair. “That is why he tends to follow whatever resolution I, his Empress, arrange for him.”
She shrugged, implying that reporting a “quarrel between the Empress’s maid and the Grand Duchess’s maid” to the Emperor would yield nothing.
“By the way, it seems you don’t cherish this maid as much as I thought.”
The maid’s dagger was now so close it was grazing Cecilia’s skin.
“Such a pretty face. It would be a shame.”
The moment I saw the Empress give the maid a subtle nod—
“I’ll stay!” I cried out, my eyes squeezed shut before snapping open. “I’ll stay, alright!”
Even though I had given her the answer she wanted, the Empress’s expression remained lukewarm. The dagger stayed pressed against Cecilia’s face.
“I don’t know. Now that I think about it, that alone isn’t enough.”
What?
“You have much to do by my side in the future, and such stubbornness is quite troublesome.” After measuring me with her gaze, she spoke. “Press the necklace.”
“I told you I would stay.”
“Too late.” The Empress arched an eyebrow spitefully. “It wouldn’t hurt for you to experience what happens when you don’t listen to me immediately. Consider this a penalty for your delayed response.”
If I press the necklace here…
Setting aside Loik’s shock, Tiern would come charging in instantly. Just as the Empress said, the Blenheim Knights storming the Imperial Annex would cause a massive scandal.
As I hesitated, the maid raised the dagger as if to finally strike.
Damn it!
I finally pressed the necklace.
With a soft click, the center of the necklace depressed and then popped back out.
I’m sorry, Loik!
I knew this wasn’t what the necklace was meant for, but I couldn’t think of any other way.
Only then did the Empress wave her hand, and the maid lowered the dagger.
“Well done.” The Empress’s lips curled into a satisfied smile. “Now, let us wait and see if your loyal knights truly come running.”
* * *
Loik lay on the bed, his breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps.
He was in the Grand Duke’s bedroom on the third floor, a room he hadn’t used once since the couple’s bedroom had been prepared. Even as his consciousness flickered, he had snapped at his subordinates not to soil the couple’s bedroom, forcing them to carry him all the way up here.
Dark red blood stained the white bedsheets in various places. Enolius sat by the bedside, continuously casting recovery magic on Loik. The knight commanders sat in chairs scattered around the room, their faces grim and heavy with grief.
If the dragon dies, I die too.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered the possibility. He had simply thought it extremely unlikely. His reasoning was simple: if it were true, the dragon would have surely used its own life to threaten him long ago.
—“Why are you only telling me this now?”
If he had known sooner, Loik would never have targeted the dragon’s life so recklessly.
At Loik’s question, the dragon’s bloodshot eyes flashed.
—“Are you suggesting I should have reacted seriously to a mere insect targeting me? Ridiculous.”
It was the dragon’s sheer arrogance—the refusal to even acknowledge its death on the same level as a mere human’s. But now, the dragon’s life was also hanging by a thread, to the point where it had no choice but to confess.
—“I will give you one last chance,” the dragon rasped in a dying voice.