If Not a Mistress, Then Who Is She?
As the warmth seeping from the stone reached Regina’s hair, the last traces of moisture vanished. The maids who were expertly styling her hair asked, “Do you have a preferred style, my lady?”
“Not particularly.”
It had been a long time since she’d let anyone tend to her hair. That was only natural, given how many years she had spent roaming battlefields at the head of the mage corps.
Besides, when she had stayed in the Fredericks Empire’s imperial palace, the maids there had looked down on her, and she had never once been treated like royalty. When she was younger, she had even used her mana to keep the maids in line.
But after one maid she had trusted betrayed her to her half-brother and poisoned her clothes, Regina had dismissed every attendant who stood too close.
When the maids saw that Regina’s expression remained dark as she stared silently into the mirror, they exchanged glances.
Then, all at once, they drew themselves up with solemn determination and cried, “We’ll dress you in a style that will suit you perfectly, my lady!”
“Leave it to us!”
At their sudden outburst, Regina snapped out of her thoughts. She wondered briefly why they had all grown so fired up, then kept her questions to herself and only looked into the mirror.
Perhaps interpreting her silence as approval, the maids’ eyes shone with even greater resolve.
Their movements grew more careful, more reverent. They exchanged quick glances with one another as they arranged Regina’s hair this way and that, then adorned it lavishly with fresh flowers they had brought from somewhere.
Her reflection looked unfamiliar.
Regina blinked at the mirror, dazed. When had she last dressed herself up like this?
It had only happened once, when she was very young and a banquet had been held to welcome a foreign envoy.
“We’ve brought the dress.”
Regina, who had been wearing only a thin slip, rose to her feet, and the maids sprang into motion. The red dress was as brilliant as her hair, and the ornate gold embroidery stitched across it glittered even more brightly in the light. Diamonds had been set among the gold threads, dazzling the eye of anyone who looked upon it.
Then a necklace, radiant enough to blind, was placed around Regina’s neck.
When Regina could not tear her eyes away, the maids smiled and stepped back. As their representative, the head maid spoke.
“Do you like it?”
“...Very much.”
The praise nearly spilled from her lips, but Regina could think of no more elaborate compliment than that. The head maid had stepped forward and bowed deeply before her from head to toe, after all.
“His Majesty is waiting for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
Regina nodded and steadied her breathing.
The first task of fulfilling the contract awaited her.
The Fredericks Empire’s audience chamber had once belonged solely to Conrad. But after the relentless monster subjugations, it had become a place the Grand Empress, Chloe, used as well.
Though she had never been permitted to sit on Conrad’s throne, a separate seat had been prepared for her, and the nobles accepted that fact as if it were only natural.
Even on the day Conrad took the throne, Chloe had been seated in the chair arranged beneath it. No one had objected.
Long after the government meeting had begun, Chloe still remained there, listening in on confidential matters.
As the meeting drew toward its end, the nobles began to glance at Conrad, hesitant and uneasy.
“Do you have something to say?”
“W-well, cough! You should be the one to speak!”
“Why me?”
Marquis Ludwika, who had been nudged in the side, found himself taking a step forward before he knew it.
As if they had been waiting for that very moment, the other nobles fell back, making it look as though he had advanced several paces to present the matter himself.
Looking around in bewilderment, Marquis Ludwika shot a glare at the other nobles who were pointedly ignoring him, then cleared his throat.
“Ahem!”
“Do you have something to say, Marquis?”
“I have a question for Your Majesty.”
For the first time, a noble had raised an objection in a government meeting that had always flowed along calmly and without dissent.
And because it was Marquis Ludwika of the pro-Grand Empress faction, the nobles aligned with the emperor could not hide their tension.
Conrad’s brow furrowed, his displeasure plain. He could already guess what they were about to say, which only made his irritation flare harder.
Still, he decided to indulge them this once.
If it comes to that, I’ve already prepared a weapon for striking back.
With that thought, a faint smile touched Conrad’s face.
“And what is it?”
His voice was soft, almost warm as spring wind, but his eyes were anything but.
Contempt settled in his gaze, though Marquis Ludwika failed to notice the chill beneath it. Instead, he straightened his back and spoke.
His manner was that of a man reprimanding Conrad for some grave offense.
“I’ve heard that you’ve brought a woman into the imperial palace.”
“I have.”
“Ahem!”
Apparently unprepared for Conrad’s casual admission, Marquis Ludwika’s eyes shook violently.
But Conrad did not take his words back.
“Is there a problem with that?”
“Th-the crown of empress still has no owner, and yet you’ve brought in a mistress first...”
“Who dares to say such nonsense?”
Conrad spat out each word as though grinding them between his teeth. As his anger sharpened and murderous intent bled into his voice, the atmosphere in the audience chamber froze over in an instant.
“Th-that's...”
“Do I look so idle that I would keep a mistress around when I don’t even have an empress?”
“Your Majesty, please, calm yourself first...”
The nobles in the chamber broke into a collective sweat. The pressure radiating from a Swordmaster was ferocious indeed, far too severe for officials who could scarcely wield a proper blade to endure.
“If she isn’t a mistress, then who is the woman you brought into the emperor’s palace?”
Chloe, wearing a gentle smile, cut into the confrontation between the nobles and Conrad.
It was the first time in the audience chamber that Conrad and Chloe faced one another.
Looking down at Chloe, Conrad curved his eyes at the sight of her boldly meeting his gaze, almost as if she were provoking him.
Chloe’s expression hardened, mistaking that smile for mockery. Conrad, his face otherwise unconcerned, stated the fact plainly.
“Isn’t it obvious? She is the woman who will become empress.”
“Empress? What on earth are you talking about!”
It had been Chloe who asked, but it was Marquis Ludwika who erupted in shocked disbelief. Starting with him, the other nobles joined in at once.
“The empress’s seat is not a place just anyone can take!”
“Exactly, Your Majesty! She must be a young lady from a verified, unquestionable noble house!”
The chamber rang with clamorous voices. Yet Conrad made no move, simply watching the situation unfold.
How tedious.
Conrad was already twenty-eight.
Compared to Kane, who had been engaged at eighteen and fathered a child at twenty, his marriage had come far too late.
Kane Fredericks, born of the Grand Empress Chloe’s womb, was the second in line to the imperial throne if Conrad had no children.
And Kane was not the only one; Chloe also had a princess, Stella.
If Stella had not chosen the path of a knight, Chloe would have married her off at once and used her in the struggle for succession.
“Then may I ask who that young lady is, Your Majesty?”
Chloe stepped forward, having already ruled out the possibility that the woman in question might not be a noble at all.
“So the Grand Empress is certain she’s a noblewoman.”
“I do have ears in the imperial palace.”
“Indeed. I, too, have eyes and ears in the Grand Empress’s palace.”
Neither of them bothered to hide the fact that they had planted spies in each other’s territory, and the nobles held their breath as the tension between them sharpened to a point.
“You must know as well as I do, Your Majesty, that the crown of empress can be worn only by a noble family—more specifically, one with deep roots in Fredericks. So I’ll ask just one thing.”
“Go on.”
Conrad’s tone remained calm, his eyes indifferent.
Only Chloe, meeting his gaze directly, could see the cold, blue flame flickering deep within them.
“Did you receive permission from that noble young lady’s parents?”
“Unfortunately, she has no one beside her.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the chamberlain approached Conrad’s side. Conrad had received word that Regina was waiting outside the audience chamber doors, and he gave a small gesture.
The doors slid open, and Regina appeared, dressed with exquisite care.
Yet what seized the nobles’ attention was not the expensive dress, nor the even pricier necklace.
It was Regina’s graceful, unhurried walk as she entered that refused to let their eyes go.