An Invitation to Spend the Night Together
“If you want it that badly, I’ll come.”
The cool, level voice fell into the corridor of the Empress’s Palace.
The imperial maids brushed their arms against the sudden chill, but the maid from the Grand Empress Dowager’s palace, already far ahead, never noticed it.
All the way down the corridor, Regina’s smile never once faded.
Cheap curtain fabric, windows that haven’t been cleaned, smeared glass, dust in the corners...
They had moved briskly enough to look as though they were cleaning, but that was all. The broom in the maid’s hand had hardly any force behind it, and the rag was dripping wet.
If this was what they called finished cleaning, the place would only end up dirtier than before.
Pathetic.
It wasn’t even a feeble attempt to fool someone. How could they be so shameless?
“This is the room.”
It was the bedroom tucked away in the farthest corner of the Empress’s Palace. The maid from the Grand Empress Dowager’s palace opened the door and showed Regina inside, her eyes brimming with mockery.
She thought Regina had merely been lucky enough to land the seat of Empress. After all, she herself had been born to a baron’s house.
If a woman could become Empress just because she had a pretty face, then maybe there was hope for her too.
In fact, she might even be able to catch the Emperor’s eye better than that country-bred woman who still couldn’t shake off her rustic air.
Maybe the Empress’s throne will be mine one day.
Rapidly kindled love was bound to cool just as quickly.
Lost in her own delusion, the maid, Viola, didn’t realize Regina was looking at her.
The room they had assigned as a bedroom was absurdly shabby. It looked as if it had once belonged to servants, or perhaps it was simply one of the rooms they no longer used.
“Hmm.”
At the soft hum in Regina’s voice, the imperial maids stiffened. Hadn’t she done this before, then turned around and bullied the Grand Empress Dowager’s chief maid like a fish being gutted?
“Is this the best you could do?”
“With the budget we were given, yes, Your Majesty.”
If they intended to renovate it, that was their way of telling her to spend her own money. Suffer a little, the transparent meaning behind the words implied, and Regina tilted her head.
“But there should be a budget assigned to the Empress’s Palace.”
“His Majesty the Emperor goes on frequent campaigns, so there isn’t much money in the palace.”
That was nonsense.
Regina knew better than anyone just how wealthy the Fredericks Empire was.
When facing an enemy, the first thing one had to do was assess their capabilities, so the mage corps had paid close attention to Fredericks’s resources and wealth.
What they had learned was that, since its founding, the empire had maintained such formidable military strength that it had come to be known as the “Empire of Knights,” and that kind of power required astronomical funding to sustain.
And yet, now that those who did not wield swords were gaining the upper hand, Fredericks seemed to be rotting from the roots up.
There’s no way all that money just vanished. It has to be embezzlement.
It was no different from saying there was money, just not money for her.
Having recognized the petty intent behind it, Regina thought she would need to discuss the solution she had in mind with Conrad before she could go through with it.
“I understand. You may go.”
Regina gave the order gently.
Viola left with an expression that said as much, and she couldn’t see Regina’s unreadable face.
“Your Majesty.”
Once Viola was gone, the imperial maids called to Regina in concern.
“Does His Majesty the Emperor know about this?”
“The chief maid has gone to report it.”
“There was no need to tell him immediately. The chief maid was too hasty.”
Regina gave a quiet snort and looked around the bedroom. No matter where she looked, there wasn’t a single thing she liked.
Even the barracks the mage corps used in the Ferman Empire were better than this.
“Where did they find this miserable little—”
Her mutter was small, and fortunately it never reached the maids.
They hadn’t stepped inside in the first place, not wanting to interrupt Regina while she examined the room.
Regina pressed down the part of her nature that was threatening to burst out and forced her expression back into place.
What did I do to the people who pulled tricks like this in the Ferman Empire?
In the last few years, aside from her half-brother Herais, she hadn’t suffered anything like this, so her memory was hazy.
Still thinking it over, Regina only looked up when she sensed Conrad approaching.
“Lena.”
At Conrad’s call, Regina smiled softly. Seeing the sorrow in her face, Conrad spread his arms wide.
It was the kind of posture that said: Come here and let me hold you.
Regina swallowed dryly.
When there were eyes on them, they had agreed to play at being lovers. So Regina obediently went to him and let herself be gathered into his arms.
Conrad’s hold tightened for a moment. Cradled against him, Regina parted her lips.
“Does the Grand Empress Dowager dislike me?”
“What nonsense is that?”
“If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have given me a room like this.”
“There must have been some mistake.”
“I suppose so. The oldest elder in the palace, the one who even mercifully overlooked my low birth, wouldn’t resort to such a petty trick.”
Regina deliberately raised her voice.
Outside the bedroom, the maids from the Grand Empress Dowager’s palace, who had been listening with great interest, looked startled. Because of what they had done, Chloe had been made to sound like a petty, mean-spirited woman.
If Chloe, who cared so much about her reputation, found out, the maids might suffer for it.
The imperial maids were listening just as intently. Conrad had left the bedroom door open, a tacit permission to let the matter be heard outside, so this much should have been fine to repeat.
“She probably believed in your abilities.”
“My abilities?”
“The Grand Empress probably gave you this room because she believed you could manage the household staff well, just as you managed the people under me.”
“Oh, I see.”
As if enlightened, Regina’s eyes brightened. She smiled brilliantly, and when she delivered her next line, Conrad could only laugh with her.
“So she deliberately made the Empress’s Palace like this to test my abilities and gradually hand over the domestic authority!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Conrad lightly touched his lips to Regina’s as she blurted out whatever came to mind and somehow still arrived at the answer he wanted. Regina flinched.
The moment the Emperor kissed the Empress, the maids quietly closed the bedroom door.
Once they were cut off completely from the outside, Regina tried to pull free from Conrad’s arms. But the firm hold around her didn’t loosen so easily.
Conrad gave a mischievous laugh.
“Now that there’s no audience, are you going to stop the act?”
“I have something to say, so could you—!”
The words she really wanted to shout—There’s no one watching, so why are you clinging to me like this?—rattled around inside her head.
After a brief struggle, Regina finally managed to pry herself out of Conrad’s arms. There was no way she could win against the strength of a knight like him; it was only because he let her go that she succeeded.
With a long sigh, Regina gathered herself and said, “Before I start acting as Empress, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“What is it?”
Conrad straightened at the seriousness in her tone.
The two of them sat across from each other with a small table between them and continued their quiet conversation.
“May I use magic to tidy up the Empress’s Palace?”
Blue eyes turned toward Regina. Swallowing dryly under that gaze, she went on.
“I’m trying to clear out the Grand Empress Dowager’s people who’ve come into the Empress’s Palace, but I don’t have any way to protect myself, so I feel uneasy. It’s like having one hand cut off. There are plenty of other things I could use magic for, too.”
Conrad’s brows lifted slightly.
Regina’s question was no different from asking him for cooperation.
If she used magic, her mana would be depleted. To replenish it, she needed Conrad.
“So you’re asking to spend the night together.”
“I-I know that simple contact would be enough, even without going that far.”
“Well, that’s possible.”
But Conrad had no intention of stopping at “simple contact.”
“It’s not a bad idea to handle things with magic, but there’s something you should know.”
“What’s that?”
“That the Grand Empress overstepping the Empress’s authority over the household without even a request from the Empress herself has crossed the line.”
“Ah.”
Regina answered calmly.
“I already know that. It’s not uncommon, even in the Ferman Empire, where the imperial power structure is similar.”
At Regina’s added remark, Conrad gave a nod as well.
“Good. Then what are you going to do?”
“Since she’s meddled with the Empress’s personnel authority as she pleased, the Grand Empress will have to offer something even greater.”
“Something greater?”
“I’m thinking of taking her financial authority away.”