A Misunderstood Threat
Scribble, scribble... The only sound in Deviang's office was the scratching of a fountain pen against paper.
I don't want to memorize this.
Trying to cram the words Deviang gave me into my head felt like it was going to cause a cognitive overload. Rights, options... why on earth do I have to memorize things like this?
But putting that aside, how did Deviang, who was only three years older than me, even know all this? Seeing how deeply he understood imperial administration, and how he explained things like atoms and thermal conductivity, he had to be highly versed in alchemy as well. He could look at a blueprint for a distillation apparatus—something only master artisans would know—and explain its structure on the spot. I was utterly astonished by the fact that he knew terms like options and interest rates, which only merchants would normally use.
Did he put in an immense amount of effort to learn all these things that were so difficult for an ordinary person to grasp? I doubted it. Usually, these were subjects one would learn at an academy. But although I heard Deviang graduated from the military academy, he had never attended a proper academic institution for higher learning.
Reflecting on this, I could only reach one conclusion.
Deviang really is a genius. Unless you're a genius, it's impossible to comprehend so many different fields in one's early twenties. And above all, the most incredible thing was...
Someone with that kind of talent would have every reason to be lazy and arrogant, yet Deviang never acted that way. Instead, he stayed up all night, working more diligently than anyone else, constantly pondering ways to develop the empire. Watching such an extraordinary genius sacrifice his sleep and pour all his strength into raising this empire up brought a lump to my throat.
Saying that the Empress and the Grand Duke exist solely for the sake of the empire's people, Deviang embodied the very essence of noblesse oblige. Every time I looked at him, I felt inspired to work even harder.
Wait... hold on. This wasn't what I was supposed to be thinking about.
I was planning to catch him red-handed in his infidelity and corner him. How did my thoughts drift to this?
I stole a glance at Deviang, who was writing something with an expressionless face. Seeing him focus entirely on the paper, silently doing his work whether I looked at him or not, made me feel a surge of irritation. He was so obsessed with work. Is he really the type to do such a thing? Maybe I'm misunderstanding him?
The thought suddenly crossed my mind, but I still didn't know for sure. I couldn't let my guard down until I caught him in the act.
"Why do you keep staring at me? Do you have something to say?"
When Deviang put down his documents and spoke, I startled and replied.
"N-no, I don't!"
Saying that, I quickly went back to memorizing the economic terms. Why... does he seem to get more handsome by the day?
The thought popped into my head, but I quickly shook it off and focused on studying. After all, nothing would wound my pride more than failing to memorize them and having Deviang think I was an idiot.
Once I finished the test Deviang gave me, he nodded and spoke.
"You worked harder than I expected, especially since these are unfamiliar concepts."
"Honestly... it's more amazing that you actually know all this."
I might not have studied imperial leadership or statecraft deeply, but... did it even make sense for one person to be so knowledgeable in so many different fields? I heard even academy professors only specialized in a single field.
"It's nothing special. I just picked it up while doing various things."
As Deviang spoke and slipped the test paper into his desk drawer, I said,
"Then, I'll take my leave."
"Alright. Good work."
Leaving Deviang's office, I headed toward my mother's chambers.
"Your Imperial Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress has arrived."
"Let her in."
Once my mother's permission was granted, the door opened, and I stepped inside.
"You're early today."
At my mother's gentle voice, I let out a sigh and spoke.
"Mother. Do you remember when my eldest brother went to a brothel in the past?"
My mother flinched in surprise at my words.
"He did...? B-but why bring that up all of a sudden?"
Did she not expect me to bring up such a topic? Although I wanted to trust Deviang completely, there was always that one-in-a-million chance, so I cautiously broached the subject with her. Since my mother had lived much longer than I had and was renowned throughout the empire for her wisdom, I figured she would understand these things well.
"Do men normally go to places like that?"
Upon hearing my question, my mother's face changed. I felt like the veins on her forehead were standing out more than usual today.
"Don't tell me... Deviang..." She gritted her teeth. "...is visiting those kinds of places?"
At her words, I let out a sigh and explained what happened last night...
"How dare he! Leaving my beautiful daughter behind to go to such a place?! Bring Deviang here this instant! I'll skin him alive!"
I struggled to calm my mother, who was absolutely furious.
"Mother, wait a moment."
"Wait? What do you mean, wait?! He's a newlywed, and he's visiting those places?!"
They say gentle people are the scariest when they get angry. Looking at my highly enraged mother, I said,
"If we summon him over this right now, he'll just deny it."
My mother shouted back in response.
"Let him try to lie! What else would a grown man be doing, slipping out of the Imperial Palace in the dead of night without a word? Let him lie all he wants, see if I believe a single word of it!"
Seeing my mother snorting with rage, I shook my head and spoke.
"Mother, Deviang is incredibly meticulous. He will undoubtedly find a way to lie his way out of it. That's why, the next time he goes out, I'm going to catch him red-handed so he can't make any excuses. So please, don't be so angry."
At my words, my mother looked at me with a strange expression.
"But how are you so calm about this?"
She seemed unable to comprehend how I, the one who should be the most furious, was remaining so composed.
Flipping a strand of my hair over my shoulder as if it were nothing, I replied,
"That's because once I catch him red-handed and leave him with absolutely no way out, I'm going to bind his limbs so he can never step foot outside the Imperial Palace again."
How dare he dump all the hard work on me while he sneaks off to a brothel? I'll make sure he can't even step outside the palace. I'll lock him in a room all day long so he can only look at me... No, I mean, so he can do his work.
While I was lost in these thoughts...
My mother shuddered slightly at my words and spoke.
"Thera... b-binding his limbs... That sounds a bit... extreme..."
"No, even that isn't enough."
Of course it wasn't enough. No matter how much of a genius he was, and how diligently he worked, it was still not enough to repay him for dumping all that work on me.
He might be a genius, but I'm not!
Besides, he won't even lay a single finger on me... yet he goes to a brothel? I'd rather he lay his hands on me instead, that bastard.
At my firm response, my mother shuddered slightly.
"I-is that so? I was just thinking of giving him a warning..."
"That's far too soft. If we bind his limbs so he can never leave the Imperial Palace again, Deviang will surely reflect on his actions."
I had absolutely no intention of letting him off with a mere warning. For someone who went around claiming he truly loved me, the punishment for sneaking off to such a place had to be severe.
"B-but... what are you going to do to him once he's bound?"
At my mother's trembling question, I merely offered a faint, silent smile.
Eurydice. The biological mother of Empress Theodora Augusta and Princess Joy Augusta, and the widow of the late Emperor, let out a heavy sigh alone in her room.
"Sigh... She was never that kind of girl."
To be honest, she had been furious at first upon hearing what Theodora had to say.
Although he was the son of her enemy, she had accepted Deviang as her son-in-law and maintained a good relationship with him.
For such a man to not be satisfied with her daughter, who was renowned for her beauty, and instead visit a brothel...
What an utter insult to Theodora.
Her anger had flared to its absolute peak at his contemptuous behavior.
But then again... how could he be satisfied? The two of them hadn't even spent their first night together yet.
Eurydice had previously tried to force Deviang to sleep with Theodora.
Yet, when she had the maids inspect the bedchamber the following morning, there wasn't a single trace of intimacy.
Could it be... is my son-in-law impotent?
To Eurydice, who had lived a long life, Deviang's behavior felt incredibly bizarre.
After all, it was only natural for a man of his age to be eager to bed any beautiful woman he saw.
Yet, Deviang had refused to spend the night with Eurydice's daughter, who was undeniably gorgeous.
And his excuse had been that Thera would surely be hurt.
Because of this, she had fallen into despair, genuinely believing Deviang was impotent.
But to think he won't even touch my daughter, yet he visits a brothel...
What a massive contradiction.
Eurydice believed it would be a thousand, ten thousand times better for him to just sleep with Theodora.
Thus, she simply could not tolerate the idea of Deviang committing infidelity.
But just as she was about to summon Deviang herself to give him a piece of her mind, hearing Theodora's words had caused her thoughts to shift slightly... no, drastically.
"Once I catch him red-handed... I'm going to bind his limbs so he can never step foot outside the Imperial Palace again..."
Her daughter had never been that kind of child.
Yet, seeing her daughter utter such unimaginable words made Eurydice feel an intense sense of unfamiliarity.
What on earth is she planning to do to her husband after binding his limbs?
Feeling her mind grow faint at her daughter's ominous words, Eurydice had asked in a trembling voice:
"But... what are you going to do to him after you bind him...?"
Instead of answering, her daughter had merely offered a subtle, gentle smile, which Eurydice found utterly terrifying.
How terrifying... Was there a problem with how I raised her?
Having lived for quite some time, Eurydice was well aware that many noblemen frequented brothels.
But if her own husband had gone to such a place, they would have had a marital dispute at most.
Never in her entire life had she ever considered binding his limbs.
Why on earth would anyone bind the husband they loved?
Binding her husband... It has to be that, doesn't it?
Years ago, when an envoy from a neighboring kingdom had visited...
They had presented her with various books as gifts.
Among them was a book that depicted a man and a woman expressing their "love" by binding each other and whipping their backsides.
At the time, she had thought it was an incredibly lewd and perverted concept.
But now, realizing her own daughter possessed such tastes, she could actually understand a little why Deviang was fleeing to a brothel.
Who in their right mind would want their first intimate encounter to involve being tied up and whipped on the rear...?
If she were in his shoes, she would have fled in absolute terror as well.
Surely... Thera must have been the one to suggest doing something like that first, right?
Eurydice was convinced that Theodora must have brought out whips and ropes on their wedding night.
Thinking of how her son-in-law had refused to even go near the bedchamber ever since, Eurydice jumped to the conclusion that this had to be the truth.
Now that she believed she had uncovered the secret behind why Deviang was avoiding sleeping with Theodora, she felt a wave of dizziness, as if someone had struck her on the head with a hammer.
"Good heavens, she's a virgin, so why on earth does she know about such things... Sigh..."
Eurydice's head began to throb.
She had always prided herself on raising her children well, but at this very moment, she instinctively realized she had failed.
"Darling... No matter how much I think about it, I think I failed to raise our children properly. Sigh..."
Lamenting to her late husband, she could only let out sigh after sigh.
Today, of all days, Eurydice felt an overwhelming wave of apology toward both her late husband and her son-in-law.