Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Lioness Consort
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Fireworks embroidered the late night sky.
A messenger pigeon flew into the darkened western office.
「―――」
A cold wind shook the birdcages inside the office.
The mountain pigeon passed between them and landed on the desk.
It settled on the golden rose stuck into the desk, just as always.
But....
“…!”
The pigeon flinched at something emanating from the shadows opposite the office.
As if confronting a terror it had never experienced before.
――――――.
Proving it, the office—which was usually filled with birdsong—was eerily quiet today.
All the birds huddled in their cages, trembling.
As if hiding from a calamity.
“....”
Even the pigeon that had just completed its mission was the same.
Yet it mustered its courage and descended from the golden perch.
It approached the woman seated in the office chair.
Her white fingers untied the note bound to its leg.
Afterward, as moonlight streamed in, the woman's face came into view.
「Lea Andalusia.」
Having returned from today's summit venue, she wore a resplendent white uniform.
Her finely sculpted blonde hair was as lush as a lion's mane.
“....”
The princess did not read the note right away.
She simply placed it into a drawer.
At that moment.
「Shall I read it for you?」
A majestic voice filled the office.
The birds that had finished their duties trembled in fear at the resounding tone.
It hurriedly flew up and hid in its open cage.
「―――.」
The clicking of cold heels drew closer.
Following the moonlight, a woman appeared.
Blonde hair as radiant as the First Imperial Princess's.
Blue eyes brimming with wisdom.
A fierce beauty that captured every man's gaze.
A woman with an hourglass figure stepped into view.
「A report arriving at this hour must be important.」
She was undoubtedly forty-two this year.
Yet, perhaps due to magic's power.
Her face appeared no older than Lea's older sister.
“Please don't concern yourself, Mother.”
Lea replied in a serious tone.
Seated in the office chair, she looked up at her mother coldly.
「Very well, I'll respect that.」
The Empire's First Imperial Consort.
Rozanna, the first woman to claim the Emperor.
「That's not what's important right now.」
Like a mother to her daughter, she shared similar habits.
Hands clasped behind her back, she gazed down at her daughter with a dry expression.
「You handled the first summit splendidly today.」
“There is still the second one.”
Lea responded with a cold gaze, as if it were none of her business.
“More importantly, what brings you to my office?”
Lea looked up displeased at the consort observing her office.
“You didn't come just to check on my well-being.”
The princess rose from her seat.
She approached her mother and confronted her coldly.
So close their breasts nearly touched.
「Is it a problem for a mother to visit her daughter?」
As Lea bristled like a lioness, the pride leader smirked.
「I can't even joke with you anymore.」
The First Consort crossed her arms alone.
This accentuated her voluptuous figure even more.
「I've come regarding tomorrow's summit.」
She slowly revealed her true intentions.
「I spoke separately with the Bakal side. I got along surprisingly well with their crown prince.」
Rozanna's sharp eyes gleamed.
She spoke with a cool gaze, as if she had already sorted all the interests.
「That boy in particular. Strong body, full of ambition—he's just like the Emperor in his prime.」
The consort drew closer to her confronting daughter.
She impassively observed the masterpiece of herself and the Emperor.
「Just like your father.」
Having admired Lea's mature figure, she spoke in an empress-like haughty tone.
「You and that boy could create a new imperial line and spread it far and wide.」
“So?”
The Empire's eldest daughter countered coldly.
Gazing at her mother as if she were a stranger, she too crossed her arms.
“Stop beating around the bush and say it plainly.”
Rozanna's expression hardened at her daughter's icy demeanor.
However, as if giving her a chance, she slightly lifted the corner of her mouth.
「He seems quite interested in you. He said your commanding presence at the summit impressed him.」
Rozanna turned her head.
She gently stroked a birdcage, insisting there was no malice.
「You're of marriageable age anyway, so what's the harm in discussing a match?」
A pair of lovebirds occupied that cage.
“A political marriage, you mean.”
「Quick on the uptake, as expected.」
Lea stared piercingly at her smiling mother.
Then, grasping her intent, she retorted firmly.
“You plan to use me as a tool again.”
「A tool?」
The consort scoffed.
「Forming blood ties with Bakal would elevate your position in the Empire.」
She flicked the iron bars confining the birds with her finger.
A clear ring echoed through the office.
「I thought you'd welcome it, but this is unexpected.」
“....”
Lea said nothing for a moment.
Her proposal was indeed tempting.
What could elevate one's position more than marrying Bakal's next emperor?
She might even surpass Leon.
But.
‘Why would Mother make this proposal to me...?’
Rozanna clearly supported the crown prince.
She wanted to revive her kingdom using him and topple the emperor who killed her family.
For her, who had turned enemy, to suddenly play mother—it was suspicious.
Lea suspected ties between Bakal's crown prince Uros and the First Consort.
Perhaps she aimed to lock Lea in Uros's birdcage.
“....”
Lea silently turned her head.
Her gaze suddenly fell on a coat rack in the corner of her office.
A man's dress shirt hung there.
After watching it for a moment, the princess looked back at her mother.
And....
“I have no desire to build power that way.”
She smiled with the same leisurely yet menacing eye-smile as her mother.
“What I want, I'll seize with my own strength.”
Lea quietly returned to her desk.
She sat with empress-like poise and declared.
“So, please leave.”
Rozanna stared piercingly at her resolute daughter.
Her gaze was chilling, as if piercing all creation.
「....」
In the past, her daughter always had a haggard face.
Dark circles under her eyes, skin perpetually pale.
「Lea....」
But.
The daughter she saw up close after so long had changed greatly.
「You've changed a lot.」
Even in the dim office, the consort could tell.
Her eyes had become subtly mature and seductive.
Her once-pale skin had regained vitality.
Her figure had softened, as if someone had tenderly molded it.
Even her gestures had somehow become more feminine.
She, a mother who had experienced love first, could not miss it.
「Something special has taken root in your heart.」
Realizing something, the consort lifted her beautiful lips.
“What...?”
Lea furrowed her brow and asked back.
「Do you think you can fool your mother?」
The consort smiled with even greater certainty at her daughter's reaction.
「You've fallen for a man.」
“Such nonsense.”
Lea bristled coldly.
At that, Rozanna strolled leisurely around the office, hands behind her back, and said.
「I wonder who it is. The one captured in my lofty daughter's eyes....」
The consort inspected the birdcages as if shopping.
As if searching for the man inside them.
“If you're just going to make pointless jokes, then leave.”
Lea reacted coldly to her mother's relaxed tone.
Her glaring eyes were like a beast growling in the darkness.
“I'm not as idle as you.”
Seated at her desk, she no longer treated Rozanna as her mother.
She spoke coldly, viewing her as an enemy, like the Empire's chief strategist.
「Very well.」
Yet despite her daughter's attitude, the consort remained composed.
No, she seemed pleased, as if having gained an unexpected harvest.
「I've obtained a satisfactory yield, so I'll take my leave.」
Rozanna turned.
She moved to exit nonchalantly.
Then....
“Consort.”
Lea no longer called Rozanna “Mother.”
The cold title made even the consort pause for a moment.
「Don't get caught by me doing something pointless.」
Feeling the menacing aura from behind, the consort turned.
Her daughter's magic had grown considerably strong, matching her own.
「We'll see.」
But Rozanna paid no heed to Lea's growth.
「I can't stand not knowing what intrigues me.」
On her way out, she playfully flicked a birdcage.
And as she departed....
“...!”
The trembling cage fell utterly silent.
All the messenger pigeons inside had died.
The consort had always been adept in magic.
――――――.
Once the consort left, the office fell quiet.
Only then could Lea close her eyes.
“....”
Regulating her breath, she retrieved the note from the drawer.
To forget Rozanna, she focused silently on its contents.
But.
The Empire's First Imperial Princess soon learned.
Tonight, a woman and a man would emerge together from the changing room.
“....”
Lea pressed her lips together like a girl.
Even before the terrifying consort, she had maintained a cold mask.
Yet reading the note made her lips press tight like a girl's.
―――!!
The princess crumpled the paper.
Disgusted, she tossed it into the trash and sighed deeply.
It was the night the first summit with Bakal concluded.
「――――――」
The next day.
The two empires held the second summit.
With the first summit going well, prospects for the second were bright.
“Honored guests from each nation, please enter.”
The key figure for the second summit was Prime Minister Mosian.
Flanked by Lea and Lydia on either side.
“The Bakal diplomatic delegation is entering.”
Bakal was led by Crown Prince Uros, accompanied by Princess Tina.
Once all were seated, Bakal's crown prince spoke first.
“Yesterday's meeting was most satisfactory.”
The massive man with black hair like a veil spoke in a dignified tone.
“We received Leon Empire's assurance of no hostility and a desire for even closer ties.”
Lea nodded at his words.
“Thank you for taking it positively, Crown Prince Uros.”
Lea lifted the corner of her mouth with a queenly haughty gaze.
However, she looked somewhat fatigued, perhaps from cavorting last night.
“We now move to substantive discussions for diplomatic relations.”
Bakal's crown prince smiled upon seeing Lea's fierce beauty.
At the first summit, he had always been expressionless against Leon's crown prince.
But facing the beautiful princess softened his features.
“Do you have a good proposal?”
Lea asked Uros with a faint smile.
He grinned as if waiting and replied.
“Yes. For that, I propose a political marriage.”
The Empire's First Imperial Princess froze her smile upon hearing him.
Someone she had met yesterday suddenly came to mind.
“A political marriage....”
As Lea slowly brushed back her bangs, Uros swallowed deeply.
Seeing him, the princess smirked.
“I'm not sure we need to go that far.”
Lydia, listening beside her, chimed in with her red eyes.
“Indeed. I've never seen a political marriage alliance last.”
The Eastern Princess supported Lea with a coquettish eye-smile.
“Public and private must be strictly separated for an alliance to be truly efficient.”
Uros cleared his throat awkwardly at the haughty princesses.
He felt rejected without even confessing.
“I see....”
As the two responded firmly against marriage unlike yesterday, the summit hall's air grew cold.
Then, Princess Christina, who had been listening silently beside him, supported her brother.
“How about this, then?”
The white-haired princess gracefully raised her hand.
She boldly proposed to the two princesses.
“Under the pretext of diplomacy, we exchange talents from both nations.”
“That sounds good, Princess Christina.”
The listening imperial prime minister showed interest in the youngest princess's idea to lighten the mood.
“Could you elaborate?”
Tina gave a meaningful look.
With a smile on her lips, she declared confidently.
“Recently, I visited Norton in the northern capital of Leon.”
Norton.
At that word, the two listening princesses focused intently on Tina.
“I saw their Defense Knight Order there, and their skills in logistics and security were outstanding.”
Norton's Defense Knight Order.
Pinpointed to that location, Lea and Lydia bristled coldly.
“As someone who surveys and bolsters the Empire's terrain, I rate their abilities very highly.”
However, Tina did not yield to their gazes.
Instead, she pressed her point with clear justification.
“So, I wish to dispatch personnel from there to discuss terrain preparation and measurements together.”
A highly plausible proposal.
If realized, it would boost the Water Defense Division's prestige and improve its image.
“Quite an intriguing proposal, Princess.”
Mosian gazed fondly at the foreign woman barely twenty.
He considered it the most rational diplomatic pretext aside from political marriage.
“Are there specific personnel you desire?”
At the prime minister's question, Tina lifted her lips in a grin as if waiting.
Her snow maiden-like beauty shone.
“Yes, if permitted, I can compile a list immediately.”
Mosian was impressed by the smoothly progressing summit.
He beamed and alternated glances at the two princesses seated on either side.
“Do you both agree? In my view, it's an excellent proposal....”
The prime minister asked heartily, treating them like granddaughters.
But at that moment.
“I oppose.”
Lea rebuked the prime minister with the coldest expression yet.
Her demeanor was chilling and intimidating, like His Majesty's.
“No.”
Lydia's bright red eyes lost focus.
Even she, renowned as a sage ruler, was tyrannically menacing now.
“Y-Yes...?”
The prime minister was startled by the hidden sides of the princesses who always treated him like a grandfather.
It felt disappointing, like grown granddaughters no longer acting spoiled.