Even a Tyrant Can Feel Jealousy
Even a Tyrant Can Feel Jealousy
"I heard you've been spending personal time with Ruamel. May I ask what that's about?"
"Uh... pardon?"
Come on, Idelon Halden Rehentra, analyze the situation calmly... Yeah, right.
I realized I was in deep trouble.
I looked up to meet her eyes again.
'Oh, boy.'
It's bad.
Belletria's red eyes, which had been calm and slightly sunken until just a moment ago, were now shining intensely.
It seemed my strange reaction had turned her suspicion into certainty.
And that suspicion probably stemmed from the idea that I was having an affair with Ruamel, or that we were getting too close.
So, how should I react in this situation?
'Should I deny it by saying, "I don't know what you're thinking, but it's all a misunderstanding"?'
No, given the Emperor's personality, she definitely wouldn't let that slide.
'Then should I just admit everything and bow my head?'
Better than the former, but that wasn't exactly a good method either.
I had managed to get a little closer to her in the dungeon by using all sorts of cringey lines about not paying attention to other men and not making her jealous.
And now, I'm suddenly accused of getting cozy with another woman? It would be a miracle if I didn't get my throat slit right then and there.
Anyway, after my brain spun until it was about to overload, I finally came up with the only solution.
Mix a moderate amount of truth with a moderate amount of justification.
That was the only lifeline to survive this suffocating cliff edge.
I straightened my awkwardly hunched back and sat properly in the chair.
With my sweaty hands tucked naturally under the tablecloth, I gulped and opened my mouth.
"W-well... it is true that we are meeting."
I started by acknowledging it.
"I happened to find out that Ruamel is Your Majesty's only close friend. So... I wanted to receive even a little more of Your Majesty's love, and I was getting some help from her."
At this honest truth, Belletria's eyebrows twitched slightly.
"Then...."
Before she could open her lips to express a new doubt, I hurriedly continued without giving her any room to breathe.
"I will also tell you the reason why we met right after tea time. Even though Ruamel was assigned as my personal maid, we didn't have the luxury of time to talk at length in our daily lives. I had no choice but to use that time slot when we had a brief moment of spare time."
I swallowed dryly and put up my final defensive barrier.
"Especially today, I found out late that she would be participating in this war as my adjutant and escort knight. We were just talking a little longer than usual to discuss the operation."
"......."
Having finished the explanation, I looked at her with slightly trembling eyes.
Belletria was looking at me with a gaze that made it impossible to know what she was thinking.
No, to be precise, her eyes were scanning my pupils, facial muscles, and the movement of my stiff upper body one by one, like a snake.
Was this an observation to strip away and verify every tiny tremor, every muscle contraction, to see if it was a lie or the truth?
Some blood-draining silence passed.
Before long, Belletria nodded lightly a couple of times.
"I just asked out of pure curiosity. There is no need to tremble like that."
She unclasped her hands and picked up the knife and fork on the table.
The ominous light that had been flickering in her red eyes had also vanished like snow melting.
Only then could I exhale the breath that had been pooling in my lungs and reach for the cutlery.
Afterward, the full-scale meal began with the clinking sound of silver cutlery.
The air that had been strangling people just a moment ago was nowhere to be found.
As I chewed on a piece of well-cooked meat, she tilted her water glass and asked again.
"I heard you learned magic from the Chief Mage for the first time today. How did it feel?"
"It was much more enjoyable than I thought. Thanks to Mage Zeplin-nim pointing things out so clearly, I didn't even realize how time was passing. I also learned for the first time today that I subconsciously possessed a magic Circle."
"Ho-ho. It seems that picky old man was quite kind; he must have taken quite a liking to my fiancé."
"You are too kind."
We continued to talk about the war preparations and trivial anecdotes from the Magic Tower until the plates were gradually emptied.
However, just as the peacefully arrived dinner was almost over.
Belletria, who had lightly wiped her mouth with a napkin, slowly rose from her seat first.
I also put down the remaining cutlery and reflexively straightened my back to stand up.
However, the last words that flowed from her lips bound my movements once again.
"I say this now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up."
She turned her body toward the dining room door but glanced back down at me.
"If it is true that you were with Ruamel to draw out my jealousy... then you succeeded to some extent."
"...... Pardon?"
I stood there with my mouth agape, staring at her, wondering for a moment if I had misheard.
"From the moment I heard the news that you and Ruamel were having tea time separately, until now, it has been bothering me quite a lot."
Having finished speaking, she turned her back without hesitation.
With the rhythmic sound of heels striking the marble floor,
Until the back view of the uniform that showed the Emperor's dignity completely disappeared from view.
I had to stand frozen like a stone statue in the middle of the empty dining room, unable to even breathe properly.
And the moment I realized that Belletria's presence could no longer be felt, I thought.
'From now on... I'll have to meet her more carefully.'
I couldn't just not meet Ruamel at all.
There was still a mountain of information I had to hear from her, after all.
So, from now on, I'll have to risk my life and meet as secretly as possible.
Having finished my resolution, I gave an awkward greeting to the two maids who were looking at me with slightly pitiful expressions, and then left the dining room.
Belletria, who had left the dining room first and was walking while looking at the darkening sky, saw another figure appear before her again.
Kasein, the leader of the Wolikdae, the Imperial intelligence unit.
As soon as he appeared, he knelt before the Emperor and began his report.
"As ordered, I have collected all the rumors about Prince-jeonha Idelon Halden Rehentra that have been circulating in Rehentra for the past week."
"Without missing a single one?"
"...Yes, Your Majesty. But this is a bit...."
Kasein openly displayed a troubled expression.
It was the first time he had so openly revealed his emotions.
"For you, Kasein, to show emotion... were the rumors that bad?"
"......It is presumptuous, but I will spare my words. Please see and judge for yourself."
With that, Kasein handed a rather thick stack of documents to the Emperor.
As soon as Belletria received it, she began to read through it at speed.
[Confirmed Information]
Birth Status: An illegitimate child born from the Rehentra King taking a maid.
Growth Background: Although he showed remarkable talent in various fields from a young age, he was thoroughly excluded by the King and Queen, who feared he would be a threat to the two princes born of the legitimate wife.
Afterward, he was left neglected, practically imprisoned in a remote detached palace for 20 years.
External Activities: He was even denied admission to the Continental Academy, which a royal should naturally go through. He has zero proper human relationships or independent power base. Other than the Archesium Empire, there are only a few instances where he showed his face for show.
Special Notes: Confirmed to have maintained a quite special relationship with the Princess of the Ignesia Kingdom.
Below that were all sorts of filthy rumors and insulting records that the royal family had intentionally ignored and encouraged, crudely added.
The content of the King's personal letter, claiming he was offering his beloved son, whom he cherished more than his own eyes, to the Empire, was truly a disgusting deception that made one want to vomit.
Belletria, who turned the last page of the document, twisted her lips as if she finally understood perfectly why Kasein had shown such a troubled reaction.
Then, she ignited a blue magical flame and burned all the papers she was holding.
Pas-seu.
Just 1 second.
The stack of paper oxidized cleanly into the air without even leaving ash on the floor, disappearing without a trace.
"The King of Rehentra has truly played me for a fool."
Belletria muttered in a low voice, brushing off the remnants of magic scattering into the air.
At that suffocatingly low voice, Kasein bowed his head even deeper.
"Since Your Majesty has shown such actions until now... it seems the King misjudged that you would only care about the surrender document and the value of a hostage, and the results. That is why he seems to have thrown away an incompetent illegitimate child and packaged him with such shallow lies."
"......."
Hearing Kasein's opinion, Belletria looked up at the sky, which was turning red, blankly for a moment.
A man who had been thoroughly abandoned by his family and endured hellish contempt.
The face of that prince, who had boldly held his head high, claiming he would offer blind love in front of her despite that, overlapped in the air.
"Then does this mean Idelon was also hiding all this truth to play me for a fool?"
"......."
Kasein seemed to be contemplating for a brief moment how to speak without overstepping his bounds, then shook his head firmly and opened his mouth.
"If I may be so bold as to offer some advice. I do not think the Prince had any such intention."
It was an exceptional defense coming from the mouth of the intelligence chief who usually did not go against his master's thoughts.
"He is a person who has been abandoned by his closest bloodline from birth and has held his breath to survive. In the midst of complete isolation with no strength and nowhere to lean on... wouldn't that blind love for Your Majesty have been the only salvation that allowed him to endure a hellish life? He would not have wanted to disturb the peace of mind of the Your Majesty he loves by digging up his own miserable and filthy past."
At his answer, Belletria's red eyes blinked slowly.
Herself, who lost her family and came to curse the world, and the man who was abandoned by his family and imprisoned in a detached palace.
A sensation where, despite the different textures, they somehow interlocked.
She recalled Idelon's trembling fingertips when he willingly stained his dagger with blood and carried out the slaughter on her behalf in the dungeon a week ago.
"Yes. My fiancé is not that kind of man."
Belletria straightened her uniform lightly and turned around.
"For now, only the Wolikdae should know about this."
She gave an order to Kasein, who was still kneeling, as she took a step toward the corridor where darkness was beginning to fall.
"I intend to leave the punishment for the Rehentra King's arrogant deception entirely to my fiancé... And lastly, secure as much information as possible regarding the Princess of Ignesia as well."
"...Loyalty."