Night of Chaos (6)
Night of Chaos (6)
30 minutes later, Belletria and I were lying together in one bed, having finished showering.
However, perhaps it was uncomfortable because we had shared a bed without any mental preparation, or perhaps it was because she was a woman before she was an Emperor.
For nearly five minutes, Belletria had been lying in bed, staring only at the ceiling.
Seeing that, I thought about taking the opportunity to quickly fall asleep, but...
Thinking about it in a slightly different way, I felt that this was the perfect time to have a more serious conversation.
So, after a moment of deliberation, I carefully opened my mouth first.
"Your Majesty... are you alright?"
"...About what?"
"Whatever the case, the fact that the black mud attacked the Imperial Palace hasn't changed, and wouldn't some nobles express concern using that as an excuse?"
Honestly, the Archesium Empire is currently at the peak of its imperial power in history, so there's probably no need to worry.
But even so, they would certainly be reluctant to give any leverage to the noble faction and some neutral nobles.
That was why I asked, and Belletria, who had been staring at the ceiling in silence for a moment, suddenly turned her body toward me and stared straight at my face.
"Are you already worrying about Imperial affairs on my behalf?"
"Hmm... I suppose you could say that?"
I know this isn't the time to be thinking about this, but... what a face.
Honestly, I felt like she rarely wore makeup, but facing her bare face, I really wondered if a person could be this perfect.
'If you're talented, have a great lineage, and are even beautiful, what are other people supposed to do?'
While thinking that, I spent a moment admiring her appearance.
And Belletria, who was staring right back at me, parted her lips for a moment and said.
"More than that... I need to go out with you before it's too late, but I just can't find the time."
"Ah... certainly, you're so busy these days that you can't even enjoy tea time properly."
I also wanted to take her to the Solty Territory, which I had found using information obtained from Luamel, before it was too late.
However, as I just said, the war with Dharon was right around the corner, so it was tight to even spare a moment.
"Still, wouldn't it be fine? Actually, I think it might be more comfortable to leave during the rest period that will come after the war ends."
"...Yes, that's not wrong either... More than that, judging by your confident demeanor, you must have found a place that suits my tastes, right?"
To her question, I nodded without hesitation, wearing a confident smile.
"Of course. I bet my life on it; you will definitely love it."
"Ho-ho, betting your life, are you? You're quite confident."
Belletria let out a small chuckle, as if she quite liked my answer.
After that, we exchanged a few more words.
Most of it was about the upcoming war or speculation about who was behind the Imperial Palace attack today.
And as time passed, I felt my mind drifting away due to the sound of her breathing, which I could hear at regular intervals beside me, and the sweet scent lingering at the tip of my nose.
Perhaps because my tension had eased, or perhaps because of the fatigue from the wound on my collarbone, I felt my gaze at the ceiling gradually blur and lost consciousness.
The first night together in the Imperial Palace, which had been filled with chaos and the smell of blood, ended quietly like that.
The next morning.
When I opened my eyes as the bright sunlight seeped in through the window.
Belletria was already dressed neatly in a dark-colored uniform, ready to leave the bedchamber.
At her words that she was going to the dungeon to interrogate the intruders caught yesterday, I hurriedly threw on my outer garment and followed her.
"Why are you following me with an injured body?"
Belletria, walking down the hallway, glanced at me without stopping.
Continuing the act I used in the square yesterday, I approached her closely with a slightly exaggerated expression.
"Your Majesty... no, Belletria, imagining you looking into the eyes of those sewer-smelling men and talking to them in a cramped, dark prison... I just couldn't stand it."
"......."
"So, I will interrogate them myself. I can't let my lovely fiancé's precious lips be wasted on such trash."
"Hah."
I puffed out my chest and followed one step behind her, looking confident.
At my shameless nonsense, Belletria let out a small, incredulous laugh.
But she didn't stop my actions.
Instead, she started walking ahead without saying anything, as if giving permission.
And while only the sound of regular footsteps filled the hallway for a while, she, who had been walking silently in front, suddenly opened her mouth.
"From now on, when we are alone, it would be fine for you to call me by my name."
"...Yes?"
"The awkward feeling of being called only by my name without a title by someone... it doesn't seem too bad."
"Ah...."
To think I would hear something like that from the woman in front of me.
Perhaps this is clear evidence that she is gradually lowering her guard against me?
I cheered inwardly and bowed politely.
"As you command, Belletria."
After walking a little further, a familiar spiral staircase soon appeared.
The deep, damp bottom of the Imperial Palace.
It was the entrance to the dungeon where she had tortured the former Minister of Military Affairs a few days ago.
We exchanged brief nods with the guards standing in front of the tightly closed iron door and went inside.
Inside the prison, where torches were flickering, thirty men were tangled together, shivering.
They, who had become half-dead in just one night, buried their heads in the floor and held their breath as soon as they saw Belletria's silver hair and red eyes in the darkness.
Belletria stepped back one step, gesturing to the iron bars as if to let me try it alone as promised.
"Ahem, then please wait a moment."
I cleared my throat once, slowly approached the iron bars, and knelt on one knee.
The disgusting smell of sweat and urine hit me, but I barely endured it and looked around at the thirty men.
My gaze stopped at the big man in the back of the group, whose face was half-covered with a beard like a bandit.
The man presumed to be their leader who was begging for his life at the forefront in the square yesterday.
I tapped the cold iron pillar of the prison bars lightly with my finger and opened my mouth.
"Hey, you, the hairy one."
"M-me, are you talking to me?"
"Yeah, you punk, it's not like there's any other hairy—"
"...Actually, there are a lot."
I briefly wondered why everyone's faces were full of hair in just one day.
Still, I should finish what I have to do before resolving my doubts.
"Anyway, it's you, and from now on, you have to answer my questions with sincerity and tell only the truth. Got it?"
"O-of course. Thanks to you, I was able to save my life... so please ask me anything."
"Good."
I expected it, but thanks to the man who was cooperating with me much better than I thought, the interrogation proceeded smoothly.
After talking for about 12 minutes, I was able to get quite a lot of information.
"So, you guys operated under the name of the Grey Wild Dogs from the slums, and you've been delivering rumors floating around the streets of the capital, Iter, while receiving one gold coin a month from some noble who approached you at some point?"
"T-that's right."
"But looking at your appearance, you're not wild dogs, you're mongrels... no, that's not it, anyway, you're not hiding anything else, right?"
"O-of course! How could we dare."
The man named Leader Dog, who was trembling and rolling his eyes.
When I glanced in the direction his eyes were heading, Belletria was there, staring at this place with very sharp, gleaming eyes.
"...Our Imperial Majesty is a bit too scary, right?"
"Yes, she's really fucking sca— I mean... no, she's not."
"You're an honest kid."
Anyway, since it didn't seem like he was lying, I decided to stop the interrogation here and stood up.
Now... then how should I dispose of them.
To be honest, even if I couldn't let them go, I didn't want them to be put on trial.
Is this feeling called sympathy?
Although the backgrounds are very different, I thought the lives they and I have lived so far are quite similar.
Above all, they really just followed the black mud to the Imperial Palace and watched without doing anything.
However, even if that is the truth, if they were to be put on trial and the charges were Imperial Palace intrusion and royal...
No, if charges of attempted injury to the Imperial family were attached, the lesser evil would be life imprisonment, and it was obvious that they would all be executed with almost 100% probability.
'How on earth can I bring it up to save these guys' lives?'
I looked at the prisoners with a troubled face for a moment and then turned my body toward the direction where Belletria was standing.
And I approached her, frowning slightly to come up with the most plausible excuse possible.
"Hey, Belletria. First of all, regarding the information about the mastermind obtained through the interrogation..."
"My fiancé."
"...Yes?"
Belletria cut me off.
Her red eyes were scanning between my troubled expression and the men trembling inside the iron bars.
"Judging by your expression... it seems you want to keep all those vermin alive?"
"......."
My heart sank for a moment because my inner thoughts were completely exposed.
But that was only for a moment.
Thinking that since I was already caught, I should just tell the truth, I scratched my cheek awkwardly and nodded obediently.
"Yes, well... I heard that the one who commissioned the request is someone else, and these guys were just planning to watch from behind and then leave, so I thought there might be some room for leniency."
My voice trailed off without me realizing it.
It was a pathetic excuse even to my own ears.
Belletria stared at me for a long time without a word.
A heavy silence pressed down inside the prison.
Before long, she let out a small sigh, relaxed her stiff posture, and slowly opened her mouth.
"Under normal circumstances, this would be nonsense."
Her gaze glanced at the bandage wrapped around my collarbone and then returned to the hairy men.
"Since my fiancé seems to hate it so terribly that more dirty blood and the stigma of being a tyrant are stained on my hands... I will specially give you a chance just this once."
"Yes? A chance?"
I asked back with wide eyes at the completely unexpected development.
Belletria pointed to the thirty people in the iron bars with an indifferent gesture.
"Looking at their frames and energy, at least half of them have mediocre talents that could awaken low-level Aura within half a year if taught properly."
"Uh... really?"
"Of course, they are trash whose limits are exactly that."
She cut off her words dryly and tapped my shoulder.
"Go ahead and make those men into a gang that can perfectly fight and die for you."
"......."
"Not as Grey Wild Dogs rolling on the street, but as loyal dogs that protect your life."
Having finished speaking, Belletria turned around without hesitation and began to leave the prison.
I looked alternately at the hairy men staring blankly up at me from inside the iron bars and Belletria's elegantly receding back.
The losers from the slums who had been mobilized to kill me just yesterday.
The Emperor had personally thrown them to me as my private soldiers. And under the pretext of protecting me, at that.
Watching her upright back disappearing into the darkness, I let out an exclamation without realizing it.
'Wow... she's really fucking cool.'