Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter Title: The Imperial Family's Way
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Meanwhile, at the heart of the empire, the dinner table in the Ruberius Palace was wrapped in a peculiar tension and anticipation unlike any other evening.
Emperor Siegmund gazed with intrigued eyes at the premium steak before him, its enticing red sheen practically begging to be devoured.
It was that very "Penance Feast"—the sauce that had recently set the empire abuzz—paired with an imperial special dish.
Sitting across from him, his daughter, Princess Lorensia, was already elegantly slicing the meat, dipping it lightly into the sauce, and bringing it to her lips.
"Hmm."
The emperor followed her lead, cautiously tasting his first bite.
The initial touch on his tongue was the rich juices and savory fat of the perfectly seared meat. And then, in the next instant...
"...!"
Like a playful whip cracking across his tongue, a thrilling and intense pain struck.
The emperor's brow furrowed for a moment, but beyond that pain erupted a waterfall of flavors.
His red eyes widened in awe amid the overwhelming storm of sensations.
"Heh, well now."
It was spicy. But not unpleasantly so.
On the contrary, it sharpened his mind, clearing the fog that had clouded his thoughts after a day of state affairs, leaving a refreshing clarity.
Catching himself drawn to the pleasure following the pain, the emperor reached for a second piece with his fork without realizing it.
"How is it, Father? This delightful trial."
Lorensia asked with a mischievous smile.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed as well, but her eyes clearly sparkled with genuine enjoyment of this new stimulation.
"Indeed. I can see the pope's wit in naming it Penance Feast. It's a taste that melts away the stress piled up from politics and all manner of duties. Feels like something's bursting in my brain."
"Well said, Your Majesty."
The father and daughter focused silently on their meal for a time.
Only the cheerful clink of knife and fork against plate echoed through the room.
Spicy, so spicy—yet an addictive flavor they couldn't stop. Beads of sweat had formed on their foreheads before they knew it.
When the meal was about halfway done, Emperor Siegmund rinsed his mouth with wine and spoke first.
"So, how has the aftermath of that foolish Merenes heir's blunder been handled?"
"Branik has been imprisoned in the imperial dungeon in accordance with imperial law. Lord Merenes, the court count, has been ordered to pay massive reparations for tarnishing his house's honor. The territory he put up as collateral is currently under management by the creditors and the imperial legal bureau."
Lorensia dabbed her lips gracefully with a napkin as she reported. Her briefing continued.
"Furthermore, Sir Jonathan's proposed 'Imperial Safe Mark' system is yielding results beyond expectations."
"Oh?"
"In the process of cracking down on those distributing adulterated food, we've uncovered that they've been evading taxes as well."
At his daughter's words, the emperor's gaze sharpened noticeably.
Soon, a low mutter of displeasure shifted the room's atmosphere, as if the temperature had dropped several degrees.
"So, not content with poisoning Her Majesty's subjects with inferior swill, those vermin even siphoned off provisions meant for the soldiers and officials toiling to safeguard our realm. This is unforgivable treason."
The emperor's voice was low, but the rage within it boiled like lava in an active volcano.
Lorensia continued her report in a calm tone, as if to soothe her father.
"Yes, Father. Their ledgers were falsified twofold and threefold, with the embezzled taxes padding their own bellies. They were pests gnawing at the empire's foundations."
Lorensia reported matter-of-factly.
Her red eyes gleamed with the sharp light of one who had foreseen it all.
"But paradoxically, this opportunity has dragged all those hidden tax sources into the light, causing the capital's quarterly tax revenue to far exceed projections."
"Hmm. Pruning the rotten branches has made the tree healthier, it seems."
A faint look of satisfaction crossed the emperor's face at last.
The emperor wiped the sweat from his brow with a napkin and let out a hollow chuckle.
He found it both astonishing and oddly gratifying to think that the man his daughter had chosen, Jonathan, had orchestrated the board to yield all these results from the start.
"To think a mere condiment sparked an event that carves out the empire's tumors like a scalpel. Truly a man of exceptional caliber. So, what exactly are the fruits of that scalpel's labor?"
Lorensia, as if she'd been waiting, revealed the core of her report with a confident smile.
"Between certification fees and the taxes we've levied this time, the treasury has been filled quite handsomely."
"Oh? 'Quite handsomely,' you say..."
Lorensia set down her wine glass elegantly and declared with a voice more triumphant than any general's.
"Just the certification fees alone are projected to bring in a stable sum rivaling the annual budget of the palace legal office. But that's merely the beginning, Father."
Meeting her father's gleaming eyes, she delivered the decisive blow.
"Combining the back taxes levied and assets confiscated from the criminals uncovered this time yields enough to build three more outposts on the northern border—and operate them for five years."
"Ha ha ha!"
Emperor Siegmund burst into hearty laughter.
Not only had it resolved a thorny social issue, but it had also swelled the treasury to this extent.
Everything was unfolding on the board designed by that black-haired young man, Jonathan Valerius.
The emperor savored the final piece of steak, then rested his chin on his hand and asked his daughter in a low voice.
"Lorensia."
"Yes, Father."
"It is only right that the emperor of the empire rewards his loyal vassals in measure to their contributions."
His red eyes turned to Lorensia.
They held not the gaze of a father, but the profound insight of the empire's ruler.
"Would it not be proper to grant the lands left masterless by the folly of the Merenes firstborn to the one who resolved this chaos and brought new order and wealth to the empire?"
"Your words are wisdom itself, Your Majesty."
A sly smile curved Lorensia's lips.
Everything was flowing exactly as she—and her father—had desired.
The emperor nodded in satisfaction and continued.
"Conveniently, that land isn't far from Kandoria. A strategic point linking the two houses' territories, perfect for that young man to manage. Prepare an edict granting those lands to Jonathan Valerius. It is the empire's answer to his merits."
Emperor Siegmund set down his wine glass and leaned back deeply in his chair.
In that instant, the ruler's face, moments ago discussing the empire's future, shifted back to that of a playful father.
"By the way, Lorensia."
He rested his chin on his hand again, eyeing his daughter with interest.
"I hear that Jonathan has had a fiancée arranged since childhood. The lady of House Argentis, was it?"
The emperor's red eyes pierced Lorensia like arrows.
"Even so, has your resolve to claim that man remained unchanged?"
To that question, Lorensia replied without the slightest hesitation, her smile growing even more alluring.
"Of course, Father. A treasure of true worth belongs in the hands of one who recognizes it—and deserves it."
Emperor Siegmund burst into amused laughter at his daughter's bold response.
He nodded approvingly, clearly delighted by her audacious confidence.
"That's my girl. That's my blood!"
The emperor gazed at his daughter with satisfied eyes.
What blazed in her red eyes was no mere greed.
It was the conqueror's ambition, possessed only by those who inherited the lion's lineage—the unyielding drive to seize what one desired.
"What one wants must always be won by one's own strength. That is the way of our Ruberius imperial house."
"A man of his caliber shouldn't be bound by some childish promise from youth. He must prove his worth."
"Jonathan Valerius. For a man of that stature, abandoning him over a mere fiancée would shame our house, wouldn't it?"
The imperial way. Beneath the empire's sun, the brightest prizes belonged to the strongest hands.
His words were full affirmation—and encouragement—of his daughter's desires.
The emperor fixed his daughter with a playful glint in his eye and drove in the final nail.
His voice was low, but its weight was anything but light.
"He'll soon come to the palace to receive the edict. If your heart remains the same then..."
Emperor Siegmund feigned a solemn expression, though his eyes brimmed with mirth.
"Forget palace protocol for a night. Drag that man to your bedchamber and have your way with him—I'll turn a blind eye. No, I'll positively encourage it."
He added his final words with a satisfied smile.
"The seed of such a man would make fine stock to carry on our imperial line—for the good of the empire. Give it your all, my ambitious daughter."
It was no order from the emperor, but a tacit mandate from a father—and the empire's most cunning politician.
Lorensia's red lips curved into an even deeper, more seductive arc.
She rose from her seat, approached her father, and bowed gracefully.
"I shall engrave your profound will upon my heart, Father."
Her voice now held not a trace of hesitation.
In that moment, her path was clear—as princess of the empire and as a woman.
Emperor Siegmund watched his daughter with boundless satisfaction.
She was the most beautiful and dangerous hunter in the empire, forged by his own hand.
Leaving the emperor's banquet hall, Lorensia stepped onto the marble balcony of her private chambers, where cool night air brushed against her skin.
The capital's nightscape sparkled like jewels at her feet beyond the marble railing, but her gaze stretched farther—to Kandoria in the Argentis territory.
She lightly touched her still-tingling lips with fingers clad in black lace gloves.
'...Arrabbiata. "Angry sauce," was it? Addictive, impossible to let go. One taste makes you crave more.'
Not mere pain, but a thrilling sting that raked the tongue, followed by a mind-sharpening ecstasy.
A kind of awakening that made every flavor more vivid.
And the more you tasted, the more you yearned—an instinctive pull.
'Yes, just like you.'
A deep smile played on Lorensia's lips.
That man, Jonathan Valerius. He was always like this.
At first glance, a straight-laced, upright young man—almost boringly so.
But peel back one layer of that bland shell, and beneath lay a razor-sharp blade that struck at vulnerabilities and a scorching flame no one anticipated.
'On stages demanding proof of strength, he bares fiercer lion's claws than any other. Before the riddles I posed, he found paths with the slyest fox's cunning.'
She recalled the day she first took notice of him.
Noble heirs busied themselves flaunting power or currying favor with flattery.
All mere predictable pawns moving within safe bounds—dull as dust.
But he was different.
The only one to solve her riddle and corner her.
The thrill she'd felt then. The joyous conqueror's lust upon discovering a gem brighter than any in the world.
That was why she'd offered him the swiftest, surest path to grasping the empire—through his lineage.
The perfect mate to sire the next generation carrying imperial blood. A man with both strength and wisdom, the only one fit to bear my blood.
'Any ordinary man would have fallen to his knees in gratitude. But you...'
The first—and last—rejection she'd ever known.
The empire's seer, who claimed whatever she desired, denied by the one man who refused to be a mere vault treasure.
That made him all the more tantalizing. Untamed, he had to be made hers.
"Heh."
I let out a soft laugh. Father doesn't know yet how serious I am about this man.
Perhaps Father still sees him merely as prime stock to continue the imperial line or sire heirs through me, but one thing is certain.
You're more than that. Or perhaps even beyond. For I recognized you and set my sights on you.
The greatest hunter doesn't clip an eagle's wings—she finds the sole mate to rule the hunt alongside her.
The only man fit to claim my virtue and stand by my side is you alone.
'You'll come to the palace soon, my treasure. Jonathan.'
To receive his new territory—and complete the empire's new law.
Then you'll realize it too.
That the only bed fit for a lion like you is mine.
"Heh, I look forward to it."
"Shall I make some preparations, then?"