The Emperor's Bedroom
The Emperor's bedroom.
"Your Majesty the Empress, I beg your pardon, but at present His Majesty is in the midst of discussing affairs of state with Her Highness the Imperial Princess... He has asked that you wait just a moment..."
"Ha...!"
At the attendant's polite attempt to hold her back, Empress Angelina let out a hollow laugh. The two of them were now practically advertising that they were glued to each other's sides, and the sheer absurdity of it left her speechless.
"That wretched woman..."
No doubt she'd heard about yesterday's plea to release Narciss and had come to impress upon the Emperor that he must never, ever be freed. As expected of a girl born from a lowborn woman's womb.
"Out of my way!"
"Y-Your Majesty the Empress, please, this is most improper! His Majesty said he won't be long—please, just wait a little!"
"You there! A mere attendant dares to block my path?"
"Aagh!"
When the attendant stepped into her way, Angelina shoved him roughly aside and flung open the door to the Emperor's bedroom.
"Ha... Empress, you truly never change, do you..."
Watching Angelina barge in without a shred of permission, Valerius pressed a hand to his brow and heaved a deep sigh. And the expression of Anastasia, seated across from him, was positively glacial.
"......"
"Ha! Where do you get off glaring at me like that? You can't even offer a proper greeting the moment you see me?"
The moment Anastasia's red eyes fixed on her with icy contempt, Angelina flinched and shrieked in a burst of hysteria. Her own son bore the very same red eyes, but there was something about this woman's gaze—something so deeply unsettling and unpleasant.
Anastasia only stared back at her, colder and more contemptuous than before, and said,
"So this is what they call a double standard, is it?"
"What...?"
"It's a term Sir Logan taught me—he contributed greatly to toppling the Demon King and now aids me with his protection and countless duties at my side."
"Ha! What nonsense is this, out of nowhere? Are you proud of being born from a lowborn woman's womb, is that it? What do you want me to do about the fact that you rabble flock together!?"
"Pfft...!"
"Did you just... laugh at me?"
Angelina was already furious that Anastasia dared to glare at her without a hint of courtesy. But then the woman had to spout some strange word she'd never heard in her life—and sneer at her on top of it. Her whole body trembled with rage.
"You insolent wretch!!"
"Truly remarkable, aren't you."
"This insolence, to the very end!!"
"Truly, the audacity is astounding."
"The audacity is YOURS, with that insolent attitude of yours! You stole my Narciss's position and became Imperial Princess, and look how swollen your head has become!!"
Anastasia sneered at the disgraceful spectacle of Angelina raging and flailing.
"Swollen with pride, you say...? I'd say that phrase suits someone far better—someone who has lived in arrogance her entire life, to the point of refusing even the smallest request of His Majesty the Emperor."
"Ha! You really must have lost your mind, you wretch!"
Anastasia and Angelina—the two of them yielded not a single inch to each other, and as the atmosphere overheated, Valerius slowly raised his hand to intervene.
"Enough... enough, both of you... Empress..."
"Ha! Are you taking that creature's side right now?"
"It's not like that... Haah... Anastasia, you too. That's quite enough."
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
Anastasia thought she had chosen well in following Logan's counsel. Watching Valerius buckle under Angelina's relentless pressure, she could see that while he was holding out for now, it wouldn't last much longer. In the end, unable to withstand the Empress's constant badgering, Narciss would walk free—that much was already written.
Truly... a weak man.
Anastasia despised Valerius in her heart. She had believed he was empowering her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this aging Emperor merely wanted to shirk responsibility for the affairs of state and everything else—to simply rest.
And so Anastasia slowly rose from her seat. There was nothing left for her here.
"Then, Your Majesty, I shall take my leave. Do enjoy a pleasant time together, the two of you."
"A-Anastasia..."
Valerius sent a pitiful, pleading look after his departing daughter. But he neither reached out his hand nor held her back with any real force. From his position, it was the guilt and helplessness of a man who could compel or command nothing of his own daughter. Yet that very attitude only deepened Anastasia's disappointment.
"...I trust you will grant my request. Your Majesty, I wish you long health and peace."
With a brief, perfunctory bow, Anastasia left the bedroom at once.
"Ha..!"
Angelina ground her teeth at the arrogance of a woman who had not bowed her head to her even once, all the way to the end. And then—a request?
"Your Majesty! You ignored the plea I made so desperately yesterday, and now you intend to grant her request without a moment's hesitation!?"
She had no idea what the request contained, but under no circumstances could that woman be allowed to have her way. No—if anything had to be granted, then at the very least Narciss should be released from the Detached Annex Palace. With that thought, Angelina moved to protest—
—and was left utterly bewildered by the unexpected words that left Valerius's mouth.
"She was the one who asked me to release Narciss. He's reflected on his actions for quite a long while now, she said—surely it's time he was pardoned..."
"Wh-what...?"
For a moment, Angelina wondered if she had misheard. This was a woman who could just as plausibly have demanded he be locked in the Annex even longer—or exiled somewhere far more distant—yet she had spoken in favor of freeing her son?
Valerius looked at her with an expression of utter exasperation and went on.
"...And yet it seems the Empress dislikes the thought of granting that request."
"N-no, of course not!"
Angelina shook her head frantically. She couldn't fathom what Anastasia was playing at, but for now, the thought that her son could finally be pulled out of the Annex after so long was a joy she could barely contain.
"Empress... I will release Narciss. So please, do speak to him—tell him not to indulge in any vain ambitions, to keep himself in check, and to live quietly..."
"Yes, yes, of course! Narciss has reflected long enough, I'm sure. From now on, all that remains is for him to devote himself to the Empire!"
The moment she confirmed that Valerius had decided to free Narciss, Angelina hurried out of the Emperor's bedroom.
"Haah... I clearly told him to have no vain ambitions and to live quietly... and she says 'devote himself to the Empire'..."
Having witnessed, beyond any doubt, the greed and ambition kindling in Angelina's face mere moments ago, Valerius could only heave yet another deep sigh.
"Anastasia... it seems this father of yours is not to be trusted after all..."
He could not begin to guess what she had been thinking when she pleaded for Narciss's release. But one thing was certain—
All that remained was the bitter reality that his daughter no longer placed even a scrap of trust in her father.
The Detached Annex Palace, where the exiled prince was confined.
"Narciss! Your mother has come in person to deliver wonderful news!"
"H-Her Majesty the Empress!? Sh-She—His Highness the Prince is asleep right now, so..."
Caught completely off guard by Angelina's unannounced arrival, the attendant guarding the door to Narciss's bedroom floundered as he tried to block her way. Angelina frowned, visibly displeased.
"What nonsense is this? The sun is already high in the sky."
"...Th-that is, he stayed up late reading..."
The attendant sweated buckets and sputtered out the excuse. Angelina's brow furrowed deeper. Reading? Narciss? However much she doted on and shielded her son, that was something she absolutely could not believe.
"Tch... drinking himself into a stupor again, I see. Fine. Step aside—I'll wake him myself."
Resolving that she would have to lecture Narciss later about drinking less, Angelina waved the attendant off. But the man did not move so much as a single step, begging her with an earnest, desperate expression.
"Y-Your Majesty the Empress! F-forgive me, but His Highness strictly ordered that no one whatsoever be allowed in. If you cough, I'll tell him at once that Your Majesty visited—so please, I beg you..."
The attendant's desperate, imploring manner brought Angelina to a halt. For a lowly attendant to block her path twice was deeply insulting—but she knew Narciss's vicious temper better than anyone. If she shoved this man aside and forced her way in now, she could be certain of suffering something terrible for it later.
Normally, she couldn't have cared less how her son abused a commoner like this. But the situation had changed. True, it was fine that he took merciless violence against inferiors after her own example—but now that he would be leaving the Annex, his public image demanded a certain degree of care. Hers as well, for that matter, as his mother.
And so Angelina, in an uncharacteristic show of magnanimity, nodded.
"Very well, I understand. Tell him the moment he wakes. At last—"
She had been about to say you can finally leave the Annex—
"Aaahng!"
—when a lewd cry slipped out from within Narciss's bedroom. At that sound, the attendant's face turned white as a sheet.
"Hiiiek!!!"
And Angelina's face began to twist like a demon's. She hadn't believed it—couldn't have—yet despite all her commands to reflect and comport himself, he hadn't broken the habit at all—
"Aiing! His Highness is so rough even in broad daylight~"
"BWAAAHAHAHA!!!"
—and was carrying on in this vile debauchery!
The attendant could no longer bring himself to stop her. If he tried to hold her back any further, his head might well leave his shoulders.
CRASH!!!
"What in the world do you think you're doing! Your Highness!!!"
"KYAAAAAH!!!"
At Angelina's sudden intrusion, the woman tangled with Narciss screamed and buried herself beneath the covers—
"...Mom?"
—while Narciss greeted his own mother completely naked.
Angelina's head throbbed unbearably.
"Ah, what's your problem! I'm a man! A man in the prime of his life!"
"Have you no shame, Your Highness!?"
She had expelled the nameless woman caught committing shameless acts with her son in broad daylight, intending to deliver a stern lecture—only for Narciss to rage and shout back as though he hadn't a single thing to answer for.
"Didn't I clearly tell you through my dear uncle!? I'll be leaving the Annex soon, so you need to keep yourself in check!"
Angelina shouted in fury, but Narciss only snorted and defied her.
"Ha! So when exactly do I get out of this shithole? I heard everything. You failed to sway Father yesterday and got dragged out of there like a dog!"
"Y-Your Highness, please!"
Angelina was aghast at Narciss's grotesquely insolent words. But she did not go further—did not scold him or speak a single harsh word. Instead, hoping to soothe him, she softened her tone.
"That's exactly why I've come in person today... to bring you good news..."
"Good news...? Don't tell me—"
"Yes. As of today, your life in the Annex is over, Your Highness."
"OH!!! NICE!!!!"
Narciss leapt up from the sofa, thrust both fists into the air, and let out a triumphant cheer. At the sight of her son rejoicing, the corners of Angelina's lips curled upward of their own accord.
"Which is why, Your Highness, I ask that you be careful and keep yourself in check from now on."
"Yeah, got it! Mom!"
"Truly, truly you must comport yourself...?"
"I said I get it!!"
Narciss snapped at Angelina as she emphasized, again and again, that this was her most earnest advice. She couldn't help but worry. Consistency and conviction were all well and good, but he listened to no one, and there was far too much of the impulsive in him.
And so she coaxed and soothed her son once more, gently.
"Your Highness... I'm not saying these things just to nag you. It's because I want to call my son Crown Prince again—so please, listen to your mother."
"Crown Prince...?"
"Yes. And then, Emperor. You must become Emperor, after all."
"That's... that's right... yes...!"
Narciss, swept up in the euphoria of finally escaping this accursed place, had forgotten—his own rightful place. How laughably absurd, that he had stood there beaming like an idiot over nothing more than crawling out of a prison like this.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll be good, I promise... so send me back to where I belong!"
"Of course. The only reason this mother of yours lives is to see you crowned Emperor."
"Thank you, Mom!!!"
And so, mother and son gazed into each other's eyes, wearing smiles heavy with greed, and began to speak of their wicked schemes and designs.