Chapter 17
The murmuring of several high officials walking in step like rolling waves could be heard. Everyone was engrossed in talking about the Empress.
The Duke of Despogne’s absurd choice of address—calling her “niece-in-law”—and Renox’s careless, irrelevant reply to the Empress’s inquiry had both stemmed from the same cause: they had underestimated her.
Yet the Empress did not waver in the face of such provocation. Instead, with a response that was effortlessly natural and unmistakably aristocratic, she once again impressed her presence upon everyone. A brief silence, a composed and dignified gaze, a cool and refined demeanor—it was unmistakably the bearing of one born to rule.
Lionel stopped mid-step and turned his head to look at the door through which the Empress had disappeared.
At the head of a long, rectangular table sat the Emperor. Though he watched the Empress enter the council chamber, he did not even offer a casual greeting.
Adel moved slowly across the spacious hall, her gaze sweeping the room. Yet the interior décor failed to register at all. As she walked along the long table, all of her attention was fixed on the Emperor’s icy, arrow-like stare. The chill brushing against her cheek felt like a frozen tundra, while the tightness in her chest recalled the hot, dry air of a blazing desert. The heat of the desert and the cold of the polar regions swirled chaotically between them.
Adel stopped at an appropriate distance—neither close nor far. The ambiguous space between them seemed to mirror the current state of their relationship.
Bracing her lower abdomen, Adel met the Emperor’s gaze. He was like frozen land—eyes and expression devoid of even a trace of consideration or understanding. Her own eyes cooled in response.
She had come to discuss the payment for the dresses. He was infuriating, but she had not come to pick a fight. Nor did she currently have the strength to fight an Emperor. Still, facing his mercilessly cold expression, a fire began to rise deep within her chest.
She pulled out a chair herself and sat down. The attendant standing behind her flinched in surprise, but Adel paid no attention.
“May I request a private conversation for a moment?”
“Go ahead. Would you like some tea?”
“I already had some in the waiting room.”
“No refreshments are needed. Everyone, leave.”
There was no pause in their exchange. The attendants glanced at one another and quickly withdrew.
Click. The sound of the door closing echoed like thunder.
“What is it you wish to say?”
The Emperor asked abruptly, as though pressed for time. Adel, however, was not one to be cowed. An eye for an eye—she shot back her question the moment his words fell.
“Why did you propose a state marriage?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why, exactly, did you appoint me as Empress? It was Your Majesty who first requested the state marriage.”
“……”
At her question, the Emperor fell silent. It seemed as though he were choosing his words—or perhaps deciding whether he should speak them at all.
At last, Karl twitched his eyebrow as if reaching a decision, tilted his head, and fixed his gaze on her. Sunlight caught on the bridge of his high nose, casting a long shadow. With eyes darkened like a shaded ravine, the Emperor spoke in a low, almost whispered voice.
“Simply… existing.”
“…….”
“Simply, existing. As if…”
He lifted a quill pen and brushed his fingers along its ornate feather.
“Like the feather attached to this quill—simply by existing, you have already fulfilled all of your meaning.”
At first glance, it sounded gentle. That merely existing was enough. Adel’s gaze drifted to the quill’s lush feather.
Like the feather attached to a quill—simply existing.
Not the nib, nor the shaft, but the feather. One never sees a quill without a feather—but if it were gone, would it truly prevent one from writing?
“So you mean I should just keep my seat as Empress—is that it?”
The pride of Adelaide, once Crown Princess of Gottrop, crumpled all at once. That crushed pride shattered into pieces like torn paper. The cold atmosphere seemed to freeze solid.
“Is that truly all you want?”
“Isn’t that enough?”
“Then why did you feel the need to deliberately strip me of my dignity?”
“I did no such thing.”
At his firm reply, Adel let out a hollow laugh. Listing every humiliation she had endured during the wedding and banquet felt pointless. Instead, she pressed him with words that cut more sharply.
“Was it because you feared I might harm Dian Poitiers?”
For the first time, even the Emperor—who had countered her until now—fell silent. So that had been the reason after all.
She wanted to scream that a man who ruled an empire had lost his mind. She wanted to drag every one of his disgraceful actions onto the table and refute them one by one. But what would arguing with the Emperor accomplish here? It might bring brief satisfaction, but the one at a disadvantage right now was Adel herself.
Suppressing her surging anger, she rose from her seat. The Emperor tilted his head and looked up at her.
“I am prepared to respect boundaries. I say this because you seem to desire privacy.”
Her slender face, framed by jet-black hair falling to the side, was paler than ever. Like the pale moonlight in a night sky, the Empress’s anger glimmered faintly.
“I’m glad to hear that you want me to exist as Empress. I want that as well. I will fulfill my duties as Empress of Ehmondt.”
“…….”
“So please, Your Majesty, cooperate so that I may carry out those responsibilities.”
“What kind of cooperation do you mean?”
“First, I need someone to consult in order to understand this place. The best option would be the person managing the imperial palace—but unfortunately, that would be Dian Poitiers. It would be difficult for me to summon her for counsel.”
Karl had nothing to say. An Empress consulting the Emperor’s mistress would invite universal ridicule.
“Therefore, I wish to seek counsel from Countess Hanna Giggs, the former chief administrator.”
Since word would spread the moment Lady Giggs entered the palace anyway, Adel chose to act preemptively.
“Hanna Giggs?”
“I understand that Your Majesty dismissed her from the palace, which is why I’m asking for permission. However, I will not appoint her as chief administrator.”
After a brief moment of consideration, Karl nodded in agreement. He had no grounds for objection.
“Very well.”
“Thank you. And one more thing—the Empress’s Palace currently has no allocated budget. I request an emergency supplementary appropriation.”
Adel made the request in a purely businesslike tone.
This time, the Emperor was left speechless.
Staring at the door through which the Empress had departed, Karl let out a long breath and rubbed his forehead. The red dress—symbolic of the Empress of Ehmondt—flickered before his eyes like an afterimage.
“Hoo…”
Even after closing his eyes and taking another deep breath, his chest churned uneasily. Becoming Emperor had not freed him from the shadows of the past.
The rustling hem of a red dress. A child’s small hands, desperately wanting to clutch the flowing red skirts, yet never quite reaching them.
“My poor son. Her Majesty the Empress will never acknowledge you.”
His birth mother’s words had become reality. He had wanted acknowledgment from that flawless woman who favored red dresses—but she never granted it.
After another deep, drawn-out sigh, Karl addressed the attendant who had entered the chamber.
“Summon Dian.”
Moments later, Dian entered the council hall and called out to the Emperor in a voice as warm and fresh as a spring breeze.
“Your Majesty!”
Lost in thought with a furrowed brow, Karl lifted his head at her voice.
Waves of golden hair, a clear complexion, pale sky-blue eyes, a petite, fairy-like figure—her appearance even matched his mother’s tastes. Her light blue dress fluttered softly as she walked. Seeing the Emperor’s stiff expression, Dian smiled all the more brightly.
“Why did you call for me?”
“Did you bring the palace budget proposal?”
He went straight to the point.
The Emperor was not a gentle man—someone whose smile or tender gaze was rarely seen. That made it all the more remarkable that someone had claimed his wedding, his first night, and the banquet itself.
Dian respectfully placed the budget document before him and took a seat. For the past three years, it had been Dian herself who had fulfilled the role of Empress. In practice, she had enjoyed all the authority that position entailed.
Karl quickly scanned the document. Just as Adel had said, there was no budget allocated for the Empress’s Palace.
“Why was there no emergency supplementary budget prepared for the Empress’s Palace? That, too, should have been part of the preparations for receiving an Empress.”
At the Emperor’s quiet reproach, Dian’s eyes widened in apparent shock.
“My goodness—didn’t I take care of that?!”
