Chapter 22
It was evening—not late, but not early either. Adele requested a meeting with the Emperor. The suggestion had come from Madame Giggs, who added that since it was dinnertime, if they went now they could have dinner together and exchange some light conversation.
The wisest way to get along well here was, first of all, to get along well with the Emperor.
She had experienced something unpleasant as soon as she arrived, yet had not even been able to lodge a proper complaint. Had she still been Adelaide Gottrop, she might not have made any effort to get along with Karl Ulrich. No—she almost certainly wouldn’t have. But this was Ehremont. Adelaide was no longer the imperial princess of Gottrop. Rejecting the Emperor now would bring no benefit. And so Adele accepted Madame Giggs’s suggestion and asked to meet the Emperor, soothing herself with her mother’s words: bend, and bow.
She discarded every dress that reminded her of the late Empress. Instead, she put on a light navy dress Madame Giggs had recommended and braided her hair to one side. Her exposed neckline felt bare.
Madame Giggs also applied light makeup to Adele’s face. Whether that was simply how makeup was meant to be, or because—as Diane de Poitiers had advised—the Emperor disliked pale faces, a rosy tint was added to her cheeks as well.
“You are beautiful.”
The lady praised Adele sincerely.
Even to her own eyes in the mirror, she looked beautiful. Yet, for some reason, she felt foul inside, and Adele bit her lip tightly and lowered her gaze.
“What is the matter, Your Majesty the Empress?”
“…It’s nothing.”
As if nothing had happened, the Empress rose energetically and strode out of the Empress’s Palace.
What if the Emperor refused to see her?
“Then I’d really be pissed o—”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Having learned curses first when studying the Ehremont language, they sometimes slipped out unconsciously and put her in awkward situations. The Empress pretended nothing had happened, and though the attendant eyed her suspiciously, he did not press further.
Everything bothered Adele—the bare nape of her neck, her powdered face, even her braided hair. This was not the fluttering, soft excitement of a teenage girl dressing up for the first time in her life. When a breeze brushed past her exposed nape, goosebumps rose all over her skin.
At last, the door that seemed as though it would never open did, and an attendant appeared, bowing respectfully.
“Welcome, Your Majesty the Empress.”
Karl was in the middle of receiving a report from an attendant. It concerned the Empress, and when she arrived just then, he shrugged and dismissed the attendant.
As he rose from his desk and sat in the seat of honor on the reception sofa, the attendant opened the door, and beyond it the Empress walked in. Karl’s gaze settled on Adele as she entered with graceful poise.
The first thing that caught his eye was her simple, achromatic dress. It was not the vivid red dress of an Empress, but a restrained design that even felt plain and unpretentious.
When his gaze moved to her black hair gathered to one side, his eyes naturally took in her pale, almost white nape and collarbone. In the deep, long shadows cast by the flickering lamp, her collarbone stood out all the more.
Golden eyes and vividly defined red lips. Seen like this at night, she seemed like an entirely different person.
Karl greeted her from where he sat, and Adele walked slowly and sat on the sofa opposite him. Tilting his head, the Emperor studied the Empress’s face. She did not retreat, meeting his gaze directly. Momentarily captivated by her bewitching beauty, the Emperor curved his violet eyes into a long smile and asked in a whisper-like tone,
“What brings you to see me at this hour?”
At his question, Adele let out a short breath and replied,
“I thought it might be time for dinner. Would you care to dine together?”
There might have been more metaphorical ways to put it, but this was the best she could do. She spoke without hesitation, like someone reciting a memorized answer, and the Emperor’s eyes widened slightly. After a moment of surprise, he gave a small laugh and touched his lips.
“As it happens, I was just about to send for you—I had something I wanted to ask.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Why did you summon Count Calvain?”
He suddenly pressed the Empress with the question, smiling. This was precisely what he had heard from the attendant.
“……”
As Adele’s red lips parted in flustered surprise, the Emperor’s smile deepened.
“Why did you call him, Empress?”
The Emperor’s gaze seemed to contain a harsh north wind. Staring blankly at those cold, ruthless eyes, Adele hurriedly collected herself.
“I wished to know what the situation was.”
“And why would you?”
“Is it strange for me, as Empress, to be curious about that?”
“It didn’t seem like mere curiosity.”
“…What do you mean?”
“His territory has been laid waste by the Tower, yet I did not save him. I sent him back when he came begging for salvation. And yet the Empress summoned him again. I hear you even gave him gold bars. What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
How long had it even been since she gave Count Calvain the gold, and already the news had reached the Emperor’s ears?
As Adele stood at a loss for words, the Emperor pressed her further.
“Do you wish to play the benevolent one all by yourself? Do you want people to say that unlike the Emperor, the Empress is generous and kind—is that what you want to hear?”
At his biting criticism, Adele felt as though she had been struck from behind, stunned.
“You are saying this because I called him to ask about the situation and gave funds for evacuating the territory’s residents as compensation?”
The Emperor did not answer her question.
The stagnant air between them felt as though it might shatter. Their exchanged gazes seemed on the verge of breaking each other. She recalled her mother’s words—close your eyes and ears, look only at good things, think only good thoughts. In the dark night, lips like red camellia petals were crushed between white teeth.
Karl could not take his eyes off that sight. The reddened lips being rubbed together seemed to touch something inside him. As he impulsively rose from his seat, the lamp swayed dangerously. Slowly, the Emperor came around the sofa table and approached the Empress.
Golden eyes did not know how to hide. Her fierce gaze, as if daring him to come closer, resembled the deep night for some reason. Karl stopped directly in front of Adele and looked down at her with a deep, dark gaze. When shadows fell over her unrealistically beautiful face, she looked almost like a demon. Adele had nowhere to retreat—the sofa back was right behind her.
“From now on, close your eyes and ears and look only at good things, think only good thoughts, Empress.”
They were the exact same words the Dowager Empress of Gottrop had repeated to Adele time and again. For a moment, her mother’s face overlapped with the Emperor’s. Gritting her teeth, Adele spoke, chewing out each word,
“…It was the bare minimum that one human being can do for another.”
“Then are you saying I am not human?”
“That’s not what I mean, is it?!”
Adele growled in a suppressed voice. Karl stared at the angry Adele, then gave a short laugh and muttered, “Interesting.”
“It seems that now that you are Empress, even my subjects—whom you’ve never met—feel as though they are your own people. Instantly so.”
“……”
Adele’s lips moved, then she shut her eyes instead. The back of her neck burned hot. Her stomach churned; she could not remain like this any longer.
She had come resolved to live wisely for once, yet she could endure it no more and was about to ask him to step aside. Suddenly, goosebumps rippled over her right shoulder. When she snapped her eyes open in surprise, the Emperor was lightly holding her black hair, braided to one side.
Gently stroking the hair with his fingertips, he stared intently at her hollowed collarbone.
Her bones were so slender they might be no thicker than a finger. If he gripped them hard, wouldn’t they break? As that thought crossed his mind, he impulsively tilted his head. Their shoulders were so close they might brush. The tip of Karl’s nose touched the Empress’s pale nape. Adele reflexively hunched her shoulders and held her breath. Her jaw trembled; she clenched her teeth as if they might shatter. Karl pressed his nose to the well-like hollow of her collarbone and drew in a deep breath.
Was this really the woman who had commanded the room with her gaze? This woman who smelled so sweet—was she the same woman?
Bracing himself with both hands on the sofa armrest, the Emperor straightened his body. Then he leaned in close to Adele’s face. Just before the tips of their noses collided, Karl twisted his head.
If he lowered it as it was, he would touch lips like camellias in the night.
