After the two people who had received their orders each nodded and quickly left the Empress’s chambers, Adele turned her gaze to Lionel.
“Please file an objection on behalf of the ducal house.”
“Will you issue an immediate expulsion order?”
“Is there any better way?”
When Adele, who had risen from her seat, sat back down and asked, he replied with a grave expression.
“If you forcibly drive him out, there’s a risk that sympathy for Dian Poitiers might arise. Rather—”
“Rather?”
Adele’s eyes sparkled with interest as she leaned toward him. When her beautiful face suddenly drew close, he reflexively leaned back, the tips of his ears reddening without him realizing it.
“Go on. Say it.”
Pressed by Adele, Lionel quietly laid out his thoughts.
And when he finally finished speaking, Adele narrowed her eyes in deep satisfaction and lightly tapped her own chin with a finger.
With a face so honest it looked as though he always walked the straight and narrow—how ingenious.
“What do you think?”
“So accepting the position of aide really was your idea?”
“I told you it was.”
Adele nodded, very pleased with Lionel’s opinion. Then she asked one more thing of him. It was an awkward request, so Lionel hesitated briefly before answering that he would first propose it to Theseus. He added that there would be a council meeting of senior ministers today, and that he would formally raise the objection there, before leaving the room.
Adele turned as well and sat down at the desk in her study. Then, adopting a combative posture, she opened the book of palace law, found the relevant section, and reviewed it once more.
She didn’t know where this would end, or what the result would be. But who lives their life knowing such things?
Tapping the thick book of palace law lightly with her right hand, Adele addressed the long-deceased former Empress—whose face she had never known—who had once engaged in a vicious, dog-eat-dog fight with her husband.
“I’m thinking of having a dogfight of my own now. Please cheer me on.”
She would have to roll around in filthy muck to do it, but that was better than submission.
＊ ＊ ＊
Just then, as Dian was spreading out luxury goods and examining them one by one, word reached her that the merchants had been turned away without even crossing the threshold of the Empress’s palace.
“His Majesty really is too much. Canceling the supplementary budget—how disappointed the Empress must be. So I sent merchants to buy at least a necklace worth the amount of that canceled budget. What does he plan to do on National Day in a few months?”
Muttering as she held a platinum necklace up to her neck to see how it looked, Dian glanced at herself, while the head of the merchant guild holding up the mirror stole a look at her face.
“I’m truly in a bind. He handed me the Empress’s supplementary budget proposal and told me to buy whatever I wanted.”
“Your Highness’s heart is as beautiful as your face. Isn’t it only natural that His Majesty lavishes such devotion on you, both materially and otherwise?”
The guildmaster praised Dian as if deeply moved, and the other merchants waiting nearby all chimed in.
“We’re deeply impressed by Your Highness’s beautiful heart.”
“His Majesty’s love for Your Highness seems to deepen with each passing day.”
Praise always sounded pleasant. Dian pointed at a pair of earrings being recommended beside her.
The guildmaster was thrilled. It felt as though he could hear the clamor of gold coins raining into his ears. He had been upset at being turned away from the Empress’s palace, but now it looked like he would sell even more goods here in the Ivory Palace.
“Your Highness, you are truly, truly beautiful. As expected, the flower of the imperial palace is none other than Your Highness.”
“Don’t go around saying such things carelessly! I told you, I’m terribly troubled and embarrassed.”
“Ah—yes, of course, Your Highness.”
Surrounded by merchants who treated her with the utmost reverence, as though she were a queen, Dian selected goods in a heady mood.
The accumulating jewels felt like her status, and the money she spent felt like her power. In the first place, the funds the Emperor had permitted her to use were one gold ingot and one silver ingot from the Empress’s supplementary budget—but the final amount decided by the merchant far exceeded double that.
But what was there to worry about? There was the Ivory Palace budget. Although it included funds originally allocated for relief, that was merely a pretext. There was no detailed itemization, so there was no need to list it. And so Dian freely took out and spent that money again—without the slightest hesitation.
＊ ＊ ＊
After the boisterous merchants left the Ivory Palace, patting their full bellies, the maids organized the purchased items. When even the maids withdrew after finishing, Dian was left alone in the room.
Her heart began to churn strangely. It hadn’t been like this just moments ago. When she had been choosing items and finalizing purchases—when it was noisy with the merchants’ flattery and the maids’ obsequiousness—she had been fine. But with the people who had treated her like a queen gone, the time when she had been a queen had ended.
Dian struggled to steady her heaving chest, forcing herself to breathe in and out. But when she still couldn’t calm down, she rose and began to pace restlessly.
The Emperor had come suddenly last night, then suddenly left. And then he had returned. It was strange behavior. When he came back again, he didn’t touch Dian even with a fingertip and simply slept. He didn’t seem inclined to explain where he had been or why he was acting this way. So she hadn’t dared ask.
Why had he suddenly done that? Why had he suddenly smelled the back of her neck and asked questions he had never asked before?
At that moment, her heart, which had merely been unsettled, felt as though it dropped with a heavy thud. A terrifying thought flashed through her mind, enough to make her knees weak, and unable to endure it, she ran outside and called for Lorraine.
“Lorraine, Lorraine!!”
“Yes, Your Highness. Did you call?”
“Go to the Empress’s palace maids right now. I have something to ask—bring just one person, and don’t let it be noticed. Hurry!!”
“Yes, yes!”
＊ ＊ ＊
Pacing anxiously, Dian rushed over the moment Lorraine returned and seized the Empress’s palace maid by the shoulders.
“Y-Your Highness!”
“Did His Majesty go to the Empress’s palace yesterday?!”
“Pardon?”
“His Majesty! Yesterday! Did he go to the Empress’s palace?!”
Overwhelmed by Dian’s fierce interrogation, the maid trembled and told her everything she knew.
“Yes. He came.”
“……How many times.”
“W-well—”
“How many times!!!”
“T-Twice! Twice, Your Highness.”
Feeling as though her hair stood on end, Dian let out a groan. Fear surged over her like a tide. Torn between wanting to know and wanting not to know, Dian barely managed to steel herself.
“When did he come? Tell me each time.”
Her voice sounded like a growl.
“Both times were in the evening. The Empress had bathed before going to sleep, and he came right after that. Then he left as if angry, but returned again in less than an hour. He left again in less than twenty minutes.”
“And the time he came the second time?!”
“Around ten o’clock.”
“……Ten o’clock.”
“Yes, around then.”
Nodding as if certain, the maid answered. When Dian slowly released her grip on the maid’s shoulders, as though her strength had drained away, the maid shrank back and retreated cautiously.
Standing there blankly, drained of energy, Dian suddenly turned and returned to the bedroom. She lay down, resting her head on the pillow where Karl had slept, and slowly drew in a breath. Her heart kept pounding. Dian’s eyes trembled uncontrollably.
“He went to the Empress’s palace, then came here. And then he went back to the Empress again with that face. With that face.”
Those violet eyes filled with excitement, that ragged breathing. I know that face of yours. I’m the only one who knows it. I’m the only one who should know it.
Why—why? Why did you run to the Empress’s palace with that expression?!
Anger surged up in Dian, and she clawed at the pillow. After venting her fury on it for a while, she suddenly sprang up and ran to the mirror. She looked at her own face reflected there.
“I’ve got more wrinkles. There’s no luster anymore. His Majesty likes my skin.”
She should have called for a skincare specialist instead of merchants. Checking whether her figure was still all right, her hand traced her waist, then drifted down to her lower abdomen. Her stomach was flat, not an ounce of extra flesh on it. Even that slimness failed to please her now.
“Why isn’t it happening? Why, exactly?”
According to the imperial physician, neither she nor the Emperor was infertile. Both were healthy. It was a fact confirmed by several people, not just one.
“Then why…?”
Murmuring in a despairing tone, Dian prayed fervently. She cried without even realizing she was crying, pouring her whole heart into it.
Please—she had to conceive a child.
Please, save me.
