RETL 06

Chapter 6

“……”

Aksid lightly kissed Lumiere’s hand.

His manner was so polite that it made the rude words he had just heard seem almost unreal.

The already frozen air grew even colder.

The Grand Duke had completely ignored the Emperor as if he did not exist, yet he had shown the Princess flawless courtesy.

Soon, the Grand Duke straightened his massive back and turned his gaze.

His eyes were frighteningly calm.

“Di-did I say something wrong? Shouldn’t you first kneel before His Majesty the Emperor and show your respect? How dare you, the mere ruler of a Grand Duchy, act like this…!”

When the frightened nobleman shouted with a flushed face, the Emperor deliberately smiled generously.

“If you know proper manners and etiquette, then you can be called civilized. Would there be any reason to call you barbarians otherwise?”

“…That is strange. I have never entered into a lord-vassal relationship with the Emperor, so why should I follow your manners and etiquette?”

The dry yet heavy voice echoed through the hall, and displeasure appeared around the Emperor’s eyes.

“How dare you speak so arrogantly before Me? It seems you have forgotten your place after being stuck in the frontier for so long.”

At the Emperor’s words, the killing intent of the Grand Duchy’s knights rose frighteningly.

How could the Imperial Guard, who were little more than ceremonial guards, withstand the killing intent of those who crossed the line between life and death every single day?

Amid the tense atmosphere.

Just as the Imperial Knights, their faces pale, placed their hands on their sword hilts—

“…Your Majesty, I am disappointed. Did you wish to send me out of this palace so quickly?”

A bright voice cut through the sharp atmosphere.

“What?”

“You omitted the state guest ceremony.”

The Imperial Guard, who should have gone out to welcome the delegation, had gathered in the main hall fully armed.

That meant they had not prepared a welcome ceremony for a state guest, nor had they even prepared an escort for their guest.

In other words, it meant, Take care of your business and get out.

The ruler of an allied nation had personally visited for a royal marriage, yet they had insulted him as though he were an envoy from an enemy country.

And yet they were sitting here lecturing others about manners and etiquette.

How could that not be ridiculous?

“Hahaha! Are you already trying to act like a Grand Duchess? As the Princess’s only older brother, I suppose I should find that admirable, but…”

The Emperor laughed heartily, slapping his knee, before his expression hardened.

“How dare you tell Me to treat the ruler of some tiny country on the frontier as a state guest?”

A cold, bluish killing intent appeared in her eyes.

He was a man who had walked a difficult road carrying a mission.

He was not someone who deserved to be treated with such disrespect.

How dare these people insult him when they enjoyed peace thanks to the Grand Duchy?

“The North is humanity’s front line. Without the Grand Duchy, the Empire would have been engulfed in war, so he deserves to be treated as a state guest.”

Moreover, this was an official visit for a royal marriage.

“Tsk. No matter how grandly you dress it up, isn’t he merely protecting his own land? Anyone listening might think I ordered him to do it.”

“Then I suppose Your Majesty is confident that you can protect the front line even if Winterheim’s army withdraws.”

Winterheim was a military power recognized by the entire continent.

The reason monsters could not cross the northern walls was because the Grand Duchy held the line.

Could the Emperor really not know that?

“Are you saying that My army is inferior to the Grand Duchy’s army?”

At the Emperor’s cold question, Lumiere spoke with a mocking smile.

“Of course not. I am simply offering Your Majesty my final piece of advice as a Princess of the Wezier Empire.”

“You cannot even take care of your own affairs, yet you dare try to teach Me? You truly must have lost your mind.”

The Emperor gripped the armrest of his throne with bulging veins in his neck, and the entire hall became deathly silent.

Yet her violet eyes did not waver even slightly.

“You may dismiss it as the nonsense of a mad Princess. But…”

She paused for a moment and quietly looked at her half-brother, the man who had trampled and tormented her all her life.

A few years from now, that fool would fall because of a rebellion by those who could no longer endure his tyranny and brutality.

He was doomed to fall anyway, so there was no reason to care about him.

But everyone present needed to understand one thing.

The peace they enjoyed had not been given to them for free.

“Your Majesty, even at this very moment, countless people are bleeding on the northern front as they fight against monsters. So please, do not forget the long years of hard work and sacrifice made by our allied nation.”

After finishing her words, she looked up at Aksid, who had been standing beside her as if protecting her.

A faint doubt appeared in his black eyes.

Of course.

Had he ever seen an Imperial citizen speak of the Grand Duchy’s sacrifices?

He quietly looked at her as if trying to understand what was in her heart before asking in a low voice,

“Are your farewells finished?”

“Yes. Let’s go now.”

Lumiere took hold of the Grand Duke’s arm and turned around.

She did not look like someone being thrown out.

Instead, she walked with the dignity of someone leaving by her own choice, causing the Imperial Knights to instinctively block their path.

At that moment, an invisible force pressed down on the entire hall.

It was a presence far too heavy and savage to belong to a human.

Under that overwhelming and ominous aura, the Imperial Knights froze as though they were standing before their natural enemy.

“Move.”

At the Grand Duke’s low command, the knights instinctively stepped back.

Soon, the two of them left the main hall without any further interference.

…Useless fools.

The Emperor tightly gripped the armrest with a faintly trembling hand.

They could not even deal with one barbarian.

He wanted to have their heads cut off immediately, but he swallowed down his impulse.

If he punished the knights, it would make it an established fact that the Imperial family had been overpowered by the barbarians.

The Emperor’s face twisted with rising anger before he eventually scoffed.

A Princess who would die after being used as a tool to produce an heir.

A Grand Duke who would die a miserable death in the land of monsters.

Those two fools were going to die together anyway.

The Emperor wiped the smile from his face and gave a cold order.

“Have all the maids of the Princess’s Palace beheaded.”

The Princess, who should have remained in a miserable state and become an object of ridicule, had regained her radiant appearance because of their help.

Then naturally, those who had ruined the picture he wanted should pay the price.

…

Far away.

In the palace left empty after its master departed, a sharp scream suddenly rang out.

Silence filled the carriage.

Aksid was looking out the window, but all his attention was focused on the woman sitting across from him.

White hair that flowed as softly as sand.

A delicate body that looked as though it could fit in the palm of one’s hand.

The Princess was so beautiful that it was hard to understand why she had been surrounded by such terrible rumors.

But there was something even stranger.

Why isn’t she afraid of me?

He had believed that she would fall into despair the moment she saw him.

Instead, she had smiled brightly at him.

She had held his hand without hesitation and had even become angry on his behalf at the Imperial family’s rudeness.

…Could it be that she has not heard anything about me?

Or was she pretending not to know?

He tried to gauge what was inside the Princess’s heart, but he could read nothing from her softly smiling face.

“I…”

He flinched.

Was I staring too much?

When the Princess gently opened her mouth, he awkwardly looked away.

“You must have been very upset.”

“It is fine.”

He had not expected anything from the Empire in the first place.

Rather than dealing with uncomfortable and troublesome ceremonies, it was better that they could simply leave immediately.

“I’m sorry on his behalf. My older brother has always been like that.”

She gave a bitter smile.

There was a long resignation in that smile.

“By the way, your way of speaking is different from earlier.”

“…Since it was a formal occasion in the main hall, I used the formal speech appropriate for the occasion. But I have no intention of using an awkward honorific with you.”

“You don’t have to go that far…”

“It is the proper courtesy.”

Aksid glanced at her.

Only after speaking stiffly, as he usually did with his subordinates, did he belatedly become conscious of it.

I could have spoken more gently.

But she smiled as though she did not mind at all.

“I see. I look forward to getting along with you, Grand Duke.”

That smile again.

The same bright smile she had shown when they first met.

The words that had been lingering in his mind escaped his lips before he could stop them.

“Are you not afraid?”

“Afraid of what?”

“…This marriage.”

Her light footsteps, as if she were simply setting off on a journey, and the strangely cheerful look on her face.

This was not a reaction he had expected at all.

The women he had met until now had been so afraid of possibly being chosen as the Grand Duchess that they avoided him using all kinds of excuses.

After seeing only women like that, he had thought it would not be surprising if she fainted the moment she saw him.

Instead, she had welcomed him.

Naturally, he could not help but wonder.

She was silent for a moment before whispering in a voice filled with a faint smile,

“…I have actually been waiting for it.”

He looked at her as if asking what she meant, but she merely turned her head toward the window with a faint smile.

He had originally intended to propose a contract marriage here.

But how was he supposed to bring it up to someone who said she had been waiting for this marriage?

“……”

For the first time in his life, Aksid felt himself at a loss for words.