“When I heard the words of the Empress, I realized that this man was foolish. Forgive me for my ignorance, Your Majesty.”
Valore smiled dejectedly at the officials, who bowed their heads under his feet. How could a play be so funny? Even the clowns on the street won’t be as funny as this.
Valore was not the only one who felt that way. He breathed a deep sigh as he saw Count Ferrer, who had a tired face from seeing how state affairs were running.
Those who raised objections until yesterday bowed their heads like someone who had gained great enlightenment whenever the empress appeared and answered them. That was not because Arya was creative or persuasive. Those were opinions that had already come out during the meeting.
It was easy to see who was responsible for the officials’ objections.
“Cough, cough.”
Valore coughed violently. This drew the attention of the officials in the conference room. The young emperor quickly wiped the blood from his hands onto his clothes, but those with keen eyes did not miss the blood mark on his mouth.
The fact that the emperor’s condition has not been good recently could easily be noticed only with little interest. Since he became emperor, he has become noticeably chapped, pale, and coughed frequently.
The emperor’s illness was by no means a small affair. He was young so his condition was regarded as nothing but a minor illness, but it was natural that he felt anxious when he saw his recent behavior.
It has been less than a year since Valore took over the throne. It was never good for empress Arya to see the throne replaced again. It could bring about a shift in political power.
Moreover, there were no children between the current emperor Valore, and Queen Marie. Carl was the only successor. Even if the current emperor was not satisfied, few would welcome his death and Carl’s rise to the throne.
The meeting ended quickly as Valore left early.
Arya did not leave for a long time after the bureaucracy meeting. All those who hated her stayed away, and only those who supported Arya remained. Arya sat on the throne of the emperor as if it was natural. No one stopped her from that. The throne was like her seat.
“Your Majesty the Empress, Your Majesty seems to be very ill.”
“What does that mean?”
The man who spoke out hesitated to speak because he did not know how to interpret the Empress Dowager’s response. It was unclear whether she blamed him for mentioning the emperor’s health or whether she did not truly notice that her son’s health had deteriorated. Though he thought the latter would not be the case, he opened his mouth with difficulty because the empress seemed to have heard something she had never really thought of.
“The recent cold that the Emperor has been suffering from seems to last too long.”
“Hmm.”
Arya’s expression darkened. Only then did she realize that Valore coughed as if he was going to die. She had never looked at his face closely because she was busy fighting with her son who tried to push her out of politics because he was now grown up.
“That’s a big deal. Is there any word of conceiving from the Queen, Duke Panacio?”
He bowed his head at Arya’s words.
“It’s been a few years since they got married, and I haven’t heard from them yet. I am not expecting too much, am I? Isn’t it the most important and the only duty the queen has to do, reproduction?!”
Arya raised her voice. It’s already been three years since Valore and Marie got married. There was even a rumor among his servants that the emperor, who was in poor health, was unable to produce royal children. Of course, no one was afraid to say such a thing in front of the empress.
Aria’s grinding teeth rang starkly in the quiet conference room. Her position meant so much, and she couldn’t get it taken away again.
“How is the war with the Castro Empire going?”
“As far as I know, our troops are planning to use ships to raid the area of Mannheim. Mannheim is only 10 days away from the capital of Castro, and if the plan succeeds, I think the Castro Empire will soon come up with a cease-fire deal.”
Empress Arya’s expression was not good. Carl was already much admired by the people. He even earned the nickname “God of War.” Arya didn’t want Carl’s fame to rise by successfully finishing this war.
“I’ll have to bring Prince Carl and Princess Sienna to the capital.”
Depine replied to Arya’s words.
“The prince to the capital? You’ve won all these wars. Would he like to return easily?”
“So you’re just going to let him be? Take all the credits of this war? Send someone to replace Carl before the war ends. Oh, Lord Florill. Your son is currently the head of the Blue Bear Knights, isn’t he?
His face lit up when the empress mentioned his son.
It was a war already won. If the truce negotiations were completed properly, he could be recognized for his contribution. It was as if a ball of gold was rolling around on the ground and the one who took it was the keeper. He couldn’t believe his son would get such an opportunity. Florill couldn’t hide his happy face.
“Get a list of knights to be dispatched to the Tromil area now. I’ll get the Emperor’s approval.”
“Then how do you intend to call the prince at the capital?”
“He doesn’t have to be there unless he’s in a state where he can fight a war. It’s better if he can’t even reach the capital. Anyway, try to get things moving fast.”
At the words of the Empress, Florill bowed deeply. The officials looked at Florill while bowing their heads. Everyone looked excited with the idea of putting their own person on the list somehow.
*
“Carl!”
Sienna hit Carl in the face.
He looked fine just last night. Didn’t he even talk to herself?
But now his complexion was like a corpse. She grew anxious. She has often heard that a person who walked fine after an accident suddenly passed out and died.
Yesterday the darkness sank deep, so she did not properly check his wound. But the wound on his shoulder was never small. In that state, he had to fight for a long time and fell into deep water that briefly made him stop breathing. It was no wonder that he would pass away right now.
“Carl!”
Tears fell from Sienna’s face. She didn’t even realize she was crying. She just put her face on Carl’s chest and tried to make sure he was still alive. The feeble sound of heart and breath meant that he had not yet let go of the leash of life.
Sienna rubbed her hands against his skin to keep his temperature from dropping. She didn’t know what to do quickly, but it seemed important to raise his body temperature that was like ice-cold.
At that moment, the voices of rough men were heard in the distance. From the tone, Sienna realized that they did not come there for a good event. She had to hide Carl. She looked around.
At night it was dark and unnoticed, but behind the lake, there were signs of a building. Large stones of soft sand color were piled up and intertwined with thick stems. Above it was a strange yet sensual statue of an eight-armed goddess. Sienna knew it was the altar that Shaylin had said before.
Apparently, there was a hidden space under the altar where flowers can be preserved for a long time without withering.
When she pressed and pulled the altar from place to place, what was considered just a stone revealed its entrance. The altar under the statue had a space full of flowers. She didn’t know when the flowers were put in here, but those were fresh. But there was no time to admire the mystique.
Sienna put one arm of Carl on her shoulder and moved his steps. The man who couldn’t come to his senses was heavy. She pushed him into a space full of flowers. And covered him with flowers. She wasn’t happy since it felt like she was putting Carl in a coffin, but there was no other way.
She hid his body and then closed the entrance to the altar. She wanted to hide there together, but she couldn’t help it because she didn’t know how to close or open the door from the inside.
The voices were getting closer and closer. She had to hide before they found her.
Behind the statue of the goddess who hid Carl, there was a passageway intertwined with stone and wood.
“Here’s a trace of someone passing by.”
At the close-up voice, Sienna ran. The inside was intricately intertwined like a maze. It was pointless to tell which was the road or the tree, and what was the debris of the building. She entered a path that seemed as complicated as possible. Then she found a place that looked like the entrance to the building.
She entered the entrance, half of which was collapsing. She stepped into a dark, gloomy place, leaning against the wall.
A blue eyepiece flashed at the dark inner end. Sienna curled up in fear.
FLAP, FLAP
“Argh!”
A flock of bats that shone glare from eyes fluttered their wings out. Sienna fell back, pounding on her hips.
Her butt wasn’t that sore, but she burst into tears. Darkness ensued further inside.
Sienna gave up going inside. She leaned against the wall and held her breath, hoping that those looking for her and Carl would just pass by.
She couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Watching the change in the length of light that came inside, she could only guess that two hours may have passed.
The bats, which had flown out were surprised by her appearance, flew back in one by one, and hung from the ceiling. The bats blackened the ceiling and went to sleep as if they decided to think Sienna was not a threat.
“Check this side, too!”
She could hear the voices of the crowd. Sienna held back the sob from her mouth. Please just let them pass…
“I think they moved this way. Check over there, too. It’s a good place to hide.”
Then came the sound of footsteps coming in close to the interior.
FLAP, FLAP!
Bats were surprised by the appearance of new intruders and flew towards the sound as they did to Sienna.