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Although she handed over the preparation for Bluebell’s debut banquet to Arya, Sienna was not free. The work inside the Imperial City was under Sienna’s jurisdiction, so there were many things to care about. In particular, she was looking through the records of Empress Arya, whether it be objects or people, to prevent Arya from doing anything stupid, but she hasn’t found anything noticeable yet.
“Are you going to keep thinking about something else?”
Sienna, lost in thought, managed to come to her senses at the call of Hain.
“Sorry.”
Hain said with a deep sigh.
“You’re not thinking about the banquet, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“That’s enough. You need to focus though. You’re going to wear this dress to the debut party. You have to pay more attention than anything.”
At Hain’s words, Sienna nodded. As Bluebell was the main focus of this banquet, Carl will enter the banquet with her. Then Sienna would enter the banquet hall alone as she did before.
Sienna won’t shirk her position as she used to. Rather, she planned to show her presence as an empress in front of influential figures in the empire.
To do that, as Hain said, she had to choose a dress with more care than ever before. Even if what was seen was not everything, it was necessary to establish authority by what was seen.
Sienna carefully examined each of the clothes brought by the tailor. However, there were no clothes that caught her eye.
“Um…”
As she struggled, one-eyed tailor Gerald said, holding a navy and red dress.
“How about this? It’s the first fabric to be brought into Leipsden. It’s a little bit thicker than other dresses, but it’s going to catch anyone’s with its smooth gloss and vivid colors.”
As he said, the fabric looked special. In particular, Sienna noticed a navy blue color that could highlight her red hair without being tacky.
“I like the cloth. If that fabric remains, can I place an order for a different design?”
At Sienna’s words, Gerald bowed his head deeply and said, “Anything is possible. The banquet is just around the corner, but I will stay up all night to complete the empress’s dress.”
“Simply change the fancy decorations on the chest. For your information, having to reduce the waist too much like a corset doesn’t suit my taste…”
“Then how about a design that reveals a lot of breasts and shoulders? If it’s navy, I think it’s better to reveal your nice fair skin!”
When Sienna looked worried about Hain’s opinion, Gerald added.
“I think the head maid’s opinion makes sense. It’s a good idea to dig deep into the necklines of your dress and wear fancy necklaces if you want to reduce the decoration.”
“Okay. It’d be better to embroider the bottom of the dress with silver thread and decorate it with pearls.”
“That’d be nice. It’ll look like a night sky with countless stars.”
The tailor left the guest room, saying, “I should get back quickly and complete the dress.”
“I just got a dress tailored, and I feel like I’ve done something big.”
Sienna sat down on the sofa and said, Hain said cautiously, handing her a glass of Aroni juice.
“Remember you told me to keep an eye on Shaylin before.”
Sienna recalled the day when she happened to find bruises on Shaylin’s back.
“Yes. Did you find out?”
“That’s…”
Hain stopped as if it was difficult to say whatever that was on her mind easily.
“Tell me. What is it?”
“I don’t know the exact reason why Shaylin is depressed, but one of my maids said she had seen her go in and out of the palace of Empress Arya.”
“In the palace of Empress Arya?”
“Yes. There’s no reason for Shaylin to go there.”
Sienna’s expression grew fierce. She didn’t have a clue as to how the evil Arya was bothering the small and tender Shaylin.
It was obvious without having to look into it in detail. Shaylin must have accidentally made a mistake with Arya, and it was clear that Arya was bothering Shaylin for a long time. Otherwise, such scars could not have remained on her body.
It wasn’t that Sienna didn’t think that Arya might have been trying to steal her information by beating and threatening her, but it wasn’t usually the way Arya did her work. Maybe if she took her family hostage and threatened them or coaxed them with money, it would be more believable.
“Will you let me know if Shaylin is taken again to the palace of the Empress?”
“Yes, I will.”
Sienna vowed that she would never let Arya get her own way, no matter what the reasons Empress Arya was harassing Shaylin.
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Carl didn’t like the fact that his supporters, Ferrers, joined hands with the remnants of Empress Arya and pressed him as they wanted. For now, there was no justification, so he was just watching it.
“Is the replacement of the knights in the imperial court going well?”
Kissinger answered Carl’s question in a trustworthy voice.
“Yes, we’re taking it as slow as possible so that it doesn’t slip outside.”
Since the Mutu competition held by Valore, a large number of internal knights have been replaced. After the competition, there were some knights who quit because of their bad self-esteem, and there were many who didn’t want to quit but had to because they couldn’t meet the minimum requirements made by Valore.
Carl was filling the empty spots with his own people, being careful not to make it too public.
Until now, most of Carl’s powers have been outside. He was supported by military and local aristocrats across the border and throughout the empire. However, it was not gaining ground in the capital.
Because of this, even though he became the emperor, he could not regain all of the imperial power. The imperial power that has weakened during the reign of Emperor Rodbius, Carl’s own father, and Emperor Valore, was not an easy task that took a short time to recover.
But Carl has slowly been preparing to find his rights. The effort to fill the royal knights with his own people was part of that plan.
“Come to think of it, Emperor Valore has done a great job. During that short term of the office, he held a martial arts competition to root out the corruption within the imperial order and pave the way for a reshuffle. To be honest, when Emperor Valore was crowned, I thought he would spend his time doing nothing because he was a puppet king of Empress Arya. I can’t believe he was thinking that…”
Said Pavenik, who was working next to him.
Carl grinned at Pavenik’s words. He was sure it wasn’t Valore who came up with the idea. While preparing for Bluebell’s wedding, Sienna accidentally slipped what she did.
Sienna thought Carl had shared a deep brotherly love with Valore. She even thought that if it weren’t for the emperor’s position, Carl and Valore would have been quite plausible brothers. However, the real reason that Carl did not reject Valore was because he knew that Valore did not have what it took to be an emperor.
Unlike Arya, Valore posed no threat to Carl. That’s why Carl let Valore play brother in front of him. Until he got greedy of his own…
“So you should pick a banquet suit this afternoon. Shall I call the tailor here? Or will you go directly to the Imperial Palace where the tailor will be?”
Asked Pavenik as if it had suddenly come to mind.
When Carl looked at him with a look of ‘What do you mean by ‘banquet suit?’ Pavenik sighed.
“You’re not forgetting about the Second Empress’s debut banquet, are you?”
“I didn’t forget. I just didn’t care.”
“That’s what it usually means by forgetting. Should I call in a tailor?”
“Okay. Tell the tailor to prepare it according to what the empress is wearing. Then just make the measurements like the clothes I have worn before.”
“Yes. First of all, we’ll have to find out what the Second Empress will be wearing.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It’s the Second Empress’s debut banquet, so of course you should dress in line with her. You’re not going to wear the same costume as the First Empress, are you? That’s not right. You’re going to be entering the banquet with the Second Empress…”
At Pavenik’s words, Carl rose from his seat with an angry look on his face.
“Let’s go directly to the palace.”
“You’re not trying to do anything stupid, are you? Don’t forget why you had to marry the Second Empress!”
Carl slammed the door in annoyance and left the office. When he left, Pavenik, who had a playful face until then, sighed and stretched his shoulders.
“Phew.”
Kissinger patted him on the shoulder at his sigh. Because of Kissinger, who was so big, Pavenik looked like a little boy.
“Don’t overdo it.”
“I don’t want to do this either. I know His Majesty has his heart for the First Empress, but don’t you know that he hasn’t got all the imperial powers back yet? Even if we don’t like it, we have to watch out for Count Ferrer for a while. That’s what is good for the Emperor.”
Pavenik said annoyingly to Kissinger, who spoke maturely as if he knew everything.
“Just let His Majesty do as he pleases, as his heart leads.”
“But…”
Kissinger shook his head and said, “I know you’re working for His Majesty. But he is not the one to follow paths, he is the one who makes it. Even if you take a tough approach, if that’s what His Majesty wants, we have no choice but to follow.”
Kissinger said and went outside to assist Carl. Pavenik looked at the door and said with a deeper sigh.
“Well, as if I didn’t know that already. But I just want him to take a path that doesn’t smell like blood.”
Pavenik’s face was darkened with agony.