“But after passing a few territories, I hear this time that you have a child of the Emperor. Every time I passed through the village, your news changed, and I was confused about what was real.”
They were all real, but he must have been confused and suspicious by the news of the sudden change here.
Sienna smiled and comforted Jamie. It was all in the past. After a while, it all felt like a small event to laugh off.
“It’s alright now.”
“Yes. I’m glad you look all right, but I think the imperial palace is a dangerous place as expected. Why don’t you just…”
Jamie stopped talking and looked up at the door. This was because he sensed a familiar sound over the door.
“As expected, Lord Waters knows.”
The door opened and Carl entered. Jamie bowed to Carl as soon as he entered the room.
“Jamie Waters of Heidel greets His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Keep the greeting aside. Why not just finish what you were about to say a little earlier l. I wonder what you were trying to tell Sienna.”
“I was going to say we should go back home because it’s a dangerous place here.”
At Jamie’s words, Carl opened his eyes wide and soon burst into laughter. Sienna was concerned about her brother’s fearless remarks.
“You’re really funny siblings. You two are so similar in being able to speak your honest thoughts in front of me without fear.”
In fact, Jamie rolled his eyes because he didn’t understand why Carl burst out laughing. Carl, who was laughing out loud, soon erased his laughter and said to Jamie with a cold face.
“Aren’t you really a fearless man? How dare you say that in front of me, the emperor.”
Jamie, too, raised his momentum and replied.
“My father said that there is no such thing as a man who cannot protect his own wife. Those things are worse than trifle.”
Jamie accused Carl of being an idiot who couldn’t even protect his wife.
“If the Emperor can’t protect Sienna, I will take her. It’s no use taking out a knife to cut my throat. You march towards Heidel, but I will not change my mind. It’s not just my idea, it’s my father, the Duke of Howard Waters, and it’s Heidel’s idea.”
At Jamie’s words, Carl softened his temper.
There was nothing wrong with what he said. After marrying Carl, Sienna has been through a lot. It was definitely Carl’s fault.
“In the meantime, I apologize for not keeping Sienna safe. But I will never put her in danger from now on. Because Sienna is my empress.”
“I’ll believe you because you say so. Please take care of Sienna.”
“I will. I’d also like to ask you a favor.”
“Please go on.”
Their voices have become incredibly friendly, despite having been spouting sharp energy from each other. Carl or Jamie had favorable impressions of each other, even if not through Sienna. This is because they recognize each other’s swordsmanship skills.
“I want you to stop calling my empress by name and show her manners. She may have been your sister Sienna Waters, but now she is the mistress of the Leipsden Empire and my empress. You should not be calling her name carelessly.”
Jamie’s face turned red at Carl’s words.
“I’m sorry. I was so excited to see her. From now on, I will do my best for the Empress.”
“I knew before that you’re not used to imperial etiquette. So I didn’t blame you too much before. But the imperial family has a lot of eyes and ears, so please be careful.”
“I will.”
Carl sat down and offered Jamie the opposite seat. Jamie naturally felt at ease when he saw Carl passing by the seat of honor and sitting next to Sienna. I’ll protect Sienna. His word of promise became more believable.
“By the way, why were you in Heidel, not in Marie’s estate?”
Carl warned Jamie that he couldn’t speak comfortably, so Sienna also said with care.
“That’s because of the House of Panacio.”
“The House of Panacio?”
Carl was interested as the story of the family of Empress Arya came out.
“Empress Arya has been putting pressure on the Marquis of Methena to lend her the knights and the soldiers temporarily. There’s no war or no monster slaughter, so I am not sure why she needs soldiers…”
Sienna and Carl didn’t react much because they had already anticipated Count Ferrer’s preparations for the rebellion.
“Marie is… No, the Marquis Methena wanted to escape the influence for good. She thinks that if she gives away the Knights as Panacio wants, she will never get away from their influence. So she is staying with me in Heidel, leaving behind the minimal amount of soldiers and knights on the land.”
Jamie looked at Carl and added.
“Don’t misunderstand that Marquis Methena and I have turned a blind eye to the locals. It’s a new town, so Heidel is the only neighborhood. It’s not the time for monsters to appear. Rather, the land is safe because Heidel is holding down monsters. Of course, we’ve entrusted limited lordship to a good manager, so there’s nothing to worry about. When the Panacio family gets quiet, I’ll stop training the soldiers and go back.”
Jamie seemed unable to conceive that the reason the Panacio family demanded the knights was for rebellion. It wasn’t because he was stupid. This is because the weight of treason was so great.
“I heard Lord Delhi Panacio followed you to the territory.”
“Oh, Delhi.”
Jamie comfortably called his name.
“He initially followed us because he was worried about his bloodline, Methena. Then he asked me to teach him while staying, so I’m training him with the knights. He has such a good temperament that he is learning with great enthusiasm. Maybe in a few years, he’ll be able to be a useful knight, not just a knight by name. In fact, I asked him what it was like to be a substitute lord while he was on his way to Heidel, and he said he couldn’t overcome the pressure of the Panacio family, so he gave the task to another person.”
“It would be good for Lord Delhi to have years of knight training there.”
Carl meant he’d better not join the rebellion, but Jamie replied with a bright smile, unable to grasp the hidden meaning.
“He’s already working hard on his training without answering his family’s call.”
Carl nodded with a smile. It didn’t matter if Delhi was in trouble for joining the rebellion because Carl didn’t really share affection with Delhi. But Carl only advised Jamie because Jamie seemed to have a close relationship with Delhi.
Jamie showed great interest in the child in Sienna’s belly.
“Your Majesty the Empress, is it a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know until I give birth.”
“I like either a girl or a boy. If only it were born healthy.”
Jamie took Carl’s word.
“If it’s a lady like the Empress, she’ll be very cute. Sienna…oh I mean the Empress was adorable when she was a child. You were really dainty and lovely.”
When Jamie told Sienna’s childhood story, Carl became interested and listened to him.
“You know how cold it is in the North, don’t you? Since snow doesn’t melt even in summer, we wear thick leather fur clothes that are nothing like the clothes you wear here. Her Majesty used to wear a white rabbit-haired cape all the time, but because she wore so much, it was hard to tell whether she was wearing clothes overlapped or she was stacked in it. She looked like a snowman.”
“It’s not that I’m sensitive to cold, it’s that Heidel has a ridiculous temperature.”
Jamie continued, ignoring Sienna’s complaining little words.
“It’s so cute how a white-faced girl blushes her cheeks red and pouts her lips just because it’s cold. Even so, she didn’t give up her dress, so I thought it was different because she was a woman. She insisted on wearing a dress even though it was flipped over by the bitter wind, so the nanny had to make her wear layers of underwear.”
Carl nodded.
“I think that stubbornness still lingers.”
“Right? Her stubbornness is like a string of iron that even my father can’t resist. Even the stubbornness is lovely.”
“I have to admit that.”
Sienna was embarrassed when the two men were discussing that she was cute or lovely with her right there in the middle. She felt like she was getting goosebumps, so she was about to pat her arms and tell them to stop. Then Jamie said with a pretty serious face.
“So I want the baby to be a princess, not a prince, but I’m sure it’s the prince.”
Carl asked Jamie with a curious look.
“How can you be so sure?”
“I heard a strange dream from my father before I left here.”
“Dream? Oh, you mean a conception dream?”
Carl asked with a curious look since he just talked about his conception dream with Sienna not long ago.
“My father said that in his dream, the Empress had climbed the mountain of Heidel in her child form. It’s a mountain full of snow that even monsters, let alone humans, don’t come around. That’s in barefoot, too. My father was worried about her, so he called out the Empress’ name and followed her. But the Empress reached the top of the mountain at an absurdly fast pace.”
Carl, as well as Sienna, listened to this dream with a serious face.
“But the clear sky was covered with darkness, and thousands of lightning struck the ground. Just when you couldn’t see through the roar and the glare, Her Majesty scolded the sky.”
“The sky?”
“Noisy, you heaven! All living things in the sea and on the earth, worship quietly. A man who will rule you will come down. That’s what she said.”