Sienna, who came to see Arya, was rejected at the door. Her servant had told her that the empress was in no position to meet anyone because of her grief.
‘You’re being funny. You can’t meet me because you’re not confident in hiding your expression of joy.’
She felt sorry, but she did not want to see Arya either, so she turned away with a light heart.
“Your Royal Highness?”
Standing at the entrance to the imperial palace, she could see a group of people trying to enter here. It was Lady Mary, Valore’s wife, and her knights. It wasn’t until she saw them that she realized she was walking around without any knights. Now that she was used to it, she was not even embarrassed.
“Are you on your way out from seeing the Empress?”
“Yes, I’ve come to see her, but she’s sad and she’s not in the mood to meet anyone. So I was on my way back without seeing her face.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll just have to go back to my palace. If you don’t mind, why don’t you have a cup of tea at my place?”
Sienna answered that she would. Mary didn’t seem to know yet that she shouldn’t use candles on the table. Sienna didn’t tell her that. Maybe because of the heavy rain, she was in desperate need of a calming tea.
Mary poured the light-colored tea water out of the teacup. The incense reached the tip of her nose. Sienna clasped her hands around the teacup. Originally, it was necessary to hold the end of the handle with one hand and finger sticking out at the end and savor the scent little by little, but her hands were like an ice sheet. Like Sienna, Marie raised the teacup with her both hands.
“…”
Although she had followed up on her offer to be served warm tea, it was awkward to be in the same space with her. If she were Arya, she would say anything in defense or retaliation, but she couldn’t figure out how to start a conversation with Mary. She had little outside activity, so it was hard to make a proper topic.
“It’s raining a lot.”
Mary opened her mouth first. If there’s nothing to say, would it be about the weather? Sienna also put words on the conversation.
“It looks like the clouds will continue for a few days. We should ban fire during the Emperor’s memorial, but I’m worried about this and that.”
“I’ve been told that fires should be banned during the memorial period, but… Can’t we light up a single fire?”
Sienna was dumbfounded by Mary’s reaction. She couldn’t believe how she had taken up her offer on tea without much thought and ease, and now here she was bringing out the topic of the banning of fire. Luckily, she didn’t blame Sienna.
“I think the bureaucrats will soon send in the details in official documents soon, so we can, by following them.”
After drinking a sip of tea, Mary said.
“The Emperor has been in bed for so long, but it feels sudden. Actually, it hasn’t really reached me well yet. I don’t know if I’m feeling sad or not because I’ve never even been able to see his before. Oh! Is this too rude to say this about the Emperor right now?”
“It’s okay. I do the same. I’ve never seen him face to face either.”
“Right? No matter how unhealthy he was, he didn’t show up so much that I don’t think he really existed.”
Sienna nodded at Mary’s words.
Although there were many who thought this way, It was a pretty amazing thing how Empress Arya had been in power for a long time under the pretext of the Emperor’s illness. The skill of blocking the mouths of those who tried to broach the words of doubts, creating public opinion, and attracting many aristocratic forces to their side was truly admirable.
*
Despite the news of the emperor’s ascension and death, the imperial day went by without much difference than before. Although the castle felt gloomy as the use of fire was prohibited inside the imperial palace, meals felt inconvenient as the candles could not be lighted.
The emperor’s funeral was held for a week. It was a grand funeral. His coffin was kept at the place where Sienna was married, followed by a memorial procession for the nobles.
Seeing him lying in a glass tube made her feel strange. She was told that he had blond hair and light green eyes like Carl, but the line seen over the glass tube was white-haired.
His eyes were closed, so she couldn’t see his pupils, but it was hard to find any indicators resembling Carl. All she could find was an outline of his eyebrows. Looking at his dark, well-organized eyebrows, she remembered the outline of Carl’s eyes, which made a strong impression.
Sienna thought it was strange for herself to think of and compare someone while looking at the dead, but otherwise, she had no other feelings.
As Mary said, it was hard to mourn the death of Emperor Robius. The body he left behind was never felt to be that of a man who once had a soul in him and who had moved and breathed. It was just like a well-made piece of human body.
The emperor’s remains had to be seen by many for a week. The emperor’s body was for the reason that he blessed those who were still alive. However, despite the drug treatments, his body had decomposed too quickly. It was only two days during the week-long funeral that his coffin was made public.
For this reason, some nobles went to the man in charge of the emperor’s body, but he had already disappeared. His daughter said she had heard from her father that the emperor’s body had already seemed to have been maintained under drugs for a long time, but she, too, was unable to find any trace of him from the very next day.
Eventually, the emperor’s body was laid to earth earlier than expected, and those who questioned his death shut up.
More important than the death of the Emperor was to decide who would become the next emperor. Carl’s supporters and Valore’s supporters worked busily to make the man they wanted to be their next emperor.
The nobles went back and forth so many times until the threshold of the royal court, where Arya was staying in, had gotten worn out by nobles. There were some visitors to Sienna, but she refused their visits to her.
“Don’t you think you should meet the nobles? Cough cough.”
“Hain, have you caught a cold?”
“Cough cough, my cold isn’t important. Her Majesty is visited by dozens of aristocrats a day, and you refuse their visitations. What if you don’t remain the First Princess, but the second prince becomes the emperor?”
“Somehow. I guess it’s meant to be.”
“Oh, my God! It’s not the time for you to say such and be so easy going. Until the first prince returns, the queen will take his place. At this rate, even the nobles who support him will go over to the other side.
It’s not that she didn’t think of meeting the nobles and coaxing them. However, she did not need to draw attention and bring herself to risk even though he would be able to become emperor anyway. She did not want to make a fuss over what was going to happen, even though she already has.
Rather, it was best to wait for Arya’s power to increase further. It was important to increase support when fighting for the throne of the emperor. However, if she stretched it too much, he will fall into the hands of those who supported him and be swung around when he rose to the throne.
The nobles speak of loyalty as if it were the nobility’s honor, but in fact, loyalty is nothing but an act of reaching out to their own advantages and being able to lay their hands on a profit. After becoming an emperor, he should take care of whatever the newly-brought in forces wants to gain. Nevertheless, the existing forces should not be neglected.
No matter how fair they are treated, both sides were bound to complain. “How much damage did I get from moving here?” and “I swore loyalty from the beginning, but only the migratory-like birds were the ones that were welcome. Complaints of doing so will inevitably clash.”
Sienna has already worked to fuel their discontent. That’s why she could keep staying in their seats with this much ease. She was hoping to catch a fish by the bait thrown.
“Cough Cough.”
Hain tried to nag at Sienna because she was frustrated, but she coughed violently.
“I can’t do it, Hain. Let’s go in and rest today.”