“I think the issue of your request for military service on the front will be delayed again this time.”
“Is that true? Will it be delayed again this time?”
“Yes, I heard it from an assistant boy who was helping at a political meeting.”
“I don’t know what they’re all thinking. They are not aware that their safety is also in danger if we lose the war against Castro.”
“They’re saying that at the capital the precious metals are in limited supply. If we lose the war against Castro, there will be a lot of aristocrats who will want to run off with their jewelry boxes. They still say they can’t get any more of the red jewelry.”
The rumor that Empress Arya made it difficult to get red jewelry was spread by Sienna. It was to drive her people apart. In fact, no one received the jewels, but everyone would think they were the only ones who didn’t get it.
Everyone was mad trying to secretly seek jewelry because they couldn’t say that they haven’t received it. The people who spread the rumors also said that those who did not receive the jewels also were the ones who were dropped by Empress Arya, so to prove that they had not fallen from the crowd, they all had to get the red jewelry somehow.
The color of the jewels was not important. However, he could not show off the jewelry he already had, so he chose the rarest variety available for new purchases, which were red jewelry.
This was also possible because Green Merchants had been handling precious metals for a long time. The Green Merchants were said to be selling red jewelry it bought in advance at a high price. Even though they did not know that the war was driving up the price of jewelry like crazy. In this situation, Green Merchants bought the right to buy wheat at a cheap price from the aristocrats who urgently needed to borrow money.
“They’re all trying hard not to give up their soldiers. But they are still going to send the troops. It has been said that it is quite urgent, so they will scrape away the wheat stored in the capital’s supply warehouse and even the wheat collected from each territorial area near the capital. Wheat will come up from the south after the harvest in a month.”
“It’s coming up soon?”
‘I swear I heard that the roads were gone.’
The information received from Kelly was that land routes to and from the South were cut off. Moreover, it was said that it would take more time to recover the roads because the war prevented them from gathering extra manpower.
But it was beyond Sienna’s understanding that they would scrape the wheat in the capital and send it to the battlefield. It was not immediately clear how this would affect the future events.
While she was busy organizing the information in her head, the servant who was standing outside said that a guest had come.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince has come.”
Although he was called a prince because the coronation ceremony had not been held yet, Valore was already being treated as an emperor. Sienna greeted him with pleasure.
“How did you come to see me when you’re so busy?”
At her words he bit his lower lip and asked in a dead voice.
“Don’t you like my visit?”
Sienna remembered a sentence Carl left on her palm the day he left.
/Don’t stay close to Valore while I am away./ (Gothic font)
A childish request unlike him.
“…No. I thought you would be busy with the coronation ceremony, that’s why I asked. Please come in.”
“It’s an instant preparation, but I feel like it’s just another person’s story. It’s more leisurely than before.”
Everyone knew that it was Empress Arya who was directly involved in politics as she had done so far, even if Valore rose to the throne of the emperor. They were the ones who sensed faster than anyone where the pendulum of power was swinging. In accordance with the principle, Valore would have to spend a busy time receiving the greetings of the nobles, but it was the Empress, or Arya, who was actually meeting many people.
“I thought you’d have a lot of work to prepare for when you get to the throne.”
As Valore smiled bitterly, Sienna looked into his complexion and asked.
“You don’t look well.”
The last time Sienna saw Valore was during the funeral of Emperor Rodbius. He didn’t look well then, but now he looked even paler. Valore said he was fine, but then he quickly coughed.
“It’s because the rainy days are long and I feel cold. Now that the sky is clear, it will get better soon.”
“Why didn’t you take a rest when you weren’t feeling well?”
“I came here because I was too frustrated to just lie down. Are you uncomfortable with me?”
“No, I was also feeling a little blue. I’m glad you came to talk to me like this.”
Sienna boiled ginger tea that was good for cold.
“You are now going to be the king of this empire. Your body is not yours alone, so you need to be more careful.”
Her words caught a shadow at the end of his lips.
“You’re right.”
“You don’t look happy at all.”
Sienna asked him, who looked tired and lethargic.
“You used to say that before. You’re getting greedy. You’ve got what you want so much, and you look so tired.”
“I got what I wanted?”
The anger was reflected in Valore, so Sienna looked at him, wondering if she had said something wrong. Valore faced Sienna without avoiding her eyes. As if he wanted her to know his heart.
Soon after, Valore avoided her gaze first.
“I guess this is not what I really wanted. I want to run away before the coronation. I want to hum music while walking on a street that no one knows. Do you know that there is a job called a minstrel in the world?”
“Yes, I heard they make poems out of the stories of the world in exchange for a meal. They don’t stay in one place and they wander here and there to gather stories.”
“That’s what I want to do. I want to go to places that no one knows about and live playing music.”
“Very romantic dream. With your talents, you would not be starving.”
“It’s a great honor to hear that approval from you.”
Valore drank the tea with a tired face. Sienna felt sorry for him because he seemed to be very burdened with the weight of the position he will have as an emperor.
“Are you overwhelmed to become an emperor?”
“Of course I am overwhelmed. It’s a position where even a small action breeds big consequences. I hate that place where everyone is watching me. Actually, what I hate more than that is that my words and actions do not matter at all. All that everyone is looking at is my mom’s lips.”
Sienna agreed with what Valore said, but she did not show her agreement out loud.
“I know that well. That I am only a tool to fulfill my mom’s ambitions. I am not even interested in politics and I don’t expect that I’d do it well. But unlike now, I am agonized to be dragged to the parliamentary meeting every day to listen to them talk.”
He breathed a deep sigh and continued.
“Everyone will ask me as if they’re asking me for an answer, but in fact, they’re asking my mother for an answer. I’m just a pawn in front of my mother. Everyone knows, but they just don’t say it. I just pretended not to know. But I’m afraid now that I’m going to be crowned an emperor.”
“Why do you only think of yourself as becoming a puppet emperor?”
“I’m not trying to be a puppet emperor, I’m bound to be. Is there anyone there that will listen to me?”
Sienna spoke in a strong tone at Valore’s weak words.
“How come you’re so weak? Your Highness should know because you’ve also been educated in the history of kings. How the emperors, swayed by the outlying forces, were recorded. Even after a hundred, no, a thousand years, they are being criticized. And they deserve to be blamed. That’s what being an emperor was like. An emperor’s foolish judgment can save or kill thousands of lives. It doesn’t matter if you wanted to be there or if you didn’t. It’s a position of responsibility.”
At Sienna’s words he spoke in a modest voice of excuse.
“It’s not up to what I want. Already, most of the nobles are moving only as my mother says. Would you listen to me if I were to speak? And I don’t know anything enough to answer them.”
Valore spoke mournfully as if he wanted Sienna’s agreement.
“In the history of the Leipsden Empire, there has never been an adult emperor who was swayed by a mother queen. If a child ascends to the throne of the emperor at a young age due to the sudden death of an emperor, the only record was that his mother cleaned up the nobles until he became an adult. Even if he was a five-year-old emperor, he was criticized when he was swayed by the foreign forces and engaged in foolish politics. Your Highness Valore is not a child, but an adult.”
Valore shook his head with an anxious face.