81 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
The Grand Duke's Bride is a Warrior from Hell 81
The Emperor's private Audience Chamber was decorated brightly in preparation for the coming summer.
Dark and solemn tapestries were taken down, and tapestries embroidered with fresh leaves were hung.
The Audience Chamber, decorated with a refreshing atmosphere, was quiet.
Even the teacups were changed to those with fewer patterns and brighter colors, but the room was still heavy.
Marquis Lennox and Count Istevna, holding their teacups, kept glancing sideways.
The Emperor was as beautiful as an angel in a ceiling painting today as well.
His sky-blue eyes looked at his two younger brothers before glancing at the pillars of the Audience Chamber.
The marble pillars, decorated with gold and featuring gray-blue marbling, had marks as if someone had struck them with a hammer.
Marquis Lennox lowered his teacup and opened his mouth haltingly.
"Accidents keep happening in the North."
"Indeed."
The Emperor responded indifferently to Marquis Lennox's words.
The accidental death of Marquis Valdemar Rein.
The referral of Baron Miller, an important vassal of the Reine Marquisate, to a religious trial.
On the surface, the North seemed precarious, but the reality was not so.
Reikart had arrived in Reine yesterday.
According to the report from the day before, all the vassals of the Reine Marquisate were planning to welcome Grand Duke Tessen.
It was safe to say that the new Marquis Reine had taken control of the family.
The Reine Marquisate was planning to go on a light ride with Grand Duke Tessen.
To show the family's strength, the route would probably include the place where the previous Marquis Reine had his accident.
The Emperor himself would do that.
"Your Majesty, I would like to discuss the issue of Pauline's Maternity Room bed."
Count Istevna, who had been watching carefully, lowered his teacup and said.
The Emperor nodded.
Marquis Lennox was inwardly relieved.
It was a proposal that could divert the Emperor's attention, who seemed to be in a bad mood.
It was a timely interruption.
"I will excuse myself first."
The Emperor only nodded again at Marquis Lennox's greeting.
There was no point in displeasing the absolute ruler.
It was best to keep a low profile and avoid the Emperor's gaze for now.
Marquis Lennox carefully left the Audience Chamber.
Count Istevna, who had been waiting for the Audience Chamber door to close, smiled ingratiatingly.
"Pauline is too shy to decorate a Maternity Room in the Imperial Palace, brother."
"The Imperial Palace is better for taking good care of a newborn."
The Emperor, who had been exuding a gloomy atmosphere, changed to a lighter expression as he thought of his soon-to-be-born nephew.
It was a time when direct Imperial grandchildren were worryingly rare.
"We will do well at the Istevna mansion."
"Twins have a high risk. Pauline might change her mind."
Above all, the Emperor loved children.
Not only the Emperor but also the current Imperial family members all loved children.
"Will she change her mind?"
Count Istevna thought of Pauline.
Pauline usually had nightmares from a week before coming to the Imperial Palace because she felt burdened.
"She might change her mind."
The Emperor uttered the hopeless words firmly.
Count Istevna stared at the Emperor, who had better judgment than anyone else.
"The Reine Marquisate is becoming too powerful."
The lips that had been spreading a faint smile spoke softly.
At the Count's words, the Emperor put down his teacup and replied.
"Reine is too far away."
"I will look into it."
"Kain, if the twins are born, I will raise your title to Marquis."
The Emperor patted Count Istevna's hand to show his friendliness.
"Your Majesty, please do not favor your unborn nephews and nieces, but give it as a gift to commemorate your brother's birthday."
"Shall I?"
Kain Istevna nodded like a boy craving attention.
"Then let's do that. Well, I guess this should be an Imperial order. Kain, persuade Pauline to give birth in the Imperial Palace. I believe you will do well."
"...I will try. I will take my leave."
The Emperor smiled as he looked at the Count's sullen face.
He gently waved his hand at the sulky face.
His smiling face was as radiant as an angel in a ceiling painting.
Count Istevna was about to say something in complaint but turned around and left the Audience Chamber.
Thud.
Hearing the sound of the Audience Chamber door closing, Kain changed the direction of his body, which had been heading towards the hallway.
He threw his large body onto the waiting bench in front of the Audience Chamber door.
The Emperor's chamberlain and maids lowered their faces to hide their expressions.
It seemed the Emperor had given Count Istevna another troublesome task.
Since he was a prince, Kain Istevna had been the type to lie down anywhere, laugh heartily with anyone, and get along well.
Kain, who had leaned his head on the armrest of the bench, rolled his body sideways.
The rustling sound was not befitting of a dignified Imperial.
His face, covered by his arm, was darkly losing its light.
"This is too much."
Peeking at the Count's back as he grumbled to himself, the servants lowered their faces even further.
Kain knew that the watching eyes were finding it interesting, but he didn't care.
He was serious.
Originally, Kain had intended to highly praise Pauline's plea and Alicia Lane's help to the Emperor.
When the atmosphere was right, he was going to suggest designating Alicia as the godmother of the twins to be born.
But Lennox was talking nonsense.
That idiot...!
He almost blurted out his inner thoughts.
In any case, it became Kain's job to lift the Emperor's mood because of that.
Pauline had completely fallen for Alicia Lane.
She said she envied Alicia's ability to ride horses well, wield spears well, and her confident attitude in front of the knights.
When someone who didn't make friends met someone they could be friends with, they sometimes lost their minds as if they had met their first love.
Kain didn't really like Pauline having Alicia as a friend.
But he was willing to cooperate since Pauline liked it.
It was also reasonable to make her the godmother since Alicia had saved Pauline and the twins.
But today, he saw that the Emperor was wary of the Reine Marquisate.
At the center of it was Alicia Lane.
"That damn Reikart."
Alicia Lane had not only stolen Pauline's heart but also Reikart's soul.
He didn't know what tricks she had used, but the situation was serious.
Alicia left for Reine due to the accident of Marquis Valdemar Rein.
As soon as the Emperor heard the news, he ordered Grand Duke Tessen to stay confined.
It was a precaution to prevent a member of the Imperial family from being endangered by going to the North, where succession issues could erupt.
Reikart was only confined within Baden, and there were no other restrictions.
The day after Alicia Lane returned to the Marquisate.
Reikart stormed into the Emperor's private Audience Chamber, where he was having morning tea with his brothers.
'No, Your Highness! Grand Duke!'
He could not forget the desperate cry the chamberlain had shouted that day.
Reikart, who had stormed into the Audience Chamber alone and empty-handed, threw and overturned the large, heavy tea table.
"Crazy bastard."
Reikart, without breaking a sweat, overturned the Emperor's tea table and declared that he would leave tomorrow.
'I will not allow it.'
The Emperor had a dumbfounded expression but only scoffed at the show of force.
'I will come again tomorrow.'
Reikart warned confidently.
He threatened the Emperor as if he were having a childish fight with his brothers.
He was completely insane.
It was a situation where he could have been immediately imprisoned for treason, but he had no sense of crisis at all.
As he had warned, Reikart overturned the Audience Chamber the next day and the day after that.
Only the powerless Kain was dying every morning in the fight between the Emperor and the Grand Duke.
Crazy bastards, fight without me.
Kain was fed up with the fight between the youngest, who seemed to have lost his mind from dating late, and the eldest brother, a personality disorder who never yielded a single move in political strife.
For several days, Marquis Lennox and Kain cursed Reikart behind his back every morning.
See, I told you to date early.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
He's just mindlessly strong.
He's immune to women and dating, so he falls completely in love and loses his mind.
Is it your first love at that age?
Kain tasted hell for several days at the time.
Every morning, Reikart turned the Emperor's Audience Chamber upside down.
In the evening, he was forced by Pauline to explain why Alicia should be the godmother of the twins.
Pauline had a shy personality, but when she was determined to persuade someone, she strangled them with perfect logic.
Her words left no room for rebuttal.
"...Ah, I'm screwed..."
Now that the Emperor was wary of the Reine Marquisate, he couldn't even mention Pauline's request.
He could already see Pauline closing her mouth and looking at him pathetically.
If there had been no one there, Kain would have struggled and cried.
"Haa."
He sat up, letting out a long sigh.
Footsteps were approaching from that side.
Kain raised his gaze, put his finger to his lips towards the chamberlain and maids who were looking up, asking them not to spread the word, and stood up.
"Oh, Your Highness? Were you here?"
Kain Istevna put on a dazzling smile and greeted the person who had approached.
"Sir Berea. It's good to see you. Let's go together."
In the back of his figure walking down the hallway with a nobleman, there was no trace of the man who had been grumbling just a moment ago.
Kain stepped out into the large hallway, sent another gesture of request to the servants in front of the Audience Chamber, and burst into cheerful laughter.
"The people here are too much. The North has a harsh heart, Your Highness."
Roderick was holding a short quill with a simple design.
He complained while quickly writing in the notebook in his other hand.
"Is that so?"
Reikart was sitting on a plush sofa with his feet up on a stool.
"This building has been renovated, but it's far from the main building, and it's quite a distance from the South Manor. People in the North have no affection and no sense, and the rumors are even worse than I heard."
The place the Reine Marquisate had given to the Grand Duke as a residence was a separate building on the northernmost side of the west wing of the Marquis's mansion.
"Really? I don't know."
Reikart replied casually.
He was just amazed.
Roderick poured out complaints and constantly wrote in his notebook.
The skill of saying things unrelated to what he was writing while writing something seemed like a mysterious ability to Reikart.
The reason Reikart appointed Roderick as his adjutant was precisely because of that ability.
"The Marquis Reine has asked if you would like to take a light ride around the area, as hunting is not a good idea at this time. The Marquis and Sir Harry, and the vassals of the Reine Marquisate will be accompanying you. The Imperial delegation says that they are fine with about 10 escorts and any number of people you vouch for."
"Bring all the guards."
"Excellent. I will limit the remaining participants to about two people. The conditions set by the Reine Marquisate are frankly unpleasant. They say they are fine with any number of people you vouch for, which means they want us to properly screen the people we bring. The schedule is to show the solidarity of the Marquisate, so it's not a trap, but I think it's an impudent request."
Roderick twitched his nose as if he had many complaints.
"The Marquis Reine is the king in Reine."
Reikart said lightly.
Roderick stopped writing and quickly looked around.
"Your Highness...!"
To call the lord a king as an Imperial envoy was a big deal if anyone heard it.
"The new Marquis Reine seems to have a unique personality. Compared to taking control of all the vassals in a short period of time, his impression is soft. Like the kind-hearted former Marquis. It's not easy to deal with from afar."
"The new Marquis Reine? He has a good personality. Rather, Sir Harry..."
Reikart frowned at Roderick's words.
"There are many nobles with personalities like Baron Galler. Such personalities understand hierarchy at a glance. If you step on them a few times, they will bend over or bend over on their own from the start. Are there any families to look into among the vassals here?"
"I will find out. But, Your Highness..."
"There's no need to rush. After all, that's not my job."