91 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“The Supreme Commander is dead. Who is the new Supreme Commander?”
Roderick spoke to the knights of Count Barker's family, who were lined up.
“We, we will drop our weapons.”
One of the knights standing in the first row spoke to the knights and infantry.
“Everyone, drop your weapons!”
As soon as the order was given, the infantry lowered the spears and shields they were holding.
The knights dropped their weapons on the ground and got off their horses.
“Clean up.”
Roderick swung his axe in the air to shake off the blood and turned his horse's head.
“……People are so…… leaving good words behind. Everyone will think of me as Death's errand boy.”
Roderick grumbled and gave a sinister smile worthy of a subordinate of Death.
Ludern was in disarray.
The scheduled battle did not take place.
There was neither victory nor defeat.
One death.
The Ririn Duchy became the winner without shedding a drop of blood.
Count Barker's family was ruined as their hidden sins were revealed.
Everyone who gathered in Ludern was happy.
They were relieved that there was no battle or death.
No one was disappointed or regretted that they didn't have time to show off their excellence.
Everyone was a little dazed.
“Count.”
The Emperor was sitting at the head of the reception room in Ludern Castle.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Alisha had expected everything, but she was as dazed as everyone else.
“To use me to stop the war, it's wonderful and great.”
She didn't expect the Emperor to come to Ludern in person.
“I am honored. However, how dare I use Your Majesty? I don't know what you mean.”
“Count, don't pretend you don't know. How did you know that Count Barker was a slave trader?”
The Emperor ignored Alisha's denial and said what he had to say.
“I really don't know.”
Alisha remained ignorant.
“Is that so.”
The Emperor spread a bright smile.
With just a smile, he was as beautiful as an angel from heaven.
“…….”
“…….”
The Emperor looked back and forth between Alisha and Roderick for a long time.
Roderick had found Reina only last night.
It was late at night, after midnight, that they found the underground prison of Count Barker's family with Reina's help.
Count Barker's family exploited some of the people they had captured while running a slave trade.
Several women who were good at singing, telling stories, dancing, or were especially pretty were sacrificed.
Reina's lost eye was the trace of abuse by one of Count Barker's sons.
If she sang well, she was beaten for singing well, and if she didn't, she was beaten for not singing well.
After escaping, Reina tried to accuse Count Barker several times and tried to get the people who were captured out, but she lacked the power.
In the past, Reina was able to accuse Marquis Rein and receive help only after six years.
Reina's accusation was also a great help to Marquis Rein.
Alisha was able to shorten the time thanks to Judith's prior preparation and Roderick's quick action.
The Emperor, who had been watching Alisha and Roderick for a long time, got up.
“I will be leaving now.”
Alisha held out the key to the Denvera military warehouse to the Emperor, who was coming down from the head seat.
The Emperor ignored Alisha's hand with an elegant movement.
“…….”
Alisha quietly lowered her embarrassed hand.
“Please have a safe trip.”
“Please have a safe trip.”
Roderick escorted the Emperor, and Alisha also bowed.
The Emperor left and the door to the reception room closed.
Alisha sighed and got up.
“What are you doing, starting a war, Alisha?”
Roderick carefully took Alisha's hand.
The large hand holding her hand was warm, but the voice ringing in her ear was blunt.
Roderick gestured towards the door of the reception room.
Alisha, who had been sulky at the cold scolding instead of a welcome greeting, smiled at the signal that the Emperor was outside.
On the one hand, she was a little surprised.
That Roderick was capable of such a nonchalant act.
“I am sorry, Your Highness. I cannot forgive someone like Gregory Barker. And I also had a personal grudge.”
“A grudge?”
At Roderick's question, Alisha nodded her head greatly.
“I met Gregory Barker at a party before. I don't remember if I tripped or stepped on my dress, but I fell near the center of the party hall.”
Alisha said with a gloomy face.
Even though she had shaken off all her timidity, it was a memory that made her face turn red even when she recalled it.
“That must have hurt.”
Alisha frowned at Roderick's consolation.
“The embarrassment was greater than the pain. At that time, I clearly heard Gregory Barker laughing, ‘Heh!’ Sometimes I become very timid, and that was when my timidity was at its peak. I kept the humiliation of that time deep in my heart. I never thought I would get revenge like this today.”
Alisha said proudly.
“Well done.”
Roderick praised Alisha with a subtle look.
He no longer watched outside.
It seemed the Emperor had left.
“Your Highness. I have something to tell you. I gave Daisy the title of Baroness Ronok. I'm thinking about running a carriage business as a family business.”
“Do you have any ideas in mind?”
The two were sitting side by side on the reception room chairs, holding hands.
“I've been thinking about carriages with wide wheels.”
“That's good. One of Henrik's friends is a good retired technician. I'll introduce you.”
Roderick carefully brushed Alisha's disheveled hair back.
They were a good-looking couple.
“Carriages seem similar, but they are clearly different when you ride them, so if you target them well, it will be good, right?”
“If the technology is available, it would be good to prepare for selling the carriages later. Make the wood added to the back in a detachable form. It would be difficult if the part that is attached and detached falls off when the carriage is moving, but the technician I will introduce is good, so you can try it.”
But the problem was the story the two were sharing.
Business talk wasn't bad, but it mattered whose business story it was.
“Um, you two…….”
Daisy rarely trailed off.
Daisy's face, who brought the tea, was seriously dark.
“Daisy.”
“Baroness Ronok.”
Alisha and Roderick turned to the side and called Daisy at the same time.
Roderick's adaptability was amazing.
“You two, whose business are you talking about?”
Daisy asked with a gloomy face.
“Your business.”
“Baroness Ronok's family business.”
Alisha and Roderick answered briefly.
There was no hesitation on their faces as they answered.
It's my business, but the two of you are doing it? Is that the kind of conversation you have on a date?
Daisy had a lot to say.
She didn't know about dating either, but she seemed better than the two people in front of her.
“Thank you.”
Daisy quietly folded her clumsy advice.
Instead, she took the attitude of a humble new aristocrat.
Alisha told her not to worry and gave serious opinions on the carriage business.
Roderick generously shared the information he knew.
Hoo.
Daisy secretly sighed.
She secretly vowed to study specific methods on how to date from tomorrow.
A simple brazier placed on a long desk was spreading heat.
The sound of bubbling from a small pot on the brazier rang loudly.
Tongs that had turned black took the pot off the brazier.
Drizzle.
The thin liquid in the pot was poured into thin plates in order.
“Let's see.”
Albert's expression slowly darkened as he placed paper to check the ingredients on each plate.
He checked it again five times.
“Oh, this is…….”
After confirming the same result for the fifth time, he had no choice but to admit it.
“……I, I have to let them know right away!”
Albert stormed out of the room.
Scattered equipment and gold-decorated incense candles were placed on the desk.
#13. Royal Dot
Ludern welcomed guests early in the morning.
Josefina, who was nominated as the successor to the Ririn Duchy, and Istevna, Marchioness Pauline, were constantly chattering in the tea room.
There was no day in society that passed quietly without incident.
“Yes?”
Alisha blinked at Pauline's words.
“The Empress is pregnant with twins.”
Pauline said again, spreading a smile.
That can't be.
Alisha's purple eyes were hidden by her rapidly moving eyelids before revealing themselves.
Pauline and Josefina laughed pleasantly as they looked at the surprised Alisha.
“Pauline…… had twins.”
Alisha slowly said what she knew with a bewildered face.
Pauline smiled brightly and replied kindly as before.
“The Empress is also pregnant with twins.”
It was embarrassing no matter how many times she heard it.
“…….”
Alisha couldn't close her half-open lips.
No way.
Originally, the Empress gave birth to a son as her first child.
The Emperor and Empress's first child, who would become the 1st Prince, was scheduled to become the Crown Prince.
Also, the future has changed.
Alisha picked up her teacup to hide her embarrassment.
The sound of ice clattering rang from the teacup in her hand.
Pauline and Josefina glanced at Alisha's teacup and talked.
“Isn't it amazing?”
“It's amazing. To have cousins all at once like this. It's amazing that twins are born here and there.”
Alisha tilted her teacup and drank the cold tea in gulps.
What will happen if this happens?
If twin princes are born, will there be a bloody storm in the Imperial Palace?
If twin princesses are born, what will happen to the succession battle?
Alisha's mind was spinning in a complicated way.
Alisha, who was tilting her head, poured cool tea into her empty teacup and drank it.
It rained yesterday and it was cool, but today the heat rose from dawn.
It was full summer.
Alisha didn't like the heat.
She had experienced enough of the heat in hell.
But none of the nobles drank cold tea.
Daisy had asked several times when Alisha asked for ice in her tea.
‘Ice in the tea?’
When she told her to boil the tea and cool it down, she was kindly questioned if she was feeling unwell.
‘Should I drink something warm in this heat, Daisy?’
Daisy didn't understand Alisha's sensitive reaction, but she accepted the request.
Daisy's reaction was normal.
Even now, Josefina and Pauline were glancing at Alisha's teacup with ice clattering in it.
It was a look that saw something strange.
Alisha and Josefina's eyes met as they lifted their faces.
“It's not certain, but maybe…….”
When their eyes met, Josefina spat out the words in a lowered voice.
Pauline nodded as if she had heard something too.
“It seems that Baroness Lenger is pregnant.”
Baroness Lenger was the Emperor's Imperial Concubine.
“…….”
Alisha put down her teacup without saying a word.
It was a situation where she would have grabbed her head if there was no one in front of her.
Her head was numb as if someone had hit her in the back of the head with a hammer.
Among the Emperor's Imperial Concubines, Baroness Lenger had not received the most attention from the public.
In Alisha's memory, Baroness Lenger became the center of the world's attention only after she had the Emperor's child after the Empress.
The order was right, but the timing was too early.
Baroness Lenger was supposed to have a child at least a year later.
“These days, Baroness Lenger doesn't go to greet Duchess Palz, the three Marchionesses, and the wives of other Imperial Concubines. Because she is sick. His Majesty has allowed it.”
“Her family sent a doctor who is skilled in childbirth to the Imperial Concubine. It seems almost certain.”
When Pauline spoke, Josefina also took out the information she knew.
“The Imperial Concubine will be noisy.”
Alisha spoke even in a daze.
“They might fight with knives.”
“Surely not.”
Pauline shrugged and trembled at Josefina's harsh words.