92 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“If you fight with a sword in the Imperial Palace, who would win?” Alisha asked.
“The Empress.”
“Her Majesty the Empress.” Josefina and Pauline answered simultaneously.
“……”
Alisha set aside some of the worries she had been holding onto.
So what if the future changes?
The future had already changed completely when she returned to the past.
There was no way that only the future of the Empress, the Imperial Concubine, and the Imperial Palace would remain fixed.
Above all, Empress Eleanor was an excellent politician and a strong mother.
Even when her health deteriorated and she had difficulty moving, the Empress protected her child.
Everyone has their own battles to fight.
The Empress had her battle.
Alisha had her battle.
It was right after the first guests had left.
“Alisha, Sir Albert is here,” Daisy announced the arrival of a new guest immediately.
Alisha took short breaks between sending off one guest and meeting the next.
This was to prevent any possible mistakes.
Alisha wondered why Daisy had brought in a guest without even asking for her consent.
She figured Daisy must have a reason for ignoring the rule that she had created.
Alisha lightly called out to Albert, who had followed Daisy inside.
“Sir Albert.”
“Lady Alisha, I apologize for visiting so suddenly without an appointment. Please forgive my rudeness.” Albert said quickly as he entered the room.
Unlike Albert, there was no hesitation in his voice.
“Rudeness? Not at all.” Alisha tried to be polite.
Without asking for permission, Albert quickly took out sample specimens on the tea table.
He didn’t even sit down, as if he was in a hurry.
Thud.
The last thing he took out was a thinly sliced incense candle.
“Lady Alisha, have you perhaps used an incense candle decorated with gold?”
“No….”
“That’s good!” Albert gave her a compliment from the bottom of his heart.
It was the first compliment Alisha had heard from Albert since she had known him.
“Is there a problem with the incense candle? Sir Albert.”
Albert was a passive man who rarely spoke about others.
“You must never use that incense candle.”
“Never?”
“The gold decoration on the incense candle, or the top and bottom of the candle, are not the problem. But there is a problem around the wick of the incense candle. There is a substance hidden in the center of the incense candle that induces miscarriage. If you use this incense candle often, you will miscarry without even realizing it.”
The Golden Incense Candle was a gift from Duchess Belz.
“A miscarriage?”
“I, I’m sorry. This is not something I should be saying to an unmarried lady. But because it has medicinal properties that induce miscarriage, it may not be good for women….” Albert stammered and trailed off.
“You don’t have to apologize, Sir Albert. Thank you for letting me know. I was just surprised by the hidden intention in the incense candle.”
“Ah… Thank you for understanding. And….”
Alisha waited for Albert to speak with a smile.
Albert said with a determined expression.
“The perfumer who made the four perfumes that you sent and the manufacturer who made the Golden Incense Candle seem to be the same person. Their preferred base is the same, and the order in which they were made is also the same. I need to confirm this further, but I think it’s probably made by the same person. I will check further and tell you again.”
Having finished his business, Albert awkwardly lowered his gaze.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“No, it’s nothing….”
“I would like to ask you once again to keep the samples a secret.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Alisha greeted Albert, who looked uncomfortable.
“Thank you so much for coming today. I know it’s not polite, but I have something to think about, so I would like to invite you next time when I have time.”
“I have delivered what I needed to say, so I will leave now. I will contact you again.” Albert gathered his things and stood up.
“Take care.”
Alisha didn’t follow Albert, knowing it might seem rude.
The information Albert brought was unexpected.
It was as if a storm was raging in her head.
So what if the future changes?
She had set aside her worries, but grasping the situation was another matter.
The unexpected news she had heard in the morning came to mind.
The Empress was pregnant with twins.
The Emperor’s Imperial Concubine was pregnant.
It was a little different from what Alisha remembered, and much faster.
Currently, there were few direct Imperial family members.
The Emperor had an unusually small number of descendants.
“Because of Duchess Belz’s Golden Incense Candle….”
It was difficult to know exactly why the Empress was pregnant with twins.
But she could guess the reason why the Emperor’s Imperial Concubine had a child much earlier than in her first life.
It was thanks to Alisha’s engagement to the Grand Duke, which led to Duchess Belz being excluded from the Imperial family early on.
“There will be news of other children too.”
Once she knew about Duchess Belz’s Golden Incense Candle, she understood why the Emperor had not had any children until now.
She also understood the many things that Duchess Belz had been planning, thinking that she could put her son on the throne.
Because she had made sure that the Emperor had no descendants.
The Emperor’s first child was conceived outside the Imperial Palace.
Lady Mode was able to get pregnant because she was not exposed to Duchess Belz’s Golden Incense Candle.
The Imperial Concubine who received the least attention had a child after the Empress.
Marquis Lennox still had no children.
Pauline was pregnant.
There was a difference depending on whether or not they had frequent meetings with Duchess Belz.
Everything made sense once she knew about Duchess Belz’s Golden Incense Candle.
“No….”
Alisha shook her head.
The Emperor’s descendants were delayed and there were few direct Imperial family members because of Duchess Belz’s Golden Incense Candle.
But the Emperor’s descendants were delayed too much.
She wondered why no one had found the cause of the delayed pregnancy until now.
She was also suspicious of the Emperor and the Imperial family’s reaction to the succession issue.
They didn’t have much suspicion about the Imperial family’s children being delayed, and they didn’t push them hard.
Was it because the Imperial family wasn’t very interested in the succession?
That couldn’t be.
“There’s another reason.”
Alisha came to a conclusion after thinking about it.
There was a secret in the Imperial family.
Reikart, who had returned to Ludern from the Imperial Palace, paused as he got out of the carriage.
“Who is it?”
“The son of Count McMahon is here.”
Alisha and Reikart were preparing to leave for Tessen.
The Lua Cycle was approaching.
Reikart had advised Alisha to stay in Baden.
Tessen was too biased to one side.
There were still many things to be done with the Reine Marquisate, and Josefina and the Ririn ducal family were also relying on Alisha.
Whenever Reikart tried to advise her to stay in Baden, Alisha would silently place her hand on his.
Reikart had become a fool who was so infatuated with a woman that he didn’t know what to do, just like his brothers had said.
When Alisha called him ‘Ray’ and took his hand, he was in a state where he could do anything she asked.
“When?”
“He hasn’t been here long.”
Reikart nodded at the servant’s words and quickened his pace.
At the same time, he focused his hearing.
He couldn’t hear Alisha’s voice.
He could hear a man’s voice near the reception room and the tea room.
The unfamiliar voice sounded hesitant.
“I heard that you have become Baron Ronok. Congratulations.”
Judging from the fact that his footsteps didn’t make unnecessary echoes, the man was a decent swordsman.
But his speaking voice was clumsy, and he seemed very conscious of others.
Daisy replied to the man’s words.
“We are only grateful to Lady Alisha.”
It was a polite and courteous reply, as expected of Daisy.
And it was also an answer that didn’t give any room for further conversation.
Reikart paused for a moment.
Breaths full of hesitation about whether to speak or not.
The sound of a rapidly beating heart.
The sound of taking a deep breath as if making a decision.
Several sounds were clearly audible to Reikart.
He turned away from the hall and headed for the window.
“The sprout came up from the pot that Baron Ronok and I watered together back then.”
“Sir Albert. Please call me comfortably. I’m not used to being called that yet. It’s also embarrassing. By the way, did you bring the pot?”
“Yes, yes….”
Reikart didn’t like eavesdropping on other people’s conversations.
He was usually distressed because he often heard things he didn’t want to hear.
But it was difficult to stop paying attention to this conversation.
He felt sorry for Albert, who had clumsily interrupted the conversation with Daisy’s words.
“I heard that Lady Alisha is going to Tessen soon. If Daisy goes with her, it will be difficult to see her for a while….”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I, I would like to water the pot together again sometime. You said you have a day off, so can I see you then?”
Albert stammered, but managed to complete his date request.
“I haven’t had time to take a day off recently. But if there is time, the Lady will probably give us a day off again soon.” Daisy replied cautiously.
“Can I see you then?” Albert said this time without hesitation.
“Yes, you can.”
Daisy readily replied.
According to what Reikart had observed, it was rare for Daisy to give positive answers in a row.
Her voice was neat, but it was like answering with a big smile for an average person.
Hearing the sound of the two people coming down the stairs, Reikart also turned away from the window.
Albert recognized Reikart and paid his respects.
“Greetings to His Highness the Grand Duke.”
“Sir Albert. It’s been a while.”
Reikart made good use of the name he had just heard.
“Yes, yes, it’s been a while….”
Albert stammered, flustered that Grand Duke Tessen knew him.
Daisy knew that Reikart remembered the names of people around him surprisingly well, so she didn’t take it seriously.
“Your Highness, the Lady is in the tea room.”
“I will leave as planned, so prepare, Baron Ronok. I will go to the tea room, so the Baron will escort Sir Albert to the gate.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Hearing Daisy’s answer, Reikart went straight up the stairs.
Albert, who had been watching him carefully, and Daisy, who had been asked to escort the guest to the gate, glanced at Reikart’s back, but the back going up the stairs quickly disappeared.
Arriving in front of the tea room, Reikart immediately knocked on the door.
“Yes.”
The voice that came from inside was calm.
“Alisha.”
Reikart, who entered the tea room, noticed that not only Alisha’s voice but also her atmosphere was different from usual.
Sitting in a chair in front of the tea table, Alisha looked at Reikart, lost in thought.
“Ray.”
A question mark was floating in Alisha’s purple eyes as she looked at Reikart.
“What’s wrong?”
Reikart forgot what he had been thinking about doing and focused on Alisha.
He carefully reached out his hand.
Alisha firmly grasped the hand that came to her.
“Ray. For some reason, His Majesty has not had any descendants until now. Not only the Emperor, but also the Emperor’s brothers are having children late. The ministers and outsiders are worried and attacking, but the Emperor and the Imperial family don’t really care about the succession issue. They are worried that His Majesty has no descendants, but there are no Imperial family members who offer extreme solutions or severely pressure him.”
Alisha’s face as she uttered her doubts was pure.
“Is there a secret in the Imperial family related to children?”
But the face asking the question was full of conviction.
It was in the form of a question, but it was a voice that already knew the answer.
Alisha had taken another step closer to Reikart’s secret.
Reikart suppressed his desire to run away and sat next to Alisha.
Alisha watched him silently.
“Alisha. Do you know about the founding myth of the Rune Empire?” Reikart said like a kind history teacher.
“Yes, I know. The predecessor of the Rune Empire was the Paeirun Kingdom. The last princess of the Paeirun Kingdom lost her father and her older brother, who was the crown prince, and prayed in sorrow. A winged man descended from the sky and married the Paeirun princess and gave birth to a son, and that son became Emperor Otto the Great, the founder of the Rune Empire. Is that not right?”