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“Kyaaak!”
Unlike a well-mannered person, Annabelle let out a distorted shriek.
“Imperial Guards, subdue them.”
This time, the people screeching were Annabelle’s people, who had been restraining the Princess’ ladies-in-waiting outside the garden.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor cleared the situation in an instant, then he looked at the arrested people grimly.
“Take away all those insolent people.”
“Yes!”
“Y-Your Majesty the Emperor! You have misunderstood! Your Majesty!”
Annabelle shouted desperately once she was caught by the imperial guards.
The Emperor whipped his hand out as a sign to stop the foul words from coming out.
“…!”
“Put them all in a dungeon. Do not let anyone other than the guards meet them!”
“Hicc!”
Only then did Siervian quickly step down from her seat and run in a hurry without realizing it.
She was scared and kept crying all this time.
Her young body was impatient to go to someone who would protect her.
“Papa!”
Everyone was overwhelmed by the turbulent fluctuation of mana in the air, but Siervian’s father had made it so that she was the only one unaffected.
“Siervy. You must be surprised.”
Siervian had yet to learn how to deal with mana, so of course she had no idea about the fluctuation of mana around them.
Even though this situation was very strange, the current Siervian did not notice.
All she could do was cling to her father’s leg.
“Princess!”
The now released ladies-in-waiting ran into the garden.
Ellie came running to Siervian with tears welling up in her eyes. Then, she fell to her knees.
The Emperor looked all around the scene and finally reached the specialist.
“Explain, Harmin specialist. What did you just do?”
From the moment the Emperor appeared, the specialist had barely moved as if he was caught in a binding spell and knelt down.
With his head bowed down, he fiercely prepared an excuse.
[ Tivree ]
Thoughts: If I get caught, I’ll definitely lose my head!
Grasping the hem of her father’s robe, Siervian understood the specialist’s innermost thoughts.
She still shivered at the fact that he tried to make her drink something weird.
“W-Well, that’s because the Princess complained that she didn’t want to attend such an important ceremony.”
It felt as if she was possessed by the Spirit of Mana.
Siervian carefully counted the dates until the morning, but she still couldn’t believe what had happened.
After all of that, she heard the sound of rough footsteps in the garden.
“Stop!”
The one who appeared and shouted urgently was the Imperial Court Doctor.
Once he arrived, the court doctor took a deep breath, probably because he had been rushed to the garden.
After gazing at the messed up interior of the Harmin garden, Siervian then looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Your Majesty?”
The Emperor glanced at the court doctor then turned his cold gaze again to the one lying face down.
This was because he didn’t believe the answer that the specialist had just given.
“So, it’s the Princess’s fault?”
“Y-Yes, it is as I explained a while ago.”
“Ha.”
When asked again, the specialist pursed his lips as if he thought his excuses would work.
At that moment, a huge force pressed down on his head.
“You speak so rudely even in front of me. How could I have been more arrogant in front of the young Princess like this?”
“Ugh, keugh, p-please, have mercy.”
It wasn’t until his face was forced into the grass that he came to his senses.
The specialist was used to a situation in which everyone around him despised the existence of the Princess herself, so it remained a habit before he knew it
One can only realize mistakes when on the verge of death. And, contrary to the words of the Empress, he also learned that the Princess was very favored by the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, there’s something suspicious going on. He rushed the schedule about the Imperial ceremony without contacting me.”
“Is that the reason you came here running?”
Conscious of the unexpected situation, the court doctor quickly replied.
“Yes, Your Majesty. It’s clearly a different date from the one I mentioned before, but the Princess was already brought here. I should have looked a little more closely, I apologize immensely.”
“Court doctor, don’t say such nonsense.”
The words were merciful, but Alderuan’s expression grew more and more grim.
As he swung his hand, the specialist, who was being crushed by the grass, gasped again.
He was under the spell of being trapped all over.
“How dare you try to assassinate a member of the Imperial family.”
“Aaugh! Haak!”
The trapped specialist wriggled with his eyes wide open.
This was simply because the weight of the sin was different to disrespecting the young Princess and killing an Imperial member.
“Take him away. I will interrogate him myself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
As the situation cleared, the court doctor quickly knelt on one knee and examined Siervian’s condition.
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
“Yes…”
The nearly white beard of the court doctor shook as if it was trembling.
[ Hanta Mandersang ]
Thoughts: No, why on earth was I not even contacted. As His Majesty said, this young Princess…!
He still did not fully comprehend the situation, so he looked at the Emperor.
“What brings you here, Your Majesty?”
“My daughter is drinking Harmin tea for the first time, so of course I should come.”
Saying it as if it was natural, he stroked Servian’s head as she still held onto the hem of his robe.
[ Hanta Mandersang ]
Thoughts: I remember that you didn’t come to Crown Prince’s…
Therefore, the court doctor’s eyes shook with confusion.
“Your Majesty!”
At that time, Chancellor Hex belatedly entered the garden, but it was for the Emperor.
“What is it, Chancellor?”
Hex stomped his feet at the Emperor’s casual reaction.
[ Hex ]
Thoughts: There’s so much work to catch up on!
On the way to the garden, Hex wisely refrained from speaking to the guards he encountered as they appeared to be ferociously arresting some people.
“I came here to pick you up… Didn’t the Princess come to drink Harmin tea?”
Hex’s eyes then automatically turned to the Harmin tea left on the table.
Siervian desperately uttered as she heard Hex’s words.
“Se-Sebi doesn’t want to drink tea.”
How could she explain her allergies?
Of course, she was also afraid she might faint again because of the tea, but it was also not good to reject the importance of the Harmin tea.
Her father’s eyes seemed to be fierce toward her.
But contrary to those eyes, he said.
“Chancellor, confer with the Lord of the Magic Tower and the court doctor to find a way to replace Harmin tea.”
“Yes, what? Your Majesty! That’s…!”
The eyes of the court doctor opened wide due to the unexpected heavy duty he was just assigned.
The astonishment in his eyes soon became very serious again with the next words.
“And that tea, analyze its ingredients.”
At the end of the Emperor’s gaze, there was still a teacup lying on the garden table.
After much consideration, the hard-faced court doctor carefully responded.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Researching Harmin tea is…”
“Court doctor.”
“…I shall heed Your Majesty’s orders.”
[ Hanta Mandersang ]
Mood: Concerned
Thoughts: What a stir this will bring… Hmm…
As if to restrict the court doctor’s words, the Emperor firmly interrupted.
But Siervian had no choice but to doubt since she already saw his thoughts.
‘Is there something wrong? Harmin tea research?’
* * *
The Emperor brought the Princess back to the Palace safely and returned to his office at the urging of Hex.
Hex seriously considered, then cautiously gave advice to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, please take your orders back. Even if you ignore the Duchy’s opposition right now, Her Highness should also drink some Harmin tea for the sake of her health.”
“I know.”
“What if one of them shows up?”
“I will figure it out first.”
In the end, the order was not withdrawn.
Like the court doctor, the Chancellor was alarmed by the repercussions of the decision.
The duchy’s authority over Harmin tea was greater than one could imagine.
It was forbidden to analyze or study the tea leaves that were consumed by the people of the Empire.
This was because of the risk of the leaves being abused or misused.
“My daughter doesn’t want to drink the tea. We only have a few months left for her, so we must find a way for her not to get sick without Harmin tea.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“We’ll do our research first. If it doesn’t work, I’ll persuade them again.”
Such eyes of the furious Emperor were not seen.
He thought of those who oppress the Princess and how they should pay the price.
“We’ve been contacted about the imprisonment of the ladies-in-waiting of the Empress’s Palace.”
“Ignore it.”
No matter how much the Emperor thought about it, with the financial status of the Imperial Palace, the Empress had no will to properly care for Siervian.
The ladies-in-waiting who were captured were well aware of the kind of person the Emperor was.
The Emperor then wanted to discover for himself the clues in the unexpected situation in the garden.
“Your Majesty, I have heard the news about the escort of the Princess.”
After a long time had passed, the knight designated as the escort of the Princess was called and ran to the Emperor’s Palace.
He immediately prostrated in front of the Emperor after entering with permission.
“I will accept my punishment.”
He was the Captain of the Imperial Guard, and the Emperor favored him since he had considerable skill. That’s why he was purposely attached to the escort of the Princess.
However, it was doubtful that he would be away from the Princess’s Palace when such an incident had happened.
“You seem to know what’s going on.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He was the epitome of an honest knight who would make no excuse for any of his mistakes.
Watching the face of Roid, the Captain of the Imperial Guard, the Emperor allowed only one excuse.
“Explain why you were away from the Princess.”
“I was called by the Empress.”
At that reply, the Emperor furrowed his eyebrows and just stared at the knight.
Would it be believable that he was called by the Empress at a time like this?
“I received an urgent call saying that it was for the safety of the Princess.”
“Then?”
To call it an excuse would have been too crude.
“But, for some reason, we didn’t get to see each other until the afternoon.”
Despite the relaxed appearance of the Emperor, the knight was still bowing his head and continued his words firmly.
“Your Majesty, even though it is against my convictions to make such excuses, I have come here in a rush to tell you something.”
“What do you mean?”
“It seems that Her Majesty the Empress is now on her way to the Princess’ Palace.”
Hearing those words, the Emperor immediately rose from his seat.