Chapter 65

Chapter 65

A few days later, a letter came to Elisha. It was a letter from Crown Princess Rose.

The letter was an invitation addressed to Elisha specifically. It was asking for her to come to the Imperial Palace because she wanted to meet with Elisha, and, as if she had been waiting, Elisha headed to the Imperial Palace.

Upon arriving at the Crown Princess’ Palace, the maids led Elisha to the drawing-room. The room was lavishly decorated, with the colors of white and gold as the main motif, and delicate gold pieces of artwork and statues were placed everywhere.

Ordinary nobles would have widened their eyes in surprise to see such luxurious decorations; but Elisha, who lived in the Rubellin mansion where the drawing-room was decorated with glow stones, which were the most expensive jewels on the continent, made the Princess’ room appear dull in comparison.

In the center of the room sat Rose, dressed in a very colorful dress and decorated with an assortment of extremely valuable and splendid jewels.

Elisha approached her, smiled, and politely greeted her.

“I greet Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

“Welcome, Duchess.”

Rose, who was welcoming Elisha, flinched when she saw Elisha sitting carefully with her hands wrapped around her stomach. However, soon after, with a smile on her face, she commented for the sake of formality.

“You must be feeling tired, but thank you for coming here.”

“Not at all. It’s the first time Your Highness has called for me.”

“Isn’t the Duchess the next most important woman in Arencia after the ladies of the Imperial Family? In times like these, when the Empire is in turmoil due to long wars, I thought that we should put our heads together rather than point blades at each other.”

It was funny that Rose, who had been openly showing hostility to Elisha, said something like that. She accepted Rose’s words with an innocent smile.

“Oh my. I should have approached Her Highness first, but I’m so glad you’re welcoming me so warmly.”

“What do you mean… It’s okay as long as the misunderstanding has been resolved.”

Rose pretended to be a generous Crown Princess and leisurely held a teacup in front of her. Elisha too held up her teacup but twisted her lips as soon as she lowered her eyes to the liquid waiting in it.

In the first place, she didn’t want to drink the tea that Rose prepared because she couldn’t trust her based on their interactions before this meeting but seeing her clearly malicious intentions once more, Elisha felt it was ridiculous.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I still have morning sickness, so I can’t drink tea or eat cookies.”

In fact, the symptoms of morning sickness have been relieved a lot recently, but Elisha said it anyway to resolve her dilema. Rose made an exaggeratedly apologetic expression.

“Oh my! I’m terribly sorry. I wasn’t considerate enough of your situation.”

“No need to worry, I’ll just accept your thoughts.”

Elisha replied with a smile. Rose called a maid to clean away the tea and cookies. After the maid finished up and left, she brought up another topic.

“Oh, right. I heard that the Duchess helps a lot of poor children. As the Crown Princess, I want to express my gratitude.”

“I haven’t even started in earnest yet, so I’m embarrassed to know how Her Highness found out. I’ll try my best so the story doesn’t turn out to be just a rumor.”

“Recently, you have also helped children who have lost their parents, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Children who still need to be looked after are taken to a nearby orphanage.”

“May I ask where the orphanage is? The Duchess has done a good deed, so as a person who will become the mother of the Empire in the future, I want to contribute to that meaningful work.”

Hearing Rose’s words, Elisha noticed that it was finally the time for the main topic to come up.

“Uhm, it’s…”

Elisha paused for a moment pretending to recall the name, then asked a sharp question with an innocent expression.

“But is there any reason why you should support only that orphanage? Any orphanage in the Empire would be eagerly waiting for the Crown Princess’ sponsorship.”

From Elisha’s exaggerated innocent look, Rose realized that she was hiding the child on purpose.

On the day Elisha met Leon, the mercenaries sent by Rose were already circling around him, looking for a time to quietly deal with the child. However, Elisha took Leon inside her carriage, thwarting their efforts. Still, the mercenaries did not give up and followed her.

However, perhaps noticing it in the middle, the Duchess’ carriage stopped here and there, disturbing their pursuit. As a result, their effort to track the child was ultimately unsuccessful.

‘What a sly snake-like girl. It seems that you noticed.’

Rose discreetly glanced at her, hoping that it might be a coincidence that the mercenaries had lost Elisha, but she found out who was behind the lost trail of the child through Elisha’s words.

Since there was no need to hide her feelings anymore, Rose hissed out a threat with a ferocious expression as if she never had been smiling.

“Stop pretending and speak. Where did you hide that child?”

Finding out the situation, Rose had abandoned all formality and spoke aggressively. However, even in front of such behavior, Elisha blinked with a relaxed expression as if she still knew nothing, while smiling softly.

“I don’t know who ‘that child’ Your Highness is talking about is. Is there a kid you’re looking for in particular?”

“You cocky brat! How dare you act so arrogantly? If I go to His Majesty and tell him what you did–!”

“What are you going to tell to His Majesty? Why would His Majesty be angry that I took a child who had lost his parents and delivered him to a safe place?”

At Elisha’s question, Rose was speechless. She had assumed that Elisha was unaware of Leon’s identity, even though she knew that the person who had sent the mercenaries was her.

However, it was only Rose’s misunderstanding. As a reminder of that fact, Elisha continued in a casual tone.

“Or… are you implying the Duchess of Rubellin would dare to hide the Imperial grandchild?”

Elisha smiled and asked. She already knew everything.

Even if she hadn’t known about the original work, it was a fact she would have been able to infer with a little bit of information. It would be easy to figure out if you were to consider the relationship between the Imperial Family and Rubellin, the news of her pregnancy, the Imperial knights wandering around the square, and Rose’s sudden behavior of showing interest in an orphanage where some poor children are staying.

The fact that such an inference would be possible was mind boggling to the princess, so Rose was unable to understand how Elisha could know.

“You, you know everything–!”

“Then you should go to His Majesty right now and falsely accuse the Rubellin Duchy of trying to kill the Imperial grandchild.”

“You think I won’t do it?”

“But what would you say to His Majesty?”

“What?”

“Aside from the lack of evidence, wouldn’t His Majesty ask how you know that the Rubellin Duchy is trying to kill the Imperial grandchildren?”

It would be strange that Rose, who was usually inside her Palace, would notice something that not even the Imperial knights hadn’t noticed.

Unless you know every move of each child.

If she framed Elisha in front of the Emperor, it would be like revealing what she had been doing so far.

“You’re just a country bumpkin. Do you think you have become a true noblewoman just because you’re being supported by your husband? How dare you make fun of me?”

Rose’s body trembled in anger. She clenched her fist and shot Elisha a murderous look.

Elisha, who had barely listened to her last words with an indifferent face, stood up as if it was not worth hearing anymore. Then, she waved the contract she brought to Rose, who was glaring at her with poisonous eyes.

Rose’s eyes widened when she saw it.

“Th- that- how did you–”

It was a contract signed by Rose’s closest aide, her maid. As Elisha had found out, the maid had recently left the Palace on the pretext of going back to her hometown.

In the contract, it was written that Rose would give a down payment to the mercenaries who succeeded in their mission.

Since it was her maid, the guild trusted her word, knowing she was from a fairly wealthy and famous noble family. The contract was originally in the hands of the mercenaries’ Guild Master, but Richard gave him double the promised pay in exchange for the document.

If she showed it to the Emperor, it would be undeniable evidence.

Elisha leaned closer to Rose, who was frozen in surprise and threatened her in a low tone.

“Don’t touch innocent children.”

‘If you touch any of those children, I can report this to the Emperor any time.’ That was the meaning behind her words.

“If the children are safe, this contract will never fall into the hands of the Emperor for the rest of your life.”

Elisha looked at Rose, who was trembling in rage, and bowed her head politely.

“Then I’ll go back, Your Highness. If you want to talk with me at any time, please call for me.”

She smiled as warmly as she did when she entered the drawing-room. Elisa leisurely left, leaving Rose behind.

Looking at her back, Rose threw a cushion as soon as the door closed.

“Aaaghkk!!”

Rose’s voice, full of rage, rumbled in the room.

* * *

It was the day she promised to go to see Leon at the temple. So Elisha had been very busy since morning.

She was about to get into the carriage with the bread and cookies she had promised to give to Leon, but Richard caught up with her.

“I’m coming with you, Elisha.”

“To the temple?”

“That kiddo. I want to take a look at him.”

Elisha knew ‘that kiddo’ was Leon.

‘Richard had a similar childhood as Leon, so maybe he can help him.’

Elisha, who thought so, readily nodded. Richard carefully picked up Elisha as if she was about to fall, and climbed into the wagon. Then, he put a bunch of cushions behind Elisha’s back and waist.

Thanks to this, Elisha was able to sit in a comfortable position where she barely felt the vibrations of the carriage.

‘My husband is becoming more and more like a father.’

Elisha smiled softly as she watched him take care of her and the child in her womb.

Richard, who sat next to Elisha comfortably, asked.

“What are you going to do about him?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s okay now because he’s still young and doesn’t know anything, but when he grows up a little more, he’ll know. That he has a different power than others.”

Only then did Elisha realize the meaning of his question. She also wondered about how to raise Leon in the future.

But there was no right answer for the child’s future. She couldn’t figure out the answer herself.

“When Leon finds out about the truth himself, I’ll try to ask him again; how he wants to live.”

If he wants to become an Emperor and lead this Empire in a better direction, she will help him do that, and if he wants to live a happy life with his power hidden, she will also help you do so.

It would be unfortunate for him to live an unhappy life just because he’s bound by his family’s bloodline.

Elisha added, looking at Richard, who had to live an unwanted life because of his power.

“Until that day comes, I just want to help him grow up healthy and happy.”

She wanted to show that child as many paths as possible.