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Chapter 23




“The only one fit to rule, Your Majesty. It is no exaggeration to say that Liz’s stability and peace began with Your Majesty’s generosity.”
He spewed this sort of flattery.
Rieta found it a little much, but… Come to think of it, she thought anyone would give this much praise to someone who lent money without interest. Yeah, interest-free.
The nobles also nodded, listening.
Since then, the story of Liz’s future continued.
“I will always keep your expectations in mind and use them as an indicator of the right path. I’m in control of Liz now, and Liz’s precious successor…..”
The minister’s voice shrank as if it had crawled in for a while.
“Two…. young sons.”
His so-called “two young sons” were Rieta’s younger brothers.
Silence descended upon the salon for a moment.
“There’s no mention of the princess.”
“Before you got here, it was said she was the first candidate for succession, right?”
“That’s right, she’s the firstborn….  but if you look at the letter…”
“Ssh! Be quiet.”
The minister’s reading of the letter continued.
King Liz told various stories in it. Overall, it was quite pretentious and boring,
“Wishing for the eternal glory of the great empire.”
Finally, after the reading, the minister handed a letter to the emperor.
But people all glanced to Rieta, to the emperor.
“How…”
King Liz did not mention Rieta anywhere in the long and boring letter.
Not even once.
He left his only daughter in the Empire, and one would think he would mention it. Naturally, family should come to mind.
King Liz had abandoned her to the Empire.
He had no intentions of having her return to the kingdom, nor would he pay attention to her anymore.
“…How pitiful..”
Someone sighed.
The princess, neglected by the king, was akin to a burden, treated like a useless restriction of his unimportant affairs.
As the attendees’ uncomfortable gazes fell on her, Rieta felt her face burn.
She stared holes through her skirt, her head down.
It wasn’t hard to guess what people speculated while looking at her. Probably, they thought that King Liz sent a letter deliberately ignoring her, and they felt sorry for her.
‘That’s… Not it.’
Her father was not a schemer.
He wouldn’t have used his brain to write such a letter to Rieta on purpose.
‘The reason he didn’t mention me.’
Rieta bit her lip.
‘He really forgot about me.’
King Liz was not very interested in Rieta in the first place.
In fact, she used to think, ‘If I didn’t maintain my dignity and stopped showing up, I think he would forget me.’
It seemed that her existence really was erased from him…
….How was that possible? Wasn’t a child special to his or her parents?
Even if she wanted to forget it, she could not. If she closed her eyes, she would see his face in the darkness…
She remembered her worries preceding this moment..
‘What if my father writes down bad things about me?’
Come to think of it, it would have been better if he had.
He could have commented, “I’m always worried about her performance in most areas.”
“Then, the princess…”
She could hear conversations about her arise in the distance. Their voices revealed their growing interest in her. Gossip-loving servants would relish the tale of a princess abandoned by her father the king.
Her heart sank.
She didn’t know what to do anymore. She just wanted to escape immediately.
But how?
Rieta couldn’t even lift her heavy head. No, it was difficult to even open her tightly closed eyes.
‘……’
Unconsciously, her heart sped up.
“It’s already.”
Just then, the Duke’s voice boomed next to Rieta, as if he had just remembered something important.
“Time passes like this.”
He checked the congregational clock inscribed with the imperial emblem and put it back in his pocket.
“I’m sorry, Princess.”
He dropped to his knees in front of Rieta, and looked into her eyes, as her head was bowed down.
“It’s time for my nap.”
“….Yes?”
He spoke both in the imperial language and kingdom language, so everyone understood the inappropriate things he said.
Naptime. This time was also the Duke’s nap time.
The Duke of Mayer, who was so busy that he didn’t sleep well at night, has no such thing on his busy schedule as it is.