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The next day, Lucian woke up at dawn and went to see the Emperor. He met the Emperor’s chief attendant’s expression bewildered when he saw the Duke who had contacted and visited that very same day.
“It will only take a while, so all you have to do is ask the Emperor.”
He was in a hurry.
It was because he wanted to be with Rachel as a couple as soon as possible so it seemed like that would be reassuring. No, actually, there was no way to be relieved with just one such document, but it was still better than nothing.
“First of all, I’ll ask him though no matter if you’re the Duke, you can’t have an audience with His Majesty recklessly like this. Please, be careful.”
“…Yes.”
Soon, the chief attendant left, and he was waiting in the drawing room. After a while, the chief attendant came back to him, who was sitting still and staring into space.
“Please wait a minute. His Majesty says he will call you soon.”
“I understand.”
As he took out the papers he had put in his subspace pocket, Lucian stared at Rachel’s dissolution application for a while. It took a very long time to get here. The moment he fell into a strange sentiment, the chief attendant called him.
He kept thinking of Rachel even as he walked behind the head chief attendant.
He should have woken her up himself, so he was wondering if she has woken up. Or was she still sleeping sweetly? Rachel had often been seen to be very tired lately. Although she seemed unaware of it, the number of yawns increased.
Come to think of it, the last time he suddenly came out of the room in the middle of the night, Rachel was startled and ran away. It seemed that she was thirsty and was about to go to the kitchen, so he sent her back to her room and brought her water himself.
At that time, Rachel had a slightly different atmosphere. How to say it…? Should he say that she seemed to be ignoring him in a strange way?
It couldn’t have been.
There was no way she could ignore him.
“Your Majesty, the Duke has arrived.”
“Come in.”
“Please go in.”
Lucian entered the audience room. Despite the early hours, the Emperor in perfect attire greeted him.
“Hoho, why did you come running to the Imperial Palace so early in the morning?”
“I apologize.”
“No, I lost my morning sleep as I got older. So, how is the previous Duke?”
Even though he didn’t want to answer the Emperor’s question much, he had no choice but to answer.
“My father has been going out a lot lately. I do not know his purpose for going out.”
The Emperor’s eyes deepened at his words.
The former Duke was probably putting the finishing touches on gathering evidence and witnesses to punish the traitor. In addition, he would try to figure out another possessor through another possessor.
It was only a promise between the Emperor and Pedro, so it was only natural that the current Duke did not know.
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“Right. Then, what is the business?”
Hearing the Emperor’s words, Lucian’s eyes lit up since he could finally dismiss Rachel while it would take a few days. In a few days, the application for dissolution would be passed, and if that happened, he planned to submit the marriage registration right away.
“I have come to submit an application for dissolution, Your Majesty.”
Lucian’s words, filled with joy, made the Emperor quite surprised and taken aback. Even though he thought that it could be done because the current Duke did not know, the Emperor could not easily refuse the request for dissolution.
He couldn’t help but think that now was an opportunity.
The reason why the Emperor and the previous Duke had gathered evidence and left the traitor family alone after knowing it for a long time was very simple. It was because the previous Duke strongly opposed it.
However, he knew the family of a traitor and left it as it was would disturb the imperial authority.
So, a grace period was given, and the standard for that grace period was none other than the time for Rachel to become an adult.
The traitor’s name was Derek de Erland. The traitor’s family was also Erland.
The Emperor was deeply conflicted. He knew that he had to keep his promise to the previous Duke, but when he remembered what his second son had asked for, he couldn’t help but realize that now was an opportunity.
Didn’t the previous Duke already oppose it?
Even though he didn’t know exactly why, when he met the previous Duke recently, he objected with an expression that looked like he would kill the Prince.
Nonetheless, in order to put the spirit’s power into the sealing stone, the Prince’s power was needed. The sealing stone was getting weaker and weaker. No one knew when the seal would break and the magic bomb planted in Enzo’s body would explode.
There would be nothing more important than an agenda that could involve not only the Imperial Family but also the people of the empire.
Yes, he was the Emperor… so it made sense to put the imperial people first.
The Emperor, who rationalized himself and came to a conclusion, called the chief attendant.
“Take care of the paperwork and bring it to my office. I will take care of it myself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Lucian stared at the chief attendant as he left with the papers. His eyes lit up at the heat that ran through his body.
“That child…”
The Emperor slowly spoke.
“Are you thinking of dismissing her?”
“Yes.”
Joy was visible on Lucian’s face, who had never shown emotion on his face. Seeing that, the Emperor made a small groan though he had no intention of reversing his decision.
As long as the Lady wasn’t brought, the Prince wouldn’t even think about moving, so he was nervous. After all, the Prince was not an ordinary person to the extent that he wanted to blame him for being a commoner.
The Prince was a snake-like person who cleverly avoided words or ruined the atmosphere.
The Emperor lamented.
It sounded like he was getting older. It was only now that he realized that he was such a human being.
Although he was curious as to why Lucian dismissed her, he didn’t ask. Sending Lucian away, he was unable to move from the audience room for a while.
…Informing the prince of this could lead to a falling out with the Ducal family.
One, wasn’t there a way?
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“I must protect the Empire. Yes, of course…”
The appearance of the Emperor who followed the footsteps of his ancestors was closer to that of a father than an Emperor.
Possessing an ideal fatherly love, not wanting to burden the Crown Prince, he rose from his seat with the intention of handing over all of his later affairs to the Prince. He knew better than anyone else that he had to deal with things as quickly as possible so that nothing would happen.
* * *
I woke up just as the sun was rising. Lucian didn’t come to wake me up today, so I had the feeling that I woke up later than usual.
“Ha… I seem to have slept a lot. Why am I so tired?”
My body wasn’t strong enough.
“…Is it because I lack energy again?”
I muttered, unable to get out of the blanket. What happened when I ended up being taken over by Cassandra…?
Fear came upon me. Now, I was trying to be happy with Lucian so nothing should get in the way.
As I woke up, I quickly shook off my sleep and woke up.
I then called Amber with the intention of going to visit Oscar and Damian to replenish my magic power because I had work yesterday. It’d been a while since I got ready together with Amber, ate a simple breakfast, and left the room.
I asked Amber as we went to the room where Oscar and Damien were staying.
“Did Luci say he had a matter this morning?”
“Yes, he left early in the morning.”
“Do you know when he will come?”
“I’m not quite sure about that.”
“Yes.”
After all, how many matters did the Duke do? The office was always full of documents, and there were an enormous number of invitations that came in.
Recently, I only worked at the mansion because I had to move according to the schedule, but originally, it was a position that I couldn’t do.
I had to figure out the distribution structure of the market from the upper management, then find a place to invest in and call on the property of the duchy. If an incident occurred in the work order, I had to go there myself.
Still, it was even more strange that he spent a long time in the mansion taking care of me.
Knock, knock.
“Oscar, Damian.”
When I called in front of the room they shared, a crashing sound came from inside, and the door opened wide.
“Master!”
Oscar ran out, his white hair fluttering. He hugged me tightly and started whining.
“You’re so mean! Why did you come only now?”
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The tip of his nose and the corners of his eyes were reddish upon his pure white face. I was sorry to hear that he had been waiting.
“Oscar, if you hold me like this, I won’t be able to enter the room. Let’s go in and talk.”
“Hing…”
After Oscar stepped away, Damian greeted me.
“Good morning, Master.”
I laughed for no reason at the two people’s attitudes that contrasted so much before I sat down and comforted Oscar.
“Still, you can’t be as reckless as yesterday. Do you know how dangerous you acted yesterday?”
“I told you not to force human discipline on us, Master!”
“Despite that, the owner of this place where you live is Luci. I can’t watch you being rude in front of him. Besides, you promised me before.”
“That and yesterday’s matter are different. Did I make the Master’s brother sad? I don’t.”
That was actually true. No, it made me sad, but my fault was bigger than it was because of Oscar. Regardless, the more he talked, the sad look started to look cheeky.
“The place where the Master is is the place where we will be… that doesn’t change.”
“For now, I am staying here as a guest… Your master doesn’t have much.”
The corners of Oscar’s eyes drooped at my words.
“Master, you don’t have power?”
“None.”
“Money?”
“I can buy you melon-flavored candy, but not enough to buy you a house.”
Hearing my words, the atmosphere in the room suddenly sank. I could feel the three pairs of eyes staring at me with pity.
“Aren’t you looking at me with pity too openly?”
The three pairs of eyes slowly moved sideways at my words.