/
Ch. 97 — A Letter From the West - Wook's Teahouse
Elisha left the White Rose Palace as if nothing had happened and returned to the 2nd Consort’s Palace.
In the past, she had thought that the emperor felt no emotion for people’s love for him, but now looking at it, she wondered if he might perceive people’s love for him as violence.
Elisha had heard that the emperor had been painting-like and beautiful since he was a child.
If such a child had been living surrounded by people, neglected by his half-insane mother after the fall of her maternal family… Elisha thought it was possible.
In addition, many people said that one-sided feelings were dangerous, and usually, for people who were said to be not good at excessive things, when the thing in question became love, their hearts expanded rapidly.
Leaving you with a choice to embrace it or become a bad person. But should a child who had been showered in the love of countless people be alone?
Was there no price for the things given to the prince who could not protect himself?
Amid the complexity, Elisha herself remembered what she had done. She had forced her feelings on him too. Saying it was her choice, she had made an acceptable offer and made a deal with him. She had never thought about what her feelings would mean to him.
“Don’t tell me— Is he getting revenge?”
It might not be so, but there was a factor of revenge in his action. No matter how small it was, Elisha hoped it would not be like this, but in a different way.
Most of all, even if it was her fault up to the marriage, it wasn’t her fault for the whole process after that.
She was not trying to shirk responsibility, but it was true. Just as she was not a proper human being, so was the emperor.
They tore an empire and twisted the world. And, perhaps, in this lifetime, the same result would be repeated.
Despite many things changing, it didn’t seem like that much would change because things had already been moving in that direction.
“You’re back?”
As she approached the 2nd Consort’s Palace, the maid Marie appeared. Elisha sighed silently. It seemed that the story had been conveyed. When summoned by the emperor, she had to dress up accordingly, so the handmaiden was the first to know the news.
“News travels fast.”
As Elisha spoke with an expression of disapproval, Marie quickly bowed her head. Elisha wondered what was wrong with Marie, so she said it was all right and told her to raise her head. Then Marie said something unexpected.
“I apologize. I took guests in without permission. That person’s always been a great help to the 2nd Consort’s Palace, and I didn’t think much about it because you seem to know each other well.”
Elisha patted Marie on the shoulder, knowing she had misunderstood.
“I know how capable you are. You won’t let in just anybody from out there.”
Marie bowed her head to hide her shy face and went inside with Elisha.
The man in the parlor jumped to his feet when he saw Elisha and bowed deeply. Then he held the rolled white paper in his arm with his hands.
“This is top secret, so I brought it personally via the portal.”
When Elisha picked up the paper, the man took a step back and backed away in case the paper’s contents caught his eye. He is a well-trained man. From that action, you can see that the ranking of the sender of this paper is high.
Elisha grabbed the ring-shaped metal inserted to keep the curled paper from unfolding. The rolled paper unfolded when she pulled the thing that was as wide as a fingernail and had a seal with a mana stone picture on the outside.
The movement of the sky blue eyes, which had been slowly scanning the letters, grew faster and faster.
Elisha sent a maid to the Imperial Palace, but Dorian couldn’t even get in and had to return immediately.
In the end, Elisha stepped up herself.
When she arrived at the Imperial Palace, the eyes of the guards who had been on standby were wide open.
“Is something wrong, 2nd Consort?”
“If it’s because we sent the maid back earlier, please understand. His Majesty refuses visitors as he has to take care of urgent matters.”
Hein quickly stopped her. Despite his first step, the timid man seemed to have a lot of worries. She knew he cared, but this was an urgent matter as well.
“Sir Hein, go in and tell His Majesty that the 2nd Consort wants to see him. Add that it’s urgent.”
Hesitatingly, Hein bowed his head. The knight beside him looked alternately at Hein and Elisha, sighed deeply, and went inside.
The name of the 2nd Consort had resonated throughout the empire.
Unlike the previous years, no one could look down on the 2nd Consort, and he didn’t want to do so.
The decision was for His Majesty to make, after all.
Not long after the knight went inside, he came out.
Of course everyone thought she’d be rejected.
“You may go in.”
As the knight stepped aside, everyone was ten times more surprised than when they had just seen the 2nd Consort.
If the emperor said that no one should be allowed in, then no one could pass through the entrance, no matter what business they brought.
Very rarely, some people forced themselves, thinking that they were essential, but it never ended well.
Even though it was a great event, Elisha strode inside as if it was natural.
Elisha, who refused the guide, went to the office alone and spoke.
“Your Majesty, I have something to tell you.”
For a while, he didn’t answer. Elisha had to stand and wait like she was being punished, and she was not impressed. Elisha knocked lightly on the door this time.
“Your Majesty.”
“Come in.”
Elisha entered the room after hearing the answer and glanced at the emperor sitting behind the table and Marquis Croix standing in front of the table.
The cluttered papers on the table were smeared with text, and a faint smell of dye remained as if they had been written down after hearing information from the communication room. When the emperor swept the part where Elisha’s eyes were staring with his arm, the paper was pushed and crumpled to one side.
“Did you hear me wrong when I told you to come at night?”
“How could that be?”
“You must have made a hasty excuse for not having to come at night.”
“…”
“If your excuse is not satisfactory to me, you will be punished for interrupting my business, even though I have given you time to reconsider.”
Elisha didn’t care.
“Your Majesty will have to reward me after you’re done listening. What I’m saying is also related to what you’ve been worried about the most lately.”
With a more dignified attitude than expected, the emperor turned his gaze to Elisha from the table.
“Tell me.”
“The West is being noisy, isn’t it? The knights of Duke Verdin are secretly overturning the area around the Bauer territory. What do you think of it, Your Majesty?”
Tak!
The emperor slammed the desk loudly.
Elisha waited after the emperor’s interruption. The emperor gave Marquis Croix a meaningful look.
“I’ll wait outside. You two talk.”
When Marquis Croix disappeared, Elisa filled his vacancy. Now the emperor said to Elisha, who was standing opposite the table.
“Your source is truly amazing.”
The transmission speed was the same as that of the secret knights directly under the emperor.
The Zelot Knights couldn’t keep wasting time without results while searching the West, and on their way back to Barossa to report the result to the emperor… an incident happened.
When the atmosphere was suited for the conversation, Elisha said.
“Your Majesty, do you want to deal with the Western nobles, especially the great families like Verdin Duchy, with the tribes of the Miyon desert who tried to kidnap me?”
“Does it look like that?”
It was natural for an emperor to strike down the nobles trying to weaken the imperial power. But on the other side, it was not something that could be shown outside, as an emperor was someone who had to include all nobles as the master of the entire empire.
But what if there was a justification?
“More than that, if something like that happened in the West, shouldn’t they be punished?”
“That’s right. That’s how I felt. It is an incident of harming the woman of Barossa in coalition with outside forces. If we deal with this, they can’t commit a rebellion in the future.”
Elisha gave the cause, and only then the emperor responded. Elisha learned that the emperor had tried to grow the case up to the rebellion of the Western nobles but was stopped because evidence could not be obtained.
The nobles of the West had said they had no affiliation with the desert tribe due to their relationship with the Kran Kingdom. And Miyon Desert was so vast that they hadn’t even known such a terrible thing had happened. They had even taken this opportunity to express their position to prevent a recurrence of the separation of the empire.
And so, a rebellion…
Wouldn’t work. There was no way it would end all the way. The West would only be turned upside down and become a wasteland as the emperor wished.
“So, 2nd Consort, what is the card you brought? Don’t you think it’s time to show me?”
“If I show you the card, you must do as I say. Will you promise me?”
“If it’s worth it, I’ll pay for it.”
Elisha spoke, facing the emperor. After she finished talking, she returned to the 2nd Consort’s Palace.
That night, Elisha did not enter the emperor’s bedroom.
The next day, Elisha called Dell, who was guarding the 2nd Consort’s Palace.
“Why are you calling only Sir Dell?! Am I just a dog you’ve completely tamed now? Even if we run into each other, you pretend you don’t know me. And since 2nd Consort keeps saying it, the cute 3rd Prince won’t play with me either!”
Dell shook his head when Elisha, whose ears were ringing, gave Dell a look asking Why did you bring that?
“I didn’t bring him. He followed me.”
“Should you tie a leash or something?”
“Is that your taste, master?”
He looked surprised when he asked the question, but he was clearly enjoying it as his golden eyes twinkled.
He was the kind of guy who would stick his head out right away if Elisha really wanted to put him on a leash and, if possible, measure it to the correct size and buy something that suited himself.
She had heard that he was popular with noble girls and young people who go to Barossa. It was said that the face of the youngsters who had tried to look elegant turned red like an apple because they tried to hold back their laughter from his jokes.
Elisha thought that half of them were because they were angry, and the other half was because they didn’t understand the meaning of his words, but what about it?
Elisa looked into Shamir’s golden eyes. He was like a grain of sand swept by the wind.
Everything changed so quickly. Why wasn’t it the same with wounds? Slow, slow, really slow, it just didn’t get better.
Elisha looked away from the golden eyes.
“I have to go somewhere in secret.”
“Take me with you! Depending on usage, my abilities can be several times more effective than normal combat abilities. You’ll see!”
Elisha pushed his smooth forehead with her index finger as he rushed like a dog begging her to go for a walk.
“There is neither Marquis Blemir nor me, so I need someone to protect the children. Shamir, you and Sir Dell must not take your eyes off the children even for a moment.”
Shamir, who pretended to be gloomy at Elisha’s request, and Dell, whose eyes shine brightly, nodded.
“We’ll keep that in mind!”
When Dell tapped him on the side, Shamir nodded as if he couldn’t help it.
Dell dragged Shamir, who insisted on playing more with 2nd Consort, by holding onto the back of his neck. They looked like a gray-haired dog biting a disobedient yellow-haired puppy, which made her laugh.
In the eyes of the famous witch in the past, from the desert dog to the legendary beast Barcado.
It was a complete mess. But she didn’t hate it.
Elisha took a deep breath and then exhaled as the surrounding became quiet. She had to hurry because she had to leave tonight.