When asked to choose his favorite of the many places in the Imperial Palace, Edwin chose the small palace closest to the stables.
I raised him by feeding him good things, but I donât know why his taste is so simple.
In Edwinâs palace, his followers were gathered and were plotting something.
Surprised by my appearance, the men hurriedly folded up the map that had spread throughout the table, covered it with their bodies and shuddered. Edwin reached out his hand to me with a sullen face.
âThe weather is nice. Shall we go for a walk, sister?â
âSit down. I have something to say.â
âSister, why are you looking at the weapons, if you have something to say?â
Edwin questioned me who is looking at the swords, spears and axes decorating each sides of the wall. I pulled out a long spear from the cabinet and asked him.
âWill this break your legs, Eddy?â
Edwinâs men stopped moving and gulped while staring at me. However, Edwin replied with a natural smile.
âI think you will break it if you hit it hard?â
Knowing that he found it nice to give up his legs, I put the spear down and sighed.
When Edwinâs frozen men returned to their senses, they hugged the papers in their arms, grabbed the spear I just put down and rushed away. 1
Sitting in front of a clean empty table, I questioned Edwin who was smiling brightly.
âWhat else are you up to?â
âNothing. You told me to stay quiet.â
âThe guy who said he will be quiet will personally come to screen the final candidates?â
âOh, that.â
âAh, itâs not âthatâ, you bastard. Your sister said this is urgent, didnât I?â
âYou did.â
âBut, you rascal will do the final round? Just say that youâre going to kill the winner, brother.â
âAy, you too, sister. Thereâs no use in killing him. I wonât, I wonât kill him.â
Edwin chuckled and waved his hand.
Iâll kill this guy.
Edwin, who stopped laughing as I stared at him coldly, came towards my chair and sat down on his knees. Then he puts his chin on the armrest and looked up at me with a pitiful expression.
This clever fellow knows too well how to melt my heart.
I raised my hand to give him a light blow, but I couldnât hit him when I saw myself in his clear green eyes.
I know what heâs doing is a little different, but he is doing it for me. I canât really get angry because I know heâs trying to be nice towards his sister.
I stretched out my fist and stroked Edwinâs fine head.
âHehe.â 1
Edwin giggled with a relaxed face and rubbed his head in my hand. I laughed too, but I said with a grim look on my face.
âIâll do the final screening. You will get out of this.â
âHuh? Are you going to fight?â
âWhy would I fight? Iâm going to test if they have the qualities of an Emperor Consort. Iâll be engaged to the final winner, wait for a year, and then decide whether to get married. Again, stay out of this.â
âBut I canât let someone weaker than me be around my sisterâŚâ
Edwin blurted the end of his words in a sad voice.
What is going on in his head, so the strong guy is the good guy?
If you are stronger than Edwin, the strongest in the empire, shouldnât you be catching a dragon instead of rotting as my consort?
There would be many more productive excuses to look for, but I came up with a nonsense that could persuade Edwin at once.
âHe should be weaker than you. If he doesnât listen, Iâll call you in and tell you to scold him.â
âAh! Of course! My sister is a genius!â
Edwin smiled contentedly.
I wonât really scold him. If I brought in someone elseâs precious son as a worker, I should feed him well and praise him. 1
Besides, if he doesnât listen, I can just kick him out. Iâm not going to scold at him.
Anyway, I kept my brotherâs leg bones intact and made him fall out of the tournament. He doesnât do what I donât want him to do, so I just prevented the death of a man in the national tournament.
Of course, my brother is a lunatic who knows what he will do except for the one thing I told him not to. I came back to the palace and called up Cecil, the inspector general.
Soon, Cecil appeared in the mansionâs chamber, with her dark blonde hair tied into a ponytail.
âYou called, Your Majesty?â
â Cecil. Welcome. Is the work worth doing?â
âWell? I donât think so, Your Majesty. I donât know when Iâve ever been home. Iâm working and cursing myself in the past that was convinced by Your Majestyâs letters.â
Cecil Brint, called the Imperialâs Eagle, is an accomplished young lady and was admirable at her job, despite having a tough mouth.
She can complain a little. It doesnât matter if she cursed herself in the past or even me. As long as she doesnât resign.
I smiled softly and comforted Cecil.
âTell me if youâre having a hard time. Iâll send you a letter again.â
âYouâre trying to make my heart flutter and take care of your work, arenât you?â
âI value your cleverness very much.â
âWhat should I do but blame myself for being weak at the praise of a beautiful woman? For what else did you call me today, Your Majesty?â
âWell, about Edwin. I think heâs up to something. Canât you figure it out in advance?â
âAhâŚâ
Cecil stumbled over her words with a perplexed face. With her unusual reaction, it seemed that it was not easy to watch Edwin.
I expected it because heâs such a secretive guy, but with Eddy, Iâm sure he wonât tell me until heâs already done it.
âIf itâs Sir Edwin, we have already tried to put people together a few times, but heâsâŚI have no more men who wants to volunteer since the unit who was in charge of him said he would kill them if they stepped on his tail one more time.â
â âŚis that so.â
âBut, weâre still digging around Sir Edwin. Iâve been wondering if I should tell you but, heâŚYour Majesty, you really have a good relationship with your brother, right?â
Cecil paused and asked carefully. It was such an unexpected question that I snorted.
âOf course.â
âIsnât that right? Sir Edwinâs a fool for his sister. Thereâs no one in Seven Hills who doesnât know, butâŚâ
âBut? Thereâs something. Spit it out.â
Cecil hesitated while scratching her chin, then cleaned her expression and opened her mouth.
âDidnât Sir Edwin leave the Imperial City last month?â
âI told you, running away from home is his hobby, so itâs no big deal.â
âThen he crossed the border and went to the Kingdom of Gryma. He secretly bought something.â
âHe did.â
I answered lightly. He is a person who does a lot of extraordinary things, I thought it would be no big deal if he left the country without permission or smuggled in.
However, Cecilâs expression became more and more serious.
âIt turns out he brought Mangladaâs Elixir, known as the special medicine of the Kingdom of Gryma. He called in the chef of the palace and told him to mix it with Your Majestyâs meals.â 1
I listened to it and laughed loudly. Cecil said in a more serious face to my laughter.
âI couldnât understand why he was hiding medicine to Your Majesty and kept ordering his subordinates to get medicine thatâs good for the whole country and mix it in Your Majestyâs meals without your knowledge. The chef stole it before cooking and when I checked, the medicine was correct. But I couldnât figure out why it was done without Your Majestyâs knowledge.â
âIf thatâs the case, you donât have to worry about it. Itâs Edwinâs longtime hobby along with running away.â
âYes?â
âItâs about getting a medicine thatâs good for you and feeding it to me. Itâs annoying so I told him not to bring it. I guess he must have changed his method by sneaking it into my meals.â
Cecil stared at me with an odd look.
âDoes he really have those strange hobbies?â
âHeâs kind of like that. You donât have to worry about it. Iâm so healthy because of him.â
âIf Your Majesty says soâŚAll right. As for Sir Edwin, I will do my best, but donât expect too much.â
âI believe you will do your best. Youâre still collecting information about the four dukes, right?â
âOf course, Your Majesty. Iâll send a report as soon as I get new information.â
Cecil answered reliably and returned to the inspection team.
I laughed again as I remembered what she had said. No wonder there are sometimes food with a peculiar taste that comes up.
Both of our parents died early. Thatâs why Edwin was a little obsessed with my health.
He ran away from home for the first time when he was sixteen. When he came back, he asked me to come and eat the famous elixir from the southern region.
Although the method was different, his heart that thought of me was always sincere.
Iâve been so upset with my past life where I abandoned him, thatâs why I always lose to Edwin who causes trouble.
Besides, Eddy, he doesnât get into trouble that I canât handle. 1
I was a little surprised the day he suddenly asked me to become an emperor, but I canât deny that this fits my aptitude. 1
I like to rule over and review something.
As soon as I finished my thoughts happily, and lowered my head over the desk, I feel like that no matter how much I liked it, I still donât want to do this.
What can I do, Iâm already the emperor.
Today as well, I spent the rest of my time floundering in the sea of papers.
***
The next day, it was the day when the first round of the National Tournament was held.
I canât ignore the fact that Iâm picking my husbandâs candidate, so I stepped into the arena as a sign of encouragement.
In the carriage was Edwin, who seemed more excited than me, and Caleb who could not breathe properly between us siblings.
I was frantically looking through the papers and asked Edwin.
âHow many games are there today?â
âThe first game for each group will be held, so eight in total.â
âEight? I donât have to see it all, right?â
âI hope sister watches the fourth game.â
âWhere would I have the time for that? Iâll think about it if you work for me.â
Edwin glanced at the piles of papers Caleb was holding, and changed his words.
âWouldnât the first game be enough? The participant will all be here anyway,â Edwin shrugged and said.
I nodded.
If I came back after watching the first game, I will be able to return to the Imperial Palace before the afternoon meeting. Then Iâll be able to finish the tax report before the meeting.
Oh, no. Maybe todayâs agenda will be about the exchange rate with the Zilton Empire. Iâll check it out when I get back.
I took a deep breath while organizing my schedule in my head.
This is not the amount of work that can be done alone, no matter how much you think about it.