/
Dorothea shook her head.
‘Perhaps some strange rumor has spread?’
Bad rumors have spread about his relationship with Dorothea, so it may be a show trying to cover it up.
Whether it’s an inevitable choice to maintain the prestige of the imperial family…
‘Yes, it was much more realistic to think about it that way. There’s no way that Carnan would really change his mind.’
‘I don’t know what the rumors are, but it has become uncomfortable.’
* * *
Dorothea slowly dressed up and went out, looking as unwilling to go as she could.
“Follow me.”
Robert, who was waiting, took the lead with a little quick step.
But Dorothea’s steps behind him were slow as a snail.
It’s always difficult to face Carnan. The air is so cramped that it’s hard to breathe, the feeling of being uncomfortably seated on a cushion of thorns, and meaningless conversations.
From there, she will answer ‘yes, yes’ and just nod her head and come out.
Dorothea wanted to spend as much time as possible, but finally, she reached the Nesecitta Palace, the Emperor’s Palace
As she stopped in front of the Emperor’s drawing room, her chest is already tight and she took a deep breath.
“Your Majesty, Princess Dorothea Milanaire has arrived.”
“Come in”
At Robert’s report, the large doors in front of them opened.
Dorothea stepped inside, moving her heavy feet as if they were strapped to sandbags.
Carnan greeted her while sitting in front of a large table.
“Sit down.”
Carnan pointed to the chair across from him.
“It’s okay, Your Majesty.”
Sitting means long. Dorothea didn’t want to see Carnan for long.
“sit down.”
Carnan looked at her as if to say, ‘Don’t make me ask you to do it twice.’
Dorothea, helpless in front of the emperor, had no choice but to follow his instructions.
Then, as if waiting, the servant placed the glass in front of her. It’s not tea, it’s alcohol. Having never had a drink with Carnan, she rolled her eyes to figure out what that meant. More sinister than having tea with him.
Unsurprisingly, canapes, olives, and cheese were placed in front of the glass.
Dorothea glanced at the servants on a rather full side dish. Then the servant beside her poured red wine into Carnan and Dorothea’s glasses.
The dark purple liquid turned red in the light and fell into the wine glass.
And the servant set down the wine bottle so that the wine label was facing Dorothea.
Dorothea looked at the unfamiliar wine label.
<Dorothea Milanaire 12 Years Old>
The name on the label, written in fancy cursive, stopped her hand from reaching for the glass.
‘Why is my name…’
Dorothea looked startled, and Carnan opened his mouth.
“Well, since you’re about to debut, I suppose we can call you an adult.”
‘An adult?’
“I don’t know if you remember, but you once asked me to make wine for you when you were young.”
Dorothea realized the identity of the wine named after her.
[‘Please make the finest wine in my name.’]
‘What…?’
[‘I thought if it ripened well, it would be good enough for me to drink when I grew up.’]
A long time ago, in Alice’s garden, Dorothea made an appointment with Carnan. That promise came to the table after 12 years.
‘Did you really make wine back then…?’
It was a vain promise made by a six-year-old who didn’t have any wishes and talked about anything.   Besides, it was a promise to Dorothea, whom he hated so much.
‘So, of course, I thought He wouldn’t keep that promise.’
“It’s named after you, so you should taste it first.”
Carnan raised the glass, and Dorothea followed suit.
The wine clinked slightly, releasing an oily, bittersweet aroma. She carefully brought the glass to her lips. The aroma pooled in the rounded glass, wafting to her nostrils in sweet waves.
Soon, she tasted the velvety smoothness of the wine as it flowed across her mouth. It had the pleasant astringency and deep sweetness of a well-aged wine.
Fortunately, the grape harvest that year was bountiful, and the quality of the wine was very good.
‘It’s a good wine.’
Dorothea thought quietly.
“It is wine made only for you. A hundred thousand bottles of wine will bear your name.”
‘I see’
Dorothea quietly nodded her head.
‘I thought that it was a little terrifying to see that there were 100,000 bottles of wine with my name on it.’
‘He made a promise in front of my nanny, His aide, and servants that day, so he must have kept the promise in order to establish His prestige as an emperor.’
‘What a stupid promise to make.’
With that in mind, Carnan looked carefully at Dorothea’s expression and asked.
“Are you not happy?”
‘What the hell am I supposed to be happy about?’
It was a little surprising that Carnan kept his promise to her, but that doesn’t affect her.
‘As an emperor, he was just keeping his promise to keep his prestige, so why should I feel happy?’
Dorothea doesn’t think he really made it for her. She isn’t stupid enough to expect affection from Carnan. It was the product of the experiences that she had accumulated throughout her life.
But anyway, she had to give a formal answer.
“I’m happy, Your Majesty. Thank you for your graciousness.”
Dorothea lowered her eyes and spoke politely.
“Despite what you say, you don’t look very happy.”
“No, Your Majesty.”
“The wine is not more palatable than you thought, isn’t it?”
“No, it is a good wine.”
“But you don’t smile even once.”
Dorothea’s eyes widened at Carnan’s words.
‘Why are you complaining about something that you don’t like?’
Because he formally kept his promise, Dorothea also responded formally. It means she has done her part.
“You don’t have to smile to be happy.”
Dorothea spoke with a monotonous accent.
‘To be honest, I don’t think Carnan cares if I smile or not.’
“The wine ‘Dorothea Milanaire’ is all yours.”
Carnan said he was giving Dorothea all 100,000 bottles of wine.
“It’s too much for me to keep, Your Majesty.”
What would she do with 100,000 bottles of wine?
Even if the people of the Converta Palace drank until their stomachs bloated, they wouldn’t be able to finish before the wine went bad.
“After all, this wine is made for you, so you can decide what to do with that.”
As if he didn’t like something, he took another sip of the wine with a bitter face.
Dorothea was puzzled: suddenly she had to deal with 100,000 bottles of wine.
Feeling more like a task than a gift, Dorothea declined the wine he offered.
“It’s okay. Your Majesty will use it.”
“Then I’ll throw it into the river or burn it.”
‘is he crazy?’
Dorothea almost had a curse coming out of her mouth. Even though she was a tyrant, she had never thrown away her 100,000 bottles of wine.
“That is too much waste, Your Majesty.”
“So it means you will use it.”
‘What the hell is wrong with Karnan?’
“Are you testing me?”
‘How do I handle wine wisely?’
Dorothea asked with a serious face, and Carnan stopped holding the wine glass and looked at her.
“Hah. Do you think I’m testing you?”
“….”
Dorothea couldn’t answer no.
‘He asked me to memorize the family tree of the imperial family on the first meeting, and asked me to take the episteme test when I went to recuperation.’
It was always a test when he asked Dorothea Milanaire to do something.
As she kept her mouth shut without denying, Carnan raised her eyebrows.
“It’s a gift to you.”
“Why…?”
“Aren’t you going to make your debut, right?”
Dorothea finally understood the meaning.
A gift to celebrate her debut.
‘Why is Carnan celebrating my debut?’
She fell into deep thought to figure out the situation.
However, because she was so nervous just being called by Carnan today, her overloaded head struggled to find an appropriate answer.
Thinking about what to do with 100,000 bottles of wine.
Unsurprisingly, Carnan read that expression again and said.
“You don’t seem to like the gift.”
“No, Your Majesty. I like it.”
Dorothea took another sip of the wine as if to cherish him.
If she said she didn’t like it, she’d surely get into an argument again. Dorothea didn’t want to spend more time with him because of the argument.
* * *
Dorothea returned with a pale face.
‘I was with Carnan for an hour. One hour!’
He had emptied one bottle of wine and opened another when Dorothea barely stopped him.
‘Why are you doing this…?’
Silence and conversation were repeated between the two as they drank the wine. Even if they drank wine together for an hour, they actually talked less than half of the time.
Carnan had little to say but asked for things that were not important.
“Have you decided on your debut partner ?”
“How did you get to know Ethan Bronte?”
“What do you plan to do with 100,000 bottles of wine?”
“Do you have any nobles that are close to you?”
“Are you really can’t summon spirit?”
But all those questions ended with his reprimand.
“Ethan Bronte is a rookie”
“your position may change depending on how you use wine”
“stay close to nobles”
“do this to summon a spirit.”
Dorothea kept her mouth shut in front of him. Barely holding back what she wanted to tell him not to meddle.
“Princess, are you here?”
Clara greeted the weak Dorothea.
“What happened to you? You look so tired.”
“It was no big deal.”
At the end of Dorothea’s words, a helpless sigh was attached like a tail.
“Why would you come back like this if it wasn’t a big deal?”
At Clara’s question, Dorothea revealed what had happened with Karnan.
“A hundred thousand bottles of wine?”
“Yes…”
“It’s such a good thing, isn’t it? Besides, the quality is great? Because the debutante, a lot of nobles gathered in Lampas, so it would be a good help to you if you present one box as a gift.”
Clara said with a bright face.