To be honest, it’d been a long time since I’d lived with such a clear and painless mind. Well, half of it was like that before I was appointed as the crown prince, and the accumulated side effects didn’t get better in any way. I tried researching on a group of wizards who could help, but to no avail.
It was only natural that I couldn’t properly adapt to Celestia, who seemed to have fallen from the sky. It wasn’t so surprising that it was hard for me to control myself and respond to her appropriately, much less figure out why I acted the way I did.
That’s why I was so uncertain. I wouldn’t do that again next time.
I could feel my heart beating faster as I was silently thinking about her.
Naturally, her red hair and bright eyes came to mind. And the magic circle engraved on her body. Come to think of it, I felt like I was forgetting a memory that I shouldn’t have.
The thoughts that I had been mulling over in a daze were all scattered as soon as the bewildered watchman burst in.
I frowned, a nasty feeling churning in my gut. Lowe had worked under me for a long time, and he was not a person who easily showed distress.
“What’s going on?”
“Your Majesty…”
“Yes? What’s going on?”
“I… Celestia…”
An inability to finish sentences was usually not a good thing, and my frown deepened.
“So… I don’t know where she is…”
“What do you mean?”
“She wasn’t in her room and no one saw where she had gone. Do you have any guesses?”
No, I couldn’t imagine her going anywhere in particular in the middle of the night.
A chill ran down my spine. Someone used magic in the imperial palace.
Then I remembered that Celestia had asked me for permission to speak to the criminal directly. I had just nodded, thinking that she would wait until tomorrow.\nThe bitter laugh, at least, escaped me. “Excuse me, how did you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I never told anyone that Khun and I had spoken together before the incident.”
The empress dowager, who always had a retort, shut her mouth for a moment. “That is… … .”
“Did you hear that from him yourself? It seems that you have become very close in a short period of time… Have you ever contacted them before?”
“Emperor, what do you mean…?”
“Khun has already confessed to everything.”
Her appearance showed a shade of nervousness, but her determined attitude did not fall apart.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what the Prince of Tepoda insinuated…”
“You don’t know? Then I’ll let you know. I know you’re bored, but please wait a little longer.”
I moved to leave. Even without magic, it would be possible to make the empress confess to the crimes she had committed.
If I could think calmly, I could think of this as an opportunity as well.
I pressed again, thinking that my anger was strangely not calming down. “So, where is she?”
“What do you mean?”
“My secretary, who was kidnapped by Khun, the felon whom you just released.”
“What do I know? I’ve told you I don’t know. Don’t be rude, interrogating me at this hour.”
“Are you going to back out when things are so obvious?”
As she turned her head as if she had no intention of talking anymore, the maid ran and put down a large tray and stepped back. She took a kettle of warm tea out of the tea tray and poured it into a teacup full of flower patterns. I shot at her hand at the gesture and snapped.
Crash!
The flowery teacup shot out of her hand and shattered. Only the handle was left, and the hot tea water floated on the cup holder, but slowly flowed down and disappeared as if it were being sucked into the teapot.
“What are you doing?” The empress gritted her teeth and threw down the pretty pieces of porcelain on top of the teacup.
As she did, I sat with my legs crossed in the opposite seat, clasped my hands and replied leisurely. “What’s wrong?”
“The use of magic in the palace… No, is it your duty to intimidate me with force?”
I raised my eyebrows as if this was a stupid question. “Well, why weren’t you careful? Your grip must be stronger than you look.”
“Emperor!”
“Did I do that?”
“Then who would have done it!”
“What do I know? I don’t know.”
The Empress Dowager kept her mouth shut in response to my goading reply. What I meant was clear. I had no intention of backing down just because she isn’t confessing to anything.
I didn’t expect her to drink that much, so I continued, staring at the broken teacup on the table. “You know what? Empress dowager.”
“What do you mean?”
“The reason why I keep this position is that it is very much due to your behavior.”
“Ha! That’s ridiculous.”
“At first, honestly, I didn’t even want to have the throne. You made a mistake in your judgment. If you had left me alone from the beginning, I would have given you the crown, even if it was obvious that you would ruin the country.”
It was the first time for me to say all this.
The empress stared. “Why didn’t you give it to me if you didn’t need it?”
He touched one of the broken teacup pieces with his hands. It crumbled into powder, just as if it was originally made of sugar.