Chapter 29
“Lady Sylaria Rainier.”
At the Emperor’s summons, Sylaria bent her knees slightly in a formal greeting. With his illness evident, he looked at her and spoke.
“It seems you are destined to be connected with the imperial family.”
At the Emperor’s words, Sylaria, who had been gazing at the floor, flinched. His tone was unexpectedly warm.
It had been that way since the first time they met.
The Emperor had looked surprised as soon as he saw Sylaria. He had gazed at her for a long while. Even afterward, he continued to look at her with a gaze tinged with longing.
But that was all. The Emperor never spoke to Sylaria privately or acted with particular familiarity. So she had simply dismissed it as her imagination.
“Your mother was the same. Mother and daughter resemble each other so much.”
The Emperor’s next words were unexpected.
“You knew my mother?”
Momentarily startled, Sylaria looked up, then quickly lowered her gaze. He smiled gently and gestured.
“It’s alright, you may raise your head.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
With the Emperor’s permission, Sylaria straightened her back. Her expression remained calm as she looked at him, but her mind was in turmoil.
‘Mother knew His Majesty the Emperor?’
Sylaria had never left Gideon until she met Arendtert.
Meeting Arendtert had been pure chance. If their paths hadn’t crossed, she would have remained a country noblewoman, unconnected to the imperial family, buried in the countryside without even debuting in high society.
She had always assumed her mother had been the same.
Her mother had never spoken of the imperial family or the capital during her life, nor had she ever shown any interest.
But now the Emperor was recalling her mother… and with surprising accuracy.
“Your mother, like you, had brown hair and violet eyes. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. She did.”
“…You truly resemble her.”
As the Emperor murmured to himself, Cressida, standing by his side, glared sharply.
She spoke as if Sylaria were a romantic rival.
“Your Majesty, it seems you were acquainted with Lady Rainier’s mother as well. She must have been quite a beauty.”
Her words were pointed.
There had once been rumors that every young lady in high society had, at some point, passed through the Emperor’s hands.
The Empress seemed to be implying she suspected he had laid hands on Sylaria’s mother as well. But the Emperor sidestepped the suspicion smoothly.
“She has passed away now, but she was a good person. To think her daughter would become my family. Such is fate…”
At the Emperor’s explanation, the chill in Cressida’s demeanor toward Sylaria eased somewhat. However, at his next words, her face twisted in shock.
“As expected, Lady Rainier should be joined with Euclid.”
“What do you mean by that, Your Majesty!”
“What do you think? With such a high match rate between the two of them, they ought to be together.”
“Then what about our Aren?”
At the Empress’s cry, the Emperor turned to Arendtert. He addressed his pale, frozen second son in a gentle tone.
“You’ll have to find a new partner, Aren.”
“What?”
“Your Majesty!”
The Empress was aghast at the Emperor’s decision. But an imperial decree is absolute.
Once spoken, it cannot be taken back. Even so, the Empress fought desperately.
“Surely… you’re not going to disgrace Aren over nothing more than a slip of paper?”
“A ‘slip of paper’?”
As the Empress glared as if to rip up the temple’s certificate, the Emperor’s head jerked back. The warm smile he had worn until now vanished, and he looked at her sharply.
“Have you forgotten that this ‘slip of paper’ is what placed you in the position of Empress? The temple’s certificate is not something to be taken lightly.”
“Then what about Aren?”
“Arendtert Balthazar.”
Ignoring the Empress, the Emperor called Arendtert forward. When he knelt before the Emperor, the Emperor spoke in a commanding tone.
“Speak your will.”
“Your Majesty, I…”
Arendtert swallowed dryly, hesitating. Sylaria looked at him with a faint smile.
‘How awkward for him.’
He must feel as if his head is about to burst. If he opposed Sylaria and Euclid’s engagement, he would be rebuked by the Emperor like the Empress. But he couldn’t very well agree, either.
“Why can’t you answer? Are you such a fool you can only speak through your mother’s mouth?”
“No, Your Majesty!”
At the Emperor’s rebuke, Arendtert answered hastily. But the excuse he rushed out was crude.
“Your Majesty, I love Sylaria. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her, felt it was destiny, and brought her to the palace. Now, to be told overnight to yield her to my brother… I am utterly bewildered.”
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