The Sub Male Lead is Burning with Jealousy - Chapter 11 Part 14 - Memory

The empress pretended not to notice the emperor’s gaze and praised the Knight of Autumn, granting him a cloak.

Of course, there was no way she would put it on him herself. A servant, following her instruction, merely handed it to him.

While Karel looked at the empress’s face with sparkling eyes, as if he wanted to take her in even a little longer, the two withdrew according to the emperor’s command.

Seeing the two hurry to climb into their respective carriages for the parade, Sion thought it was fortunate.

‘I was worried that His Majesty, in his anger, might even poke Karel’s eyes out, but we avoided a catastrophe.’

Sion was certain that this had been possible because the empress had secretly held the emperor’s hand.

Otherwise, the emperor would have done something again.

Even if he could not poke Karel’s eyes, he might have kicked Karel’s backside instead.

The first carriages of the parade set off in different directions.

Since the second and third carriages would be waiting in each alley, the parade procession would gradually grow longer.

After seeing them depart, Rahil took Anais’s hand.

“Let’s go too!”

Naturally, the parade procession moved slowly, circling around the capital.

Even if they did not hurry, there was no chance that the emperor and the nobles would catch up to it.

He knew that, but Rahil wanted to be alone with Anais.

As the emperor hurried, the other nobles also followed and climbed into their family carriages.

Holding Rahil’s hand as she climbed into the carriage, Anais thought,

Once those two offered the tribute to the High Priest, it would almost be over.

There would be the Harvest Festival ball in the evening, and fireworks as well, but the most difficult part seemed to be ending successfully.

***

“M-Master?”

Bob, the butler, was flustered at the sight of Emilio coming out of his room half-dressed. Emilio almost went straight down the stairs like that, then came back up again.

“I think I need to put some clothes on, but I don’t know where my clothes are.”

“I will send a servant to your room!”

The butler said in a hurry and guided Emilio back into the room. There were quite a number of men working in this mansion, but there were female employees as well. Fortunately, most of them did not live in the mansion and only came to work during the day. On top of that, since it was the day of the Harvest Festival, everyone except two or three people was on leave.

After returning to his room, Emilio changed clothes while receiving a servant’s assistance for the first time in a long while. Since he had been living roughly without a servant at the Magic Tower, it felt terribly uncomfortable, but he knew from experience. If he wanted to dress well enough to enter the imperial palace, it was better to receive a servant’s help than to rely on his own hands.

Once dressed, Emilio disappeared using magic. When he had come to the mansion, he had taken a carriage because of the mage and priest who had followed him. When he moved alone, he could just use magic.

The people keeping watch over him had probably gone into emergency mode because Emilio was showing strange behavior. It was bothersome, but he thought he could explain it later. Right now, his desire to see Anais was more urgent.

In an instant, Emilio landed in the garden of the imperial palace and turned his head toward the commotion coming from far outside. Come to think of it, the capital was in the middle of a festival, and today was the day of the Harvest Festival.

‘The Harvest Festival!’

Whether the capital was in the middle of a festival or not, he had thought the empress would be in the imperial palace, but today was an exception. The Harvest Festival ceremony took place with the imperial family and nobles watching, after all.

Emilio calmly cast his magic. His heart was impatient, but because he did not panic, the magic unfolded properly. More than any other spell, teleportation magic was dangerous if done wrong, since there was a risk of flying off to some strange place and crashing there.

In an instant, Emilio dropped into the air above an alley near the Great Temple, then used levitation magic to slowly descend.

A person had appeared in the empty air, but everyone was distracted by the parade and did not even look at him. To begin with, it was also an empty alley.

‘The Great Temple is….’

It was not far, but the area around it was packed with people. It was a chaotic sight, with guards controlling the surging crowd and people distracted by the parade carriages.

Since teleportation magic was impossible inside the Great Temple, Emilio clicked his tongue. Breaking through this crowd and getting all the way inside did not seem like it would be easy at all.

***

Holding the hand of Karel, the Knight of Autumn, as she climbed the stairs, Viola had only one thought in mind.

‘I’m going to meet Her Majesty the Empress.’

There was no talking to her father, who, ever since she had been chosen as the Maiden of Abundance, had only been thinking of selling her off to the best marriage prospect. She had heard that if one became the Maiden of Abundance, one could have a good marriage arranged through the imperial family.

Since it was a matter related to marriage, the one in charge of it would not be the emperor, but Her Majesty the Empress. So she had no choice but to tell Her Majesty the truth and receive her help.

That she did not want to marry.

It was not that she intended never to marry at all. She simply wanted to become an official and live her own life, not someone’s wife. Her mother and older sisters were enough when it came to unhappy married lives. She had no desire to follow after them herself.

She wanted to become an official. After that, if fate led her to meet a good person, she might marry. But she did not want to live solely for the purpose of marriage. She did not know about other people, but to her, that was an unhappy life.

‘Will Her Majesty the Empress help me?’

If she did not help, Viola intended to cling to her and ask to be made her lady-in-waiting. She knew that becoming Her Majesty the Empress’s lady-in-waiting was something many noble ladies wished for, but she had no other chance.

Because he had face to maintain, her father would not be able to sell her off to some ugly old man or a man with bad rumors, but it would still be the same in the end. She would have to enter an unwanted marriage for the sake of her family’s interests.

‘That grand noble duty.’

Why did that duty have to be repaid through marriage? She thought there were ways she could contribute to her family other than marriage.

With her sisters’ help, she had studied enough and had received high scores on the mock exams. If Her Majesty the Empress only gave her a chance, she was confident she could pass the civil service exam like anyone else.

Ah! If only she was truly given a chance….

She had to receive Karel’s escort while climbing the stairs, but offering the tribute to the High Priest was entirely Viola’s role. She thought that was ridiculous.

Why did a woman have to receive a man’s escort? She thought it was also wrong that the role of offering the tribute had to belong to a woman, and the one escorting her had to be a man.

Even just looking beside the empress, there was a capable female knight guarding her.

‘Of course, it’s not that it’s completely unnecessary.’

A skirt long enough to completely hide her shoes made it uncomfortable to go up and down the stairs without someone supporting her. Young ladies received help from knights or partners because, dressed like this, they easily tripped.

This feeling she had now was also because no opportunity had been given to her. Having no power to decide her own life was an anxious and painful thing.

A person was not a being who could live merely by breathing.

The High Priest received the tribute Viola held out and placed it on the altar. At the blessing he offered, the flame on the altar shone brightly and blazed up. It was nothing more than a flame created by pouring divine power into the altar, but this became the sign that the goddess had accepted the tribute.

At the sign that the Harvest Festival ceremony had succeeded, the people rejoiced and looked toward the Knight of Autumn and the Maiden of Abundance standing some distance away from the altar.

Viola, while holding one of Karel’s hands, looked toward the seat where the empress sat. The empress was smiling as she spoke about something with the emperor.

‘I’ll persuade her somehow, no matter what.’