The Empress Tames the Tyrant - Chapter 53

The Emperor’s decree spread across the world in an instant.

Naturally, the first to receive the news was Duke Nigel, who was staying at his residence in the capital.

“What…?”

The Duke’s brown eyes, which had briefly doubted his own vision, were shifting from suspicion to rage.

“Ha! To think that a man who was rolling around with barbarians until just recently actually believes he is an Emperor!”

The Duke tore the parchment containing the decree into shreds and drained a glass of wine in a single gulp.

“Oh, Your Grace…”

Dalia, who was by his side, carefully picked up the torn pieces of the letter one by one. Though she was twenty years younger than the Duke, she possessed the sultry charm of a woman in her thirties, with her crimson hair and eyes.

“Why are you so angry?”

“Are you asking me that after reading the letter with me just now?”

“Still, you shouldn’t treat a decree so recklessly.”

The Duke frowned immediately, but Dalia composedly finished gathering the scraps of paper and tossed them into the fireplace.

“Unless, of course, you intend to make it disappear entirely.”

Whoosh. Watching the decree go up in flames as the fire flared, Dalia nestled into the Duke’s embrace with a smile.

“Yes, indeed. If things stay like this, I have no choice but to make it disappear entirely,” the Duke murmured significantly.

“Dalia, you understand my heart better than anyone.”

When Duke Nigel had taken the young and beautiful Dalia as his second wife, the entire social circles whispered that he had finally been bewitched by beauty in his old age, but that was far from the truth.

“What do you mean? I was merely clearing away something untidy,” Dalia said, her red lips curling softly, causing the Duke to smile again.

“If Marquis Sail were even half as clever as you, I could rest easy.”

The Duke clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. Among the faction of capital nobles following him now, there was none better than Dalia.

“What could I possibly know? I am but a woman.”

“Indeed. That fact is a pity.”

Dalia was the daughter of a merchant father and a mother of low-ranking nobility; her status was far below the prestige of the capital nobles. However, she was sharper and wiser than any aristocrat the Duke knew.

“I wish you had been born a man of the capital nobility.”

“My, don’t say such hurtful things.” A fair hand grazed the Duke’s cheek. “If I were a man, how could I have married Your Grace and lived so happily?”

“Hmph, I suppose so.”

“Besides, Raven has already grown up splendidly. He will soon relieve you of much of your burden.”

“That boy… is he twenty-three this year?”

“Yes, you remember correctly.” Her red lips held a sultry smile.

She maintained a remarkably poised attitude, considering she was nearly the same age as her stepson, which could have been awkward.

“As you saw recently, he is still quite immature.”

The only son of the House of Duke Nigel—the highest among the few remaining Ten Great Houses of the Empire.

“It is only because of his lively personality that he seems that way. You should give Raven a role now.”

Since birth, the status he held was said to be far better than that of the Crown Prince abandoned by the late Emperor, so it was unavoidable that he was somewhat dissolute and arrogant.

“In any case, I have no choice but to call him back this time,” the Duke said.

Dalia nodded.

“By issuing such an insolent decree, the Emperor has practically declared war on me.”

The Duke was so consumed by the thought that he had been the one ruling the Empire during the long years of the late Emperor’s madness that he didn’t even realize he was speaking like a traitor.

“Summoning the Holy Knights… he certainly knew about an artifact of an era long past.”

“Is it that old of a matter?” Dalia asked, her eyes wide.

“It is something that hasn’t happened in at least 150 years. To need to summon the Holy Knights from the Papacy implies the Emperor cannot perform his duties.”

There was a time the Duke thought it a blessing that Cayenne had never been taught kingship, but he had overlooked the existence of Count Hyer. He never imagined that in that wasteland, the Count would have taught Cayenne such a troublesome maneuver.

“Then… couldn’t they just refuse the Emperor’s summons?”

The Duke shook his head firmly.

“It is a covenant between the Empire and the Papacy. These are institutions that cannot exist if they discard their honor.”

Nigel, or rather, Liszt, was a man blinded by arrogance and ambition, but he also maintained a sense of realism. The covenant, maintained almost since the beginning of the Empire’s history, would be honored. He had to accept that Cayenne would soon have a powerful force in his hands, enough to overturn the current board.

“Dalia.”

“Yes, I’ll prepare your writing materials.”

The quick-witted Dalia was already moving to fetch the pen and ink before he could finish speaking.

“I wish Raven would learn a bit of his stepmother’s strengths,” Liszt muttered to himself.

Unlike the days when he wielded absolute power during the previous reign, his worries were now increasing one by one.

“Tsk… nothing satisfies me.”

It was all the result of Cayenne’s unexpected actions. He hadn’t doubted for a second that the boy would grow up like a barbarian in a barren land after being abandoned by his mad father. He was getting a headache wondering why the boy was suddenly asserting his rights as an Emperor now.

Alicia ordered Agnes to bring the pile of letters from Lucan that had been accumulating. Without a word, Agnes dusted each letter off and presented them to Alicia.

“His Majesty mentioned that someone from Lucan might come because of this situation.”

Thinking about it again, it wasn’t a pleasant prospect.

“Perhaps the Great Sage will come in person.”

At some point, Alicia had stopped using the honorific “Lord” when referring to the Great Sage. Just as Cayenne did.

“I’ve lost most of my memories regarding Lucan since the fever.”

It was a lie. However, it was true that Alicia didn’t know much about Lucan.

“Well, looking at these letters, I think I get the gist of it.”

When she first became the Alicia of this story in her previous life, she had already arrived at the palace for the wedding. Of course, thanks to the letters from Lucan that hounded her daily, she knew quite well what kind of place Lucan and the Great Sage were.

“Agnes, do you remember what kind of person the Great Sage was?”

“Of course.” Agnes’s expression was grim, suggesting she shared Alicia’s opinion.

“He was like a giant tree of Lucan. Very old, rigid, and… never changing.”

“Yes, like these letters that force teachings upon me so coercively?”

When Alicia asked point-blank, Agnes had no choice but to nod.

“Even just skimming through them makes me feel suffocated.”

Because she had suddenly dropped into an unfamiliar world in her past life, the Alicia of then believed her role was to deliver Lucan’s will to the Emperor. And Cayenne had turned away from the Alicia who spoke only of nauseating things.

“A woman who recites such antiquated nonsense the moment the wedding is over… no wonder His Majesty ran away.”

Some memories were still vivid. After the wedding, Cayenne was scheduled to visit Alicia to formally praise her in her change of dress and have tea. After that, once the reception was held and the wedding night passed, the marriage would be finalized.

“It wasn’t your fault, Your Majesty,” Agnes offered a careful comfort. Her heart still ached at the memory of the new bride’s hollow expression upon hearing that the Emperor had left just before the reception.

“I know. But it’s true that it was a poor judgment. Who would want to hear about the duties accompanying the teachings of the World Tree and nobility right after a wedding?”

Furthermore, at that time, she had no idea that Cayenne had a sort of complex due to the specific environment he grew up in. Discussing duty, dignity, elegance, and morality with an Emperor who hadn’t grown up in Rubeo by choice was the worst possible move.

“Back then, I was too busy reciting it all without knowing what it truly meant. Without any thoughts or judgment of my own.”

The fact that she had just arrived in a strange world was no excuse. Whenever she tried to mention that, no matter how hard she tried, her voice wouldn’t come out.

“Moreover, even Lucan, which claims to seek only the righteous truth…”

Again, the words wouldn’t come. It seemed it was impossible for her to tell anyone about the future she knew. Including the fact that Duke Nigel and Lucan would later join forces, deny Cayenne’s legitimacy, and start a war.

“Anyway, I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

Suffering from a high fever for several days was equivalent to crossing the threshold of life and death in this world. Therefore, it was a perfect excuse to forget everything.

“Actually, Lady Evangeline also had frequent friction with Lucan.”

“My mother did?”

“Yes. It was your father she loved, not Lucan.” Agnes recalled Alicia’s mother with a look of longing.

“Just what kind of man was my father that my mother would enter and live in a terrible place like Lucan?”

Alicia expressed a pure curiosity. She herself was currently in a position where she couldn’t leave the palace, but her mother, Evangeline, had been a princess of a small kingdom. Surely there had been better choices.

“Lord Jace was a free-spirited and kind man. Lady Evangeline said he was a wonderful person, like the autumn sunlight or a clear breeze.”

She felt as if she were hearing her father’s name for the first time. She had vaguely known him as the youngest son of the Great Sage, but he too was once a man who lived, moved, and went in search of his own love.

“That’s strange. Why would a free-spirited man take my mother to Lucan and raise me there? It doesn’t make sense.”

“The two first met when Lord Jace was wandering.”

“Could he not have remained in Tristan?”

Since learning of her origin, Alicia had often spent her leisure time looking at maps or books about Tristan.

“As far as I know, it seemed like a very good place to live.”

Of course, back then, she was in the midst of agonizing over a way to leave this palace and live freely. It was a time when she thought the Tristan Kingdom, connected by blood, might help.

“Well, about that…”

Agnes hesitated for a moment, then hardened her expression as if she had reached a decision.

“I will tell you, for you must know now.”

The response to her casual question was so heavy that Alicia’s eyes widened. There was still so much she didn’t know about this life.