The Empress Tames the Tyrant - Chapter 8

Left alone in her bedchamber, Alicia gazed at a hand mirror for a long while before setting it down.

“Come to think of it. I never had such a high fever in the past.”

Alicia had fallen ill about two years before her death. Before that, while she couldn’t be called robust, she had never suffered any major illnesses.

However, when she returned from death and opened her eyes, everyone said that Alicia had caught a cold and suffered a life-threatening fever for three days.

“It’s certainly different from the past, but my condition couldn’t possibly affect his choice.”

The more she thought about it, the clearer it became that Alicia knew nothing about Cayenne.

As Alicia, who lacked the power to properly manage even the imperial palace without the Emperor, she had no way of knowing Cayenne’s political standing or his actions in the council.

“The Empress of the Empire knew only about the flowers in the Empress’s Palace garden, how pathetic of me.”

Alicia, muttering bitter and self-deprecating words, suddenly blinked slowly.

Right now, Alicia alone knew the future that others didn’t. That was a much more important fact than a powerless Empress quietly dying.

“Rebellion and war!”

After Alicia fell ill, the Empire also began to rapidly collapse. It was a major upheaval on the continent, so the news was conveyed equally to the Empress in her sickbed and the vagrants in the back alleys.

Before she died, the last thing she heard about Cayenne’s actions was that he had gone to battle to suppress the rebellion. And before it was settled, Alicia had breathed her last, unable to watch the fate of the Empire.

-It’s a disaster. The Empire is isolated, and Her Majesty the Empress cannot evacuate in this condition.

From her sickbed, where she was always drowsy from taking strong medicine, she would hear people whispering like dreams.

-But, Duke Nigel, the mastermind of the rebellion, and Lucan have joined hands, so you must leave the Imperial Palace quickly.

At the time, she was too exhausted by illness to pay attention, but she vividly remembered the shock that Duke Nigel, the loyal subject of the late Emperor and the most powerful man in the Empire, had joined the rebellion.

Of course, for Alicia, the fact that Lucan, who had pursued truth so much, had participated in that dirty collusion was even more shocking.

-Whether the Imperial Palace is trampled by the rebels’ anger, or His Majesty the Emperor comes back alive, Her Majesty the Empress cannot avoid disaster.

The most powerful man in the Empire and the one with the greatest wisdom on the continent joined hands to promote a descendant of a grand family that had perished in the past as the new leader.

Poor thing. At this rate, she’ll only be a scapegoat between Lucan and the Empire!

For Alicia in her past life, death might have been a blessing. Lucan ignored Alicia until the end, and no matter how the war turned out, Alicia would have been in a miserable state.

“It was after I fell ill, so at least eight years from now.”

She had never thought about the Empire’s destruction. Perhaps she knew intuitively that she would die before that.

But, now?

Just knowing the situation that would shake this great continent could change everything.

“No matter how much I know the future, it’s useless if I don’t have the power.”

Alicia slowly blinked.

It was a habit she had since childhood when she was deep in thought.

“I wonder, how much does His Majesty the Emperor know right now.”

The Great Sage always said that Alicia was half-baked, lacking, and weak, but she was of Lucan’s direct lineage and had received the best education since childhood. The Great Sage and the Emperor underestimated and ignored Alicia, but she now had enough insight.

“You can only achieve your goals by understanding the other party and knowing your own strength accurately.”

It was Lucan’s teaching that Alicia hated, but now it didn’t seem wrong. Rather, it was the most necessary teaching for Alicia in this situation.

“If the ending of my life is a lonely and futile death anyway, there’s nothing more to fear.”

Death was a heavy darkness, as if all the light in the world had gone out. And Alicia opened her eyes again in that desperate darkness and found the light.

“Lucan, and His Majesty the Emperor too.”

A resolute look settled on Alicia’s elegant face. Her clear pink lips were uttering cold words.

“No one can trample on me.”

She had lived her whole life trapped in the land of the Great Sage Lucan, and then died in vain as a powerless Empress with a husband who didn’t even glance at her.

“That disgusting hypocrite, Lucan.”

Those who claimed to seek only the truth eventually rebelled and burned with ambition. Alicia’s life, which had been sacrificed for that truth, was truly ridiculous.

“That beast born of the Darius Empire, that man too.”

Perhaps because she was recalling the memories of her past life, Cayenne’s nickname naturally came out of her mouth. Even now, five years after his accession, there was still quite a bit of criticism towards the Emperor, but this was just the beginning, nothing compared to what would come later.

Yes, that man would later be called the beast of this Empire.

A beast who spent his whole life on the battlefield, enjoying slaughter and blood, without the nobility or elegance of the imperial family.

“After all, the only animals I want to raise are kind and cute ones, not such a beast.”

Alicia, having come to a natural conclusion, lay down on the bed and closed her eyes. Although the Emperor’s return now and his request for a banquet were unexpected, she would have time to think for a while.

And to think, she needed stamina.

❖ ❖ ❖

Meanwhile, Cayenne, who knew nothing of Alicia’s inner thoughts, was unusually enjoying the night breeze, even whistling as he leaned against the window of his chamber.

“Your Majesty, you seem to be in a very good mood today.”

Glenn cautiously asked, looking at Cayenne, who was even grinning. He had stayed by Cayenne’s side his whole life, but now he was too unfamiliar.

“Is that so? Not really.”

Contrary to his indifferent words, the corners of Cayenne’s lips were raised.

“It seems you enjoyed the banquet with Her Majesty the Empress.”

“As if.”

Cayenne had always said that the Empress from Lucan was boring. But what were these expressions and humming?

“The food was edible, though.”

Considering his temperament, this was close to high praise.

“It’s the first time you’ve had a private audience with Her Majesty the Empress since the wedding a year ago. How was it?”

At Glenn’s question, Cayenne frowned slightly. However, there was no anger at all, and after being lost in thought for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“The Empress, smells good.”

Even Glenn couldn’t dare to answer these words.

“Ah, yes!”

The flustered Glenn lowered his head and avoided his gaze, but Cayenne didn’t even notice, recalling the moment when Alicia had come right up to him.

“Yes. Certainly, when the Empress came close, she smelled very good.”

Cayenne licked his lips without realizing it, savoring the moment. It was a sentiment that no one else could understand.

But he didn’t know any other way to express it.

Earlier, Alicia had a subtle and sweet scent. For Cayenne, whose animalistic senses had developed from roaming the battlefield, that scent was bound to be more attractive.

“It wasn’t the disgusting perfume smell I smelled in the council.”

Cayenne kept talking even though Glenn didn’t ask.

“It was something soft and gentle.”

Cayenne didn’t even know what a woman’s scent was yet, so he simply expressed that the Empress smelled good.

“If I had to say, it was a delicious smell.”

It was an expression that Alicia would be horrified to hear, but Glenn silently nodded at his lord’s words.

“Since you said the food was excellent, I guess you liked that smell.”

Glenn, who knew as little about women as Cayenne did, answered diligently.

“Is that so.”

He had certainly filled his stomach satisfactorily at the banquet and received Alicia’s send-off, but he didn’t know why he felt so hungry and stimulated by the smell.

As two men who had grown up in the harsh land of Rubeo since childhood and had only roamed the battlefield, they had no idea that it was a man’s instinct to be attracted to a woman.

“Anyway, I’m glad the Empress has changed. She seemed to have really forgotten all the boring words of Lucan.”

“Is it true that Her Majesty the Empress changed after suffering a high fever?”

“Yes. She’s completely changed.”

Cayenne remembered the woman who couldn’t even look him in the eye on the wedding day because of fear. Even when making the wedding vows, her voice was so faint and trembling that he couldn’t hear her properly, but Alicia, whom he saw today, was a completely different person in a year.

“The Empress looked at me straight, smiled, and offered me a banquet. She even said that she couldn’t understand Lucan’s words anymore even though I asked first. She really changed after suffering a high fever.”

Alicia’s mission was to constantly convey and awaken Lucan’s truth and teachings to Cayenne, who lacked the qualities of an Emperor. It was a marriage only for that purpose from the beginning, but without a change in person, today’s events could not be explained.

“I’m just sorry that I can’t see with my own eyes what kind of expression the Great Sage of Lucan will make when he learns this fact.”

The Empress was sent from Lucan to control the Emperor who was running wild, but the Empress forgot everything due to a high fever, so there would be no greater embarrassment for the Great Sage of Lucan.

“In the past, they kept nagging me that the Empire was unstable because I was unmarried, but now they can’t do that anymore.”

Cayenne curled up the corners of his lips as if he liked this situation very much. At times like this, he looked like a handsome young man of twenty-five, not the Emperor of the Empire.

“Then, shall we withdraw the surveillance of the Empress’s Palace?”

“No. Continue the surveillance.”

The majesty of the Emperor returned to the face of the playful young man.

“It’s always good to be sure.”

“Yes.”

Alicia showed no signs of falsehood, but Lucan was another matter. If she was in close contact with Lucan from the Empress’s Palace, there was a possibility that Alicia would turn back into a boring parrot.

“I’ll have lunch at the Empress’s Palace tomorrow too.”

Cayenne brought up unexpected words, perhaps because he was very satisfied with tonight’s dinner.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty, but you must have lunch with Duke Nigel and other nobles after the council tomorrow morning.”

Cayenne frowned at the unpleasant sound.

“Then, ask the Empress’s Palace to prepare lunch for tomorrow.”

Glenn blinked at the unexpected reaction. Just how delicious was the food at the Empress’s Palace that Cayenne was saying such things he never used to say?

“However, I don’t want to smell the disgusting perfume, so keep the table distance as before.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will send the chamberlain to ask for help from the Empress’s Palace immediately.”

Cayenne nodded and waved his hand. It meant he was ending the day.

Without any sound, a great change was seeping into the Imperial Palace.