The Survival Strategy of the Contract Duchess - Chapter 74

Empress Midienna bit down hard on her trembling lower lip. She clenched her jaw tightly and gripped her hands together until the backs of her hands turned white.

She was standing in front of the door leading to the audience chamber. It was not the large entrance at the front where visitors came in, but the smaller one behind the throne.

Standing there in secret, she listened carefully to every word the two men inside were saying.

She had only intended to hear his voice. Lydian, who always made subtle efforts to show her respect, had skipped the lunch he usually valued most. That detail alone made it easy for her to recognize who had entered the audience chamber.

Someone important enough to make Empress Midienna change her direction from the glass greenhouse without a second thought. She immediately imagined herself standing outside that door and had rushed over.

But it was Kyler’s voice that she heard an unstable, emotional voice she had never encountered from him before. Kyler had always been cold and expressionless, distant from everyone.

She should have been glad to discover something new about him, but the reason behind it was that woman.

Love. How absurd. That woman? Why her?

I am a princess of the Medilan Principality, carrying the rare bloodline of our house. Even if Medilan was absorbed into the Empire, I am still the heiress of a Duchy that commands recognition and distinction.

If I had only met Kyler a little earlier, just a little earlier, things would have been different.

When the emptiness within him something that seemed unfillable was finally filled, the feelings she had long buried and suppressed erupted within her.

It wasn’t just anyone he had chosen to avoid her. That woman had become something to Kyler.

Empress Midienna turned away as soon as she heard him preparing to leave. She quickly departed from the area where she had left the head maid and made her way back to the glass greenhouse.

“That is what the world calls love. The willingness to give up your life to protect someone else.”

As she hurried down the corridor, Lydian’s voice echoed in her mind. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it.

Even though her father had turned his back on her… even though Lydian had come to her personally to say he was postponing their meeting out of respect… Empress Midienna could not shake the overwhelming emotion inside her.

Whenever something concerned him, she could never stay calm.

“Y-Your Majesty. Where have you been?”

“Let’s eat.”

She tried to control her breathing so it would not be obvious she had been walking so fast. She spoke as if nothing had happened. As she passed the head maid, who was still waiting in the hallway, her cool gaze flicked briefly behind her.

The dining table in the glass greenhouse was set a little differently than usual. While she had been at the audience chamber, the maids had cleared away Lydian’s place setting.

Empress Midienna, who had thought she was only eating here to fulfill her duty as Empress because the Emperor had requested it, paused when she saw the table.

A slight frown touched her face. Something felt strange. Was she feeling sick? She pressed her hand to her chest. But the sensation was unfamiliar.

“Are you not feeling well?”

The head maid, who had been following her closely, asked with concern. Empress Midienna quickly moved her hand away from her chest and answered calmly, “No,” then proceeded to her seat.

“It’s very quiet during mealtime today without His Majesty the Emperor.”

The head maid, who was discreetly attending to her, spoke with a touch of awkwardness. The sound of clinking cutlery was the only thing filling the stillness of the greenhouse. The emptiness in the air made the silence feel even heavier.

But Empress Midienna was lost in her thoughts. She had forgotten both the earlier queasiness and the cold atmosphere.

If she tried to recall the conversation she overheard at the audience chamber entrance, setting aside the most shocking words, the true focus of their discussion had been the monsters.

Had the monsters brought trouble to him? She understood that he was shaken because the monsters had attacked that woman.

“Monsters…”

“Yes? Monsters?”

The maid, who was approaching with a kettle to pour water, heard her muttering and asked again.

Empress Midienna had never heard of monsters in Medilan. Even after coming to the Imperial Palace, she hadn’t heard about them from the ministers or Lydian. It had never seemed like something she needed to worry about.

“Are there monster attacks in the Empire? In Medilan, we never paid them any attention…”

This maid had been serving her since she arrived at the Imperial Palace and was always attentive to her needs. She was a middle-aged woman who had also served the previous Empress, which gave her a perceptive nature, finely attuned to those she served.

“Most people in the Empire don’t worry about monsters, and that’s because, because…”

Her explanation, which had started out confidently, suddenly stopped. Empress Midienna, who had been lifting her fork to her mouth, slowly raised her eyes and met the maid’s gaze.

“It’s because the Ignote Duchy’s knights periodically go to the mountains to deal with the monsters. It doesn’t seem to follow a set schedule, but they go out from time to time. That much I know.”

Yehara had hesitated. The reason became clear when the name at the start of the next sentence came to mind.

If the knights of the Ignote Duchy were being sent out, then Kyler would certainly be among them. All this time, he had been going out quietly and regularly, but now he was declaring a full subjugation—just because that woman had been attacked.

“Why do they go out periodically to deal with the monsters? If they’re so dangerous, why don’t they just get rid of all of them at once?”

Empress Midienna carefully cut the meat into small pieces and chewed slowly, her tone composed and casual. She had always known that the monsters and Kyler were connected somehow, but now she felt a strange urgency to truly understand.

“It’s been said that monsters have been ‘created’ since ancient times. I’ve never heard a detailed explanation from anyone, but the saying comes from the belief that they aren’t living in those mountains because of normal reproduction. Instead, it’s believed they’re being created somewhere within them.”

“Not born, but created?”

Even hearing that sounded deeply wrong. If they were reproducing like other creatures, then eliminating them would simply mean wiping out the existing population.

Even if Kyler was the first person strong enough to kill monsters, it made no sense that he was still holding back. Why hadn’t he destroyed them all?

“Yes. That’s why it’s considered impossible to completely eliminate the monsters. So, from time to time, Duke Ignote takes action to reduce their numbers significantly.”

Yehara seemed to know more than she should. Midienna was surprised by how detailed her explanation was, and the more she learned, the more suspicious the existence of these monsters seemed.

“It’s impossible to eliminate them completely… but do they only live in the mountains? The Ivern Marquisate and the Ignote Duchy are both close to those areas, aren’t they?”

Yehara filled a glass with water, then poured some sauce onto her plate before answering.

“Because monsters have existed for so long, people have developed ways to control them. There’s a group called Geranel that started with good intentions. They became known for their exceptional ability to handle monsters, which is why they’re often called monster users. These days, though, they’re more of a mercenary group.”

“Geranel?”

This was the first time she had heard of them. The way Yehara emphasized that the group had started with good intentions clearly meant they had strayed from them. The word “mercenary” confirmed her assumptions about what they had become.

“They use monsters for their own profit, but they’re tolerated because they help prevent the creatures from coming down from the mountains.”

Yehara was explaining steadily, but there was a hint of unease growing in her voice.

Empress Midienna had never been especially interested in politics or the affairs of the Empire. In the Derma Empire, the role of Empress changed greatly depending on the individual or the temperament of the Emperor. Though she was always under scrutiny, Empresses who wished to engage in politics could do so freely, while others who chose to focus only on bearing heirs were not criticized.

Both paths were considered part of the Empress’s duty. But still, concerns had begun to surface about Midienna. She had no interest in political affairs, nor any intention of producing an heir.

In fact, rumors had already begun to spread openly. People were saying she had set her sights on the Duke despite being married to the Emperor. Naturally, public opinion had turned against her.

“Who is the leader of Geranel?”

“Even His Majesty the Emperor probably doesn’t know that.”

Yehara was beginning to worry. The fact that Empress Midienna was asking such dangerous questions was deeply unsettling. But when she mentioned that even the Emperor didn’t know, a strange light appeared in Midienna’s eyes.

Oh no. Please…

Yehara had spent a long time serving in the Imperial Palace. The instincts she had developed while serving the former Empress were now sounding a clear warning.

Her mistress was about to do something.

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