What Your Majesty Desires - Chapter 3.3

I had no choice but to ask. I wasn’t sure if he had forgotten, but Jerome was still stuck to the floor, supporting the pile of clothes. In other words, Marilyn’s shoe that he was holding out was now higher than Jerome’s eye level.

“Go deliver this.”

“Pardon?”

He asked again. Maybe his usually merciless superior was just asking Jerome, who was closest, to run an errand today. He knew that this absolutely didn’t represent any kind of hierarchy. Jerome looked up at him with a dazed expression.

“Come to think of it, I sent her out without shoes.”

Whether he did or not, that was her business.

“The floor was quite messy on the way here, so I didn’t think it was right to have the princess walk around barefoot.”

“That is, indeed, true.”

Courtesy to the occupied country. Proper treatment for royalty. He was never one to care about such things, so why was he acting like this today? Jerome awkwardly got to his feet and politely accepted Marilyn’s shoe.

“I will, indeed, deliver it.”

“Good.”

That was it. Having finished his business, he turned away heartlessly as usual, and Jerome stared at his back with a confused expression. If Hernis had given even the slightest hint, Jerome could have put Marilyn on his bed today without any trouble. But no matter how carefully he tried to gauge his intentions.

“Your Highness, wouldn’t it be a bit harsh for the princess to spend a day in prison in her condition? Should I have her moved to a separate room upstairs?”

“Is that so.”

It wasn’t easy to know what he was thinking.

“I didn’t intend to be that nice to her.”

“Ah, yes.”

Just deliver the shoes. Hernis, having told Jerome what to do with his eyes one more time, turned around.

“Prince.”

But Jerome still had a question he hadn’t asked.

“I have ordered a place to rest to be prepared downstairs. If you go down with her now, I will escort Your Highness first, and then take care of the mess here…”

“Is there more to clean up?”

“Pardon?”

There was a lot to clean up. For example, that arrogant princess’s guard over there.

“Deliver the shoes and come straight to the conference room. I will be down soon.”

“Yes.”

Jerome nodded, careful not to let his gaze become disrespectful. And then, he subtly rolled his eyes and looked at Aiden, who was still somehow alive.

Surely, His Highness wasn’t planning to spare that guy. He wasn’t giving Jerome this pointless errand just to grant the request of the woman who had tearfully begged him to spare her guard.

Right. That couldn’t be it.

At the same time.

The Curtis estate in the Gler Empire.

Kaulus’s hand trembled as he received the message.

“The engagement has been canceled?”

Crown Prince Kaulus van Arkanswein of the Gler Empire. Thanks to his younger brother, Hernis, who had withdrawn from the succession early on, saying he had no interest in the throne, Kaulus had been the sole candidate for the next emperor of the Gler Empire for a long time. However, because Hernis frequently returned from the battlefield with great achievements, Kaulus’s position in the imperial family was always precarious. He had intended to put an end to it this time.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

“Princess Thalia committed suicide right before the engagement ceremony, so the engagement could not proceed. Damn it!”

Kaulus threw the small piece of parchment that had arrived via carrier pigeon into the air. All the bad news was written there.

<Thalia suicide. Engagement canceled. Castle occupied. Searching for blue diamond.>

“So? You’re saying he won’t be returning to the Gler Empire for the time being?”

“Yes. That seems to be the case. Until the blue diamond is found, he will probably continue to stay at Dextin Castle…”

“Damn it!”

He was going to take care of him on the way back. Why was this happening all of a sudden? This opportunity, which he had painstakingly prepared while avoiding Emperor Asterion’s eyes, had vanished so futilely.

“Is that princess out of her mind? No matter how much she didn’t want to get married, how could she abandon a national marriage with the great Gler Empire and kill herself?”

“Your Highness, please calm down. There may be some misunderstanding…”

“Am I in a position to calm down right now? Do you know how rare this perfect opportunity is to tie Dextin Empire and Hernis together and punish them as traitors?”

It was indeed rare. There had never been a warrior who had defeated Hernis in battle.

“It seems we should disband the prepared troops and plan for the next time.”

“Next time when? We need an engagement to bring up the topic of treason by linking it to the Dextin Empire. If Hernis really finds the blue diamond, how much more will Father favor him?”

The Duke of Curtis, watching Kaulus rage, could only sigh deeply. Hernis had no interest in the position of the next emperor, and Kaulus had been formally appointed as the crown prince, so the Duke of Curtis had been siding with Kaulus ever since. However, putting up with his temper was quite exhausting.

“Your Highness, how would Prince Hernis find the blue diamond? If it were that easy, the Dextin royals would have already found it and flaunted it throughout the empire.”

“…”

But that guy always made the impossible possible. Despite the Duke of Curtis’s consolation, Kaulus trembled, already feeling defeated, with his fist clenched. He had tried everything to get him killed on the battlefield, deliberately reducing his troops, poisoning his drinks, and drugging his horse, but each time, Hernis had returned unscathed, celebrating his victory and returning home in glory.

Blue diamond? If that guy set his mind to finding it, he would burn down the entire Dextin Empire to find it.

“But Your Highness, I think we should be a little cautious.”

“What do you mean?”

The Duke of Curtis narrowed his eyes, looking at Kaulus’s puzzled face.

“Prince Hernis has won many expeditionary battles, but this is the first time he has ever said he would settle down in a castle, isn’t it?”

“So what?”

He was staying there because of the blue diamond. That guy couldn’t be happy about it either. He would rather sleep in a tent preparing for battle than waste time playing around in someone else’s cramped castle.

“If he has occupied Dextin Castle, then the soldiers of the Dextin Empire who were originally there will also come under Prince Hernis’s command.”

“Is that so?”

“If he trains them and they stand against us…?”

“Hernis, you bastard!”

He was just talking about possibilities, but Kaulus already looked like he had been hit in the back of the head.

“The engagement and the blue diamond were just excuses. He went there to do that from the beginning.”

To build up his forces. He knew that guy would do that.

“He occupied Dextin Castle without the approval of the Gler Empire. Come to think of it, isn’t that an act of treason in itself?”

“If you look at it that way, yes.”

“This is no different from him using Dextin Castle as his base at will. This would never have happened unless he had impure intentions from the start.”

“That is indeed true.”

“I must return to Gler Castle immediately and report the situation to Father.”

He couldn’t be doing this. Kaulus jumped up from his seat.

“Emperor Asterion will listen to Your Highness’s words if he hears the explanation.”

Emperor Asterion might not listen to Kaulus, as Kaulus had been caught trying to frame Hernis several times before. But it was worth a shot. The more seeds of doubt he planted, the better.

“Duke Curtis.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“We don’t know when things will break out, so don’t disband the private soldiers and keep managing them. Gather more troops if you can.”

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