Chapter 48

✿

“Hey, are you uncomfortable with me?”

“Oh no never!”

He immediately shook his head in denial, but his words and actions were completely different.

As he got up halfway and leaned forward, his clunky bear hand in bewilderment accidentally hit the teacup.

Clink~!

With the sound, the tea spilled on the floor and the teacup shattered.

The maids around us quickly approached and removed the broken pieces of the teacup.

I was trying to find out about the swordsman who was hiding in the Knights by praising his hard word and compliments with encouragement.

‘Why is he so flustered?’

For no reason, his appearance even looked suspicious.

✿

Retro was going crazy.

Astel, who has a lovely appearance, told him that he was ‘cute’ or ‘beautiful’, and he completely lost his mind.

His heart, which seemed like a barren winter, began to flutter as if the spring breeze was blowing.

But there was only one problem.

‘If I had a dark heart, I’m dead!’

Retro shed tears as he watched the teacup he broke on the grass being removed by maids.

For some reason, that shattered teacup now seems like it will become his future.

As he struggled to calm his troubled heart, his eyes met the cold maidservant who was by Astel’s side.

She, too, was looking doubtful at him.

It was an expression like, ‘How dare that madman treat our Astel like that?’

“Sigh…”

In the meantime, pure Astel has spoken to him in a friendly way.

“Are you in bad health?”

“No! That’sㅡ I’m fine!”

“There’s something I wanted to ask you, but it’s okay, I can ask you later…”

At those words, Retro thought that there was no next tea time, and he had no choice but to nod his head.

“No… If you have any questions, feel free to tell me now.”

“Yes, thank you!”

A cold sweat ran down the back of Retro’s back as Astel’s pure eyes seemed to admire the knight sincerely.

“I’ve become the exclusive therapist for the swordsmanship contest, Sir Knight.”

Astel said with a seemingly harmless expression that no one could ever doubt that she had other plans.

“So… by any chance, among the knights, if something has suddenly changed or shows strange actions, could you please let me know?”

Astel hid the trick, and laughed. Retro nodded as if it was nothing and scratched the back of his head.

“Is this because of the doping test issue?”

“Ah, yes!”

Actually, it has nothing to do with knights testing, but…

“Then, let me check if there are such people.”

Astel’s eyes glistened and he grabbed his hand.

“Yes, thank you!”

“That, that, this, thisㅡ you shouldn’t…!”

He said hurriedly, pulling his hand behind his back.

“We will do what you requested as soon as possible!”

Aside from the fact that Retro was so embarrassed that both of his cheeks turned red, Astel felt proud.

‘I got the artifact appraiser and a proxy inside the knights!’

Of course, it was an ambush that this proxy was timid and had low self-esteem, but…

This time, I decided to approach him cautiously with light small talk without rushing.

“What do you usually do, Sir Retro?”

“Usually subjugating monsters or working with the captain of the Capital Guard to catch large criminals.”

“Large criminal…”

“Yeah! Now I’m working on catching robbers roaming around the Duke’s Castle, and I’ve been assigned to this place.”

He said in a perfect FM manner.

If he was enough to catch the robbers, he would have very rich information throughout this northern part.

I smiled satisfactorily and nodded.

There was a good escort knight that I liked very much.

✿

Meanwhile, Duke Anais was in the capital.

For a meeting with the Emperor.

From a long time ago, the Duke of Anais and the imperial family had an uncomfortable symbiotic relationship.

The Emperor was feeling grievous about the present Duke of Anais.

He only knew that he’s a beast, but the Emperor didn’t know about his exact race, and he had many other aspects.

Although nothing is certain yet, whenever the blue eyes turn towards him, it often feels like a beast whose eyes flash in the bushes, making his spine tingle and bitter.

‘It felt like I became a herbivore just before being bitten, not an Emperor of an Empire.’ The Emperor thought to himself.

Not only me, but also my successor, the Crown Prince, showed a sharp attitude towards the Duke.

-‘Your Majesty, those in the North are a necessary evil.’

-‘It’s our shield that would also destroy the monsters.’

-‘However… It’s also clear that the power of the beasts pose a threat to imperial power.’

If the Crown Prince had not coaxed him, the Emperor might have previously defined the Duke as an inviolable realm.

However, when I heard the prince’s instigation, it certainly seemed dangerous to give the Duke greater authority than now.

However, it was also not clear how to check. The Crown Prince suggested this to the troubled Emperor.

-‘How about subjugating them down through marriage first.’

-‘Are you saying to bring him to be my son-in-law?’

-‘Yes. The Duke of Anais is single.’

-‘Marriage is a good trading method for generations.’

It was a perfect plan as long as it was achieved.

He’s one of the Empire’s second Duke families, and if we stop recruiting them, we’ll be able to put the different races of the Northern Dominion under the jurisdiction of the Empire again.

While the Emperor was raising his aspirations, it had been a very long time since he and the Duke of Anais had met.

On an afternoon full of warm sunlight, inside the huge garden of the Imperial Palace.

The Emperor and the Duke continued their dry conversation without even a cup of tea between them.

“The Knights of the Roses have perfectly joined the subjugation team.”

“Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, who was glancing at Duke Anais with a not very grateful expression, brought up the main topic of the day.

“Come to think of it, I brought in a foster daughter from my ward.”

The original imperial princess did not reach the age of five and died.

The Empress and the Emperor were living a lonely life, longing for the princess who had been lost for many years as a result of the kidnapping in the imperial palace, where even her body couldn’t be found.

Moreover, after their unfortunate loss of the princess, the cry of a baby was never heard in the imperial palace.

However, since there’s a Crown Prince, there seems to be no need of increasing the number of the Imperial Family further…

Now that more than a decade has passed, the Emperor seemed to have thought of welcoming a new princess.

Of course, it was not a topic of much interest to the Duke.

“Congratulations.” The Duke gave a casual greeting.

The Emperor, who was looking at his blunt expression, spoke straightforwardly.

“…Honesty… She’s a lively kid. And she seems to have interest in the northern part, too.”

However, the Duke of Anais also never spoke back.

“I will decline the marriage talk in advance.”

“Do you even have any intention of thinking about it for a moment?” The Emperor showed discomfort.

“If she lived as a royal in the elegant capital city, wouldn’t it be painful if she were to wed with a northern barbarian?”

This time, he pretended to be considerate of the other person, but in the end, he was firm in his will to never accept marriage.

The Emperor’s brow narrowed.

“It will be a marriage of no benefit with each other, so please stop saying that.”

In addition, the Emperor, who was particularly quick to notice the coming words, frowned.

He was not a soft-spoken man, but he was particularly cold and sharp in the story of marriage.

‘Is there anything you have in mind…?’ The Emperor wondered.

I haven’t checked it yet, but I haven’t heard any information.

However, the Emperor was a person who knew how to hit and leave.

He smiled and asked the Duke.

“See you at the court meeting the next two days. What are you planning to do in the capital city?”

“I’m thinking of taking over a chocolate shop.” The Duke replied with a growling sound.

The Emperor was startled by the harsh voice.

Unlike my son, who was widely distributed, he had relatively little chatter.

But, wait a minute…

I think I heard something that didn’t suit Duke Anais at all…

“…A chocolate shop?”