Chapter 63

Chapter 63

“Yes, not even once.”

Tears burst through from the man’s eyes. Two streams ran down his cheeks and dripped onto the floor. Seeing this, Andra instantly felt choked.

In addition, his appearance seemed to overlap with someone else’s. Why? She didn’t even know why. Just looking at the crying man’s face made her heart ache. Maybe it’s because the man looked so anguished.

“I see…”

“Dean…”

He was still in tears. Hot tears slowly pooled on the floor.

“I still love you so much, but it wasn’t the same for you from the start.”

Then the man dropped his head down. Dean couldn’t raise his head any longer. He turned his back. His distant back was as pitiful as a defeated soldier. Like a fallen leaf that crumbled alone, the man left the place helplessly. Only after the man had completely disappeared from view did Andra escape from the dream.

“…… .”

Andra blankly blinked at the ceiling. She raised her hand and touched her eyes—they were wet. She didn’t know why she felt this way. She threw the disc in her other hand to the floor.

What was it trying to say through these memories?

What the hell did it want her to know?

She crouched her body down and buried her face in the pillow.

Contrary to her will, her heart ached.

* * *

“I ran into Ansel.”

Watching the wolfdog bite down on the raw meat that the empress threw, Viola clenched her chin as she spoke. Without even a glance at the princess, the empress gave her response.

[ note: the monarch here is actually called ‘emperor’ in the raws (황제), but it is belatedly mentioned that she’s a woman. from here on out, she will be called ‘empress’ instead. ]

“I’m not interested in talking about your ex.”

“I met Marquis Avellin on the way, Your Majesty.”

“Take care of your husband.”

“…Mother.”

The tip of Viola’s eyebrows rose slightly. Either way, the empress was preoccupied with picking up meat from her servants and throwing them to the wolfdog. A wolfdog the size of a human ate the raw meat well. And yet, the gentle waving of the tail seemed to flutter at its master, the empress.

“Mother, you’ve loved Ansel since long ago. I understand that. I can also see that Ansel has great talent. Because from the start, I coveted that intellect of his.”

Viola crossed her legs and leaned her back against the backrest. Only then did the empress turn her head toward Viola.

“That’s how you kicked him out of the capital.”

“It’s good when he’s on my side, but it’s a headache when he’s on the other side. That’s what you said, Mother. The first thing you should do when you start work is to remove the obstacles.”

Five years ago, Viola broke up with Ansel while simultaneously pushing him out of Ramhafzel. Of course, the process didn’t go smoothly, but in the end, Viola succeeded in keeping the eldest son of the Avellin family tied up in his hometown. Thanks to this, the second son of the Avellin family, who was taking lessons as the head of the household in the east, had to hurry up to the capital as Ansel’s replacement.

Meanwhile, Viola has consolidated Airak, her husband’s position. Like sharpening the blade of the sword so it would cut well.

Thus, in the budget for that year, support to the North increased, while support to the East decreased. On top of that, the abolition of the grain law. Fief lords in the East and West strongly opposed it, but having Airak as Viola’s backer was formidable.

“What should I do if Avellin and I are pursuing different directions? If it doesn’t match, I should throw them away. Still, you put them on Jonathan.”

At Viola’s light tone, the empress waved her hand and dismissed the servant. At the master’s beckoning, the wolfdog silently came to his side, took a spot, and knelt down. The empress opened her mouth only after all the servants had left.

“Don’t be arrogant. At that time, I raised my hand to cut off the starting point. Would you like me to raise my hand if it repeats itself again?”

“Mother, you’re already supporting Jonathan. Don’t you think that I don’t know you left Ansel part of the imperial textile business? If that happens, what will happen to my wool vessels?”

“The union holds more than half of the stake in the textile manufacturing industry, but I don’t think it’s worth talking about. It has been adjusted to fit this time. And I was afraid that you would come out like this, so I just didn’t leave it to you. Do you think I’ll let Avellin just reap the benefits?”

“That’s only from your point of view, Mother. It’s difficult for me. I’ve set up a board, but why are you trying to shake it? Do you really need to attach Avellin and Airak once this time to feel better?”

Avelin and Airak. Both families had served as the most important pillars of the empire for hundreds of years. Their conflict may have occurred by chance in the beginning, but as the years passed, the confrontation between the two families was being used politically.

The empress always pretended to mediate between the two families, but in reality, she used them as weights to balance the scales. Of course, the two families knew it, so they tended to take advantage of it.

In this generation too, the empress was balancing the confrontation between the two powers by giving the first princess to Airak and the second prince to Avellin.

“Neither Avelin nor Airak attack each other blindly like they used to. Don’t you know Ansel well? The Marquis will probably leave after creating a moderate atmosphere. Viola, just take good care of Airak. Don’t let them get out and don’t get swept away together.”

“What about Jonathan?”

“The marquis will take care of it. Even though he is not strong enough, he is a boy who is not inferior anywhere he goes, so Jonathan will do his part. You do what you are doing now.”

The empress was well aware that Jonathan, the second prince, was no match for the first princess, Viola. In fact, it was difficult to find someone among her children who could stand up to Viola in the first place. That was certain because Viola was a child who resembled the empress the most. That’s why she gave Airak to Viola.

‘Putting Viola and Avellin together might be the best combination, but Avellin will eventually support Viola as an ally. Viola needs helpers, not allies.’

The empress must be the highest in this empire. That was the reason why the empress needed only helpers, not allies.

‘Jonathan is more suited with Avellin than with Airak. His indecisive nature will be offensive to Airak.’

“I’m good at it even if you don’t say it.”

“Yes, just do it.”

The empress reached out and petted her wolfdog. At that time, one of the attendants quietly approached the empress, whispered in her ear, and stepped back for a moment. The empress immediately nodded her head and stood up with the attendant. Viola also rose after the empress, but the empress waved her hand.

“Mother.”

“It’s fine. Instead, call Minister Henzen.”

“What’s going on?”

In response to Viola’s question, the empress strode across the floor with her cane and stepped forward.

“It seems that something has happened at the Morgennis border.”

* * *

“What is it, who is this tired human? Knock, knock, are you my friend Andra?”

Andra, who returned to the academy after a long absence from the Aslan ruins, pushed Elverika to the side, who was looking at her complexion with fuss. She was too distracting.

“You’ll be like this when I’m dying. Look in the mirror. You said it was a dungeon without monsters? Did you go and dig overnight?”

“It’s not that, there’s too much to know.”

“So, is it all over now?”

“No. Let’s go to the dining hall first. I am so hungry.”

Andra led Elverika to the dining room. Unlike the last time, she came in a carriage, so even though she was very hungry, she couldn’t eat much because of motion sickness. As Andra ordered several meals at once, Elverika, who was next to her, ordered bagels with cream cheese and looked at Andra with pity.

“How did the precious Lady Avellin become like this?”

“How else, when I got dragged to the dungeon and suffered a lot?”

She squeezed her eyelids with her two fingers. She felt that her mind was refreshed, at least a little.

As she went to the table, sat down and waited, the food she ordered was served in a hurry. Since there were so many things, it seemed like they were moving them directly.

“Anyway, talk quickly. What happened?”

Elverika took a large bite of her bagel and looked at Andra with curious eyes. Because of that, Andra almost couldn’t speak. The problem was that there were too many problems. But she couldn’t say everything as it was, so she decided to skirt around the question.

“So so. Wasn’t it just a dungeon exploration?”

“How boring. What about Lord Airak? Did you fight?”

Andra, who almost choked for the second time, quickly drank the water. As the day she came out of the dungeon and peeked into Anat’s memories, she automatically remembered Dustin’s tears when she heard the name Dustin Airak. She was crazy and amazed as to why she only remembered that scene.

“Don’t even talk about that bastard.”

“Why. Did the Lord make a commotion there too?”

Andra, who almost nodded her head at Elverika’s question, took a deep breath and answered.

“It’s not like that. By the way, do I really need to talk about him while we’re eating?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. But did nothing really happen?”

“Elver.”

As Andra softly opened her mouth, Elverika leaned her upper body back, which had been pushed toward her.

“I heard something. The condition of Lord Airak is serious these days.”

“How serious is it?”

Andra asked, tasting her food little by little. She had no idea what Dustin was like as she had just arrived at the Academy.

“Not just a human, like a monster… I think he’s a bit off. Was he like that there too? No, did he change like that and then come here afterwards?”

“Well, I think I heard that he has a pale complexion…”

She remembered the words she heard from Shamune the other day.

In fact, she didn’t care what condition Dustin was in. From the beginning, they had been blocking out even rumors about how each other lived. There was no reason to act differently from before, just because they were in the same relationship as before.

But maybe because of the influence of the metal disc, Andra, who has been peeking into Anat’s memories frequently lately, started to worry about Dustin unknowingly.

Was it because Dean’s crying face and Dustin’s crying face overlapped?

‘Well, why are you catching my attention like this? Are you trying to make people worry?’

Taking a deep breath, Andra poked the salad lightly with the fork in her hand.

—