CH 58

Euges felt happy for the first time after a long time.

“It’s no one else who amused me but Princess Squire. Since I live, there’s nothing more absurd than this.”

After a rather early dinner, Theresa left the imperial palace. Keeping an unmarried lady until the evening would be a burden even to Euges, who was known for his carefree. The rewarding time was until dinner, but beyond that time was only allowed for lovers.

Euges wasn’t a romantic person to love the daughter of a family whom he would be happy if he could tear them off to death. However, it was an indisputable fact that Theresa entertained him today.  

Jeffrey, who was being handed the emperor’s coat, said with a smile, “It seems you were satisfied with today’s meeting, Your Majesty.”

“The level of her etiquette hasn’t changed. It’s difficult for me to bear with it. She kept getting on my nerves, and I almost strangled her.”

“Even so, you seem to like the princess.”

“Right. Seeing her myself, I knew for sure. Her etiquette remains the same, but quite a few things have changed.”

Euges deliberately opened the door parlor without saying a word to greet the princess. Ladies like Theresa often made big mistakes out of pride when they received such special treatment. That’s why he made such a move, but as soon as he opened the door and saw Theresa’s expressionless face, he had a hunch. That the plan to make her make a mistake had failed.

“At first, I thought she was someone else.”

Theresa was a beautiful woman, but she didn’t have a good impression to the point that her appearance didn’t stand out at all, so he hadn’t properly recognized that fact until now. But today was different. Her watery, silver-gray eyes were like transparent glass beads, and even his chronic neurosis seemed to be suppressed when he looked at them.

Jeffrey also deeply agreed with the emperor, recalling Theresa. “I also felt that she had greatly changed when I guided her to the Sun Palace.”

He relayed to the emperor the story about how Theresa immediately recognized the location when they arrived at the Sun Palace.

“Really?”

Euges smiled and poured a drink into a crystal glass. Since he felt good, he chose a soft drink with a rich aroma and taste, not his usual strong alcohol. He didn’t want to spoil this excitement with anything.

Jeffrey asked, helping him change clothes. “Could she be a demon contractor?”

They suspected Theresa’s sudden abnormal power might have been caused by a pact with the demon.

Euges shook his head. “Not at all.”

The immediate imperial family had special powers. It was the eyes that recognized the existence of outsiders. Those who were born with weak imperial blood only vaguely felt the Magi. Still, the emperor saw through a more distinct essence than that.

“It was different from the foggy feeling I felt when I saw Ilya Bernstein and Clyde Willow. I could see everything, but it just felt like I couldn’t figure out the identity because I lacked knowledge.”

Euges took a sip of his drink and wrinkled his brows. It reminded him of the overwhelming image of Theresa, who had acted like a fool, telling him a story with her eyes shining like starlight. He had been engulfed by the aura coming from Theresa for a moment.  

“It felt unpleasantly nice.”

Theresa was obviously enraged when he told to take the court lady away. She despised, feared, resentful, and disappointed with him. Even so, she exuded an aura that gently wrapped around him.  What was that aura?

“I don’t know what kind of variable the princess will become in the future. Tell Gordon to keep an eye on the princess.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, and.”

Euges put down the glass and smiled mischievously. “Send gifts to the princess who pleased me today without any shortage.”

* * *

It was the next day.

“L-Lady, I think you should come out and see…!”

To go to school from the duchy, I had to busily prepare from early morning. As I was taking medicine given by the doctor because I wasn’t in good condition in the aftermath of the previous day, I went down to the first floor, feeling strange anxiety from the maid’s fuss.

“…What’s all this?”

From the morning breeze, knights in imperial uniforms and male courtiers with handsome looks were entering the duchy in a long queue. As many as them, the roofless wagons were full of all sorts of rare things, attracting spectators outside the duchy. It was to the extent that all the servants of the duchy had to be mobilized to organize them.

Raul also approached me with a bewildered look and said, “All of them were sent  by His Majesty the Emperor.”

Those gifts were all precious things.

“Oh my gosh, how did he send such fine embroidered silk?”

“What about this golden angel!”

Even the duke’s servants, who wouldn’t even flinch at a simple sneeze, were all speechless.

Ding!

[The Constellation ‘Rofan-Addicted Young Lady’ has sponsored 10,000 coins.]

[I can’t believe he sent gifts to the young lady with whom he only spent more than half a day. Moreover, this much.]

Everyone looked at me, including Raul.

“What on earth happened at the Sun Palace yesterday? Don’t tell me you got proposed to?”

“No, absolutely not.” I flatly denied it.

People were even more puzzled. I could understand them being puzzled. This situation could only be interpreted as the emperor falling in love with me and sending many gifts.

Raul entrusted the disposition of the emperor’s gifts to me completely. “You can send it back, or you can use it all. I’ll handle it.”

“…Yes. First of all, can Father manage all of these? I’ll think more about how to handle it.”

“Okay.”

When I let out a sigh with a troubled expression, Raul clicked his tongue and said, “No matter what the truth is, it’s hard to avoid rumors that you might end up in the empress’s seat.”

Ah. I don’t want to go to school.

The area around Duke Squire was a residential area lined with townhouses of wealthy nobles. Among them, of course, there were Valhalla students. Each of the students whispered about the amazing sight they had seen that morning.

Whisper. Whisper. I couldn’t hear them talking, but their eyes were on me, so I roughly guessed what they were talking about. It was probably about the gifts from the emperor and the possibility of Theresa becoming the empress.

Ouch, my head. Where should I run away today? Library? Abandoned annex? If not…

“Lady Theresa!”

Even before deciding on my destination, members of Clybe flocked with serious faces. They swallowed dry saliva and asked me in trembling voices.

“Is it true that His Majesty proposed to Lady Theresa?”

I guess the rumor has already reached the point of a marriage proposal.

I widened my eyes and firmly denied it. “It’s not like that at all. The gifts that came to the duchy today are just rewards for finding a way to purify the eroded land.”

The young ladies’ expressions brightened noticeably. “Aah! As expected, it was like that! T-then, the rumors that Lady might drop out of school and join the imperial family…”

“That’s definitely not the case either.”

At that time, Lumion, who was quietly buried among the young ladies, murmured grimly with a shady face. “But… I heard that His Majesty has never presented a woman with flowers… Cough.”

She squeezed the small notebook and pen that she always held until they made a crackling sound. “Lady Theresa is so beautiful and enchanting… Even His Majesty recognized it… I’m sure…!”

A face with grotesquely shining eyes and dark circles much darker than before. It was the expression of a madman who was completely absorbed in something and half out of their mind.

It’s dangerous. The demon would be summoned when Lumio breaks the pen with her grip!

I shouted in a hurry. “It can’t be! Even so, it’s only Clyde to me!”

If I jumped out to paradise anyway, whether it was marriage or anything else would be left behind. So, without hesitation, I shouted to avoid the crisis in front of me. “I will never marry anyone but Clyde!”

“So that’s it.”

“Kyaa!”

A voice that should never have been heard at this moment came behind me. I literally jumped back, screaming in fright.

“S-s-since when have you been here?”

Clyde looked at me with a disdainful gaze and sneered. “I don’t know? Maybe since I’ve heard of your poor marriage proposal.”

That means he had heard it all from the beginning.