CH 110

Subjugation and Rakain (1)

Bert had his head buried amidst the pile of papers before he raised his eyes wide at the humming that was suddenly coming from somewhere. It was none other than the Emperor’s desk that the humming could be heard from.

“Hmm…”

Bert’s expression began to get tilted as he stared at the rightful owner of the desk for a long time. It had been unbelievable that he was currently looking at the Lord whom he had always served. However, it was also like his usual self, which anyone who knew Bert as well would understand it too.

“Your Majesty, do you often hum these days?”

“Huh? Oh, wouldn’t it be better to really enjoy your work? So, Bert, don’t make that face and have fun instead—like me.”

“Oh, my…”

It was rather amazing that a person who was simply working while wearing a more upset look till a while back had said so. Bert was rendered speechless and looked at Kergel once again before he began to grumble.

“Then, help me get married in return!”

“Why are you talking about marriage right now? Besides, people would think that I’m the one who is interrupting your marriage.”

“Isn’t it right that you’re interrupting though? I don’t even have any time to meet a girl since I’m always busy with work every day. It’s not like Your Majesty whose ‘companion’ has already been set, so there’s always a possibility that one should go and try something in women’s presence……”

Bert grumbled as he glanced at Kergel before turning his head and looking at Heinez who was sitting at the sofa. Heinez was all concentrated on reviewing the documents with a pair of glasses at the tip of his nose.

No, maybe he was just pretending to be focused because he didn’t want to be included in this conversation.

“But there’re only this asexual man who is not even interested in women and the newly married groom with a shining face, so it’s definitely not going to happen anytime soon.”

Heinez, who just listened to Bert’s grumbling, suddenly grabbed the document that he was just holding on to without realizing it.

“Phew… Bert, you must have been relaxed enough to utter such nonsense. That’s really good. So, do you mind sorting this out by tomorrow too?”

Heinez had managed to control his mind before handing a bunch of documents to Bert. Then Bert, who immediately turned pale, quickly waved his hand and pleaded.

“Oh, Heinez! I think you misunderstood something here. The words that I just said didn’t really bring the meaning of that Heinez, but…… I’m actually referring to him, who, um—someone else. Is what I’m saying, actually.”

Bert rolled his eyes around and tried to make excuses. The excuse given was so meager that it became rather hard to believe.

Kergel watched the whole scene for a moment and smiled before shaking his head. Anyway, his aide’s mouth had always been light, which could spell out some problems. And yet he just couldn’t break away from that habit……

‘Lucy must have had a very hard time.’

Bert had always been like that, but Kergel was also the same back when he was still young.

Kergel muttered to himself while clearly forgetting the fact about himself as a child, who had often gotten in trouble with Bert as well.

At that moment, Heinez spoke out to Kergel as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“Come to think of it, I think that Her Majesty’s birthday is approaching soon.”

“What? The Empress—Roelin’s birthday?”

Kergel tried to look at the documents once again, but he raised his head and looked at Heinez instead. Then, Heinez nodded as he explained even further.

“I understand that this is the time when most merchants on the continent always become busy since it’s the birthday of Rakain’s Princess.”

“What’s the relationship between the birthday of the Princess and the merchants getting busy anyway?”

Bert asked with a quizzical look. Heinez merely shot a glance at Bert before moving on.

“There are many people who would want to prepare gifts for the Princess, so of course the merchants became very busy. I remember hearing that there would be a commotion every year just to get their hands on such precious things first because most of them were not even registered in the eyes of the Princess.”

“Ah, so……”

Bert shook his head as if he then only could understand Heinez’s words. But nothing could be heard from Kergel at all. Heinez eventually turned to look at him.

Kergel’s expression grew stiff. The picture of him humming had already disappeared somewhere too.

Heinez could simply guess why he had changed like this.

‘It’s probably because of Her Majesty.’

The Princess of Rakain’s birthday. Then, it would have been Her Majesty’s birthday as well. On the very same day, it was ultimately natural since they were born as twins.

However, while the merchants from all over the continent made a fuss about the birthday of the Princess, Her Majesty would have always been left out in return.

Who would have been happy to celebrate their own birthday when she had to live in a separate palace while suffering from the prejudice which entailed that she had been unclean just because she was the twin sister?

That must have been why the Emperor’s expression became as stiff as that.

“……Find out when exactly is her birthday.”

“What? Why don’t you just ask Her Majesty?”

Even before Heinez could respond to Kergel’s belated order, Bert had already stepped in with a mixed voice. Kergel glanced away and simply smiled at his aide.

Then, after sweeping down his face a couple of times with both hands, he forcibly loosened his expression and opened his mouth.

“I’m going to throw a surprise party.”

“……?”