Chapter 110

TLS : Shenks

"Guest......."

Kylus tilted his head at the conversation he happened to hear.

knock, knock

The knight of the Poirak Palace informed them that a visitor had come.

Is it not a servant, but a noble lady?

Perez thought, looking at the lady walking in with her chin raised high.

"What a rude attitude!"

Caitlyn protested in a loud voice against the lady who didn't even greet properly.

Then the lady snorted softly, then reluctantly bowed her knees to greet.

"Good morning, Your Highness Second Prince."

Perez received the greeting with a nod without answering.

The lady's eyes trembled, perhaps insulted.

"I have a message from the Empress. She asked for you to come to the Empress Palace now. Come with me."

She ordered overbearingly as if she was the empress.

Perez said, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"I can't go now."

"What?"

The lady couldn't hide her embarrassed face and asked again.

"The Empress's order is to bring you now......."

"I'm a little sick."

Perez said, lowering his eyes under his long eyelashes.

"Tell her I can't go because I'm sick."

"What the hell is wrong with you?...."

"I'm sick."

Perez snapped up the lady's speech.

"What explanation do I need when I'm sick?"

"It's......."

The Lady had nothing to say.

Either way, the Prince declined the invitation pretending to be sick even if there was no justification to enforce it.

"Kylus, see her off."

Perez immediately turned away from the lady and began to continue eating.

After Kylus took her out, Caitlyn quietly approached and confirmed Perez's complexion.

She was wondering if he was really sick

Perez spoke.

"She's not going to be the last guest today. It would be convenient to have a separate person attending the door."

And he was right.

The empress sent another person an hour later.

At first, the ladies who were her close aides, came one after another, and then later, she even sent officials from Angenas.

But Perez sent them back, saying the same thing every time.

I'm sick, so if you have something to say, the Empress can come herself.

All the messengers who didn't know Perez would come in boldly and went back embarrassed.

Eventually, it was about time the sky was completely dark.

In front of Perez, who is sitting in the drawing room reading a book, Caitlyn put down envelopes of various sizes and colors.

"These are invitations to banquets and social gatherings for the day."

"Today......?"

Perez looked at a stack of envelopes thick enough not to fit in one hand.

He expected it to some extent, but the response was hotter. Deliberately walking around the banquet hall and dealing with the nobles talking to him was rewarding.

It was then.

"Now, if you'll just......!"

A screaming voice came at Kylus' bewilderment.

And after a brief disturbance that ensued, the door to the drawing room burst open.

"......Here you are, guest."

Perez murmured, looking at the insolent visitor he had been waiting for today.

"Second Prince."

It was empress Rabini who was in such a hurry to question the prince.

The empress, who strode in, donned her smiling mask with chilling eyes that gazed at Perez

"I heard you're not feeling very well."

Perez saw through her.

He glanced at the empress, quickly swiping the bundle of invitations he was holding.

"Kylus, Caitlyn. Get out for a second. I think this conversation will end much sooner."

At Perez's words, the two paused, but soon went out and closed the door to the drawing room.

Now only Perez and the Empress remained.

It was the same situation the last time they talked in the greenhouse.

"How come you didn't accept my invitation, Prince?"

"As I said, I'm not feeling well. And I was a little busy."

Perez deliberately pointed to the full invitations and said.

Then the corners of the Empress's mouth trembled.

"......The prince, who is going to the academy soon accepts invitations? what can you do?"

"I've told you over and over again that I don't intend to go to the academy. And with so many people looking for me, I'm losing my mind."

Perez stopped talking for a moment.

Then he let out a little more provocative words.

"And after spending a lot of meaningful time with the Emperor yesterday, I'm becoming convinced that the place I'm supposed to be is not an academy, but the Capital."

The empress curled her hands to the point where her thick rings left indentions.

Perez curled up one corner of his mouth as the empress looked angry.

All of this was a result of careful thought after Lombardy's visit. What the Empress wants most is for Astana to rise to the throne.

Then Perez was the biggest and only obstacle to the road. And what they feared most was Perez gaining ground as the second prince.

So he deliberately talked to the aristocrats at the debut party and spoke as if he were interested in banquets or social gatherings.

The last invitation by the emperor to the back room was an unexpected harvest.

Throughout the banquet, Perez used the gaze of the empress watching over him.

And again, the empress sent people away because of the sweetness from the very day after the banquet.