Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“It’s not an act, Your Majesty.”

“Even now.”

“I truly—”

“I shouldn’t keep the princess by my side. I should recommend her to a theater troupe.”

“If Your Majesty desires, I would gladly become your jester.”

As soon as Rosette stopped talking, Theodore gave a derisive little laugh, one corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

The situation made her uncomfortable, but she remained standing as politely as possible. He soon recovered his usual expression and spoke to Rosette.

“You even know how to provoke. The princess makes me laugh quite often. Imperial Palace life won’t be boring from now on.”

He understood her offer to become a jester as audacious provocation and muttered lowly. This time, his words were somewhat accurate, but Rosette played innocent and bowed to him.

“I will sincerely and wholeheartedly assist Your Majesty.”

The Emperor, who couldn’t trust anyone, would suspect her true intentions, over and over again. Her immediate task was to resolve that.

“Indeed. That is, if you don’t want to lose your beautiful homeland.”

He said it with an indifferent expression, the corner of his lips turning up, as he held her hometown hostage. A shiver instantly ran down her spine.

Moreover, it was a tragic future she would truly face.

Just imagining it made her even dizzier. Her physical condition, which had been poor for a while, began to rapidly worsen. Now, her vision blurred and cleared again and again.

She tried to shake her head, forcing herself to regain focus, but it was no use. Rosette clung to her hazy consciousness and barely managed to speak.

“Yes, that will absolutely… never happen.”

A fleeting look of puzzlement crossed Theodore’s face as he watched Rosette, but she had no time to notice him.

She was too dizzy. It felt as if the entire world was spinning around her alone.

“I look forward to it, Princess.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Then I’ll be—”

She turned, relieved inwardly, and that was when her fragile consciousness finally gave way. All strength drained from her body. Theodore’s brows furrowed in alarm, and the knights wore expressions of shock. Those were the last faces she saw before her vision turned completely black.

Rosette woke with a cough, her vision filled with an ornate, latticework ceiling.

Where was this? Was it a dream? No, it was too vivid to be a dream. This place was…

“You’re awake?”

A voice drifted to her. She slowly turned her head toward the sound and saw an unfamiliar woman smiling at her. The woman looked rather youthful and curtsied to Rosette.

“I am Charlotte Clyburn. I’ve been assigned to serve the princess. Please call me Charlotte.”

She couldn’t have been more than seventeen. Freckles and a pleasant blush adorned her face as she shyly greeted Rosette. Rosette slowly regained her bearings, starting to gather her thoughts. Soon, she realized. This was the Kaysen Empire, not her homeland, Hersia.

“You’ve been unconscious since yesterday. The Imperial physician visited and said you’ll recover if you rest for a while.”

Rosette realized it was probably due to being in the cold water for an extended period when she encountered Emperor Theodore in the desert… Indeed, she had started feeling ill ever since then, barely enduring the arduous journey in that state. It was not surprising that she had lost consciousness.

Rosette coughed repeatedly, emptying the glass of lukewarm water Charlotte offered her. She wiped the water droplets from her lips with her sleeve and asked Charlotte,

“I… I was unconscious for a whole day?”

“Yes, Princess.”

At Charlotte’s words, one person suddenly came to mind. Her last memory was facing Theodore, who had sneered at her after she exited the carriage. Rosette asked Charlotte again, her eyes anxious.

“Then how did I… how did I get here?”

“His Imperial Majesty personally carried the Princess here.”

“What, what did you say?”

Rosette had just emptied one glass of water in a gulp and reached for the jug to pour another. The jug slipped from her hand. It crashed onto the marble floor with a deafening clang. It was made of iron, so it didn’t shatter, thankfully, but the sound was so thunderous it jolted her back to full awareness.

The Emperor carried her? Why would he?

Her face, overcome with shock, flushed with varying colors.

“By any chance… did His Majesty say anything else?”

“No, not really anything specific…”

To collapse right after speaking with him, in front of everyone—it was the kind of incident that would make people point fingers, claiming he had overworked a delicate princess. It was also something that would plant even more distrust in a man who already suspected her true intentions. She needed to explain to him that it was a misunderstanding.

But the physician had already visited, hadn’t she? Wouldn’t he already know the truth of her unfair predicament? Rosette composed her chaotic thoughts, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of ideas.

“I need to… clear my head. I should wash up.”

“You shouldn’t get up yet. They said to get plenty of rest, so please have some soup first and lie down a little longer, Princess.”

Charlotte quickly disappeared and returned with a silver tray holding warm soup. Perhaps because she had been unconscious for so long, a sharp hunger hit her the moment she saw the hot soup. Rosette picked up her spoon and ravenously ate the soup in front of her.

“Thank you, Charlotte.”

Young in age, yet mature and kind-was Rosette’s first impression of Charlotte. The soup she was so distractedly eating tasted exquisite, and the room she stayed in was, befitting a grand empire’s Imperial Palace, incredibly opulent. Yet, she had no leisure to appreciate any of it.

Yes, she had to eat to live. She had come here to survive, after all.

Her eyes, filled with that singular thought, emitted a faint, determined glow.

Theodore, who had returned from the war with the Hersia Kingdom a short while ago, immediately set out on another expedition without a moment’s rest.

His destination was the northern part of the Empire, where monster subjugation was in full swing. Theodore sought a place where he could relentlessly swing his sword and slaughter when ‘that time’ drew near.

Lately, the cycle had become noticeably irregular. He had no time to rest, as he could only forget his pain for a brief while by sating his surging destructive urges.

His aura, that of one of the Empire’s foremost Sword Masters, was crimson, matching the color of his eyes.

From a distance, his form when wielding a sword resembled a crimson fire. Because of this, people began to fear him even more.

Theodore, swinging his sword like a beast driven by instinct, was enough to brand him as a lord of terror. His notoriety grew day by day.

It had been several days since he had forgotten sleep or rest, engaging in slaughter. His appearance upon returning from massacring monsters resembled a fiend drenched in blood.

The sight of Theodore stained crimson with blood never grew familiar, so thought Ian Douglas, Theodore’s direct subordinate and aide.

After bathing for a long time and changing his clothes, Theodore looked completely different from the beast he had been just moments before. His face was impeccably clean, without a speck of dust. He was a peerlessly handsome man, lacking nothing, with perfect features complemented by an aura of harmonious elegance. An unapproachable atmosphere radiated from him, making Ian involuntarily swallow dryly. His liege lord was someone who made everyone around him tense.

As he sat in his office, receiving a confidential report from Ian, Theodore’s brows furrowed sharply. He made no effort to conceal his keen edge.

“What about that matter?”

“We have distributed wanted posters throughout the Empire and are doing our utmost in the search, but there has been no progress.”

“The more we do, the deeper he’ll hide. It will be useless.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“He is not someone to be taken lightly. We need to change our approach.”

The Night of Blood. To think that not killing him with his own hands would become such a lingering regret. Theodore roughly ran a hand through his hair and gave Ian new orders.

“Recall all the wanted posters. Form elite units and search quietly. Secretly, as if we’re no longer interested in the matter.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Understood.”

“Expand the search parties towards the Ailstone Region and Bennion, where sea routes connect. You may deploy maximum personnel. He must be found as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We will deploy search teams in that radius.”

With that, Ian quickly disappeared to carry out Theodore’s new orders.

“That rat.”

The one person who had vanished. As long as he existed under the same sky, Theodore’s position would inevitably be precarious. Theodore’s eyes gleamed with an unusually sharp light.

– The Prelude to the Journey –

After several days of rest and recovery, Rosette finally got back on her feet completely when a week had passed.

Now almost back to her normal condition, she finished a simple toilette and stepped out of her room. The first rule of battle was to understand your enemy. To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, she decided to familiarize herself with the layout of the Imperial Palace and also to explore its renowned opulent interior. She slowly walked down the long corridor to the far end of the right wing.

Charlotte, accompanying Rosette, seemed excited about their first outing together. Rosette asked her,

“Charlotte, how long have you worked here?”

“I… a little over a year.”

“A year, you say… Do you have family?”

“No, Princess.”