~CHAPTER 47~
Rision Catalos woke up at the same hour as usual.
The attendants moved without a sound.
The curtains of the bedroom opened all at once, and warm wash water was prepared.
One person unbuttoned his nightclothes, and another slipped a robe over his bare body.
The barber who had been grooming the hair and beard of the third Catalos Emperor appeared with a basin and towel in hand.
With cautious hands, as always, the barber spread lather over Rision’s chin and asked,
“It seems something good has happened, Your Majesty.”
“Does it look that way?”
“Yes. Did you have a pleasant dream?”
He had experienced something dreamlike in real life.
Rision felt that simply falling asleep last night had been close to a miracle.
Soft lips.
Cheeks flaring red.
A hand holding onto his collar as if begging him not to go.
Rision lowered his head, thinking he might burst into laughter if he dwelled on last night any longer.
The barber, who nearly cut the Emperor’s cheek, turned pale and hurriedly pulled back his hand.
While he was changing clothes after shaving, Neyron came in, still half asleep.
From behind a screen, the secretary began to complain.
“Last night, the Captain of the Royal Guard came to me insisting we should behead every guard who couldn’t keep up with Your Majesty’s pace.”
“There wouldn’t be many left.”
Rision had always been confident in his stamina.
He had naturally been athletic, but ever since becoming friends with Ravelan, the Crown Prince of Arasas, a nation obsessed with physical training, his competitive spirit made him push even further.
Neyron pleaded in a dying voice.
“Your Majesty… why did you do that? The commotion was so great that it took an hour just to clear the Grand Cathedral.”
“There was a reason.”
“And then you returned to the palace without notifying anyone…”
Rision shot a sideways glance through the screen at the grumbling secretary.
Only then did Neyron sigh and begin to recite the day’s schedule.
As usual, it was filled from end to end with state affairs and meetings, save for a brief break.
Rision listened quietly, then cut him off.
“Huh? For what purpose?”
“I’m thinking of going boating with Lira on the lake in front of Oak Palace. As an apology for missing the end of her performance yesterday.”
“…What?”
“It might be nice to invite the maids as well.”
The more Rision spoke, the higher Neyron’s eyebrows climbed, until they looked ready to merge with his hairline.
His voice lowered suspiciously.
“…What about Lady Ortensa?”
“If everyone from Oak Palace is going on an outing, wouldn’t it be rude to leave the governess behind?”
Had there not been attendants nearby, Neyron might have dropped his jaw to the floor.
He scribbled something onto the Emperor’s schedule, then pressed a hand to his forehead.
“…If Your Majesty goes out to play, that only means I will have more work.”
Rision gave the complaining official a sidelong look.
“Is your salary insufficient?”
“Even if Your Majesty granted me a title and a territory, there is only so much I can do alone. I need more people, not more money…”
“If you find someone competent, submit a recommendation.”
Neyron fell silent.
It was the dilemma of every ruler.
There were not many who were competent, and even fewer who could be trusted.
Selecting officials was essentially a game of identifying where those two qualities overlapped and bringing such people to one’s side.
Rision had almost limitless money and power, which gave him an advantage, but because he could trust very few people, it was also a disadvantage.
His father, who should have left him loyal officials, had failed to do so before dying.
‘I miss Edric.’
Edric, by the Rohysen family tradition, became a knight, but his talents lay more in governance and administration than martial arts.
If Elpenlira hadn’t needed to marry Ravelan for political reasons, making Edric the imperial son-in-law wouldn’t have been a bad idea.
Losing someone like that was a painful mistake.
“So, that is why I bring this up…”
Neyron looked around nervously.
Rision gestured for the attendants to leave.
They disappeared as quietly as they had entered.
Neyron stood before him with both hands clasped respectfully.
It had been a long time since Rision saw him so uneasy.
“In short… if I may presume, it seems that things went well yesterday with Lady Ortensa.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
A gentleman did not go around announcing he had kissed a lady.
Rision brushed invisible dust from his sleeve.
But Neyron persisted.
“Lady Ortensa is not marrying Sir Valikh, and Your Majesty has chosen not to distance yourself from her either.”
Not only that.
Dianu had kissed him first.
A lady who understood her place so well, with so little ambition, had still reached out because she could not help how she felt, because she liked him that much…
If he kept thinking like this, he would abandon state affairs and boating both, grab Dianu by the hand, and run away somewhere no one could find them.
Keeping his expression calm, Rision asked,
“Suppose you are right. Then what?”
“Then, could Your Majesty lend Lady Ortensa to me for a short time?”
Rision rarely found himself speechless, but he certainly was now.
Before he could react, Neyron quickly held something out to him.
It was a sheet of paper, folded twice.
“She wrote this when she visited the Imperial Palace some time ago.”
It was indeed Dianu’s handwriting.
Charts and calculations were arranged neatly, clear enough for even an outsider to understand the content at a glance.
As if trying to avoid giving Rision a chance to object, Neyron began explaining in a rapid voice how he had presented a problem and how Dianu had solved it.
“Someone who can analyze the given data quickly, produce a logical conclusion, and draft a report is extremely rare. And she already understands this case, and Your Majesty can trust her completely.”
“…”
“Please assign Lady Ortensa to the Aldebaron Baron case. I’m sure it will shorten the process.”
Rision rubbed his temple.
Imagining Neyron carrying this paper like some secret weapon was absurd.
He had apparently been waiting for the day Rision and Dianu became close, just so he could exploit her as his assistant.
Rision snapped,
“Who treats a lady as a labor force?”
“Your Majesty, Lady Ortensa already works. She teaches Her Highness, and switching to a different task in the palace would not make her suffer more…”
“No. Don’t even think about it.”
He was already trying to pull Dianu out of this mess, not drag her deeper into it.
Rision issued a stern warning to Neyron, who looked ready to argue again.
“And don’t even dream of asking Lady Ortensa directly. Unless you want to spend the next ten days eating and sleeping in the Imperial Palace.”
Neyron flinched, as if that had been his backup plan.
Rision stared him down.
Neyron lasted no more than five seconds.
“…Understood. I won’t say a word.”
Rision stood up.
“Good. Now, which merchant house supplies jewels to Oak Palace?”
“…What?”
Rision paid no mind to Neyron’s incredulous stare.
He felt like humming.
* * *
Still, it was true that he needed another reliable administrator.
‘If only I had more siblings.’
Even this was something he envied about Ravelan.
Ravelan had trained his younger brothers thoroughly from childhood and used them efficiently.
Now that even Baron Aldebaron had defected, tradition alone was no guarantee of loyalty.
There were many people, but few worth using.
Rision mentally scanned the list full of holes.
“Brother?”
Elpenlira brought him back to reality.
When he sent word about boating, she accepted immediately.
He truly did mean to apologize, yet she never criticized him for running out in the middle of her performance.
“You look to be in a good mood.”
“Hmm.”
“And why are you in such a good mood?”
“Come to think of it, teacher also looks very happy today.”
Elpenlira glanced over her shoulder.
Walking a few steps behind them with the maids, Dianu froze the moment she met their eyes and quickly looked away.
It was very cute, but at this rate, it was only a matter of time before everyone noticed.
‘Well. I can’t hide it, and I don’t intend to.’
He had no plans to make Dianu a woman in the shadows.
He loved her.
He had acted on that love.
The issue was no longer whether to do something, but how to do it.
Action was his right as Emperor.
But finding a way for her, and for Catalos, to suffer as little as possible was his responsibility.
“I have a favor to ask, Lira.”
Under the shade of her parasol, Elpenlira looked up at him sideways.
He owed the chance to face her like this again to Dianu.
Truly, even the world itself would not be too much to give her.
“There will be many difficulties ahead… so I hope you will take Lady Dianu’s side.”
Elpenlira’s eyes widened.
Feeling slightly embarrassed, Rision looked away.
“You always wanted a sister… I know she won’t be the same as one by blood, but still.”
Elpenlira said she had not forgiven him yet.
That was surely true.
But Rision believed that someday she would forgive him.
And the reason, somehow, would likely be Dianu.
He had no evidence, only a feeling.
“Thank you, Lira.”
“…For what?”
“For trying. For my sake.”
“…”
“Or is it for Lady Dianu?”
“You don’t think it could be both?”
Her dry retort overlapped with Rision’s laughter.
Elpenlira looked up at him, smiling brightly, then turned her gaze to the lake.
“Then I suppose the next task is to deal with Aunt Ellaris.”
The smile vanished from Rision’s face.
