Strangely, the corners of his mouth stiffened.
“……Divorce.”
“Yes. The basic contract period is one year.”
He carefully examined the section concerning an extension of the contract period and nodded.
“I understand.”
Sir Dylan finished signing at the bottom of the contract.
“Then I suppose I’m a married man now, too.”
“I’m a married woman as well. Let’s make a go of this together.”
He cautiously held out his hand.
His large hand, touching mine, seemed to be trembling like an aspen leaf.
That couldn’t possibly be the case.
Unless, of course, my body was trembling with excitement at finally cutting ties with that awful family.
I decided to change the subject.
“I understand that I can move in starting today!”
“Ah, is that so? Then I’ll visit my elder brother today and move in afterward. I should probably tell him that I’ve gotten married.”
Ah, of course. Visiting family was only natural.
I had no family to tell that I had gotten married.
I’d thrown them all away.
And honestly, I felt wonderfully relieved about it.
I smiled contentedly and nodded, but then suddenly stopped.
“You got married so suddenly. Your family must be very surprised. Should I go meet them with you?”
“……No. I’d really like it if you could come with me next time. There are circumstances that make it difficult for us to meet my family together right now……”
Well, ours was a contract marriage, and we were planning to divorce soon anyway.
It would be rather strange for us to meet each other’s families.
I quickly sorted out the situation.
“Then go visit your family. I’ll send the contract to the lawyer. Oh, and I can move into the newlywed town right away too, right?”
“Yes, I heard that’s possible.”
“Then shall we meet at our house later? Let’s have dinner together!”
He nodded with a nervous expression.
“Yes. Please be careful at work. I’ll have dinner prepared.”
He looked like a messenger about to head into battle.
‘I was just going to suggest buying something or eating out.’
Was Sir Dylan good at cooking?
He had an incredible appearance and was a knight who had spent years on the battlefield.
Surely he couldn’t possibly be good at cooking too.
Surely he wasn’t going to serve some legendary monstrosity of a meal, right?
Still, I’d have to eat it while telling him it was delicious.
At this point, I felt confident that I could just smile indulgently no matter what Sir Dylan did.
“Yes, thank you for preparing dinner! Have a good meeting with your family!”
Having made up my mind, I lifted the corners of my mouth and gave him a bright smile.
What kind of people were Sir Dylan’s family?
And what kind of dinner would he prepare?
All sorts of questions began to pop into my head.
At the same time, inside the Imperial Palace.
The Emperor was enjoying lunch with his teacher, the Duke of Savoia.
“Master, are you leaving again this time?”
“Yes. This time, I’ll be heading to the west.”
The Duke of Savoia possessed vast lands, the title of Tower Master, and even the position of the Emperor’s teacher.
On the surface, he was a man who had everything.
Yet his face was always filled with sorrow.
The reason went back roughly twenty years, to the Million Theater terrorist attack.
The terrorist organization known as the <Red Castle>, which sought to overthrow the Empire, had thrown a bomb into the Million Theater.
At the time, the Duke of Savoia lost his son, daughter-in-law, and even his five-year-old granddaughter.
“I tracked down a theater employee who survived the day of the terrorist attack. He was living in hiding at a teahouse in the west.”
“You’ll find the missing Lady Diana soon.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The corners of the duke’s mouth did not move even slightly.
After losing his family, he had become a man who could no longer show any expression.
The fact that he had not even been able to find his granddaughter’s body made his suffering all the worse.
The Emperor looked at him sympathetically.
The duke naturally changed the subject.
“What is the atmosphere like in the Grand Duchy now that winter has arrived?”
This time, a brief look of pity crossed the Emperor’s face.
“It’s the same as always.”
Three hundred years ago.
There had been a witch who lived in an ice castle and ruled as the aloof Queen of Snow.
By chance, she encountered the Emperor and fell hopelessly in love with him.
But the Emperor feared and hated the witch.
The witch, who loved him, felt both tremendous hurt and anger.
In the end, she placed a curse on the Emperor who did not love her—a curse that made him incapable of feeling emotions.
The curse even reached the Castellia Grand Duke, the Emperor’s blood relative in the northernmost part of the Empire.
The once harsh but habitable territory was transformed into a winter castle covered in icicles and frost.
The witch’s curse was powerful.
Even after the Emperor she had loved died, the curse continued to be passed down through one member of his bloodline in every generation.
While successive Emperors ruled as benevolent sovereigns,
the Castellia Grand Dukes lived their entire lives in solitude within the cursed northern castle.
They lived with more than half of their emotions missing.
They would simply roam the battlefield, consumed by a murderous madness, until they eventually went insane.
Fortunately, the current Castellia Grand Duke, Dylan, was different from the previous dukes, who had all been more or less crazy.
Instead of becoming a warmonger, he found a healthy outlet for his madness by hunting down terrorists.
“He’s still catching terrorists.”
“Those <Red Castle> bastards again?”
“Yes. My younger brother infiltrated their ranks disguised as a knight within the Imperial Knights. He’ll be caught soon.”
The Duke of Savoia nodded, briefly impressed.
“Remarkable, as expected.”
At those words, the Emperor broke into a radiant smile as though someone had pressed a button.
He looked as if he had been waiting his entire life to hear those words.
Then he began praising his younger brother at machine-gun speed.
“Actually, I feel like giving him the title of Sword of the Empire. If it weren’t for that damn curse! If he doesn’t produce an heir, I might even be able to pass the Imperial Crown on to him…… Ah, my apologies. I’ve only been talking about myself. Forgive me, Master.”
It was such an intense display of brotherly pride that the duke’s ears practically began to bleed.
The Duke of Savoia awkwardly changed the subject.
“That’s all well and good regarding His Highness the Grand Duke’s achievements, but what is he actually like as a person? I’ve never met the young man, so I’m curious.”
The Emperor nodded.
“To be honest, that child’s life is a little boring. He’s very predictable and…… well, how should I put it? He doesn’t seem very confident about his appearance, either.”
“I see.”
“Yes. Perhaps it’s because of the dark magic. But even so, I know my younger brother extremely well.”
“What do you know about him?”
“I can see the entire trajectory of his life as clearly as if it were laid out before me.”
The Duke of Savoia shook his head.
“Your Majesty, didn’t you once say that people who seem predictable are precisely the ones who suddenly do unexpected things?”
At his teacher’s playful yet cryptic remark, the Emperor gave a small laugh and shook his head.
“Yes, I did say that. But that’s different. If it were anyone else, perhaps. But my younger brother would never do such a thing.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. He’s someone who knows absolutely nothing about deviating from the norm.”
He was such a boringly consistent person that the Emperor couldn’t help worrying about him.
‘His only act of rebellion was pretending to be a commoner.’
He had obtained a new Imperial citizen registration card.
He had even used magic to make some of his facial features look like those of another person.
Then he disguised himself as a commoner knight and joined the Imperial Knights directly under the Emperor.
Of course, Dylan was still Dylan.
Every day at this exact time, he came to report on the terrorist organization.
Every day, at noon, after lunch.
“Come to think of it, it should be about time for my brother to arrive.”
Just then, the bells of the clock tower rang, announcing noon.
And as if he had been waiting for that very moment, the door to the dining hall carefully opened.
Sir Dylan—or rather, the Castellia Grand Duke—entered.
“He’s here. Look, Master. My brother is such a punctual man.”
“I see.”
But today, Dylan had a strange expression on his face.
“There’s something I need to tell you, Your Majesty.”
Dylan wasn’t the type to approach him so abruptly and get straight to the point.
The Emperor gave him a dubious look and gestured with his chin.
“Sit down first and tell me.”
Had he perhaps discovered another clue about the terrorists plotting to assassinate members of the imperial family?
Come to think of it, Dylan had recently achieved the remarkable feat of killing an agent of the <Red Castle> who had infiltrated the Imperial Palace.
Could it finally be time to declare the end of the war against terrorism?
The nervous Emperor lifted his glass and took a sip of water.
Dylan sat down neatly and opened his mouth.
“I…… got married today.”
Pfft.
Water sprayed from the Emperor’s mouth like a fountain, completely disregarding all royal dignity.
