Chapter 48
“What? A rumor… you say?”
Yvette’s eyes widened in surprise.
“A rumor… I mean, there is a rumor going around, but… why do you bring it up so suddenly… Uh, what rumor are you referring to exactly…?”
Strangely, her voice was echoing. There were two voices overlapping.
— Oh no. Did I just mutter that to myself? What if Her Majesty heard it?
Rasilia’s eyes widened in shock.
“This is, I mean…”
“Your Majesty? What’s wrong?”
Yvette, filled with worry, approached her.
What… is this…
The moment she woke from a dream flashed back vividly.
— This is what I hope you never come to resemble.
Those golden eyes, filled with concern, looked at her. Just like how Yvette was looking at her now.
— To see into the hearts of people.
She had asked if that was such a terrible thing.
The golden eyes grew so warm it was almost sorrowful.
— You won’t be able to trust humans anymore. You’ll neither love nor pity them. The hearts of people are too muddied to believe in.
What he had warned her about had just happened.
“Your Majesty… Um, are you alright?”
“Lady Yvette, just now…”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
Rasilia grabbed Yvette’s sleeve tightly. Yvette blinked with eyes wide as a startled rabbit.
“What were you thinking?”
“Pardon?”
Her eyes trembled side to side.
“Uh, just… I thought Your Majesty looked surprised, so…”
“That’s all?”
“Y-Yes.”
“…”
Rasilia let go of Yvette’s arm and shook her head.
The surroundings had quieted down since a moment ago. Only Yvette’s panicked breathing could be heard softly.
Was it just a dream that confused me for a moment?
She kept staring at Yvette, but the girl only blinked back cluelessly. She wasn’t hearing any thoughts.
Right. That must be it.
Rasilia mentally closed the door on the chaotic thoughts swirling in her head.
Regardless, such a thing couldn’t possibly happen to her. It shouldn’t happen.
“Pii?”
Pipi came over and gently pecked at her hand. Not to hurt her—just to get her attention.
“I’m fine. I just woke up, so I’m a little disoriented.”
The talk about the rumor must’ve just been something Yvette accidentally muttered aloud.
While stroking Pipi, Rasilia turned her head back to Yvette.
“This rumor, is it going around among the palace attendants?”
“W-Well, um…”
“I’d like you to tell me. If it’s about me, I should know. Is it that I’m still hung up on the young Duke of Pielion, and that’s why I rejected His Majesty?”
Yvette dropped her head low.
“Yes… well… Yesterday, there seemed to be some tension between the two of you… and people started talking… Everyone knows His Majesty is clearly smitten with Your Majesty… But Your Majesty seems not to return the feeling… so I think that’s why those rumors are spreading.”
Because Rasilia directly asked, Yvette assumed it was just her own slip of the tongue.
“I apologize, Your Majesty. I couldn’t control my mouth… Waking you was bad enough, and now I’ve disturbed your peace with such baseless rumors… Ugh, seriously. Why did I say anything…”
“If you’re not the one spreading the rumors, I have no reason to blame you. And I was going to wake up soon anyway. No need to feel guilty.”
Yvette looked like she was on the verge of tears.
“You’re always so forgiving… I think that’s why I forget my place. I start thinking everything is okay… I’ll be really, really careful from now on.”
“I don’t think it’s something worth chastising yourself over. Still, such rumors are troublesome. If someone brings it up again, bring them to me… Actually, never mind. Forget I said that.”
“Why not? If it’s a false rumor, we have to correct it! You haven’t even seen the young Duke of Pielion lately!”
Then something struck Rasilia.
“Did I meet him often before?”
“Huh? Oh, I don’t really know what happened before I entered the palace…”
Judging by her troubled expression, it seemed to be true.
“But the other palace attendants would know, wouldn’t they?”
“Um, well… I guess so…”
“I see.”
Rasilia remained calm, but that only made Yvette more uneasy.
“Your Majesty. I know it may be out of line, but… may I ask something? Why are you letting the rumor spread if it’s false? Isn’t the young Duke part of your family? Wouldn’t he be upset? And His Majesty must be heartbroken too…”
“What if it is true?”
“Pardon?”
Yvette looked as if she’d been struck.
“What if, before I lost my memory, I truly loved the young Duke of Pielion and had him as a lover?”
“I… I can’t believe that, Your Majesty. You’re His Majesty’s consort—how could…”
“Since I lost my memory, I haven’t been able to feel love for His Majesty.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Which must mean I’m not his true partner.”
Rasilia gave a bitter smile.
The first part was a lie—but the second part was true.
She wasn’t the true consort. So she had to set things right.
“Forget the rumors. Even if we silence the gossip, if there’s truth to it, we can’t stop it anyway.”
“Pii? Pii!”
Pipi lifted its head, declaring that if rumors were the issue, it would track down those humans spreading them and punish them.
Rasilia smiled and scooped up Pipi.
“Like you did with Lord Horsed? Peeking everyone’s faces?”
“Pii?”
“That’s a no-go. People will only get angrier if you peck their faces.”
“Piii. Piii.”
“Even pulling out their hair won’t help. You’re too cute, so they won’t be mad at you—they’ll just blame me. Call me a ruthless empress who uses a tiny bird to shut down rumors.”
“Piiit! Pii!”
“So it’s okay.”
“…Pii?”
Pipi asked if Rasilia really had feelings for the young Duke of Pielion.
“Who knows.”
“Pii!”
Pipi got angry.
How could she possibly like another man?
“I don’t know either. But you can’t control who you fall for.”
“Pii! Pii!”
Pipi flapped its wings and circled the room in frustration. Still unsatisfied, it flew straight out the window.
“Oh no, Lord Len…”
Yvette looked out the window with concern. Pipi had already disappeared from sight—it must’ve flown off fast.
She mumbled sadly.
“…He’s angry.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not… good, right?”
“Just like with love, getting angry isn’t something you can control.”
“I suppose, but…”
Yvette closed her mouth.
A heavy silence fell over the room.
His Majesty will probably be angry too. Just like Pipi.
And so, the Emperor would gladly depose the Empress who had lost her mark, who longed for someone else—
—And forget.
Find the true one.
Please.
That’s how the afternoon passed.
Bang!
The audience chamber doors burst open.
“Throw him out.”
Rescal, dragging someone by the collar, tossed the man at the door with those words.
Obviously, 99 out of 100 people who entered the Emperor’s audience chamber were nobles, and none of them had ever been treated this way before.
“Your Majesty! I am the late emperor’s—”
Bang!
Before the protest could even begin, Rescal slammed the door shut.
“Click-click… Did he not see what happened to the ones before him?”
Lyan clicked his tongue.
The noble who had just been thrown out, Count Rashit, lifted his head in fury.
He had been a close friend of the late emperor’s seventh brother. Because of that, he believed himself to be something like an uncle to the current emperor.
So Count Rashit truly believed it was his duty to offer timely, wise counsel to His Majesty.
Especially now, when unpleasant rumors about the imperial couple were spreading through the capital—his advice was needed more than ever.
But when he came running to fulfill this noble duty, as soon as the word “rumor” left his lips, the Emperor grabbed him by the collar and threw him out.
Count Rashit trembled with rage and glared at Lyan.
“What did you just say?!”
Lyan looked unbothered by the glare.
“Please don’t move suddenly. Judging by how you were thrown, I suspect impact to your tailbone.”
“Wha—what? No, I asked what you just said!”
“The noble who entered before you… for discretion’s sake, let’s just call him a ‘certain noble’—he suffered a cracked pelvis. He couldn’t stand and had to be carried out on a stretcher.”
“W-What?!”
It was a lie. But Lyan said it so convincingly that Count Rashit believed it.
“His Majesty was already deeply displeased by those rumors. And then that noble had the nerve to slander Her Majesty… I’m amazed he got away with only a fractured pelvis. His Majesty must have shown great restraint.”
“Uhh…”
“As you know, Her Majesty is His Majesty’s partner. Who in their right mind calls someone from the same household her ‘lover’? Are they mad?”
“Ugh…”
“And His Majesty has no reason to entertain the ramblings of a lunatic. He’s already overwhelmed with affairs of state.”
“Mmm…”
Lyan dusted off the count’s shoulders as if doing him a favor.
“Frankly, I’m very worried too—as His Majesty’s royal guard. Where do we even start quelling these rumors? At this rate, every noble visiting the chamber will end up with broken bones… tsk tsk.”
“…”
At last, Count Rashit understood the Emperor’s stance on the rumor.
It meant: Keep your mouth shut, unless you want your bones broken.
“Ah, are you feeling better now? May I help you up?”
“…Please do.”
The slender-looking guard was surprisingly strong. He gently helped the count up with ease. Though he wasn’t actually injured, his backside felt sore just from hearing the warning.
After Count Rashit left, the audience chamber was finally a little less crowded.
It was now clear that he had been spreading the rumors actively.
No more lunatic nobles came forward to claim that the empress—if truly unmarked—was unworthy of her position, or that the temple must verify in the upcoming trial whether her mark truly remained.
Of course, that didn’t mean Rescal’s mood improved.
