Ch.109Blood and Iron Rejects You (5)

“So, in the end, it all comes back to you.”

At the Emperor’s words, Evan shrugged his shoulders.

He was no longer kneeling as before, but the Emperor simply nodded without commenting on it.

The lunar eclipse was about three months away. It was close, but three months should be enough time to reorganize the Imperial Knights.

“Well… I don’t plan to move too hastily. You’ve had some good news recently, haven’t you? I’m truly concerned that if I overwork the Empire’s Master, I’ll receive complaints from Yuris. That would be troublesome.”

“…Surely not.”

“Hmm, haven’t you heard yet? When you returned injured, the head of Yuris sent me a petition directly. I never imagined that gentleman would act like that. I suppose he’s looking after his son-in-law in his own way?”

“……”

Evan bowed his head deeply, overwhelmed with embarrassment.

It would have been embarrassing enough if Airin had sent it, but to think the Duke had sent it himself.

And to hear about it directly from the Emperor, no less.

The Emperor chuckled at Evan’s reaction, then sighed and leaned his head back against the throne.

“Please take good care of Kaisel. He’s going to inherit this place soon, but he has so many shortcomings. I’d like to pass down a peaceful empire… but I worry he might ruin the country because his head is turned by women.”

‘That’s actually true.’

Following Scarlet Terazein’s words, the Yuris family was completely annihilated, so it was clear that the Empire must have suffered considerable damage afterward.

After all, Yuris had been the Empire’s shield against the northern tribes.

Even in the original timeline, Yuris had merely decreased in power but still remained one of the five great families.

“Um, Your Majesty.”

Evan carefully opened his mouth.

It was a very small possibility, but… he was curious how the Emperor would react if things proceeded as they did in the original story.

“If the Terazein daughter who’s coming happens to fall for the Crown Prince… what do you plan to do?”

“That doesn’t make any… no, with Kaisel, it wouldn’t be strange if they did fall for each other. He’s oddly fixated on women. I’ve been a bit worried lately with all his talk about pure love. If he happens to fall for that woman…”

The Emperor pondered for a moment with his chin in his hand, then frowned as he stared into space.

Somehow, it seemed like a plausible situation, which made it all the more unpleasant.

If his only son were to fall for that Terazein woman, it would create all sorts of headaches.

Kaisel might oppose any investigation into Terazein, and yet it would be awkward to tell him to break things off.

After contemplating for a moment, the Emperor smiled wryly and spoke.

“How troublesome. That seems like the worst possible outcome.”

“I think so too.”

“Well… you seem fairly certain that’s what will happen. Please make sure it doesn’t. I’d rather he keep multiple women than be with that one.”

The Emperor emphasized his point again.

“Anyone but her.”

#

Airin frowned as soon as she woke up in bed.

Partly because she had tightly embraced the blanket thinking it was Evan,

but also because she had heard from the maid that Evan would be with the Emperor for a long time.

She knew he had gone to meet the Emperor… but it was quite irritating now that it was happening.

“Hmm…”

She couldn’t just lie in bed until Evan returned.

Airin thought it might be better to go out for a while, so she got out of bed with light steps.

Before that, she didn’t miss the chance to curl up and smell the spot where Evan had been lying.

This was something she could only do when Evan wasn’t around. She had previously excused it as sleep-talking,

but after confirming no one was around, Airin buried her face in the pillow where Evan had rested his head.

“Mmm, Evan…”

She couldn’t do this normally out of embarrassment, or because the maids were watching.

But in this unfamiliar place where no one was watching, Airin could finally express her true feelings freely.

How could even his scent be so lovely?

Airin’s cheeks had completely reddened as she hugged the blanket Evan had used and rolled around several times.

‘I want to stay like this forever…’

But she couldn’t stay like this indefinitely,

so when she heard the maid’s footsteps approaching, Airin carefully got up.

She looked longingly at the pillow Evan had slept on, then sighed deeply as she fixed her disheveled hair.

What would Evan think if he knew about this side of her?

Well, even her past self would have been shocked. Evan would probably be quite surprised too.

‘It’s Evan’s fault though.’

It was Evan’s fault for making her like this.

Airin smiled brightly at the mirror for a moment, but quickly put on an expressionless face when the maid entered.

The maid was startled by Airin’s face at first, then trembled slightly before speaking.

“…If you’re preparing to go out, we can help you.”

“It’s fine. I can do it myself, but I’d like just one person to accompany me a little later.”

“Understood. I’ll make preparations.”

When the maid disappeared, Airin quietly looked at the mirror.

She simply tidied her messy hair and applied a light dusting of powder to her bare face.

There was no need to put effort into her appearance when Evan wasn’t around.

Though Evan might not realize it, Airin was quite particular about these things.

Since the purpose of going out was just to pass time until Evan returned,

she planned to come back around dusk anyway.

As Airin stepped out of the room, a maid naturally followed behind her.

“When did His Majesty summon Evan?”

“About two hours ago.”

“…Two hours, huh.”

Whatever they were discussing, it must be quite important.

Perhaps they were talking about the subjugation of Hatan.

Airin was reflecting on many aspects of the previous Roman subjugation.

About how she could only watch, and now about not becoming a burden to Evan.

Spreading influence in social circles took a long time,

but she was putting in much more effort than before.

So that when the time came to fight against the families belonging to Jeolmyeol, she could gather allies under the Yuris name to help Evan.

‘It will take some time to bear fruit.’

But she hoped to be able to help Evan before this fight was over.

Airin smiled as she carefully caught her hair blowing in the wind.

Then Evan might praise her.

Perhaps he might even say he couldn’t live without her. And naturally, the topic of marriage would come up…

“Hmm.”

Realizing her thoughts had taken a strange turn, Airin swallowed.

Worried she might have spoken aloud, she looked at the maid,

but the maid was just staring into space without any particular reaction.

…She needed to be careful. Since starting her relationship with Evan, these fantasies occasionally popped up,

which was troublesome for Airin herself. No, they weren’t fantasies.

Weren’t these things that would definitely happen someday?

Airin looked slowly at the emerald set in her ring, composed herself, and began walking down the street again.

Though it was a quiet street, it was lined with numerous stalls befitting the imperial capital.

Elaborate dresses and accessories not commonly seen in the north, as well as new items from across the continent.

Airin’s footsteps stopped as she was browsing these items, in front of a stall with no sign.

“Are you interested? I’m only selling here today, so these items will be hard to find from tomorrow.”

“…What’s this?”

Airin pointed at a black headband.

It might seem ordinary, but what caught Airin’s eye was the decoration on top of the headband.

“It’s a headband modeled after the horns worn by a princess from the neighboring continent.”

“A princess with horns?”

“Yes, well… similar to the Fried family, I suppose?”

Whether the princess from the neighboring continent had horns or how they were used wasn’t what Airin was curious about.

As if drawn to it, the snow-white horns growing from the black headband greatly intrigued Airin.

Slightly curved backward, horns that could be stably held from either front or back.

“It’s ergonomically designed. Something not easily found even in Evangelium.”

“…Indeed.”

Airin nodded.

Recalling the regret she felt a few days ago, hadn’t she been thinking she needed something like this?

When she tried on the headband, the black part completely blended with her hair, making the horns look natural, as if they had always been there.

They didn’t wobble when held… and most importantly, they looked natural.

“It has magic applied, so it probably won’t fall off unless you take it off yourself.”

Gulp.

Airin unconsciously swallowed at the merchant’s words.

If she wore this handle—no, this headband, would Evan like it?

Airin’s cheeks began to redden as she recalled the contents of the book Rofena had given her.

Ahem, ahem. After clearing her throat softly, Airin’s hand pointed to one end of the display.

Then her finger moved smoothly to the opposite end.

The meaning of her gesture was clear, and that day the merchant gained four gold coins.

#

Airin walked toward the imperial palace with lighter steps than ever before.

Though today’s harvest consisted only of items bought from one merchant,

she felt as if she had gained a thousand troops, her shoulders rising involuntarily.

Of course, the expression of the maid carrying the items wasn’t pleasant, but Airin didn’t notice such things.

Having resolved to study the book Rofena had given her more carefully when she had time,

Airin tilted her head when she saw a carriage stopped at the imperial palace.

It clearly wasn’t an imperial carriage. But since she was familiar with the emblems of high officials’ carriages,

she was momentarily puzzled when she couldn’t identify the flag on the carriage.

“Do you know whose carriage that is?”

When Airin asked, the maid stared at the carriage for a moment before answering.

“It’s probably Terazein’s. The Emperor summoned Terazein to the capital today.”

“Terazein, huh.”

Airin slightly furrowed her brow, recalling the family she had seen in documents before.

Weren’t they a family with many connections to Jeolmyeol? What did it mean that the Emperor had personally summoned such a family?

She pondered for a while but was ultimately limited by insufficient clues.

She would either have to speak with them directly or hear from the Emperor himself.

But since only Evan had private audiences with the Emperor,

Airin’s gaze turned to a woman getting out of the carriage, thinking she would ask Evan about it later.

“The palace… it’s really huge.”

“Of course. This palace is the largest and most beautiful place in the Empire.”

“We didn’t have anything like this in our territory.”

“We can build one someday. Eventually.”

The woman stared at the palace with her hair blowing freely in the wind.

Anyone could see she was free-spirited, giving off an active vibe unlike Airin’s static nature, making Airin feel strangely uncomfortable.

Didn’t she seem like Airin’s complete opposite? It wasn’t difficult for Airin to deduce Scarlet’s identity.

The only woman belonging to the Terazein family,

a commoner who was taken in at a young age and raised nobly—this could only refer to Scarlet Terazein.

But that was all. She felt slightly uncomfortable because of Evan’s reaction,

but she couldn’t feel anything else toward this woman named Scarlet Terazein.

It was quite strange that Evan remembered such a woman’s name, as she didn’t seem particularly special apart from her appearance.

“…Let’s go.”

Airin lost interest in the woman called Scarlet.

She had tried to take an interest briefly, but besides the suspicion that she might be connected to Jeolmyeol, there was nothing interesting about her.

Wasn’t she herself much better than such a woman? Evan couldn’t possibly have feelings for a woman like that.

Having made that determination, she was about to turn around when:

“Oh, could it be?”

What caught Scarlet’s eye was the figure of a knight leaving the imperial palace.

Neat blonde hair, handsome features, and the Yuris emblem embroidered on the uniform covering his toned body.

There was only one name for such a person,

and Scarlet, who had rushed over in one breath, stood before Evan who was walking absentmindedly.

Scarlet, seeing the knight she had admired and heard about only in rumors, immediately stamped her feet excitedly in front of Evan and moved her lips.

“A-Are you Sir Evan? The one who slew the dragon!”

“……”

Evan’s expression froze coldly as he recognized Scarlet,

but Scarlet, oblivious to Evan’s feelings, simply clasped her hands together.

Regardless of Jeolmyeol, Scarlet had always been interested in the various rumors coming from the capital.

Among them, stories about the knight named Evan Fried took up the largest share.

For Scarlet, meeting the subject of those rumors was nothing short of thrilling.

While Evan was looking at Scarlet with an awkward expression,

he soon turned his head when he sensed a presence beside him, and there stood Airin with a rather chilly expression.

As if very angry, her expressionless face didn’t show any emotion at all.

As the excited Scarlet froze at the mask-like expression,

Airin smiled bitterly and slightly hid Evan behind her back.

She had planned to ignore her since she had no interest, but this woman was quite bold.

An alarm began to ring in Airin’s mind.

The flame of jealousy was burning more fiercely than ever in her blue eyes.