Midnight in Valentine (5)

The date for the private audience proposed by the Emperor was exactly two days after he contacted us through the shadow puppet.

With the strange feeling that he was trying to meet me unusually quickly for an emperor of a nation, I made what preparations I could.

“…Then I’ll leave it to you.”

After entrusting the task to Rubila and Delphina, I boarded the carriage heading to the imperial palace of the Valentine Empire.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Princess Evangeline.”

“…”

“You must be tired from your long journey, please come and sit down first.”

Guided by the palace servants, I arrived at a spacious hall with a long table placed in the center.

The Emperor, seated at the head of the table in a chair as large as his imperial authority, gestured to me.

On the table, teacups were placed with steam gently rising, as if freshly poured.

I silently walked over and sat down below the Emperor.

When I touched the teacup, the handle was warm.

“The cups were pre-warmed in hot water to maintain the tea’s temperature.”

The Emperor said to me as I lightly held the teacup handle.

“…Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Not at all. Let’s talk while we drink.”

The Emperor nodded and picked up his cup.

“…”

As I tilted my cup, I glanced at the Emperor.

He was smiling with his eyes gently closed, as if savoring the taste of the tea.

As I observed his demeanor, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘…He has no openings.’

The Emperor’s aura was like that of a seasoned warrior who had spent a long time on the battlefield.

Not just the weight carried in his voice that I had heard from a distance, but the man himself was like a piece of steel.

There seemed to be absolutely no gap to penetrate, such was his presence…

“Is there something on my face?”

“…No, sir.”

‘Did he notice?’

I quickly turned my head and muttered inwardly.

I had a rather bad feeling about this in various ways.

As the emperor of a nation, he would surely be incredibly busy with countless schedules, yet he had set everything aside to meet me.

And now meeting in person, he was challenging me from the beginning… and completely taking the upper hand by trying to press in on me.

Perhaps because of what I had heard from Yuriana earlier, everything he did seemed suspicious.

‘No, this won’t do. Evangeline, you need to stay calm.’

I shook my head internally. Regardless of Yuriana’s words, I wouldn’t know what he was thinking unless I probed directly.

There must be a specific reason why he was so eager to meet me, but I had to find that out for myself.

“…Let me start with a simple question.”

Setting down his teacup gently, the Emperor turned his gaze to me.

“How do you find the Empire?”

“…Pardon?”

“You’ve had two days before coming here. During that time, whether by your own will or not, you must have had some opportunity to look around various parts of the Empire, albeit in a limited way.”

The Emperor asked me with a deliberately comfortable smile.

“How does this country look through the eyes of an outsider like yourself?”

“…It’s a good country.”

I didn’t lie, but I crafted my answer to be what he wanted to hear.

“Ordinary people walk along the streets, and the atmosphere is quite relaxed. Perhaps there isn’t great happiness, but there isn’t great unhappiness either—just the simple happiness of everyday life…”

“No, that’s not what I’m asking.”

“…Pardon?”

But the Emperor suddenly shook his head. I couldn’t help but be confused by his response.

There must be a clear reason why the monarch of a nation would ask such a question.

My father too would routinely ask such questions whenever I sneaked out of the palace to play as a child.

“I misspoke. What I wanted to ask about was the atmosphere among the imperial soldiers.”

“…The soldiers, you say.”

“How was the discipline of the soldiers protecting a distinguished guest like yourself? Did they show any negligence in their duties or disrespect toward you, did they have the proper mindset for those entrusted with the crucial responsibility of national defense… that’s what I meant to ask.”

The Emperor added with a shrug, as if regretful.

“Since you were a renowned knight in the Kingdom, I thought you would understand just from that brief question… but I was too hasty with a young lady who hasn’t even come of age yet. My apologies.”

“Why are you asking such a question?”

“Because I thought there were things I could only ask someone like you.”

It became clear from this brief exchange.

The fact that the Emperor clearly wanted to establish dominance over me.

“…Let’s get to the point.”

I threw the words at him in a deliberately strong tone. The Emperor, who had been smiling as if amused by my reaction, quietly said.

“You’ve already heard from Yuriana. The Empire is in danger.”

“Yes. But that’s precisely why I…”

“No, no. Your concern is truly appreciated, but allowing you to stay in this country would be disrespectful both to me and to King Carl of Failon.”

“What do you mean?”

“I regret to say this to you… but you must return to the Kingdom as soon as possible.”

The Emperor said to me.

Not a request to return, but words closer to an order that I must return.

While it wasn’t inappropriate coming from the self-proclaimed supreme ruler of Valentine, his response was strange.

Because…

“…Is this because of Prince Oscar’s disappearance?”

“You’re well-informed. It’s embarrassing to say as an emperor, but the Empire is not internally safe enough for a prince like Oscar to be involved in a disappearance case. For your own safety as well…”

“For that matter, I’ve heard you’re not very enthusiastic about searching for the Prince.”

“…”

This was where the gambit began.

During the two days since receiving his request for a private audience—brief as it was—I had made all the preparations I could.

The key was how much I could extract from him with the limited cards I held.

“…What are you saying.”

The Emperor let out a casual laugh.

“He is none other than my son. Although he is the son of my second wife, as you well know, I treat all my children equally.”

The Emperor said.

That much was true. He was exceptionally clean regarding women even among the imperial emperors of history, having taken only two official wives and no concubines.

In fact, scandals involving affairs of powerful figures that are fairly common in other countries were completely absent in his case.

However, that doesn’t mean his current behavior is reasonable.

He spoke again.

“That must be what Yuriana told you. She must have complained that I wasn’t fully committed to searching for the prince. The sibling bond between her and the youngest is particularly strong.”

“…”

“It’s truly admirable, despite being born from different mothers. Compared to other unworthy children…”

The Emperor laughed heartily as he spoke, as if trying to laugh off the conversation.

“But the child’s words are not true. The reason I’m focusing on increasing our defense capabilities is because I predict that the Demon King’s Army will launch another invasion before I die. When that time comes, I intend to provide substantial support to the Kingdom’s frontline defenses as well.”

“…That’s a reassuring statement.”

I answered while trying my best not to show my anxiety.

Thanks to Delphina and Oscar, I had improved significantly, but the deeply rooted fear in my mind had not yet disappeared.

Barely overcoming the sense of helplessness that enveloped my entire body, I continued to maintain eye contact with the Emperor.

“However, there seems to be something strange about what Your Majesty just said.”

“Oh?”

The Emperor tilted his head.

“What would that be?”

“If you are truly dedicating your efforts to searching for Prince Oscar, my fian—, why do the common people of the Empire seem unaware of this fact?”

The first exchange I had with the Emperor.

My answer regarding the living conditions of the imperial citizens was not something I had fabricated.

If their lives had appeared visibly impoverished, I would have stated so honestly.

That well-packaged, vague answer was possible only because I had personally confirmed it, albeit superficially, with my own eyes.

And that wasn’t the only purpose for deliberately taking time to walk around the imperial streets.

“Nowhere in the capital’s busiest streets could I find even a hint about the Prince’s disappearance.”

“…”

“I couldn’t even detect any signs of people discussing it. As if they were completely unaware of the fact itself. May I ask how this came to be?”

“…It’s not unreasonable to think so.”

The Emperor unexpectedly nodded readily.

“However, not announcing the Prince’s disappearance to the imperial citizens was an unavoidable choice.”

“Unavoidable?”

“To prevent greater chaos.”

The Emperor said quietly.

“I don’t know what forces are involved in the Prince’s disappearance, but if this fact were to spread throughout the Empire and a current of confusion and anxiety were to pervade the entire nation, that would be exactly what the forces behind this incident truly aim for. Therefore, I had no choice but to conduct the search secretly.”

“…”

The Emperor spoke as if it were self-evident.

His answer seemed flawless to hear. If the Emperor says so, what could others possibly do about it?

As a cold-hearted emperor weighing his son’s danger against the fate of the nation, it could be considered a sufficient answer.

“…May I share a personal story with you?”

I quietly said to him.

The Emperor silently nodded, and I began.

“When I was young, there was a time I grew tired of the stifling palace life.”

“To think that even the Iron-Blooded Princess Knight had such a time.”

The Emperor murmured with interest.

This wasn’t made up either. The specific point in the story was just under half a year after I became aware of my past life.

It was when I was completely dominated by the thought that I needed to improve my skills further, that I needed to survive the war or else I’d be screwed.

I was continuously striving to keep up with Lord Scabbard’s lessons without difficulty, but once I had a severe moment of reality hitting me.

This wasn’t even my world, and at best I was just a pitiful wandering soul that had possessed someone.

Couldn’t I play for just one day? Couldn’t I give myself, who had worked so hard until now, the gift of one day’s rest? With such thoughts, I had secretly slipped out of the royal palace.

It was a bold escapade that the original Evangeline—a tomboy but a good princess who listened well to her parents—would never have conceived.

I had figured out the guards’ shift times and successfully escaped alone, taking advantage of the momentary laxity in security.

I had enough money not to be short. After all, I was still a princess of the nation.

When I first saw the street scenery, I was very surprised. It was so vibrant that it was hard to believe it was the medieval world in the mindset of a modern person.

There were even areas that boasted modern-level technology in certain aspects. Specifically, things like grills powered by magic stones or safety panels that allowed you to see through to the other side.

People who didn’t know I was a princess probably thought I was a child from a noble family out for a stroll.

After spending a carefree day like that, when the afternoon came and the sun began to set.

While walking along the street, a man passing by suddenly stopped me.

Thinking some fearless fellow might be trying to kidnap me, I clenched my fist and turned around to see a fresh-looking piece of paper in the man’s hand.

“What are you doing in a place like this? The entire capital has been turned upside down because the princess has disappeared. It’s absolute chaos.”

It seemed things had grown much bigger than I had thought.

Within a couple of hours of my disappearance, the palace had apparently distributed wanted notices throughout the country to find me.

According to what I later heard from the palace servants, during the single day I was gone, the palace administration was in a state that was practically half-paralyzed.

When I returned to the palace, for the first time in both my lives, my father spanked my calves.

But even after quite a long time has passed, the memory of that day remains unchanged.

What first comes to mind when I recall that time is not the shame of being spanked despite my mental age, but my father’s face, haggard with worry for his daughter.

“…My father was also a king of a nation. He was not the kind of person who wouldn’t know that if he set aside all matters to find me first, the country’s administration could be partially disrupted or halted, even if not completely.”

At my words, the Emperor silently looked at me. I couldn’t tell what thoughts were contained in that gaze, but I spoke what I felt was right to say.

“Before being a nation’s leader, that’s what a father is like, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“Are you truly the father of my fiancé?”