episode_0068

“I really didn’t know Congress was that stupid.”

Hmm… Is this a good way to set up investment funds?

“No, how can you think of declaring a loyalist of the empire as an enemy of the state?”

If there is a return on investment, it is shared equally among investors…

“No, isn’t it normal for the emperor’s army to step in to suppress the anti-emperor faction in the first place?”

I sigh involuntarily as I watch Theodora chattering endlessly next to me.

“Phew…”

“Aren’t you dumbfounded too?”

Does he expect me to respond?

“No, the actions of Congress are extremely reasonable.”

As if he didn’t know I was going to say something like this, he took the paper I was using with a fierce look and said.

“No! Is it reasonable to denounce you, a loyalist, as an enemy of the state?!”

I say this while looking at Theodora, who is giving me a passionate look.

Anyone who sees this will think I said I wanted to designate myself as an enemy of the state.

“I expected this level of backlash if I moved the Golden Knights.”

This is as natural as 1+1=2.

This is because the nobles, who were supposed to be completely neutral among themselves, turned the emperor into a puppet and moved the emperor’s army, which posed a threat to all political forces except my faction.

In the first place, the empire was not structured so that the emperor could do everything alone.

In the early history of the empire, it was so weak that there was an emperor who was dragged to death like a dog by Roman citizens on his way out.

Well, it would be a natural end since the first opposition party was forced to pass the National Assembly.

“No, that’s still true. It’s about catching the rebels…”

I say, interrupting Theodora.

“I am the leader of the rebel army.”

Anti-emperor faction.

It is a faction that does not actually plan a rebellion but rather values the privileges and traditions of the nobility.

However, they are called the anti-emperor faction because they are not on good terms with previous emperors who pursued absolute power.

He blinks his red eyes as if he has nothing to say to me, then rolls his beautiful eyes and replies in a crawling voice.

“No… you are actually a loyalist, right?”

-Pisik.

Am I truly loyal?

“I didn’t know that it was loyalists who turned the emperor into a puppet and controlled the political situation.”

Theodora raises her eyes and glares at my self-deprecating words.

And then she holds both my cheeks and her beautiful face comes closer.

She says, coming close to right in front of my face.

“You are a loyalist. Don’t ever say that again! Don’t you think I know you’re blaming yourself when you say that?”

I try to gently turn my head in response to her perplexing behavior, but I have trouble turning my head because her hands are holding both of my cheeks.

This is… too close, right?

Her sweet breath and the scent of rosemary tickle my nose.

“Now… Wait! This is too close.”

Thinking that if I couldn’t dodge left or right, I could just dodge backwards, I pulled back and escaped her grasp.

Recently, as if I wanted to catch a cold in the middle of winter, I try to move away from her who is becoming more and more exposed…

The sofa behind me blocks my escape route.

-Pisik.

“Cook… Cook! What is that!, if anyone sees it, they will think I am eating you.”

Seeing her retreat slightly like that calms my heart.

“Ah… Anyway, you should go and sleep. Don’t whine that you’re tired tomorrow.”

She sticks out her tongue slightly at my words.

“Be~ I’ll go and sleep without you having to tell me.”

After seeing Theodora going to bed, he immediately begins to draw his future plans on a piece of paper on the table.

***

Tea time with my mother after a long time.

Joey is being trained by Lucius at the Archdiocese, and while we were chatting recently about how Devian seemed to be feeling better again, he was having a good time…

My mother asks with a cautious face.

“Hmm… But did you read all the books I gave you last time?”

My face heats up a little at my mother’s words.

“Well… over there… I saw it…”

I’m not used to talking like this with my mother, so I feel somewhat embarrassed.

“Okay, then that’s a relief. That’s true love, rather than bullying Debian.”

I say that as if I were complaining.

“But… that mother… that…”

What should I say?

Debian doesn’t touch a single hair on my body?

This hurt my pride.

I can’t believe that I, who is considered pretty in the empire, can’t even persuade my husband.

I feel like something is my fault.

“The good news is that I was happy to hear that you two stayed up all night last time, but I was very worried about your health, so don’t stay up too late.”

I think my mother misunderstands something, so I correct her.

“That mother, the reason we stayed up all night was because we were taking care of state affairs…”

It’s difficult to say that directly, so my voice seems to be sinking, but my mother frowns slightly as if she doesn’t understand.

“Huh? Taking care of state affairs all night long? Even in the bedroom…?”

-Nod.

“Well… Then… Is it possible that we haven’t been able to annex the country until now…?”

-Nod.

I nod my head in the affirmative, and as I watch my mother stiffen like a stone statue, I speak cautiously.

“Well… he’s been very busy lately.”

I hastily make an excuse while looking at my shocked mother who can’t say anything…

“No, no matter what! If it is a national record, it is a law that has a duty to keep it!”

My eyes close tightly as I see my mother getting angry.

Ah… it’s no joke once you get angry…

Just as there is a saying that a normally gentle person becomes scared when angry, my mother is usually gentle, but once she gets angry, the repercussions are severe, so I am speaking up.

“Well… we too(?) are working hard…”

At my words, my mother holds my hand tightly and says.

“I understand Debian’s feelings. You asked for something like that on the first night, so of course I understand that innocent Debian is scared of that.”

“Yes?”

What are you talking about? What does it mean to ask for something like that?

To begin with, Debian is not naive.

You are as seasoned as a worn-out old politician. What does your mother mean?

“But still, this is not the case. You too have worked hard for the heirs of the empire, so now it is time for Debian to work hard.”

“Ha… But… I’m the one who comes forward and tells Debian to look at it and hug it…”

Even if you die, you can’t do that.

As an emperor and member of the royal family, I have pride, but what can I do about such things that a prostitute would say?

My mother speaks with stern eyes at my words.

“Don’t worry. Baby, I will take care of everything.”

Is it because of my mood that my mother’s blue eyes, holding my hand so tightly, feel eerie these days?

***

Terra spins like that, and I get lost in my thoughts.

The first night of marriage.

What on earth happened that day that made a grown man avoid sleep like that?

Did Terra prepare a leather whip?

Or did they prepare a hideous leash that could be hung around the neck of a ferocious animal?

Or is there still something strange and hideous under the bed?

“Ha, where did kids learn strange things…”

I thought they were lovely daughters who had been raised without shame.

However, not long ago, I found out about my daughters’ tastes and fell into despair.

Thinking about my eldest daughter Terra’s bizarre tastes and my second daughter Joey’s masculine tastes, I felt ashamed of my children for the first time.

Terra is whipping her husband, and Joy is writing a strange novel about her brother-in-law and his friend.

My head suddenly feels dizzy.

How come they all look like that…

When I first found out about it. I thought about my husband’s sexual preferences, but he didn’t have any strange tastes at all.

Rather… when I think of his actions and eyes that always cared for and cared for me even as he got older, I can’t understand such tastes.

Even so… am I also ordinary?

I don’t understand why men like to have masculine relationships or why they hit the person they love.

So, is my home education wrong?

However, no matter how flawed my upbringing was, I cannot understand where such bizarre tastes came from.

Actually… to be honest, I’m scared for my daughters.

If both of them were not the emperor or princess of the empire, I would probably cry over the fact that one had tastes worthy of being imprisoned for assault and the other had tastes worthy of being tortured in the dungeons of the Vatican for blasphemy.

Honey… what did I do so badly… that the kids grew up like that?

But I can’t stay weak and stay like this.

I am an adult of the imperial family.

As an adult, you must fulfill your duties.

“Still, I can’t stay still.”

If she were an ordinary woman, she would have no need to know about her children’s marital relationship or any reason to get involved in their relationship, but she has not been a woman since she married into the Augustus family.

As the adult of this empire, if the emperor goes astray, he has a duty to somehow correct it and make efforts to ensure that his successor continues in the right direction.

Plus, the thing I’m most afraid of is.

There is nothing more fearful to me than having all the children who inherited the blood of the husband I loved die, leaving my husband and my own blood relatives in this world.

Still… when I think of my husband and children who left before me, a part of my heart still aches. If Theodora and Joey die without leaving any descendants…

How can she see her husband’s face when she is dead?

The being who inherited her husband’s blood disappears from this world.

That much… I can’t tolerate it.

With that in mind, I think about how to get the shocked Devian to become interested in Terra.

Anyone can see that Terra is said to be the most beautiful in the empire because she inherited her blood.

When I heard it before, I wasn’t particularly impressed, and I thought maybe that was it. His lovely daughter. You don’t know how happy Terra was to inherit that title.

That’s because being the most beautiful woman in the empire is not a title that is easily heard.

But why doesn’t Debian harbor any ill will toward Terra?

Even if a man receives a shock, he must overcome it and overcome it.

Could it be that I am disabled?

When that thought comes to mind, despair fills my mind.

“Ah… no… Then the grandson…”

I can hear the sound of cracks cracking in the ideal retirement plan I had drawn while imagining the cute grandson and granddaughter that would be born to the beautiful Terra and her handsome son-in-law.

“No, that won’t be it.”

Since ancient times, the Ryan family has been said to have a voracious sexual appetite, so it is unlikely that there will be any physical problems.

I slowly think about why it doesn’t embrace Terra from Debian’s perspective, but I can’t come up with a clear answer.

“The beginning… If you just skip the beginning…”

I have a feeling that from then on, the two will burn hotly.

At that moment, a good idea comes to mind.

I call the chamberlain by gently shaking the bell on the table.

-A rattle.

“Is the Chamberlain there?”

-Squeak.

“Did you call me? Empress Dowager Mama.”

I say this as I look at the chamberlain who approaches me and bows his head.

“Starting tomorrow’s meal, serve before the Grand Duke plenty of food that is good for a man’s stamina and sexual desire.”

At those words, the chamberlain nods his head gently.

“I accept orders.”

Something is missing.

“And Terra, prepare underwear that that child would wear… hmm… that men like.”

“We serve four people.”

As I watch the chamberlain retreat, I pray in my heart.

“Ahh… honey… Please help me in heaven so that my lovely grandchildren can be born.”

I put my hands together earnestly and pray towards my husband, whom I have always relied on.