Chapter 18

His stomach is boiling hot.

“With such good conditions, a better candidate will appear soon. I don’t intend to marry the Princess.”

“Don’t you need a successor, too? In marriage, it doesn’t matter what you want.”

They were simply not a compatible match. They were not used to rejection and did not understand it.

“Is that all you have to say?”

“That’s right. I’ll be waiting for a positive answer.”

Ragnar showed his bandaged left hand.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to go now because my injury is still healing.”

The emperor nodded.

“I can’t help it, take care of yourself.”

Ragnar rose from his seat without saying a word. Then Elio calls him.

“Ragnar.”

He turned back. Elio’s expression was not visible due to the place filled with cigarette smoke.

“Do you still have nightmares?”

“…….”

Ragnar gave no answer. Then he quietly left the separate room and headed to the terrace.

He felt like the heat in his heart would disappear only when he inhaled the cold air outside. When he opened the terrace door and went out, the cold night air welcomed him.

“Damn it.”

“Captain, are you okay?”

Mervin Ferride followed Ragnar. It was expected that his boss was not feeling well.

“Do I look okay?”

“Well, you look good.”

“Okay.”

Mervin didn’t say much. As he can see, the emperor or Elio must have turned the leader’s mind upside down.

“They want me to marry the princess.”

“Can’t you get married?”

“Who’s good?”

“I’m saying this for the leader.”

It was Ragnar, who had been deviating from politics. However, it was unlikely that his opponents would leave him alone, who had once scored a point in the imperial family.

Ragnar stared at his bandaged left hand.

‘That woman, then. She had that knife on her neck.’

What would have happened if he hadn’t stopped her by the blade yesterday, if he hadn’t found her?

“Leader, what’s with that wound? Did you have a fight somewhere?”

“Did you ever see me lose?”

“No.”

“Mervin, I have one thing I need you to investigate.”

“What is it?”

“Christa Palmaril.”

Mervin paused.

“………Why, all of a sudden?”

“Just, look into it.”

At that moment, Mervin once again suffered from a sensation of pain in his stomach.

‘No, I don’t think so. I hope not’

It was a reality that he desperately wanted to deny.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

Soon after, Ragnar was briefed on information about Christa Palmaril, which was investigated by his loyal and oldest friend, his Chief of Staff, Mervin.

“……She was born as an illegitimate daughter of Baron Palmaril and became a soldier by applying herself during the Three Kingdoms War. Maybe she applied instead of the son.”

“The battlefield is a good excuse to deal with illegitimate children,” Mervin’s words stuck in Ragnar’s heart.

“Finance. What’s the financial status of the house?”

Mervin rummaged through the report.

“Well, it’s not good. Oh, Sir Palmaril’s uncle, Baron Sebastian Palmaril, seems to have a hobby of gambling.”

Ragnar said, frowning unconsciously.

“How bad is it?”

“To the point where she has to get married to a Count Pasquier?”

“Who is that?”

He felt a sudden chill at the word of a political marriage.

“There is a rumor that his ex-wife was beaten to death by him. Given his clean record, I think he spent money. They’re quite a wealthy family. He has two grown-up sons. Well, of course there’s no decent family who’ll marry their daughter to a man whose wife died mysteriously.”

“What do you think is the reason for marrying into such a family?”

“It’s usually this.”

Mervin rolled his thumb and forefinger round.

“As expected, is that so?”

Ragnar was lost in thought. Obviously, she was trying to kill herself if he wasn’t mistaken.

Unwanted political marriage, financial difficulties, suicide. The ominous imagination lingered in his mind.

‘But is that why she tried to kill herself?’

Then soon came to mind the assessment he himself made of her on the battlefield.

‘It seemed like she was fighting because she wanted to die.’

However, there was something inconceivable about the series of events that was not convincing enough just because of her unfortunate background.

“But why are you suddenly interested in Sir Palmaril’s background again….?”

Mervin felt his stomach prickling and squeezed by an invisible hand.

He’s seen his boss for a long time, so there’s something he can tell. There are times when a kind of ominous foreboding comes as it is now.

‘No way, no way, no way…… I don’t think so. There’s also the case of the princess.’

He watched his boss’s reaction carefully, tearing his nails nervously. But what came out of his mouth was completely unexpected and outlandish.

“Women…… What do I have to do to make them feel better?”

“What?”

What kind of change is this? He can’t believe Ragnar Argonod, who is arrogant and knows nothing but himself, asked this question. It was as surprising to him as the sun rising in the west.

“It depends on what kind of woman she is, what kind of woman is she?”

“I don’t think she has enough money, she’s thin, she’s at risk, and I think she’s going to die soon.”

“…….”

Mervin has been assured that he will have a hole in his stomach before the end of the year.

He managed to keep his head above water. He hasn’t received a definite answer yet. There was still hope. So her financial situation is bad and she’s skinny…… Maybe he met another girl. Half the world was a woman. There are many women in the world.

“……… Captain.”

“Why?”

He spoke in a brooding voice, breathing heavily.

“Why did you sleep with your subordinate?”

“She seduced me.”

Having heard the absurd remark, Mervin managed to overcome the urge to throw the cup in his hand onto the floor.

“Don’t lie! If you’re going to lie, tell me you didn’t sleep together! I want to pretend I didn’t hear that!”

His cry resounded through the room. Sir Palmaril seducing him? It couldn’t have been the case. He’s sure that the mean Knight Commander of the Order put out a spell to her.

Whether or not it is the case, Ragnar had the nerve to say what he had to say.

“So what should I do to make her feel better?”

“What kind of shamelessness did you do that bothered her so much?”

That was purely a question. To the best of Mervin’s knowledge, Ragnar was not a great man to care so much about women.

For him, women were a kind of consumable. More like a tool to fill his emptiness. Isn’t he a man who is so rude even to the empire’s princess? He didn’t even want to imagine how tough and terrifying this man has to go through before worrying about relieving a woman’s mood.

“It’s hard to say.”

“Yes, it must be hard.”

Already, Mervin’s mind was stained with the most shameless acts he could imagine.

Poor Sir Palmaril. She was an innocent woman who didn’t know anything, but somehow she got caught by such a human mongrel……. Mervin glanced at Ragnar’s face again and shook his head.

“You’re talking with your face. Once again, that’s not it.”

“Oh, I see.”

Now that Mervin felt no excuse was available, Ragnar quickly gave up. In any case, Ragnar’s reputation is disastrously low, so it was not a big blow even if he fell further from there.

“So I’m asking you what to do.”

Mervin looked carefully at his boss’s face, which seemed to be more serious than he thought.

In any case, he was not entirely responsible for noticing to some extent how he felt for her. But he can’t believe he’s shameless enough to touch his subordinate…….

No, his boss was the most shameless man in the world!

“Well, she doesn’t have any money. Why don’t you solve that part? Oh, but if you interfere too much, you can hurt her pride. You have to keep the right line.”

It was too abstract and esoteric for Ragnar to understand. He had plenty of money. However, it was not easy to understand that it was a line that didn’t hurt her pride.

He was a man who never gave up his pride. The correlation between money and self-esteem was difficult for those who had everything.

He was a man who never gave up his pride. The correlation between money and self-esteem was difficult for those who had everything.

But he knew a good solution. His old friend and loyal helper, the chief of staff, was a very capable man. He also handled everything neatly by demonstrating the delicacy he did not have in solving these complex problems.

“Then, please.”

“Huuh…”

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