Chapter 49

Elisha was honestly a little surprised, as she had grasped the sequence of situations just by looking down the stairs for a while.

While she was absorbing the amethyst energy last night, Elisha thought she truly had rotten luck because an unexpected person appeared.

Although she had checked the central hall for several days and confirmed the time when people were gone, her plan went awry, and the power of amethyst exceeded her expectations, making it difficult to stop halfway and take other actions.

In addition, Elisha had given herself a difficult task the moment she made the Duke’s amethyst as her prey in the first place.

Since she had become accustomed to digging through gems in the past, she could control herself well enough to preserve the amethyst’s original form instead of completely destroying it.

Elisha did not know how long it would retain its shape, so there was still a problem. She did not know what kind of conspiracy Duke Verdin would use for his explanation to the western nobles.

However, the other party from last night blew her worries at once.

And now.

Contrary to plan, the amethyst was broken while Elisha was present, but it was not the Duke who was in trouble.

“There really is such a coincidence.”

For Elisha, this whole farce was just that.

“Thank you, idiot.”

Even though she didn’t really want to say thank you.

“I can hear everything, Your Majesty.”

Rohan, who suddenly approached her, spoke to her, but Elisha was not at all surprised.

She was already feeling his presence, and one of the two knights accompanying her rushed out the moment she reached the main hall. It was obvious whom he was calling.

“Well, so what? Only Sir Rohan would have heard of it.”

Rohan paused at Elisha’s unimpressed words.

It was as if she didn’t care what he said because it was Rohan.

He was called the Knight of the Empire and was accustomed to receiving one-sided expectations and beliefs, but this kind of trust the 2nd Empress sometimes gave him was something different.

It was because he felt it was an understanding towards a single person, Rohan Scherzer, rather than his status as the Knight of the Empire or the obligations it entailed.

Like someone who’s known him for a long time.

Even though that couldn’t be the case.

While Rohan paused for a while, Elisha, who was ahead, glanced back.

The cold gaze was focused on Rohan, as if asking him what was wrong.

Rohan wiped his face with his big hand a few times, then strode forward and followed Elisha’s back.

When Rohan arrived, Elisha turned her back to those waiting for her and straightened her back.

Over her slender shoulders, one could see the western nobles, Duke Verdin, and Young Master Patrick.

Even with Emperor Kaiden, people’s gazes were often divided, however at this moment, Rohan noticed that all the eyes of the crowd consciously or unconsciously fall to the woman standing in front of him.

“Oh, my.”

Elisha said in a low voice.

The sound wasn’t so low like before, that only Rohan could hear it. This time, it rang in the central hall, making everyone hold their breath.

“It seems I have come somewhere I shouldn’t have come.”

After finishing her words, Elisha asked the one who had the highest rank among those in the main hall. To be precise, the owner of this castle.

“Am I right, Duke Verdin?”

“… How is that possible?”

In fact, if one looked closely, the only thing the 2nd Empress did was to go down the stairs, which was also the central hall, which could be said to be the most open place in the castle.

There were no wrongs, and not to mention…

As long as they were the ones who were overwhelmed and withdrawn by such a 2nd Empress, it was not good to let this tension continue.

Besides, it could not be said that the appearance of the 2nd Empress was necessarily bad.

It was an opportunity to sort out this sluggish situation, akin to saying, “Let us just disperse because we can’t show ourselves badly in front of a difficult opponent.”

Duke Verdin, who thought so, tried to soften his stiff expression and opened his mouth, but Elisha, who looked through him, could not have left him like that.

Elisha raised her index finger and pointed to one place.

“But what happened to that? If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that the treasure of this duchy?”

“Not to that extent…”

“No, I’m sure I’m right. I’ve heard a lot about it.”

As Elisha beat back casually and cut off his words, a squeaking sound from holding back could be heard from Duke Verdin.

Ah.

Now Duke Verdin seemed to be a man worthy of my evaluation.

Not an ordinary duke who usually plots conspiracies and kills people, but an ordinary old man who can’t contain his anger.

His momentum was extraordinary, but even as a duke, he didn’t feel like a very difficult opponent. Now, what is there to fear?

“I don’t know how the hell he made such a mistake, but I’m glad Young Master Patrick wasn’t hurt.”

Elisha could not bring the situation back to the beginning, so she poured new firewood into the embers that were almost extinguished.

“I-I didn’t do it. This is all…. Hiiyy!”

Upon hearing his name, Patrick reacted immediately, flicking his lips and looking at Elisha up and down as if he had suddenly remembered something.

Then, Elisha’s silver hair stopped his gaze.

It was an act too inappropriate and rude to do to the 2nd Empress, a guest of Barossa and the emperor’s wife, but even so, Patrick was pierced as if possessed.

He didn’t stop staring.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Before Rohan, whose eyes had hardened, came forward, Duke Verdin quickly rebuked him.

“T-That…”

“What filth in front of a precious person! Even I do not want to see you anymore! Get out of my sight!”

“Father! I just thought that the 2nd Empress looked very similar to the ghost I saw in front of the lion statue last night…!”

Surprised that Duke Verdin was throwing him out as he saw it as his last chance to sort things out, Patrick hurriedly excused himself.

The small fire that seemed to have already died down and went out, but…

The wind ignited Elisha again, and the silver flames were scattered in all directions.

“I think the words you just said are very misleading. Can you take responsibility, Young Master Patrick?”

Elisha asked, tilting her head.

“T-That…”

“Leaving aside the smell of alcohol that still lingered as you thought so, if you really thought it was me, then why didn’t you reveal it and find me in the first place? But, you only put my name in your mouth the moment I came to the central hall as if it had just come to mind. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of it looking at it?”

The flames that swallowed up a twig that someone had dropped on the floor began to inflate in size again.

“No, it wasn’t like that, Your Majesty!”

“What was not like that? That ghost that looked like me, or that Young Master saw a ghost last night? Oh, are you sure you’re not just trying to trap me?”

The 2nd Empress, who pointed out her point one by one with an indifferent tone, was very, very scary for Patrick.

The reason why he thought the ghost he saw last night resembled the 2nd Empress was not because of the color of her hair that reflected the moonlight, but because of the bad feeling he got since their first meeting.

Those around him frowned as Patrick couldn’t answer.

As his position grew more difficult, his lord father, as well as the western nobles, who brought in this saddle, wanted to act like mice in front of a cat that was Elisha.

His relatives and the western nobles had at least as much room as a rat hole, and they tried to stretch it out to escape.

Since their plots wouldn’t work at all for Elisha, they couldn’t do anything.

Elisha turned her attention to Duke Verdin, as if feeling that Patrick was not worth speaking to anymore.

They couldn’t pick up their portion on time and eat it, so this time it’s Elisha’s turn.

It was quite obvious as the Duke and the western nobles didn’t really deserve to act as if they had the leadership over the schedule to the west.

“Now that all the work I have to do here is over, I was going to talk about when it would be better to leave for another estate. I’ll leave right away.”

“That! That will put us in trouble, Your Majesty!”

The reaction came from Count Guillaume, not from Duke Verdin.

If the 2nd Empress got away like this, there would be no way to change the atmosphere, and the remaining people would have to settle the beggar-like situation that has been going on since yesterday.

“We cannot let you, the precious one go, creating a misunderstanding between the Western Nobility and the guests of Barossa.”

Duke Verdin also added a little late, but Elisha remained silent and waited for the answer she wanted.

“…”

Thousands of eyes flashed to press Elisha, and suppress her they tried, but so what?

They would soon come to realize that if one wants to break her will, they have to come up with a more clear cause, not just such a blatant sham.

As the weight of time hung on the scales of silence, the air in the central hall grew heavier.

If Duke Verdin had not stood still, some of the pale-faced Western nobles would have already withdrawn with white flags.

Of course, it didn’t matter for Elisha if she had to spend the day and night like this, and even until the next night and morning comes again.

Although she was worried that Leon would wake up alone in a strange place and be surprised that his mother was gone.

As unreasonable as Patrick was, he would not do anything stupid again, unless his father stopped pretending to be polite and wanted to cut his neck with the blade on his hand. To put it simply, Patrick didn’t expect much from him.

“Hmm.”

When the time was up, Elisha opened her mouth.

The Duke’s knights, who had been standing on the outer border of the commotion, quickly passed through the door.

They were bewildered by the silence inside, but quickly came to their senses and approached their master on the left of the two groups, separated by an invisible line.

Western nobles who were nearby gathered around the Duke.

Elisha tried to listen to them whispering, but she didn’t have to.

This was because, following the Duke’s knights, one knight of the 1st Knights, which Rohan had left outside, came in.

“It is said that the people of the Duchy are coming to the Castle.”

“The commoners? Why?”

When Elisha did not understand, the knight of the 1st Knights blushed.

The knight answered with eyes of clear pride, with a little excitement.

“They want to see the 2nd Empress. They would like to thank the 2nd Empress for the miracle you showed them. They want to make sure that nothing has happened to the Exalted One who shed blood for them!”

Those who were in the Vecchia Plain and those whom Elisha released last night.

And even those who heard everything that happened.

At the unexpected words, Elisha’s sky-blue eyes widened.