CH 273

Studying his subordinate’s face, Max frowned slightly. ‘Laughing with a pale face. How suspicious. Maybe something did happen while I was gone.’ Max was about to interrogate Victor when a knock was heard.

“It’s Dennis, Your Highness.”

‘I’ll save this for later, then.’ Sighing, Max called, “Come in.”

Dennis soon entered the office with some documents. “Your Highness, Lady Fresia has done some investigations on your speculations discussed earlier.”

Max took the papers, then his face crumpled. “The emperor caught a wild beast?”

“So is the word.”

It was not uncommon to catch and release a wild beast in a hunting competition. However, it was odd that the emperor, who did not enjoy hunting, dared to catch one for the event. ‘No matter how I think about it, this isn’t like him. He is afraid of wild beasts locked up in cages. There is no way he would enjoy one running around in an open field.’ Max sat deep in thought for a moment before giving an order. “Tell Fresia to keep an eye on the emperor, and ask her to find out if he has any means to control the wild beast—either by tools or medicines.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“The emperor will stop paying attention to me as long as Max proves his own words true. Don’t worry, Dad.”

An ominous feeling overcame Max as he recalled what Jubelian had said earlier. He clenched his fists.

* * *

Pointing to a part of my draft sitting on the table, I requested, “If possible, I would like you to make this part exactly as described.”

The seamstress from Lily Muge replied with a smile. “An excellent choice, Lady Floyen. I can already see that the dress suits you very well.” I had delayed the visit with the seamstress by a week because of Dad and Max’s abrupt visit. It somehow worked out for me since I needed time to think about the dress. There was about a month and a half left until the coming-of-age ceremony—I still had plenty of time. The seamstress grabbed my draft and spoke excitedly, “Thank you for trusting us to make your dress again. We will do our best.”

“Of course.” I sighed once she left. I had taken care of most things for my coming-of-age ceremony… But what was bothering me was the fact that it had been about a week since I had seen Max. It seemed that Dad had been busy lately as well. All he did was simply say hello to me in the mornings and around bedtime.

In any case, I was able to embroider handkerchiefs for them during my time alone. After several trials and errors, they were finished. I smiled proudly at the results of my labor. I had engraved the dragon, the symbol of the royal family, into one handkerchief. On the one for my dad, I had embroidered the lily and the sword, the symbol for our family. They were adequate in my eyes, and I hoped that the recipients of my gifts would appreciate them as well.

I sighed as I looked at my fingers. ‘I didn’t expect it to be this bad…’ Since I was an amateur at sewing, I had pricked myself with the needle many times while sewing on the patterns. I observed the scars for a moment then smiled. They didn’t matter to me since the outcome was fruitful. I carefully placed the fabrics in the drawer to my desk then applied the ointment from Allen to my fingers.

The hunting competition was just around the corner. Nobility ranked equal to or higher than count were obliged to participate in the event. This meant that each family would have selected adequate participants. I had heard that Geraldine and some other knights were selected from our family. If my dad, who was the only transcendent being in the empire, participated, he would have left no chance to others.