Chapter 26
I"ve met Rabini a few times.
Of course, not now, but in my previous life.
At that time, she was a beautiful woman with outstanding beauty who was thoroughly managed, but the Empress, who is still ten years younger than that, was truly a beautiful person with eyes widely open.
But at the same time, there was a corner as cold as it looks.
"Gallahan Lombardy, right?"
Rabini slowly reached out one hand to my father.
If the women"s Imperial greetings were the ones I practiced with Shananet last time, the men"s greetings were two different ways.
One, bow with hand near the heart in the same way, and tow bow down the hand of the royal family and place it on the forehead.
Of course, the second method was a little more polite.
A greeting method that is rarely used anymore in greetingn
The Empress didn"t take the hand outright, and my father looked at it for a moment and put it on his forehead.
I also followed my father to say h.e.l.lo, but the Empress was not looking at me.
She seemed to be feeling a strange sense of victory as she looked at my father with slightly closed eyes.
"I saw the guest wagon I invited to dinner, so I saw it, what happened?"
The Empress asked, looking back at the two knights.
"Well, that...... ."
Of course, the word was confused.
The Empress ordered to forcibly check our carriage, and the scene of apologizing for him was done by the Empress again.
Rabini"s eyes looking at them were particularly cold.
"Don"t do this here, let"s go inside. It"s not polite to keep guests on the street."
The Empress, who said so, turned around and started walking.
Five or six maids followed her.
My father looked at it with a hard face for a while, then he felt my gaze and looked back.
"Shall we go too, Tia?"
There must be a lot of thoughts like this that.
My father laughed as he reached out to me.
* * *
The place where the Empress guided us was a dining hall built specifically for dinner at the Empress"s palace.
Rabini called about ten guests every month to manage his network, but often the Emperor was also with her, so the Empress"s dinner among the n.o.bles was an important event that they wanted to attend.
But as my father and I stepped inside, we realized that today"s dinner was different from what we had heard of.
There was only tableware set for five people on the long table."Today I invited only Lombardy. We have something to celebrate, right?"
The Empress laughed with her large eyes gently folded.
It was very beautiful, but I didn"t feel any beauty in it.
Rather, I felt uncomfortable as only the shabby appearance of the Second Prince was reminded of me.
"It is an honor."
My father still greeted politely and sat down on the chair pointed to by the Empress.
And as soon as we settled down, the door of the dining hall reopened, as if waiting, and 1st Prince entered.
"Mother."
"Welcome to Astana. Astana"s friend is here today?"
Astana glanced at me and replied with a gentle appearance in the world.
That guy and I are friends.
I wanted to laugh but held it in my seat.
"h.e.l.lo, Lombardy young lady."
"How are you, Your Majesty the First Prince."
The First Prince, who received my father"s greeting, sat down on the side of the Empress by bruising it as it was.
By the way, it was the seat in front of me.
oh, I feel uncomfortable.
"I"m going to tell you something I couldn"t say a while ago, but Empress."
My father, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke.
The Empress stopped drinking water with a smile.
"....Please speak."
"Today, on the way to the Imperial Palace, my carriage was checked by the Imperial Knights."
"Oh."
Although the Empress looked surprised, it was actually close to a smiling face.
Usually, if you let go of pretense like that, there"s nothing to say.
I don"t know, but I have nothing to say.
However, my father did not give in and continued the conversation with a firm face.
"In the Imperial Palace, Lombardy"s blood relatives are not subject to checks or search. Wouldn"t that be the law?"
Father"s protest was justified.
"It is. It"s weird."
However, the Empress laughed at my father"s words.
"Why are there so many exceptions only to Lombardy? All other families entering the Imperial Palace are subject to thorough checks."
The Empress"s speech was very twisted.
But somehow, it didn"t seem to be intended.
Rather, the negative feelings toward Lombardy were so strong that it was close to a cynical speech flow without even knowing.
The Empress soon laughed and added to see if he realized such a mistake.
"Of course that"s because Lombardy is a special family in many ways."
Father didn"t answer anything.
I only faced the Empress for a while without looking away.
It was when the door of the dining hall was opened once again that the atmosphere that seemed to be shattered at any time was distracted.
"Haha! Gallahan!"
It was Emperor Jovanes who came in, calling out my father"s name with a loud voice from the beginning.
As the Second Prince, he was a man with black hair and an open-minded atmosphere.
I followed my father and got up from the seat and greeted me according to Imperial courtesy.
"It"s been a long time since this! How are you?"
"I am glad that your Majesty is in good health."
"It"s always me!"
My father and the Emperor are actually the same age and seemed to have had quite a close relationship when they were younger.
The Emperor"s gaze, who patted my father"s shoulder with his thick hand, reached me.
"Hoh. You are Florentia."
"Florentia Lombardy greets His Majesty the Emperor."
I am a surprisingly strong type in the real world, and fortunately, I did not make a mistake this time.
The Emperor"s laughter and dry eyes glanced over me.
"Yes, yes. You are a very pretty child."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"I think you have a very smart daughter who resembles you, Gallahan!"
The Emperor seemed good at praising someone.
"Lets, sit down!"
As the Emperor took over at the top, the dinner began as the attendants brought and carried food.
While everyone was busy preparing meals, I felt something a little weird.
Still, he is a son, but the Emperor came to the dinner table and never gave a glance to the First Prince.
Astana seemed to be familiar with such a father and didn"t seem to care.
"So what were you talking about before I came?"
"I was just saying h.e.l.lo without saying anything."
The Empress looks around on a smiling day. Father stared at the Empress.
"I don"t think that"s it, Gallahan?"
The Emperor took turns looking at my father and the Empress and said.
"If there"s anything in your heart, it"s okay to say it without surprise.
However, the Emperor"s words were not sincere, but empty words.
He didn"t wonder what my father wanted to say at all, and the Empress didn"t think my father would say anything special in front of the Emperor.
The form of sipping the fruit wine that the attendant gave me was relaxed.
I was angry.
In front of my grandfather, these two people were very careful with a word, seen making fun of my dad.
But at the same time, the Empress was reasonable.
So I thought my father wouldn"t say anything.
But.
"I was telling the Empress about what happened on the way to dinner today."
It was amazing.
Father did not back down even before the Emperor.
The Emperor and the Empress also paused for a moment as if they were smiling as if unexpectedly that my father would come out like this.
"What happened?"
The Emperor asked, scratching his beard.
"Our wagon was checked by the Imperial Knights."
"Hmm?"
The Emperor was also quite surprised.
Then, I glace and see the Empress.
"Huh huh, something like that happened."
I noticed roughly what had already happened.
We probably weren"t the only ones who overpowered in that way.
I have a strong feeling that I may not have experienced the same thing as Viese.
The Empress was not showing her expression with her lowered eyes.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding of something."
The Emperor, who had been steamed for a while, said.
"They stopped the carriage with the Lombardy emblem. It doesn"t seem like a misunderstanding, Your Majesty."
".....Gallahan, you seem very angry."
Obviously, he wasn"t like my father.
Because of his timid personality, he was very different from usual, who couldn"t speak badly to an employee who wasn"t the Emperor.
"My daughter was very surprised."
My father replied in a low voice.
Only then could I understand my father"s actions.
My father is now angry at the fact that he was scared by the articles, not that he was insulted.
It seemed like a cold wind was blowing over the table for a moment.
"Haha! I"m sorry for this!"
He burst into laughter, but the Emperor eventually had to apologize for being sorry.
However, there was no mention of the Empress in any of the words that followed.
"Understand the knights" spirit of striking. Some cannot accept the special relationship between the Imperial Family and Lombardy in their loyalty."
In the end, it was the knight that took the wrong.
The Empress, who instructed everything, is left out and regarded as an individual"s fault.
My father knew it too, and he nodded with a small sigh.
"I just hope this will never happen again."
"Well, then. It won"t happen again! Now, get a drink!"
The Emperor shook his chest as if he was promising, and poured alcohol to my father.
I looked at the Empress"s face, pretending to drink the juice in front of me.
And it was creepy.
It was a beautiful face that was still smiling, but his sharp eyes were staring at my father without buzzing.
She has been trying to kill the 2nd Prince that way, but she"s a very scary person.
So the full-fledged dinner began, and prepared foods began to be served one after another.
Of course, it was a great dish because it was served by the Empress, but I couldn"t do that to Lombardy.
It was when I was making such a sober evaluation.
The Emperor, having a mischievous conversation with my father, suddenly asked a question about his business.
"Yes, you said the business you led was a big success?"
The Empress, who had not said anything after my father protested to the Emperor, also showed interest this time.
"It was great to see Angenas and Lombardy, the two main pillars of the empire, working together!"
"It"s an exaggeration."
Since when did Angenas become the main pillar of this empire?
He was an Emperor who slowly raised his wife, Angenas, to the same level as Lombardy.
Now, Emperor Jovanes was trying to stop Lombardy"s solo with Angenas.
It is also the reason why the Emperor vaguely knows what she is doing to the Second Prince, but pretends not to know.
However, about three years later, the partnership between the Empress and the Emperor ends as Angenas fought the Emperor"s wrath through absurd tax evasion.1
"Please help the top Durak a lot in the future, Gallahan Lombardy. They"re just starting, so they"re awkward."
The Empress said to my father with a world-friendly smile.
But the answer that came back wasn"t very friendly.
"I"ve already spoken to the top-lord of Durak, but I"m going to leave the textile business soon, Empress.
"...Yeah?"
Perhaps it was the First time I heard it, the Empress"s poker face was finally broken.
She seemed to think that if my father, who is the center of the business, is omitted, there will be a setback in the business.
It is the money line that will make the 1st Prince become Crown Prince, but it will be a big deal if it dries.
"I"m thinking of doing another personal business."
"That"s really fast. Isn"t it overly rushing? I hope you can help the top of Durak a little more."
"I"m sorry, but I don"t think I can."
The embarra.s.sed Empress tried to persuade him somehow, but my father didn"t budge.
"It"s not always possible for the top of Lombardy to help the top of Durak."
In a word, he was saying that you guys should do it on your own.1
The Empress"s mouth, who properly grasped the meaning, trembled.
And the Empress"s eyes changed.
Until a while ago, she had been thinking about how to force this seemingly relaxed person to do what she wanted, but now that thought seemed completely closed.
".... Gallahan, you are very different from what I thought."
"I don"t know what kind of expectations Empress had of me, but I apologize for not being able to live up to it."
Originally, my father is not the one who speaks so firmly.
It seemed that the Empress was not firmly happy with it.
That"s the same for me.
So how is the work of the Second Prince and the treatment of Lombardy?
In many ways, he was a terrible person.
After dinner, you don"t know whether food goes into your mouth or nose.
On the way home in the carriage, my father spoke little.
As usual, the time to fall asleep has pa.s.sed, so I cut my father"s legs and stroked my forehead, and fell asleep.
"Because I have no strength.........."
My father muttered as he looked out the window.
* * *
Inside a dark room with a single candle lit.
It was a small separate palace, but it was too big and empty for an 11-year-old boy left alone.
Perez, sitting as if hiding in the corner of the bed, took out a pocket in his hand.
And he drank the golden medicine in it with one gulp, following exactly what Florentia said.
It was bitter medicine, but Perez didn"t show off.
It was because there is no one to look at even if he felt bitter.
Perez, who closed the lid of the vial, took out a round candy from his pocket and eat it.
The white ball becomes convex to follow the shape of the candy.
"Humumu"
Perez muttered like a snort.
The bitter taste is now familiar enough to get used to, but not this sweetness.
It was unfamiliar and awkward.
But Perez diligently rolled the candy in her mouth.
It was because he felt better little by little.
Does the sweet taste spreading out make your heartbeat?
If not...
Perez touched his soft handbag.
He remembered the face of Florentia he met during the day.
For a while, she had a cute face that seemed to be a fairy in the forest.
In particular, her big, round green eyes, which seemed to have taken the color of a blade of gra.s.s, were stuck in his head.
And the boy said.
"I wish you could live. No, I think you have to live."
Perez held the bottle in one hand as if he would never let it be taken away.
c.r.a.p.
The candy rolled in his mouth once more.
"...Sweet."
Peres muttered as he watched the shadows of the candles.