Chapter 3.11

“Mistress, something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

After a simple dinner in the restaurant, I returned to my room, and Sally asked me with a worried face.

“Where did the Count go? He went to the Imperial Palace a while ago and hasn’t returned yet.”

“Tomorrow is Celine’s engagement ceremony.”

After Celine’s engagement ends and Adrian leaves for the temple, the next day will be my engagement ceremony.

“Yes, exactly. It’s the engagement ceremony tomorrow, so why aren’t the Count and the eldest mistress at the mansion?”

“Sally…”

“Please, tell me.”

“I’ve been agonizing over this. Wondering if I should tell you.”

“I’m ready. I won’t be surprised by anything you say.”

“I’m… going to run away from the Quinze-Nouais Empire.”

“Claire!”

“I know. You must think I’m crazy.”

Sally, with the face of a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, admonished me with a worried look.

“I had a feeling… But the situation is different now than when you ran away before. You’re about to become the Crown Princess!”

“I know. But I can’t help it. I’m going to leave. I’m only telling you because I don’t want you to resent me again if I just disappear without a word.”

I somewhat agreed with the Emperor’s words.

If I disappeared, Adrian would spend some time searching for me without starting a civil war. But the Emperor would surely try to kill me.

I also couldn’t go to Adrian. If I went to him, Sebastian wouldn’t stand by… a civil war would inevitably break out. So, there was no choice.

“How can I stop you, Mistress… then take me with you.”

“What?”

“You’re my savior. And there’s no one here for me anyway.”

“Sally… it will be a difficult journey.”

“Claire, from the moment you took me out of the orphanage, you’ve been a parent, a sister, and a friend to me. So this time, take me with you.”

I hesitated for a moment but gladly took the hand she offered me.

Perhaps it was the most selfish decision I had ever made in this world.

“You might get hurt.”

“I know.”

“Thank you… Sally.”

“From now on, I will only see you as my master. It’s the only way to repay the debt of my life… So, even if something happens to me, you don’t have to feel sorry for me.”

The last time I ran away, I was honestly very lonely. Finding a new home alone was much harder than I thought.

If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have known, but after experiencing it once, living in a new empire, not this one, felt even more daunting. But if Sally came with me, I would feel much more supported. I held Sally’s hand and nodded.

***

Celine had been staying at a separate building of Adrian’s castle for a while.

The day Adrian met Claire in the market, Celine moved the Ianster private army outside the capital to the Grand Duke’s territory.

And, as expected, the news of a large army moving quickly reached the Imperial Palace.

When Adrian asked why she had done such a thing, Celine smiled chillingly and spoke without a care.

“I was frustrated. It seems like we could win just by attacking… I don’t know why we’re dragging this out.”

Adrian couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Even the most pathetic young brawlers in the neighborhood would think before they acted… Moving an army just because she had more power, this woman was clearly out of her mind.

But Adrian decided to turn this crisis into an opportunity.

When the army moved, an enemy spy was revealed. He planned to use them against their own side.

After that, Adrian had Celine stay in a separate building of his castle. Ianster’s actions were already predetermined. If the Imperial army moved to Ianster to capture Celine, Claire’s safety could not be guaranteed.

Celine, who had caused this to attract attention, was quite satisfied with the outcome. No matter what anyone said, she was now Adrian’s person. All that was left was for her to become Empress.

“Tomorrow is our engagement ceremony.”

Celine entered Adrian’s office without permission. Adrian replied without taking his eyes off the documents.

“What is it?”

“Tomorrow is our engagement ceremony, and it seems you’re making your fiancée very lonely.”

“Did you not hear that your father is being held captive in the Imperial Palace?”

“Oh… that.”

“Is that… all you have to say?”

“Anyway, once we’re engaged, won’t the Grand Duke take over the Imperial Family? We can save him then.”

Adrian no longer wanted to face this woman. All he could think about was giving her the duchy and ending their engagement as soon as possible, as promised.

“If you have nothing more to say, you may leave.”

Celine pouted for a moment at Adrian’s command to leave, but reluctantly walked out of the office.

***

It was on the day of Celine’s engagement ceremony that I finally saw Count Ianster. He looked a little thin, but there seemed to be no major health problems.

“Count, are you all right?”

I ran to the Count who appeared at the engagement ceremony and carefully examined his body, turning him this way and that to see if he was hurt anywhere.

“I’m… all right. Claire, are you all right?”

“Don’t worry about me, Father.”

“Are you… calling me Father now?”

“Yes. I was just throwing a tantrum. I’m sorry.”

“Oh, my…”

Hubert knew that it wasn’t just a simple tantrum.

The Count, with a face full of regret, turned his head and wiped away a tear. The piercing look he had when I first met him had long since disappeared. I held my father’s hand tightly.

“Father, just get through today. You’ll be able to come home tomorrow.”

“But Claire, are you safe?”

“Of course.”

But our conversation couldn’t continue. My father was led to his seat by an Imperial Knight.

Even though the engagement ceremony was about to begin, Celine did not appear before my father.

Adrian and Celine’s engagement ceremony began at midday with the chime of the bell at 12 o’clock.

The engagement ceremonies of the Quinze-Nouais Empire were known to be grand, but Adrian’s was quite quiet.

Of course, the presence of the Emperor and Empress alone was splendid enough, but for the engagement of a member of the Imperial Family, the atmosphere was very chilly.

I sat next to the Crown Prince. For some reason, he couldn’t look me straight in the eye.

When the intricate stained glass poured light into every part of the temple, the two of them appeared.

Dressed nicely in a white uniform and a silver dress, they looked perfectly matched, as if they were made as one and then separated. I wish they could just be happy like this, but why did Adrian make such a decision? What was it that he ultimately wanted to do by getting me back?

I imagined myself next to Adrian. And then, I quietly stroked my belly.

As the beautiful man and woman stood before the priest, the soft chime of the bell announcing the start of the engagement ceremony rang through the temple.

The engagement was soon declared and approved by the Emperor. The ceremony ended with Adrian kissing Celine.

It was maddening that the last time I saw the man I loved was at his engagement ceremony, and Adrian, without mercy, didn’t give me a single glance from the moment the ceremony began until it ended.

‘I hope you live a long and happy life, you miserable Adrian.’

***

Adrian rode his horse immediately after the engagement ceremony.

The date he had falsely leaked to the Emperor’s spies was after the festival, but in fact, he was planning to carry out the operation on the day the Crown Prince was engaged. He couldn’t even imagine Claire becoming someone else’s fiancée and leaving the temple.

In the place he had prepared outside the capital, more than 3,000 soldiers were already ready.

The plan was to surround the castle with this army, then be surrounded by the Imperial army, and then, after a time difference, 5,000 more soldiers would push into the Imperial castle.

The plan was to have a full-scale battle with the Imperial army in between. The engagement ceremony wouldn’t begin. Because Claire would have already left the palace.

It would have been impossible without the Ianster army.

With the three powerful Count families and Ianster added to them, even the neutral Count families began to pledge their allegiance to Adrian one by one.

It had to be done accurately and in one go to end it inside the Imperial Palace. If things went wrong and hundreds of thousands of soldiers from all over the country moved, the entire empire would become a sea of blood.

After the final check, he turned his horse, which was heading for the temple, and secretly returned to his territory.

***

Tomorrow, as soon as my engagement ceremony ends, the Crown Prince will also leave for the temple, following Adrian. And my father and I will return to the Count’s mansion. Celine has already moved into the Grand Duke’s castle, not the Count’s mansion.

The Emperor said he would prepare a carriage for me to escape to the Count’s mansion tomorrow night, but I was planning to run away before then.

Right after the Crown Prince leaves for the temple, a subordinate of Adam, the information broker, is scheduled to come to get me.

The Emperor told me: The answer is within me. 

The Emperor was always like that. The Emperor’s words were cowardly, but they were right.

In the end, everything was up to me.