Chapter 4.3

The next day, a woman visited my house. And I could recognize who she was at a glance. She had cleaned herself up, but her eyes were swollen and there were visible cuts here and there.

“If you don’t mind, may I come in?”

“Of course.”

The woman appeared to have a calm demeanor and a bright expression.

“Ah, I brought some tea with me. My mother made it herself and it’s really good. I wanted to thank you for what you did yesterday, but this is all I have right now…”

She seemed genuinely embarrassed as she carefully offered what she had prepared. When she smiled brightly, she looked even younger than I thought.

“Thank you. I really like tea. Actually, I was just about to have a cup.”

“Please, speak comfortably. I’m a commoner, after all.”

I was still not accustomed to the customs of this world, but I decided to follow her suggestion.

“Okay. But are you alright?”

“I was able to run away quickly yesterday, so I was beaten less than usual. My husband pulled out a knife, so I had no choice but to run.”

Hearing her speak so casually about such things made me even angrier.

“Do you have any children?”

“No, fortunately.”

“Would it be alright if I asked your name?”

“Ah, my name is Brianna.”

It was a name that sounded familiar. The woman, who smiled awkwardly, looked so small and young that I felt a lot of concern for her.

“What are your plans going forward?”

At that moment, Sally brought out a pot of Brianna’s tea.

“I have to run away. If I get caught, I’ll be killed.”

“Do you have somewhere to go?”

I took a sip of the fragrant tea as I listened to her. The taste was very familiar.

“This is really delicious.”

“Yes, you know how to brew tea really well.”

“Um… Brianna?”

“Yes?”

“By any chance… are you from Quinze-Nouais?”

“Yes, how did you know? Is it obvious from my accent?”

“Does your mother run a restaurant in the capital by any chance?”

Brianna’s eyes widened in surprise.

“How did you know that?”

I covered my mouth in shock.

“Are you from a family of six siblings…?”

“That’s right. Oh my goodness… To meet someone I know here… My eldest brother passed away, but yes, there were six of us originally.”

They say meeting someone from your hometown in a foreign land makes them feel like family, and it was true. I grabbed both her hands. This was definitely the same tea the restaurant lady used to make and sell. There was no way I could forget the comforting taste I drank before coming here.

“I’ll help you escape.”

“What?”

At that, Sally, who was sitting next to me, looked over and smiled resignedly.

“You can trust her. Our lady is an expert when it comes to running away.”

I decided to help Brianna escape. In Turk, only men can demand a divorce from their wives. If the husband dies, the woman becomes the property of his brother.

What a barbaric law this is.

But it wasn’t something I could fight against on my own, so helping this woman return home was the best I could do.

“H-However, I’m not sure. Would my mother welcome me back if I returned?”

Quinze-Nouais is also conservative, though not as much as Turk, but I was confident.

“The last person who hugged me before I came here was Brianna’s mother. And she thought of me as her own. She said she really wanted to comfort me… so trust me. Also, as long as you have money, you can live well even as a divorced woman in Quinze-Nouais. A divorced woman absolutely needs to be financially independent.”

I wrote her a letter.

“Go find the broker Adam. Go to the dried fruit shop near your mother’s restaurant and ask for benjamin berries—they’ll take you to him, and give him this letter.”

“Oh, I know that shop. But is there such a thing as benjamin berries? I’ve never heard of them.”

“There isn’t. It’s just a code. Then he’ll give you a large sum of money.”

Before I left this place, I had left my typewriter earnings account and a pseudonym account with Adam. I meant to come back for it later, but now I had no use for the money.

“But why are you doing this much… for me?”

“Let’s just say it’s for the tea your mother never got paid for.”

But there was still a problem. If a woman escapes without her husband’s permission and gets caught, the damn Turk law considers it justifiable grounds for the husband to kill his wife.

So I had to hurry. Her husband would be released sooner than I thought. And a fist is always closer than the law.

Three days later, Brianna was able to board a ship to Quinze-Nouais safely. When Sally returned home after seeing her off, she grumbled.

“We really don’t have any money left now.”

“I know.”

“My lady, honestly, you really have no sense of practicality. You used up everything we had to help someone else run away.”

“But Sally, you feel good about it too, don’t you? If not, Brianna would have been beaten to death.”

“You’re right, my lady.”

Sally brushed off her clothes and stood up.

“Well, I’d better go find another job.”

 

***

 

As Adrian predicted, saying it would be a long war, after over two months of fighting, he briefly returned to the capital. He hadn’t yet reclaimed the northern grand duke’s castle, but he had managed to inflict such heavy losses that neither the Eastern nor Northern continents’ armies could move for the time being.

More than two years passed in this way, repeating campaigns and returns to the capital. In the end, Adrian recovered everything except the grand duke’s castle. As it was the fortress closest to the northern border, and due to its formidable defenses, its very strength made it even harder to retake once it had fallen.

But it made little difference; the enemy was trapped like rats in a jar. It was only a matter of time before they would declare their surrender and come out.

With urgent matters to attend to in the imperial palace, Adrian had to return with only about thirty knights. The last battle before returning to the capital was especially fierce.

“Would you like a drink?”

Owen doubted his own ears. Then, anxiety crept in.

Adrian was an enigmatic man, but a good lord. Everyone harbored a certain fear of the new emperor, but none could deny he was rather magnanimous.

Still, Adrian had never once let any of his retainers get close to him. In fact, he permitted nothing, not even for himself. The fact that he had invited Owen for a drink was bewildering.

It was as if a wild horse, running madly, suddenly met the sea and stopped dead in its tracks.

When Owen entered the tent, Adrian was already drinking. Adrian poured wine into Owen’s cup.

“Do you agree that Quinze-Nouais has stabilized a lot now?”

“Of course. It’s all thanks to Your Majesty.”

Adrian gave a faint smile at Owen’s reply.

“Come on, I don’t want to hear that kind of thing from you even in a place like this.”

Owen grew uneasy. He felt overwhelmingly unsettled by the emperor’s increasingly distant expression.

“But it’s the truth.”

“Right. The empire fell into chaos because of what I did, so it’s only right that I be the one to clean it up. And now, I suppose things are somewhat back in order.”

“……”

“At this point, I could see her and not have to run away. Even if I couldn’t meet her eyes. Maybe I’d even let myself look at her from afar.”

“Your Majesty!”

“If I’m lucky, maybe she’d berate me for being a fool. Then I could hear Claire’s voice.”

For the first time in years, the emperor uttered her name. Tears fell from Owen’s eyes. He already knew what his sovereign had been striving toward all this time, and had pretended not to know, half in denial.

“It’s time you allowed me to go to her.”

Owen fell to his knees on the dirt floor.

“Not yet, not yet. If you truly need my permission, then first, take back the grand ducal castle… after that…”

“The grand ducal castle… Maybe that was the happiest time in my life.”

Born the son of the previous emperor, Adrian lost everything at the age of 12, together with his mother. Afterward, he endured years of brutal abuse.

He lost the woman he loved to the royal family once more. Worse, he blamed himself for driving her to her death. He realized his love far too late.

“I… can’t bring myself to enter that castle.”

“Not yet, please. There are still things you have to do. Please, Your Majesty…”

Owen didn’t even realize what he was saying. Telling him to die later, not just yet… As if, in that time, he might find some way to change the emperor’s heart.

“Owen, even water has to strike the chest before it goes down. She no longer appears, even in my dreams.”

Owen stood and filled his master’s empty cup with wine.

“Your Majesty, duty is a prison. Did you say you need my permission? I, Owen Devrian, do not grant it. So, Your Majesty, fulfill your duty.”

 

***

 

The next day, as Adrian returned from the campaign, he headed to the city for the first time in a while. Entering the market, a faint smile appeared on his face. That smile told Owen that Adrian was remembering the moments he’d spent with Claire. All of it made Owen anxious.

As Adrian turned onto the road where he and Claire once walked together, he took a deep breath. It was a street he hadn’t dared to revisit. When he saw that the restaurant looked unchanged since then, he was drawn inside as if possessed. Owen prevented the other knights from following them.

“Good heavens!”  

The restaurant owner greeted him. From the clothes worn by Adrian and Owen, returning from a campaign, one could not tell their true status.  

“Oh my, look who it is! That pretty fellow.”

Owen tried to have the restaurant owner show proper respect, but Adrian stopped him.  

“Do you remember me?”  

“Of course. How could I forget you? You always had such a pretty face.”

The owner brought tea and snacks for Adrian and, without being asked, began to chatter.  

“That young lady, the one who came with you back then. She came by again.”

Just hearing about Claire after so long made Adrian’s heart pound.  

“You mean, she came back here?”  

“Yes, she cried a lot before leaving. Was it about two years ago? She was talking a lot, but I couldn’t understand because she was crying.”  

“She… cried?”  

“Yes, you bad man. You shouldn’t make women cry.”  

“Did she… cry a lot?”  

“Yes, I heard you got engaged, right? Oh, right. That young lady left a letter for you… where did I put it? Please wait a moment.”

Adrian’s hands shook on his knees.  

“Here it is! I always keep my promises.”  

The restaurant owner placed a note in front of Adrian. But he couldn’t bring himself to open it right away.

After a moment, he managed to unfold the note, and inside was a letter, written in Claire’s characteristic hurried scrawl:

“I’ll never come back, no matter how much you want me to. Eat well and live well! Adrian, and please be happy…”

Plop, plop.  

Tears fell onto the letter. She had been trying to escape. If only he had let her be, Claire would still be alive.

He was seventeen then.

Claire Ianster tormented him every day. But such physical pain, yes, he could endure. What she did, though, was drag out memories he had discarded—a mother he’d never even met in his dreams; memories he wanted desperately to avoid.

He was scared. And so afraid.  

He waited desperately for her to return, hoping that if she appeared and distracted him with her chaotic energy, he could escape those ghosts haunting him.

But then, as if the gates of hell opened, she disappeared like a lie.

So, he created a reason to find her—hatred. And it grew effortlessly.

Two years later, he forced her to be by his side again… Adrian loved her. And now she is gone. He swore never to lose her to anyone, and it came to pass in the worst way.

“Oh… why is this man crying so much?”

“Did she… resent me?”  

“No, no. She was brave. Oh dear, stop crying. You’re making a scene. If it hurts so much, go after her. That young lady is now…”

“Mom!”  

Suddenly, a brown-haired woman called out from the kitchen.

Brianna had watched the man enter their restaurant with keen interest. He seemed like an ordinary knight, but something was odd, so she slipped out the back door and saw dozens of men surrounding her store. Some of their clothes bore the imperial crest.

Brianna thought of Lady Taylor, who had saved her life in the Eastern continent.  

That boy, Leonardo… she’d seen him briefly, and he had exactly the same face as the man now sitting in the restaurant crying. He was unforgettable—such a beautiful child.

Back then, Lady Taylor said that no one in Quinze-Nouais must know she was on the Eastern continent.  

Brianna quickly went out and grabbed her mother’s arm in the kitchen.

“Mom, why are you talking so long with the customer? Come with me—everything’s burning.”

“Oh my, look at me. I should stop bothering you.”

Adrian staggered to his feet, clutching the note.

But Owen’s gaze followed the restaurant owner and her daughter who had just disappeared into the kitchen. He couldn’t be sure, but something felt off. Still, hasty conclusions were dangerous.

When the emperor stepped outside, the waiting knights showed themselves in front of the restaurant. Realizing Adrian’s true identity, the restaurant owner and her daughter dropped to their knees, trembling.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

But Adrian personally helped them to their feet and returned to the palace immediately.

His sudden return, without any prior notice, left the palace steward in a panic.  

He’d been away so often for campaigns, but never returned in this manner.

“Y-Your Majesty.”

The emperor went directly to his office on arriving at the palace. Owen’s sharp look at the anxious steward followed.

“What is it?”

“Th-the thing is…”

“Answer quickly.”

“There’s a banquet underway in the Empress’s palace.”

“What? But there’s no mistress there—who would dare hold a banquet there?”

“L-Lady Celine…”

“What?”

Listening to Owen and the steward, Adrian gripped his forehead and leaned on his desk.  

‘Celine…’

He had sent a letter breaking off the engagement two years prior, but Celine had not accepted it.

Because Adrian was so often away at war, he paid no further attention to the matter—or perhaps, it’s more accurate to say he never gave it a thought at all.

But during those two years of war, Celine Ianster patiently expanded her influence. Now, the Ianster family was considered the undisputed greatest family of the empire.

 

***

 

“Lady Hayes, may I borrow that necklace just for a day?”

Celine continued to throw lavish parties day after day.  

“Oh dear, Your Majesty the Empress, it’s not Lady Hayes but Lady Hernes.”  

Two women constantly fawning over Celine giggled and whispered beside her. They were already calling her “Empress.” Those who watched frowned at the sight, but Celine paid them no mind.

“Really? Lady Hernes, I’ll just borrow that necklace for a day. Is that a problem?”  

“Ah… This is a keepsake from my mother…” Lady Hernes murmured, clutching the pearl necklace around her neck protectively.

“Now, Lady Hernes, I’m not saying I want to keep it—just borrow it for a bit. You’re not saying you can’t, are you?”  

“B-but, it’s far too humble an item for someone soon to be Empress.”  

“So you’re saying you won’t give it to me?”  

Celine felt displeased toward Lady Hernes. Though from an old and distinguished family, Lady Hernes was always cheerful, treated others kindly, and, despite having nothing, sparkled in a way Celine found infuriating. Also, while all the other ladies called her “Empress,” only this one insisted on “soon-to-be Empress,” which Celine interpreted as a lack of respect.

In the end, Lady Hernes took off the necklace.  

The Hernes family, though noble, was not wealthy. After removing the necklace, she wore no other ornament at all.

Celine fiddled with the necklace for a moment, then simply turned around.  

After a few steps, she approached a maid carrying a tray of champagne and tossed the necklace to her.  

“You keep it.”  

The maid looked at Celine in shock, but upon making eye contact, immediately lowered her head.  

“I said keep it—oh, is even this too shabby for you?”

Lady Hernes’s face flushed bright red. A few other ladies snickered, but most of the nobles simply closed their eyes to the excessive behavior. Still, not a soul dared stop her.

At that moment, a quiet ripple spread through the ballroom. All eyes moved from the necklace to the entrance: the emperor had entered at some point and witnessed the whole scene.

Celine inwardly cursed as if caught by a teacher while stealing from a friend at school.

The emperor was not dressed for a party. He wore only the shirt from earlier, hastily thrown under a jacket as he came to the hall. The music had already stopped. Adrian strode toward Celine and the maid, picked up the pearl necklace from the tray, and handed it back to Lady Hernes.

“Are you all out of your minds? Right now, your sons, brothers, and the young men of the Quinze-Nouais Empire are risking their lives in war. And yet, what are you so-called nobles doing here?”

At the emperor’s thunderous voice, the room fell deathly silent. The nobles all lowered their heads in unison.

“From this moment, no banquets will be held in the palace without my explicit order. If anyone visits here again without my invitation, it will be treated as treason.”

When the emperor exited the ballroom, only then did the guests hurry out and head home.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty!”  

But Celine chased after him. All the way from the Empress’s palace to his office, she shouted after him, and Adrian, having no choice, finally stopped.

“How could you do this to me? How could you humiliate me in front of all the nobles?”  

Adrian, about to enter his office and close the door, was blocked by Celine.

“I am your fiancée, Your Majesty. I have waited for you so long, and you disgrace me over some banquet?”  

“…”  

“Please, say something!”  

“Celine, does the emperor’s word amuse you? There are limits to my patience.”  

“Patience? Really? I have waited two years as your fiancée. There’s nowhere in the world where an engaged emperor delays his marriage so long.”  

“I sent you the letter of annulment. And even before the engagement, this was agreed upon.”  

“That was before she died.”  

“What?”  

“She’s dead and gone. Why shouldn’t I become Empress?”  

“Please, don’t test my patience any further, Celine.”  

“Then why did you let me linger as your fiancée for two years?”  

Adrian had received occasional reports about Celine.  

She gambled, used substances banned in the Quinze-Nouais Empire, and even confiscated other noble houses’ assets under spurious pretexts. On top of that, she kept a family knight as a lover.  

There were more than enough reasons for annulment. But he did not care—not even enough to think about it. He had only fought for the peace of the empire. And now, the time had finally come.

“Leave. Now.”  

“Have you forgotten who helped you reach your position?”  

Adrian simply let her rant. It would not matter for much longer. The power this woman held as future Empress would vanish the moment he was gone.

“I will formally declare our annulment to the empire soon. I left things alone for your family’s honor, but you have now gone too far.”

Celine’s face filled with fear at those words. She had to prevent a formal annulment above all else.

“Aaah! Claire is dead. Even a child knows that—why don’t you?”  

“Silence, Celine.”  

“No! You know it. Claire is dead. When she fell from that cliff, wild beasts probably tore her body to shreds, even devouring her heart.”

The emperor recoiled at her words. Even the thought of it made his whole body go numb.  

“I told you to be silent. I could remove you from this place right now.”

“One year!”  

“What?”  

“Please wait just one more year. If you declare the annulment now, I will not sit quietly. Give me time. Then I’ll stop manipulating the other counts and remain as quiet as a mouse for a year.”

If Celine was removed, the Ianster family would also suffer. Adrian could not bring himself to harm Claire’s house. Without waiting for the emperor’s reply, she turned and left.

 

***

 

The day after sending Brianna off, Sally and I started doing laundry as usual, having received work from the duke’s household.

“Do you think Brianna’s on her way safely?”

“Of course…”

“Quinze-Nouais will be the same as always, right?”

“Why, do you miss it?”

“What’s there to miss about that place? To me, being at your side is home and my hometown.”

At that moment, we heard the sound of horse hooves from afar.

“Who could that be?”

“I’m not sure… and there’s a carriage too.”

Before Sally could even approach the carriage that pulled up in front of the house, the door opened and Gary stepped out.

“Chamberlain, what brings you here?”

He got off with a somewhat sheepish look. I wiped my hands on my apron and walked over.

“Uh… the duke wishes to see you for a bit.”

“Me? Again…?”

“I’ll explain on the way.”

After making the chamberlain wait briefly, I finished preparing and followed him to the duke’s estate.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to say. But I assure you, it’s nothing bad, so please don’t worry.”

It was a hassle, but as a tenant, you have no choice but to go when the lord calls. When I arrived at the duke’s mansion, I was guided to his office.

The man I saw during the day still looked gaunt and utterly exhausted. If not for his sunken cheeks, he would probably be considered quite handsome.

“I called for you ages ago—a turtle would have been quicker…”

“Duke!”

“Ahem, I hope your trip wasn’t too uncomfortable.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out what he was really after. Seeing this antisocial man acting this way, it was obvious he had a favor to ask.

“It was a surprise, but I arrived comfortably thanks to the carriage. But may I ask, why did you call for me today?”

“Sit down and have some tea first.”

That was why he called me.

From this deal, he had earned quite a bit and could now launch several businesses based on those profits. However, he currently lacked someone capable of assisting him.

“So you want me to be your assistant, Duke?”

Because of his prickly personality, he had already gone through six assistants, and now even the Chamberlain was stretched thin helping him. The Chamberlain had complained about the mountains of work still to be done.

But I turned him down flatly.

Therewas nothing good for me to gain by getting involved with a high-ranking noble, and why should I have to come all the way here just to serve another demanding boss like Han Hyuntaek?

So I refused and, on my way out, didn’t forget to point out his habit of using disrespectful speech mixed with casual language.

But, as always, life is unpredictable.