The Abandoned Empress

“I think we are done with preparations on our end. How about the temple? I haven’t heard any progress on their side since our last meeting.”

“Well, it’s an easy job if you break her stubbornness. Why are you so stubborn over trifling things?”

“Stubborn? I think I’ve already made enough concessions. I already revised the contents of the play as you wished, and I also told them to proceed with the events at the plaza according to your schedule.”

“Concession? Oh my… Do you really think so? Well, you might because it looks gorgeous on the surface,” Jiun said sarcastically, while looking at me as if she thought my remarks were outrageous.

I turned my mouth up a bit at that. ‘I thought she was just stupid, but it seems she have noticed my intentions to some degree.’

Although the late emperor was very reluctant to be entangled with the temple, the current emperor was very generous toward the temple. At least, he seemed so, which was evidenced in his decision to allow the festival to jointly host the festival.

However, the current emperor had a different intention. He declared that although he allowed the imperial family and the temple to jointly host the festival, this would be the last such event. In other words, he made it clear that he wouldn’t allow the temple to be involved in central politics.

He also ordered me to arrange the festival events in a way that demonstrated to the people that the imperial family was superior to the temple. So, I was trying to take care of some important events by myself while trying to make concessions to Jiun at an appropriate level. Obviously, Jiun smelled a rat.

‘Well, it’s too late even if you resist.’

When I met the high priest some time ago, I checked the terms of the deal with him once again, and handed him a detailed document about the corruption of the top priests. Given the serious expression of the High Priest, their corruption scandal would break in the near future. In that case, they would be hard pressed to seek their own survival so much that they would not be able to meddle in imperial events. And the noble faction reliant on them would not be able to use much influence.

When I imagined the chaotic situation of the temple and the noble faction, I could not help but smile in satisfaction, but I hurriedly stopped smiling and said to Jiun, “I understand anyway. Let’s resolve the issue at the temple when we visit Sanktus Vita. Let’s wrap up our meeting today. Thanks for your hard work today.”

“Sounds good, Lady Monique.”

“What a good excuse! Anyway, let’s stop here as you said. I hope we can have more satisfying results next time. ”

When Jiun left, holding the documents, Grace also said goodbye to me with a very tired face.

I realized that the rain had stopped. As if the rain for the last two days stopped finally, it was bright outside the window.

Somehow, I became depressed. While it was raining, it seemed that I was lost in memories of him, but when I looked at the bright sunlight outside the window, I thought that I should really erase those memories.

‘Stop it, Aristia. What the hell are you thinking about?’

I stood up with a sigh. As it was clear after raining, I felt like I would like to practice to shake off my frustration.

Despite the heavy rain for the past two days, the training field was not muddy, it was just a little wet. I think it was because my family made it with special care as a martial arts family.

Thinking I was fortunate, I was looking for an empty space when I saw a young man with red hair sparring with someone with the sword. I also saw several knights surrounding them.

Carsein? What is going on?

The two were staring at each other sharply as if to kill. As the atmosphere was so tense, I hurried to the field and asked one of the knights.

“What happened?”

“Well, it’s nothing, Lady Monique. They are just sparring.”

“Sparring?”

How can it be called “sparring” when the two are locked in a life-or-death duel like that?

When I asked again with a frown, the young knight replied with an embarrassed smile, “Well, Carsein said as it was clear after raining, he would like to wield the sword freely, and that he would want to spar with several knights at the same time. If they could do so, he said he would buy them dinner. So, that’s what happened. I was surprised that everybody was fighting like hell as if they had grudges against each other.”

“… I see.”

I blankly watched Carsein beating his partner and challenging another one. Even though he was drenched with sweat so much that his body was steaming, he was looking for his opponent’s weakness with fiercely sparkling eyes.

Clang!

I heard the sound of their swords clanging repeatedly. One of the two men facing each other stepped back staggeringly. However, Carsein charged toward him who was catching his breath.

“Stop!”

I hurriedly ran to dissuade them. While wielding the sword roughly, Carsein suddenly stopped and looked at me.

“… Tia? ”

“Ugh? Hi, Sein. It’s been a while.”

“… I guess so. It’s been a long time, ” he said, putting down the sword.

I asked him, handing him a towel placed in the corner of the field, “Why are you sparring suddenly? And that sparring with several people? ”

“Well, I just wanted to shake off my frustration by sparring with them.”

“Really? Are you going to spar with me then? In fact, I came out for the same reason.”

“No, thanks. I’ve done enough. By the way, why are you frustrated? Don’t you feel good?”

“No, not necessarily. I just feel in a mellow mood. ”

Carsein, who looked down at me smiling awkwardly, reached out and dishevelled my hair.

“It looks like you are becoming mature as you have something to worry about.”

“… ”

“Hey, it isn’t like you at all. You’re just a dumb little girl who has no tact.”

“What the heck…?”

“So, don’t change your style, okay. If you do, I will be heartbroken.”

Before I even responded, he put a wet towel over my face. When I took it off, shuddering with that sticky and uncomfortable feeling, he said with a smile, “Hey, it seems that you are not paying any attention to me at all just because you are busy. You are stuck in the office all day long without even saying hi, and you never write a letter to me these days. Besides, you don’t appear at the knights division office.”

“… Sorry.”

“Hey, even if you’re hectic busy, can you take time out to say hi to me? If you don’t do it, I’ll be hurt a lot.”

“Got it, Sein. I’m really sorry.”

“If you’re sorry, pay more attention to me, okay? You can’t find another great man like me.”

He said, smiling playfully after lightly hitting my forehead, “Hey, why don’t you go out since it’s been such a long time?”

“Going out?”

“Yeah. I know you have been stuck in the office, snowed under with work these days. How about going out to the street for a break? What do you think?”

“Well…”

It was a very attractive suggestion, but I shook my head, pulling myself together. I had too much work to do to go out for a brief pleasure.

“Sorry. I have a lot of work. I’m afraid I can’t today.”

“You can’t take time out even briefly?”

“No, I’m sorry, Sein. ”

“Oh my…Okay, I understand. I can’t help it if you say you’re so busy,” he said with a sigh, “Then, can you spare two days for me after the festival is over?”

Only

“Two days?”

“Yes, two days. This is in exchange for the promise we made last time, so you must keep it, okay? ”

“Ugh? Promise? What promise? ”

“Don’t you remember? You said you would do me a favor because you didn’t come to the banquet to celebrate my knighthood. ”

“Oh, that’s right. I made the promise.”

At that moment, one thing came to my mind. I made the promise one day two years ago, when I was looking at him, full of envy.

My father told me not to attend Carsein’s banquet because of the rumors about him and me at that time. Bothered by the fact that I couldn’t attend his banquet, who was one of my closest friends, I put off RSVP day after day. In the end, when Carsein asked me again whether I could attend his banquet, I said I could not with apologies. When I was at a loss about what to do because I was so sorry, he asked me to do him a favor.

“Okay. I will keep the promise. ”