Be Indulged - Chapter 3 – Part 2

“You said you liked that person’s younger brother?”

The Emperor asked sharply. She nodded her head.

“Sir Reinkel has a younger brother…”

Then his expression hardened. He seemed to have realized that too.

“He’s dead.”

“……”

The Emperor didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed Amelia’s hand and looked at her face.

“That brother, you seem to have liked him quite a bit, didn’t you?”

Amelia smiled at the question.

“I don’t know what your Majesty means, but yes, he was a very handsome and kind man.”

“……”

“I really wanted him to live.”

Contrary to what she expected him to ask more sharply, the Emperor held Amelia’s hand and said nothing. Instead, he looked at Amelia and said.

“What do you want to have?”

“Yes?”

“Anything you want to eat. If the lessons are boring, you may need a break.”

She couldn’t keep up with the conversation. What was he thinking when he said that? Was it his own consolation? Amelia knew the Emperor was kind.

“I have never thought about what I want to have. This is enough.”

“Alright. I will take care of that.”

“The lesson is fine. I always go out for a walk like this because I am always taken care of.”

“It’s because Amelia is so good.”

“And I don’t need anything else to eat. You are taking good care of me.”

“……”

At the end of the last sentence, the Emperor showed a very disproving look. Seeing this, Amelia pondered what to say to him, and she opened her mouth very carefully.

“But, Your Majesty, maybe…”

“Why? What do you want to ask of me?”

As the Emperor spoke with a mournful expression, Amelia took out her request.

“By any chance, may I send a letter to my little brother?”

How surprised he was that she didn’t have any confidence. Here in the Imperial Palace, even a letter could not be sent because it was sent outside. The Emperor said she could do anything, but she was well aware that this meant as long as she did not violate Imperial law.

“You haven’t sent any to him?”

“Yes?”

“I told you to do what you want to do. Including letters.”

Amelia opened her eyes and the Emperor sighed.

“Send the letter as you wish.”

“…But the law.”

“Here, I am the law, and what you want is the law.”

The Emperor’s words were quite pleasant. Amelia smiled broadly. Unknowingly, she grabbed the Emperor’s hand and waved it with the rest of her hand.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

“……”

To send a letter to Colin—just the thought of it eased her mind. As Amelia spoke with a broad smile, the Emperor widened his eyes and then smiled roundly.

“You like it that much?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

If she received this kind of consideration, she felt like she could stay here for the rest of her life.

“Then can I kiss you?”

At the Emperor’s words, she looked at him with a puzzled expression. Why? The Emperor gave her a look of embarrassment. For once, regardless of her will, the Emperor had the right to control her at his will. Besides, could the Emperor have romantic feelings for her? Was he truly in love with her? No way.

She approached the Emperor and kissed him. They faced each other, their hands clasped together, and their lips touched. Then, when she couldn’t get her balance, the Emperor grabbed her by the waist.

The two bodies were pressed together. The Emperor looked at her in his arms and smiled at her. The smile in his eyes was as beautiful as his beautiful eyes. The Emperor began kissing her again. The heat rushed in, and his soft tongue entered. A sweet kiss. Amelia closed her eyes and gave herself to his kiss.

The next day, Amelia was happy. Because she got a reply right away from Colin.

「 I’m doing well, Sister. Sister Natalia and Sister Gretel said that you won’t come back. I’m glad you’re in the Imperial court. The person who delivered your letter is waiting for me to finish my reply to you, so I can write this letter with confidence. Uncle was trying to stop me from giving you a letter, saying that it was an Imperial letter. I’m really happy that Sister is in the Imperial Palace. I’m so glad you’re doing well. 」

Amelia looked at it and smiled. Colin became more confident. It was felt in the writing.

「 Sister, I miss you. They say no one can go to the Imperial Palace. 」

She nodded. The Imperial Palace was a place where only those with permission could go in and out.

「 But they say it is open during the Gertel Festival. 」

She looked at the letter and widened her eyes. There was a time when the Imperial Palace was opened only once. It was during the Gertel Festival held once every ten years.

The Gertel Festival was a festival of ‘atonement’. It means to wash away sins by soaking in the holy water produced in the basement of the Imperial Palace. The Emperor was the ruler of this country, and it also means washing away all the sins of the people of this country.

In other words, at this time, due to the nature of the festival, if they wanted to participate without strict permission, most of the nobles would come in. Even commoners had access to the outer gardens.

They could meet. A red color flashed on Amelia’s face.

* * * 

“Gertel Festival…”

Count Butler frowned. He grinded his teeth.

“Your Majesty seems to have planned it from the beginning.”

The Empress Dowager nodded. Her face, which had always looked younger than her age, was full of depth, and she looked her age today.

The ritual of atonement to wash away sins. It is intended to atone for his sins that brought an Empress ‘like that’ and make it nonsensical. Whether the opposition will fall through or not, at least after this ceremony, there would be no objection to the Empress’s coronation in the temple. Wasn’t that a rule he made himself? The marriage had been postponed to a year later because that would make the ‘opposition’ from people around them irrelevant.

“It looks like he really wants that girl to become the Empress.”

The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth. For trying to put down Amelia in public, the Empress Dowager tasted her greatest humiliation she could not endure. She was deprived of her jewelry, and the dress, which she always wore, became a dress worthy of the lower noble, and she was not able to move at will, of course, and even began to be starved. For a week, she had to go through these pains. Her movement was freed, but her dresses still belonged to the lower nobility, and she could not go out. It was only in name that he freed her.

It was the price of ignoring the Emperor’s warning and touching Amelia Laszlo. By not giving meals, it meant that he wouldn’t look after her if she went any further.

“I have no intention of taking that bitch as my daughter-in-law.”

“Your Majesty, I agree. That girl is going to be the Empress? Wouldn’t that be absurd?”

Count Butler also said grimly. Amelia Laszlo, it seemed that the bitch was thinking about getting an undeserved seat.

“Claude. You need to call Claude.”

“You mean the Grand Duke?”

“There is no answer other than him. He will also be visiting this festival, so please contact him.”

Claude tried to avoid meeting the current Empress Dowager because she was greatly offended by giving up his throne. Even after Claude’s betrayal, she declared that she would never see him again, so she couldn’t summon Claude first. And it was obvious what Carlos would think if she was caught meeting Claude in person at this point. It was also difficult to meet Count Butler now.

Count Butler had been reluctant to make Carlos the Emperor. It was better for it to be Claude, who excelled everywhere, to ascend to the throne. To stand in line, it was right to line up with the Empress Dowager and Claude, who had put so much effort into it.

‘Let’s put everything back in its place.’

If that stupid Carlos didn’t intend to turn him into an enemy, he should have brought in his daughter Clara as the future Empress, not Amelia Laszlo. Bringing Amelia back was the same as saying that you won’t forget what happened at that time.

‘That bitch.’

Amelia Laszlo. Count Butler gritted his teeth. He didn’t know that bitch would come back alive here.

‘She should have died.’

Once upon a time, when she smiled at him and called her father, she was pretty. If she had been that pretty in an undeserved marriage, she would have known when Elliot died that she should have died. When she survived, she again offended his heart like this. It was true that he had compassion for her when he heard that she lived. He also did something a little wrong.

But without knowing her place, with such a dirty body, she married someone else, even the Emperor? Be the Empress? That was his daughter Clara’s place. He wanted to tear her apart right away, but now she was in the Emperor’s hands and under the Emperor’s utmost protection.

Count Butler gritted his teeth. Both will be removed. Joining forces with the Empress Dowager was the right choice.