Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 86

“Secretly investigate.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“If another letter arrives from Lady Avery, please bring it to me.”

“Yes, sir. But why do you want the letter?”

“To set a trap.”

 

A trap.

 

He couldn’t figure out what trap Ian was trying to set, but Harmond gave a small nod.

 

“I’m going to be welcoming the Empress within the year.”

“…What? Empress?”

 

Harmond, who had been hiding his doubts by silently nodding at Ian’s commands until now, raised his voice a little.

 

Wait, what did he mean Empress?

 

An Empress at this point. The Emperor didn’t have any ties with any of the noble ladies except for Lady Oates.

 

Of course, welcoming an Empress was an important matter of family and the Empire, so the benefits gained through marriage outweighed emotions.

 

The word ‘Empress’ coming out of Ian’s mouth was unexpected.

 

From his mouth, who seemed to have no interest in anything other than Lady Oates, the word ‘Empress’.

 

Rachel Oates. How had he already forgotten? If the Emperor wanted her, Lady Oates wasn’t too far behind in qualifications to become the empress.

 

Or was he trying to marry another young lady as the Empress?

 

“Send a messenger to the Oates family.”

“The Oates? For Lady Oates?”

“Yes, as soon as possible. By the end of the day.”

“Your Majesty and that lady again…”

 

Harmond seemed to want to ask a lot of questions, but he quickly shut his mouth.

 

“Yes, I’ll send someone as soon as I can.”

“Make sure that everyone in the Empire knows if possible.”

 

Harmond nodded vigorously at Ian’s words.

 

The marriage of an Emperor without an heir was welcome news for all of the Imperial people.

 

“Then we will proceed as ordered.”

 

Even if they didn’t make a lot of noise, everyone in the capital would know within half a day, and everyone in the Empire would know in about a week.

 

***

 

Knock Knock

 

“Come in.”

 

When the Duke of Oates’ permission was granted, the butler stepped into the office. For some reason, the butler’s face showed a bit of confusion.

 

“Duke, there’s a man here from the Imperial palace.”

“The Imperial palace?”

 

As the Duke of Oates tilted his head slightly, the butler hurried to explain.

 

“It’s Count Rox, the Deputy Assistant.”

“Hmm.”

 

The Duke stroked his chin once.

 

The Deputy Assistant from the Imperial palace, sent by the Emperor. Was it related to Rachel?

 

He couldn’t easily guess why the Emperor would send the Deputy Assistant if it wasn’t about Rachel.

 

After thinking for a while, the Duke threw his gaze at the window.

 

The Duke was silently looking out the window at the snow piled up outside. He recalled Rachel telling him that the past misunderstanding with the Emperor had been resolved.

 

“Hmm…”

 

He didn’t know what was going on, but he couldn’t get rid of the idea that it would be news that Rachel would be happy about.

 

“The Count of Rox is waiting in the drawing room.”

“Yes, I’ll be going down now.”

 

Feeling the gentle urging from his butler, the Duke got up from his seat and put on his jacket.

 

“….”

“Duke, should I help you change?”

 

The butler carefully opened his mouth when the Duke fiddled with the buttons of his jacket in front of the mirror, as if he didn’t like something.

 

However, the Duke only shook his head, while he said he didn’t need it.

 

“I can’t believe she’s leaving so soon.”

 

The Duke felt like the reason Count Rox came to him was because of Rachel’s marriage.

 

“What?”

“I feel like I’ve been tricked by His Majesty.”

 

A bitter smile came to the Duke’s lips. But soon the Duke exhaled loudly, and returned to his usual self.

 

“Is it because of the lady?”

“If she becomes the Empress, it’ll be hard to see her face, right?”

 

It was Ian who thought a lot about Rachel. He was a capable man, and above all, he was a man who only thought of her.

 

Marrying someone you love and starting a family, it was definitely a good thing for Rachel.

 

It may even be what Rachel wanted most.

 

Even so, the Duke wasn’t very happy.

 

“We were finally able to spend time together.”

 

The Duke glanced at the butler, then opened his mouth self-deprecatingly.

 

“This good thing happened to my daughter, but I can’t congratulate her. I guess I’m not a good father.”

“If it’s the lady, she will come to visit you. Besides, you still don’t know what the Deputy Assistant came to see the Duke about.”

 

The Duke nodded slowly at the butler’s words.

 

“…Yes, my worries are too far ahead.”

 

However, even while he said this, the Duke felt that his guess wasn’t wrong for some reason.

 

“Oh, this is an important guest for Rachel, so I shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

 

The Duke said those words, and hurried his steps.

 

He wondered when his steps toward the drawing room had become so heavy. Still, the drawing room quickly came into view, and the Duke eventually reached the door to the drawing room.

 

“Hmmm.”

 

Duke Oates cleared his throat once, and hid his expression.

 

The door to the drawing room opened, and the Deputy Assistant, Count Rox, stood up and bowed his head.

 

“Duke Oates, thank you for treating me kindly despite my sudden visit.”

“Nice to meet you, Count Rox.”

 

The Duke didn’t want to show a different appearance than usual, but he was constantly struggling.

 

“It must have been a lot of trouble coming this far, so please sit comfortably.”

 

Duke Oates glanced down at the paper on the table.

 

A document stamped with the Imperial family’s mark.

 

There had never been a day when he didn’t like that pattern like he did today.

 

“So, you have something to say.”

“I have come to deliver the marriage proposal on His Majesty’s orders.”

 

The Duke of Oates slowly accepted the marriage proposal from the Count of Rox.

 

It contained concise information.

 

He wanted to marry Rachel Oates, and establish a relationship with the Oates family.

 

Even though he’d been careful to maintain his composure, the Duke’s lips hardened coldly as he scanned the short content of the marriage proposal.

 

“Huu…”

 

The duke let out a small sigh at the Emperor, who had never said a word about wanting to marry Rachel before, suddenly sending a marriage proposal letter through someone.

 

Rather than being angry because he seemed to be ignoring the Oates family, he didn’t like the attitude of proceeding with his marriage to Rachel as if it were work.

 

As a Duke, he knew best that the Emperor wasn’t idle. It wasn’t that he expected the Emperor to bring the marriage proposal himself. The Duke knew very well that doing that wasn’t common at all.

 

But couldn’t he have given him a warning in advance?

 

For Rachel, if he loved Rachel.

 

In fact, the Duke didn’t want Rachel to become the Empress.

 

It was a position that was difficult, even after receiving the Empress’ education from a very young age and preparing for the rest of her life.

 

Wouldn’t Rachel be lonely in the battlefield-like Imperial palace, where schemes, backstabbing, and secret fighting were commonplace? Wouldn’t it be difficult to experience this situation for the first time, in an unfamiliar environment?

 

Wouldn’t everyone try to use Rachel, since she was a child who didn’t know anything. Won’t she be hurt by those people?

 

He was worried about everything, so he didn’t want to send Rachel to the Imperial palace.

 

Even so, if this was what Rachel wanted, he wouldn’t be able to stop her.

 

At least this one thing, he just wanted to check this one thing out.

 

Whether it would help the child adapt well. He wanted to be sure that the Emperor would protect Rachel no matter what the circumstances.

 

Surely he couldn’t.

 

Ian had wished for a family that Rachel could lean on.

 

It wasn’t so easy when Ian came out so publicly like this.

 

He certainly thought that Ian loved Rachel.

 

Even though Duke Oates thought he did, Ian’s current behavior made it hard for him to see any consideration or love for Rachel.

 

“His Majesty’s proposal was well received. I’ll send you a reply as soon as possible.”

 

The Duke hurriedly closed his mouth when the words came out colder than he intended. If he opened his mouth to say more, he felt he would burst out in anger.

 

“Oh, Duke Oates. I have one more thing to tell you.”

 

Count Rox hurried to grab him as if he was flustered by the Duke’s abruptness.

 

Count Rox carefully pulled a letter out of his coat pocket.

 

“His Majesty told me to deliver this.”

 

Duke Oates looked down at the letter in Count Rox’s hand, then accepted it.

 

A plain white envelope with no seal on it. The name of Ian Dakendov was written in small letters on the outside.

 

It was a thing that Ian did that the Duke once thought was annoying.

 

Carefully he opened the letter, one side of the paper was filled with a familiar handwriting.

 

“Haha.”

 

Ian had so much to say, it seemed like he would have a hard time reading all of it.

 

While complaining quietly, the corners of the Duke’s mouth rose slowly.

 

“It’ll be nice to see him again after such a long time.”

“His Majesty said he would visit in person as soon as possible.”

“Haha, if you’d left right away instead of waiting for him to write this, you would’ve arrived earlier.”

“If there is anything you want as a gift, I will add it. So, please feel free to tell me.”

 

The Duke looked down at the letter in his hand and shook his head.

 

That’s what was written inside the letter.

 

Ian wanted to hold a grand ceremony so that everyone would know that Rachel Oates was loved by the Emperor, so please join him.

 

The Duke was also in favor of the Emperor’s request.

 

“He wants to make it splendid and grand so that no one can push her around. Tell him that Rachel and I will pick out the gifts, so he’ll have to be prepared.”

“Yes, then I will tell him that.”

 

Count Rox nodded, and glanced at his watch.

 

“It seems that I have conveyed everything to you, Duke Oates.”

“Are you leaving already?”

 

The Duke of Oates, who had tried to drive Count Rox out earlier, was gone without a trace, and now the Duke ruefully caught the Count again.

 

“His Majesty told me to return without delay. May I now get up?”

“Oh, yes. Then you must be going.”

 

The Duke gave up his disappointment. He remembered that the Emperor was now waiting for Count Rox’s return, and didn’t want the man to lose his head.

 

He wanted to send Count Rox off with a solid meal, but the Duke once again resisted his disappointment when the Count insisted that he needed to move on.

 

“Thank you, Count Rox. Please tell His Majesty to travel safely.”

 

***