Wow, how could there be a more perfectly appropriate expression?
Given Grandfather’s slight flab, “raccoon” was an impeccable descriptor for his sagging, double-chinned jawline.
……And the hair loss. Well, I wouldn’t quite call it balding just yet.
“What business does Your Majesty have with my lovely granddaughter?”
“I didn’t come to see the Duke’s granddaughter. I came to see my younger sister.”
“……Is that so?”
“Do you have a problem with me visiting my own sister?”
“How could I have any objections?”
Whether it’s the granddaughter of Alzbeit or the younger sister of the Emperor, it all points to me in the end. I could almost see the taut, invisible strings vibrating between them.
“However, please refrain from saying unnecessary things to my beloved granddaughter.”
“Unnecessary?”
“You know better than anyone what that means, don’t you, Your Majesty?”
I raised my fan—a staple of the villainess persona I’d adopted out of boredom—to my lips and watched the two men’s war of nerves with keen interest.
Wow, even though they’re fighting over me.
‘It’s about me, but it’s so much fun!’
It felt like someone else’s business entirely.
‘If he means unnecessary things, could it be…… something like what the tyrant brother said to me before? About abandoning Alzbeit and becoming royalty?’
It wasn’t in Charlize’s memories, though. Perhaps Loxidian had been probing with such talk.
And Grandfather knew about that, too?
“Ha, affection. Does a Duke who harbors such affection really marry my sister off to a pathetic guy like that?”
At the tyrant brother’s words, I lost my amusement and stared in surprise.
To call my fiancé pathetic—he really is the only one who would dare. I gave him a look that told him exactly what I thought.
‘……Honestly, I’m not exactly thrilled with him either, but he isn’t pathetic, is he?’
Loxidian frowned, clearly displeased by my gaze, yet he showed no intention of retracting his sarcasm.
“……Duke Remut is a man who knows his place and does not act cocky, relying solely on his status like some others. Furthermore, he is a man of substance. I believe he is a sufficient match for my granddaughter.”
Was it true that the enemy of an enemy is a friend?
It was a line that translated to, ‘I’m perfectly satisfied with him, so what’s it to you?’ Grandfather seemed eager to get under the tyrant’s skin, even going so far as to praise a fiancé he usually complained about.
“Ha, substance? Does a man of such substance marry for money?”
“Are you insulting my granddaughter’s fiancé? The fact that the Imperial family snatched up the achievements Duke Remut made at the age of twenty is still vivid in this old man’s memory.”
“I paid a very good price for them, at least. Ah, the way those old fogeys barked because a twenty-year-old kid was entering politics is still quite vivid, too.”
“…….”
Loxidian’s brow furrowed in open disgust.
“It is you who should be cautious. Are you proud of pairing a granddaughter you claim to cherish with a man who would leave the moment he had money? That affection is truly shallow. Is this really how a maternal grandfather should behave?”
The biting sarcasm continued in his cold, level voice. Because he spoke without inflection, as if merely stating facts, the words carried the weight of a greater blow.
I watched it all with detached interest.
It was, more than anything, surprising.
‘Wow, this brother seems to hate that grandfather far more than he hates Charlize.’
Perhaps this was a tactic of using one enemy to defeat another. He was bombarding Grandfather while posturing as my protector.
It was thrilling, so I didn’t mind.
“……I will think carefully about your words.”
Grandfather was furious, but he seemed to be holding it in.
After all, regardless of everything else, Loxidian was an Emperor of formidable individual ability, his madness notwithstanding.
Moreover, he was an Emperor with outstanding martial prowess.
‘He’s not someone one can openly rebel against.’
Even so, knowing my grandfather’s personality, he wouldn’t let someone who had bruised his ego off the hook.
Perhaps he’d resort to something behind the scenes. Some devious plot or other.
I just hope it doesn’t splash back onto me.
‘No, especially not onto my plan to maintain a peaceful engagement.’
Grandfather’s gaze landed on me as I watched them nonchalantly.
Before that, the tyrant’s large hand gripped my shoulder.
“Hey, you. Go on ahead.”
“Uh, huh? Go where?”
“To my carriage. Now.”
I was pushed along as the tyrant shoved me.
I felt a bit self-conscious about Grandfather, but pressed by the tyrant’s fierce gaze and urgency, I eventually walked out of the building.
Grandfather looked highly displeased, but when he tried to stop me, he backed down at the mention of an Imperial order.
When I snuck a glance backward, I saw Grandfather’s retreating figure and the tyrant’s ominous expression.
‘Hmm, surely they won’t have a brawl in this residence.’
* * *
“You have been visiting quite often lately.”
As soon as Charlize disappeared, a cold expression settled over Duke Alzbeit’s face.
The same was true for Loxidian.
In fact, his face looked even more savage, as if the expression he’d worn in front of Charlize had been nothing more than a joke. The knights near the Duke grew tense on their own.
That was how intensely savage the hostility and aura Loxidian was radiating were.
“Would you please stop visiting my granddaughter so frequently?”
Loxidian sneered.
“Why should I?”
“She is a daughter of Alzbeit, not a member of the Imperial family.”
Loxidian paused. It wasn’t because he was flustered.
In fact, he was laughing to himself as if it were amusing.
Charlize, the granddaughter the Duke believed in so deeply. This Duke would soon be casting aside his cherished granddaughter with his own two hands.
He had always been someone who cast aside anything without hesitation if it wasn’t needed.
Even his own daughter.
“She is a possession of Alzbeit.”
Although people kept quiet about it now, the story that Duke Alzbeit had essentially sold his daughter to the Imperial family long ago was notorious.
To be precise, the Duchess-To-Be of Alzbeit—his mother—had mistaken the Emperor, who was out incognito, for a commoner and fallen in love with him.
Upon finding this out, Duke Alzbeit had flown into a rage, claiming she had fallen for something base and trivial.
Yet, after learning the commoner was actually the Emperor, the Duke’s attitude changed one hundred and eighty degrees.
“Go to the Emperor.”
He had personally offered his own daughter to the Emperor.
Of course, he had imposed a calculating condition: one of the children they produced must be handed over to the Alzbeit family.
Charlize, who was young then, might not know, but Loxidian had been hearing about this until his ears grew sore since he was a child.
Loxidian smirked at Duke Alzbeit’s sharp reaction.
‘Let’s see how long you can keep blathering on like that.’
He felt delighted.
He was looking forward to seeing what kind of massive trouble his younger sister, the wretched scoundrel and villainess of the Empire, would cause to get kicked out of this family.
“Since you have already seen fit to cast your own granddaughter out, let me ask: for what purpose have you personally visited my residence?”
“Must I tell you the purpose of my visit?”
*I am the Emperor. Do I have to explain my motives?*
At Loxidian’s crooked retort, Duke Alzbeit pressed his lips shut.
Looking at them, it didn’t look like a conversation between a maternal grandfather and a grandson in the slightest.
“Why did I come, you ask.”
Loxidian abruptly wiped away his sneer and grinned, shifting into a display of calculated caprice.
“We are kin, after all. I came to gift her a dress commissioned by the Imperial family, lest she arrive at the upcoming Goddess’s Blessing banquet in something… shabby.”
“……Pardon?”
Duke Alzbeit’s beard trembled. He fought to suppress his fury as he turned to Loxidian.
“I have already provided for my granddaughter—”
“Ah, never mind. I’m not really interested.”
Loxidian looked the Duke up and down with a smirk, then brushed past him without a second glance.
“Let’s avoid each other, shall we? From now on, stay out of my way. It’s an inconvenience.”
The old Duke’s shoulders shook with suppressed rage as Loxidian’s footsteps faded into the distance.
Without turning around, Duke Alzbeit barked for his adjutant.
“……Right now, buy every piece of jewelry, fabric, and gown deemed the finest in the Empire. Bring them all to Charlize!”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
The adjutant, sensing the Duke’s volatile mood, bowed until his forehead pressed against the floor.
Duke Alzbeit had originally come to reprimand Charlize for her frequent outings. He had insisted she keep a low profile since her return, but she had been stubborn. Yet, the moment Loxidian intervened, the Duke’s original intent evaporated.
*What? You dare bestow a dress upon my granddaughter?*
Don’t make me laugh. I wouldn’t let you touch a single strand of her hair.
His objective had shifted entirely. He would not be outdone by the Imperial family’s wealth. His insides, churned by Loxidian’s mockery, refused to settle. If there was one thing the Alzbeit family stood for, it was an arrogance rooted in assets, wealth, and gold that surpassed even the Imperial family.
He was Duke Alzbeit. He was the master of that very gold.
“Find out who the Imperial designer is. Pay them whatever is necessary to ensure they never create such a garment for anyone else again. And if they refuse… you have my permission to kill them.”
“……Yes, I will see to it, Your Grace.”
Meanwhile, Loxidian paused at the end of the hallway, glancing back toward the Duke.
Just as he had anticipated, his maternal grandfather was boiling with rage, completely beside himself.
It was exactly as expected.
*You are nothing but a greedy, bothersome pig who cares only for your coin.*
Loxidian smiled with the hollow satisfaction of a well-fed beast.