‘If I go all the way to her room, it’ll only spark nasty rumors.’
He thought this all the more when he considered Housekeeper Margaret, who was always itching for a chance to tear her down.
‘Then again, what would I even say if I met her? That I’m sorry? And what would that make Lynnia?’
His footsteps, which had been aimlessly searching for Edel, came to a sudden halt.
His mind felt like a tangled, chaotic mess.
The urge to find Edel and apologize, the desire to ignore her, and a strange, unidentifiable emotion were all swirling together, making him hesitate.
‘Haa, let’s go back.’
In the end, he turned around.
Not only was there nothing to say even if he did find her, but he felt that seeking her out now would only bring her more harm.
However, feeling restless, he headed out to the backyard, where the training grounds were located.
The cold winter wind burrowed inside his shirt, but it felt refreshing rather than biting.
“Haa….”
His heavy sigh scattered into the air as a cloud of white mist.
‘What am I even doing?’
He asked himself while staring into the dark backyard.
There was no issue with his life as the Commander of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor’s personal knight. The task of reorganizing the mercenary guilds under his command and absorbing them into the Empire’s military force was also progressing well.
Although the remaining three great families seemed to be hatching schemes behind his back after the fall of the Lancaster Ducal Family, they remained quiet for now, and he was taking steady steps to build the strength to oppose them.
If he could just focus on his work in the Imperial Palace, his mind wouldn’t feel this clogged or troubled. But maintaining and managing this household was an entirely different matter.
‘This is why I didn’t want to receive titles or manors. Dealing with Lynnia alone is troublesome enough.’
He clicked his tongue against his teeth, a sharp sound escaping his lips.
Even though the Emperor had insisted, he could have refused the title and the territory. He could have pushed back firmly, claiming he would rather die. But the Emperor had continued his persuasion with logic he could not defy.
“You must become an emblem for the mercenaries. Those who have half-given up on life need hope to live properly.”
That wasn’t all.
“Only when you become a new power can you protect them from other forces eyeing Calliope. I am giving you such a high title for that very reason.”
There was simply no way to resist the Emperor’s persuasion.
‘Damn Emperor. His tongue is as slippery as a snake’s.’
Ultimately, just as the Emperor had hoped, he became the new power protecting the throne. He was still lacking in many ways, but the Emperor didn’t seem to care much.
“You, too, will one day accept your fate, Laslo. Just as I had no choice but to accept my own.”
He recalled those words, which Demarcus had said with a friendly laugh when Laslo remarked that he wasn’t cut out to live like a nobleman, but he could never bring himself to agree.
‘I don’t even know what to do about Lynnia right now; what fate is he talking about?’
It felt unfair to accept this situation as “fate.” He had merely been swept up in the Emperor’s scheme and left with these troublesome burdens.
Regardless, it wasn’t something he could just abandon, so he had to find a way to deal with the problems at hand.
‘I’ll just have to get a recommendation for a new tutor from within the Imperial Guard. And I’ll have to make it clear to Lynnia that this is her last chance. ……If I send her to that party wearing a piece of expensive jewelry, maybe those noisy hens will be a bit more careful?’
Laslo came up with what he thought was the easiest solution. He completely failed to consider his own position, having never even set foot in high society.
* * *
“Phew….”
As the middle-aged man exhaled a long trail of cigar smoke, the drawing room covered in red carpet grew hazy.
The man, whose silver hair and pale blue eyes created a cold impression, savored the taste of the cigar lingering on his tongue before speaking.
“Hmm, it truly is high quality, as expected of Vinkov tobacco.”
“No matter how hard they try in Van Ribelle or Mirabar, they cannot match the excellence of Vinkov cigars. Of all of them, I personally favor this ‘Olga’ brand the most.”
“Thanks to the Marquis of Tolein, I have learned of a fine product. My thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. The ‘Moldiva’ that the Marquis Winblair smokes is also a fine product.”
No one in that room considered the 50 Lington cost per cigar to be a waste.
Because gathered there were the heads and successors of the four great families of the Piphera Empire—or rather, the three great families, as they were now called.
As the atmosphere, heated by the talk of cigars, began to cool, the Marquis of Tolein tentatively brought up the main topic.
“By the way… I’m sure you are all aware of how the social scene has been since the Birthday Banquet?”
“Ah, the sycophants haven’t changed a bit.”
“Let’s use the correct word. They are simply cowards.”
Even before going back to the late Emperor’s reign, until the Lancaster Ducal Family was annihilated by the Emperor, the scale of power had tilted toward the four great families.
Many nobles relied on the power of the four great families rather than the Imperial family, and among them, the Lancaster Ducal Family had enough influence that they had nearly become true royalty.
“The cause is that the Lancaster Ducal Family collapsed so easily. When a family that seemed more solid than the Imperial house was annihilated by the Emperor, everyone else was bound to be terrified.”
“It was unexpected. I didn’t think they would be pushed so hard by the suppression army, but even if they were, I expected them to hold out until at least this year….”
“Indeed. If they had just held on until then, who knows how the situation might have changed.”
The Lancaster family finally suffered defeat about two months ago, on October 15th.
Everyone believed that if they had only held out until the end of the year, they would have been able to recover their strength during the month of January, as the laws of Askerism forbade all conflict during that time.
However, Isaac, the Marquis of Winblair, thought differently.
“Even if they had held out until then, could we have supported the Lancaster family? With the brand of ‘traitor’ stamped on them?”
At those words, everyone just let out a “Hmph” and offered no reply.
Beyond their own arrogance, the reason the Lancaster Ducal Family sought independence was because they believed in ‘custom.’
Historically, when a ducal family’s power became too strong, the Imperial house would acknowledge their independence. They chose to shrink the Empire’s territory rather than let two suns rise in the sky.
However, the new Emperor, Demarcus, had defined the Lancaster Duke’s attempt at independence as ‘treason’ and attacked to restore the Imperial authority that had crumbled during his father’s reign.
“Once the brand of ‘traitor’ is stamped, public opinion cannot be favorable. The risks to be borne in case of failure are simply too great.”
“Knowing that, he must have branded them as traitors the moment he learned of the Lancaster family’s plans. Furthermore, labeling them as traitors grants legitimacy to indiscriminate suppression.”
That was why the other families hesitated to reach out to the Lancaster family, and in that moment of hesitation, Demarcus used Laslo Krissus to completely trample the Lancaster Ducal Family.
“We underestimated him because he was a young Emperor.”
“The problem was that we dismissed him as a Crown Prince who spent his life on the battlefield. It’s not as if someone who survived that environment would be an ordinary person.”
They had to admit that they had been laughing at Demarcus for too long.
“But everything he did was outside of common sense, so how were we to anticipate it? To think he would abandon the pride of the Imperial family and join hands with mercenaries….”
That had been the most decisive factor.
The Emperor had taken the ‘Mercenary King,’ whom everyone thought he would use once and discard, and fully absorbed him as his close aide.
“We didn’t know the Emperor would join hands with that guy, so we didn’t even think to investigate the mercenary guilds. We were properly backstabbed.”
Everyone gathered in the secret drawing room had a bitter taste in their mouths.
“Like attracts like. Not only did they act similarly, but they even look alike….”
“They are both just beasts. They lived their lives rolling around on the battlefield; would they know anything about dignity or refinement?”
Demarcus had black hair and golden eyes, while Laslo had black hair and light brown eyes; both were large-framed like knights, so at a glance, they gave a similar impression.
“If they had only been obedient, it wouldn’t have mattered what they looked like or how vulgar their nature was, but that is not the case, which is the problem.”
Isaac pointed out coldly.
Unlike the late Emperor, who was easy to manage, Demarcus was changing the face of the Piphera Empire.
He intended to tear everything down from the foundation and rebuild it anew. Pleas that deviated from that objective had no effect on him whatsoever.
The three great families, who had reigned like kings while ignoring imperial law and wielding power as they pleased, found Demarcus to be a thorn in their sides.
However, now that they knew Demarcus had gained enough power to topple the Lancaster Ducal Family by getting his hands on Laslo, they had to move much more cautiously than before.
“In any case, the Emperor must be replaced. As long as Demarcus sits in that position, we will only continue to decline.”
“But if we step to the forefront, we will only become the next targets after the Lancaster family. We must use the small fry until the time is right.”
Hearing this, Marquis Isaac raised an eyebrow slightly and spoke.