Diamond Crown (4)

A deathly silence lay over the audience chamber.

Between that suffocating stillness, a woman’s thin sobbing slipped through.

For a long while, the emperor said nothing.

“What did you just say?”

The emperor, whose expression was usually ambiguous and leisurely, actually looked taken aback.

“Please punish my sins by putting me to death, Your Majesty. Your Majesty… I have many men. You yourself have surely guessed a few of them. I know you have been pretending not to see.”

The Marchioness of Belz spoke as if she had already resolved herself to die.

That she met with many men was an open secret, but she had never once personally named who they were.

She had never imagined such a moment would come.

Tears streamed down the Marchioness’s cheeks.

Her thick blond hair and intelligent features, paired with her fondness for girlish ornaments, had earned her the reputation of being a bundle of vanity.

“I… maintain relations with eight men. Marquis Manners, Marquis Luba, Count Shutral, Count Clodain, Count Obriss, Count Ramer, Baron Marini, and Baron Bastien…”

Kneeling before the emperor, the Marchioness of Belz forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“Because I had many men, I needed a means of contraception. So I had a perfumer make candles that prevent pregnancy. A-and… Chancellor Marquis Manners, who knew that I met with many men, urged me to gift those candles to the imperial family.”

Her confession about her lovers veered off in a direction no one had expected.

The emperor gripped the armrest of his throne tightly.

He merely narrowed his brows in silence, without cutting in or interrupting her.

“Since the marchioness title was granted to me by the Imperial House on the condition that I not remarry, it would be a problem if everyone learned of the men I see… I never imagined I would be blackmailed for it… It was my ignorance… You know how lacking I am…! It was hard to refuse the chancellor’s words. Please put me to death, Your Majesty. It is all my fault. Young Lord Belz bears no sin!”

Her sobbing grew louder as she spoke.

Her cries were almost a beast’s wail.

It was easy to foresee that death was drawing near.

Even if the emperor did not take her life today, he would do so sooner or later.

Because she expected to die eventually, her tears would not stop.

Yet even if she was to die, she wanted to live just one day longer and see her child back in Belz before she closed her eyes.

The Marchioness poured every last bit of strength she had into her plea.

She threw everything she had at his feet.

“So the Marchioness of Belz was a busy woman. Candles for contraception, is it. Is this something I know of?”

The emperor spoke in a languid tone.

But his face, as he spoke, was carved with anger.

“Y-yes, Your Majesty.”

The Marchioness, tears soaking her entire face, answered.

“The Golden Candles. When they were to be brought into the palace, I was told there was no problem with them. I take it they were specially manufactured by your order.”

The emperor laughed as he spoke.

There was no mirth or warmth in that smile.

“Your Majesty…”

His pale-blue eyes looked down at the pitiful woman, tears running down her face.

“Marchioness of Belz. It is not my place to say this, but you certainly have been diligent in your social schedule. I can’t help but praise you—some of the men I knew of are missing, and there are new names added to the list.”

Drenched in fear, her eyes lifted to the emperor.

“Young Lord Belz is ten this year, I believe?”

“Y-yes…”

“He is still at an age that needs a mother. You may withdraw. I have heard you well, Marchioness of Belz.”

The emperor gave his order with a twisted smile.

“I am deeply honored…”

The Marchioness hesitated, then, afraid he might call her back, hastily offered a bow and withdrew.

“…”

Even after the audience chamber doors closed, the emperor did not move.

He recalled how summer had come and the Golden Candles had suddenly disappeared from the palace.

Someone had learned of them in advance and taken action.

At the time, he had not known why they vanished, but now, out of nowhere, the true nature of the Golden Candles had come to light.

The emperor did not entirely believe the Marchioness’s denunciation.

She was a careless person in some ways, but not so easy to handle.

His thoughts turned to another person.

The chancellor, Marquis Manners.

As she had said, he might have blackmailed her by using her private life against her.

Or perhaps the marchioness was shifting the blame onto an innocent chancellor.

The crucial question was whether the chancellor had suspected anything about the Golden Candles.

The emperor suspected that Marquis Manners had known or at least guessed.

The chancellor had presented his daughter Maude from the marquisate, let her fall pregnant early, then only revealed the pregnancy when the birth was near and requested that she be accepted into the harem.

That was as far as his thoughts went.

“Attend me.”

“Your Majesty, do you have an order?”

Summoned, the chief chamberlain stepped forward.

“Call in Marquis Manners.”

“I shall obey.”

Private audiences between the emperor and the chancellor were common.

But being called into the audience chamber when nothing particular was happening felt strange.

“Your Majesty, you sent for me?”

The emperor did not even offer Marquis Manners a seat.

“Do you know about the Golden Candles?”

For a moment, Marquis Manners could not hide his surprise.

The emperor’s question was far too sudden.

It was like a surprise attack when he had no defenses in place.

He tried to maintain his composure.

This was a man who knew countless secrets of the world, yet also knew how to pretend ignorance.

“Your Majesty.”

“There’s nothing Marquis Manners does not know, is there? Is that not so?”

The emperor was already convinced.

“You are mistaken, Your Majesty.”

“Mistaken about what?”

Once the emperor set his mind, there was no use doing anything.

Even so, Marquis Manners tried to do something—anything.

“Y-Your Majesty—”

“I am aware of your relationship with the Marchioness of Belz.”

A second surprise attack.

“…Your Majesty!”

Forgetting himself, Marquis Manners raised his voice.

“Answer me, Marquis. Why did you tell me of Maude’s pregnancy so late? When you asked that she be allowed into the harem, the birth was already close.”

“T-that was to avoid the other consorts’ hostility…”

The chancellor rushed to give his excuse.

“So the harem’s hostility is so fierce that you lied about the birth date to the child’s own father, the emperor?”

“Your Majesty rules the empire as an absolute sovereign, so it is hard for you to know the hardships within the harem.”

“And yet you seem to know a great deal about my harem through your close relationship with the Duchess of Palz.”

At that, Marquis Manners realized he had reached a point where there was nothing left to say.

He even forgot he was standing before the emperor and shook his head.

“My relationship with Her Grace is nothing of the sort. Your Majesty, with her, I…”

His reaction was far more eager than when the topic had been the Marchioness of Belz.

“The Duchess of Palz is cautious in all things. She is well aware of her position as a member of my harem. She is not someone who would act rashly. She prefers older men with a learned, professor-like air. No doubt you played up that image when you approached her. But… that hardly matters.”

Expression drained from the emperor’s face.

“Marquis, you are my chancellor. Outwardly, the chancellor may be said to lead the nobles who have stepped back from the front stage, but you are my ally. It may be that the Marchioness of Belz is slandering you. Still, I cannot help but doubt. Could you truly not have known?”

“I had no idea. None at all, Your Majesty. Please believe me!”

The emperor shook his head.

“Then what misunderstanding is there? You must have guessed. You knew I feared not having children. You knew the Marchioness of Belz was plotting something. Marquis, you could have turned a blind eye to the unhappiness of the imperial family. But if you used it, your sin is not light. Did you wish to become the Crown Prince’s maternal grandfather?”

Marquis Manners could see that the emperor meant to end his life.

“Your Majesty, the Manners family has served the imperial house with loyalty for generations. Please do not forget our devotion.”

“So the assassins being sent at my concubines of late are an expression of that loyalty as well? Was once at the spring hunt not enough?”

Marquis Manners trembled as if he might collapse.

“You have worked hard these many years, supporting me, Marquis. I hope you will not refuse my final gift to you.”

At the emperor’s words, Marquis Manners closed his eyes.

The chamberlain approached, carrying a goblet on a silver tray.

“Your Majesty, please believe that the Manners family’s loyalty to the imperial house has always been sincere.”

Leaving that brief statement behind, Marquis Manners accepted the poisoned wine.

He swallowed it and broke into harsh coughs.

The chamberlain kindly brought a chair and urged him to sit.

Marquis Manners could not understand his own death.

It felt as though his life were being snatched away without warning.

Right up to the moment his breath stopped, he remained stunned, unable to believe it.

“Farewell, Rafi.”

The emperor gave one last glance to Marquis Manners—Raphaello Manners—whose slowly closed eyes would never open again.

Alicia watched the slightly open carriage window.

The carriage stood on a street from which one could see the manor at 7 Wing Street.

Outside, it was still quiet.

Summoned by imperial decree to Baden, the Marchioness of Belz had left in haste, then soon after departed for her own domain.

The emperor had chosen to protect the imperial family and the chancellor’s family line, rather than the chancellor himself and a relative of the imperial house who had harmed the royals.

The Marchioness of Belz would lose her life eventually, too.

But when it came to meting out punishment, he had chosen to punish the noble who had deceived the imperial family over the imperial relative who had endangered them.

A carriage bearing the imperial seal arrived in front of the Manners marquisate.

Soon, people poured out of the manor and a commotion broke out.

“Father!”

“Rafi, Rafi…!”

Viviana, who had run out at the very front, let out a scream that echoed down the street.

The marchioness stumbled as she hurried forward and collapsed.

The empire’s chancellor, Raphaello Manners, was dead.

House Manners had lost its center.

Alicia closed the window and knocked on the carriage wall.

Knock, knock—at the signal to depart, the carriage rolled away from Wing Street.

“Milady.”

Hoofbeats approached beside the moving carriage.

“Begin.”

Confirming Judith’s voice, Alicia spoke without even opening the window.

“We withdraw.”

Judith drew close for a heartbeat and then faded away without a sound.

“This is where it really starts.”

House Manners would soon lose its heir as well.

In a convenient riding accident.

With both the marquis and his designated successor gone, and no new heir named, House Manners would start to crumble from within.

It was obvious the chancellor’s relatives would tear one another apart over the marquisate’s seat of power.

Even without the chancellor’s office, the title of marquis was still a prize worth coveting.

“I wonder if His Majesty will find me impudent.”

Alicia cracked the carriage window open a little.

By now, the emperor must have realized it.

The same person who had sent the anonymous letter had used his hand to remove an enemy.

For someone who gathered every scrap of information, it was entirely possible he had already learned that Alicia had been the one to send that letter.

The emperor knew that Grand Marquis Valdemar Rain’s death had not been a simple riding accident.

If he could deduce that it was the result of conflict between nobles, he could also have figured out who had killed whom.

Alicia did not care even if the emperor knew everything.

Starting tomorrow, no one would have time to worry about such things.

Baden was about to erupt over the appointment of a baron as chancellor.

The fourth younger brother of Count Berea.

Baron Berea.

For the first time in history, a mere baron would fill the vacant chancellor’s seat, and the entire empire would be in an uproar.

“The birth of a great chancellor.”

Her carriage sped down Baden’s wide main street.

As the tidy scenery slid by, Alicia let out a quiet laugh.