From Alicia (1)

The main gate of the imperial palace slowly opened.

The carriage of the Grand Duke of Tessen, which had entered through the main gate, soon came to a stop.

The Chief Steward of the Emperor personally opened the carriage door and greeted the Grand Duke of Tessen.

“I pay my respects to the Grand Duke.”

In front of the palace’s main keep, the nobles gathered in the grand plaza bowed toward Reichardt as he stepped down from the carriage.

“I pay my respects to the Duke of Lef.”

In the plaza, the great nobles excluding the imperial family had come out.

“Please be at ease, everyone. Thank you for welcoming me.”

Reichardt, having stepped down from the carriage, delivered his greeting to the nobles in the plaza.

Under the escort of the Chief Steward, he entered the Emperor’s work palace.

Watching the Grand Duke walking while holding Theodor in his arms, the nobles spoke in low voices.

“Did you all see?”

“It seems the Duke of Lef inherited the imperial traits entirely. He’s an angel in the flesh!”

“That’s because you saw him asleep. They say the Duke of Lef’s eyes are violet. As he grows, won’t he come to resemble Her Highness the Grand Duchess?”

“They say he’s a very gentle baby. They say he smiles so well.”

Voices of admiration rose among the noblewomen and ladies.

“Oh my! How can that be, for someone born between the Grand Duke, who is like a statue, and the Grand Duchess, who is unexpectedly frightening?”

“Watch your words, Lady. The imperial palace has many ears. If someone close to Her Majesty the Empress even heard you, you’ll never set foot in the palace again.”

The young ladies and noblewomen, who had been talking among themselves, exchanged quick glances.

A lady with a cute impression covered her cheeks with her hands and then lowered them.

“Still, Her Highness the Grand Duchess didn’t come.”

“There’s a rumor she’s pregnant with a second child.”

“So soon? She only just gave birth to the Duke of Lef. No way.”

“Testimony is being heard here and there that His Highness carried Her Highness the Grand Duchess around for the past year. It’s not entirely impossible.”

The young ladies raised their voices again with “Oh my!”

Some noblewomen looked at the girls admiringly with pity and wore cynical expressions.

“That can’t be.”

“There must be another reason.”

“Either way, Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Tessen is formidable. She can skip the greeting visit to the palace after childbirth, and even refuse His Majesty’s summons.”

“I said watch your words. The palace has many ears.”

The noblewomen fluttered their fans and looked toward the Grand Duke of Tessen, who had become a dot in the distance.

The palace corridor was solemn and beautiful.

Reichardt walked the long corridor under the Chief Steward’s guidance.

There was no need to care much about what the noblewomen and ladies said behind him.

But if Alicia learned of it, she probably would not like it.

If she learned she was being called an “unexpectedly frightening Grand Duchess,” she would likely feel sad rather than pleased or displeased.

He did not know why, but Alicia hid the power she possessed.

Not only that, she pretended to be a frail lady.

Though he had only half listened, by the sound of it seemed everyone feared Alicia.

It was a good phenomenon.

Though Alicia herself would not want it.

“…….”

Reichardt imagined Alicia pitying his image and let out a soundless snort of laughter.

“Your Highness?”

Chief Steward Eugene looked back at Reichardt.

Reichardt was in the middle of pulling up the blanket he had draped over Theodor a little more against the blowing wind.

“How is His Majesty?”

Seeing Reichardt’s gestures tenderly protecting Theodor and the smile lingering at his lips, Eugene felt the specialness.

It felt as though a scene he thought he would never see in his lifetime had bloomed before his eyes.

Though the Chief Steward was the Emperor’s man, Reichardt’s changes—whom he had watched since childhood—gave Eugene an unusual feeling as well.

“His Majesty is always much the same. He has been waiting for Your Highness very much.”

“It feels like something’s going on.”

“No, Your Highness. I will escort you to the Grand Real Session.”

Eugene smiled with an unreadable expression and quickened his steps.

At the words “Grand Real Session,” Reichardt made an annoyed face.

In that place, there were many laws and manners to observe.

In particular, one had to render due etiquette to the Emperor.

“Pointless.”

At Reichardt’s mutter, Eugene’s shoulders flinched.

But he pretended not to hear and walked even faster.

Even though he had visited the palace by imperial order, the Emperor still made Reichardt wait in front of the audience hall.

“Enter.”

Following the Chief Steward’s guidance, Reichardt walked into the opened doors.

Spring air filled the Grand Real Session.

“I pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor.”

The Emperor seated on the high dais was the same as ever.

He boasted a face full of dignity and beauty.

Maintaining a solemn expression at his taciturn younger brother’s greeting, the Emperor soon tilted his head askew.

“Is that the end of your greeting to the older brother you’re seeing after so long?”

“His Majesty did not summon me just to see me.”

Reichardt replied while patting Theodor’s back in his arms.

“Did the Grand Duchess truly not come?”

The Emperor, seated on the dais, shamelessly leaned his upper body forward to look around the audience hall, then came down grumbling.

“The Grand Duchess felt deeply apologetic that she could not pay her respects to His Majesty.”

Instinctively, Reichardt hid Theodor deeper in his embrace to avoid the Emperor descending the steps.

“As if the Grand Duchess would.”

The Emperor spread his arms wide, asking for Theodor.

Even though he already had a daughter and two sons, the Emperor was greatly pleased whenever nieces and nephews were born.

“Are you pleased?”

Reichardt carefully placed Theodor into the Emperor’s arms.

The Emperor, too, having many siblings and countless nieces and nephews, was highly skilled at holding and caring for children.

“Usually, when one presents a nephew to me, the guardian performs the proper etiquette on the nephew’s behalf.”

As the Emperor gently stroked Theodor in his arms, he glanced sideways at Reichardt.

Then, in a voice changed like a child’s, he chattered.

“Duke of Lef, Theodor Tessen, pays his respects to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Reichardt watched what the Emperor did in silence.

“…….”

Unbothered, the Emperor continued in a solemn voice.

“Duke Lef, you truly worked hard to be born. I am glad to meet you. I praise the Duke of Lef’s labor and bestow a reward. When you return, take the Gold of Duan with you.”

“It is more than I deserve.”

Reichardt replied at once.

The Gold of Duan was among the most famed treasures kept in the Emperor’s treasury, widely known even to the public.

Though called “gold,” the actual treasure was in the form of a staff.

“I am not bestowing it upon the Grand Duke of Tessen, so do not butt in.”

The Emperor, speaking in a reverent voice, tossed the latter words playfully.

“I apologize.”

The Emperor exaggeratedly hugged Theodor and chattered.

“Our lovely nephew worked hard to be born, is he not most admirable?”

“U-um…”

Theodor, who had been sleeping soundly in the Emperor’s arms, flinched and woke up.

Even when the child’s eyes were closed, he reminded one of Reichardt in his youth.

When his eyelids opened and the shape of his eyes stood out, he looked even more exactly like his father.

“Theo…”

The Emperor, calling out to Theodor as he opened his eyes, froze.

Theodor was the spitting image of Reichardt, yet only his eyes were violet like Alicia’s.

Watching closely, Reichardt spoke calmly.

“Shall I hold him?”

To the Emperor, Alicia was both his brother’s partner and a dangerous person who had taken something important from the Empire.

Aside from the Emperor himself or the burdens of being imperial, Alicia would likely have been the first to give him such a trial.

On the surface, they were a close family, but in truth, they were hardly different from enemies.

“Hold him for a moment.”

As if he were someone who had strained his heart, the Emperor quickly passed Theodor to Reichardt.

He watched his young nephew, who flapped his arms as he moved into Reichardt’s arms, with eyes dripping affection.

But when the child’s clear, transparent violet eyes looked up at him, he involuntarily hesitated a little.

It felt as though the many things stolen by Alicia Rain brushed across the Emperor’s mind.

“Reichardt, Theo really resembles you.”

“Everyone says so.”

Reichardt, blinking his eyes and making cute antics at Theodor, who was gentle even though he had just awakened, coaxed him.

Theodor spread a smile at his father’s aegyo.

“Kyareureu!”

From a few steps away, Theodor looked like Reichardt in miniature.

His temperament was gentle and lovely, too.

“He seems to have a good temperament as well.”

“He resembles Alicia.”

At the Emperor’s words, Reichardt replied softly.

The Emperor, who had looked dumbfounded at Reichardt’s nonsense, chattered in a dazed voice.

“…Tell the Grand Duchess to lower the salt price a bit…”

At the Emperor’s words, Reichardt was just as surprised.

On the day he set out for Baden, Alicia had headed to Mount Kaip.

At that time, Alicia had pointedly told him to refuse if the Emperor proposed renegotiating the salt price.

“She says no.”

“I thought so. You’re no help.”

The Emperor said sulkily toward Reichardt.

Rather than disappointment, it was a look of finding him pathetic.

Not giving up, he peered into the violet eyes held in Reichardt’s arms and whispered.

“Cute and pretty Theo, I’m your uncle. Your mo—”

At the Emperor’s shameless words, Reichardt hurriedly covered Theodor’s ears with his hand.

He shifted the child as if hiding him to the side and indicated the Emperor with his chin.

“What are you doing, Your Majesty.”

“If our pretty Theo asks, wouldn’t even the cold Grand Duchess listen a little?”

“Will that work?”

Reichardt said with a stern face.

“Salt…”

The Emperor’s face scattered wistfully.

“Alicia says renegotiation is impossible. Do not think of engaging in salt intermediary trade. If counterfeit silver coins have recently surged, look carefully not outside, but inside. It is true the counterfeit silver coins came from outside, but it seems it happened because, as the Barker Family fell, the slave market that collapsed was seized and things arose from that. Your Majesty always told me. When the villain before your eyes disappears, a new villain appears.”

The Emperor, who had been listening intently to Reichardt’s words, seemed to have reached some conclusion.