That’s right, more questions. Nothing has been resolved. Maribelle brought up an unanswered question.
‘Perhaps I can talk about it now?’
Ethelred is on her side. Ethelred will destroy the Duke of Edenbert without question if she asked him to take revenge on her family. She had a strange feeling of confidence.
In fact, Maribelle might have really asked Ethelred if he had arrived just a little sooner saying “That guy, my uncle, deceived me!” But she didn’t do that.
Why?
‘Not yet… I can’t completely trust him.’
He is a tyrant. No one can stop a man who slashes and kills like him. Being unpredictable was a simple way to win, but it also meant that he might not side with her in a critical situation.
Actually, rather than acting according to Maribelle’s will, Ethelred could use her revenge against her.
‘It’s not His Majesty’s own will yet, I need another excuse to sentence them to death.’
To her the reasons the Lorentz family must be purged were obvious but she needed a reason no one else could refute. But what is such a thing?
Tak!
Maribelle awoke from her thoughts. The friction was caused by two fingers in front of her. Maribelle rolled her eyes gently and turned to face the person in front of her. A man with violet hair was frowning slightly.
In other words, Kir was frowning.
“Lady? Did you hear what I said?”
“Uhm, I’m sorry. What do you say?”
“I was explaining the first Emperor, His Majesty Legina Peophil. You have to focus. You are not a very good student, Lady.”
Maribelle didn’t necessarily deny what he said.
Kir was also calm about the disaster in the garden, as if it were a daily routine.
‘Phew, the grass in this garden has probably drunk more blood than water. Just see. It’s going to be red grass later.’
Kir grumbled as he brought Maribelle to the library. He was angry that Maribelle kept him busy when he should have been lazing the day away and ignoring his position as head of staff.
‘I was working on a very useless way to spend time. I thought I’d learn to Cross-Stitch, but thanks to you, all of these things have become dreams!’
‘If you wanted to waste your time like that, why didn’t you just turn down the offer to teach me?’
‘What are you talking about! Who else in this Palace, including the Imperial Family, is as good as me!? Of course, I’m the one who has to do it!’
‘……’
Maribelle had given up thinking at that point.
Maribelle was learning about the continent’s history by the time they arrived at the library, thanks to Kir’s tour. At least, she was learning about it until she changed her mind.
“Legina Peophil, the founder and first Emperor of the Peophil, united 17 nations and left a will to deliver the name and the ring to the next Emperor.”
She can’t get it in her head. Maribelle was staring blankly at the slightly faded white paper with black letters scrawled on it.
“Ethelred’s full name is Ethelred Legina Peophil, the name of the first Emperor, is in the middle of his name.”
Maribelle looked at Kir, her eyes wide open, seemingly startled, when she heard Ethelred’s name. It caught her off guard because she was unable to concentrate in class.
Kir’s eyes narrowed.
“Lady. What if the person who will be the next Empress acts like this?”
“Uh, isn’t there a time when the Empress simply enjoys daydreaming?”
Unfortunately, Maribelle’s excuse did not work. Kir locked his gaze on Maribelle for a long moment before he sighed, closed the book, and dragged the refreshments beside him to the center of the desk.
“I don’t believe you’re paying attention in class today, so I’ll leave after we finish this.”
“That’s my snack.”
“Give some to your Teacher.”
Ignoring Maribelle’s dissatisfied glance, Kir picked up a cookie from a plate and put it in his mouth.
“But I can’t leave without telling you anything, so I’ll tell you something you’ll find interesting, Lady.”
“What is it?”
“I told you the legacy of the first Emperor was a ring. The blue ring that His Majesty wears every day.”
Did he say anything about it? Maribelle ate the snack while tilting her head. Kir also took another cookie and put it in his mouth.
“There’s a legend that the ring contains some sort of magic. The big jewel in the middle is a diamond.”
“Yesh.”
Her words were muffled as she ate the cookies quickly before they could be taken away by Kir. Kir felt the same way. The library was full of noises half of the sound of talking, half of the sound of eating sweets
“Supposedly the stone came from a river in the Duchy of Edenbert, but the Duchy’s been experiencing a drought lately.” Kir said through his mouthful of cookies. (t/n : This part is a bit confusing because in the Raw they put it in hard way because they eating cookies)
“Is that so?”
Maribelle grinned with her cheeks plump like a hamster, with the last cookie in her mouth.
“Thank you for the information.”
She ate five more than Kir.
*******
A girl with brown hair tied back by a pink ribbon jumped into a room lined with dark wooden furniture.
“Azil! I’ve arrived!”
He’s not sure what’s so exciting, but the girl with lovely red cheeks and freckles looked energetic enough to disturb this quiet room right away. Azil put his index finger to his lips without taking his gaze away from the bottles of medicine he was working with.
“Ssh, Leah. You have to be quiet.”
“Ssh.”
Leah, the girl raised her index finger to mimic Azil, she then smiled and placed the wonderful items she had brought on the desk.
“You asked for it, so here it is. Oh, this was especially difficult to obtain. What exactly do you mean by “wild mountain grass”? We had to travel to the west to get this.”
“Well done. Take a seat. I’ll make you some tea.”
Azil smiled as he set the bottles down, shook a bell, and called a maid. He had his hair tied high, unlike most other days, and Leah, as Azil had requested, sat quietly and only watched him. Her inability to calm her enthusiasm soon emerged though.
In other words, she began chattering again after sitting in front of him.
“It’s been a long time since I came into the palace; do you know who I saw on my way here?”
“Have you met His Majesty?”
“No! You said there was a lot of commotion while I was gone? I’m referring to His Majesty’s woman!”
When Leah said that, her eyes shone brightly, as if she couldn’t enjoy the rare lovey pink atmosphere in the palace. It was typical of women her age to be interested in such matters.
Azil laughed. It reminded him of ‘that woman’ that Leah had mentioned.
“Oh well. She’s very beautiful! Oh, you’ve seen her, haven’t you? She resembles His Majesty! The brows are perfectly straight here—”
Click. A woman entered through the open door. The noisy room was quieted by a voice that was neither high nor low.
“Excuse me, are you there?”
Her silver hair, reddened by the setting sun, overflowing down her shoulders. Sunset streamed from the door into the room, which was dark due to the heavy curtains. A beautiful woman stood in front of them.
Azil’s cool eyes curled gently and shaped themselves into crescent moons.
“Welcome, Lady.”
“Hello, my wound—”
“Huh?! Oh!!! This sister!”
All eyes turned to the girl who sat in the center of the room. Leah looked around at Azil and Maribelle and then the floor, as if her eyes were too heavy for her, and she finally covered her mouth and stood up.
“A-Azil… I-I will go— Pretty sister… Please have a long life— Good bye—”
Leah swung the blackout curtains open and ran out of the window, possibly because she couldn’t bear to get closer to Maribelle just to exit through the door.
Thanks to this, there were only two people left in the room alongside a confused silence.
******
Maribelle had come to see Azil because the wound on her hand had, of course, opened. It was manageable at first, but the pain gradually became worse rather than better.
And in addition, ‘See you again, Lady.’
The farewell that he spit out, as if it was natural, continued to linger and bothered her, and it was impossible to return to the Calende Palace and visit another physician at all. In the end, she pondered and decided to give in and go to Azil but when she arrived…
“She’s a lively… Lady.”
What a situation. Maribelle blinked incessantly, breaking the awkward silence. But she was the only one who was uneasy; Azil smiled calmly and closed the window that Leah had left wide open, even drawing the curtains again.
“She’s still young. She must have liked you, Lady.”
“What did I do to make her like me?”
“Sometimes, some people become likeable for no reason.”
Maribelle’s doubtful gaze and Azil’s faint smile collided in the air.
The disconnect was noticed by both. However, neither brought it up. Azil offered Maribelle a seat, and she obediently followed him and sat.
“Let’s see. You reopened the wound.”
“It hurts a lot more than I expected.”
“I believe I warned you not to push yourself.”
Azil took Maribelle’s hand in his. Maribelle’s fingers had become entangled in the bandage, which she couldn’t even touch. The bandage came off silently. The blood had dried on the exposed palms. It had been a long time since it had opened.
Azil’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You’re very lucky, lady. If the wound opens up like this, it will be difficult to heal.”
“If you’re saying that then you know it will eventually heal.”
“You can say it like that I suppose. The kid brought me some medicine earlier.”
Azil spoke in a rare, low-key tone before turning and searching through what Leah had brought. The thin fingertips ripped out unwanted items. Maribelle recognized one of them.
“Is that wild mountain grass?”
Azil had returned, this time carrying a small bottle. He had a slightly surprised expression on his face instead of his usual smile.
“Are you familiar with wild mountain grass?”
“I’d heard it was only available in the western desert, so I was surprised to see it here.”
Maribelle, who had been speaking casually, abruptly hardened her expression.
“……it’s a poison.”
“That’s correct. It’s poisonous.”
Azil accepted her statement gently and began to apply the ointment from the bottle to Maribelle’s hands. Maribelle’s gaze, however, remained fixed over Azil’s shoulder and the wild mountain grass.
That poison plant is in the Imperial Palace. Maribelle was so surprised that she unintentionally put her thoughts into her mouth.
“Who are you going to feed that to—?”
“Well, who do you think it is?”
Ugh, Maribelle frowned reflexively and shifted her gaze to her hands. Azil was purposefully focusing on the wound. Azil’s eyes were half-annoyed and half-grumpy.
Azil smiled despite Maribelle’s intense stare. It was a satisfactory attitude.
“His Majesty has so many enemies. It’s not easy to rest as a subordinate.”
“Someone I know used to get good rest.” Maribelle said pointedly.
“Kir’s brain is so good that he finishes his work quickly. That friend, he’s a genius. Lately, the amount of work he does has dropped sharply.”
It’s no surprise. Maribelle recalled the overindulgent explanation for the her teacher and the Head of Staff’s alleged murderous workload
Few people understood the internal situation as well as the Head of Staff in this brutal imperial palace or could hold out for as long as Kir had. Maribelle could infer some of Azil’s background from his statement about Kir.
“You must be someone who has been with His Majesty for a long time.”
“His Majesty’s trust is ours.”
Azil agreed. At first, hiding wasn’t a problem. He was currently applying the ointment and putting on a new bandage. He softly spoke again.
“This imperial palace will be peaceful when there are fewer rebels. As a result, it would be right for us, the closest people to his majesty, to take care of it.”
“Did His Majesty give the order?”
“Why would he have to order it, Lady?”
Azil had a frown on his face. Maribelle could realize in an instant with that look.
Ethelred approved of all the killings.
‘Wait.’
Maribelle’s thoughts came to a sudden halt. Didn’t he say the Head of Staff would be replaced?
‘My uncle said he’d be the new Head of the Staff’
So, how does her uncle become Head of Staff? So far, the position has been managed by Ethelred’s closest aides, since it was a position in charge of cleaning up after the imperial family.
‘No way, he’s not actually treating Uncle as a trusted and close aide right?’
Maribelle’s mood quickly worsened. Perhaps this was a standard procedure. The Emperor might have simply been generous to her family for her sake like the sweet words written down in the Empire’s history books. Perhaps Ethelred abused the Duke of Edenbert’s privileges by falling in love and proposing to Maribelle so suddenly.
Maribelle would have been overjoyed if it had been in the past, thinking how good it would be for her Uncle to go from being a trusted aide of the emperor to being crushed by her revenge, but not now. Maribelle’s expression shifted unintentionally.
“Lady, you seem to be in a bad mood. Did I hurt you again?”
“…were you trying to hurt me again?”
“No way. I feel like I’ve never seen the Lady smile.”
Azil smiled softly and lightly kissed Maribelle’s palm — bandage really — without further interrogation. It was time to say goodbye.
“See you again, Lady.”
Maribelle stood up, feeling conflicted. She opened the door instead of bidding him farewell. She had a lot on her mind right now.
‘It wasn’t so much about me as it was about showing off.’
So, even if Maribelle opposes her uncle Lorentz, Lorentz’s position will strengthen. She was going to just let him sit higher at first, but when she found out he might be a close aide to the Emperor, she felt bothered.
‘Should I at least talk to His Majesty—’
As soon as Maribelle took a step, she realized that all her worries were useless.
“Long time no see, Sister.”
That’s because Arinel was standing right in front of her.
That’s right, more questions. Nothing has been resolved. Maribelle brought up an unanswered question.
‘Perhaps I can talk about it now?’
Ethelred is on her side. Ethelred will destroy the Duke of Edenbert without question if she asked him to take revenge on her family. She had a strange feeling of confidence.
In fact, Maribelle might have really asked Ethelred if he had arrived just a little sooner saying “That guy, my uncle, deceived me!” But she didn’t do that.
Why?
‘Not yet… I can’t completely trust him.’
He is a tyrant. No one can stop a man who slashes and kills like him. Being unpredictable was a simple way to win, but it also meant that he might not side with her in a critical situation.
Actually, rather than acting according to Maribelle’s will, Ethelred could use her revenge against her.
‘It’s not His Majesty’s own will yet, I need another excuse to sentence them to death.’
To her the reasons the Lorentz family must be purged were obvious but she needed a reason no one else could refute. But what is such a thing?
Tak!
Maribelle awoke from her thoughts. The friction was caused by two fingers in front of her. Maribelle rolled her eyes gently and turned to face the person in front of her. A man with violet hair was frowning slightly.
In other words, Kir was frowning.
“Lady? Did you hear what I said?”
“Uhm, I’m sorry. What do you say?”
“I was explaining the first Emperor, His Majesty Legina Peophil. You have to focus. You are not a very good student, Lady.”
Maribelle didn’t necessarily deny what he said.
Kir was also calm about the disaster in the garden, as if it were a daily routine.
‘Phew, the grass in this garden has probably drunk more blood than water. Just see. It’s going to be red grass later.’
Kir grumbled as he brought Maribelle to the library. He was angry that Maribelle kept him busy when he should have been lazing the day away and ignoring his position as head of staff.
‘I was working on a very useless way to spend time. I thought I’d learn to Cross-Stitch, but thanks to you, all of these things have become dreams!’
‘If you wanted to waste your time like that, why didn’t you just turn down the offer to teach me?’
‘What are you talking about! Who else in this Palace, including the Imperial Family, is as good as me!? Of course, I’m the one who has to do it!’
‘……’
Maribelle had given up thinking at that point.
Maribelle was learning about the continent’s history by the time they arrived at the library, thanks to Kir’s tour. At least, she was learning about it until she changed her mind.
“Legina Peophil, the founder and first Emperor of the Peophil, united 17 nations and left a will to deliver the name and the ring to the next Emperor.”
She can’t get it in her head. Maribelle was staring blankly at the slightly faded white paper with black letters scrawled on it.
“Ethelred’s full name is Ethelred Legina Peophil, the name of the first Emperor, is in the middle of his name.”
Maribelle looked at Kir, her eyes wide open, seemingly startled, when she heard Ethelred’s name. It caught her off guard because she was unable to concentrate in class.
Kir’s eyes narrowed.
“Lady. What if the person who will be the next Empress acts like this?”
“Uh, isn’t there a time when the Empress simply enjoys daydreaming?”
Unfortunately, Maribelle’s excuse did not work. Kir locked his gaze on Maribelle for a long moment before he sighed, closed the book, and dragged the refreshments beside him to the center of the desk.
“I don’t believe you’re paying attention in class today, so I’ll leave after we finish this.”
“That’s my snack.”
“Give some to your Teacher.”
Ignoring Maribelle’s dissatisfied glance, Kir picked up a cookie from a plate and put it in his mouth.
“But I can’t leave without telling you anything, so I’ll tell you something you’ll find interesting, Lady.”
“What is it?”
“I told you the legacy of the first Emperor was a ring. The blue ring that His Majesty wears every day.”
Did he say anything about it? Maribelle ate the snack while tilting her head. Kir also took another cookie and put it in his mouth.
“There’s a legend that the ring contains some sort of magic. The big jewel in the middle is a diamond.”
“Yesh.”
Her words were muffled as she ate the cookies quickly before they could be taken away by Kir. Kir felt the same way. The library was full of noises half of the sound of talking, half of the sound of eating sweets
“Supposedly the stone came from a river in the Duchy of Edenbert, but the Duchy’s been experiencing a drought lately.” Kir said through his mouthful of cookies. (t/n : This part is a bit confusing because in the Raw they put it in hard way because they eating cookies)
“Is that so?”
Maribelle grinned with her cheeks plump like a hamster, with the last cookie in her mouth.
“Thank you for the information.”
She ate five more than Kir.
*******
A girl with brown hair tied back by a pink ribbon jumped into a room lined with dark wooden furniture.
“Azil! I’ve arrived!”
He’s not sure what’s so exciting, but the girl with lovely red cheeks and freckles looked energetic enough to disturb this quiet room right away. Azil put his index finger to his lips without taking his gaze away from the bottles of medicine he was working with.
“Ssh, Leah. You have to be quiet.”
“Ssh.”
Leah, the girl raised her index finger to mimic Azil, she then smiled and placed the wonderful items she had brought on the desk.
“You asked for it, so here it is. Oh, this was especially difficult to obtain. What exactly do you mean by “wild mountain grass”? We had to travel to the west to get this.”
“Well done. Take a seat. I’ll make you some tea.”
Azil smiled as he set the bottles down, shook a bell, and called a maid. He had his hair tied high, unlike most other days, and Leah, as Azil had requested, sat quietly and only watched him. Her inability to calm her enthusiasm soon emerged though.
In other words, she began chattering again after sitting in front of him.
“It’s been a long time since I came into the palace; do you know who I saw on my way here?”
“Have you met His Majesty?”
“No! You said there was a lot of commotion while I was gone? I’m referring to His Majesty’s woman!”
When Leah said that, her eyes shone brightly, as if she couldn’t enjoy the rare lovey pink atmosphere in the palace. It was typical of women her age to be interested in such matters.
Azil laughed. It reminded him of ‘that woman’ that Leah had mentioned.
“Oh well. She’s very beautiful! Oh, you’ve seen her, haven’t you? She resembles His Majesty! The brows are perfectly straight here—”
Click. A woman entered through the open door. The noisy room was quieted by a voice that was neither high nor low.
“Excuse me, are you there?”
Her silver hair, reddened by the setting sun, overflowing down her shoulders. Sunset streamed from the door into the room, which was dark due to the heavy curtains. A beautiful woman stood in front of them.
Azil’s cool eyes curled gently and shaped themselves into crescent moons.
“Welcome, Lady.”
“Hello, my wound—”
“Huh?! Oh!!! This sister!”
All eyes turned to the girl who sat in the center of the room. Leah looked around at Azil and Maribelle and then the floor, as if her eyes were too heavy for her, and she finally covered her mouth and stood up.
“A-Azil… I-I will go— Pretty sister… Please have a long life— Good bye—”
Leah swung the blackout curtains open and ran out of the window, possibly because she couldn’t bear to get closer to Maribelle just to exit through the door.
Thanks to this, there were only two people left in the room alongside a confused silence.
******
Maribelle had come to see Azil because the wound on her hand had, of course, opened. It was manageable at first, but the pain gradually became worse rather than better.
And in addition, ‘See you again, Lady.’
The farewell that he spit out, as if it was natural, continued to linger and bothered her, and it was impossible to return to the Calende Palace and visit another physician at all. In the end, she pondered and decided to give in and go to Azil but when she arrived…
“She’s a lively… Lady.”
What a situation. Maribelle blinked incessantly, breaking the awkward silence. But she was the only one who was uneasy; Azil smiled calmly and closed the window that Leah had left wide open, even drawing the curtains again.
“She’s still young. She must have liked you, Lady.”
“What did I do to make her like me?”
“Sometimes, some people become likeable for no reason.”
Maribelle’s doubtful gaze and Azil’s faint smile collided in the air.
The disconnect was noticed by both. However, neither brought it up. Azil offered Maribelle a seat, and she obediently followed him and sat.
“Let’s see. You reopened the wound.”
“It hurts a lot more than I expected.”
“I believe I warned you not to push yourself.”
Azil took Maribelle’s hand in his. Maribelle’s fingers had become entangled in the bandage, which she couldn’t even touch. The bandage came off silently. The blood had dried on the exposed palms. It had been a long time since it had opened.
Azil’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You’re very lucky, lady. If the wound opens up like this, it will be difficult to heal.”
“If you’re saying that then you know it will eventually heal.”
“You can say it like that I suppose. The kid brought me some medicine earlier.”
Azil spoke in a rare, low-key tone before turning and searching through what Leah had brought. The thin fingertips ripped out unwanted items. Maribelle recognized one of them.
“Is that wild mountain grass?”
Azil had returned, this time carrying a small bottle. He had a slightly surprised expression on his face instead of his usual smile.
“Are you familiar with wild mountain grass?”
“I’d heard it was only available in the western desert, so I was surprised to see it here.”
Maribelle, who had been speaking casually, abruptly hardened her expression.
“……it’s a poison.”
“That’s correct. It’s poisonous.”
Azil accepted her statement gently and began to apply the ointment from the bottle to Maribelle’s hands. Maribelle’s gaze, however, remained fixed over Azil’s shoulder and the wild mountain grass.
That poison plant is in the Imperial Palace. Maribelle was so surprised that she unintentionally put her thoughts into her mouth.
“Who are you going to feed that to—?”
“Well, who do you think it is?”
Ugh, Maribelle frowned reflexively and shifted her gaze to her hands. Azil was purposefully focusing on the wound. Azil’s eyes were half-annoyed and half-grumpy.
Azil smiled despite Maribelle’s intense stare. It was a satisfactory attitude.
“His Majesty has so many enemies. It’s not easy to rest as a subordinate.”
“Someone I know used to get good rest.” Maribelle said pointedly.
“Kir’s brain is so good that he finishes his work quickly. That friend, he’s a genius. Lately, the amount of work he does has dropped sharply.”
It’s no surprise. Maribelle recalled the overindulgent explanation for the her teacher and the Head of Staff’s alleged murderous workload
Few people understood the internal situation as well as the Head of Staff in this brutal imperial palace or could hold out for as long as Kir had. Maribelle could infer some of Azil’s background from his statement about Kir.
“You must be someone who has been with His Majesty for a long time.”
“His Majesty’s trust is ours.”
Azil agreed. At first, hiding wasn’t a problem. He was currently applying the ointment and putting on a new bandage. He softly spoke again.
“This imperial palace will be peaceful when there are fewer rebels. As a result, it would be right for us, the closest people to his majesty, to take care of it.”
“Did His Majesty give the order?”
“Why would he have to order it, Lady?”
Azil had a frown on his face. Maribelle could realize in an instant with that look.
Ethelred approved of all the killings.
‘Wait.’
Maribelle’s thoughts came to a sudden halt. Didn’t he say the Head of Staff would be replaced?
‘My uncle said he’d be the new Head of the Staff’
So, how does her uncle become Head of Staff? So far, the position has been managed by Ethelred’s closest aides, since it was a position in charge of cleaning up after the imperial family.
‘No way, he’s not actually treating Uncle as a trusted and close aide right?’
Maribelle’s mood quickly worsened. Perhaps this was a standard procedure. The Emperor might have simply been generous to her family for her sake like the sweet words written down in the Empire’s history books. Perhaps Ethelred abused the Duke of Edenbert’s privileges by falling in love and proposing to Maribelle so suddenly.
Maribelle would have been overjoyed if it had been in the past, thinking how good it would be for her Uncle to go from being a trusted aide of the emperor to being crushed by her revenge, but not now. Maribelle’s expression shifted unintentionally.
“Lady, you seem to be in a bad mood. Did I hurt you again?”
“…were you trying to hurt me again?”
“No way. I feel like I’ve never seen the Lady smile.”
Azil smiled softly and lightly kissed Maribelle’s palm — bandage really — without further interrogation. It was time to say goodbye.
“See you again, Lady.”
Maribelle stood up, feeling conflicted. She opened the door instead of bidding him farewell. She had a lot on her mind right now.
‘It wasn’t so much about me as it was about showing off.’
So, even if Maribelle opposes her uncle Lorentz, Lorentz’s position will strengthen. She was going to just let him sit higher at first, but when she found out he might be a close aide to the Emperor, she felt bothered.
‘Should I at least talk to His Majesty—’
As soon as Maribelle took a step, she realized that all her worries were useless.
“Long time no see, Sister.”
That’s because Arinel was standing right in front of her.
