Episode 154
The drawing room of the Empress’s Palace.
The mother and son were in the middle of a conversation there.
“I tried to link you with Lady Erzébet somehow, but the Count and Countess of Erzébet refused vehemently.”
The Empress openly showed her displeasure.
“They dare not know their place. No matter how important recovering our image is, it seems we must give up on Lady Erzébet.”
“…….”
“How about using the daughter of Sunrise instead? She may be foolish, but she is excellent at knowing her place. If I pull some strings and raise the Young Lady’s status a bit more—”
The Empress added a long explanation to persuade him, but Reinhardt said nothing.
In the first place, he wasn’t even listening to her words.
After talking for a long time, the Empress belatedly realized there was no reaction from the other party and asked.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
“……I am talking about Lady Erzébet.”
Reinhardt, who opened his mouth meaningfully, pulled the corners of his lips into a smile.
“Isn’t it a bit strange how she tries so hard to avoid me? As if she has no interest in power at all.”
“They say she is close to the Duke of Monlepe, so they must have put ideas in her head. Or perhaps she is still too young to care about power.”
The Empress replied dismissively.
“Seeing as she gives me tulips, it doesn’t seem like she has no interest at all……. At any rate, do not think about her. There are plenty of useful young ladies other than Erzébet.”
“I do not need such young ladies.”
“Then?”
Reinhardt did not answer. He simply stared intently into the empty space with a face full of thought.
He twitched his right hand.
The damaged mana circuits were almost completely restored.
At this rate, it would be more than enough to use ‘Molting,’ the technique he had used when he took over the position of Crown Prince before.
‘Now that I have lost the Emperor’s trust, I no longer have a need for this body.’
Even though he had experienced a fall from grace seven years ago due to the Fear incident, the ‘Crown Prince’ was still the first in the line of succession to the imperial throne.
But now that he had completely lost the Emperor’s trust.
Even with the Empress’s help, it seemed it would take too long to reach his goal of the mutual destruction of shifters and humans.
‘Even so, the atmosphere of the Empire isn’t great for switching to the Emperor.’
In the first place, the reason the Empress collapsed was not because of the shifters; rather, because the Empress woke up with medicinal herbs given by the shifters, the Empire was currently quite friendly toward them.
In this situation, even if he devoured the Emperor, took his place, and urged for war, it would only result in a massive backlash.
It was even more so because the power of the Empire was not concentrated solely in the Emperor.
Therefore, until now, he had been weakening the four ducal houses one by one to move the Empire according to his will, but—
‘Sunrise failed, and Skya actually returned.’
Considering that he even failed with Starafit seven years ago, the path to achieving his goal seemed remote.
So, while wondering what to do, Asil caught his eye.
That child, who might be a shifter.
Rather than staying in the body of a Crown Prince he didn’t even need, if he took that child’s body and headed for the Forest of Shifters—
‘I can incite conflict with the Empire and start a war.’
To this end, he had approached her under the pretext of a marriage proposal to confirm whether Asil was a real shifter.
Of course, because she herself repeatedly refused, and now even her family had stepped in, it had become more difficult to investigate further.
Still, he had a feeling that she wasn’t an ordinary human.
Even if she turned out to be a real human, her value for use was more than enough.
She was in a close relationship with the Monlepe ducal house, was friendly with Eokaste and the Saintess, and was acquainted with the four shifters.
Therefore, he intended to continue observing Asil carefully.
“If you are interested in Lady Erzébet romantically, this mother will help you.”
The Empress, who was watching Reinhardt’s reaction while he was lost in thought, cautiously began to speak.
“I am already working on something to break the Duke of Monlepe’s spirit anyway.”
“Are you talking about the exchange with the shifters?”
“Yes. Now that the relationship between the Duke and the current Duke has reached its worst, if we succeed in the exchange and credit it to the Duke, the ducal house will be completely split into two factions.”
Now that the three families—Sunrise, Starafit, and Skya—could not exert much power, the solo run of Monlepe alone was not a welcome sight for the Imperial Family.
So the Empress was trying to use the shifters to create a crack in the Monlepe ducal house, which was currently on a steep rise.
Reinhardt smiled faintly.
“It is a good plan.”
“Once we break Monlepe like that, the Erzébet Count house, which has been acting arrogantly relying only on the ducal house, will also come to its senses. So you just have to wait.”
“Yes, well.”
“If the Count house still doesn’t come to its senses even after that, I will use another method, so I hope you don’t worry too deeply.”
Mistaking Reinhardt’s lukewarm reaction for him being completely infatuated with Asil, the Empress held his hands tightly.
And she spoke in a coaxing tone, as if dealing with a sick child.
“This mother is always on your side. You know that, right?”
“Yes, of course I know.”
“Good. So do not think bad thoughts. This mother will do whatever you wish. You are a precious body who will one day ascend to the throne……”
The Empress hugged Reinhardt tightly and patted his back.
However, her gaze was dry and sunken, far from that of a mother treating a son she truly loved.
Shortly after finishing the notebook, Asil called Ikart and Rune to the Erzébet residence.
Arcian was in front of them, preparing the magic to use on Rune.
“Look at this.”
Asil held out the notebook to Rune.
Rune, who sniffed a few times, raised her tail sharply and spoke warily.
“Kyang!” (I’ve already seen it a lot!)
“Still, look again. Since these are things that happened in the past, your memory might return if you keep looking.”
Since she had written the past memories densely in the notebook, she had been showing it to Rune every chance she got.
This was because Dad said that the more she saw it, the higher the probability of her memories returning through magic.
Rune pouted her lips in dissatisfaction, but she subtly took the notebook and began to flip through it page by page.
Ikart watched that scene with a gaze filled with expectation.
“Do you remember anything?”
“Kyang. Kyaang?” (No. Just that I was really strong in the past?)
Ikart, disappointed by the innocent tone, shut his mouth. Even though this wasn’t the first time he’d seen such a reaction, he couldn’t help but feel drained of energy.
However, his expression changed at the words that followed.
“Kyang, kyaaa-ang.” (But, reading this part makes my chest feel tingly and painful.)
Rune tapped a part of the notebook with her nose.
“Kyaaa-ang kyang?” (The owner’s son and I were quite close in the past?)
It was the part where Rune had given Edenber a lap pillow with her tail and sung him a lullaby.
Ikart fell into a long silence. The shaking of his pupils was clearly different from his usual poker face.
In the meantime, Arcian, who had finished the magic preparations, spoke to Rune.
“Pick up the notebook in your mouth and enter the center of the magic circle.”
“……There won’t be anything harmful to Rune, right?”
“It is my daughter’s request, so of course not.”
Arcian’s voice was quite curt.
That was natural, as he was displeased with the Monlepe ducal house for daring to look at Asil as a potential daughter-in-law.
But regardless of that, since their situation was indeed pitiful, he was doing as Asil wanted without a word of complaint.
Beside him, Asil also eased Ikart’s anxiety.
“Dad is the best mage even among shifters!”
So you don’t have to worry!
When she shouted confidently with eyes full of trust, Ikart, who had been silent for a moment, slowly nodded his head.
Eventually, Rune, with the notebook in her mouth, stepped into the center of the magic circle. Taking that as a signal, Arcian activated the magic.
Soon, the brilliant light starting from the magic circle enveloped Rune’s entire body.
Amidst everyone’s wishes gathered as one, Rune, floating gently in the air, closed her eyes tightly.
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