Chapter 18: 19

Today’s meal started off in a rather simple manner, unlike any other time when it felt everything was excessively formal including the exhaustive measures to uphold the beauty of formality.

After washing up, Eugène was escorted to a small living room by the Emperor’s attendant. The private living room, which was supposed to receive only the most private guests, was a well-decorated small room right next to the Emperor’s bedroom that exuded the atmosphere of a personal room in an aristocratic house rather than a part of the enormous court. 

The Emperor was sitting on a long chair by the open window, looking outside. As if he had just washed up, his hair was still wet, and the Emperor’s ivory skin looked translucent under his white shirt, which was still damp. Dressed in tight-fitting navy pants, his legs were surprisingly long, and at first glance, it seemed that he was looking at a portrait with exaggerated but ideal body proportions.

“Welcome.”

When Eugène entered, the Emperor turned his head and noticed him. He looked like a wild beast with his arms drooping over the back of the chair. As suggested, Eugène sat down in front of him, and the attendants began to serve food.

Regardless of the entrée, random dishes were served at the same table. The Emperor picked a piece of freshly baked and warm white bread and suggested Eugène start as well. 

“May I know what’s going on?”

Eugène, witnessing the unexpected figure, asked cautiously. There was something strange about what happened in the practice area before and now. Eugène was not yet accustomed to court life, but he knew that this was not a common occurrence.

Among the people Eugène had seen in the capital, the Emperor had the most disciplined routine. The Emperor’s daily life was thoroughly public, interlocked like an exquisite cogwheel, from the moment he woke up till the moment he went to bed. Today, however, the Emperor appeared to have decided to ignore his official schedule altogether. Eugène was worried, knowing that he was not the kind of person to abandon his duties for no reason.

“What do you mean?”

“Everything Your Majesty does. It’s not like the usual.”

“The way you talk makes it sounds like you know Us quite well, hm?”

“I can’t say I know everything. But I do have a sense of what kind of person Your Majesty is from what I’ve observed so far.”

The Emperor laughed as he spread apple jam on the white bread. “Sure”. Eugène seemed fairly tactful. However, the problem was that he lacked the social skills to sublimate his wits into politics. 

“You haven’t been in a lot of relationships, have you? Even if you’ve seen a young lady from a tavern, you’ve probably never had a proper relationship involving romantic feelings with a noblewoman. Isn’t that right?”

“Your Majesty?

Eugène looked at him puzzled, unable to understand the context in which the sudden topic of relationships came from. The Emperor looked at Eugène carefully and continued to speak seriously.

“You’re quite fortunate. The fact that you have reached this position with your own skills without flattery means that your superiors evaluated your work fairly.” 

“……”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to criticize you for your lack of worldly wisdom. It is better for a soldier to be simple and honest than to be worn out.”

This gentle reproof was more terrifying than directly being told to shut up. As the Emperor wished, Eugène kept his mouth shut and moved the meat pie to his plate. He didn’t know what was going on, but there was something wrong with the Emperor on the inside.

Although he had a fierce personality by nature, he was not a mean-spirited person, so when he showed his twisted inner feelings like that, it indicated that he was really upset 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Countess Patrí welcomed the Emperor with more joy than ever before. The way she dressed up with all her heart was more lovely on that day, and the gentle cuteness in the Emperor’s arms seemed to melt even an iron heart.

She brought him to bed as lovingly as possible. Then she embraced the Emperor’s neck with her dazzling arms, which boasted a legendary reputation, and gave him the greatest pleasure a woman could give. 

The Emperor embraced her without showing any emotion. Countess Patrí, desperately complied with his request and uttered a chant as sweet as melted chocolate. Then, in a lovely voice, she announced that she had a new companion. She opened her mouth in the arms of the sweaty Emperor after several passionate rounds of sex.

She told the story of how she was unable to refuse because the Grand Duchess had requested her directly. She naively whispered to him how she couldn’t have dared refuse the request of the Grand Duchess, and in addition to that, shyly confessed that she had sympathy for Baron Dumont’s esteemed daughter.

‘It was because of love, everything.’

Countess Patrí, looking like a dream girl, buried her face in the Emperor’s arms. ‘I know what that kind of love is like. But not everyone is as lucky as I am.’ The Emperor gently embraced the Countess’ shoulder, which looked like it would break if held tightly. 

‘That’s true, Adelaide. Not everyone can be as lucky as we are.’

… When they first met, Countess Patrí was a young nineteen-year-old girl with burning ambitions hidden beneath her angelic face.

<‘Your Majesty, I will not allow any man a single night of pleasure.’>

The first time he reached out to her, the young maiden boldly refused the Emperor with her eyes open. 

<‘If you want me, you must buy my entire life. I will never become a flower that one can enjoy overnight and then be forgotten later.’>

Even though she used her own body as a means of trade, she was confident. Though her small shoulders trembled with shame and fear, her unbreakable pride and ambition were evident in her straight eyes.

She claimed she was worth more than that, and the Emperor believed her. Born into a merchant family, she was not only able to write and read, which was rare for a woman, but she was also knowledgeable in mathematics. She was also an excellent trader, helping her father with his business and earning a lot of money.

The Emperor first met her because her father, who supplied goods to the imperial family, had brought her to the Imbert Palace to teach her work. 

The Emperor discovered the seeds of potential within her and made her his concubine. In addition, support was provided both physically and mentally so that the seeds could sprout. She was endowed with unconventional graces and privileges, plus the freedom to be indiscriminate.

She was asked to sit in the audience alongside him for the reason of serving tea and understanding the trends in the country, and by accepting unreasonable requests under the pretext of favoritism, he measured her self-control and political capabilities at the same time.

Without her, the southern aristocracy would not have been able to achieve the level it has today after only seven years. She bloomed as splendidly as a plant growing in the sun but she did not reach the level that the Emperor desired.  She crossed over the limit without hesitation instead of drawing a line on her own, not realizing that even the excessive affection that was poured out without restraint was a kind of test.

Not just her, but everyone else as well. Alexandrine, Marquise Merlin, was lively and clever. Anne Henriette, Marquise Lamott, was gentle and intelligent. Adelaide, Countess Patrí, was ambitious and challenging. 

All three women had the potential to become Empress, and they were outstanding individuals chosen from among numerous noblewomen. It was only when choosing the Empress that the Emperor, who had a keen eye for people, made such mistakes over and over again.

He still didn’t think he had chosen lacking candidates, but he didn’t know what was wrong. They were all women who didn’t lack beauty, dignity, skills, and even a family to support them. However, none of them reformed to even being the littlest bit worthy to become the Empress.

“You and I are the same without the blessing of a wonderful wife.”

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The Emperor, engulfed in troubled thoughts, sighed and spoke to himself. Eugène, who was quietly eating a meat pie in the uncomfortable silence, raised his head and looked at the Emperor. He suddenly wondered what kind of argument this was, but looking at him, it seemed that the Emperor had uttered those words with sincerity. 

“Without the blessing of a wonderful wife? Doesn’t Your Majesty have three beautiful women who are hard to find even if one were to search through the entire world?”

His former wife was also quite pretty, but she didn’t even compare to the three concubines of the Emperor. Eugène, having the experience of meeting all of them unintentionally, knew that they were women who did not fall behind in terms of beauty, speech, and charm, and so, could not understand the Emperor’s anguish.

“It’s only possible for a courtesan to be valued for her beauty alone. The Emperor’s woman needs more virtues than that.”

To Eugène’s naive question, the Emperor responded with a snort. Oh gosh, was it a woman’s problem all this time? Eugène was worried alone that something big had happened to the country, and only now did he realize the real reason for the Emperor’s discomfort after hearing that. 

He’s still young and full of vigor, so that might be the case, but… it was not easy to accept the fact that he also had such a human side to him since the feeling of intimidation the Emperor gave off at the time of their first meeting was still too memorable.

Courtesan…

When the word ‘courtesan’ came out of the Emperor’s mouth, the bright face of Madame Schuabel that he had seen last night suddenly came to mind. Eugène had a question he wanted to ask a question because of her, and put the pie he was eating on the plate and carefully asked the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, I’m embarrassed to ask you this question, but there is one thing I wanted to know. Could a courtesan come and go in and out of the court?” 

The Emperor, picking up the wine glass, raised an eyebrow and looked at Eugène. As if drawn with a brush, his handsome eyebrows, looked like a painting, but Eugène avoided the Emperor’s gaze as he felt somewhat embarrassed.

“This is a question that would have been paid a great deal of attention to if the late Empress heard it. But it’s nothing to make a big deal out of these days. I know that there are noblemen who occasionally come along with a courtesan on nights when a big banquet is being held.”

The Emperor replied casually and drank his wine. Turns out it’s true. It would have been easier if he had heard the answer no.

When he heard the answer that was exactly what he was doubting, everything in his mind became complicated. It did not make sense to him to think that people of such a status could freely come and go in and out of the court while everyone was tolerant. 

Eugène was bothered by her presence, to the point that it was hard to understand how anyone else could be okay. It felt like his instincts as a soldier, which he had been honing for many years, were sensitively sharpening his vigilance.

“Why did you ask? Seems like you met a prostitute you’d like to bring to the court?”

“No, it’s nothing of the sort…, actually, I was worried I ran into a woman from another country at the party yesterday. If a prostitute appears at even a cardinal’s party, it means that there’s really no place they are not welcome. As Your Majesty may know, there aren’t as many places in the empire where information flows around as much as they do in aristocratic banquets, are there? I guess it bothered me that such a place was free for foreigners to go in and out of.”

The Emperor placed the wine glass he was holding on the table. After pondering over Eugène’s report for a moment, he slowly asked Eugène. 

“What do you mean? Tell me more about it.”

He straightened up his poor posture and started talking in earnest. Eugène began to explain yesterday’s events step by step, even though he didn’t quite understand what was going on.

“Before I talk about yesterday, I want to tell Your Majesty something. Kamann Isle, located in the easternmost part of the Federation of Five Nations, is a country with many strange endemic diseases due to its hot weather and abundant wetlands. Among them, there is a horrific disease, called ‘Maydis Fever’, which if, a local person catches it will only get slightly sick as if it were a cold, but if an outsider catches it, will inevitably die.”

The Emperor could not make out what this absurd story had to do with the foreign courtesan, but he patiently remained silent. Thanks to his silent consideration, Eugène was able to explain in detail what he knew, so that the Emperor could understand. 

“Maydis fever is named so because the symptoms of people suffering from it are similar to the actual maydis plant disease. The disease causes black and red spots all over your body. Even if you somehow manage to get better from the disease, traces of it will remain on your body, which is usually said to be red petal-shaped spots.”

Eugène continued the story the Emperor had never heard. In fact, it was a story that Eugène would not have known if it had not been for one of his subordinates being infected by a prisoner and contracting maydis fever.

It was also true that the area where the maydis fever was prevalent was the Molderne Isle, which was a blessed altitude far from the mainland of Kamann. Thanks to this, very few people in Kamann knew about maydis fever.

“And so?” 

“I met a woman with the spots on her body at a party yesterday. It turned out that the courtesan was known as the ‘Eighth Fleur’. When I asked where she was from, she said he came from the southern part of the empire, but I don’t believe that. This is because, as I said, maydis fever is a disease that kills only when an outsider contracts it. I once lost fifteen of my men to the disease.”

Eugène, having his subordinates almost wiped out due to an epidemic, could not forget the traces of the disease. After hearing all of Eugène’s story, the Emperor tilted his head and thought deeply.

Of course, it was better to listen than to ignore personal opinions, but the Emperor’s reaction was more than expected. Eugène, reading the unfamiliar atmosphere from his attitude, could not relax and waited for the Emperor’s next words.

“Have you received an invitation from Count d’Estuaire?” 

However, the Emperor’s question, which was posed after a long time, was simply irrelevant, disregarding his long tension. Eugène suddenly wondered why Count d’Estuaire had come out of here, but only nodded.

“I have received an invitation, but…”

“Isn’t it an invitation to the masquerade? Did you not even sign it as the recipient yet?”

“No.” 

“What’s the date and time?”

“As far as I know, it’s at 11 tomorrow night.”

Fortunately, Eugène knew exactly what the Emperor was asking. This was because his first impression of his third cousin whom he met unexpectedly was very good, so he was thinking positively of his invitation.

“Good enough. Baron Amieux, how about going to that party with Us?” 

“Pardon?”

“Even if you don’t, I have something to do. At the same time, I should try going on an outing once.”

The Emperor may not have meant ill, but for Eugène, it was a considerably difficult suggestion. Eugène had no idea what his monarch was thinking and was forced to utter the words of approval in embarrassment.

“… If that’s what Your Majesty surely wants to do, then I’ll take you.” 

Upon hearing his reluctant answer, the Emperor felt very satisfied.

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