Chapter 30

***

Kwanach’s emotional voice stuck in my head. What could he be so afraid of?

I had never soothed a man shaking with anxiety before, so I hesitated, unsure of what to do. Kwanach hugged me tightly with more force.

Kwanach’s chest was so hot and tight, but I just couldn’t push him away. I could feel his body shuddering every now and then.

I held him for a while and opened my mouth cautiously.

“I don’t know what you’re worried about, but I’m fine.”

Kwanach’s rugged arms covered me completely.

“May I ask what happened in the past?”

Kwanach huffed and let out a long breath. He grabbed the back of my dress tightly. The fabric crumpled under his hand.

Kwanach didn’t say anything. In the middle of the deep silence, he suddenly let go of me.

“…… I’m sorry to show you my embarrassing appearance.”

Kwanach’s jaws were full of strength. His eyes, which had been trembling with anxiety, suddenly became quiet and cold.

It was as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s stop talking about this. Please forget it.”

Kwanach helped me stand up.Then he straightened up and took a few steps back from me.

“I still have some things I haven’t finished, so I’m leaving now.”

“What? Kwanach…….”

Kwanach turned and walked away. It was obvious that he intended to avoid the subject.

It seemed that I invaded something confidential about Kwanach. I had never seen him behave so coldly.

I stood alone for a while, feeling blank.

* * * *

Kwanach did not come to visit me…

Last night, I lay in bed alone.

I waited for him, trying to stay awake for a couple hours, only to have the message arrive around midnight that he would not be coming to the Empress’ bedroom.

‘Is he avoiding me?’

Even though we were only holding hands and lying in the same bed, I seemed to have gotten used to sleeping with him. The bed felt unusually spacious without him.

I barely slept, and after tossing and turning for a long time until dawn, I finally fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, there was a stronger chill in the air than usual.

Somewhat depressed, I finished my breakfast when Marianne brought me some good news.

“Your Majesty, I contacted Baron Edwin yesterday.”

“Oh. Did you find anything?”

Marianne took the risk of becoming a double agent in order to expose Baron Edwin’s treachery.

“All they talked about was keeping an eye on you. I think it’s too early to figure out who’s behind him. He told me to keep him informed of any letters from you.”

“It will take time to gain their trust. Please keep an eye on Baron Edwin while cooperating with him with appropriate lies.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I thought about Kwanach and tried to concentrate on the several problems that were piling up in front of me.

‘I think it’s time to contact  Diaquit.’

Just as Marianne was playing double agent, I needed to throw a suitable false hint at Diaquit.

After breakfast, I stayed in my bedroom and took out the communication artifact Diaquit had given me.

When I looked at it, it was just an ordinary pendant. But it allowed me to communicate with another person who shared the same artifact.

I injected some magic into the pendant, and the magic in the artifact was immediately activated.

Buzz. Buzz. The faint vibrations continued.

I waited patiently, and after a while, I heard a familiar voice in the artifact.

Diaquit Catatel. The voice of my brother who tried to harm me.

“When I didn’t hear from you, I thought you were dead.”

The voice through the artifact was much louder than I expected. It was like an echo.

“I’ve been busy.”

Just hearing Diaquit’s voice was enough to make me feel queasy. The previous life that I had relied on and followed him seemed so far away.

“It seems that you and the First Emperor are quite close.”

“What?”

“I have a source in the empire.”

The name “Baron Edwin” came to mind.

Did Diaquit order Edwin to keep an eye on me? Of course, I’m not certain yet.

“What stories have you heard?”

“I heard that the slave turned emperor is more polite than he looks. I don’t know about when it’s just the two of you, but what I know is you’re well taken care of. I used to worry that you would be beaten.”

I felt a pang of disgust when I heard him say something disrespectful about Kwanach.

How dare he disparage Kwanach? I wanted to argue that my husband was a kind man, unlike my brother, but I held back.

It was a fake cooperation anyway, I didn’t need to show him that I was close to Kwanach.

“He’s not as rough as I expected. By the way, who is brother’s source?”

“Why did you want to know?”

“Shouldn’t I know who’s on my side?”

“You don’t need to know. You just do what you’re told.”

I bit my bottom lip.

“Brother.”

“What is a girl supposed to do when she interferes in politics? Just worry about how to keep the slave from finding out that you are infertile.”

He said in a sarcastic way.

Diaquit was rubbing me the wrong way on purpose. He must have thought that I had left my homeland and lost my power, and that it was okay to treat me harshly.

Furthermore, even the Imperial Palace was planted with people from Diaquit’s side. I don’t know who the forces that Diaquit has taken hold of were, but seeing that they were so imposing, they must be quite powerful.

If I refuse to cooperate or betray them, they may attempt to remove me at any time. I will be the one to be discarded once again, as I was in my previous life.

In my previous life, my death was used as an excuse for war, a fuse to start a war. There was no law against doing so in this life.

I didn’t want to, but I had to match Diaquit’s mood right now.

“Okay, so…What do you want me to do?”

“I heard the tax reform plan is causing a lot of turbulence in the Empire. Do you know anything?”

“I do.”

The Imperial Assembly, which will be held soon, was the biggest topic of conversation in the Imperial Palace.

I was going to have a tea party tomorrow at my Palace with the ladies of the families who had joined the Imperial Assembly. Perhaps the subject of tax reform would be brought up in passing.

It seemed to be too radical to pass the Imperial Assembly. Unexpectedly, conservative aristocrats seem to be easily persuaded.

“Is that so?”

“Find out what exactly it was that made the conservatives so upset. I don’t know if I can find out from your subject.”

“Are you going to find out or not?”

“I’ll try my best.”

“…… Okay.”

“We need to shake things up inside now if we want to collapse the empire more easily later. It will be easiest to create a rift among the conservative aristocracy.”

“The conservatives are those who agree with the basic revolutionary principles of Kwanach. They may clash with Kwanach over some of the issues, but it’s not easy to get them to turn their backs completely on the Radon Empire.”

“I know it’s not easy, so you should help me. What do you know? Stop bragging about him.

I pressed my forehead with my fingertips. Is the Kingdom of Achaia being governed well by this ego-driven, pony-like man?

If the continent falls into his hands as Diaquit wishes, the human race may be on the path to decline.

I sighed and steeled myself.

“Is that all you have to say?”

“You must also find out Kwanach’s weaknesses.”

I was his weakness.

The conversation from yesterday flashed through my mind. Kwanach’s face was full of fear, as if he was about to break.

“…He seemed like a man with no weakness. He’s perfect in  everything.”

“Are you siding with your husband? Tell him to send some more aid to Achaia.”

“I’m told he’s already sent as much as he promised in the agreement.”

“That’s why you need to seduce him and take more. Can’t you do that?”

“You told me to avoid night work altogether so he wouldn’t find out I’m infertile.”

“Anyway, I’ll try not to say a word. OK. My head hurts when I talk to you.”

“Yes, me too.”

I quickly cut off the magic that had been infusing the pendant.

If I cooperated with Diaquit to some extent, I would be able to find out who the forces were that had aligned with him, but until then, I resented the fact that I had to accept this paranoia.

* * *

After making contact with Diaquit, I headed to the greenhouse garden to recharge.

I told the attendants I wanted to walk slowly and alone, and they all moved away into the distance.

Marianne was looking at me with great concern. She had noticed that I was different from my usual.

I felt depressed about many things. Diaquit was still Diaquit, and the sclerosis medicine was still in my head.

‘Edith’s medicine bill will be settled because Kwanach said he would help her.’

That said, it was dangerous on many levels to go ahead with things on my own, over Kwanach’s objections.

My relationship with Kwanach may go awry. In addition, my status was Empress, but I had no connection in this empire yet.

If I were to do something secretly behind Kwanach’s back, and really get involved in a political conflict of interest as he feared… ….

At first I was just trying to do something good for my people, but then I felt overwhelmed.

‘Will Kwanach just let me sit still in the empress’s seat? What is it that worries him so much?’

When Kwanach closed his mouth tightly and avoided me, there was nothing I could do.

As I slowly walked through the greenhouse, trying to accept the energy of the plants, I felt my heart calmer than before. I took a deep breath and let the cool, refreshing air settle deep in my lungs.

When I headed closer to the plant I had spoken with the other day, to talk to it again.

I saw a large figure lying on a bench.

‘Is he sleeping?’

A strange man was lying on the bench as if it was his bedroom.