Chapter 26

Far from being selected as a slave, when she first saw the Emperor, she was being transported by carriage for several days.

“You seemed to have mistaken something, Your Highness, but I don’t know anything more. I have nothing else to say.”

She did not know how far the Empress wanted to know and how far she already knew. That’s why she decided to keep silent.

She looked up to face the Empress’ glaring eyes. The same was seen in the eyes of her servant shooting daggers directly at her. She was used to this. She was sweating in fright. Worse than the nauseous feeling in her stomach.

“It scares you, but if you can be at ease with me, I assure you you’ll have a longer life to live.”

What would she do?

No, she shouldn’t say anything. The Empress was saying that just because she wanted to know the answer. Wasn’t it too much? She could also imagine how cruel it must’ve been to hear that the Emperor was poisoned by this Empress. This old lady wouldn’t just be joking.

The queen’s servant grabbed her by the collar and forced her to stand. He looked like she was going to hit her. The memory of being beaten quickly flooded her mind. She shut her eyes tightly in fear, bracing for the impact.

But nothing happened. Instead, she heard a voice.

“Who do you think you’re holding?”

The voice of the Emperor.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with his intimidating gaze on her. He slowly turned to the Empress, who stood up beside him.

“What are you doing after coming all the way here with your acquaintance?”

The Empress took out a beautiful purple fan with rich feathers to cover her mouth.

“My, my, I didn’t know you were here.”

“My servant informed me, and it’s a surprise that you’ve forgotten my existence. I’m afraid you need to sharpen your memories.”

The Empress nodded to her servant, who released Celestia’s collar.

However, the Emperor was still glaring at the Empress Dowager.

“I asked what you were doing here. Answer me.”

“She dared to raise her eyes and mouth straight at me despite being a commoner subject, and I don’t think you’d have anything to say even if I had directly gone for her throat.”

She was right to some extent. But, it wasn’t a pleasant word to say to the subject’s owner.

Twisting his lips, the Emperor laughed.

“I didn’t forget the advice that you gave me the last time. I sure did need to treat this talent the right way.”

“Huh……”

“Thanks to your advice, I’m soon going to have a brilliant person as my secretary. Now that she’s a deputy secretary, she has obviously become popular.”

The Empress frowned with a face full of hatred.

“I don’t think she’s very talented to be a secretary who hasn’t even completed her graduation……”

“Despite not being a graduate, she caught the attention of the Empress Dowager. With that alone, there’s no reason to spare such talent.”

Celestia was feeling exhausted at the tense argument.

Meanwhile, a third person entered the room, breaking the heavy atmosphere. The Duke of Jib came in as soon as the butler announced his appearance and showed his greetings to the royalties.

The Emperor’s cold eyes shifted to the Duke.

“Ah, you’re here to talk about your daughter, I assume?”

“I agree that my daughter had been very impolite last time, but to celebrate the coalition and the birthday of His Highness, Max, I request you to dance with her at the banquet. Instead of…..”

Max was the Emperor’s brother.

The Duke continued, saying how a single dance was important for the political notions, but he stopped when his eyes fell on Celestia.

“Aren’t you a student from the Academy? Why are you here…..”

He sounded like he wanted her to get out.

She didn’t want to stay here from the beginning. The Empress came in so quickly that she didn’t get the chance to leave.

She wanted to leave.

“Then, please allow this little servant to take her leave.”

But the Emperor shook his head. His red eyes seemed to be filled with anger.

“You don’t have to. Stay here.”

“I beg your pardon..…? But….”

“You deserve to be here, so don’t worry about it.”

The queen’s frown deepened.

“If you say so, Your Highness, then it can’t be helped.”

“Have a seat, then.”

She was forced to sit and listen to the conversation while they continued.

The Empress and the Duke did not drag the conversation any longer when the Emperor retired from the conversation himself, saying he was feeling unwell.

What the hell were they doing here?

She honestly couldn’t understand the purpose of their visit at all. On the surface, it seemed like they were asking for something, but in reality, it felt strange when they left without hearing any definite response.

Even before the Emperor’s appearance, what the Empress asked her was weird. It was as if she had come here to examine the condition of the Emperor.

Was Celestia thinking too much?

She was lost in thought. When she suddenly looked up, she met the displeasing look of the Emperor beside her. He also seemed to be lost in thought for some reason. He, who was silent, looked like he wanted to kill someone.

Unable to stand with the heavy atmosphere, her hand absent-mindedly reached out to pick up a cookie, but she dropped it in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Pardon?”

“You can have it.”

“…….Thank you.”

Was she crazy? What on earth was she doing?

But the cookie was really delicious. Thrilled by the sweetness of the cookie, her eyes widened.

“This is really good…… Can I take two of them?”

He stared at her with a rather puzzled look.

“I expected you to ask for something else. Besides, it’s time for the position of secretary to be confirmed.”

“What does that mean?”

“But all you want is a piece of sesame.”

She got embarrassed. She shouldn’t have asked for it.

However, not only was the cookie sweet, but it also smelled like vanilla bean, and a deep buttery flavor broke into her mouth when she crushed it with her teeth. She didn’t know about aristocrats, but she and her brother would leave anything to taste something so delicious. Samidion had the same taste as hers. If he’d smelled this fragrant smell, he definitely would have fainted right at the moment.

‘You could’ve said no if you didn’t want me to have it. Do you always have to stare at people like that? It’s so ridiculous. Why are you embarrassing me?’

While she was just staring down at her hand, the Emperor spoke slowly.

“Honestly, at this point, it feels even more strange.”

“What do you mean?”

His eyes examined her face.

“I don’t know when and how it turned out, but now that I thought about it, you’re very strangely cooperative.”

“Do you like uncooperative subordinates instead?”

“No, of course not. But you’ve never asked for anything other than taking care of your brother.”

He seemed dissatisfied even if she was doing well.

She couldn’t believe he could be this upset just upon a simple cookie.

The Emperor had been uncomfortable around her since he returned from the hunt of the undead. She used to treat him in silence all the time in accordance with his attitude, but he seemed to be holding a lot of thoughts lately.

“Everyone below me seems to just follow my orders and bow to me, but they do so according to their own interests. After my father, who loved his concubine…… the current Empress, died, so it became too suspicious to lead the subjects who mostly belonged to my maternal relatives.”

“Were you concerned about that? I already had something else to ask for.”

“Yes, say what you have been wanting to say.”

She quietly laughed at his grumbling, which reassured his mood.

It was true that she had compassion for him, and that she was glad he needed her. But it was wrong to say that she was being nice to him without receiving anything in return.

“His Highness, The Emperor allowed me to fulfill the biggest dream I could ever have. He took care of my brother……. who was all alone and sick due to lack of money. He even gave me a chance, who had never dreamed of learning as much as she wanted.”

The Emperor squinted his eyes at her. It seemed he wanted to know her true intentions.

“What more could I ask for? All I want is to learn and be more sincere in order to help His Highness.”

“……I see.”

‘Did you like my answer or not?’

He sighed uncharacteristically before calling for a servant.

“Bring some more cookies. As much as you can prepare, right now.”

The servant hesitated and bowed his head to hide his embarrassment.

The Emperor ordered for more cookies than he had to. Looking at those cookies prepared in different shapes, it was noticeable how much the servants must have suffered from their Emperor’s sudden order.

Celestia really didn’t need them so much.

She came back to her room with a bunch of hard-to-refuse cookies. They looked so delicious that she wanted to keep eating it, but she wouldn’t be able to store all of them for long…..

So she decided to take some of it and wrap it a box and then go see Luana, her most recent friend.

Leaving the room at sunset at the end of the day, she climbed two more floors and crossed a hallway before the eastern annex where Luana’s room was located.

Suddenly, a voice came from one of the rooms in the hallway she was walking.

“Didn’t you ask to only save your sick child’s life three days ago? You said you could gather some really important information!”

The Empress?

She looked around. Even though the woman’s voice was faint, strangely enough, she could find no escort present in the hallway.

Somehow the content sounded significant, so she stopped walking. As she fiddled with the tray of cookies in her hands, another word followed.