Chapter 126
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Karzen couldn't understand how Raha was cured of her alcoholism. He had made a big deal out of getting Raha sober, and then suddenly quit.
He planted a trace, but he was reported dead some time later, and he stopped paying attention.
Then.......
Didn’t it strike him as eerily similar to how that courtier died a few years ago and how Raha's slave doll died today?
Coincidence? Not likely.
"Oh no. Did Raha orchestrate this? Probably not."
Raha had just recovered from a drinking binge and was out of her mind. If so....... So many forces flashed through Karzen's mind. The old, orthodox nobles of Delo, the wise men, the relic power, the neighboring kingdoms, the old-fashioned knights.......
Karzen muttered.
"The Holy Land?"
"......."
Why? What did they want?
Silence fell slowly. Karzen slammed the report down on the table.
"It has been decided, Blake, that the High Priests will be coming to the national wedding."
"......Yes, Your Majesty."
"The Palatinate courtiers and nobles have been talking deafeningly, and it's ridiculous that they're so hung up on conventions, and that I have to be on guard for them."
"......."
Karzen's gaze flicked to the sword on the wall. He deliberately sank deeper into his chair. It was made by an imperial craftsman and upholstered in sumptuous silk, but that was all. It was not the least bit useful. It was a shame this wasn’t a battlefield, because right now he felt like he should be ripping someone's throat out, not reclining in a chair.
"I must prepare myself properly. Tell Palatinate courtiers to enter."
* * *
"I think my tail was stepped on. High Priest Amar."
"......Yes. I'm afraid we’ve been fooling them too long. Keep an eye on the dynamics."
He wanted to send a letter to the Princess, but he couldn’t.
High Priest Amar thought about the last time he had spoken to the Princess in person.
It was last year.
Both the kingdom and the Princess were slowly hardening, as if a promise had been made. The Princess’s health had been poor, and the Emperor had been in a very low mood.
The Princess had spoken to her longtime advisor, High Priest Amar.
"You must fulfill the promise you made to me, High Priest."
She demanded that he quickly destroy the Eyes of the heir, destroy Karzen, and take her life. The Princess asked nothing else, as if her desire was all that mattered. High Priest Amar felt a strange sadness.
"Yes, Princess. Please wait a little longer. Do you have any other questions?"
"I do wonderif you don't have enough blood."
"There is no shortage."
"......."
"And Princess, he (Shed) is still alive."
"......I see."
The Princess smiled bitterly at High Priest Amar's words. That was all she had. With no one else around, and her body so weak, one would have thought she would be overcome with emotion and say something, but no, her eyes were full of questions, and she had nothing to ask.
"Do you have anything else to say, Princess? I'm going back now, and I won't see you for a very long time."
A slow curl of her lips, but Raha said nothing. High Priest Amar wondered what she had finally swallowed, but he could not bring himself to ask.
* * *
"Does he still pity me?”
Raha rolled the words that had once nearly spilled out of her mouth. If only she had been sicker, if only she had forgotten her situation, forgotten her humble beginnings, and asked High Priest Amar.
It never occurred to her to ask him if he still blamed her. She assumed he must hate and resent her, so it was pity after all. Because that was the only fragile emotion she could think of.
She was conscious of the decorative tassel in her hands. Her heart beat faster than usual.
"My Princess. The Queen of Hildes has arrived."
Raha lifted her gaze at the whispered words of the courtier.
Her eyes moved quickly. She sees the man and woman at the front of the line. One was the Queen of Hildes, and the other was Shed. There were many other beautiful nobles and knights with them, but.......
Raha's eyes were drawn to Shed’s face first. Honestly, she couldn’t help herself.
She had to bite her lip to keep it from showing. She realized what it felt like to want to jump right in. She'd thought it was reserved for the privacy of her bedroom, but she wondered if there was something wrong with being plagued by strange desires even in such a crowded place.
Raha took a few steps forward, a gesture of respect for the royalty of a friendly nation. The queen of Hildes was a woman of feathery softness.
"Welcome to Delo. Your Majesty."
After the ceremonial greetings were exchanged, Raha was about to offer the queen some of her precious tea. Then....... Things didn't go quite the way Raha expected.
"Greetings, Princess."
The Queen of Hildes grabbed Raha's hand.
"Well......."
The queen's smile was as warm as a campfire.
"I'm so happy that I’m going to be joining the family with such a beautiful woman, and it's worth coming all the way from Hildes.”
Raha was momentarily stunned.
Her reply to the queen was smooth, but the only one who realized she was genuinely frozen for a moment was Shed, who watched with a slight tilt of his chin.
He said nothing until they had wrapped up the afternoon's business, enjoyed a formal meal and tea with the envoys, and as soon as they were alone in the bedroom, he asked.
"Why were you blushing so much earlier?"
Raha paused as she rolled up the sleeves of her robe.
"......blushing, when?"
She tried to play dumb, but to no avail.
"You've been blushing in front of me the whole time."
"I was just...... hot."
"Hot."
"It was hot."
Shed chuckled at her stubbornness. He didn't want to pry, but he really had no idea why Raha was blushing.
"Your sister in law is a blonde….. Do you like blondes?"
Shed furrowed his brow weakly.
"Raha, your new slave is also blonde. Is that why you told me I don't have to come to the palace for a week?"
Raha gave him an incredulous look.
"It's not like that."
“Then.”
"The queen...... keeps talking."
Raha started to say Queen, out of habit, but then remembered she was Shed’s sister-in-law and changed the title. She furrowed her brow weakly and continued.
"She said she was happy...... that she’s going to be family with me."
Shed’s gaze remained fixed on Raha.
"My cheeks flushed when I heard that, and I don't know...... exactly why."
Raha shrugged it off.
Half the time she was faking it, but the other half she was sincere. The queen's favor. The word family. It was like being bathed in dense warmth.
Shed glanced at Raha's flushed cheeks. He didn't say anything, but she felt strangely embarrassed. Like being caught sleeping with your favorite childhood doll in the corner of your bed instead of putting it back in the closet.
"Shed."
Instead of asking why he looked like that, Raha climbed on top of him and covered his eyes with her hand.
"You made it all the way to the border and you didn't bring me a present?"
She sounded intentionally grumpy, but Shed looked more perplexed than he felt.
"I looked around a couple times."
"......?"
"I didn't see anything you'd like."
Raha blinked slowly.
"You're lying."
"I'm not lying."
All the while, Shed didn't ask her if he didn't have any gifts. Apparently Branden hadn't been talking. She was relieved. Raha had changed her mind the day before and left the jewelry on.
"Shed."
Raha asked him.
"What color were your eyes originally?"
"Not much different than they are now."
"It couldn't have been the same."
Shed was silent for a moment, then answered.
"They were light blue."
"Really?"
Raha looked down at Shed’s face, which was covered by her fingers, his long eyelashes still visible between her fingers. With one hand shielding his eyes, Raha pulled out the decorative tassel she'd been carrying the entire time.
The soft part of the tassel tickled Shed’s cheek. He lifted his hand and grabbed the mysterious trinket that tickled him. After a moment's hesitation, he reached for her other hand. He grabbed her wrist, which has been shielding his eyes, and pulled it down. Shed’s gaze fell to the decorative tassel in her hand.
A small sapphire dangled from the tip. Slowly, Shed recognized the gem's source. It was a sapphire that Raha often wore as a bracelet.
"A gift."
Raha said, fiddling with the sapphire.
"It's a sapphire, but....... Somehow it looks like the color of the sky."
Raha wasn't about to take the sapphire off and replace it with a light blue gem because she now wished it was the color of Shed’s eyes. She'd already decided to make a decorative tassel out of it and give it as a gift.
That was her nature. Born into the noblest bloodline in the empire, arrogant and unquestioning of her gifts.
But there was a hint of embarrassment in the noble woman's smile. She hesitated a moment, then said.
"I made it."
"You ......?"
A slow flush of red spread across her cheeks and ears as he stared intensely at tassel.
Were his cheeks tickling with the loosely woven threads, or his heart? Shed couldn't tell.
Slowly, a warmth began to spread across Raha's chest. She remembered Branden's words.
"I think the lord will like it .......”
Raha reached up and cupped Shed’s cheek.
"Do you like sapphires? They're expensive."
Shed grinned and laid his hand over hers.
"Raha. What the hell are you......."
"Just kidding."
Raha burst out laughing.
"I'm glad I made you one."
"Yeah."
Shed swept Raha into his arms.
"You're crazy good."
"......I can't make more, though, I've been up all night."
This man didn't listen to her when she told him not to come to the inner Palace anymore. He came to visit her every day. So late at night when he left, Raha made the decorative tassels by herself. If she’d known he would like it so much, she’d have made it sooner.
Raha rested her cheek on Shed’s chest. The sound of his heartbeat melted into her ear.
And the next day.
Raha sat down at the table and looked across. High Priest Amar's face, pale as lead, came into view.
Red blood stained the side of the High Priest's hand that held his goblet.
Karzen, seated at Raha's side, set his glass down and smiled.
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