Chapter 125
***
When a king or queen from a friendly nation came to Delharsa as an envoy, it was customary for the royal family to travel to the border to greet them.
In recent generations, however, the Dello Empire had few, if any, friendly kingdoms. While there had been economic and geographical pacts of cooperation with other kingdoms, Hildes was the first country the Emperor of Dello had ever called a "friend".
So technically, it was Raha who should have gone today.
But there was no way Karzen would allow Raha to leave. So after a hasty meeting, the Palatinate courtiers asked Shed for a favor, which he graciously accepted.
Outside the window, flowers were blooming. Raha wondered, "Why aren't there any blue-gray flowers?"
What color were Shed's eyes originally?
When he'd first been brought in as an experimental slave, she'd assumed he'd taken on the color of the expanse's pupils, a mix of ash and blue that could also be seen as a murky sky blue.
She knew Shed's face looked different to those who weren't her. But to her, it looked the same as it had when he was a test subject, and it looked the same now. They were the same blue-gray eyes.
Raha shifted her gaze and saw Branden standing off to one side of the large office. He thought about asking Branden about Shed's face or the color of his eyes, but stopped herself. It would be a distraction.
Instead, Raha asked something else.
"Why aren’t you with your lord?"
"What? Oh, you mean follow the lord to the border?"
"Yes. A Queen is coming."
"Well, I don't think I'll have to go all the way if the lord is going....... It's not like it's a bunch of candy for kids."
Branden said, scratching his head. Raha sat back in her seat and opened her mouth.
"Then can I ask why you're hovering around me? You've always been with Oliver."
"Well, the lord told me to keep an eye on the princess......."
Raha paused in the middle of opening a drawer. She looked up and smirked.
"As if anyone in the palace would hurt me."
"I really think so, too, but the lord is a little....... a bit."
Branden spoke in a hushed tone, but a smile tugged at the corners of the Princess’s mouth as she listened, which was odd.
For the past week, the Princess hadn’t left the palace at all.
This time, it was the Count's son (Rosain), whom even Branden had seen a few times. How could he be disgraced in one fell swoop and used as a bedroom slave for the princess with a fiancé….
Branden had learned once before that many of the slaves dedicated to the Princess died prematurely due to the strange branding tattooed on their bodies.
Nevertheless, the Princess came out a week later and went to her office as if it were a matter of course. Her gait was noble, her expression graceful, and her face devoid of a single shadow. It was said that all places where blue blood flowed, whether imperial or royal, were duplicitous, but this place was poisonous.......
He could see why the Princess didn’t fall. In a similar category, Branden thought she was amazing. Shed had only told him to keep an eye on her, but Branden, a guard to the bone, was already keeping a keen eye on who he was supposed to be escorting.
Branden wondered how much time had passed. The Princess was suddenly disassembling the jewelry on her wrist.
"Princess, what are you doing?"
"I'm making a gift."
"Gift?"
He finally saw what was hidden behind the stack of papers. An ornamental tassel to attach to the hilt of a sword or spear. Tassels were noble ornaments, woven from fine, softly twisted threads and hung with bird feathers or jewelry, depending on your preference.
"Are you going to give it to His Majesty?"
"Karzen? No."
Raha smirked.
"Why should I when I have a fiancé? I'll give it to the royal lord."
"What? To the lord?"
"Because I don't think I’ve given him anything in a while....... Why do you have that look on your face?"
Branden hastily closed his gaping mouth.
"Uh, no. I'm sorry."
"Don't tell anyone."
"Yeah? Yeah, sure. I have tight lips. My princess."
Shed loved his sword like a knight, but he never wore a decorative tassel. Brandon knew this well. He'd had plenty of ladies give him gifts since he was a boy, but that was it. He'd never seen him actually like something.
Even if Shed had liked it, if he'd chosen one and worn it on his sword, it would have immediately pushed him out of the house, and with the lord’s position as crown prince at the time, a lantern before the wind, he was indifferent to such things. In fact, he seemed indifferent.
"That, Princess."
But could he be indifferent to what this princess was giving him?
"It's just my opinion, but I think the lord would be very...... pleased."
Raha's fingertips twitched slightly at Branden's words. A strange heat rose to her cheeks. Embarrassment. Shy. Whatever it was, it was a ticklish, unfamiliar expression.
She wanted to give Shed a gift, for no particular reason, just the sight of his sleeping face. After days of debating whether to embroider a handkerchief or make him a gift, she chose the latter. The reason was simple. The tassel would have Raha's favorite jewelry on it.
Raha frowned as she spent a few minutes trying to take the jewelry apart again. Sure, the imperial family had some excellent jewelers, but....... she didn't want to say anything to Karzen, so she tried to do it herself.
With a sigh, Raha turned to Branden and casually held out the jewelry.
"Sir Branden. Come and take a look."
"Yes, Princess.”
Branden stepped forward. In an instant, the solid gold rim that held the sapphire parted under his strong fingers.
The sapphire rolled across the wooden desk.
The Princess seemed satisfied. Branden coughed in vain. The sight of a bundle of colorful threads made him cringe. It also made him wonder if she had been working on it in her bedroom all this time.
No one else could have made them, but the Princess herself, and she would present it to the lord. There was a moment of intense cognitive dissonance. It was like jumping into the ocean in the middle of winter and seeing spring flowers blooming just below the surface.....
Raha smiled as she wiped the surface of her prized sapphire with a handkerchief, her action so soft and warm that Branden realized that spring was definitely in the air.
* * *
"Your Majesty. We have been unable to follow up on the Princess’s doll; it is confirmed dead."
Accepting the report from his lieutenant, Karzen stroked his chin. He, too, had been busy preparing for the national wedding, and it was late at night when he heard this report.
"The slave is dead?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"He covered his tracks quite skillfully."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Hmm......."
Karzen had been slowly tracking the doll (Shed used to be) ever since he'd gotten his suspicions about Raha and the experimental slave. It wasn't a full-blown pursuit, as it wasn't that important, and it was strictly a matter of Karzen's instincts.
The less attention the Emperor paid to it, the more moderate the pursuit. He's had a lot on his plate. There was even an arrogant royal lord who dared to ask for Raha as a reward, but that didn't mean he'd completely forgotten about the doll.
But today's news from the adjutant was unexpected: the experimental slave was confirmed dead?
"Is it really dead? No."
Raha must have gone to great lengths to save him, and he couldn't have died without a fight.
A sigh almost escaped Karzen's lips. Now that Severo was dead, his lieutenants were perfectly prepared to take over in the event of an emergency.
But geniuses like Severo were rare. Of course, geniuses were as plentiful in the vast empire as grass in a drought, but to make one as loyal to the Emperor as Severo, it took time, absolute time. And time was running out.
Moreover, a genius like Severo, who could not let go of his obsession with Raha, would not be found twice in this life. Severo, who had watched Raha like a maniac, would be suspicious of the outcome of this death. No matter how neat it was.
It was ridiculous; he could only wonder what his twin had been up to, letting the doll escape. If so, it was to get away from him.
But when he heard that the slave was dead, his dull interest suddenly intensified.
After studying the report for a while, Karzen's eyes took on a strange glow. He smirked and turned to Blake.
"Blake. Do you remember Raha's palace the other day?"
"Yes. I remember. Your Majesty."
Upon his ascension to the throne, Karzen had placed all of Raha's entourage under surveillance. Even the maids who served Raha had been placed under surveillance, but that had been years ago. It was the day Raha was found asleep with her knees drawn up beside a pile of the dead bodies of the slaves.
Even the handmaidens were not allowed in the inner palace where the slaves were buried. So Karzen had never received a report of Raha curled up like that. It was a pity that she had stumbled upon such a sight.
The sadistic desire to keep finding her like that, combined with the mercy he felt for the twin, meant that there were no more guards in the palace. Karzen could hardly keep his eyes off the occasional glimpse of Raha on the verge of collapse.
His fragile mirror. In fact, most of the pleasure Karzen had ever felt in his life had come from his beloved twin.
So he had to be terribly sincere to Raha.
***
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