Everything went pitch black when he put the eye mask on. The darkness, darker than the deepest night, completely blocked his vision, and his nerves began to fray. His forehead became itchy and goosebumps rose on his skin. Perhaps his senses were more heightened than usual because he was not used to being defenseless in this way.
Oddly enough, he was able to recognize the gaze of the person who was looking at him even with his eyes closed. The person looking at him now was the Emperor. He looked carefully at the eyes and cheeks covered with the cloth and then gazed intently at the lips that had not yet scabbed over.
“… This is quite the deviance now that We have done this. We never had such an interest before.”
Not a very long time had passed. There was only a brief pause in the conversation, at best, but Eugène’s back stiffened with tension as he was forced to face the Emperor’s gaze. For a brief moment, the Emperor, whose mere gaze had made Eugène feel overwhelmed as it was, held out his hand, uttering words that could hardly have been meant as a simple joke.
Eugène hadn’t even realized the Emperor was offering his hand until his own was firmly seized, and then he realized that the Emperor was going to guide him himself. He didn’t quite pull his hand out of the Emperor’s grasp, but he refused to be guided by him and spoke in an embarrassed tone.
“I cannot cause such trouble to Your Majesty. Please allow Baron Bouilhet to assist me.”
“Baron Bouilhet has to hold the lamp in one hand and open the door with the other, how would he help you?”
The Emperor took his hand and got out of the carriage, ignoring Eugène’s wishes. Fortunately, he was spared the escort form since he injured his right shoulder, but it still didn’t change the reality of having to stumble along while holding the Emperor’s hand.
Eugène followed the Emperor’s lead but wondered if it would be a wise move to call for Baron Bouilhet. His mind was as dark as his vision.
***
It was the season when the midday sun was gradually getting hotter.
When the weather was nice, teatime was often held outdoors, but when the sun got hot like this, ladies turned to the pavilion. The ladies, who preferred to have skin so white that their blue veins could be seen through it, didn’t like the idea of burning their skin, nor did they like the heat to be so intense that they had to sweat.
Teatime for Marquise Merlin was also held according to this custom in the pavilion in the scenic garden. The residence she was given was the Gardenia Palace, built by Armand III for his beloved eldest daughter, a palace that lived up to its name with a garden full of gardenias.
It was the season for flowers, and every tree was in full bloom. In the beautiful gardens, filled with the fragrant scent of flowers, the ladies relaxed with hot tea and delicious treats.
“Contrary to the rumors, House Benoist’s young master’s leg was not crooked that badly. A skilled tailor would have been able to hide it, no?”
Countess Hartless picked up a profiterole full of sweet custard cream and opened up about her real impression of House Benoist’s successor, who rarely ventured into the capital but did so last night.
Countess Orte, who was sitting opposite her and drinking tea, tilted her head slightly and disagreed with her.
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.
“It seemed to me that he was helped by a skilled tailor. Even when dancing, the steps were a bit risky but Marquise Bertin was so adept that it was barely noticeable.”
“Pr atja rb? P vlv cba delaf cbalmf…”
Jbecafrr Ljgaifrr, vfrqlaf tfg obcvcfrr obg ubrrlq, afcvfv ab yf vlragjmafv jcv ecbyrfgnjca, ecjyif ab ugjrq atf rlaejalbc jgbecv tfg. Ktf Jbecafrr Ygaf, ktb kjr kfii jkjgf bo tfg mtjgjmafg, jvvfv fzqijcjalbcr rafq ys rafq klatbea tjraf.
“Gb atlcx jybea la, Jbecafrr. Ktf sbecu wjrafg vlv cba vjcmf jii atf alwf fzmfqa obg tlr olgra vjcmf klat Zjgdelrf Dfgalc, gluta? Lf rja bc j ibcu mtjlg jcv mtjaafv, yea vlv cba fnfc kjix jgbecv atf yjiigbbw.”
“… Now that you say it, you are right. Oh my! How unfortunate. It is such a pity that a handsome and gentle person suffers from an illness like that! But, according to the rumors, the young master is doing better. I heard that the older son’s condition has been getting worse and worse, to the point where he cannot even get out of bed.”
“He must be in quite the unpleasant condition if he cannot even attend Marquise Bertin’s ball, which only takes place once a year.”
Although House Benoist was the most prestigious family in the empire, the reason that they lived a life close to seclusion was not because of their family tradition, but because of a genetic disease handed down from generation to generation. Inbreeding, which was repeated excessively to maintain the family’s fortune, left a fatal scar on their lineage.
If tea and snacks were the main course at tea time, gossip was a fragrant dessert that enriched social life. The noblewomen classily sympathized with the misfortunes of the nobles and conversed quietly. Because she had not yet been married, the young daughter of Viscount Carbo was bound by all the customary restrictions of high society, kept her mouth shut, and listened attentively to the ladies.
However, the mind of Marquise Merlin, who could be said to be the hostess of this place, was elsewhere. She was obsessed with a topic that she did not dare to bring up for fear that her companions might offend her.
I have never seen His Majesty look like that. He did not lay his feelings bare like that even in his young days.
Among the concubines of Ebroin V, Marquise Merlin was the first to be appointed a direct position and thought quietly of the Emperor she first met at the young age of seventeen.
The young Emperor, who was just twenty years old at the time, had been a wonderful man, even in retrospect. Young, beautiful and charming….
The Emperor received the best education under the tutelage of Empress Heloïse and was smarter than anyone else. He knew how to read and write imperial Eneca and Kayediv’s Yerib characters, Dyssian of the Prince-Electors’ Era, as well as Camarin of the Confederation of Five Nations, and even learned to read the language of the Shaak Empire, Yaqian.
Not only culture but also innate pedigree and graceful attitude were unmatched by any other young nobleman. Though he was not yet ready to show his claws and was always calm and gentle, his presence was nevertheless not one to be ignored.
In his presence, even those who were unaware of his status as the Emperor turned toward him as if drawn by a halo. The same was true of Alexandrine, who had just debuted in high society. She turned to Ebroin V without any explanation and fell in love with him before she even realized he was the Emperor.
When she was seventeen, Alexandrine was the happiest woman in the world. Having grown up in what was like a cage and unaware of the world, as soon as she debuted in high society, she met a man whom she could risk her life to love and bear fruit with him.
Her man was incredibly beautiful and caring, and he cherished her above all else. As if that weren’t enough, her lover was even the Emperor of the empire. Neither her father nor her brother told her that she would become an Empress. She believed it and did not doubt it.
Her lover loved her. Although there were so many beautiful women around him, the Emperor looked at her as if she was the only woman left in the world. Alexandrine naively believed that the rest of her life would be the same as it was then.
But by the time she was eighteen, Alexandrine slowly opened her eyes to reality. Everything around her changed quickly. The friends she had grown up with were jealous of her behind her back, but would make attempts at flattery in front of her, and her father, whom she had revered, was more concerned with her relationship with the Emperor than her well-being, making excessive demands whenever he met her.
Her lover was no mere individual, but always the Emperor, and she could never simply be a woman before him.
One by one, heavy duties were laid upon her shoulders. Dreadful responsibilities she had never thought she would bear, and powers that, if misused, might hurt herself, were placed in her small hands. Her lover looked at her with the same loving, gentle eyes he always had, and as she stumbled and fell, injured under the weight she could not bear, he simply watched with care.
Slowly, Alexandrine realized that the man she loved was the Emperor down to his core. To stand by his side, she would have to become someone like him. All that was of the Emperor belonged to the empire, and all of his attention was open to rule only.
What her lover wanted was not a companion to share life with, but a ruler to rule the empire with. His love was akin to the reward given for fulfilling her duty.
As a young lady, she could not accept that reality. Like a naïve fool, she thought that she could not be satisfied with such conditional feelings. She tormented him, wishing she could be given back the same raw emotions from the Emperor that she had suffered from.
Crying, fighting, running away. She resisted as much as she could, pleading for her share. She didn’t love him because she wanted to become an Empress, but it just so happened that the person she fell in love with was the Emperor. She wanted him to understand that.
The next six months were like hell. The Emperor could no longer tolerate her outrageous rebellion. They fought over and over again, tears were shed over and over again. She threw away everything she didn’t want and struggled to get anything back. When she was nineteen years and three months old, the Emperor finally gave up on her and chose another woman.
And so ended Alexandrine’s warlike love. It was an immature love that was only possible because she was so young and naive. Alexandrine’s lover left her as the Emperor, and as the years passed, the young girl longing for love became the Emperor’s concubine.
Marquise Merlin looked down at the teacup in her hand, lost in thought. Even after her lover left her, he was still affectionate. Even after being in the arms of another woman, when he returned to her, he was as affectionate as if he had never left.
… His Majesty will never know that his kindness was the greatest pain for me. Does he know how a woman feels when she sees a lover who has not changed since before or after she abandoned him?
No. He wouldn’t know. The cruelty of the Emperor rose from the fact that he didn’t act like this on purpose, rather it was all natural and unintentional.
Marquise Merlin had never seen the Emperor feel an emotion he did not need. She could have doubted how that could be for a human being, but Ebroin V was really such a man.
He loved women because he needed an Empress, and he loved children because he had to love children. All of his emotions were connected to his position, and it would be hard for him to realize that himself. It cannot be said that all of those feelings were not sincere, but at least it was unmistakable that they were not pure.
But yesterday, for the first time, she had seen pure emotion without any of the Emperor’s calculations. Ironically, that emotion was jealousy. The person who triggered that emotion was a nobleman who might have value, but didn’t even need to be held in his arms, and was someone she had met several times herself.
Baron Amieux, Eugène Lothair de Chastan. He was a normal soldier with no possibility of bearing the Emperor a child or linking him with a plausible power.
“Oh, Your Majesty!”
“I see His Majesty the Emperor, Lord of Ardi, Kleman and Nervoge, Ruler of the Neutel and Salpine Rivers, and Protector of Lex Ardica. May Your Majesty reign forever.”
While Marquise Merlin was thinking about the Emperor for some time, the Emperor appeared from the other side of the garden. Marquise Merlin’s companions stood up and bowed to the Emperor. The Marquise also greeted him on time and welcomed her unexpected lover.
“What brings you here, unannounced?”
She smiled softly and asked in a pleasant voice.
“It occurred to Us that the time has come for the gardenias to bloom in your garden. We wish to have a cup of tea with you if you do not mind?”
“Of course. As much as Your Majesty would like”
Marquise Merlin’s companions glanced at each other at the sight of the couple who had become so close after a long time. The Emperor came to visit the concubine, and the other companions couldn’t occupy the seat without notice.
Countess Orte got up quickly and took a half-empty teapot in her hand.
“The teapot is empty, can we leave for a while?”
They left the pavilion with the Emperor’s permission. A few moments later, the ladies-in-waiting brought in a new full teapot and new teacups, and Marquise Merlin took the teapot with her own hands and poured tea into the Emperor’s cup.
“I chose a tea with a strong flavor rather than a strong floral scent. I hope you like it.”
A white teacup was filled with refined tea. The Emperor picked up the teacup, took a sip, and nodded satisfactorily.
“It is delicious. It goes well with the scent of the gardenias.”
Marquise Merlin smiled shyly and poured fresh tea into her teacup. Every time the gentle wind shook the branches that hung over the pavilion, the scent of the flowers intensified. The white muslin curtains hung from the round pillars of the pavilion swayed every time it happened, creating a hazy atmosphere.
Thank you for translating! I really enjoyed reading Marquise Merlins POV. She’s just so…down to earth. I love that she really did sincerely fall in love, and that all she wanted was reciprocity. Her position gives us so much insight into the emperor too. Fun stuff!!
Also have to lol at the emperor discovering a new blindfolded kink.
Thank you for translating! I really enjoyed reading Marquise Merlins POV. She’s just so…down to earth. I love that she really did sincerely fall in love, and that all she wanted was reciprocity. Her position gives us so much insight into the emperor too. Fun stuff!!
Also have to lol at the emperor discovering a new blindfolded kink.
Ugh, sorry about the reposts. My internet decided to have some fun with me.
Thank you for translating! I really enjoyed reading Marquise Merlins POV. She’s just so…down to earth. I love that she really did sincerely fall in love, and that all she wanted was reciprocity. Her position gives us so much insight into the emperor too. Fun stuff!!
Also have to lol at the emperor discovering a new blindfolded kink.