Chapter 11. His Majesty the Emperor Strikes
2022.09.20.
One lazy noon in Ermano.
After doing more work than usual, I barely had time to drink a cup of tea.
‘When was the last family meal?’
Was it even two months ago?
It’s been a long time since I and Oscar were both busy, so it’s been a long time since we had a family meal together.
He rested his chin and thought for a moment.
“hmm. Shall we have a family meal?”
I took my time and wrote the letter.
I was going to send it as a communication magic tool, but I thought it wouldn’t be bad to write a handwritten letter once in a while, so I tried to use the analog sensibility.
[Oscar, let’s have dinner tonight!]
A letter to Oscar.
[Dad, let’s have dinner tonight!]
I carefully sealed the dinner invitation letter to my dad and handed it to Gustav.
“Gustav. Send this to Oscar and Dad, respectively.”
“Yes.”
After entrusting the letter to Gustav, I sat down at my desk again. Because I had to finish the rest of the work to have a family meal in the evening.
“Aidan. I will be fully focused from now on.”
“yes.”
After putting a lever on Aidan, he put his eyes on the paperwork and did the job like crazy.
Fortunately, I was able to finish all the work in time for dinner.
“Then enjoy your meal, Your Majesty.”
“huh. Gustav is doing well at work too.”
“Hee hee. yes.”
After saying hello to Gustav, who was smiling after work, he went straight down to the restaurant.
I was the first to arrive, so no one was there yet.
I was going to sit down and wait for my father to arrive after a while.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a meal together like this, daughter.”
Scarily after Dad’s words, Oscar entered the restaurant.
“Mabel. Why do you want to have a meal just the two of us… Father?”
Oscar and Dad looked at each other like strangers. It was as if they hadn’t even thought of each other’s existence.
“Was Oscar also there?”
“Mabel. Weren’t you two supposed to eat together?”
The expression on the faces of the two people who questioned me seemed a little unfair.
For some reason, he sighed as he looked at the rich man who was misunderstanding.
“Of course I called for a family meal. Come on, sit down.”
Then Oscar and Dad came and sat down with sullen faces.
The mood of the restaurant quickly warmed up as the food began to come out one by one.
“Oscar. These days, your praise is high. Duke Donovan used to brag about you. Anyone who sees you will know that you were born alone.”
“Your mother?”
Oscar’s eyes widened in surprise. He seemed unable to believe that Duke Donovan had praised him.
“okay. Come to think of it, the succession to the title is not too far away.”
“I will have to work harder.”
Oscar shook his head resolutely, as if Duke Donovan’s praise had energized him. I could see that Oscar’s ears were slightly red as he smiled slightly.
‘Anyway, even Duke Donovan can’t be honest.’
He had such a blunt personality that he could only count on one hand to directly compliment Oscar.
Still, it was better than when I was very young.
I remembered that Oscar boasted that he sometimes tapped on the shoulder and passed by.
“ruler. Eat more, Mabel.”
Today, Dad put me on a plate of meat cut into bite-sized pieces.
I put a whole bigger steak on my dad’s plate. Then he smiled.
“Dad.”
“Oh Mabel. This isn’t too much-”
“Yes, Dad too.”
“…I won’t give it to you in the future.”
It was a special measure because my father had a habit of giving me food without eating himself at meals.
How to give back more than you receive!
Then I saw Oscar, who had also sliced the meat and stretched it out towards me, silently withdrawing his arms.
“My daughter would be hungry if I gave her this much to her father…”
The father, who suddenly became the person who stole my food and ate it, suddenly became depressed.
Dad, who had become timid, picked up his energy as soon as the next course was served.
“How is the work at Mabel Fort? Aren’t there any annoying people?”
Dad asked, ready to put an end to anyone who was bothering him.
I can’t say there is no law, but I can’t threaten their safety.
Instead, it turned to another subject.
“You invested heavily in art this time. So, the opening ceremony of the museum will be held in a month, and the two of you will go too, right?”
“then.”
Unlike Oscar, who readily nodded, Dad stared at me with a serious expression.
“…?”
As I tilted my head, Dad put down the tableware and muttered seriously.
“It’s a big deal.”
“what?”
“Why are you at the museum when Mabel is there? That Mabel itself is a work of art.”
“…?”
At a loss for words because of the absurdity, Oscar exclaimed and started arguing.
“That’s right, Emperor. Isn’t Mabel the inspiration and the joys and sorrows of life?”
“hmm.”
Dad nodded happily.
‘…Crazy rich.’
It’s been a long time since I met my family, and it seems that my immune system has decreased. I got goosebumps.
But that wasn’t the end.
As I looked around with my mouth wide open, all the waiting attendants and maids were nodding their heads in unison.
‘Crazy people!’
why are you nodding Why the hell do you agree with that nonsense!
Unable to bear the shame, I covered my face with both hands and screamed.
“Ouch! stop. stop!”
Then Dad recited in an extremely serious voice.
“The title of the work. Roaring Mabel.”
“…”
I didn’t want to reply, so I kept my mouth shut, and now Oscar took another bite.
“The title of the work. Silent Mabel.”
I gave up thinking.
***
A busy day, no different, continued every day. As I dealt with today’s work, I let out a sigh of relief.
ha.
“Why the hell can’t you decide something like this!”
It’s not that I can’t do my job, but I have more work to do because I’ve offloaded unimportant decisions to me.
I can’t remember the last time I’ve been lying in bed all day without thinking.
“I don’t know. do it later.”
Shaking his head, he shoved the papers away.
‘I’m exhausted…’
Just before I was about to bang my head on the desk with a thud, Aidan’s hand supported my forehead. I leaned my head against the hand and slumped.
It was very comfortable because my hands were large and supported with moderate strength.
“Ah, I want to be stuck in a valley somewhere and just lie there doing nothing.”
I muttered an impossible wish and closed my eyes.
‘The emperor is too busy.’
This is why I’ve dreamed of dethroning since I was young, but it all turned out to be impossible.
Maybe it was because I was so competent, but everyone depended on me, so I couldn’t stay still.
Is it just the emperor? Casey took care of most of it, but I also had some work for the company, and it was all my job to take care of the habitats of the rare monsters.
I turned my head slightly and looked back at Aidan.
“Isn’t Aidan busy?”
“yes.”
“weird. The Grand Duchy of Aserad is vast.”
“Only important items are being checked.”
There was no way that the work of the Archduke Aserad, which had a similar size of land, was rare.
But the reason why I’m so hectic is probably because of my useless perfectionism that I have to check everything from start to finish.
As I gathered my tired mind and raised my head to look at the papers again, Aidan leaned my head against his body. He raised his eyes slightly to see Aidan’s face.
He looked like he didn’t like something.
“why?”
“How about leaving the imperial castle?”
“Leave the imperial castle? You want to go on vacation?”
Aidan nodded. It was a really sweet offer because it was a vacation, but I shook my head with a smile.
“no. I’m so busy… I still have a lot of work to do. If you have time later, let’s go to Rica Valley Street for a while.”
Then Aidan asked in a firm tone.
“Are you in a country where there will be problems if you are away for a few days?”
“How do you look at Ermano!”
As I involuntarily got angry, Aidan nodded as if he knew that.
“Then what are you worried about?”
“Still, the sudden absence of a country’s emperor is—”
“You can leave a letter and go.”
Normally, it would be tempting to laugh and pass it over, but I wanted to ignore it and move on if I was tired of working without a long break.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay for a couple of days?’
Anyway, since Dad and Gustav are there, I think it will be okay.
Perhaps recognizing the conflict in my heart, Aidan took out a blank piece of paper and scribbled something on it.
“What did you write?”
“A note to Hwang Sang-je.”
“What did you write?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take a few days off.”
‘No way.’
Aidan’s attitude towards others except me was relentless.
‘There’s no way Aidan would have left such a sweet note. That’s even more for Dad.’
I tried to check the contents, but I couldn’t see it because Aidan’s body was blocking it.
widely. Aidan, who overturned the note and placed a pen on it to keep it from flying away, stared at me.
The red eyes cast by the setting sun were darker than usual, and looked dark red.
Aidan’s red lips parted and a languid voice leaked out.
“Ermano is alive and well, he left a note, and I am next to you…”
He held out his big hand.
“What else do you need?”
As if possessed by Aidan’s question, which had the answer he wanted, he answered while holding his hand.
“Isn’t it…?”
Aidan smiled lightly and pulled me in, probably liking my impulsive answer.
Right after that, the yellium hanging from my neck was activated.
“Wait a minute! But tell Dad!”
When I hurriedly came to my senses, the place where I was already standing was not my office.
‘…A runaway?’
I accidentally ran away.
***
Twilight time just before the sun goes down.
Esteban, who was enjoying a quiet time and drinking tea, almost fell behind.
“His Majesty’s presence has disappeared.”
The secret escort’s report attached to Mabel was the cause. The escort looked at Esteban and added a word.
“The presence of Archduke Aserad has also disappeared.”
It was not possible to use mobile magic tools in the imperial castle surrounded by barriers.
Even so, if the presence disappeared in an instant, there was only one answer.
Yellium.
‘Did Mabel voluntarily leave the imperial castle?’
without saying anything to me?
Esteban ran to the office where the presence had last stayed for a month.
As if Mabel would greet him at any moment, the calm atmosphere of the office greeted him.
Standing in front of the desk across the dark office, Esteban looked up.
The documents I had been looking at and a piece of paper with lots of ‘ㅠ’ written on it.
“I thought those were letters that shed tears.”
Could it be that Aidan, that scoundrel-like bastard, was killing my daughter?
Esteban’s eyes went up fiercely.
He continued his meticulous search. In the corner of the desk was a plate of Mabel’s favorite grapefruit jam cookies.
There was only one cookie left to see if it tasted good.
After a while, something caught Don Esteban’s eye as he cautiously circled the desk.
A precarious piece of paper as if it would fly away at any moment under a quill.
Esteban’s face crumpled as he put away the pen and turned the paper over to check the contents.
There were two sentences written in rough scrawl.
[Prohibition of dispatching search parties. I couldn’t find it anyway.]
The name of who wrote it was not written, but Esteban didn’t need it. It was obvious who it was.
Esteban’s hands trembled when he saw the note that Aidan Aserad must have written.
“This kidnapper…”
Mabel was kidnapped.
And that to Grand Duke Aidan Aserad and a cruel god named Ades!
Esteban crumpled up the note and slammed the desk.
“…secretly dispatch a search party!”
Of course, Esteban wasn’t going to be quiet.
That’s how Esteban and Aidan’s push and pull chase began.
