Patricia pushed against his chest, but his body, firm as a wall, didn’t budge.
“Why do you keep pushing when you can’t even put strength in your arms?”
Harchen grabbed her hand, gracefully kissed the back of it, then raised his upper body.
“My body wants to stay with you, but I have to attend a meeting. I’ll see you at the banquet hall.”
When Harchen opened the reception room door, the head servant who had been waiting bowed his head in greeting. The head servant relayed that the Empress Dowager had summoned him.
“Tell her I’m in the middle of a round table meeting.”
“Here, sir?”
“There’s something urgent to discuss. Call the administrative officer and the ministers of foreign and internal affairs.”
Harchen entered the small conference room of Aster Palace. Three knights and his aide Philip were waiting.
He received a report from Philip about recent events. Especially when he heard the report about setting up a screen during the meeting between the Empress Dowager and the Heun clan hunter Bark, he frowned.
As he was being briefed on the circumstances that led to the gag order through meetings with the Orteo family’s close associates and Duke Leak, the administrative officer, foreign minister, and secretary entered the conference room.
An emergency round table meeting was convened, led by the administrative officer. The agenda was about Eden Patterson.
Harchen had been looking for ways to rescue Eden Patterson on the way from Tane to the empire.
Calip gave a lengthy account of the situation at the time.
Eden Patterson stabbed Kazan, who had used vile methods to save the emperor, with a dagger. He was arrested on the spot as the emperor’s assassin.
“That knight is impressive.”
At the words of the foreign minister, who was unfamiliar with the actual situation in the Tane Empire, the administrative officer looked at Calip and asked.
“Indeed. Wasn’t he a prosecutor? Why did he stab his lord with a dagger instead of a sword for a foreign emperor?”
Calip couldn’t answer. He too was puzzled. He was a prosecutor who had overpowered his sword in the sword duel at the Aster Palace garden on the day of the national marriage.
Harchen recalled the words Eden had uttered as he stepped between him and Kazan.
“This is the rondel dagger Your Majesty bestowed upon me.”
“Your Majesty, I have finally fulfilled my long-cherished desire. I can now die without regrets.”
There was clearly something between Emperor Kazan and Eden. Giving a dagger meant ordering an assassination. Then who… Gasp, could it be Patricia?
Harchen felt a chill run down his spine. He received official paper from his aide and quickly wrote a letter, then stamped it with his seal.
“Lean, it seems you’ll need to go to Tane with the foreign minister.”
“As you command.”
“Patrick is a man of principle, so he might follow through if it’s decided in the Imperial Assembly. Go before that, deliver my letter, and guide him towards foreign exile.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“It’s a letter stating that if the Tane Empire exiles Eden Patterson, we will accept him as a citizen of the Karsik Empire.”
The aide received the letter, rolled it up, and placed it in a cylindrical diplomatic case before handing it to Lean.
“Ah, Your Majesty. You truly intend to accept Sir Eden as an imperial citizen.”
The emperor was silent for a moment.
There was no hesitation in his decision to accept Eden as a citizen of the Karsik Empire, but Eden’s attitude towards Patricia still bothered him.
There was an underlying heavy and tenacious affection for Patricia.
Now Patricia had no feelings for him due to her memory loss, but what if her memories returned and she recalled that they might have had a deep relationship in the past?
He had to forbid them from meeting in the empire.
Harchen rested his chin on his hand and tapped the table with his raised index finger.
“Exiles will have their existing titles revoked and assets confiscated. If we accept him as a citizen, we’ll have to change his name to match a new title.”
“Yes, if you give him a title as well, there will be strong opposition, Your Majesty.”
“Is there no way to change his face along with his name?”
So Patricia wouldn’t recognize him. Should I put an iron mask on his face?
An iron mask would be too cruel. It would cause the skin to necrotize and was a punishment only given to ancient felons. From Harchen’s perspective, Eden Patterson was closer to a benefactor than a criminal. Or should I send him to the north?
“Your Majesty, I’ve heard that in the Empire of Osborne on the continent of Asor, they can change hair color and even alter faces.”
At the foreign minister’s words, Harchen showed interest and listened to a more detailed explanation.
“Then, explain and propose it to Sir Eden.”
“As Your Majesty wishes.”
The foreign minister, Lean, and three other knights formed a team and departed for Tane.
The emperor chuckled at Calip’s suggestion to rest until dinner, and nodded at Philip who was unpacking his bundle.
Philip explained as he sequentially laid out documents, and the emperor silently reviewed his papers before signing them.
As Philip, who had been holding his breath, slowly exhaled and found his composure while unfolding another bundle of documents, a maid informed them that the empress was waiting in the banquet hall.
“Philip, that’s enough for today.”
When Harchen entered the banquet hall, Patricia and Carolina were talking with their hands clasped together on the table.
Harchen glanced at their intertwined hands, not even wearing gloves.
Do ladies show such displays of holding hands?
“Your Majesty, I hear you went all the way to the capital, not just the border city of Luken. Did you return safely?”
“Crow, what you’re curious about isn’t me.”
The chef who had come from White Palace personally brought out the dishes, explained them, and set them up.
“So, brother. It’s all over now, isn’t it? Please tell us the inside story of the incident clearly. Is His Highness Patrick… safe?”
“You should have asked that from the start, Calip. Satisfy the crow’s curiosity.”
Harchen placed each dish set before Patricia in front of himself, tasted each dish, then placed them back in front of her.
“Your Highness, shall I tell you after the meal?”
“Tell me now, sir.”
For the sake of the empress who had lost her memories, Calip explained in detail from the beginning about the political situation in Tane and the process of Prince Patrick’s preparations for rebellion, as far as he knew.
When the explanation reached its climax with the announcement of convening the Imperial Assembly, Patricia and Carolina put down their cutlery and clasped hands tightly.
Ah, those hands.
Harchen was displeased that Patricia was holding the crow’s hand instead of his own.
“By the way, Carolina, when Kazan Emperor’s sword pierced Patrick’s neck and blood flowed, a beautiful lady approached and wiped the blood from his neck with her own handkerchief. That kind lady was probably Princess Parse?”
“Harchen!”
Patricia gripped Harchen’s hand tightly. She glared at Harchen with her eyes wide open, too shocked to speak. Was this something to tell her already anxious younger sister?
Ah, she’s holding my hand?
Harchen grinned and gripped Patricia’s hand even tighter.
“Crow, if I were you, I wouldn’t interrupt us here but write a letter to Patrick.”
“There’s no way to deliver a letter.”
Carolina said tearfully, her mind confused with jealousy.
“Lean just left for Tane, and you can send a letter to Lean through Liu, can’t you?”
Harchen laughed inwardly. That crow would get up immediately to write a letter.
He had accomplished what his wife Patricia could never do – send her away.
“How about it? I’ll give you until tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you. Lady Risha, I’ll take my leave first.”
Harchen squeezed Patricia’s hand firmly. Only then did she recall Harchen’s earlier words to send Carolina away right after dinner.
“You didn’t deliberately send Princess Rina away, did you?”
“I did. Would you like a glass of Panian?”
Satisfied that his scheme had succeeded, Harchen poured Panian into a crystal glass. Just then, the head servant entered.
“Your Majesty, if you’re busy, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager says she will come to Aster Palace herself.”
“Calip, prepare the kan.”
Harchen ordered in a low voice, then turned to Patricia.
“You slept a lot in the carriage earlier, so wait here. If you’re bored, write a letter to Patrick too.”
“Have a safe trip.”
Harchen rode the kan through the palace grounds. He had been trying to postpone the audience with the Empress Dowager as much as possible. He felt he might end up saying harsh words.
*
“You’ve come.”
“Harchen greets Mother.”
The emperor took the hand extended by the Empress Dowager, kissed the back of it, then sat on the sofa opposite her.
“So, you didn’t just go to Luken for the railway contract.”
“Yes, I also went to the capital of Tane.”
“You’ve returned after accomplishing much without discussing or even mentioning it to your mother.”
“The political situation in Tane was chaotic, so I lent my support.”
“Your empire wasn’t peaceful either. To cut to the chase, I hear you personally went to the Heun clan hunter’s village to fetch the empress.”
“Yes, why did you do that?”
“What do you mean?”
“You knew the empress was in danger, yet you issued a gag order without even checking on her, didn’t you?”
“Are you lecturing your mother now?”
“I’m asking a question.”
“Did you know the empress killed Pamila, the empress of Tane, with a sword? How could we keep such a person as empress? I was already displeased that she started a war in the first place.”
This was why Harchen had planned to meet Bark first tomorrow to hear the exact situation before meeting his mother.
“I will take care of it myself.”
“What do you mean you’ll take care of it? Are you saying you’ll dispose of the empress?”
“Mother, please keep quiet. I meant I will handle the matter.”
“Start by disposing of the empress.”
“Dispose of the empress? I can’t do that.”
“If it’s difficult to resolve through a peace treaty with the Tane Empire, fine, I’ll concede.”
“…”
“Instead, I will give Boras Palace to Julia Leak tomorrow. Take the princess as your imperial consort.”
“Mother, what are you saying?”
“After formally welcoming her as your imperial consort, go to Boras Palace regularly to consummate the marriage.”
“I refuse.”
“Maintaining a proper bloodline according to status is what this mother wishes for.”
“Taking Princess Julia as imperial consort is impossible. I saw her slap a peer’s cheek with a fan when she was a young girl, and I also witnessed her beating a maid with a fan. Is such a princess considered a proper bloodline?”
“Harchen, it’s common for noble families to discipline maids with fans.”
Harchen was dumbfounded and felt nauseous. He stood up and walked towards the door, then stopped.
“Put whoever you want in Boras Palace, I will close it without checking inside.”
“Then I will bring her into my quarters.”
He stood up and walked towards the door as he spoke, then stopped.
“I am the Emperor of the Karsik Empire. There can be no one who disobeys my orders, no one at all.”
“Are you threatening your mother now?”
“Mother, above all, I love Patricia… that person.”
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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