“It truly was a tumultuous affair.”
Euphemina’s wedding had ended.
The imperial banquet held for nobles from the empire and distinguished guests from distant kingdoms, the festival that had the imperial capital buzzing for days…
It was all over. Only then did I let out a sigh and lean back on the plush couch.
It was truly a relieving feeling.
Especially the fact that I no longer had to hear fireworks exploding above my head every night. To be honest, it was difficult to sleep because of the noise.
…Hmm.
But on the other hand, I also felt a bit lonely.
After all, I had permanently sent off one of the children from my embrace to independence.
“You must feel quite empty inside.”
The cushion beside me suddenly sank. My listless body soon found comfortable rest on Joseph’s firm shoulder.
There was no need to sit up straight. Instead, I took off my slippers and put both legs up on the sofa.
The thin silk fabric of my dress flowed like waves over my knees raised like mountains. It soon pooled in the dizzying valley below my white thighs.
“Well… a little. Now she’s become someone we can’t easily visit anymore, even if she is our daughter.”
“The position of Crown Princess is quite restrictive in that regard. I find that rather regrettable as well.”
Joseph gently pulled at my shoulders and hips, adjusting my posture. Before I knew it, I was lying with my head on his lap.
“Still, perhaps you can take comfort in the fact that you’ve been granted a status that won’t be refused when you wish to visit the imperial palace.”
“You mean as the Queen of Alperon.”
At those words, a mysterious smile lit up the red eyes of the man more beautiful than the chandelier in the main hall.
In fact, that was true. The reason Joseph finally decided to officially reveal his identity was none other than this.
The day Euphemina returned from a long hunting trip with Crown Prince Raphael… who was then still a prince.
If it weren’t for Joseph’s hand supporting me as I nearly fell backwards, chair and all, forgetting all propriety, I don’t know what would have happened. Even now, the thought makes me dizzy.
That was the one thing that stopped me from immediately objecting.
Yes, Euphemina was no longer a foolish young girl.
She had now realized that she was somewhat different from others in the world. And she had gone through a period of anguish recognizing those differences.
The trigger was when she realized she had almost put me and others in danger by falling for Dorothea’s tricks.
To be honest, I feel the same way.
‘That incident where I forcibly turned back time…’
If I hadn’t experienced that…
I would never have known just how differently Euphemina thinks compared to others.
Not only that.
‘And I wouldn’t have known that Euphemina was the true culprit who killed Carlos Nikolai.’
…
Even recalling it now makes my fingertips go cold.
Of course, I knew that the cause of that bastard ex-husband’s death wasn’t an accidental fall, but a flowerpot that happened to fall from the balcony.
But I didn’t know it was something Euphemina had deliberately done.
‘Not until Kardiel told me.’
I’m not sure if you remember, but before sending Kardiel to the academy, I secretly slipped a thick letter into his possession.
The reply arrived only after Kardiel had been at the academy for a month. It was a letter that showed clear signs of long deliberation.
It contained the truth regarding Carlos Nikolai’s death.
‘Even the smile Euphemina wore when she killed Carlos…’
In that moment, Kardiel says he instantly put his mind to work.
At that point, the person who would benefit most from Carlos’s death was none other than me, the Duchess.
Above all, since I was with him at the time, I was sufficient to become a suspect in the murder case.
There was always the possibility of an investigation team being dispatched. And if during that process, it was revealed that the true culprit was Euphemina?
Kardiel, wanting to protect his sister, volunteered to become the most likely suspect himself.
He stole the sword Carlos had been carrying and hid it in a suitable place.
He hoped that all investigation efforts would focus on him with that. Even so, he was confident he could get out of it…
‘To me, it sounds like a truly absurd action.’
Should I say it’s childish, or rather, that it’s sad how a child is acting too much like an adult?
Fortunately or unfortunately, what Kardiel had prepared for didn’t happen.
Due to the mansion fire, not only the sword the child had hidden, but all other evidence was burned as well.
‘Of course, that’s assuming there was any evidence left.’
In any case, Euphemina’s eccentricity was chilling to a level that even I, a mother who sincerely loves that child, found disturbing.
So…
Selfishly, now that everything is over, I think it’s fortunate.
That it happened. That an opportunity was created to understand Euphemina.
Although a great sacrifice had to be made… it was still a problem that could be solved.
…I was fortunate to have Joseph.
“So, I was thinking, how about next summer we ask Emperor Kalant for permission in advance and spend some enjoyable time together as a family?”
Ah.
It seems I’ve gone off on quite a tangent without discussing the important matter. Where was I?
Right, it was about why Joseph suddenly decided to be officially recognized as the monarch of Alperon.
It was when Euphemina was chosen as the future Crown Princess.
Ridiculously, the day after I approved their marriage, an official marriage proposal arrived.
I understand. Raphael was twenty-one or twenty-two when he graduated from the academy, so he was past the prime age for marriage even for a man. The imperial family must have felt urgent.
…Not to mention that the Daiern Grand Duchy must have been tempting.
Or perhaps, hearing that I, who would become the Grand Duchess of Daiern, was remarrying the monarch of Alperon, they wanted to establish connections with Joseph as well.
‘Whether it was political interests or the tender feelings between the children.’
What’s important is that even when their marriage was decided like that, I was quite displeased.
The reason was as Joseph mentioned earlier.
The damn imperial family has always been excessively strict with etiquette. Moreover, they’re arrogant beings who reject interference from nobles.
That’s also why they don’t allow nobles to stay in the imperial palace.
As a result, if Euphemina becomes a member of the imperial family, it would be difficult for me, who is also the head of the in-law faction, to meet my daughter. Is it any wonder I grew distant from Adeline, who used to be my friend?
‘But if my status becomes that of royalty, it’s a different story.’
What the imperial family rejects are imperial nobles who cause trouble with political issues. In other words, if I transcend the status of an imperial noble, I won’t be a target of rejection.
Joseph, who pointed this out, asked for my permission.
From then, it took exactly one month for him to be called ‘His Majesty Alperon’ instead of Count Alperon.
Oh, for reference, he’s called ‘Your Majesty’ but he’s not recognized as a king.
That’s because his territory, Alperon, is in a place that can’t be proven to ordinary people.
Alperon is still located beyond a sea of thick fog. A mysterious continent that can only be reached by magic.
Above all, Joseph has no people to rule over while sitting on the throne. Without people, laws are meaningless.
‘Though the law books disappeared a thousand years ago anyway.’
One might ask what meaning there is now in being royalty of a kingdom that perished a thousand years ago.
‘Normally, there wouldn’t be any.’
But the revival of magic that once dominated an era certainly had meaning.
Emperor Godfried, along with Crown Prince and current Emperor Silein, witnessed Joseph’s magic with their own eyes.
Afterwards, the two visited Alperon and unanimously decided to recognize Joseph as the living heir carrying on the legacy of the Chronos dynasty.
They also wrote a certificate stating that as long as magic exists in the bloodline of Chronos, the Kalant imperial family would treat him as the monarch of an autonomous state.
Of course, there were minor conditions. Don’t cause trouble, don’t get involved in politics… things like that.
Oh, by the way, the fact that Joseph is a magician will only be secretly passed down through the direct line of the Kalant imperial family.
Both the imperial side and our side concluded that we should be cautious about announcing something that would immediately cause social unrest.
‘Even without that, I’d rather not become the center of social circles anymore.’
I didn’t want to experience the hell of marriage proposals I went through just a few years ago again.
It was such a noisy life, so I wanted to live quietly now.
‘So now…’
We’re living modestly with just the honorary title of Monarch of Alperon.
In the former Baron Baden’s mansion in the imperial capital that Joseph bought.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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