I hated this kind of thing from the beginning. How many people were sold for their titles in the marriage market? Whether men or women.

Those who were sold in that way were always younger than their marriage partners.

“How is this any different from the butchery auction where noble house chefs make a fuss trying to buy younger calves?”

“Your Majesty. Your words are harsh.”

“Why, Abigail. It’s not like I’m saying anything wrong.”

Logan, who always bickered with Abigail, answered with a furrowed brow. Everyone gathered in this room was displeased with the current situation.

“To begin with, I want to choose my marriage partner myself. Is that not allowed for an emperor who has just returned from a conquest war?”

“It is allowed. However, if the other side is anxious to proceed quickly… Your Majesty will have to choose a partner quickly and announce it. Because crazy nobles possessed by the word marriage will do all sorts of things.”

Carlos sighed.

“What’s the rush? I am still young. And did these damned people really think I would see an eighteen-year-old kid as a woman?”

“Haha. Indeed. Our emperor is a noble bachelor who has never taken any woman even on the battlefield, so how could such a young girl be a match!”

A deputy who oversaw the distribution at the knights’ headquarters and crossed the line of death on the battlefield with Carlos spoke up with a big laugh.

Only then did Carlos’ expression soften a little as if his mood had improved.

It was a pathetically terrible joke, but it eased the tension. Yes, he was someone who grew up on the battlefield where such vulgar jokes were rampant.

“Which of our families are attending this emergency meeting?”

Separate from Carlos’ popularity among the nobles, the emperor’s voice was weak in the noble council.

It was because he had not yet actively won over the nobles. In that case, he had to at least utilize the families of his subordinates.

The problem was that there weren’t many high-ranking nobles among the deputies due to merit-based appointments.

Still, it was better than nothing. Carlos asked sternly to prepare for the meeting. Abigail spoke up.

“The heads of the families of myself, Logan, Abbott, and Sir Leopold… A total of four.”

There was another problem. Even if they were high-ranking nobles, his selection was all young people. It was their parents, grandfathers, or grandmothers who attended the meetings.

“Alright.”

The heads of the families might not perfectly agree with his subordinates, but at least for the sake of their children who served the emperor, those four would maintain neutrality.

But four. It was woefully insufficient.

Carlos racked his brain.

What to do.

As the emperor, the pressure to marry was quite difficult to avoid. Because producing an heir was firmly entrenched in the emperor’s duties.

The emperor who had been wandering the battlefield had now returned to the palace, and he was in the prime of his life at twenty-five. He was the perfect groom material.

If the nobles kept holding meetings saying he needed to have an heir before it was too late, and the pressure kept mounting, at some point he might be forced to dance with Julia or someone.

He could avoid it with this excuse or that… but at some point, it would reach its limit or he would be criticized for neglecting his imperial duties, weakening the imperial power.

He had to admit it.

Bringing Mercedes was a bad move politically, and the empress dowager seized that opportunity.

But… he had no choice but to bring her.

‘Damn it.’

Carlos pressed his temples.

He needed her. Pressing his temples didn’t make the headache go away; rather, it felt like his body was stiffening.

His physical condition had been getting worse lately. Starting from the peripheral nerves in his fingertips, slowly.

It felt like he was turning into a stone statue facing the Gorgon in mythology.

The only way to solve this damn curse was to use Mercedes.

He spat out the words irritably.

“Just thinking that such unpleasant meetings will be held consecutively makes me exhausted to death.”

Once the emergency meeting started, it would probably be held more and more frequently. With the empress dowager backing them, there was nothing to fear.

Moreover, the agenda itself was also legitimate. It was a plea for the emperor’s heir, so those who had been bowing under the strong imperial power would be excited to act out.

It was inevitable for him to get tired.

Moreover, would it just be Julia Bennett? Someone would endlessly push their daughters and granddaughters at another location in a subtle way.

They might approach disguised as a fateful encounter and cause unsavory incidents.

“From today, make sure the royal guard doesn’t leave my side for a single moment.”

Carlos hated the bothersome formalities that came with being the emperor. For him to assign the royal guard! The deputies nodded seriously while surprised.

Nobles aiming for the position of empress were bound to act crazy. History proved it.

“It seems they are really determined. We need witnesses in case something happens.”

Carlos sighed and dismissed the deputies.

And soon he placed the captain of the royal guard by his side. He was also someone who had been through the battlefield with Carlos.

“…Now there’s no other way.”

He had no intention of giving Mercedes the position of empress. Because he didn’t think they would be together for long. Once she quickly fell in love with him, he planned to use her to lift the curse and discard her.

But Mercedes’ heart still hadn’t opened.

‘Mercedes still can’t fully trust me.’

He could see that she was emotionally shaken by him.

But she absolutely wouldn’t give him her trust.

He understood her caution.

Love comes with trust, a romantic wandering knight had told him. Carlos quite agreed with that opinion.

So for Carlos, who absolutely needed her love, it was now a bit frustrating. It had been almost three months. In that time, the woman had only shown him reddened ears and cheeks.

‘At this point, what Mercedes might need is a token of trust.’

Carlos couldn’t discard Mercedes yet.

But it was obvious that the noise the empress dowager had created would now start and grow louder.

So for the sake of his own path ahead, he decided to make a different choice.

Wearing a hypocritical mask, he once again headed to the room of the woman he had lied about falling for.

‘Hurry and love me, Mercedes. And let’s end this. For my sake. For my country. Tell me you love me.’

Thinking that way.

* * *

Rhonda quickly announced the emperor’s visit to Mercedes, and the door opened. In the room where the sunlight was shining brilliantly, Mercedes stood in front of the desk to greet him.

“Have you been well, Mercedes?”

“Your Majesty. Welcome. What brings you here? I know you’ve already had lunch…”

Looking a little surprised with her eyes wide open, Mercedes looked much more lively than before.

Perhaps because she had gained quite some weight, her once pale face was endlessly lovely and her lips were now moist and red instead of chapped. Even without makeup, she was more beautiful than anyone else in the world.

“I rushed over because I missed you. And I have something to talk about.”

Suddenly, Carlos thought it was quite difficult to smile while facing the beautiful her.

“…Mercedes. I have a request.”

“Yes?”

“I realized it’s natural for you not to trust me. I haven’t given you a new surname to replace the one stripped from you, and I haven’t properly elevated your status either.”

“What do you mean, Your Majesty? I don’t care at all about status. You have protected me.”

Even if she couldn’t fully trust him, considering the utmost devotion Carlos had shown her over the past three months, she couldn’t help but say those words.

This moment of staying here now…

Was very, very good. More than she had thought.

It was absolutely necessary for her to think this way. Even if she couldn’t fully trust him, emotionally, some strange things she didn’t even know were blossoming.

So Mercedes sincerely refuted the emperor’s self-deprecating words.

“No, I think I did wrong. To give trust, I should have started by providing clear protection.”

“Your Majesty. What on earth have you been…”

“The noble council has been summoned for an emergency meeting. And it seems the emergency meetings will be summoned endlessly. Because the empress dowager has a hold on the nobles.”

“An emergency meeting… Could it be pressure for an heir?”

She had learned a lot in three months. Mercedes immediately noticed the empress dowager’s intention and the nobles’ pressure.

With someone like her by the emperor’s side, how much would the nobles’ stomachs hurt?

Carlos was even more amazed by the quick-witted woman who immediately understood the meaning of his words. She seemed to be improving day by day.

“Yes. It’s pressure to have an heir, and pressure to get married for that.”

“Then it would be Your Majesty’s duty to bring in a daughter from a prestigious family.”

Mercedes calmly replied.

Right now, it was clear that Carlos had come to inform her that he would have to get married and bring in an empress.

And if Carlos got married, she would have to leave here. Because an empress would never tolerate a murderer concubine.

‘Marrying someone else… that person.’

It felt like something was weighing on her chest.

What was this?

Because she wanted him? Because she liked her current life? Because she didn’t want to miss her chance for revenge?

Emotions swirled.

But hiding her turmoil from the other person was her long-standing habit.

In the storm of emotions, Mercedes looked down expressionlessly, lost in thought.

“Do you think that way without any hesitation? That I should marry another woman?”

And seeing Mercedes’ face like that, Carlos naturally misunderstood.