“My, how adorable. Who would think that’s something an adult man would say?”

“Huh?”

“After our previous meeting, I thought about it. Of course, I know very well that you are intelligent, but sometimes…”

“Sometimes what?”

“You really act like a child?”

“A child?”

“Hehe, hehehe, hehehehe.”

Pellio’s expression soured at being called a child and then laughed at.

“Hahaha, see? Didn’t your lips just pout? Hehehehehe.”

“??”

Confused, he quickly touched his lips and felt them slightly protruding.

“…”

Pellio didn’t know what to say to Ermedillin, who was now laughing uncontrollably.

He had no intention of getting along with the enemy of his mother.

He only planned to secretly harbor these involuntary feelings until someone else would kill Ermedillin for him.

Yet, on the other hand, he felt irritated at the idea of Ermedillin being another man’s wife and even being treated like a child as a joke.

There was no consistency from start to finish.

He had always loathed inconsistent people, yet here he was.

He didn’t know how it had come to this.

His mind was now full of contradictions.

“This won’t do. We need something flashy, but this is just tacky! It needs to be elegant too! Don’t any of you have an eye for this?”

Balliere was to be knighted on the day of the national founding ceremony.

Although Anri wanted a simple ceremony in the castle, Balliere wanted to shed her titles of ‘bastard’ and ‘concubine’ in a place where everyone’s eyes were fixed.

While Balliere was contemplating between pearl and emerald earrings, Anri visited her.

“Is the preparation for the national ceremony going well?”

In response to Anri’s question, Balliere immediately set down the earrings and handed over a stack of documents outlining the progress, her face entirely businesslike.

A neat, easytoread report at first glance.

“It’s wellorganized and the progress looks smooth.”

“Of course. I’m a viscount without a proper domain, so I have to excel in at least this.”
Still upset over matters of his territory, Valierre once again spoke words that crossed Angri’s mood.

Though he had granted Valierre a title publicly at the founding ceremony and even allocated a budget for a lavish award ceremony, Valierre had lately been acting like a person who knew no satisfaction.

His first love had already died.

Much time had passed since their initial meeting, and Angri had decided to acknowledge that circumstances were entirely different now.

Even so, he couldn’t easily give up those feelings.

If he gave up those feelings, it felt like even his past self would disappear like a mirage.

Angri, the young emperor of the Trevian Empire, was in a sorrowful romance with his already deceased first love.

That afternoon, two pairs of elaborate and majestic masks arrived at the imperial palace.

As soon as the idea to wear masks was raised, Angri specially ordered the item.

The pure white mask was adorned with extravagant gold leaf and hundreds of small rubies.

Even the mask’s strap had small rubies woven into it, specially flown in from a distant exotic land.

“Perfect.”

Angri looked at the mask intently, a satisfied smile on his face.

On the day of the founding ceremony, when all eyes of the empire would be focused, Valierre would become a duke.

At first, he had thought her proposal was a bit excessive, but he soon changed his mind.

“My lover. The lover of the peak of the empire, the emperor. This much should preserve the dignity of the royal family.”

Also, deep within, Angri harbored some hope that filling Valierre’s suppressed vanity all at once might not bring him back to his original self.

Angri took the mask and went straight to see Valierre.

Guests were present in Valierre’s reception room.

Ermedillin’s maid, Princess Biella, the Duchess of Grania, and Countess Ellion, who changed her route as soon as she heard Angri would confer a title on Valierre.

The moment Angri saw the three women who should be in the queen’s reception room, he felt an odd sense of dissonance.

He had planned to seat Valierre on the queen’s throne someday, but something about this situation felt wrong.

“It seems the queen’s matter has concluded quickly. I can tell by your presence here.”

At Angri’s words, the three women silently looked at Valierre.

“No, they’re not here for the queen. I called them. I thought they would have insightful advice for event preparation.”

“You called them personally?”

Angri’s fingers tightened around the box containing the mask.

The queen’s throne was a gift he intended to bestow upon his beloved woman.

Valierre should graciously accept this gift as a humble lover.

She shouldn’t strive to become queen herself.

Angri realized what had unsettled him before.

Valierre had crossed a line.

“When you become a duke, I had planned to hire maids for you. But now, you can forget about it. I find people who neglect their duties useless.”

Angri intentionally emphasized the word “useless.”

The three women’s faces stiffened, and Valierre’s face flushed with shame.

“I think it would be best if we left now.”

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Countess Ellion hurriedly left the reception room with the other maids.

After the sound of their footsteps had faded, Valierre finally released her pentup emotions.

“Was it fun humiliating me in front of the queen’s maids?”

“What?”

“Whether in the court or in the garden, you seem to find joy in humiliating me in front of people.”

“What are you talking about….”

Angri momentarily wore a puzzled expression at Valierre’s sharp response.
“So, it’s fair for people to point fingers and call me a bastard, isn’t it? Who would respect a government that is even ignored by the Emperor?”

“You seem a bit agitated. I wasn’t trying to dismiss you. I was merely reprimanding the three people who aren’t fulfilling their duties.”

“Right. As the Empress’s handmaiden, I shouldn’t order around someone like you, a mere government official.”

Velia, full of scorn as usual, waited quietly for Anri’s excuse.

‘What nonsense will she come up with this time?’

However, Anri’s response was far from what Velia had expected.

“Yes, you’re right. You’re not the Empress. You’re just my administration. So behave accordingly.”