The emperor, seated on a majestic throne atop high stepped stairs, was carefully reading a messenger bird’s letter.

“Is this all?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the head servant bowed his head, the emperor clicked his tongue in displeasure.

“While the crown prince has been away, there was no need for him to attend to official duties, but he’s already twenty now.”

At first, the emperor welcomed the crown prince going to the battlefield and wandering, but as the period grew too long, anxiety naturally arose.

Usually by 18, one should be helping the emperor with state affairs and taking control of the council, but using the excuse of training, he hadn’t set foot in the palace until he was twenty, so it was understandable.

“It’s already been a year since I sent what I said was the final notice.”

The emperor hadn’t just been sitting idly by. Lucas was the crown prince and sole heir to the throne. For several years, he had done everything he could, from urging to sending people to persuade him directly.

Then finally reaching the point of sending a last notice, suddenly a messenger bird from Astel duchy?

“That damn child!”

Bang, the emperor struck the throne’s armrest. At this, all the head servants and maids in the audience hall bowed their heads as if they had committed a crime.

But just then, the thick doors of the audience hall resounded with a knock. Whoever it was, they had picked the worst possible time to visit.

“Go out and ask who it is, and tell them to get lost as we don’t need anyone right now.”

While everyone was cautious lest sparks fly their way, the emperor’s head servant went outside the audience hall and his face immediately brightened upon seeing the unexpected visitor.

“Her Majesty the Empress and the Princess have arrived.”

Though they were uninvited guests as the emperor hadn’t summoned them, these two were the only ones who could instantly improve his mood.

“Your Majesty, His Majesty the Emperor is greatly troubled over the matter of His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Is he angry again?”

The empress, Adeline, who answered gracefully and gently, was holding the hand of a small girl tightly. Looking at her brown hair elegantly pinned up and soft brown eyes, the rumors of her being the continent’s greatest beauty in the past still seemed vivid.

“Yes. This time, it seems a messenger bird has come from Astel duchy.”

“What are the contents?”

“This lowly one does not know yet.”

Adeline nodded slightly. And just as she was about to ask something more, the 3-year-old princess darted out through the slightly open audience hall doors.

“Luana!”

No one dared to stop the dash of the little girl with dark brown hair flowing down to her waist, tied with a pretty ribbon. Even the empress who had let go of her hand in an instant was the same.

“Sigh… No matter how old they get, children never cease to worry you.”

As the head servant tactfully opened the audience hall doors, the empress gracefully walked in and with a glance dismissed the rest of the palace staff.

The emperor always had a duty to maintain dignity, and it was not good to show a widely grinning face on the sacred throne like now.

“Abababa!”

“Yes, my princess. My treasure. Our Luana…”

The little girl’s cheeks sitting on the lap of the emperor on the empire’s throne were plump and tinged pink.

The emperor, as if he had never been angry just moments ago, was hugging his young daughter with eyes full of love, tickling her and giggling together.

“Your Majesty.”

The empress, who had somehow approached right in front of the throne, spoke sternly, but the emperor seemed to have no intention of putting his daughter down.

“If you keep doing that, the princess will become ill-mannered. And Luana, how many times have I told you not to run recklessly?”

Afraid of being scolded at the empress’s words, Luana buried her face in her father’s embrace.

“Empress, Luana is still young.”

“Because you coddle her, she doesn’t learn proper etiquette.”

“Hmm.”

The empress sat in the seat beside the throne. Though less grand than the throne, its lavish decorations seemed to display the empress’s authority.

“Luana, don’t run anymore now. You might get hurt.”

“Uh… I’m sorry.”

Luana twisted her hair with her fingers and suddenly planted a kiss on the emperor’s cheek.

At this, the emperor’s face, which had already seemed impossibly relaxed, became even more slack. To this great empire’s emperor, this young daughter was more lovable and precious than any treasure.

“Now, since Luana has apologized, isn’t that enough, Empress?”

This youngest child born late in life, with so much aegyo, was someone the emperor wouldn’t hurt even if he put her in his eye.

“She’ll only be this small and cute for a moment, so don’t be too strict.”

“It’s already difficult to give more freedom to a child sitting on the empire’s throne.”

Luana, whether she fully understood the conversation or not, nodded along and babbled.

“It’s hard.”

“Oh, you’ve learned another new word! Your vocabulary has grown so much lately! How clever!”

Of course the empress loved her young daughter too, but she couldn’t surpass the emperor’s doting.

“Well, according to her etiquette tutor, Luana’s speech is a bit delayed for her age.”

“Nonsense. That person’s learning is lacking, unable to recognize our Luana’s brilliance!”

As the emperor banged the throne’s armrest, Luana hit her father’s hand with her little fist.

“Don’t… know!”

“Yes, that’s right! How can you speak so well?”

The empress thought again that she had done well to dismiss the palace staff earlier. The emperor’s grinning even after being hit on the hand was indeed undignified.

“Your Majesty, Luana’s habit of saying ‘abababa’ is also a bad habit. She’s old enough to know the proper titles, but you keep indulging her so she acts spoiled.”

Luana pretended not to hear, snuggling into her father’s embrace. Then she played with the ornaments on the emperor’s formal attire.

“I heard you were angry because of the crown prince’s messenger bird.”

“Hm? Never mind that fellow.”

The emperor, belatedly absorbed in his daughter’s charms, waved his hand dismissively.

“If you’re curious, I left it there.”

The empress let out a short sigh and checked the note brought by the messenger bird. Seeing Lucas’s handwriting after so long, a smile spread across her face as his mother.

“It seems our Lucas is finally getting married.”

Lucas had been a deep child since he was young. He was mischievous and playful like a boy, but he had the tenacity to absolutely accomplish anything he set his mind to, and he was upright enough to stand above others.

“Nonsense. The engagement ceremony was 6 years ago, wasn’t it already water under the bridge?”

“But our son has sent such a resolute letter.”

Hmm, the emperor made a strange sound while still cradling Luana. He felt sorry for Duke Astel, but this marriage talk had already fallen through, yet suddenly asking to announce the engagement?

“I don’t understand. If he liked the Astel young lady, he should have maintained the engagement. Why go to Astel now and ask for the engagement to be formally announced?”

“Usually an engagement becomes void after 4 years, so perhaps he wants to reverse that.”

At these unexpected words, the emperor finally took his eyes off Luana and looked at the empress.

“…Why?”

“That child has always had a peculiar side. He’s deep and stubborn.”

“So?”

“It’s just my guess, but Lucas will refuse to marry anyone but the Astel young lady.”

It was truly an outrageous thing to say, but thanks to Luana constantly playing tricks on her father, anger did not arise. Lucas might not know it, but his little sister, whom he had never even seen, had helped him in a way.

“What do you think, Empress?”

“This time, please grant the crown prince’s request.”

The emperor’s expression clearly showed his dislike. So Adeline added words she had not intended to say.

“Your Majesty, do you remember the day you proposed to me?”

“Of course. I haven’t forgotten a single day.”

“Yes. I too can’t forget the cacophony that rang under my window every night for a year.”

Richard, who was the crown prince at the time, had made up his mind after seeing Adeline, said to be the continent’s greatest beauty, just once.

The problem was that Adeline was a princess from a small kingdom, and her family was on bad terms with the previous emperor at the time.

“It was a love serenade.”

“To me, it was cacophony.”

“In any case, my wish was fulfilled since I married you.”

Richard used every method to persuade his parents and even Adeline’s parents.

However, Adeline stubbornly insisted that she didn’t want to have an unreasonable marriage, so he belatedly showed his sincerity by even learning love serenades, and the proposal was accepted after almost a year.

“Lucas takes after Your Majesty.”

“That guy after me? No, Luana resembles me more.”

No matter how you looked at it, that wasn’t true, but there were other issues now so she let it pass.

“If I had refused your proposal even after a year, would Your Majesty have married another woman?”

“Nonsense.”

The emperor cut her off.

“It had to be you. Not any other woman, I wanted you, Adeline.”

At times like this, it’s amazing how alike father and son are. She alone vaguely understood why the crown prince went to the battlefield right after the engagement ceremony to establish military merits, and then went on to train himself. Perhaps it was just a mother’s intuition.

“To me, it seems Lucas is like Your Majesty back then. If so, what will you do?”

The emperor wore a serious expression for a moment, then sighed.

“What else can I do?”

The feelings towards Adeline in the past could not be stopped by anyone. Having experienced it himself, he could be certain that no persuasion or threats would work.

“But the Astel ducal family will already consider the engagement void.”

“Well, we can attach an appropriate reason. Say that the crown prince had a deep purpose in training, so he was negligent… but now he’s ready to take a bride.”

Indeed, the empress’s intelligence was extraordinary.

“Above all, we can show externally that our Tern imperial family absolutely keeps its promises.”

In stark contrast to his anger earlier, the emperor nodded at once. While he lacked nothing in imperial dignity, he had no reason not to listen when the two women he was weakest against came together and spoke gently.