Including Sophia, the ladies-in-waiting of the queen’s palace were startled and widened their eyes in surprise when they saw Erdene bringing three burly imperial soldiers.

Not only did they all look fierce, but one of them even had blood dripping from his mouth.

“Your Majesty, what…”

“Sophia, take the children out. You don’t need to come back until I call, so go and rest.”

Sophia was a clever woman. She knew exactly when to intervene and when not to, and when it was unnecessary.

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Without asking twice—without even handing a cloth to the bleeding Telma—she took all the ladies-in-waiting out and closed the door.

The moment the lingering thud… sound was heard, looks of genuine fear appeared on the faces of Telma, Merton, and Aiman.

“Ha…”

Erdene, brushing her hair back, turned and glared at each of their faces one by one.

“What are you standing around for?”

“…Pardon?”

“Kneel.”

The men, who were almost like grizzly bears compared to Erdene, uniformly prostrated themselves and knocked their heads on the floor.

With their arms behind their backs, supporting their heavy bodies only with their foreheads, they let out groaning sounds.

“Your High… Highness, I really… blood…”

“Did I tell you to open your mouth?”

Telma obediently closed his mouth.

It hurt so much he was on the verge of tears, but he was more afraid of being hit by Erdene.

“Telma.”

“Yes.”

“Are you a back-alley thug?”

“No… No, I’m not.”

Erdene turned her head towards Merton and Aiman.

“Merton, Aiman. What about you? Haven’t you seen him act up for days? On the battlefield, his mouth alone could burst the blood vessels of an enemy officer or two, so we let it slide. But you just stand by and watch him act like a thug in front of an envoy?”

“We… We’re sorry.”

“Is sorry enough? You idiots are so… just…!”

After that… there was a sound of something heavy being beaten.

People unfamiliar with the situation might have thought someone was wrestling with a sandbag inside the queen’s palace.

Erdene, who had thoroughly beaten the three men, made a gesture of dusting off her hands and wiped her sweaty forehead.

“Stop whining and get up quickly.”

Merton and Aiman sprang to their feet. They both had matching bruises on their eyelids, and their lips were swollen and a sight to behold.

Of course, the one in the worst condition was Telma.

Holding his elbow and moaning, he turned his head with a whining sound.

“It’s been a while since you’ve beaten us, but you show no mercy.”

“Be grateful I didn’t bring a club.”

Telma’s mouth snapped shut. Merton, despite being so thoroughly beaten, cleared his throat and bowed his head politely.

“It’s a relief to see you in good health, Your Highness.”

“When have you ever seen me sick? Don’t stand there like idiots with your ugly faces, sit down.”

Only after being beaten to a pulp did the three finally sit down, with groans escaping their lips.

Erdene forcefully stuffed a handkerchief into Telma’s still-bleeding mouth, then leaned back in her chair and sighed.

“Now tell me what all this is about.”

The three looked at each other. Erdene impatiently urged them on.

“How long have I been married for this mess to happen already? I almost snapped that field rat Rolls’ neck. He came barging in, saying what about this and that? Are you joking?”

Merton, the most eloquent and cautious of the three, licked his dry lips once with a serious expression.

“Your Highness, it seems Emperor Tenek had planned this from the beginning.”

Erdene turned her head towards Merton.

“From the beginning?”

Merton continued.

“To squeeze out and take whatever needs to be taken, to subtly pressure the allied country to narrow Your Highness’s position in Bethor, and also within the inland…”

“You mean he intends to frame Bethor with charges of mistreating me unjustly and then make further demands?”

“…It seems so.”

The expressions of the three men sank dejectedly.

Erdene, who had been staring at them blankly with her lips parted, laughed sharply.

Her gaze seemed as if it would pierce through the sky where the sunset was beginning and split it in half.

“I should have cut that bastard’s throat.”

Erdene muttered through gritted teeth, then frowned and turned her head towards the three men.

“And you didn’t stop him? What were you doing?”

Telma, having just stopped bleeding, removed the handkerchief from the tip of his tongue and cried out as if wronged.

“We… we couldn’t stop him!”

“What do you mean?”

Aiman rubbed his bumpy bald head with his hand and said.

“Your Highness, the truth is… our position in Hirschsten is not very good right now. Not just us, but Major Merton, Major Telma, and myself. It’s the same for all those who followed Your Highness.”

Erdene frowned and adjusted her posture.

“What are you talking about? You’ve been commanding the empire’s elite knights since my father was alive. How could your position be narrowed? What nonsense is this?”

Merton, the calmest of the three, bit his lip with a troubled expression.

“After Your Highness was sent to Bethor as if exiled, we and other military officers formally protested to Emperor Tenek. But…”

Merton hesitated for a moment, then asked again.

“Your Highness, do you know that Lady Roelika is with child?”

Erdene nodded.

“I’ve heard. Is this related to that?”

Telma interjected abruptly.

“Of course it is! When Lady Roelika became pregnant, her father Atelgadis’s influence became tremendous. He sent away all the officials loyal to the empire since the previous emperor’s time or dispatched them to distant border regions, replacing the imperial Golden Castle with people who flatter him. This fellow scattered wealth among the noble officials, whispering that we shouldn’t live under the oppression of military officers any longer.”

Erdene laughed dryly and turned her head back towards the window.

Merton continued speaking.

“Emperor Tenek… it seems he had been eyeing us military officers as thorns in his side, so he used the change in the empire’s atmosphere as an excuse to scatter all the knightly orders. He split up the units and especially cut off the limbs of those who had sworn loyalty under Your Highness. The noble officials who couldn’t be promoted because they weren’t military officers also played a part in impeaching the military officers under the protection of Atelgadis and Emperor Tenek.”

Erdene’s brow furrowed.

“Impeachment? On what grounds?”

Aiman pushed out his thick lips.

“They say we’re obsessed with position and war, driving the empire’s people and officials to their deaths.”

Merton sighed.

“The three of us—myself, Aiman, and Telma—still maintain our positions as majors, but we no longer command the knightly orders as before.”

“Then?”

For the first time, a look of humiliation appeared on Merton’s usually composed face.

“…Under the pretext of strengthening the capital’s security, we each lead a police force.”

Aiman added.

“They didn’t even transfer us to the borders or other provinces.”

Of course they wouldn’t. Erdene snorted.

“Don’t you know the reason, Aiman? Tenek is afraid of you. He’s afraid that respected military officers like you might gather those who still have their wits about them and plot something… in places beyond his sight.”

Telma’s face turned red. Only Merton seemed to have already guessed this fact, remaining expressionless.

Merton continued speaking.

“That’s not to say they’ve reduced the empire’s military power. Although they’ve scattered the knightly orders, they’ve actually increased their size, recruiting private soldiers from Atelgadis, Lady Roelika’s father, and those who flatter him to fill the ranks. And among the military officers… they’ve treated those who’ve turned to Emperor Tenek’s side especially generously, forming an imperial guard.”

“It seems his knees are trembling in fear of being stabbed in his sleep.”

Erdene sneered coldly, frowning and letting out a deflating laugh.

“By the way, Atelgadis, that fellow was quite a fool, but now I see he’s a gutless one too. He’d have to scrape off a few pillars of the Golden Castle to feed Tenek’s concubines, yet he’s still wagging his tail like a dog at Tenek’s feet?”

Telma grumbled.

“Is he just gutless? He’s a man who only thinks about filling his own belly by selling his daughter. More than half of the Emperor’s concubines are either daughters or sisters of the new officials Atelgadis recommended, and even the two most favored recently are Atelgadis’s illegitimate daughters. They’re Lady Roelika’s half-sisters.”

As she listened to his story, Erdene’s body suddenly lurched forward.

In that moment, the three men jumped up, almost throwing their chairs.

“Your Highness!”

“Your Highness, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

“Your Highness, please raise your head! Goodness, what should we call for a court physician here?”

As the panicking Telma was about to really run out, Erdene kicked his ankle hard.

Holding his foot where the sharp pain shot up, Telma hopped in place, then swallowed dry when he saw Erdene’s expression as she raised her head.

Her face was terrifying.

Even Telma, who had been her closest aide and subordinate, had rarely seen such an expression on Erdene.

Should I have killed Tenek, that bastard?

Erdene thought. Should she have cut his throat right there, thrown him down below the castle gates, and forcibly taken the throne herself?

‘No, if I had done that, there would have been utter chaos.’

Two conflicting thoughts were engaged in a fierce battle in her mind.

If Erdene had killed Tenek then, she would have had to become a tyrant, whether she liked it or not.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the previous emperor’s death and Tenek’s ascension, she would have needed justification for suddenly killing her brother who had ascended to the throne.

Justification…

Erdene sighed, holding her forehead, grinding her teeth so hard a sound could be heard.

“And…”

As Merton cautiously began to speak, Telma jabbed him in the side with a terrified expression.