Chapter 65 (2/2)

Extremely tense, I headed to the Imperial Palace. As if he was waiting for me in advance, the chief attendant escorted me like he did before. It was neither a garden nor an office that he escorted me to. It was none other than a personal study filled with the smell of books.

As soon as I stepped inside, my eyes widened at the amazing scene. Can this place be called a study? There were three floors. On the second floor, there were bookshelves full of books, as well as movable bookshelves. The windowpane with a full view of the outside was draped with white curtains to block sunlight from directly hitting the books, and the ceiling had a window that could be opened and closed for ventilation.

In the center of the spacious room with a fluffy carpet embroidered with the royal crest, I saw a young man with blue hair sitting in a comfortable chair. His eyes were closed and his fingers were interlocked. There was a sort of melancholy in his dark blue eyes.

I approached him carefully. As if he was in a shallow sleep, he did not open his eyes until I reached the other side.

As I couldn’t wake him up, I quietly turned and headed to the bookshelf. There was a variety of books on the bookshelves. I was impressed by the neat arrangement of the books about politics, economy, history, military, tactics, and administration by genre.

When I was looking at the books here and there, holding back exclamations, I suddenly noticed luxurious black leather and gilded letters.

As the imperial family retrieved the directories more than five years old while distributing the latest edition, I had no opportunity to read the old ones, but this place seemed to possess even old ones as it was the crown prince’s library.

I picked the fifth book from the right, which was a directory published about twenty years ago.

When I turned the first page, I saw the pedigree of the noble families.

1st, Duke Kasil, the ‘Shield of the Empire.’

2nd, Duke Heidel, the ‘Red Rose.’

3rd, Duke Lars, the “Sword of the Empire”.

4th, Duke Laurel, the “Glory of Victory”.

5th, Duke Jena, the “Black Rose”

The hierarchy of the duke families was the same as what I heard when I took a course on the history of the past empire.

‘Well, this is not important anyway.’

I opened the back of the book. I quickly browsed through the list of barons when I heard him calling me coldly behind my back.

“What are you looking at?”

I didn’t know when he woke up, but he had already approached and begun to stare at me.

I hastily put the directory back on the bookshelf and turned to him. Just as usual, he was looking at me with a blank face.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Monique.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Looking at your costume, it looks like you were in the Imperial Palace. I understand you are not supposed to come to the palace today.”

“Well, I came to get on top of my assignments quickly because I had nothing else.”

“Why? Didn’t you go to the party to celebrate Duke Lars’s son? ”

“As for that…”

“Hmm, it looks like your father told you not to go.”

As if he understood the situation, he nodded and pulled the string to tell the attendant to bring tea. Shortly afterwards, the attendant who came in put the mugs down. I sighed a little while drinking lavender tea and enjoyed the fragrant scent. Even though I was enjoying the best tea available only to the imperial family, I was not happy as usual.

“Do you really want to go there?”

“Pardon, Your Majesty?”

“It looks like you are not happy because you can’t attend the party.”

“… ”

“Then, let’s go.”

“Pardon? What do you mean…”

“If you really want to go there, let’s go with me. Then, nobody will gossip about you.”

“… Pardon?” I asked blankly.

‘What did he just say? Did he say he wanted to go there with me? Really?’