The brightness of the day was not able to overco the gloominess of the Empress Palace for over a week.
Leaning comfortably on a soft luxurious chesterfield sofa, Empress Carolina was imrsed in deep contemplation as she sipped the glass of red wine in her hand.
Her thoughts wandered deeply onto her son whom she was not able to contact for so long. The matter of being publicly questioned during the morning council was a great blow on her son's status and power.
She clearly saw how his influence wavered after the matter blew up.
Equally helpless, she was not able to say anything when Kazimir lashed out on her and her brother Maxim after the council eting.
All she could do was watch in shock upon hearing the news and the intense quarrel between her brother and son.
Boom!
The thundering sound of the table being heavily hit by Maxim's hands reverberated in the Empress's office. Duke Maxim's eyes were glowing red as he looked at Prince Kazimir with a heavy and annoyed look.
"You!!! How could you be such an ingrate to your Mother and Uncle!! How many tis do we have to explain that the reason for the investigations was actually to detect the enemy who was trying to foil our plans!? This matter was done clearly for your sake, yet you go against us and bla us rcilessly?!"
Prince Kazimir was also fuming in anger as he stood and kicked the nearby wooden furniture. He growled like an agitated tiger whose tail had been stepped on.
"How would I understand when you don't explain why you have to do that without permission?! Tell , what's so dangerous about the situation that both of you scrambled in panic and moved without even considering the consequences? Did you even consider how it would impact ?! Tell ? Do you really believe that it was for my good???!"
Kazimir looked at his mother and asked in a low yet scary voice, "Tell …Mother.. Do you really have in mind? Huh??? Tell for whose sake were you and uncle's plans where? Why not tell so I could understand??"
"…" Empress Carolina kept mum about Kazimir's question. Duke Maxim also didn't answer no matter how angry he was at the mont.
Seeing the two didn't have the intention to answer his questions, Kazimir looked at them and let out a dejected self mocking laugh,
"Hahaha, Father Emperor was really right… I really had forgotten that I was a Seirende before I was a Vesala. Why did I even have to plead on your behalf when you have no intention to be fair with and let understand? I brought this to myself… Ahahaha!!!"
Without waiting for their reply, he strode quickly out of the room and heavily closed the door.
His words only ended at that but as Kazimir's mother, how could Empress Carolina understand what he implied with his statent?
'Because I only listened to the two of you, I got in trouble. Now I wanted to just hear your explanation, but why can't you give it to ?'
The Vesala Siblings were gloomily left in the hall, staying still in a daze.
Forget about Kazimir doubting their intentions, the entire capital had already set their eyes on them, watching their every move.
But the two had a tacit understanding that no matter how difficult it would be, they would never reveal the truth about the curses and the past of the Vesala clan to the current generation.
This was to ensure that even if they fail in their ti, there would be the next generation surviving until the victory is achieved.
They learned this lesson through their father, who kept them in the dark until the day he died. He arranged everything that would happen after his death, ensuring that the Vesala's lineage will never be wiped out.
As such, even how Kazimir pressured them into explaining what really happened, he will not have any idea about the Vesala's connection to the sinister organization.
That was also true with Duke Maxim's son and daughters. All they knew was they had trained especially strong knights and established underground organizations, such as the black market, which could accumulate money for their house.
They would never associate these operations to the Vesalas cooperating with the Spectre, whose origins were actually from the Vesalas too!
If this matter would be exposed in any way, the whole of Prasinos would target their family to completely destroy the Spectre and wipe out the Vesala's trace in the world.
So after comforting each other and agreeing to stay out of the radar for a few months, the siblings parted ways with troubled states of mind.
This is a great loss on their end - a chip of their power had been destroyed by the incident and its aftermath have forced them to delay their plans laid down in the dark.
When Empress Carolina rembered that particular day, she couldn't help but sigh in regret and helplessness.
She knew that Kazimir would not understand these things and it would be sothing that could turn into a seed of doubt in their relationship.
She's clearly seeing it now.
This matter managed to successfully sow discord between their mother-son relationship as well as Kazimir's relationship with his maternal family.
But now that she had already spent so ti pondering about what she would do to restore their relationship, she decided to take it carefully, step by step.
"Shadow.." She called out.
A few seconds later, a shadow appeared from her balcony and knelt to her in acknowledgent, "Empress.."
His build and figure matched the characteristics of the dark knight assigned to Empress Carolina's side, Callan.
"What's the update on the First Prince?" She asked coldy.
"Reporting to the Empress, the First Prince continued to stay in his palace until this mont however…" Callan hesitated for a while. He was unsure if he would report the matter about the Princess Consort whom the Empress openly disliked.
"What's the matter? Continue.." Empresso Carolina commanded.
"Yes! He has been staying in the palace, spending ti with the Princess Consort and young prince… These days, the news of the First Prince rekindling the relationship with his estranged wife has been circulating even in the Emperor's place. "
Callan explained as the Empress demanded, holding his breath to brace himself for the Empress' s outburst.
But contrary to Callan's expectation, Empress Carolina did not even show any traces of anger on her face.
Sipping her wine she even smirked and said, "Hmmm.. continue to send soone to closely observe his situation. Let him do what he wants. Notify if his mood has already been stabilized."
She thought that her worthless daughter in law had so use. At least she managed to appease Kazimir earlier than expected. With that, she was sure that the reconciliation with her son would not be far off from now.
Hearing so good news on Kazimir's side, Empress Carolina's mood improved as she gestured Callan to continue reporting.
This ti she asked about the movents of the two other princes.
"The Second Prince was busy leading the task of imposing the sanction while the Third Prince kept his usual routine whenever he was in the capital, going to the barracks and training the Crimson Blades."
"Hmm.." Empress Carolina raised her brows upon hearing this news.
If there was no suspicious movent from the two princes then who could the enemy be? Valentin? The two grandmasters?
"How about the big wigs?" She anxiously asked.
Callan shook his head as he dutifully reported. "There were no movents from the Emperor, nor the two grandmasters and their family. The two families did not change that much, only that they were now extra enthusiastic because of Eli the great inventor joining their ranks."
"Eli… is she doing sothing suspicious?" The more she heard about the known threats being unsuspicious, the more her brows furrowed in anxiousness.
"The great inventor has announced that she will be working with the research institute to fasten the progress of their inventions. She has been busy researching within the Farauld Institute Library and would co ho routinely in the Farauld Estate."
Now hearing another piece of worthless info, Empress Carolina waved her hand, dismissing Callan off.
Her mind was more confused than ever, who could this enemy be?
She was running out of candidates amongst the known ones who would likely be a threat to their plans. It was fine if she could get so small details that could lead her to soone suspicious, but there was not a single one!
None of the people on their list showed any signs of going against them.
'This is bad.. With the investigation forcibly halted, our plans would be hampered even more! A great amount of ti would inevitably be wasted!
While she was extrely disturbed by these concerns, the Emperor had a calm and serious look on his face.
He was holding a pair of gardening scissors as he worked to trim down the flowers that have withered on their secret chamber garden.
Snip snip snip!
The surroundings were still and quiet. Only the occasional sounds of snipping and rustling of the plants could be heard in the chamber.
Valentin, the Emperor of the Seirende Empire tended the flowering pots, dutifully pruning branches that would suck the life out of the peaceful thriving plants.
Only when he had finished trimming down the last of withered parts did he raise his head to look at the sun's rays gently penetrating the transparent ceiling of the chamber.
"Have I done a good job?" He mumbled.
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