The Abandoned Empress Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Chapter 65

I stood blankly looking at Carsein whose uniform was shining brilliantly. I was pleased with his amazing achievents, and I was very envious. Sohow, I felt subdued by such contradictory feelings.

‘Can I stand there soday? Will there be a day when I can stand there to swear an oath and get out of the net that binds ?’

Accompanied by the chief of the Royal Guards and the captain of the 1st Knights Division, the emperor left, followed by the knights who attended the ceremony. I remained there. I felt a bit depressed sohow.

How long did I stand there? I ca to my senses when soone pat my shoulder. A young man with red hair quickly approached and looked at .

“Why are you standing there?”

“…Carsein. ”

As one of today’s protagonists, he had to be very busy, but Carsein was alone for so reason. He said with a smile, “Hey, you look aghast. Are you carried away with my gorgeous uniform?”

“… ”

“Tell . Did you like it? When I looked at myself, I thought I was aweso. Don’t you agree?”

“… Well, you were soundly defeated by my father today. Do you still want to boast?”

“Hey, you shouldn’t compare to him! By the way, your father is really terrific. To be honest with you, I thought I might be killed,” said Carsein, chatting up.

He was very happy, even though he had a tough ti because my father sparred with him to certify his skills.

“It was still a good experience for . You know it’s very rare to have a chance to compare and learn the fencing skills of your father. By the way, do you feel better now?”

“Yes.”

“Wait. I’m going to make you an official knight pretty soon. Don’t complain even if the training is tough for you.”

“Thanks, Carsein.”

“Good. Don’t complain later. Oh, are you coming tomorrow? It’s been quite a while since I sent you the invitation, but I haven’t received any reply from you.”

“Oh, it’s because…”

A few days ago I received an invitation contained in a sealed letter. It was the invitation sent by the Duke Lars family asking to attend a party to celebrate Carsein’s knighthood and a letter in which he asked to be his partner.

Of course, I could congratulate him, but attending the party as his partner was another matter. When I hesitated after receiving the invitation, my father advised that I had better not attend a party that would generate ungrounded rumors about . I agreed with my father’s opinion, but it wasn’t easy for to refuse his invitation, so I was putting off RSVP until now because it bothered not to attend the party for Carsein on that monuntal day, one of my two close friends. When he saw face to face and checked with about the invitation, I was kind of embarrassed. I was so sorry.

“Oh, you can’t co as I expected. Okay. ”

“…Sorry.”

“Well, that ‘s fine. We had better be careful especially in tis like this. They are hellbent to find fault with you anyway.”

“Still… It’s a morable day for you. I’m really sorry I can’t co to celebrate.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine.” Carsein, who had lightly waved his hand, said with a smile, as if he had thought of it, “If you’re so sorry, can you do a favor later?”

“Favor?”

“Yes. If you hear it and think you can’t, you don’t have to do a favor. What do you think?”

“Sure. Thanks for understanding.”

Is it because he has beco a knight who took an oath? I smiled at him who seed to be unusually mature today. This was the first ti I felt he was trustworthy.

“Thank you so much, Carsein. And congratulations!” I muttered to myself as I walked back with Carsein.

I was depressed sohow in the morning.

As I thought I would feel better in a crowded place than being alone at ho on this day,

I followed my father to the Imperial Palace.

However, there were few people in the training field today, and the office of the captain of the 1st Knight Division was empty.

‘Well, today there was the celebration party for Carsein, so Duke Lars is perhaps at ho.’

While I was killing ti, skimming through paperwork, an attendant ca in and handed a letter. It was an invitation to a tea ti.

‘Who is inviting today?’

Extrely tense, I headed to the Imperial Palace. As if he was waiting for in advance, the chief attendant escorted like he did before. It was neither a garden nor an office that he escorted to. It was none other than a personal study filled with the sll 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 lancholy 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 arrangent 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 seed 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 sa 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 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 .

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

“It’s been a long ti, Lady Monique.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

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

“Well, I ca to get on top of my assignnts 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 ca 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 an…”

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

“… Pardon?” I asked blankly.

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