Chapter 19
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19.
"...Cowardly, aren't you!"
"I disagree with that assessment as well."
Really, it was a perfectly rational tactic.
People like him always resorted to such accusations whenever they ran out of arguments.
"Isn't cowardice at least preferable to inflicting damage upon your own nation?"
After all, I had already negotiated with the First Empress to become a concubine.
So I spoke to him in an even more businesslike tone.
Leaving him no opening whatsoever to exploit.
"I'm merely returning your own words to you—you should be grateful. I'm giving you advance notice of what I would otherwise report directly to Alexis Periander."
Count Gash Youngshik's lips pressed firmly shut.
His face drained of all color, turning a sickly pale blue, before he swiftly admitted his defeat.
"...No, wait! Please—don't let Her Highness know about this!"
*
"So it wasn't mere bluffing."
Once my negotiation with Count Gash Youngshik concluded, Alexis Periander emerged from wherever she had been concealing herself, startling me as she revealed her presence.
"Hmm, even your reaction was flawlessly executed."
"...You heard the entire conversation, then?"
I merely shrugged slightly at her amusement, turning away as naturally as I could manage.
"Indeed. Deceiving your opponent without batting an eye—you truly are the sole aide worthy of the Second Prince."
What was this feeling? I'd just received what sounded like praise, yet it felt like an insult.
Had I been before Cassian Artez, I would have expressed my displeasure through my eyes. But the circumstances were different now, so I kept my gaze lowered.
I couldn't afford to create a diplomatic incident.
Not after I'd already smoothly concluded my arrangement with Alexis Periander regarding Count Gash Youngshik.
It was unfortunate for him, but from the moment I realized she was aware of this matter, I never intended to exclude her.
Manipulating a foreign nobleman's weaknesses was far more complicated than exploiting our own aristocrats—if discovered, it would only spiral into greater complications.
"So next comes the turn of my future new mother?"
Alexis crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, regarding me with leisurely amusement.
Her wine-colored eyes held a subtle, penetrating depth.
There was something oddly familiar about that gaze—as if she were pleading for me to satisfy her curiosity.
'It's almost as if...'
It resembled the expression Cassian Artez wore when he discovered a new target—a corrupt nobleman, rather.
Thanks to that similarity, my momentary tension settled into calm composure.
"Indeed, Your Highness. After all, the protagonist's true nature only becomes entertaining once her hair begins to show."
The bait was none other than Count Gash Youngshik.
Alexis Periander's lips curved upward in satisfaction.
"The weaknesses of the woman who will become a new mother, and the vulnerabilities of House of Gash, who dared to act without knowing their place."
She spoke with the face of a predator before its prey.
"I shall prepare a suitable reward as well."
*
The night air was crisp and cool.
Count Gash Youngshik stood outside the Temple Outside the Capital, his face etched with fear.
Even priests avoided this place except when coming to receive punishment for their sins, and the desolate atmosphere sent chills down his spine.
The ticking of the watch that the beautiful yet demonic woman had given him seemed unusually loud—tick, tick, tick.
Count Youngshik took a deep breath.
'I must perform well today. Only then can I escape from that demonic woman.'
She had been so exacting, drilling into me three contingency plans for different scenarios, insisting I must not make a single mistake.
Even an hour before coming here tonight, Count Youngshik had been forced to sit rigidly in a chair, answering test questions posed by Roselita Salice.
Each time he answered incorrectly, those green eyes—which should have felt warm—turned devastatingly cold.
'The Third Prince must be mad. To take such a woman as his betrothed!'
As he vented his frustration inwardly and repeated deep breaths several times, he heard the soft, elegant sound of footsteps treading through the grass.
"How discourteous—summoning me to such a place."
Though a long veil obscured her face, her gait, tone of voice, and distinctive bearing unmistakably revealed her high status.
Count Gash Youngshik recalled the lines he and Roselita Salice had rehearsed countless times and began to speak carefully.
"My apologies, but the matter was so urgent that I had no choice."
"Could you not have sent a subordinate to relay your message?"
"...Regrettably, I have no one I can trust, Your Majesty the First Empress."
He deliberately emphasized the title "First Empress" as he spoke.
At that moment, the First Empress's gaze fixed on the grass rustling faintly nearby.
Seeing this, Count Gash Youngshik hastened to continue.
"And Your Majesty!"
Despite the veil covering her face, the First Empress's displeasure was palpable at his sudden rise in volume.
Facing her reproachful attitude, he felt aggrieved yet pressed on.
"Our meeting... and the task Your Majesty assigned me appears to have been discovered by Alexis Periander."
"And? Do you have proof that I ordered you to do anything?"
Yet the First Empress maintained her composure.
As the mother of the Third Prince, if she simply denied having given such orders, most would believe her.
After all, it was common knowledge among the nobility that the First Empress had been disheartened since her son was designated as the national marriage partner.
Facing her attitude, Count Gash Youngshik could not hide his burning anxiety, despite having anticipated this from Roselita Salice's briefing.
'Was I truly so blind!'
With the power of House of Gash and his own beauty, he could have easily aimed for a position as Alexis Periander's concubine.
Which is why he needed to secure evidence that the First Empress had harmed the daughter of her own nobility, exactly as Roselita Salice had instructed, and seize this leverage over her.
That way, we'd both have leverage over each other, and I could negotiate with that vicious advisor one way or another.
He secretly activated the magical recording device Roselita Salice had handed him beforehand and opened his mouth.
"You said there was no one to trust, Your Highness. One of my servants witnessed everything and claims they will report it all to Alexis Periander. He...."
Count Gash Youngshik couldn't hide his trembling heart as he drew a sharp breath.
"I know that the First Empress ordered the kidnapping of Advisor Salice, and that I met with the First Empress. Even more than that!"
Count Gash Youngshik slowly brought together the hand holding the recording device.
Cold sweat drenched his skin, making him feel deeply uncomfortable.
"They claim to have recorded our entire conversation. At this rate, Your Highness won't be able to escape either."
Silence fell after his words ended.
The First Empress's teeth ground together with a sharp sound, followed by a sigh and a menacing voice.
"So, what do you want from me?"
"I won't fail a second time, Your Majesty. I'll cleanly dispose of Advisor Salice just as you've instructed."
"Hmm, and then?"
"Please dispose of the servant."
"Ha!"
The First Empress let out a short, hollow laugh.
"You can't even handle a mere servant yourself, and now you're asking for my hand in this trivial matter?"
"I am a man who has already failed once. How could you trust me to handle everything myself?"
Count Gash Youngshik was careful with his tone.
That mad woman had emphasized how crucial it was not to appear foolish at this moment.
"...Very well. I'll grant you this much—at least you didn't make things worse by trying to handle it alone."
The First Empress's hand clenched and unclenched several times.
"Fine. Making one lowly servant disappear without a trace is hardly difficult for me."
She stepped slightly closer to Count Gash Youngshik.
"Don't forget that you owe me a debt for this."
At her threatening words, Count Gash Youngshik barely held her gaze and spoke with forced conviction.
"No, Your Majesty. It is you who owes me a debt. This is a matter you could have ruined entirely without my knowledge. I've given you an opportunity."
....
The First Empress glared at him at his audacious words.
Even though her face was veiled, I felt as though her golden eyes would cut right through me.
'Insane—what kind of thing did she make me say!'
She truly was a mad woman.
Count Gash Youngshik cursed Roselita Salice inwardly while somehow steadying his trembling body.
Just endure this moment, just endure this moment!
"So don't forget, Your Majesty—in exchange for my disposing of this trash...! You promised to grant me a position as a concubine to Alexis Periander!!"
His voice rose, thinking this was the end.
He had now delivered virtually all of Roselita Salice's scripted lines, and all he needed was the First Empress's affirmative answer.
Once he handed over the recording device, Roselita Salice said she would handle everything else....
Several seconds stretched out like a thousand years.
The First Empress broke the silence and slowly opened her mouth.
"Yes, I keep my promises."
It was over.
Count Gash Youngshik told himself he must not collapse, no matter what, until the First Empress departed.
But in that very instant.
"...What—what on earth are you saying! Mother!!"
From the grass that had rustled moments before emerged not the dark-haired scheming advisor, but rather....
"You would have me enjoy a blissful newlywed life, and yet you permit the taking of a concubine?!"
The Third Prince, whose dark hair held a crimson tint and whose beauty rivaled the First Empress herself, had appeared—his arm linked through Alexis Periander's.
Indeed, he was holding onto her arm.
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