Chapter 23
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23.
Even within the Imperial Palace, the Emperor's long-serving chamberlain carefully set down the dishes before him with measured precision.
Though the appetizers were arranged to tempt the palate, I found myself unable to indulge as I normally would.
The atmosphere in this Dining Room was far too tense.
"...You've taken considerable care during the state marriage proceedings, Cassian Artez."
The Emperor spoke to Cassian Artez, his words laden with the weight of unspoken meaning.
"Your Majesty entrusted me with this task, and I could not afford negligence. It was merely my duty to attend to it properly. Moreover, as it concerns my brother's wedding, such diligence is only natural."
Though Cassian Artez understood the Emperor's intent, he responded with practiced composure.
"It seems you've grown quite close to Princess Alexis Periander."
Of course, the Emperor was not one to refrain from asking what he wished to know.
"In fulfilling the duties Your Majesty assigned me, I found myself encountering the Princess frequently, and thus we naturally became acquainted."
Naturally, my superior offered no more forthcoming an answer than that.
In that moment, an ungraceful clatter emanated from the First Empress's plate—a sound that would ordinarily go unheard.
It appeared she had lost control of her strength while cutting her meat.
The Emperor smiled awkwardly at the First Empress and cleared his throat with a gesture of resignation before speaking.
"Ahem, I hear that Princess Alexis Periander has entrusted you with most of the exhibition authority for this state marriage."
Even to this direct inquiry, Cassian Artez maintained his unhurried demeanor, cutting a piece of meat, placing it in his mouth, sipping his wine, and only then speaking with deliberate calm.
"Indeed. What the Princess entrusted to me was not the exhibits themselves, but the authority over them."
Cassian Artez's gaze briefly touched upon the First Empress.
"Since they are all precious treasures of the Anden Kingdom, she felt it best to entrust them to the most trustworthy person within the Empire."
At those words, the First Empress's hand, which had been cutting her steak with feigned composure, stilled.
Her lips trembled faintly for a moment, but the change was so fleeting that none save an intentional observer like myself would have noticed.
Cassian Artez offered the First Empress a brief, cold smile before turning to the Emperor with a resolute expression.
"Therefore, to honor that trust, I intend to personally inspect the exhibits. I plan to permit access to none save those I deem trustworthy, Your Majesty."
"Hmm... Yes, since favorable relations with the Kingdom are at stake, it would be best to attend to this with utmost care."
The moment the Emperor nodded in agreement, the First Empress, as if on cue, opened her mouth.
"Your Majesty, Third Prince Cassian Artez is truly commendable. However, I confess I have some concerns."
Her tone was remarkably gentle—quite unlike her usual manner toward Cassian Artez.
"What troubles you, First Empress?"
"I do not doubt the Third Prince's administrative capabilities. However, unlike the Second Prince, Third Prince Cassian Artez has primarily handled administrative duties, has he not?"
"That is true."
"I worry that unfamiliarity with this domain might lead to oversights in management. Many artworks and treasures are sensitive to weather and storage conditions."
The First Empress set down her plate, having left more than half her steak uneaten, and dabbed her lips delicately with her napkin before continuing.
"Therefore, if Your Majesty permits, I should like to assist Third Prince Cassian Artez."
The First Empress's eyes curved into an expression of utmost benevolence as she regarded Cassian Artez.
"As the Third Prince well knows, my brother has long managed such artworks and treasures, has he not?"
I couldn't help but marvel at the sight.
Anyone who didn't know better would mistake her for a tender, affectionate mother.
"So, what do you think? I truly do this for the Third Prince's sake."
The First Empress spoke with an elegant smile.
"As His Majesty said, I also wish to express my gratitude for conducting the Third Prince's state marriage so splendidly."
At the First Empress's gesture, crimson wine poured into both her glass and Cassian Artez's glass.
She lifted her glass first and offered a toast to Cassian Artez.
"Sending one son to a foreign land has left my heart so lonely. You'll understand my desire to think of you and care for you more in the days to come, won't you?"
A faint hint of self-satisfaction gleamed in the First Empress's gaze.
And Cassian Artez, who appeared momentarily caught off guard,
"Of course. I am deeply honored that Your Majesty holds me in such regard."
As if he had been waiting for this very moment, he lifted his wine glass and drank from it willingly.
*
"It's been a while since the Empress's Palace's tableware has remained unscathed."
Though I had been in that tense dinner setting mere moments before, Cassian Artez whispered to me with what seemed like genuine delight, as if it had all been a lie.
Naturally, my superior's face showed not a trace of dismay or concern.
"Indeed, it's been quite some time. The First Empress will be making a toast, so perhaps we should worry about the wine glasses after all."
Despite being nothing more than a spectator, that oppressive atmosphere clung to my entire body, and my shoulders shrank inward.
Cassian Artez then soothed me, gently stroking my hand that rested on his arm as he spoke.
"Even though you know exactly how I conduct myself and how the First Empress conducts herself."
"I know, and yet..."
No matter how well I understood Cassian Artez's nature, his audacity and cunning, the tension was unavoidable.
Over these past few days, he had provoked the First Empress relentlessly.
The moment the First Empress learned what Alexis Periander had left behind, she sent subtle pressure to the Winter Palace.
"Saying she wanted to see the exhibit soon, suggesting it might be nice to give the Royal Family a private viewing first, insisting that postponing it like this was improper."
Of course, none of it fazed Cassian Artez.
He maintained an ironclad security around the exhibit.
He even openly rejected Duke Jamoti's request for a visit, the First Empress's elder brother.
So how impatient must she have been.
Over the past week, the First Empress had attended to the Emperor with unusual diligence, and now she had arranged this dinner.
She made it sound plausible—that since the state marriage had concluded, a family dinner should be held.
As a result, I, powerless as I was, had to attend that tense dinner in my capacity as Cassian Artez's betrothed.
'I should have seen the Emperor's face when he received the First Empress's dinner invitation.'
He looked so sinister that I immediately wanted to withdraw from the dinner.
A shallow sigh escaped me as I contemplated the trials that lay ahead.
This time, I had a feeling things might not pass as smoothly as they usually did.
"Were you worried?"
"...Pardon?"
"Your face is full of worry, Rose."
Cassian Artez brushed his knuckles along my jaw as we arrived at the Winter Palace, his question emerging with practiced ease.
"Is that concern for me?"
He posed it without a shred of genuine expectation, merely teasing.
It irritated me for no good reason.
"I do worry about Your Highness, you know?"
Of course, the mounting workload ahead, the First Empress's cutting attacks, and my anxiety over the source of my precious salary loomed far larger in my mind.
I wanted him to understand that I harbored ordinary concern too, even if he'd continue to tease me mercilessly—
...but why did his expression look like that?
"Your Highness?"
"...Truly, Rose."
His face had been brimming with ease and mischief just moments before.
Now it seemed to have evaporated entirely as he lifted one hand to his face in a dry gesture, then gazed at me.
"When you say things like that at times like these..."
A shallow, quiet sigh escaped his lips.
"I find myself not wanting to leave you there alone."
"I beg your pardon?"
Why was he suddenly speaking in riddles?
I could only stare at him with wide eyes and a foolish expression.
Spring had arrived in full, yet perhaps because we stood before the Winter Palace...
Or perhaps my body sensed what my mind could not comprehend of Cassian Artez's heart.
I felt the fresh warmth of a spring evening transform into the crisp chill of a winter dawn.
Cassian Artez studied me with eyes of unfathomable depth, then withdrew his hand from me quietly, as though in surrender.
"I was more nervous than I expected, Rose."
His tone grew lighter, as though dispersing the tension.
"So I was moved by your concern."
Cassian Artez carefully took my hand and pressed a kiss to its back, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Don't freeze like that. Your precious salary won't run away anywhere."
His tone was no different from usual.
Yet I could not help but sense the truth beneath it.
*
Hmm.
Cassian Artez exhaled a breath that could have been a sigh or perhaps a moment of realization, then unfastened the buttons of his shirt sleeves.
'I suppose this time was rather exhausting.'
He knew all too well that she was someone he ought to send back someday to the safety and tranquility of Salice Territory, docile and untouched.
Yet without his own awareness, a desire to lean upon her had surfaced.
Roselita Salice might not understand.
The First Empress's machinations were fraught with dangers of the most treacherous kind.
'But my little lady must never know the extent of it.'
Should she learn the truth, even the fleeting respite and joy he could steal would shatter into fragments.
Perhaps he alone wished to preserve a memory she could never fully recall.
That small, endearing little lady who prattled on ceaselessly with her complaints.
When absorbed in something, she never noticed how her chestnut hair peeked out beneath that clumsily worn pale purple wig.
Because her occasional clumsiness, glimpsed beneath that facade of thoroughness, had always allowed him to breathe.
"I must endure it, then."
Cassian Artez deliberately let flow away all the emotions that could deepen and accumulate, doing so for his own sake.
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