Clenching her trembling lips tightly, the Empress Dowager slowly said to Ray:
“Ahem, hem! So you’re shy about getting involved with the opposite sex. That’s just the age for it.”
Even in the midst of this disaster, there was a reason the Empress Dowager was arranging a marriage between Linna and another ducal family. It was under the Temple’s orders.
The High Priest was looking far ahead.
The calculation was simple: if the Idra duchy’s daughter, already in their hands, bore a child with one of the two ducal heirs, one of the Divine Beasts might also fall under their control.
Ray, who already suspected all of this, smiled gently.
It was shameless beyond belief.
He hadn’t forgotten that, back at the Academy, the Temple had tried to harm him using the Earth Divine Beast. And now they were trying to tie him to Linna—he found it revolting.
‘Well, Zahid must feel the same. A landslide was one of the causes of Zahid’s parents’ deaths, after all.’
Instead of expressing the disgust rising in him, Ray casually remarked,
“Lady Linna is very shy. If Your Majesty the Empress Dowager were to approach her first later, she would surely like it.”
The Empress Dowager smoothed her expression and let out a deep sigh. Then she turned toward the lady-in-waiting standing behind her and «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» said,
“Madam Lorant, it’s warm. Bring me a glass of cold water.”
Ray habitually glanced at the lady-in-waiting addressed as Madam Lorant.
Others might claim exhaustion, but he was the type to never miss even the smallest detail at any time.
On Madam Lorant’s right cheek, there was a long scratch, like one left by sharp nails.
And just as she brought the water to the Empress Dowager—
Linna entered, accompanied by a maid, reeking as usual of loud clothes, heavy makeup, and strong alcohol.
‘The timing’s decent.’
Ray fiddled with the personal water bottle in his hand, thinking to himself.
‘If Linna draws some attention, it’ll make things easier.’
His carrying a personal water bottle was an old and well-known habit, so no one found it suspicious. In other words, it was the perfect thing to use for smuggling something in.
At the bottom of that specially crafted personal water bottle was a powder that could suddenly worsen asthma symptoms.
Ray’s goal was to use the fussy Empress Dowager to stir up confusion all the way to the underground where Karso was hidden.
‘Still, it won’t be easy for Zahid to infiltrate. Especially with Fire around....’
At the same time, his gaze shifted to the bracelet on the Empress Dowager’s wrist.
‘If only she didn’t have that, we could cause a bigger ruckus...’
That carefully crafted magical tool was called the ‘Sky Pocket’.
It had been presented to the Empress Dowager at the Academy and was known to alleviate symptoms of asthma and other complications.
It was the very magical tool Theo had been working on at the Academy—until Nesha broke it.
Theo, traumatized by the incident, refused to remake it, and so another assistant ended up making a replacement.
It wasn’t as perfect as Theo’s original, but it still functioned.
‘It cost the Count Saliod Family dearly, but...’
Then the Empress Dowager began praising Linna as soon as she sat down.
“Oh, Linna. Hm, such... mm, lively and spirited! Ray, Linna is just so fashionable—exactly like the young generation these days. As a young man yourself, Lord Lavendal, don’t you like that kind of style?”
It was an obviously forced string of compliments.
Ray sipped slowly from his personal water bottle, glanced at Linna, and replied,
“Well, I don’t really like that kind of style... Pffft!”
Then Ray, who had carelessly made eye contact with the maid standing behind Linna, suddenly spit his water across the table.
“Lord Lavendal, what’s the matter?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“Cough, cough, cough!”
Ray hurriedly wiped his mouth and stammered,
“That style, it’s great. Yes, great. Hmm, really wonderful...”
It had been nine years, and though she appeared in such a dramatically altered form, he recognized her instantly.
That maid dressed exactly like Linna—was undoubtedly Rosie Noart.
Rosie, too, seemed to recognize Ray and playfully winked.
‘What the hell? Was there something I didn’t know about? Did Rosie get inserted midway? That damned Zahid—didn’t tell me? Then again, that possessive bastard would totally pull that stunt.’
Judging by Rosie’s confident expression, she had clearly come to assist him.
But no matter how he looked at it, there didn’t seem to be anything Rosie could actually do here.
Athena wasn’t here now. Which meant she couldn’t control a Divine Beast.
‘But Rosie always finds ways to handle things nobody expects.’
One thing was certain.
Whether they met or not, Ray would go through with the plan he’d devised for Zahid’s upcoming move. Rosie obviously wanted the same.
Their eyes met. Though it had been nine years since they’d last seen each other, their urgency aligned their thoughts.
They had a shared objective, and when the opportunity arose, they would move together.
As the two exchanged glances, the Empress Dowager let out a delighted laugh and exclaimed,
“How wonderful! Linna, it seems Lord Lavendal likes your style! Truly, the youth these days are into things !”
She was so pleased she even clapped her hands.
That’s when it happened.
“Your Majesty the Empress Dowager!”
The lady-in-waiting who had brought water earlier—Madam Lorant—suddenly threw herself down in front of the Empress Dowager.
“I’m sorry, but there’s something I absolutely must report!”
Linna, who had just raised her teacup, flinched.
The Empress Dowager asked elegantly, and Madam Lorant spoke in a tearful voice.
“Last night... Lady Linna, in a drunken state, hurled curses at me and scratched my cheek.”
Linna’s eyes widened.
With trembling hands, she slowly lowered the teacup again, and Madam Lorant continued.
“Here, this mark right here.”
It was the scratch Ray had noticed earlier on her right cheek.
“I don’t care about my pain, but I am Your Majesty’s lady-in-waiting. To treat me is to insult Your Majesty yourself, is it not?”
The Empress Dowager slowly shook her head and clicked her tongue.
Linna hesitated for a moment, then finally looked at Madam Lorant and spoke.
“I... I don’t hit people, even when I’m drunk. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
But her voice was trembling, as if already consumed by anxiety.
“Do you—do you have any witnesses? Huh? I was drinking with f-friends last night, you know?”
“Everyone saw you staggering toward the Second Class staircase in a drunken daze. I was standing there and....”
The Empress Dowager let out a long sigh and shook her head.
“So that’s what happened, Madam Lorant... I was wondering where you got that injury.”
Ray sipped from his personal bottle with a cold gaze, thinking:
‘Ah, I get the picture now.’
Linna looked utterly wronged, but her eyes were more focused on the Empress Dowager than Madam Lorant.
‘No proof, no witnesses, and yet instead of defending herself, she’s just watching the Empress Dowager’s face...’
This was the Empress Dowager’s way of putting Linna in her place.
‘This isn’t the first time. Linna’s gone through this kind of thing before.’
Because Linna had muttered her true feelings outside earlier, the Empress Dowager had been embarrassed in front of Ray. So now, she was quickly reasserting the hierarchy before him.
No matter how unfair it was, Linna would still have to bow her head before her.
The Idra Duchy was already in the Temple’s grasp, and to the Empress Dowager, who had long allied herself with the Temple, Linna was both an ally and an easily controlled chess piece.
‘And the Empress Dowager, a master of the social world’s elegant screw-you’s, is punishing her under the guise of reasonableness.’