“Why are you surprised? Doesn’t everyone know that the emperor loves you a lot?”

“… Really?”

“Of course. Well, I would like to tell you that’s why I’ve given up daring to be the empress.

Even if I had wanted, the emperor would have rejected me.”

“What do you mean you have given up?”

When I tilted my head to the side, Grace said, glancing down, “One day, when I began to be seriously mentioned as the candidate for his concubine, I went to see the emperor for the first time. I was very nervous. As you were selected as his fiancee since your birth, I was so thrilled to think I could be his concubine, whose position was almost equal to that of the empress.”

Stretching her hand to touch the crest of the lion engraved on the silver mug, she continued, “However, the emperor was nonchalant. Although he greeted me politely, he just treated me as one of the noble ladies. Since I saw him with you recently, I realized quickly that you were the only one who won his heart.”

“… ”

When I was silent because I had nothing to say, she looked at me and said, “On the day you regained consciousness after you had been poisoned, he called me and said something like this, ‘As things worked out like this, the noble faction will quickly move to try to install Lady Jena as my wife, so let me have you as a protective shield. In return, I’ll give you the title of countess when he solves the matter. I’ll make sure you will lead a happy life no matter who you get married to.’ That’s what he told me then.”

“… ”

“When I asked him why he made such a proposal, he said only one thing. He said all he wanted was one woman. So, I’ve been constantly visiting him, unlike Lake Jena who was never called, so I can draw the attention of the noble faction.”

I felt like I was hit by something.

Now I realized that’s why Grace had been in and out of the Imperial Palace steadily. Did she intentionally look irresponsible as one of the concubine candidates or pretend to adore Marquis Enesil for that reason? At that time, I felt bitter after discovering that she was seeing the emperor steadily unlike Jiun, but I often tried to comfort myself, thinking that Grace’s steady visit was fortunate for the interests of the pro-emperor faction.

The more Grace said, the more agitated I was. Regardless of how I felt, however, she looked at me with a worried expression and said, “By the way, can you keep secret what I have just said to you? I was not ordered to keep it secret, but I would like to because I’m afraid I’m meddling in your relationship with the emperor.”

“… Sure, no problem.”

When I nodded, she smiled as if she was relieved, and stood up, saying she would leave now.

After seeing her off, I sat blankly on the sofa and stared into the air. What she said a moment ago kept hovering in my ears. In particular, her testimony that the emperor loved me a lot, and that he needed only one woman was ringing in my ears.

My heart was warmed up and beating hard. I put my hand on my pounding heart and bit my lip.

‘Why are you reacting like this, Aristia? The way you are acting like this these days it isn’t like you at all!’

However, no matter how hard I bit my lip, I could hardly calm down my pounding heart.

The more I tried to calm down, the more I kept thinking about him.

How much time passed? When I barely calmed down, I heard a knock on the door that broke the silence. Shortly afterwards, Baron Carot entered the room and said with a surprised expression, “My lady, your face looks unusually red. Did you have something bad? ”

“… Nothing. I’m fine. What’s the matter? Any new problem?”

“Yes. I already reported it to your father, so I would like to let you know, too.”

“I see. Please sit down first. ”

When I nodded and asked him to take a seat, the baron, who sat on the other side with a worried expression, hesitated for a moment before reaching out for the documents he brought.

“…This is about the matter that you recently asked me to find out urgently.”

“Really? Did you find it out already?”

He said, smiling at me who looked at him in surprise, “Well, I’ve got some information about the guy named Ian Belot that I had been keeping an eye on for some time. As you instructed me to report to you as soon as I found something unusual about him, I wanted to brief you about him first.”

“Oh, I see.”

Nodding at him, I picked up the document he gave me. It wasn’t very thick, but it contained a very surprising fact.

“… Is this true? This guy’s daughter got married, but her marriage was far from normal? Does it mean that she has been detained on the pretext of her marriage…?”

“That’s right. I’ve reached that conclusion after watching him for almost a year, so I think I’m right. Since this is a very risky plot, it seemed that someone took her hostage for his safety,” he said with a heavy voice. “I asked your father if I should rescue her, but he told me to hold it and take action after consulting with you. What shall I do? ”

“… Just hold it for the time being. Let’s watch a little more. ”

If the baron’s information was true, it was dangerous to rescue Ian Belot’s daughter right away. If she, an important hostage, disappeared, the criminal would certainly notice that somebody detected his plot.

In that case, it would be easy to reveal the identity of the culprit, but it would be reckless to expand the investigation without careful planning. This was even more so if the culprit was the very man that I suspected. Since he was not a man to be treated recklessly, it would be very difficult to pinpoint him as the mastermind without securing hard evidence.

“Got it. By the way, I’m sorry to say this, but Lady Jena sent you a secret letter.”

“A secret letter from Jena? What do you mean you are sorry?”

“Well, it was delivered by our informant planted in the Jena family…”

“Ah.”

Only then did I realize why the baron was so sorry and embarrassed. The fact that a secret letter was delivered by our mole planted in the Jena family meant that the identity of the mole was already detected by Duke Jena. It seemed that the duke pretended not to have noticed the mole, but used him this time to counterattack my family. Perhaps his identity was revealed because of the lax security following the drastic increase of informants after the poisoning incident took place recently.

Anyway, it seemed that the baron was very embarrassed by the fact that as the head of my family’s intelligence unit, he could not protect the identity of the mole properly. As I thought he would feel more embarrassed, I opened the letter sent by the Jena family.

It seemed that the letter was written by someone who was illiterate, whose handwriting was so curvy that it was hard to understand. In the end it took me some time for me to understand the first line.

< Why didn't you appear on the promised date? I wonder if you are not going to strike a deal with me.>

“Ah… ”

Only then did I recall one thing. While offering him the terms of the deal last time, I set the date for the next negotiation. But as it happened, the emperor collapsed on the very day of the negotiation, so it slipped my mind until now.

The baron nervously looked at me moaning and asked carefully, “What’s wrong? Isn’t it good for the Monique family?”

“No, it’s not. Um, baron. What happened to our informant?”

“Well, I suspended his activities for the time being and keep a low profile. Can I tell him to come back?”

“Hmm, well.”

I read the secret letter out and said prudently, “I think it’s better to keep him staying there until we are done with this matter, as his identity was revealed. However, if you feel his life is threatened anytime, tell him to withdraw immediately. ”

“Okay.”

“And tell the man who delivered this letter that what I wanted then and now was just one thing. He will understand what I meant.”

“Sure, let me tell him so.”