Dressed in a pristine white knight's uniform, Charles headed towards the Empress's palace.
It was to greet the Empress before meeting the Emperor.
The path to the Empress's palace was chaotic.
Cloudy dust and numerous slaves were moving large marbles.
They said they were building a new government palace next to the Empress's palace.
At that moment, Charles stopped in his tracks, his face filled with shock.
"What is going on there?"
At a glance, the site for the new government palace was larger than the Empress's palace.
This was something that could not happen according to royal law.
Baroness Agnes, a maid from the Empress's palace who was following behind, spoke with a troubled expression.
"The Emperor has taken a special liking to the newly welcomed Lady Alisa..."
"No matter how special the favor, how can the government palace be larger than the Empress's palace?"
"..."
The elderly Baroness Agnes remained silent.
She had been a maid in the Empress's palace since the time of Charles's mother, Empress Perena.
It wasn't that she didn't know the basic royal laws.
Baroness Agnes finally spoke with difficulty.
"…For some time now, the royal palace has lost its laws."
In her blue eyes, deep despair was evident.
Charles gazed at the vast site of the government palace and muttered in a heavy voice.
"Why does the sun only seem to set?"
* * *
A little later, inside the reception room of the Empress's palace.
Charles sat across from the Empress at a table, drinking tea.
The Empress, having heard Charles's words, spoke with a pensive expression.
"If monsters that rarely appeared in the south have begun to emerge, we must prepare for that as well."
With soft brown hair and piercing purple eyes, the wise Empress showed deep concern for the state of the empire and the damages of war.
But such wisdom had shackled the Empress.
Like Charles, she had criticized the courtiers and fallen out of favor with the Emperor, and the courtiers plotted all sorts of schemes to bring her down.
Despite her firm tone, she seemed to have suffered greatly. The Empress appeared quite thin and haggard.
Charles cautiously spoke up.
"Your Majesty, please don't hold back. Cry when you want to cry, and be angry when you want to be angry. That way..."
"..."
"That way, you can endure."
There was a sense of powerlessness in the Empress's eyes.
The frustration of looking at someone who doesn't change despite efforts.
It was the same feeling Charles had towards the Emperor.
But the Empress seemed to be trying to overcome her powerlessness with her dignity.
"I must endure. I will endure so that Your Majesty can govern in the right direction."
At that moment, a commotion was heard from outside the reception room.
"Can't you hear me? Open the door!"
With a bang-.
The door to the reception room swung open roughly, and a young woman entered.
She was wearing a thin nightgown that seemed to have just come out of the bedroom.
'So this must be the new mistress the Emperor has welcomed.'
Charles could tell at a glance from the woman's behavior.
It seemed to be a frivolous ploy to inform the Empress that she had shared a bed with the Emperor.
Without greeting, Alisa confronted the Empress.
"Your Majesty, you refused the additional budget needed for my palace?"
"What's not allowed is not allowed. I cannot use half of the total budget allocated to the Empress's palace for building your palace."
The Empress firmly rejected her. Alisa then sneered.
"To me, the reason seems to be Your Majesty's jealousy."
"Lady Alisa, what did you just say?"
The Empress was trying to hold back her anger, not wanting to get dragged into a quarrel.
At that moment, Charles, after finishing his tea, spoke in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, please allocate the additional budget."
"Prince Erwin!"
The Empress looked at Charles with a surprised expression.
"Look at that. Even Prince Erwin agrees with me."
Alisa thought that Charles was bowing to her of his own accord.
But the Empress was resolute.
"That cannot be. If you pour that much into the government palace, how will the other government officials and maids live?"
Charles coldly replied.
"It will be at most a year, or at least three months."
"…?"
"The Emperor has never kept a mistress for more than a year, has he?"
"W-what did you say?"
Alisa reacted angrily.
"So, Your Majesty, please show some generosity and grant what I desire."
"It seems that Prince Erwin, who has been traversing the battlefield, does not understand the situation in the royal palace, but I do."
At her words, Charles turned his gaze towards Alisa with a stiff posture.
"Every mistress of the Emperor thought the same. That I would be different. But where are they now?"
"Have you said enough?"
As Alisa shouted, the Empress calmly retorted.
"Then the newly expanded government palace can be used as a dormitory for the maids later."
"Are you daring to treat me like a maid?"
Just as Alisa glared at the Empress as if she wanted to kill her, Charles stood up and shouted.
"Show respect to Her Majesty!"
Alisa, overwhelmed by Charles's fierce demeanor, looked at him in shock.
After receiving the Emperor's favor, she had probably never been treated this way.
As Charles approached Alisa, he spoke softly.
"The reason people do not speak the truth to Lady Alisa is not because you are a fearsome being favored by the Emperor."
"..."
"It is because you are a being that will disappear with time. They simply watch without saying a word."
At Charles's words, Alisa burst into tears and ran out of the reception room.
Seeing this, the Empress looked at Charles with a worried expression.
"Lady Alisa will likely exaggerate this matter to the Emperor."
"It's fine. After all, the Emperor will not be pleased with me anyway."
* * *
That afternoon, Charles waited in the conference room to meet the Emperor.
Two hours had passed since the appointed time, but neither the Emperor nor the ministers appeared.
Charles stood alone, gazing at the throne placed on the high dais.
A magnificent throne made of gold and the finest ivory.
'How many people have been devoured by that throne?'
After the crown prince poisoning incident, the crown prince and the second crown prince, along with the fourth crown prince who assisted them, were killed, and the third crown prince ascended to the throne.
But the tragedy did not end there.
The fifth crown prince, who opposed the third crown prince's ascension, was executed for treason. The one who led that was Duke Havel, who had the Emperor's absolute trust.
Out of the seven brothers, only three survived.
The third crown prince who became the Emperor, the sixth crown prince who became a monk to counter the Emperor, and the seventh crown prince, Charles.
At that moment.
"The Emperor is coming."
The doors of the conference room opened wide.
Intense sunlight poured in as the Emperor slowly walked in.
Dozens of ministers followed behind him, and right behind the Emperor was Duke Havel, known as the real power of the empire.
The Emperor, wearing a long, luxurious golden cloak, headed towards the throne.
With neatly combed silver hair and kind eyes that held deep gray pupils, he had a beautiful face that did not match his reputation as a cruel tyrant.
The two, eight years apart, were the most similar brothers.
While Charles had a strong masculine appearance, the Emperor had a delicate, feminine look.
"Charles, why did you make Alisa cry and delay our meeting?"
The Emperor said jokingly as he sat on the throne.
"Charles de Rubena, I greet Your Majesty."
Charles bowed respectfully.
"From now on, just let Alisa act as she pleases. For my sake, who will have to soothe her."
"..."
"Why are you not answering?"
"I will do so, as long as Lady Alisa is in the royal palace when I come next."
"You insolent brat."
The Emperor smiled wryly.
"I requested an audience regarding the recruitment of mages for Erwin..."
"Denied."
The Emperor cut him off without even listening.
Silence fell between the two.
"I will heed Your Majesty's words."
Charles obediently complied and lowered his head.
The ministers, who had expected a great commotion, whispered in confusion.
"Then I will see you at the next audience."
As Charles was about to bow and leave, the Emperor suddenly spoke up.
"What if I deny it again then?"
"I will keep coming back until Your Majesty recruits the mages."
"Oh? If it's that important, shouldn't you kneel and beg?"
In that moment, without any hesitation, Charles knelt before the Emperor.
"…!"
The Emperor, as well as everyone in the conference room, looked at Charles in shock.
Charles spoke calmly, without a hint of wavering.
"If you tell me to kneel, I will kneel, and if you tell me to prostrate and beg, I will do so."
"..."
"So please recruit mages for Erwin, for the sake of Your Majesty's subjects who cannot sleep peacefully due to the monsters."
After finishing his words, Charles bowed deeply.
Though it was Charles who knelt, the humiliation spread across the Emperor's face.
At that moment, the Emperor's previously kind gaze transformed.
Into a gaze filled with madness, with red eyes.
"Charles, you continue to mock me until the end."
"..."
"Guards! Imprison that brat Charles right now! For the crime of disrespecting the Emperor!"