Chapter 7 – Part 2

She remembered Durante yelling so. Did General Durante and Carlos know each other? Since Kshamil and this country were enemies, there would have been no chance for the prince and general to meet. Amelia pondered their relationship.

Then she suddenly raised her head and had eye contact with Reinkel, who was standing in the room. He looked at her startled expression and Reinkel said with a troubled look.

“If Miss Laszlo is uncomfortable, I will leave.”

“I-It’s not that.”

“Just in case, there are ten knights outside the room. If you are afraid, you may scream.”

“No. I don’t have misunderstandings like that.”

Reinkel’s words made her face red. She sighed. He still looked the same.

In fact, until ‘the incident’, Amelia had thought she wished she had someone trustworthy like him as a husband rather than the skinny and nervous Elliot. Wouldn’t it be great if such an ideal person could protect her?

Come to think of it, she once said this to someone… As she thought about it, she smiled bitterly.

She must have said it to Sir Reinkel’s brother. At that time she seems to have praised the timid child she met in the Butler County, hoping that it would give him strength… Amelia tried to remember his brother’s face. But she couldn’t remember his face.

Amelia looked at Reinkel.

“Is… there anything you would like to say?”

At Reinkel’s words, she shook her head in embarrassment. Amelia stuttered, opening her mouth to the question she had heard earlier.

“Has His Majesty met that… that human, I mean General Durante?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Amelia nodded her head. She sighed. An awkward silence settled. Reinkel seemed oddly uncomfortable in this atmosphere. When she saw this, she, too, began to feel uneasy.

“If you feel uncomfortable, you can tell me, it’s just for escort…”

“No, no! I was just thinking of the Sir’s younger brother.”

Reinkel’s face hardened at Amelia’s words. She admitted that she made a slip of the tongue in her embarrassment. But when she tried to apologize to him, he spoke.

“Perhaps, do you remember?”

Remember, what do you mean? Amelia opened her mouth.

“What are you talking about? Are you talking about Sir’s younger brother, Carl? Or about His Majesty…”

Amelia’s eyes widened at the words that came out of her own lips. Come to think of it, Sir Reinkel’s younger brother was ‘Carl’, and the emperor’s name was ‘Carlos’. Reinkel looked at her face and let out a heavy sigh.

“You still don’t remember anything?”

The tone of disappointment was vivid. She didn’t know what it meant.

“Did I make any mistake, I mean, I didn’t remember something I needed to remember?”

Reinkel seemed hesitant at Amelia’s words. Then, he nodded.

“Your Majesty suffered more and more by the day, lest you leave.”

Amelia didn’t know what Sir Reinkel was talking about, so she had no choice but to make a small plea.

“When it comes to His Majesty, I would rather say that it is my side who is always impatient. I’m always afraid that His Majesty’s attention will be diverted or that he’d abandon me.”

“Isn’t Miss Laszlo afraid that the stable environment you have now will be destroyed?”

At Reinkel’s words, she bit her lower lip. Because he wasn’t wrong. But Amelia wanted to be honest with Reinkel at this moment as he seemed oddly criticizing her.

“It’s not.”

The pursuit of stability is true. She had been so sick all this time, carrying something important on her back. But that alone couldn’t define her heart. Although she hoped that this stability would not be broken, it was she who suffered the most from this stability.

〈 Amelia, it’s okay. I will protect you. 〉

The next day after she had that nightmare, Carlos said this. From the moment he accepted her as the Empress, from the moment he said he would protect her from these cold nightmares, Amelia was bound to love him.

“It’s really not.”

It was never just that she liked Carlos as the ‘Emperor’. She was attracted to Carlos as a man. Otherwise, she would not have opened herself first. Besides, didn’t he protect her? After all, Carlos wasn’t using her, and kept his promise to protect her. It would be more strange not to like him. She couldn’t help but love him.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she realized her feelings. Amelia lowered her eyes to hide it, but it had already been caught by Reinkel. Reinkel gave a blank expression.

“His Majesty must have been mistaken.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, both of you were thinking the same thing.”

“Please explain in more detail.”

Reinkel looked troubled, frowning.

“I know that I should not interfere with the affairs of the master I serve, but I think I know well that if it goes on like this, it’ll end in a confrontation.”

“…Sir.”

“Do you want to know the truth about His Majesty?”

Reinkel suddenly asked, and Amelia’s heart started pounding. It was a very unexpected question. Does she want to know Carlos’ truth? She would like to know. In fact, knowing the truth was terrifying, but as long as Carlos kept his promise, she could be a little more courageous.

“No matter what happens, no matter what truth I know, even if I don’t like it, I will not blame His Majesty. So you can feel less burdened.”

“Yes.”

Sir Reinkel worried too much. She will never blame Carlos. How could she blame him? Carlos was her savior.

Seeing her expression, Reinkel sighed and said.

“I’ll take you to the dungeon.”

Carlos looked up at the man tied up. The man was in good shape, but perhaps because of what he had been through, he looked much like a dwarf compared to Carlos, who was standing in front of him. He was gasping for air as if in pain.

“Pour it.”

At Carlos’ order, the knights poured cold water on Durante’s face. Then, the unconscious man was startled awake, opening his eyes to see Carlos. As his hazy eyes caught on Carlos, Durante raised the corners of his lips and grinned. Seeing this, Carlos’s face hardened.

“You weren’t siblings.”

Durante started to burst out laughing. Even though he was in a dangerous place, he seemed pleasant.

“Right, I didn’t know that little guy was from the Imperial family. I, kehehe, the Imperial Family! Kuhaha!”

As his laughter grew louder, Carlos’s expression sank even more. A grim laughter echoed through the dungeon. Carlos waited for the laughter to stop with a cool expression on his face.

“I don’t know who deceived whom. That’s fun. So very fun!”

Carlos glanced at Durante’s face and gestured with his eyes, and the knights began to pull the chains. Then the bound limbs tightened.

“Kuuugghh!”

Durante screamed in pain as the wound in his arm that was stabbed was forcibly stretched. It began bleeding slowly from the wound that was treated. Carlos raised his hand and stopped the knights again, whispering in a quiet voice.

“Your life is not worth anything.”

“…….”

“Yes, I was that kid. But you’ll be in trouble if you think that I’m still the same kid. I am the Emperor of this Empire, and you have insulted my fiancé, meaning you have insulted me as well.”

“Kuhk, do you know what the situation is right now? Is it okay for your men to know what happened to me? And if I were to be like this, wouldn’t your country no longer be a country?”

Carlos saw Durante’s face and burst into laughter. It was the moment when Durante, who had always seemed like a great guy who always had nightmares, seemed naive and stupid.

“Do you think trash like you is going to cause a war?”

“What?”

“You are such a fool.”

Carlos continued to laugh loudly at his face. It was pleasant. He was so happy he couldn’t stand it. Wouldn’t it be pleasant to know that this fool who had been tormenting him all his life was such an idiot. A thrill of ecstasy ran all over his body.

“What do you think my brother would have done when he visited there?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He must have offered a tribute to our country.”

“No, Kshamil and us made a secret pact. The new king has no intention of starting a war with my country.”

“What are you talking about! Your country, if we put our minds to it…”

“Yeah, if you put your mind to it, my country will become a wasteland.”

Carlos said with a relaxed expression.

“But your king doesn’t want to be a savage anymore. If so, they should strengthen their friendship with us. They wanted an exchange.”

“…Impossible.”