Chapter 53: I Will Steal Her Away
…What?
When I turned toward the direction of the voice, my entire body stiffened.
Karsen, the King of Kalus?!
Why is he here…?
I had come thinking it would be a dinner with Leonard, Cedric, and myself, walking in with light steps.
But dinner with King Karsen?
This was entirely unexpected.
As I stood there in a daze, Karsen pulled out a chair.
“Please, have a seat.”
What on earth is happening?
My rational mind hadn’t caught up with the situation, but I had to respond to his courtesy for now.
“Thank you.”
Once Karsen and I were seated, the dishes began to arrive, one after another.
From appetizers to desserts.
Unlike the Empire, where dishes are served sequentially for varied flavors, the Kingdom of Kalus presented all the dishes from the start.
My jaw dropped at the table overflowing with food.
Every single dish looked delicious.
I couldn’t decide which to try first.
Once the chefs left, Karsen poured liquor into an empty glass.
“The Kingdom of Kalus is also famous for its distinctive liquors.”
The drink he poured was a clear, milky white. I took a sip without thinking and was instantly startled by the extreme potency.
Seeing me cough, he chuckled.
“You don’t hold your liquor well, I see.”
“What is this?”
“Our nation’s traditional liquor. Winters here are much harsher than in other regions, so people enjoy strong alcohol to endure them.”
They drink strong liquor because it’s cold?
There should be some limit.
What I just drank was well beyond any reasonable strength.
Just one sip and I could already feel it going to my head.
Had I known it was that strong, I wouldn’t have touched it at all.
I only took a taste out of politeness, because a king offered it to me.
“You do have an unexpectedly delicate side. You never disappoint. Fascinating.”
Karsen kept laughing at me like I was endlessly amusing.
“Please stop teasing me.”
“I’ll try.”
Which definitely sounded like he wouldn’t.
“If the taste still lingers, how about trying this stew?”
I ate the stew he offered.
Tender meat and rich broth harmonized beautifully.
Unlike the bitter alcohol, the food afterward was genuinely satisfying.
Even the conversation wasn’t too heavy.
Aside from his somewhat irreverent tone, Karsen was surprisingly a very enjoyable conversationalist.
From the political climate of various nations to gossip from high society—
He spoke and explained fluently on a wide range of interesting topics.
His breadth of knowledge was truly impressive.
They called him the Crimson Monarch, so I thought he was just some brute with strength.
But he possessed a dignity befitting the king of a nation.
“…I think I’ve been underestimating the Empire of Pentrian all this time.”
“You underestimated the Empire?”
At my question, Karsen nodded.
“I thought it was a country filled with arrogant and narrow-minded fools.”
“Surely you haven’t forgotten that I’m the Empress of that country?”
“I used to think that way, is what I mean.”
“And now your opinion has changed?”
“It has. Because I met you.”
“I wonder how I changed the mind of His Majesty the King of Kalus.”
“You changed it quite a lot.”
He smiled silently, then looked at me more seriously.
“I’ve heard that the Emperor has his attention on someone else.”
Someone the Emperor is interested in?
“Even in our Kingdom of Kalus, it’s common knowledge. The Emperor is too busy being smitten with some other woman.”
Ah. He’s talking about Fay, the Imperial Consort.
“So what if the Emperor cares for the Imperial Consort? That’s hardly a flaw.”
“Oh? Aren’t you jealous?”
“You have to be interested in someone to feel jealous.”
“So… you mean you have no interest in the Emperor at all?”
“Of course not.”
I shook my head without hesitation.
There was no way I could be interested in Jerome.
Probably never in this lifetime.
“I can’t understand the Emperor of your country.”
I glanced at Karsen, wondering what he was about to say next.
He gave me a meaningful smile.
“If it were me, I would never leave someone like you alone. In fact, it might be a good thing that the Emperor has neglected you.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“It’s a good thing I’ve been neglected?”
He nodded vigorously.
“If the Emperor is off chasing someone else… then I suppose it’s fine if I steal you away.”
“Steal who?”
“You.”
“…Are you drunk?”
Instead of denying it, Karsen simply raised the corners of his lips.
“I’ve made up my mind. I will steal you away from the Empire.”
“……!”
—
🖋️ Pentrian Empire – Emperor’s Office
Scratch scratch.
Inside the room, the sound of a pen moving steadily echoed through the air.
Occasionally, the soft rustling of papers turning was heard as well.
Then, a knock on the door.
“Your Majesty.”
It was Marquis Niklad, the secretary.
“Enter.”
At the brief permission, Marquis Niklad stepped inside.
Even as his subordinate entered, Jerome didn’t lift his eyes from the documents.
“…What’s the report?”
At his dry question, Marquis Niklad straightened up and began his report stiffly.
“Her Majesty the Empress did not go to the duchy.”
Even at the Empress’s absurd claim that she was headed for the duchy, Jerome showed little reaction.
As if he had expected it.
“Then where did she go?”
“She headed for the Kingdom of Kalus.”
“The Kingdom of Kalus?”
Jerome furrowed his brows.
He had predicted that she wouldn’t go to the duchy.
But Kalus?
“What in the world is she doing there?”
“That… I’m afraid we don’t know the exact reason.”
“You mean you lost track of her?”
“It seems there was an ambush during the border crossing.”
“An ambush?”
The sound of the pen scratching across paper came to a stop.
Jerome finally raised his head and looked at Marquis Niklad.
His gaze had turned ice-cold.
“Report in detail.”
“It began near the border with assailants disguised as merchants, followed by several more attacks.”
“Who were they?”
“We’re not sure of their exact identities, but they appear to be trained assassins.”
Assassins targeted the Empress.
Jerome exhaled deeply.
“Continue.”
“Fortunately, Sir Leonard and Lord Cedric were skilled enough to fend off the threats.”
“With those two, no ordinary group could have succeeded. And the Empress?”
“There were no reported issues regarding Her Majesty.”
“…So she’s unharmed. Then?”
“Despite several assassination attempts, Her Majesty’s party managed to cross into the Kingdom of Kalus safely. However, they appear to have been captured by the border guards there.”
“…Captured?”
“Yes. It has been confirmed that she was being taken to the Kalus royal palace.”
“……”
A suffocating silence filled the room.
Marquis Niklad pressed his lips tightly together.
‘How did someone like her become Empress…?’
The Empress, captured by a foreign nation.
And as a result of illegal entry, no less.
An unprecedented event.
But at this point, the issue was not her dignity or why she had crossed the border.
The only thing that mattered was that the Empress had been captured by another country.
Naturally, they had to retrieve her by any means necessary.
Punishment could come later.
‘First, we must explore all diplomatic options.’
He had already gathered all possible avenues before coming here.
War would be the last resort.
First would be a long and grueling diplomatic campaign.
It would likely take months.
And the Empire would have to bear considerable loss in the process.
No doubt, even Emperor Jerome was now calculating the cost of recovering the Empress.
Tap tap.
Jerome, after a brief silence, tapped his desk lightly with his fingers.
His decision was made.
Marquis Niklad straightened, ready to receive the Emperor’s command.
“Niklad.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Order the Imperial Guards to prepare for deployment.”
“…Deployment, Your Majesty?”
Marquis Niklad looked visibly shaken.
Not diplomacy—military action?
“Yes. Immediately. Prepare them to march at once.”
“Y-Your Majesty, if the goal is to rescue the Empress, would it not be wiser to use diplomatic means first?”
At his plea, Jerome raised one finger.
“Six months.”
“……?”
“It would take at least a month to send an envoy, deliver the message, and receive a response. Then multiple investigations, communications, and finally, a summit—at least six months. And that’s if we use mages.”
Marquis Niklad inwardly clicked his tongue.
Before coming here, he had mobilized every organization to estimate the duration and cost of such a negotiation.
Astonishingly, the timeline Jerome calculated on the spot matched it exactly.
“You’re telling me to leave the Empress in foreign hands for six months?”
“But if we send the Imperial Guard, it could start a war.”
However slow or frustrating diplomacy may be, it still paled in comparison to the devastation of war.
But Jerome’s view was different.
He stood from his seat and declared:
“I’ll go myself.”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
“I will personally…”
Jerome finished in a low, concise tone.
“Strike the Kingdom of Kalus.”
His eyes darkened.
“We must reclaim the honor of the Imperial Family that was taken from us.”
—
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