Chapter 30: One Month to the Banquet”

A week had passed.

During that time, the Voronia Palace was livelier than ever before.

Nobles and ministers visited the palace and met with Rohan.

Simply put, they were ‘lining up’.

Among them, there were those who openly expressed goodwill toward Rohan, but many more came to test the waters or gather information.

Yet, Rohan welcomed even those visitors with utmost sincerity.

‘Truly remarkable.’

Zenon, who had been frequently visiting Voronia Palace after work lately, sat in the drawing room, quietly observing those coming and going.

Except for a few, most visited with rather questionable intentions.

Zenon had cautiously asked Rohan about this.

  
—Most of them are here to dig up information about Your Highness or harbor negative feelings as part of the opposition. But why do you meet with all of them regardless?

  
He was concerned about Rohan.

No matter how mature Rohan appeared, he was still only fourteen.

Dealing with scheming adults was no easy task.

But at that time, Rohan’s response had struck Zenon from behind.

  
—Avoiding those who aren’t friendly to me is a cowardly thing to do. In this world, people prefer accomplishing what’s difficult over what’s easy.

  
Such an answer had given Zenon a certain realization.

‘I’ve been doing only the easy things in life!’

He had studied as his father ordered, entered the Imperial City as instructed.

At the Records Archive, he only did what he was told, yet constantly complained about how hard it was.

So, after that, Zenon had visited Voronia Palace every day after work.

His Highness had told him, ‘Let’s set the world right together.’

If that was the case, shouldn’t he make an effort worthy of those words?

Scratch, scratch!

Like a hawk, Zenon’s eyes gleamed as he meticulously wrote down the list of visitors today as well.

By tomorrow, that list would be thoroughly investigated by Zenon at the Records Archive.

Investigating the backgrounds of those Imperial City figures who approached Rohan.

That was the best way, as a scribe of the Records Archive, that he could help Rohan.

  
---


“Tada, how is it? Isn’t it amazing?”

Lucretia spoke triumphantly, arms folded.

“Oh.”

Rohan raised his eyebrow in admiration.

“It’s really... Yes, it’s magnificent.”

He meant it.

Lucretia had tailored Amanda’s dress.

It was the first time he saw the finished piece since the fitting.

“Wow! As expected of a popular tailor! Especially, that silk line cutting down the center of the skirt—it’s like the leg of an angel!”

Beside him, Zenon clapped his hands, chiming in.

“Thank you, Scribe. You really have a discerning eye.”

Hohoho!

Lucretia and Zenon got along surprisingly well.

Of course, it was mostly because Zenon was smitten with Lucretia’s beauty and always had something nice to say.

“And what are you still doing here, Zenon?”

“Ahem. Well, these days, my duty after work is to report to Voronia Palace, isn’t it? Attending to Your Highness is also part of my job.”

“Tsk. Martin would flip if he heard you.”

“He’s not here anyway, is he? Hehe.”

“......”

He was more brazen than he seemed.

“But, Your Highness, I made it because you asked, but... where are you going to use such a fancy dress?”

“In a month.”

“A month... Huh?”

Lucretia’s eyes narrowed as she spoke.

“Your Highness, don’t tell me...?”

At her questioning look, Rohan only smiled and shrugged.

“Oh my, oh my. Goodness.”

She clearly understood what Rohan was implying.

That in a month, Empress Amanda would surely attend the Emperor’s birthday party.

“A big wind will blow through the Imperial City...”

“Huh...? Am I the only one who doesn’t get it?”

Zenon alone looked puzzled.

“Now that the dress is finished, I’ll return in two days. I’ll go to my shop and gather some accessories that would match Her Majesty’s dress.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Rohan snapped his fingers.

The Emperor’s birthday party.

That day, his mother had to be more beautiful and radiant than anyone.

So from now on, what Rohan needed to focus on most was his mother Amanda’s recovery.

Even if he took care of the secondary preparations himself, the most important thing was his mother’s mindset.

Ah, of course, there was someone he needed before beginning.

“Well, I should get going. I have something to do.”

With a gentle smile, Rohan left Lucretia’s room.

  
---


“Mother.”

The next day.

Rohan headed to Empress Amanda’s quarters with the new medicine.

“Your Highness.”

Perhaps thanks to frequent walks with Lucretia lately,

his mother looked much better than before.

“Starting today, you’ll be taking a new medicine. It doesn’t taste good... but it works well, so you must take it regularly.”

“A new medicine?”

Amanda looked surprised as she stared at the cup Rohan held.

“...It looks rather unusual.”

The liquid shimmering in the cup had a subtle sheen.

“Is it... really safe to drink?”

Amanda, who always spoke positively, hesitated for the first time, her expression odd.

The medicine looked shocking, after all.

“Of course. Ah, and starting today, we’ll also be doing something called rehabilitation exercises.”

“Rehabilitation?”

“It’s a therapeutic exercise to help you return to your daily life. They say if you don’t move, your muscles will gradually weaken, so you have to keep using them.”

“Exercise?”

Amanda’s eyes widened slightly.

“Hmm, I’m not sure I can do that.”

She sounded uncertain.

“It won’t be easy, of course. That’s why I’ve brought a special exercise instructor.”

Rohan opened the door, and there stood a woman.

“Who...?”

Amanda looked curiously and then recoiled in surprise.

“Oh my, isn’t that an E-Elphirian? And that hair color...”

“Mother.”

Rohan gently placed his hand on Amanda’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. She’s my friend, Retina.”

“Friend...?”

Amanda couldn’t believe it.

What sort of being was a Blood Elphirian?

Notorious for allegedly drinking human blood...

“For reference, I asked, and apparently the rumor about drinking human blood is just a myth.”

“...Is that so?”

Gulp.

A small swallowing sound was heard.

“Ha, haha... N-nice to meet you, Retina.”

As Amanda awkwardly raised her hand, Retina bowed her head politely.

“Retina will help with your rehabilitation for a while. If you follow her instructions, you’ll recover in no time.”

The day he saw his mother’s finished dress.

Rohan had gone straight to a secluded room at the end of the corridor.

A cold room with only a small bed and a wardrobe.

There was no sign of life, and at a glance, it looked empty, but it was actually a room Rohan had prepared for Retina.

He had left a note there.

Asking her to visit his chambers that night.

And this was the result.

‘Blood Elphirians have excellent senses.’

He’d heard that if they focused, they could even hear the heartbeat of someone far away.

Not to mention their physical abilities.

Their innate athletic sense would surely be of great help to his mother’s rehabilitation, he had no doubt.

If anything happened, she would reach him faster than anyone else.

“Just one month. You must work hard to recover during that time, Mother.”

“One month...? Is there a reason for the deadline, Your Highness?”

“In a month. What’s happening then?”

“Hmm... Well, His Majesty’s birthday... Oh!”

Amanda’s thin hand covered her mouth.

“No, surely not. Your Highness, don’t tell me you mean...”

“Surely, I do, Mother.”

Rohan looked at Amanda with a warm smile.

“At that banquet, you’ll enter holding my hand.”

  
---


“How truly strange, so strange.”

A middle-aged man with thin glasses and gold-blond hair tied back leaned in his chair, muttering.

“No matter how I think about it, there’s no reason for the Second Prince to change so suddenly.”

He was Marquis Cajin Fabian.

“I’ve included all records, nobles, and ministers’ testimonies from that period.”

The marquis’s secretary and clerk, Abraham, spoke nervously.

Thud!

Marquis Fabian slammed the documents down.

“Abraham.”

“Y-yes, sir...!”

“You say you included everything, but if you couldn’t find the cause, that means something is missing, doesn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, my lord. I’ll find more as soon as possible...”

At Abraham’s words, the marquis snorted.

“If you couldn’t find it within the set time, do you think more time will help? No. If you could’ve found it, you should have done it right the first time, shouldn’t you?”

“M-my lord.”

“Get out, now.”

When the marquis pulled the bell cord, burly men soon dragged Abraham away.

“My lord! Please, just one more chance...!”

“Tsk, what a useless fellow. Why are youngsters these days all so weak?”

Abraham was from a family known for producing bright minds, but he was proving more useless than his own daughter.

At that moment—

“Did you light another fire under someone today?”

Someone slipped smoothly into the marquis’s office.

“Oh, my lovely daughter. You’re here?”

She was none other than the marquis’s daughter and Second Empress, Emilia.

“I hear you’ve been digging up information on Rohan lately.”

Emilia sat on the sofa, crossing her legs.

Probably, in the whole empire, she was the only one who could act so casually in front of the marquis.

“Ah, yes. I actually wanted to ask you something. About the tutor I had you recommend before. How was he dismissed again?”

“I don’t know. Just—”

Emilia made a gesture as if something had burst.

“He disappeared without a trace.”

“Suddenly?”

The marquis’s eyes narrowed.

“Supposedly, he was a gambler with a lot of debts. It’s the same old story. Like most debtors, he probably fled or is hiding like a rat somewhere.”

“Hmm.”

Back then, he’d been dealing with foreign matters and didn’t get a proper report.

The marquis rubbed his forehead, his brows furrowing.

“What family was that fellow from again?”

The Second Prince was so far off his radar, he’d just shoved in anyone, no matter how incompetent.

‘Something’s off.’

He’d have to look into that missing tutor as well.

“By the way, Father. Are you really planning to make Rohan Crown Prince?”

At Emilia’s meaningful question, Marquis Fabian smiled thinly.

“His Majesty himself brought up the succession. In this situation, if we openly oppose, it might backfire.”

“If I talk to His Majesty myself...”

“Of course, you’d be against it.”

The marquis spoke firmly.

“But to deliver a fatal blow, one must step back. The bigger the plot, the quieter the preparation. I have my own preparations underway.”

His eyes grew cold.

“So, no more objections. Keep quiet for now.”

At her father’s attitude,

“...Yes, Father.”

Emilia, who was always confident in front of anyone, shrank.

Unconsciously, she was rubbing her left forearm.