Chapter – 20
Chapter 7. All Those Words About “This Is For You” Were Lies
So far, Evren had been living by imitating human emotions to a sufficient degree.
Of course, there were a few emotions he genuinely had.
Irritation, discomfort, the instinct to survive—those were all there.
Because they were emotions necessary for survival.
But just now, when he had two brief encounters with Lirian…
Emotions that clearly did not belong to him had flowed in.
“I’ve never heard of something like this being possible with control.”
Lirian herself seemed completely unaware.
“Could it be because of the imprinting?”
“And it’s hard to verify since the people who perform imprints have become so rare.”
There were no more foolish humans willing to create weaknesses.
But this time, Lirian was incredibly…
“I’ll be back quickly, just me.”
“Actually, I got a B.”
Every time, this emotion had flowed in.
What should he call it?
“Elias.”
“…? Yes, my lord?”
“Even before Lirian measured it, and even after receiving a B, she was mentally unsettled.”
“Yes?”
“But she said nothing to me directly.”
“…!”
“What would that usually mean for a normal human?”
Elias carefully chose his words, watching Evren closely.
This was extremely important.
His lord was attempting to read another person’s emotions!
“…Hmm. Could it mean that she was scared and disappointed with the grade she received?”
“Scared and disappointed? Why?”
Evren was slightly surprised that Lirian had received a B.
He thought it would be higher since she had suppressed his rampage so well.
But a B was above the average controller in the empire. C and D were far more common.
So there wasn’t much reason to feel fear or disappointment.
Elias tried hard to explain.
“Consider this. The Tillard family’s young lady was called incompetent, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“But above her, there are the minor Duke of Quern and Iris Tillard—”
“Ah, A and S ranks, right?”
So there was a comparison.
Lirian Tillard… interesting.
She acts so confident and competent that I never expected her to care about this.
Even when she spoke those words earlier, her face was smiling brightly.
The more he learned about her, the more fascinating she became.
“In such a case, how would a normal human usually act next?”
“Hmm… the young lady has even eaten poisonous herbs from the dirt, hasn’t she?”
“That’s true.”
“She might still be in quite a constrained state. She keeps negative emotions bottled inside.”
So she was still in serious danger.
But the fact that he had to assess this with someone else’s help annoyed him a little.
He gave Elias a wry smile.
“Elias. You know her very well, don’t you?”
“…This is merely my personal guess. I could be wrong.”
“Hmm.”
Evren touched his own neck.
Lirian Tillard held the leash around his neck.
So he couldn’t let her get hurt over the next year.
Lirian moved to the area where women stayed in the temple.
When she reached the spacious backyard, Jeanne, who had followed as her escort, muttered in annoyance.
“Miss, shouldn’t my lord just summon the princess if she’s here?”
“She crossed the border on her own?”
“Yes. Isn’t that their fault?”
“Hm, it’s better to be careful when judging who’s right and wrong between nations. Especially given His Highness’ current situation.”
“You mean…”
“Right now, she has more enemies than allies.”
Lirian gestured vaguely as if pointing on a map in midair.
“For now, Paville and Tillard from the Five Great Families are not allies. Boliver is neutral.”
“Hm… yes. That’s always the case.”
“Then the remaining one is Tarandia, but His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t even attend state affairs.”
It was a well-known fact that the emperor was slightly mad.
Yet, somehow, the empire functioned reasonably well.
“The problem is that when making important decisions, more than half of the Five Great Families must agree—”
She wanted to propose a contest for the crown prince position?
But in this situation, it wouldn’t matter at all.
Even an S-rank annihilation-type ability user couldn’t kill all of them.
“Then, if we were to consider an external ally, the kingdom of Tenebrin, which follows the same doctrine, would be a possibility.”
The countries across the strait were problematic later for heresy, so it was a little tricky.
That was a story for later.
“So it’s better for me, a woman, to just go and observe the princess. Don’t worry too much.”
“Understood.”
Jeanne nodded quickly.
The shadows following them murmured in admiration.
They had heard all the rumors circulating in high society and among the knights.
“Miss Iris manages her own business, but as an older sister—”
“She should try harder to help the family, shouldn’t she?”
“She puts too much effort into jewelry. Can she even have proper conversations?”
“The young Duke Paville who will be responsible for Lirian will have a hard time.”
All those rumors had been lies.
“You really have to live with someone to know them.”
“No one knew she was this clever.”
“Sigh… tears.”
Would someone like her really be fine with our lord?
They were seriously worried.
The young shadows all knew what had happened to the first empress who married the Tarandian emperor…
Meanwhile, Lirian was busy recalling what she had seen and heard in the ‘original story.’
“The princess’ ability was a skin disease.”
That would be solved later with Iris’ help.
In truth, the princess had an even bigger problem…
Just then, Jeanne, who had been ahead, stopped Lirian.
“Miss. Over there, I sense an unusual presence beyond the bushes.”
“…!”
Lirian’s eyes sparkled.
Those born from Balthazar’s bloodline used the power of the earth.
So, by sensing ley lines, they could easily locate someone’s position.
“If it’s a beast-type ability user, it would be even more unusual.”
The Tenebrin family included snake beast-type ability users, rare to find in the empire.
But Jeanne had stopped moving.
“Hm? Miss, the princess isn’t alone.”
“She has an escort, then.”
“Yes. I hear a male voice.”
“Can you tell me what he’s saying?”
A true ability user—her physical skills were amazing.
Jeanne closed her eyes, concentrating, and repeated the words.
“…Your Highness, I only worry that in Pernies, Your Highness might be mocked.”
“….”
“Isn’t the princess’ appearance the pride of the nation? But there’s nothing that can be done anymore…”
“….”
“Everything I’m saying is for the princess’ sake…” No, that bastard, what is he saying?
Agreed.
Lirian narrowed her eyes.
“Hah… as expected.”
