AWLC 13

Chapter – 13

Alesto directed his gaze toward the emperor, who was waiting only for his answer, and asked cheerfully:

“Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

The emperor’s anxious expression immediately brightened.

“I was thinking… maybe I’ll go to the temple to pray. Lately, I haven’t felt like my old self, and I keep having these weak, worrisome thoughts…”

“Oh dear.”

Alesto clicked his tongue softly.

“Go with the empress. I’ll inform the Grand Minister for you.”

Then his gaze shifted toward the empress.

For a moment, a look of deep disgust flashed across her face, but she didn’t voice it.

“Very well.”

The emperor, seemingly oblivious to the empress’s expression, simply looked pleased. He took a single bite of the perfectly cooked snail dish and put down his fork.

“Well then… I’ll be going…”

“Yes, please do.”

After a brief pause, the emperor received Alesto’s permission and rose from his seat. On days when there was a meal at the Forest Palace, the emperor always left first.

The crown prince sat at the highest seat, looking down on him; the empress displayed nothing but disdain toward him. Being in the same space with them must have been a torment.

Once the emperor had left and the door closed, the empress set down her wine glass with a clink and asked:

“Why did you allow him to go to the temple?”

Her tone suggested she was certain there must be a reason.

“What do you think the reason for wanting to go to a temple might be? Probably to seek a way to survive. To beg for help,” Alesto replied nonchalantly.

Hearing this, the empress sketched a rough mental picture.

He struggles desperately to survive, only to find that the tiny hole he discovered is completely useless?

What expression would the emperor wear then?

Would he tear his hair out in frustration?

Heh heh.

Feeling slightly better, the empress changed the topic.

“I heard you signed a marriage contract with the Herman family?”

Alesto nodded without showing any expression. When she didn’t get any further response, the empress’s voice grew impatient.

“Do I have to hear my son’s marriage news from someone else?”

Alesto shook off the heavy atmosphere.

“Indeed. Mother, how do you always know my news before I even tell you? Sometimes, you know my news faster than I do.”

The empress, not touching her food, sipped her wine and pretended to be distracted.

“What sort of child is she?”

Upon hearing a question about the saintly girl, Alesto’s appetite seemed to vanish. He rinsed his mouth with water.

“She’s frail.”

After his brief answer, Alesto used a napkin to wipe his mouth, leaving the empress feeling unsatisfied.

“She’s frail, but that doesn’t mean you’ll marry her right away, does it? Still, as her mother, isn’t it natural to ask about your future daughter-in-law?”

Alesto met his mother’s eyes and spoke quietly, almost like a warning.

“Be careful. Owls these days are hellbent on catching badgers.”

If the crown prince’s minions were the owls, then the badgers were the empress’s people.

“I also heard about Lady Sheila. She was someone I cherished.”

“Then why do you keep sending the ones you cherish to Blossom? How about I release some owls into the Rose Palace for you too?”

At her son’s provocation, the empress slammed down her wine glass and raised her voice.

“It’s frustrating because there’s no progress in catching the snake!”

The same old routine began again, and Alesto sighed.

“Didn’t you say that his death could be useful? If we wait a little longer, it could fetch a high price. Would you want to give him away cheaply just because of your impatience? After all the time he spent at the palace, haven’t you learned patience yet?”

“You don’t understand my heart. What could I do at the palace? All I’m waiting for is when you’ll catch the snake. But there’s no news, so isn’t it frustrating?”

“If it frustrates you that much, why don’t you catch it yourself?”

The empress’s eyes narrowed sharply.

Catch it herself?

“If I had the guts to do that, do you think I’d still be sitting here…? I want to, but what can I do if I can’t?”

Her sharp eyes glistened, and Alesto’s momentum faltered. He wasn’t the perfect filial son, but he couldn’t ignore his mother’s tears.

“Perhaps you could wait while doing flower arranging.”

“Flower arranging… after all these years? I started it to calm my mind, and it’s been over twenty years now. How could it be fun?”

Seeing that words were futile, Alesto began speaking more bluntly.

“Why not try love, then?”

The empress’s expression instantly became prim and slightly embarrassed.

“I have no one but your late father. You know that, and yet you say such things.”

“I just meant to suggest diverting your attention somewhere else.”

“For example? You mean to take an interest in that frail young lady from the Herman family?”

Alesto shook his head, helpless.

He wiped his hands on a handkerchief, stood from the table, and left the dining room after leaving one final remark:

“Just remember, she is the woman I chose because I love her.”

After Alesto left, the empress, now alone, leisurely refilled her wine glass and muttered to herself:

“What can I do? Worrying….”

Alesto left the Forest Palace and climbed into the waiting carriage.

He didn’t state his destination, but the carriage, as always, headed toward Blossom.

He opened the carriage window.

A pleasant breeze brushed his cheeks, and suddenly, a scruffy woman flashed through his mind.

When the doors of the Almond Palace closed, she had stared at him, terrified, her gaze leaving him unsettled.

One day into captivity.

Asha lay sprawled on the living room sofa, staring at the sky outside.

The sky is blue today, too.

Will I just keep thinking these trivial thoughts from now on?

She wasn’t dissatisfied with being confined.

It just felt a little disappointing that it was limited to the Almond Palace.

“When will trust be established?”

She waved her hand at Ruby, who had come over to straighten her crumpled skirt.

“It’s fine, leave it. I’ll be lying down anyway, so it’ll get wrinkled again.”

Ruby smiled warmly.

“Lying down all the time? You won’t attend the ball?”

“Ball?”

“Yes!”

Ruby, completely unaware of Asha’s situation, nodded eagerly, eyes sparkling.

There was a reason her eyes shone like that.

Normally, owls are divided into multiple grades. Higher-grade owls have access to better information and can take on more difficult missions.

In short, higher-grade owls are treated as valuable assets.

But Ruby? She was among the lower-lower gray owls.

For an owl to rise in rank, they had to complete missions marked with the difficulty [Gwan].

But missions marked [Gwan] almost never fell to a gray owl, and if they did, nine out of ten times they would die.

Unfortunately, Ruby had almost no way to rise in rank—until this mission.

Now Ruby had a new hope:

To become the perfect maid in Asha’s eyes and stay by her side for a long time.

Of course, even after Asha became empress.

Luckily, Asha becoming empress didn’t seem impossible.

It seemed the crown prince was already completely smitten with her.

But maintaining that position would be a different story.

Historically, many women became empresses due to the emperor’s love.

However, one fatal problem they faced:

Their natal family was far too weak.

In fact, wasn’t that why the emperor’s former wife, Camilla, was divorced?