Chapter 03
“Your Highness! Are you going to the training grounds again?”
The moment Cassielope picked up her sword, the scolding voice of her lady-in-waiting pierced her ears.
As her body stiffened reflexively, the lady-in-waiting shook her head and handed her a water bottle.
“Please take breaks while you train. What will we do if you actually get sick from overexertion…?”
At the lady-in-waiting’s worried words, Lope gave a slight smile and shook her head.
Though her face was filled with fatigue from having stayed up all night, a brilliant light shimmered in her violet eyes.
Along with the water bottle, she directed a radiant smile toward the lady-in-waiting. It was the pure smile of a child, one that showed she was utterly happy.
“It’s fine. I’m not tired at all.”
“Is the heir’s training really that enjoyable?”
Normally, noble children of her age tended to despise lessons themselves.
Skipping a few times to play, or being late because they overslept, were common occurrences for any child.
But that didn’t apply to Cassielope before she met Regis.
“Not exactly. I doubt there’s a child in the world who would say lessons are fun.”
She’s always so bright and cheerful, yet she says it’s not fun. The lady-in-waiting, who was tidying Lope’s disheveled red hair, tilted her head in puzzlement.
“Then may I ask why you always seem so joyful when you smile…?”
“Well….”
The Princess’s room was on the second floor. If you went out onto the terrace, you could see the entire Empire spread out before you. Cassielope pointed there and smiled sweetly.
“Because this Empire, which my father has protected and which I must protect in the future, is so beautiful.”
To Cassielope, the Empire was the past, the present, and the future. A fantastical realm she had forged by dedicating her entire childhood and youth.
The Clemence Empire was her everything.
The wind swept past her, tousling her lustrous, long red hair as if splashing drops of fresh blood into the air.
She swept back the hair covering her face, revealing serene amethyst-like violet eyes.
An appearance so exceptional that merely passing through a crowd of lavishly dressed nobles would monopolize all gazes.
She had gone to the battlefield from a young age, and every time she participated, she brought news of victory.
When she attended imperial meetings with the high nobles, she often surprised all the ministers by proposing brilliant countermeasures no one else had thought of.
Having grown up showered with affection from her father, the Emperor, her character was also outstanding.
It was only natural that diplomacy with other empires and kingdoms proceeded smoothly.
Without exception, foreign ministry officials visiting the Clemence Empire for diplomacy, as well as the citizens of Clemence themselves, all praised her in unison.
A talent born to be a ruler, a holy sovereign—they said.
As long as she was on the throne, everyone in the Empire confidently declared there would be nothing to worry about. Consequently, no one could have foreseen this event.
That the most perfect sovereign would have her crown snatched away.
And that the one who snatched her position would be her fiancé, Duke Regis Euriel.
For those who knew Regis Euriel and Cassielope Clemence well, this was an even more unimaginable turn of events.
When she was the Crown Princess, their relationship, initially an arranged engagement due to the former Duke and Duchess and the Emperor, was insisted by everyone to be practically a love match.
And rightly so, for in reality, it was hard to see Cassielope and Regis’s engagement as merely political.
Wherever Cassielope went, be it the battlefield, Regis was by her side without fail, and at any banquet or party Regis attended, Cassielope was present.
They were lovers. It was an undeniable fact. Despite having a fiancée, she was the Emperor’s jewel-like daughter, and he was the heir to a prestigious ducal house.
Although many nobles coveted them as marriage partners, they never showed it directly.
If it were a political engagement, there would usually be room to interfere, but there was no such opening with those two.
They were that perfect a pair. It was no exaggeration to say that words like fate and destiny were made for them, as Cassielope and Regis respected and cherished each other.
Thus, it is fair to say that no one could have even imagined that Regis would ‘betray’ his lover, the Empress Cassielope.
“…Your Majesty.”
Cassielope’s head turned slightly to the side. Her childhood nanny, Tessa, bowed deeply.
A pleasant wind swept across the terrace. The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself in the room she had occupied during her time as Crown Princess.
“Have you come here again? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been searching for you…?”
“I know you’re lying, Tessa. Where else would I go? You knew I was here all along.”
Leaning against the terrace railing, Cassielope looked at Tessa and curled up the corners of her mouth. Then, she promptly turned around, gripped the railing, and nimbly hopped up onto it.
Her legs, perched on the thin railing, swung aimlessly.
“You’ll get hurt, Your Majesty. Please come down at once.”
“Tessa, have you seen my clothes?”
“…….”
“There’s nothing but dresses. Only cumbersome clothes, extravagantly dripping with lace and jewels.”
As a young woman, there was a time when Cassielope too had wanted to wear such dresses.
She remembered it was when she was around fifteen. Right after returning from her first participation in a war.
She saw girls her own age, whose appearance was a mess from not having washed for days, celebrating her victory.
Dresses that clung tightly to the body, accentuating feminine curves, and dresses adorned with pristine white lace, making them look adorable.
Wearing such expensive formal attire, with diamond-studded hairpins in their hair. Necklaces and bracelets woven from gold around their necks and wrists. They shone and looked pretty.
“Do you remember, Nanny? There was a time when I wanted to wear such dresses.”
“……How could I forget?”
“They were pretty. They looked beautiful. I wondered if I would shine like that too if I wore such clothes.”
“…….”
“So I told Father that. Do you know what he said?”
“……I wonder.”
“He stood right here, pointed at the Clemence Empire, and said, ‘To me, this Empire looks far more beautiful.’”
As a response from a father, it was mercilessly failing, but as a response aimed at a future sovereign destined to lead this Empire, it was a perfect answer.
Her words, spoken from the perspective of a girl, were met with a reply meant for the imperial heir. Yet, Cassielope wasn’t disappointed.
Because the eyes with which her father looked upon the Empire were identical to the eyes with which she had looked at the girls in dresses.
The former Emperor, whenever he had time, would visit Cassielope’s room and go out to the terrace with her.
As if gazing upon the shining Clemence was the happiest time of his day, with the corners of his mouth lifted high.
“To be honest, I didn’t understand at first. But it’s true. It’s so beautiful.”
As time passed, Cassielope came to understand why the former Emperor had said those words. She couldn’t help but understand.
If she listened quietly, she could faintly hear the laughter of the Empire’s citizens. At night, the scenery glittered with brilliant lights. It felt as if all the fatigue of the day melted away.
If this was the reward for dedicating my time, my life, then I would gladly offer it. Cassielope vowed so.
She considered it an honor that her efforts could be exchanged for the preservation of this beautiful Empire.
“The desire to wear a dress, it stopped occurring to me after that. Because there was something more beautiful right before my eyes.”
“……And is that why you are dressed in a négligée?”
“When I woke up, there was a dress in the room. Along with a letter Regis left. He asks me to wear it and attend his coronation.”
Anyone else might have, but Regis couldn’t do that to her.
It was only natural that a deposed woman, attending the coronation of the man who personally ousted her, to become his wife, would become a laughingstock.
Cassielope had only had two coronations in her life: one when she became Crown Princess, and one when she became Empress.
So, she had never even imagined participating in another coronation, where Regis would ascend the throne and she would become his Empress.
A coronation for an Empress was an event where the Emperor presented his woman before the nobles, a declaration not to lay a hand on her.
Empress coronations weren’t held through every generation.
It was an event only held if the Emperor personally presided over it, either because he loved the Empress too much, or as a form of transaction with the Empress’s family.
“Yo-Your Majesty…!”
It happened in an instant. Cassielope’s body leaned backward and disappeared from the railing.
Tessa looked down over the railing with a horrified expression.
Fortunately, below the terrace was a soft flowerbed, and thanks to the low floor height, she didn’t seem hurt.
“I’m not dead, Tessa.”
I have no intention of dying. For whose benefit would that be? Cassielope muttered in a voice low enough that only she could hear.
The sky was clear, acting as if nothing had happened. The scent of flowers wafted gently.
Cassielope gave in, no longer fighting against her heavily drooping eyelids.
It was time for ‘Empress’ Cassielope to die.
