Chapter 30
30. The Result of His Favor
Lady Laval left without even having lunch.
I went alone to the dining hall and had lunch.
Afterward, I suddenly found myself with free time, so I headed to the workshop of the dressmakers to discuss the design of the wedding attire together. Since there might be some traditional forms to follow, I had asked Lady Laval, but her answer was brief:
“Please make it as His Highness Lacy wishes.”
When I asked His Majesty Aleksanteri as well, he said more or less the same thing, so I decided to design the wedding attire according to my own wishes, consulting with the dressmakers.
When I entered the workshop, the dressmakers welcomed me warmly.
As I showed them my sketches, various opinions were exchanged:
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“A longer jacket will make His Majesty the Emperor look even taller.”
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“For Her Highness’s dress, a longer hem would be appropriate.”
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“What if we embroidered matching patterns on His Majesty’s tailcoat and Her Highness’s gown?”
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“Since Her Highness is also tall and slender, rather than puffing out the skirt, a form-fitting design may suit her better.”
Listening to each suggestion, I corrected and added to the sketches.
Once the design was more or less complete, I decided to have His Majesty review it later, and in the meantime, I returned to the artificial flowers I had been making.
Last time, I had dyed the petals. Today, I pressed each one with a heated iron to give them shape. The heat left a form in the cloth, making it three-dimensional.
I worked carefully, shaping each petal, and just as I finished them all, one of my maids came to call me:
“His Majesty the Emperor is returning.”
“I understand. Thank you. We will continue this next time.”
After bidding farewell to the dressmakers, I returned to my chambers and quickly changed clothes. Back at the viscount’s house and even during my school days, I had always dressed myself, but here in the Imperial Palace, the maids always helped me, so I had given up resisting. They also fixed my hair.
When I went down to the entrance hall, His Majesty Aleksanteri had just returned.
“Welcome home, Your Majesty Aleksanteri.”
“I’m back, Lacy. Wait for me in the tea room. I’ll change quickly.”
“Yes, I’ll be waiting.”
Perhaps something urgent had come up?
Curious, I moved to the tea room. Soon, His Majesty appeared, now changed from his white work attire into a pale blue outfit. In his hand, he carried a flat, square box.
When he gestured for me to sit on the sofa, I did so, and he sat beside me.
“Lacy, before we talk, I want you to see this.”
He opened the box and gently took out a piece of cloth inside. It was a child’s garment, stained with brown marks. His Majesty’s fingers traced the embroidery, and I recognized it at once.
“This is Garne’s clothing, isn’t it?”
“Yes. When I was desperate to survive, I clung to this memory. Cecile made it for me. It was the only piece I could bring with me. This stain… it’s Cecile’s blood.”
His Majesty’s fingertips trembled as he touched the stain.
He handed the child’s garment to me. It was the very same outfit I had seen so many times in dreams — Garne’s clothing, embroidered with a blue vine motif.
“Even as he was being cut down, Cecile hugged me tightly and shielded me with all his strength. I felt his life slipping away in my very arms as the blood flowed from his body.”
Soon after, the forces sent by Chancellor Kajetan, who was serving as acting emperor at the time, had arrived and secured His Majesty Aleksanteri’s safety.
“I didn’t want to leave Cecile, but they tore me away, and Cecile’s body was buried.”
“He was already dead, so it couldn’t be helped. In my dreams, I saw that moment of his death over and over again. Cecile was glad he had been able to protect Garne.”
“It was because of me that Cecile died. I can’t bear to lose anything ever again.”
At his voice, raw and torn like blood being spat out, I could find no words.
Even if I had Cecile’s memories in dreams, I was not Cecile. I couldn’t comfort His Majesty as Cecile. Cecile was already gone.
“That’s why, Lacy, I want you to become my empress.”
“Pardon?”
The conversation had suddenly leapt in a strange direction.
Me, an empress?
The one and only legitimate wife of the Emperor, addressed as Her Majesty?
I vaguely recalled His Majesty proposing at the graduation ball, saying something like that. But I had thought it impossible, had never taken him seriously, and so I had long since forgotten.
“Me… an empress!?”
“Yes, Lacy. The one who stands at my side all my life will be you and no one else. You will be my only wife — of course you will be empress.”
“No, no, no, that’s impossible! I can’t possibly be empress!”
I had thought being a consort or even a concubine would make it easier to support him, but never once did I imagine being granted the position of empress.
The empress is the highest-ranking woman in the entire nation, second only to the Emperor himself.
“I’m just a viscount’s daughter, aren’t I?”
“That doesn’t matter. Besides, the House of Dian once saved the empire from financial ruin generations ago. No one could object.”
“But I’ve lived in poverty, more like a commoner than a noble.”
“That makes no difference. In fact, that background will help win the people’s support for you as empress.”
“I sew my own clothes and grow vegetables in the kitchen garden.”
“That’s fine. If you spend your days happily doing what you love at my side, that is my greatest joy.”
He was serious.
Could I really become empress?
I was born to a poor viscount’s family, raised in near-commoner conditions.
His Majesty drew me close, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“According to Lady Laval, your training as consort is progressing well. By the wedding, you will be a fine empress.”
So I was not to be a concubine or consort — I was to be empress.
No wonder His Majesty showered me with so much affection.
No wonder Lady Laval drove my lessons so hard every single day.
As I sat frozen in shock, His Majesty gently stroked my back, easing my tension. His warmth seeped through the fabric of my dress, calming me little by little.
“Me… an empress…”
“Even if you said you didn’t want to, Lacy, this one thing I cannot yield. For your position must be firmly established. That is what will protect your safety here in the palace.”
“I…”
“The only one I can love is you, Lacy. Please, marry me and become my empress.”
Held tightly in his arms, hearing his desperate plea, my daze began to clear.
I had no confidence in myself as empress.
But His Majesty loved me, and I loved him.
Above all, I couldn’t bear for him to suffer the same despair he had when he lost Cecile.
If I became his wife, there might indeed be attempts on my life.
But with the authority of empress, second only to the emperor, I would have stronger protection, and fewer would dare to target me.
“Am I really… enough?”
“There is no one else, Lacy. It has to be you.”
When I came to the palace, I had already resolved to become his consort, to bear his children and continue his line.
If that was the case, then the higher my status, the more I could support him — and the more cherished our children would be.
“I don’t have confidence… but I will try my best.”
I couldn’t yet boldly declare that I would be empress.
But when I gave him my earnest answer, His Majesty held me close and brushed the lightest of kisses against my lips.
Lacy Dian, nineteen years old.
Ten months remained until I would become empress.
