SEM 12

#012

“I pay my respects to His Majesty, the Emperor, the master of the Empire.”

At the Empress’s greeting, the Emperor gave a slight nod. At this, Rozella rose from her seat and sat on the sofa to the right of where the Emperor was seated.

Grady, who had been kneeling on one knee with his head bowed since Rozella’s greeting, had still not been given permission to rise.

“You must’ve been nearby.”

“I was taking a walk in the garden because the afternoon sunlight was pleasant.”

“Were you not lingering around my office after hearing that Grady had arrived?”

“Your Majesty!”

Rozella’s exclamation, like a scream, passed over Grady’s bowed head. The sharp sound, like ice cracking, already triggered a headache.

“Empress. You truly are something. If it were me, I wouldn’t even want to see Grady’s back.”

“That’s all in the past.”

When Rozella lowered her eyes, Emperor Mateo sneered and waved his hand dismissively.

“What business brings you here without notice?”

Instead of telling Grady to rise, Mateo asked about his purpose. Grady opened his mouth to answer.

“I intend to marry on the Day of the Opening of the Morning of the Seasons. Since you are my one and only brother, I felt you should at least be informed.”

“What?”

Startled by Grady’s abrupt announcement, Mateo, who had been lounging lazily on the sofa, sat up straight.

He wasn’t the only one surprised. Rozella also looked at Grady with wide, shocked eyes.

Seeing her expression, Grady swallowed hard.

Rozella had been the one to urge him to marry. Yet now, she acted as though she was hearing it for the first time, her feigned surprise worthy of applause.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the rumors?”

At Grady’s composed response, a sneer appeared on the Emperor’s lips.

“You’re really marrying that vixen? You?!”

Mateo shook his head in disbelief.

Grady glanced up at Mateo. The Emperor’s chest was rising and falling rapidly. He seemed to have lost his composure in rage over what he perceived as something stolen from him.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a bride who suits me better.”

“Criber! You’re a member of the imperial family. Have you already forgotten that?!”

‘If not for that cursed final wish…’

When the cold-hearted late emperor was on his deathbed, he had asked Grady to look after Mateo. At the time, Grady had bitten his tongue in frustration.

Even though the late Emperor knew how coldly Mateo treated Grady, his final request had been for Grady to submit to him. That final wish, combined with the shackles Rozella had placed on him, had turned Grady into a dog of the imperial family. And to make matters worse, every noble in the Empire knew about that final wish.

Emperor Mateo constantly used it to press Grady down.

“It’s just a remnant of the past. Didn’t Your Majesty personally strip me of everything?”

The first thing Mateo did after ascending the throne following the late Emperor’s death was demoting Grady from Prince to Grand Duke.

No one objected to a Grand Duke title being given to the Emperor’s brother. But Grady had lost the name inherited from the late Emperor. He had become someone who could never stand beneath the crown again. It was a position he had never dreamed of, but losing it by someone else’s hand left a strange emptiness.

“Are you trying to provoke me right now?”

Despite Mateo’s outburst, Grady’s expression remained unchanged. He looked like someone who had lost everything, devoid of emotion.

“……”

“And you say marriage? You’re getting married? Is there anyone in the Empire who doesn’t know where Grady Criber’s affections lie?”

At Mateo’s sneer, Grady lifted his head. He was still kneeling on one knee, as he had not been given permission to rise.

Rozella, flustered by Mateo’s rage, looked at Grady with helpless concern. Her green eyes shimmered with tears on the verge of falling.

“You misunderstand.”

“Misunderstand?”

The Emperor looked incredulously at Grady.

“She chose Your Majesty long ago, did she not? The outcome was already decided.”

“Ha!”

Unable to contain his fury, Mateo jumped up and stomped his foot, discarding all decorum.

“Why! Why of all people is it Eliana Hoffman?!”

The wad of papers Mateo threw hit Grady’s head and scattered. The pink sheets fluttering before his eyes looked like petals.

“I simply found the person who best suited a scoundrel like me.”

At Grady’s calm answer, Mateo’s eyes burned with fury. It looked like he might grab Grady by the collar at any moment.

“You think I’ll allow this marriage?”

“You severed ties with me yourself. What right do you have to block the marriage of someone who isn’t even family?”

“How dare you raise your head, you worm!”

The imperial seal on the desk flew at him. Grady could’ve easily dodged it with a slight turn of his head.

But he didn’t avoid the seal. It was the Emperor’s own seal—dodging it would only have enraged Mateo further, something Grady knew well from experience.

“Kyaa! Your Majesty!”

The Empress’s piercing scream filled the room.

Drip. A red stream of blood obscured Grady’s vision. In an instant, the whole world was dyed in crimson. He wiped the blood roughly with the back of his hand.

“Your Majesty! How could you wound Duke Criber’s face? He is your brother!”

Rozella ran over to Grady in a panic. At her reaction, Grady let out a low sigh.

“I’m fine, Your Majesty. Please return to your seat.”

Grady gently pushed away her hand that was feeling his face and shook his head.

It was always like this. Rozella pretended to care for Grady while provoking the Emperor. In doing so, she prevented Mateo’s attention from straying elsewhere. She was a truly clever woman.

“Your Grace!”

“I’m fine. If Your Majesty remains by my side, it will only further provoke His Majesty’s anger.”

As Grady spoke in a low voice, Rozella hesitated and began to step back—

“What are you whispering about so sweetly?”

“Please, stop this, Your Majesty.”

Rozella clung to Mateo’s arm, and he reluctantly sat back down.

Blood was still flowing freely from Grady’s forehead. Seeing the growing puddle on the carpet, he let out a short chuckle.

It was just like the day he first met Eliana. Even though it had been raining, the vivid crimson in his memory had never faded.

“A dog in heat without its master’s permission. How disgraceful.”

Even at the Emperor’s vulgar insult, Grady’s expression didn’t change. And that composure only fueled Mateo’s rage further.

“……”

“Stop pretending to be a mute and answer me! Why did you reject all the women the Empress offered, and why her of all people?”

After fuming for a while, Mateo collapsed back onto the sofa.

Watching his arrogant posture, Rozella sighed—her eyes full of pity for Grady.

“I just don’t think there’s anyone who would suit me better.”

“What?”

“A scoundrel and a vixen. Isn’t that a perfect match?”

With his bloodied face, Grady gave a crooked smile. It was so chilling he looked like a demon from hell, and Mateo turned his head away in disgust.

* * *

“What the hell is going on here?!”

The room was a mess, wrecked by Mateo’s uncontrollable rage. Everything—once fine pieces crafted by artisans—was now destroyed junk.

“Calm yourself, Your Majesty.”

“Calm myself? Did you say calm?”

Even as Mateo shouted furiously, Duke Lloyd’s expression didn’t change. The Emperor’s tantrums were a frequent occurrence. There was no need to make a fuss like a commoner.

It was a shame the furniture had been ruined, but it wasn’t his property anyway. To the Emperor, such things were nothing.

“Weren’t you the one who guaranteed it would be nothing to bring that girl in? How the hell did she end up meeting Grady?!”

The Emperor, thinking that the woman he’d desired had fallen into the hands of the one he despised most, had lost all sense.

Blinded by rage, he pointed fingers and destroyed valuable items without care.

Duke Lloyd didn’t try to stop him. He simply waited for Mateo to tire himself out.

As expected, Mateo soon slumped onto the red sofa, breathing heavily.

The chief attendant, who had been standing silently nearby, stepped forward and refilled his empty glass.