Chapter 17
The news about what happened in the palace at dawn quickly reached Duke Nigel.
“Hah! Killing an unarmed servant with a sword at dawn—how could an emperor do something like that?!”
His face was twisted with disgust.
“Even uneducated peasants don’t kill people in their bedroom. How is he any better than the barbarians? Looks like being in Lubeo for so long made him just like them.”
If Kaien had heard that, he would’ve been speechless.
But Marquis Seil, who was loyally listening, strongly agreed with a nod.
“It’s truly shameful for the great Darius Empire to fall this low.”
The Marquis finished his glass of whiskey with a sigh.
“If the late emperor had been firmer in his decision, this wouldn’t have happened. What a shame.”
“Lowly, savage people tend to live longer.”
Duke Nigel said meaningfully.
“Who would’ve thought that a 7-year-old prince left in the wasteland of Lubeo would grow up like this?”
He scowled unpleasantly.
When the former emperor lost his beloved wife and became mentally unstable, Duke Nigel skillfully blamed the young prince.
He had thought the succession problem was over back then—but he was wrong.
“Count Hayer volunteered to take the young prince to the barren lands, and at the time, it seemed like a good solution… But now I regret it. It would’ve been better to keep him in the palace.”
“Yes. Then he would’ve received proper training as a future ruler.”
Marquis Seil responded.
Duke Nigel scoffed at his words.
“No. If we had kept him here, the crazed emperor might’ve killed him with his own hands.”
Nigel’s sharp eyes glinted coldly. The depth of his scheme surprised Seil, who gulped nervously.
“You’re still young—you don’t know. Back then, your father and I never had a moment’s rest dealing with the mad emperor.”
Seil’s father, who had supported Nigel, had already passed.
Now, his young son, Carlson—barely 30—was carrying on the alliance with the duke. But he couldn’t inherit his father’s memories.
“Please teach me more, Duke.”
At the marquis’s polite words, the duke nodded in satisfaction.
“But now that the spies around the emperor are dead, what will you do? What if the emperor blames you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Duke Nigel burst into laughter.
“If he could do that, he would’ve captured them and questioned them first. But instead, he just chopped off their heads like a barbarian. He’s no better than them, so he can’t accuse anyone.”
“That’s true… Besides, you’ve been managing the government and the Assembly while the emperor was stuck in Lubeo.”
Duke Nigel leaned back on the sofa with a nod.
“The emperor will leave the capital again soon. While he’s here, we’ll be careful—but once he’s gone, things will go back to normal.”
“Yes. He’ll head back to Lubeo and keep slaughtering barbarians.”
It had been pure luck that the former emperor had gone mad.
If Kaien’s mother had survived, Kaien would’ve grown up as the beloved only heir, well-educated and supported.
He would’ve easily crushed the nobles and inherited his father’s power.
“The moment the emperor was abandoned by his father at age 7, he lost his place in the capital.”
Though Count Hayer saved his life by taking him away, Kaien never truly belonged in the palace or the Assembly.
“Even his parents abandoned him. That’s lower than a beast.”
“Yes. That’s where the emperor comes from—he can’t hide it or change it.”
By the time Kaien became emperor, Duke Nigel had already gained control over the government, thanks to the former emperor’s madness.
“But the real problem… is Lucan.”
“Lucan? I thought you had strong ties with the Grand Sage?”
Duke Nigel knew from the start that the so-called wise man was someone like himself.
So their alliance had been easy and natural.
“But there’s something odd in the reports about the spies’ deaths.
Why would that barbaric emperor cremate their bodies and send them home with respect?”
That didn’t make sense. If he wanted to show respect, he wouldn’t have killed them so violently in the first place.
“Could someone have advised him?”
“Advised a man who just beheaded people? I wouldn’t dare say anything to someone like that.”
But… there was one person in the palace who might have.
“…Unless the Empress was involved.”
“Huh? But isn’t the Empress from Lucan? I thought she was completely out of favor?”
“She is. She never had her own opinions—she just repeated what Lucan told her.”
Making her empress was all part of Nigel’s plan.
He knew Kaien would never love someone from Lucan, so she was a safe choice. And it helped him keep Lucan on his side.
“I need to figure out what Lucan is thinking. Did he give her strange orders?”
Even a skilled politician like Duke Nigel couldn’t know the tiny changes happening inside the Empress’s quarters.
He never imagined that the puppet-like Empress could act on her own.
That was Duke Nigel’s only—and fatal—mistake.
Alicia tied up her hair and wore a simple indoor dress and apron as she walked into the Empress’s kitchen.
The kitchen had been bustling ever since the Emperor started eating there, and Alicia fit right in.
“Don’t mind me. Just focus on your work.”
“Yes, we’ve already told them so.”
Though it was autumn, the kitchen was hot.
Alicia followed Aness and carefully observed the palace staff preparing the meal.
“Tonight’s menu… Hmm, this is tough.”
She held the menu in her hand and thought hard. If it were just for herself, it wouldn’t matter.
But Kaien had come to eat here several times now, so she had to care.
“Adding a salad is nice, but all the dishes should be warm.”
They say food can tame even wild animals.
Her situation wasn’t much different—and the “beast” was the Emperor himself.
But if even Kaien could feel happiness from warm, tasty food, maybe this wasn’t such a crazy idea.
“Warm dishes are the key. That’s what makes eating here special.”
Alicia wasn’t arrogant or foolish enough to think Kaien was coming for her. She knew better.
“Yes. Meals in other palace halls are focused on formality, and the kitchens are far away, so the food gets cold. Especially in Lubeo…”
“Right. So if we try to make the food too fancy or add too many courses just because he’s coming, it’ll backfire.”
What brought Kaien back again and again wasn’t cold meat or lukewarm soup from drawn-out formal meals—it was the warmth and simplicity of food here in the Empress’s quarters.
“He already had fish today, so I need a different main dish.”
“But we’ve already served so many kinds of meat…”
“It’s fine.”
Alicia found her answer in a place no one in this era paid attention to.
“We haven’t served chicken yet.”
“Chicken? But that’s so common…”
Alicia smiled confidently.
“Fry it.”
“Pardon?!”
Didn’t people used to say even a shoe would taste good if fried? In this world, they had everything needed to deep-fry food, but no one used the method.
“Season the meat well and fry it twice in hot, clean oil. Our chef is skilled—he can do it.”
When she first became Alicia, getting used to the food here was hard. But after some trial and error, she had found ways to recreate some familiar tastes. Being a bored Empress had helped.
“But… why fry it, of all things?”
“Tell the chef to prepare a lot. You’ll see why at dinner.”
Fried chicken is delicious. That simple truth mattered more than anything else right now.
“Oh, and I have something else to do. Who’s in charge of dessert?”
“Over there, Your Highness…”
“Aness, bring me a lot of sugar.”
Aness looked confused but nodded.
She didn’t know much about baking, but the cookies in the Empress’s quarters were already excellent—except for one flaw: they used very little sugar in this era.
“I know… There’s plenty of syrups and jams. But what I need now is sugar—white sugar.”
Alicia smiled.
“And serve the beer as cold as possible.”
“You want to serve that kind of drink to the Emperor?”
“Yep. Just wait and see.”
If she wanted to tame a wild man like Kaien, she had to start with food.
“This dinner will be a guaranteed success.”
If food was the only way to lure in someone like him, then fried chicken and lots of sugar were the right choices. She knew how irresistible they were—and this was the perfect chance to use them.
“No matter their status, everyone finds joy in delicious food.”
Alicia decided to bet everything on that one simple truth.
