As soon as the carriage stopped, Damian, who was sobbing and crying, shouted, “Ah!” and quickly rose from his seat.
Damian got out of the carriage as soon as the door opened, and immediately turned to help Lilian, who got out of the carriage.
“Your Highness…”
It wasn’t a fussy move, but it was an unusual one. Besides, seeing Dame Kyrie, who had been waiting in advance to help Lilian, shyly withdrew, Lilian was doubly embarrassed.
Despite Lilian’s glare, Damian happily helped Lilian get off the carriage.
“Did you really have to do this…”
“In my mind, I want to put my palms under your feet instead of that pedestal.”
Dame Kyrie, who was approaching her, must have heard those words, and her pupils shook violently. Lilian regretted pointing it out.
“Have a nice day.”
“Your Highness, please take care as well.”
“Yes, I’ll take note.”
Damian’s face turned bright. Lilian laughed along involuntarily.
“You look to be in a good mood.”
“I am in a good mood.”
Damian smiled softly.
“I enjoy making fun of people who are trying to be polite. But today, six people like that are waiting for me, aren’t they?”
Damian laughed, but Lilian felt a chill. She shook her head, looking at Ivan behind telling him to look after him.
“Please take care of my older brother.”
“I’d like to, but brother-in-law would grumble just by looking at my face for taking his dear little sister…”
Indeed. Lilian sighed and asked for one last thing.
“Don’t tease him too hard, do it in moderation.”
“Because my wife said so, I will try.”
Except for Damian, who became the Elector of Hemenlinna due to unusual circumstances, and Cedric, who became the Elector of Turin, all the Electors were old. Lilian wished in her heart that the electors wouldn’t have their blood pressure rise.
***
Second in line of succession to the throne.
The only Grand Marshal in the history of the Imperial Army.
Heir of the Grand Feudal Lord of Hemenlinna who conquered the Alt Sea!
A man with power and wealth in both hands appeared last among the seven electors.
Since the electors were originally in an equal relationship except for the person in charge, there’s no need to get up just because someone came.
However, because Damian belonged to the royal family, everyone had to get up and greet Damian.
From the start, he succeeded in making the electors uncomfortable.
“Everybody have a seat.”
The electors sat on the chairs surrounding the round table.
Hemenlinna, Turin, Ikanan, Castana, Lucerne, Tirana, Bishkek.
After all the electors were seated, the meeting started naturally as there was no host.
Traditionally, the theme of the meeting of the electros was ‘Is the emperor worthy of being the emperor?’.
It was. The electors judged whether the reign of the emperor was beneficial or not based on the achievements in various fields such as politics, economy, and diplomacy.
Even if it was just an act of formality, it was a very important procedure as the right to ‘judge the emperor’ supported the power of the electors.
But today the meeting was going in a strange direction.
“Now that the Great Feudal Lord of Hemenlinna has passed away, shouldn’t we inevitably elect a person who will preside over the meeting after him?”
“That’s exactly what I think.”
“Hmm… I waited out of respect for the former host, the Great Feudal Lord, but now the time has come.”
Judging the emperor was easily put aside, and the topic of who should be the host began to heat up.
In particular, the electors of Lucerne, Tirana, and Bishkek, who joined the emperor, were the most active.
As Lilian and Damian speculated, Claude and Rachel promised the position of the Great Feudal Lord in order to attract the three electors at the time of usurping the throne.
The method was also as the two speculated. It was planned to split the honors of the elderly Great Feudal Lord Hemmenlinna, such as ‘Holder of the Elector Council’ and ‘Guardian of the Seven Oaths’, and to bestow titles that had been passed on to the imperial family due to lack of descendants.
However, the promise was not kept for so long as the Great Feudal Lord of Hemenlinna survived much longer than they expected.
Finally, the Great Feudal Lord died at the age of 87. The three electors, who had been waiting for this moment for seven years, were in a state of bliss. At today’s meeting, the three of them were determined to become candidates for being the host and receive approval from the emperor.
‘In order to become the first of the three, they would have given Claude various benefits.’
Claude and Rachel’s skill at handling the electors was excellent. When the right bait was packaged and thrown like a golden apple, didn’t the three electors rush to claim the apple?
They didn’t even seem to notice that to grab the golden apple, they came down from their lofty position comparable to the emperor and were fighting under his feet.
“Does it matter so much who is in charge? In any case, this meeting was held like this even without an organizer.”
As Damian muttered indifferently, an uncomfotable expression spread across the three electors.
The Elector of Ikanan agreed.
“You are right. Ah, Hemenlinna, the Great Feudal Lord, of course, was superior among us, so he could be the host without disagreement, but the current situation is a bit different. Isn’t it, Marquis Turin?”
“…there’s already a precedent for meetings being held without a host. I think even now is just such a time.”
The Elector of Castana only looked at them. Inevitably, among the three electors, the Elector of Lucerne stepped forward.
“Well, I have a different opinion. Wouldn’t electing the host of the elector’s council be a courtesy to the late Great Feudal Lord? To follow him…”
“I’m sorry but as the heir, I know more about that old man’s personality. He would have considered whether or not the emperor was doing his job much more important that who would be in charge.”
“…!”
“Your Highness the Grand Duke!”
Most of them were shocked by Damian’s unconventional remarks. Among them, only Cedric, the Elector of Turin, cleared his throat suspiciously as if to hide the outburst of laughter.
“You talk too much, Your Highness the Grand Duke!”
“I may speak harshly, but His Majesty the Emperor did harsh things.”
“What…”
“Are you aware of the circumstances in which His Majesty bestowed various concessions on Duke Blanchett?”
A look of discomfort spread across the faces of the electors.
“That just means that the Blanchett family is loyal to His Majesty the Emperor…”
“If it were you, would you be able to transfer an iron mine as a reward for such a silly word like loyalty?”
“W-what…”
“Did you say iron mine?”
Even now, the emperor tended to favor some of the lords, including Duke Blanchett. Rachel interjected cleverly, and it was packaged as ‘because His Majesty is in a good mood’ or ‘because they bribed this concubine’, but that was not the case.
Damian explained the circumstances of the interest passed on to Blanchett. Listening to the explanation, the electors were able to guess what they had been uncomfortable with the series of situations.
‘So that’s why, it was like that.’
‘There must have been such a circumstance for Duke Ghibelli to suddenly pass away.’
‘The source of that information is, of course, Eric Schmidt, the new Duke of Blanchett, so there’s no doubt about it.’
Damian spoke calmly.
“Even if you think about it, isn’t the situation too big for the emperor to personally favor a single lord? It’s like raising an opponent that can stand up to the electorate.”
Everyone’s complexion changed and they fell into silence.
Damian lazily drove the wedge.
“Find and ask those who have served with me among the vassals of the latter. I don’t know if I can attack the imperial palace alone and do something about my second brother.”
“!”
“As you can see, I don’t care if there are spies here or not. I believe that the future generations will fully understand what this means.”
Damian had absolute confidence in his own strength. It was a confidence based on facts.
‘I’ve never seen him so hostile to the emperor before…’
‘I don’t know why someone who has always been lukewarm attacked the emperor like this…’
‘The game is bound to change.’
Of course, the reason why Damian decided to exclude the emperor was because both couple had reached out to Lily.
‘If my wife is to be safe only when this situation of political confrontation is sorted out, that’s how it should be.’
Lilian’s permanent safety.
That was Damian’s only purpose.
‘Besides, the emperor intends to keep the electors in check, right?’
It wasn’t that the three electors hadn’t noticed it until now. But the glory seemed so great that they unconsciously ignored the emperor’s danger.
However, undeniable evidence has emerged.
They were in a situation where they might be deprived of what they had with no chance to gain honor.
Looking at the complicated calculations on the faces of the electors, Damian smiled with satisfaction.
It was exactly the result he had intended.
‘I’m sure my wife is doing well, right?’
He wanted to get out of this boring spot and pick her up.
***
After the twists and turns in front of the carriage, Lilian parted ways with Damian and headed for the Empress’ palace.
Naturally, Empress Aratine welcomed Lily.
“Lily! I wanted to see you. To come to me like this…”
The mansion of Madam Rachel, who became a countess, was always crowded with people who wanted to ask for favors, but the empress, who lived in confinement, had few visitors.
“I greet Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Please call me Aratine.”
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