Chapter 36. Restless Reflections

It was an emergency operation to rescue the youngest daughter of the Daehsin family, who by some unknown coincidence had ended up on the border of the northern region.

This came to light after receiving an urgent report from one of the watchtowers on the border: who happened to spot a girl who, by all outward appearances, resembled exactly Gardenia Daehsin.

The border of the north, at the moment, was still the most dangerous place in the entire region. Unlike the rest of the north, this area had not been completely cleansed of monsters, so the area still needed to be strictly controlled. It should be said that this omission was not because it was an oversight on the part of the northern fortress, but rather it was deliberate. In Asil's opinion, even from such creatures, one could bail out one's favour. After all, the monsters on the border served as a natural defence against outside invaders who might try to invade the north.

Remesis, who found the princess's suggestion to be not unreasonable, supported it in due course. In this way, they could save a good deal of money on military force, and instead distribute most of the soldiers from the border to areas where their presence would be of greater benefit. Up to a certain point, this plan had worked well and hadn't caused any problems so far.

However... Who would have thought that something like this could actually happen?

No one had any idea how exactly the youngest daughter of the supreme astrologer could have wandered into such an area, but nevertheless, the fact remained that right now, the girl's life was in serious danger. In addition, it happened to be during this period of time that the patrol at the northern border was being changed, and because of that, there were even fewer soldiers than usual. Because of this, the guardsmen who were currently on the border couldn't help the girl properly — as they were simply outnumbered compared to the monsters.

Before they could reach Gardenia's location zone, they would most likely just be slaughtered.

So, help was urgently needed from Fortress North for this emergency. And after a short discussion, it was decided that the Lord of the North would go personally to lead the rescue team.

Since this decision, as well as the news itself, was made very quickly, the preliminary preparations were also made in a hurry. And the next morning, as soon as dawn rattled, Lord Severa left the fortress with a small group of patrolling guards.

The Princess of the North remained in the castle, and from the window of her study watched as the troop of warriors that rode outside the gates became smaller and smaller, until finally it disappeared completely into the snowy horizon. Only then did the girl with dark, night sky-like hair take a deep breath.

In truth, the circumstances of what had happened were not fully apparent to Remesis herself either. How could Gardenia Daehsin have ended up on the northern border? Was it really the will of fate on everything? It seemed some things were just meant to happen anyway.

Remesis Rania Ashelot bit her lip as the various thoughts in her head kept her from concentrating on her work. The unopened work reports still lay untouched on her desk. And how could one think about work at a time like this?

In fact, Remesis hadn't thought long before suggesting that the princess lead this rescue mission.

Of course, at first glance, the pretext for this seemed the most plausible — the youngest daughter of the supreme astrologer was not the last person in this empire, and the lord of the lands had to show his sincerity, and directly go personally to rescue the precious aristocrat from trouble. But... In reality, Remesis' true intentions regarding this situation were somewhat different.

Prior to this, the princess of the north had long thought about how to keep the princess away from her. The woman, raised by Remesis since their childhood, was loyal to her in all things, as if she had raised an obedient dog. And while this had its advantages, it also caused the girl a lot of trouble.

Among other things, it should not be forgotten that before their impending divorce was not so much time. And this excessive 'attachment' between them was worrying Remesis: would their divorce go as smoothly as she had hoped? Although they had agreed on the fictitious nature of their marriage long ago, Remesis couldn't be entirely sure of that now. After all, given the unpredictable nature of the princess, anything could happen.

So, in essence, Remesis had decided to test her intuition, and practically 'throw' her wife into the arms of a strange woman.

She wondered how Asil would behave in this situation.

Considering that in their previous life their romance had started after Asil had saved the girl from the monsters, would it work out that way this time too?

The Duke's youngest daughter was so worried about the answer to that question that she still couldn't concentrate enough to pull herself together.

The girl set down the glass of water and groaned, covering her face with her hands.

'Maester Luven...'

At times like this, Remesis couldn't help but miss the man who smiled brightly whenever she had so many thoughts. Wasn't he also the only person the girl could trust without hesitation?

Besides...

Remesis kept being bothered by the expression on the princess's face that she saw on her yesterday. What could it mean? Remesis felt anxious and puzzled about the situation, as even she couldn't say with certainty what exactly could happen.

That was all the girl could think about at the moment.

Maid Julie, who was on duty in the office of the princess of the north at the time, noticed that she had not been herself since the morning. This disturbed her, but seeing the serious expression on Remesis' face, the maid hesitated to approach her herself.

Instead, after giving it some thought, the maid decided to approach Hannes Wrightly, who was standing outside the door. She informed the knight that Mistress' condition was not too good today.

The next moment the door leading to the study opened.

— Your Highness, is something troubling you?

A man with greying bronze hair immediately entered the study and knelt down in front of her.

— Umm...

Remesis now had to look the speaking fortress commander in the eye and open her mouth, pretending to be unburdened.

— No, it's all right.

Hannes shook his head.

— If you're worried about the lord of the North, there's definitely no need for that. I'm sure the lord will definitely handle it, and she'll be fine.

— What? No, no. It's not that...

Remesis exhaled heavily. Asil will be fine. Of course she would be. Who would ever doubt that?

The girl sensed the puzzlement in the knight's distracted eyes, though. He looked as if he couldn't figure out what else could have caused the princess's anxiety.

— Then why are you so anxious? — He asked, 'Has something else happened that I don't know about?

— I would not say that anything has really happened. Or rather, it hasn't had time to happen yet...

Remesis unconsciously re-sighed.

Although this question seemed silly and pointless, the girl thought that she would still lose nothing if she asked it now. Besides, Hannes Wrightly was one of the few people in her life with whom the Princess of the North could broach deeper topics of conversation.

After a moment's hesitation, she hesitantly opened her mouth:

— Actually, lately I've been thinking more and more about the meaning of life...

— Excuse me?

Seeing the reflected surprise on Hannes' face, Remesis continued:

— Especially, I am concerned with the topic of the moral foundations of our society. People are not perfect and tend to indulge their baser desires. It is difficult to remain faithful to one person for a lifetime. Any marriage can fall apart at any time.

When Remesis suddenly spoke of this, the knight hesitated for a while, settling this information in his mind. Finally, he said:

— Well... It certainly doesn't apply to you and the Princess.

This statement was said more than confidently. But Remesis only shook her head.

— No alliance can be insured for certain. Purely hypothetically, but cheating could also happen in our couple.

At that moment, Hannes Wrightly stared at her with obvious shock on his face. It was as if he had learnt that the world would end on earth tomorrow, or some other unthinkable thing.

— Do... You want to cheat on Her Highness?! — Immediately, the knight was dumbfounded.

— What? Why did you immediately think of me? — Remesis was involuntarily indignant.

— Well... — he hesitated, -It's obvious that Her Highness can't do that...

'Is that how it is...?!..'

Remesis was ready to laugh at the absurdity of what she heard. And of course, she was also outraged.

As her inner indignation continued to boil up inside her, Remezis once again had only to marvel at the magnificent acting skills of her wife, who could skilfully mislead even someone like Hannes.

Except... Would her skills also work well in front of Gardenia Daehsin? Well, there wasn't much time left before Remesis would be able to find out.

***

For the past few days, the empress had been in an unhappy mood. No one knew the reason for it, but nevertheless the woman's extreme irritability seemed obvious to those around her.

As the Crown Princess's inauguration approached, Julia Ravelia Ashelot continued to lose her temper, causing all of the maids to worry.

A maid who came to wake the empress in the morning was struck by water and a couple of vases were broken. This was very different from her usual state, where the empress held herself in accordance with the dignity of her status and did not let 'impermissible' emotions take over.

'Her Imperial Majesty seems to be troubled...' — the maids whispered amongst themselves.

Few people knew about it, but the empress was actually in such a state of mind after her conversation with a stable boy who 'accidentally' met on the empress's path not far from her residence. Of course, no one was aware of the details of this conversation, but apparently it did not go well.

Did that lowly servant dare to insult the mother of the people of the empire in any way? This was the first obvious assumption that could arise. But nevertheless, since that stable boy's head was still on his shoulders and he himself was not imprisoned, it was possible that the matter was different.

'...Julia. You yourself know exactly what I want to talk to you about.'

Those words of that insignificant man still couldn't get out of her head. Because of this, the empress was still unable to control herself, being in the worst of moods.

'Fred Harper. How dare he say such a thing to me...?!' — the woman was glowing with anger.

The empress, who had been a bit disorientated lately, sat in the middle of the bed with a sullen expression. At this time, maids came into her chambers as usual to attend to the Empress' morning toilette. Julia paid no attention to them until her ears picked up one phrase out of the general flow of chatter.

— ...I heard that Her Crown Highness had an audience with the Emperor today.

As soon as the head maid serving the empress broke the news that came today, the expression on the woman's face cleared up for the first time in a while.

— What did you just say? — Julia interjected.

'...Ah.'

When the empress addressed her, the maid became a little nervous. However, she quickly gathered her wits and continued:

— Your majesty, I overheard this by chance from the Crown Princess's palace maids,'' she hesitated, ''Today at noon, Her Crown Highness and the Emperor will have a private meeting, which was requested by the Princess herself.

A look of bewilderment appeared on the woman's beautiful face that framed her copper-like red hair.

'What, why haven't I heard anything about this?'

— What is the purpose of this audience? — The empress frowned.

Although it was a meeting between father and daughter siblings, but it wasn't as simple as it seemed at first glance. Julia was well aware that her daughter was always nervous in the presence of the Emperor, and besides, their relationship wasn't that close. So, the fact that Aveline herself had asked for this meeting could not have come as a surprise to the empress.

However, the maid was unable to give Julia an answer, and only modestly lowered her head.

— I... Unfortunately I don't know that.

'.....'

For some undetermined reason, Julia Ravelia Ashelot suddenly felt an excitement surging up her throat. In the next instant, she resolutely stood up, intending to personally go to the central palace right now.