Liard was genuinely caught off guard by Shuria’s words. Erger wanted to see him? At their first meeting in the audience chamber, Erger had been bristling with hostility. The way he had glared at him — as though he might bore right through him with those sharp eyes.
He had seemed deeply dissatisfied with the marriage as well. Liard understood Erger’s feelings completely. If he himself had been pushed into marrying a man twelve years his senior by his family’s decision, he would have found it utterly dreadful too.
That was precisely why he had intentionally left Erger alone. He had arranged the young man’s quarters as far from the main palace as possible so that they would barely need to cross paths.
“He was asking whether Your Majesty had no intention of coming to see him.”
“……Mm. Perhaps he’s bored?”
Shuria rolled her blue eyes — identical to Liard’s — and said,
“He did mention he has nothing to do at the palace. Said he left everything behind at the Mage Tower……”
“He was someone who kept busy with his research, so palace life might well feel tedious. I hadn’t thought of that.”
I assumed he’d be glad to have time to himself. He would need to contact the Mage Tower and ask them to send over as much of Erger’s belongings as possible. He wouldn’t be able to research as freely as he had at the Tower, where mana practically overflowed — but still.
Shuria studied Liard quietly as he fell into his own thoughts.
“Being bored is one thing, but… he seemed like he simply wanted to spend time with you, brother.”
“That can’t be right.”
Liard said it flatly.
“When I saw him last, he appeared to find me quite disagreeable.”
“Hmm? Surely not.”
“Is it not difficult for him to feel anything favorable toward me?”
He had been living freely, enjoying himself with friends his own age — and now he was bound to the stuffy imperial palace through marriage to Liard. He had also made his displeasure quite clear upon learning he had been watched.
Above all, Liard had no particular desire to earn Erger’s goodwill. If the prophecy was not to become reality, it would be better to keep his distance. After all, once a child was conceived, they were meant to go their separate ways and live as strangers.
And then there was the matter of Erger being the Prime Minister’s son. He had heard that Cezar had paid Erger a visit. He wasn’t sure how Cezar intended to make use of his son, but there was no harm in being cautious.
He would not treat Erger with hostility as one person to another, and he would attend to his comfort — but that was all. Nothing more.
Shuria opened her mouth as though she wanted to argue against Liard’s words, then gave up.
“Well…… regardless, he didn’t seem like a bad person. He doesn’t have that sinister air the Prime Minister carries. If anything, he was rather transparent.”
“He still seems like a boy.”
“Yes. That’s certainly true. Though perhaps that’s exactly what will bring some life to the inner palace?”
Since Shuria herself was eight years older than Erger, it was only natural she found him feeling somewhat like a child.
“Look in on him from time to time. And if you notice anything unusual, let me know.”
“So — be friendly with him and keep an eye on him. Is that what you mean?”
Liard smiled at Shuria, who understood without needing things spelled out.
If he placed Shuria near Erger and kept a reasonable distance himself, things should proceed without any major complications. That was what he believed.
Of course — beliefs had a way of crumbling at least once.
2. A Vow for Life
A fortnight later, Erger stood with a sullen expression on his face. Servants clustered around him, dressing him in the imperial wedding attire. The garments had been tailored to his exact measurements, and they fit his body without a single gap or crease.
A high collar fastened neatly up to the throat, a silhouette that fell cleanly and sharply from shoulder to waist without an ounce of excess. It was a long coat-style formal robe that covered below the knee. Fine gold thread embroidery was stitched across the snow-white fabric.
Through the mirror, Erger noticed the servants casting furtive glances at him, their expressions faintly flushed. Today, even by his own judgment, he looked breathtakingly beautiful.
But what use was looking his finest? Erger couldn’t hide his dissatisfied mood, and his face showed it plainly. The sharpness of that expression only added to the decadent, dangerous air around him — though that was beside the point.
Throughout all of this, Liard had not once come to the Imperial Consort’s quarters.
Their first meeting on the day of his arrival at the palace — an audience that had lasted less than ten minutes. After that, they had lived apart as though strangers, and today, at the wedding ceremony, was when he would see him again.
As though doing Erger a favor, Liard had contacted the Mage Tower and had Erger’s magical tools, experimental materials, and various spellbooks brought to the palace. Thanks to that, the first few days of suffocating boredom had let up somewhat.
But who asked him to do that?
Erger’s mouth twisted to one side. No matter how considerate the gesture, the fact remained that life at the imperial palace was stifling and dull — and there was nothing to be done about it.
Spread across the entire imperial palace was a vast magic array that suppressed mana. It was designed as a safeguard against mages infiltrating and assassinating the Emperor.
Even the Imperial Guard — composed of the finest knights in the empire — could not guarantee they would be able to stop a mage. Instant teleportation directly inside the palace was impossible as well.
So no matter how many magical tools he stacked up here, he could never conduct his research the way he had at the Mage Tower, which stood upon a lake of churning mana.
For ordinary mages, working within the palace walls meant that even with incantations, they could manage little more than simple auxiliary magic.
Of course, Erger’s situation — given his immense reserves of mana — was a little different. Even with his mana suppressed by the palace’s magic array, he could wield most offensive spells without issue. He made a point of not letting that fact show, for fear of having surveillance assigned to him.
Ah — now that he thought of it, there was one advantage to palace life.
Thanks to the palace’s magic array, he no longer needed to periodically release mana through indiscriminate encounters. Finding partners for that sort of thing in a dull place like this would have been a chore in itself. And as the Imperial Consort, he would have to mind how things looked in others’ eyes.
Not that it matters — the Emperor had said he was free to take lovers as he pleased.
“……Ah.”
The moment Liard’s face surfaced in his mind as he said those words, Erger was swept by a sharp wave of revulsion.
Why had he felt the need to say something like that from the very first meeting? Was it meant to reproach him for his indulgent lifestyle? Yes, he had enjoyed himself — but he’d had his reasons.
Or had it been a preemptive strike?
What if the Emperor already had a particular lover — someone dear to him?
That was entirely plausible. There was no way the Emperor had been quietly celibate all this time. Such a beautiful omega…… and no longer young.
And he was the Emperor, wasn’t he? If he summoned someone to his bedchamber, there would be no one who could dare refuse his command.
Erger found himself wondering how many alphas had passed through the Emperor’s side. Surely there was at least one among them whom he had given his heart to — a true lover? Once the thought took hold, the unpleasant curiosity ran away with itself and refused to stop.
But I never kept a specific person…… I never even entertained the idea.
He had been betrothed against his will, his future mortgaged to someone else’s decision — and his fiancé had seemed entirely indifferent to him on top of it all. In a state of twisted resentment from every angle, he had fallen into an even deeper recklessness, pulling countless people into his bed right up until just before the wedding — that much was true.
Once married, he had intended to give it all up — even if the lack of mana release would be difficult to bear. Shameless as his past had been, he at least had that much decency.
And yet it already felt as though Liard had branded him a faithless husband before the marriage had even begun. He felt wronged. He felt furious. And whenever he imagined that the Emperor might have a lover, an instinctive, murderous impulse stirred within him.
It was the natural welling up of emotion from someone who had already claimed Liard as his omega.
“Ha.”
Erger bit down on his teeth and exhaled sharply. The lady’s maid who had been tending to his hair startled and quickly lowered her head.
“Did I do something to displease you?”
Erger’s expression was not a gentle one, and it was more than enough to frighten a young attendant. Erger, himself startled in turn, swiftly shook his head.
“Ah — no. I’m sorry.”
Despite the sharp-edged exterior and the blunt manner of speaking that made him seem ill-tempered, Erger was, at his core, a quietly kind person. He was generally considerate of others and genuinely enjoyed making friends. He could flare up easily at times — but he was not fundamentally the sort to treat people carelessly out of spite.
The maid bowed her head repeatedly and apologized.
“Not at all — for you to apologize, my lord. It was my fault for not attending to you with more care……”
“It truly wasn’t because of you……”
Erger insisted urgently, but he could not get the maid to stop her self-deprecating posture. He supposed that from now on — until the moment he left the palace after giving the Emperor a child — he would have to get used to this sort of treatment. Once today’s ceremony was over, he would be addressed as Your Highness and waited upon with even greater deference. He was tired of it already.
Having finished dressing, Erger stepped out of the Imperial Consort’s quarters with a complicated look on his face. He traveled from the inner palace to the outer palace chapel by carriage. It was a distance of about thirty minutes on foot.
The carriage that had come to escort the new groom was outrageously extravagant. Gold adorned every surface, and floral decorations had been added to the roof and the horse’s saddle.
Erger sat in the carriage all the way to the shrine, thinking of Liard. It had been well over a fortnight since they had last seen each other. The fine details of his features had grown hazy in his memory. All that remained was the impression of a beauty so striking it had been almost shocking.
Before long, they arrived at the chapel. Erger was led along in something of a daze. He had memorized the order of the ceremony in advance. Once it began, he would need to take Liard’s hand from the very start and walk together to the altar.
Erger stood blankly before the chapel doors. It still didn’t feel real — that he was about to become the Emperor’s husband. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t known; this had been his fixed fate since the age of ten.
The Emperor, apparently having only just managed to arrive after attending to official duties right up until the last moment, was still in the waiting room. He was late last time too. So the wedding is just that low on his list of priorities, is it? Erger cursed Liard silently as he waited.
Then at last, the door to the waiting room opened, and Liard walked to Erger’s side. He heard the footsteps approaching — and yet, strangely, Erger found he couldn’t turn to look at Liard right away. His heart was pounding with a ferocity he couldn’t explain.
Why is this happening? Like a child. Like an idiot. He was still in the midst of berating himself when, from beside him, a quiet voice spoke and a hand was extended toward him.
“You look very beautiful today, young master Crowell.”
Erger turned to look beside him, feeling strangely drained of all strength — and very nearly bit his own tongue in shock. The Emperor was so breathtaking that every ounce of resentment that had built up during the fortnight of neglect dissolved in an instant.
