The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 20.1
Lady Miroi lowered her gaze back into the tea and quietly lifted her cup.
“It is all thanks to Your Majesty the Empress Tera. Had it not been for your constant guidance, I would never have returned safely.”
“Guidance is something given to all. But it was you yourself who engraved it in your heart and put it into action.”
“Thank you.”
As Lady Miroi once again sipped her black tea, the Empress naturally shifted the subject.
“I hear the Duke Delta has recently been inquiring about marriage proposals?”
“So I have heard.”
Lady Miroi bowed her head respectfully as she answered.
The Empress swirled her teacup lightly in a circle.
“With a ducal house, any family would be glad to welcome the match.”
Her smile was finely drawn, but within it lay a sharp edge.
“However, when it comes to ties with the Imperial Family… such matters require caution in many respects. The more prudent, the better.”
Her voice flowed out smoothly, almost suggestively.
“Above all, it must be a choice made for the sake of both their futures.”
Lady Miroi inclined her head slightly, accepting the meaning without words. There was no need to ask whom the Empress meant by “both.”
“I have something I prepared separately. Bring it here.”
At the Empress’s order, a maid carefully brought forth a small jewel box, no larger than a palm. When Lady Miroi only looked at it, the Empress smiled with a hint of fondness.
“Go on, open it.”
The moment her slender fingertips touched the box, click—the lid sprang open. Startled by how it reacted almost like a living thing, she belatedly noticed the black cord with a bead attached at its end.
The bead, clear enough to reflect her face, scattered multicolored light beneath the sun.
“It’s beautiful. But what is it, exactly? It seems too strange to be called a bracelet…”
Lady Miroi let her words trail off. The unspoken implication was obvious—it resembled an animal’s collar.
“It is a necklace for an animal. Made of very rare materials.”
Why the Empress would give her such a thing, Miroi swallowed the obvious question.
They had just spoken of ties with the Imperial Family. The fact that the Empress had then presented her with something so unusual meant it was intended for a guardian beast.
In the garden, Lady Miroi had seen a small kitten appear beside the Crown Prince Kailos Delroi. The Empress had immediately recognized that the cat was no ordinary animal.
Of course she had. As the Emperor’s consort, the Empress herself had once handled guardian beasts.
So she has finally brought up the guardian beast herself.
According to intelligence reports, though it seemed to be protected within the Crown Prince’s palace, the creature did not appear to truly follow him. But all those reports had come too late.
Guardian beasts passed on to the next generation were moved periodically among the princes’ palaces—not in order of birth, but at the beast’s own will, and their stay was always unpredictable.
The palace of the Second Prince, Cassian, had yet to receive a guardian beast.
By contrast, the beast had already remained in Kailos’s palace for over three months.
Since it had not yet taken on a complete form, they had felt secure in dismissing it. But that could no longer be allowed.
“I will gratefully accept the gift.”
“My, I have detained the young lady who longs to see the Crown Prince for far too long. You may go now.”
She even went so far as to point her directly toward her next destination—to meet the Crown Prince. Her intent was all too transparent.
With the Empress granting her leave, Lady Miroi rose with the jewel box in hand and offered a graceful bow.
“Once again, I thank the Mother of the Empire.”
Offering her farewell, Lady Miroi quickly withdrew.
After the maid closed the door and returned, she cleared away the Empress’s cup and poured fresh tea. As the steam rose and the subtle fragrance of black tea spread, the Empress lifted her cup with leisurely grace.
With the completion ceremony of Wisley Academy approaching, they were about to install an absurd figure as dean. On top of that, the Crown Prince had taken into his service a man entirely unfit for the role of aide.
The Empress had expected things to proceed smoothly, but she could not allow a mere kitten to disrupt her plans.
“It would have been a waste to discard the Duke, but now a new way has presented itself.”
The Empress had long schemed to prevent Lady Miroi from becoming betrothed to Crown Prince Kailos. That Count Robert Camilo had kidnapped Lady Miroi yet failed to handle matters properly was, to the Empress, a lasting regret.
This time, she handed over the collar.
With that collar, the insolent guardian beast could be captured.
“Tell Prince Cassian to keep his window open. The guardian beast will come to him.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
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