The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 62.1
The Lily Palace, located far away even from the main Imperial Palace, was a place where even palace servants could not easily come and go. This made it all the more silent, and all the more suitable for clandestine meetings.
Empress Tera, wearing a red silk cloak drawn slightly over her head, made her way into its inner quarters. When the door was opened and the torch sconce on the wall was pulled, a secret passage revealed itself.
After glancing around to make sure no one was present, the Empress entered the passage. Someone was already waiting inside.
“Your Imperial Majesty.”
The man had wrapped himself completely in a black coat, even covering his head. With a rough, throaty voice, he bowed to the Empress.
He was the commander of the Shadow Corps, the man who had not shown up at the Wisley Academy dedication ceremony. He was the only one who expressed his will to the Empress without ambiguity.
Had he attended the dedication ceremony, the Empress would not have been able to push things through unilaterally.
“I requested an audience to hear why the appointment of the headmaster was overturned.”
As expected, the commander spoke without hesitation. It would not have been wrong to call this an interrogation rather than an audience.
Anyone else might have called such an attitude insolent, but the Empress simply sat down quietly and pushed back her hood.
“It was not a failure, merely a delay.”
She dismissed it lightly, as though it were nothing important.
“The academy opened as scheduled, yet you call it a delay?”
“Of course I wanted to put my own person in as headmaster. But since the other side was being bothersome, I merely left the position to them for now.”
“A bothersome opponent… are you referring to the Crown Prince?”
The Empress did not answer.
“It will be better to take it later. For now, with nothing fully established yet, it would only leave me uneasy.”
“How very strange.”
At the commander’s doubtful tone, the Empress’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
“What is strange?”
“We clearly requested the headmaster’s seat before the academy opened. We did not attach any condition that it be given after things had stabilized.”
“That is…”
The Empress began to speak, clearly with much to say, but did not continue.
“And yet, Your Imperial Majesty, you have already broken that promise.”
The commander spoke without restraint, even against the Empress of the Empire.
“If this continues, our contract will be shaken.”
He did not hesitate to let the threat slip out. The Empress did not bother to hide the displeasure on her face.
“You should have presented a truly suitable candidate from the start. You insisted there was no one more qualified, but in truth? He was inferior to the person the Crown Prince nominated.”
Her lips twisted as if to say the fault was not hers alone.
“That is why we needed Your Majesty’s power. We believed that any shortcomings could be filled.”
“You arrogant…”
The commander was openly pointing out the Empress’s incompetence, and she struck the armrest in anger—but stopped there. Forcing down her breath, she exhaled and spoke in a more subdued tone.
“Not just the headmaster’s seat—I will hand everything over.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The management, the administration, the budget, the suppliers… even the teaching posts. All of it. I intend to hand them all over. Preparations are already underway.”
At the conditions the Empress listed off, the sharp air surrounding the commander seemed to ease somewhat.
“You mean to hand over the entire academy?”
“Will that be enough?”
The Empress smiled leisurely as she asked.
“Of course, I don’t intend to act alone. The speed at which we seize control of the academy will depend on your cooperation.”
The commander silently met her eyes, then slowly nodded.
“I thank Your Majesty for Your deep consideration.”
He rose to his feet.
“We will continue to devote ourselves to clearing the path ahead for Your Majesty.”
Leaving only those words behind, the commander leaned on his staff and disappeared into the secret passage.
The Empress stood for a moment in the still silence before rising to her feet. Her expression had grown subtly harder than before.
“How dare those insolent wretches try to threaten me.”
As the Empress left the palace, a man who had been waiting approached her.
“Did the meeting go well, Your Majesty?”
The Empress turned her gaze toward him. His eyes were calm, but his true thoughts were never revealed—this was Brian.
“It seems your commander has forgotten his place.”
Even phrased indirectly, her displeasure was plain. Brian suppressed a faint sigh with a small smile before replying,
“It seems he is impatient.”
He could have taken the Empress’s side and called the commander insolent, but the fact that he did not revealed where his allegiance lay.
He was the one who had made the collar around Blue’s neck—and from the very beginning, he had been an alchemist of the Shadow Corps.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
