In This Life, I Will Raise You Well, Your Majesty!

“Wow! Really, Brother?”

“Yes. Let’s go together later if the Syuphl territory is released from His Majesty’s direct control. I often think of it after hearing the story from the 2nd Consort, so I wanted to see it at least once.”

Treasures can be harmful to those who do not have the strength to protect them. Nevertheless, Ascensio was adamant about whether it was right to give them. Because, like water, it wasn’t luxurious, precious, or valuable, but people would die without it. Ascensio thought he would get better by enduring, but why should he be afraid of change if he was going to wither and die anyway?

Elisha did not interfere with Ascensio’s judgment. Instead, she asked how he would react to what would happen and cared to expand Ascensio’s thinking ability.

Kingship is the study of the emperor. However, not all those who have learned it practice the same politics. The emperor runs the country according to each person’s inclinations and beliefs.

Elisha was trying to lay the foundation for how Ascensio would develop his empire. She tried to converse with him so that he could draw the picture he wanted accurately without shaking from the small things.

“Since Shamir said he knows the Miyon Desert well, let’s go with him, Brother!”

Ascensio slightly frowned when talking about Shamir, whom Leon had become close with recently, but when he met his brother’s eyes, he straightened his expression as if it had never crumpled.

“Shamir doesn’t seem to have fond memories of the desert.”

“Really?”

“Yes. In addition, the fact that we, the royal family, cross the border can also provoke the Kran Kingdom and the nearby Santiano Empire, so unfortunately, it would be better to give up the Miyon Desert.”

Leon nodded his small head vigorously up and down in understanding.

“Let’s not go there then. I was afraid Shamir would miss his hometown. He sometimes looks really lonely.”

“I see,” Ascensio said. My good brother.

Ascensio did not want his brother to know that the emperor had sent his men to the Miyon Desert to clarify the happenings when the 2nd Consort was missing. No, to be precise, he didn’t want him to know about the situation revealed by that.

The reputation of the 2nd Consort, who was called a goddess in the West, was terribly turned into a witch as soon as one crossed the border and set foot in the Miyon Desert. It was said that the emperor’s investigative team had found a melted hell in a broad basin in the desert.

Even though it wasn’t even night, the jet-black waves rippling across the basin were the wings of a flock of crows and eagles, and in the sparse vacant space they formed as they soared up, you could see dry red sand grains and piles of bones gnawed away with not a single piece of flesh left. Except for the occasional birds chirping and fluttering wings, the utterly silent space was foreign and horrifying. The investigation team was also unable to find the looters Elisha and her group had run into after escaping from the desert because everyone ran away as soon as they saw the white skin of the investigation team, even though they had never revealed they were from Atien.

The emperor, who would’ve removed the investigation team and buried everything for himself if he had found her weakness, disclosed the fact when there was nothing wrong.

The Eastern nobles were blocked entirely from using that incident in the upcoming empress nomination race. The aristocrats were taken aback, not knowing that the emperor had even taken part in the uproar, and questioned why he had done that.

So later, the nobles sent their own investigation teams, but they seemed to know that it would end simply for confirmation.

Ascensio was displeased and heartbroken that the 2nd Consort, who had gone to the West for the sake of the Empire and herself, was treated without the slightest consideration for her return after suffering hardships. She, the person involved, didn’t seem to have many aspirations, but this made him more upset.

When Ascensio became very angry, the 2nd Consort comforted him, saying she had avenged herself enough, and now there were only a few of the pro-Kran Kingdom tribes left in the desert…

She had also said that since there was a lot to repay to the emperor and the nobles of the empire, it would be okay to remember it first and return it all at once, and Ascensio agreed with that. It was a pledge and an oath between them, and he would engrave every little thing without missing it.

“Let’s take Shamir to a better place. To a place where everyone looks up to the 2nd Consort and smiles at Leon. Shamir will surely like it more than the desert.”

If the intelligent older brother said so, so be it. Leon didn’t have the slightest doubt.

“Yes, Brother!”

Ascensio, who was lightly stroking Leon’s cheek with a bashful smile, noticed a familiar figure entering the 2nd Consort’s Palace and narrowed his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Brother?”

The puzzled Leon turned his head and called out.

“Shamir! I was just talking about you!”

As Leon waved his arms from side to side, Shamir greeted them exaggeratedly. He bowed his head deeply, his right arm around his stomach and his left hand behind his back.

“I’d like to talk to you two more, but I have a report I have to give to the 2nd Consort, so I’ll be leaving now!”

Ascensio silently looked at Shamir’s back, which disappeared after only saying what he had to say, which could be considered rude.

“There must be something urgent.”

“Since Sir Rohan is out of probation today, it seems like he’s trying to convey the news that he has entered the palace to the 2nd Consort.”

“Sir Rohan?”

The person Leon liked as much as his older brother was Rohan. When Leon’s voice was full of joy, Ascensio’s eyebrows twitched.

“His probation is too short, considering that the one who mentioned the honor of the 2nd Consort in public is the captain of the emperor’s bodyguard.”

He tried to soften it, but he couldn’t hide the edge in his voice. He wished it had ended there, but shortly after that, the 2nd Consort appeared with Shamir, who had gone inside.

She headed somewhere with a nonchalant expression but rather hasty steps. It was in the direction of the Great Hall. Ascensio followed her with his eyes. Whatever the reason, the idea that he should no longer leave it like this passed through Ascensio’s mind.

***

When Elisha arrived at the Great Hall, Rohan was leaving the entrance after telling His Majesty his probation had ended.

Rohan raised his gaze, which had been looking down, as if he had noticed Elisha’s presence. There was a slight delight in his hazel eyes. However, it broke and disappeared when it met Elisha’s bright sky blue eyes. He strode toward Elisha.

“Is there something wrong?” Rohan asked anxiously, and she answered, staring at him.

“Of course there is. How could there not be since someone put a problem this big.”

“Ah.”

A bewildered look lingered on Rohan’s serious face before fading. He realized that Elisha’s position was embarrassing because of his actions.

“Why did you do that?”

“Isn’t it the virtue of a knight to protect the honor of the person he serves?”

As Rohan answered, Elisha lowered her gaze. As the plentiful silver eyelashes covered half of her sky blue eyes, it was like a cold winter sky. But Rohan knew how hot the fire lurking beneath that coldness.

“Defending my honor was something I could do without Sir Rohan stepping up.”

After a while, as he was reflected in those eyes, which she raised with a stern rebuke, Rohan also thought this woman seemed to be blazing in blue flames. However, he was neither hot nor afraid of the flames. He still couldn’t understand the incomprehensible familiarity and trust the other person sometimes showed him came from, but at some point, it had also become natural.

That’s why he didn’t do it because he had to, but he had no choice but to do it. As soon as Prince Raymond talked about the 2nd Consort, nothing else came to his mind. Even now.

“Please allow me. Please allow me to defend the honor of the 2nd Consort.”

Rohan didn’t want to back down.

“You really are-” Elisha muttered to Rohan, who fell on one knee in front of her and bowed his head, before closing her mouth. If she had to choose one thing she coveted the most from the emperor, it would be the man right before her.

He wouldn’t change even if she gave him the entire East. If the emperor wanted it, he would even bring the East and serve it on a platter. It was like that in the past, but it was even more regrettable in this life.

Elisha seriously considered the first request of this faithful knight to her. Rohan was punished for the first time since joining the Knights, banned from going to work, kept a low profile, and turned the aristocracy upside down.

Putting off the duel with now would be to throw his reputation in the mud, and to put forward another knight would be to taint the spirit of the duel he threw, so none of them were what Elisha wanted.

Elisha decided not to reprimand the serious man for having such an accident. Since he had done it, nothing else could be done. He had messed things up enough that it couldn’t be helped.

The meeting between Prince Raymond and Countess Jaylene was so bad that even thinking about it gave her headaches. As well as the assassination attempt by the Viper Killer Group, it seemed that Jaylene had truly picked Elisha as a target to be eliminated.

Elisha didn’t have the generosity to care for someone she couldn’t communicate with. She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, who was still kneeling on one knee.

“Get up. And this time, I will ask. Will you protect me, Sir Rohan?”

Rohan lifted his head and looked up at Elisha. He opened his mouth, covering his heart with his right hand holding the sword.

“I’ll protect you with my life.”

“Your life belongs to His Majesty, so you only need to share some of your outstanding skills and shining honor with me, but please get up for now. He will be angry if he finds out that His Majesty’s most precious knight had been soiled in the dirt.”

It would only be if it would damage the emperor’s calculations, but neither bothered to mention that. Rohan stood up. The stout man’s body stood in front of Elisha, and his shadow fell over her. Darkness wrapped around her like a warm blanket.

Somehow he didn’t want to leave because he felt relieved, but the business was over, so Rohan said to Elisha, who was about to say farewell, “It looks like you didn’t pick up the sword after returning to Barossa. If you ever need an opponent, come to the 1st Knights anytime.”

“Will that be okay?”

“The 4th Knights must have a lot to prepare these days, and since I’ve been your opponent, wouldn’t it be better with me? Perry and the knights will be happy to see you.”

“Then shall we stop by now?”

“That would be nice too. I’ve prepared a sword for you, so please greet them and swing your sword for a while. I’ll check your posture.”

The two talked and walked away. Shamir, who had followed them here because he thought there would be something to see when he went to the 2nd Consort’s Palace to inform Elisha of the news, murmured while looking at the two, “Wow, so this is what sitting trembling with pestilence feels like.”

[T/N: Means something like “I really don’t like what you’re doing.”]

He didn’t think there was another word that fitted better.