ICM Chapter 110

The Sun Hall, the largest banquet hall in the imperial palace, had been opened. It was an overwhelming banquet hall with vast space that could accommodate hundreds of people and a high ceiling that soared up to three stories.

At the very center front, a stepped platform surrounded the imperial throne, with tables for nobles arranged below it. The inner walls of the Sun Hall were finished with golden-tinged marble befitting its name, and each wall had three arched entrances connected to massive columns.

In the hemispherical dome that rose high at the very center of the ceiling, golden stained glass depicting the sun blazed dazzlingly bright with the lighting.

Ashika had been glancing around the inside of the hall and discreetly surveying her surroundings.

‘Where did she go?’

They had definitely entered together, but Iben had stepped out saying she would be away briefly and hadn’t returned.

At first, she had thought simply. Weive hadn’t attended the official event, using business as an excuse, and Marquis Maiheller also rarely showed himself, citing illness.

But contrary to expectations, Marquis Maiheller had attended the banquet. Around the middle of the banquet, just before the Emperor made his appearance, he had appeared and been keeping to the table assigned to nobles ever since.

Ashika’s anxious gaze met that of Marquis Maiheller. Startled, she instinctively shrank back. The Marquis raised his wine glass toward her.

Ashika reflexively looked away.

‘How much does he know?’

The Marquis’s relaxed attitude only fueled her anxiety. A leisurely attitude as if he was stepping back and watching because he knew something.

She regretted rejecting Drushia’s proposal to be her partner. If he had been by her side, she wouldn’t have been this anxious.

‘But then I’d be caught up in tremendous rumors.’

That’s why she was trying her best to avoid Drushia. Conversely, Drushia was trying his best to close the distance with her. Ashika shook her head and moved away from her spot.

A precarious tension like walking a tightrope. She felt as if she had been pushed into the middle of a battlefield when her weapons and shield weren’t ready yet.

After returning to the capital, Ashika had intensively tracked Marquis Maiheller’s activities. Information brokers, mercenaries connected to Jeanne, even the trading companies and business partners she managed.

She had mobilized every means and method at her disposal, but nothing came up. Aside from routine activities, it was suspiciously clean.

Even when she listened to rumors from his territory, business matters, and stories from people who had worked under him, Marquis Maiheller was just a wealthy reclusive noble.

‘That’s exactly what doesn’t make sense.’

The cleaner something appeared, the more it meant there was much hidden.

Ashika, whose mind was completely absorbed elsewhere, didn’t notice the person approaching right beside her. Her shoulder brushed lightly against someone, and a startled woman’s voice was heard.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I was distracted.”

A particularly high-pitched voice with rich volume. She had heard this kind of voice somewhere before.

“Lady Igraine.”

Ashika’s eyes widened round. The emotion in the other person’s voice was probably not joy.

“Lady Schwern?”

It was Glenoa. The man beside her greeted Ashika and acted familiar, but her attention was entirely focused on Glenoa.

“I can only meet Lady Igraine in a place like this. I sent letters several times, but you never replied once, so I was disappointed.”

“Did you? I didn’t receive any. I should check with the person in charge of correspondence.”

There was nothing to check. She remembered that Weive had thoroughly cut off any contact related to Coral. There was no reason to accept Glenoa’s contact either.

Ashika calmly replied, recalling past memories.

“But why were you looking for me?”

“I realized I never properly thanked you. You gave me good advice back then.”

Was that really something to be grateful for? It was difficult to read clear intent from Glenoa’s brightly smiling face.

“I’ll consider that thanks received now.”

She had no desire to drag out the conversation. Meeting Glenoa reminded her of another person who would be somewhere in this banquet hall.

‘Coral must be somewhere here too.’

Fatigue suddenly washed over her. She wanted to leave the banquet hall immediately, but first she was more concerned about confirming Iben’s safety.

“You seem to be looking for someone?”

Glenoa smiled leisurely. It seemed she had been watching Ashika from the beginning.

“Lady Schwern, your partner is waiting for you. Well then, I’ll take my leave.”

She didn’t even accept Glenoa’s farewell. They weren’t on terms to greet each other warmly. Ashika’s gaze, as she moved to change locations, suddenly stopped at a certain point in the banquet hall.

‘Ah, I found her.’

At the end of her gaze was Iben. A feeling of relief for some unknown reason, and another question.

‘What is she looking at?’

Ashika’s gaze followed where Iben was looking. That place was the highest seat of honor where the imperial family was gathered.

The Crown Prince’s birthday banquet proceeded in a free atmosphere. Only the Emperor and Empress, keeping to the imperial throne at the highest seat of honor, received the nobles seeking audience with somewhat bored expressions.

When the greetings were nearly finished, the Empress, who had been sitting leisurely, turned to the Empress Dowager and spoke.

“Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, you’ve come out after such a long time, but you don’t seem to be enjoying yourself. Should I call the noble ladies separately to arrange a more comfortable gathering?”

“How well you know. My residence is quite far from the imperial palace. It’s been quite a while since anyone has visited, so people feel quite unfamiliar.”

“That’s why the Crown Princess visits frequently, isn’t it? She’s still young and lacking in many ways, so if you could provide guidance, she would follow well.”

A slight tremor occurred around the Empress Dowager’s eyes.

The Empress’s face, still beautiful despite her middle age, was radiant like a flower. Lady Sincladelt, who had once cowered like a tongue in the mouth, had now become an arrogant Empress looking down on the Empress Dowager.

The current Empress’s family, House Sincladelt, had been the largest faction supporting the Empress Dowager. At that time, Lady Sincladelt was one of the Empress Dowager’s young maids.

When first selecting a spouse for her son, the Empress Dowager had placed a lady from the humble House Majes on the empress throne, intending to manipulate her at will. However, Clemen Majes, who became Empress, helped the Emperor break free from his mother’s influence, and for this purpose repeatedly opposed the Empress Dowager.

In response, the Empress Dowager deposed Clemen and selected Lady Sincladelt as her replacement candidate. However, Lady Sincladelt’s attitude changed completely after claiming the empress position. When she learned that the Empress and her family had been at the forefront of banishing the Empress Dowager from the palace, she felt blood-boiling rage.

However, during the process of deposing Empress Clemen, the Empress Dowager had clashed severely with her son. Fearing she might lose even the remaining trust of the Emperor if they fought further, she had to withdraw with tears in her eyes.

‘There’s no use raising a child with such care.’

The Empress Dowager called for a waiting maid to soothe her boiling insides.

“Why does my throat keep getting parched today?”

“It’s autumn so fires have been lit, and with so many attendees, the interior is quite warm, Your Majesty.”

The maid offered wine that had been kept cool for the occasion.

“Isn’t there cool water? Didn’t I say my throat was dry?”

“Then I’ll have someone go prepare some.”

“No, never mind.”

Nothing seemed satisfactory. The maid who had served her for so long, the head servant who had prepared particularly throat-parching food this morning, all the same.

The Empress Dowager drained the received cup in one gulp. The sour aftertaste was more bothersome than usual.

“Even the wine doesn’t taste right today. I’ve come to the palace after so long, yet I’m receiving worse treatment than a guest.”

“Your Majesty, if the wine doesn’t suit you, shall I find another beverage?”

“No, rather than that…”

The Empress Dowager stopped speaking and blinked. For a moment, she thought an optical illusion had occurred due to the alcohol.

“Th-there…”

“What’s wrong, Your Majesty?”

“Do you see that woman too?”

“Who do you mean?”

“That woman there. Why is her dress blue-purple of all colors!”

“No, Your Majesty. That’s just ordinary purple.”

A troubled expression appeared on the maid’s face. With an expression that said ‘here we go again,’ she looked around to see if there was anywhere to seek help.

The woman who had been far away seemed to sense the Empress Dowager’s gaze and slowly closed the distance.

“No, that woman… can you see her face, her face?”

When she came close enough for her expression to be visible, the color drained from the Empress Dowager’s face.

The woman’s gaze was directed precisely at the Empress Dowager. Though her eyes were clearly a different color, she felt an overly familiar person within them.

“You… you are…”

The Empress Dowager bolted up from her seat, forgetting her dignity. For a moment, her vision spun dizzily.

The approaching woman seemed like a dream rather than reality, and all her senses distantly became surreal. In her buzzing ears, the words the woman had whispered in last night’s nightmare echoed.

[Now it begins, Ilerna. I’ll topple the tower of lies and greed you’ve built from the very foundation.]

The woman quietly looked at the Empress Dowager, then raised the corners of her mouth in a smile. It was clear mockery.

The nightmare-like sneer she had seen over and over, unable to erase from her mind. The face of the woman who had mocked and cursed the Empress Dowager in nightmares for decades, tightening her throat moment by moment.

“Aaaah! Ibis!”

The Empress Dowager rushed out like an enraged lion. She didn’t care that her body collided with tables blocking her path.

Clang, clang.

The tableware fell with loud noises from her wildly flailing hands. Half out of her mind, the Empress Dowager pushed through startled nobles and ran out.

“Oh my!”

“Goodness! What should we do? They said she had madness, and it must be true.”

“Shouldn’t someone stop her?”

The shocked nobles murmured while looking around. But the other nobles were equally bewildered. In the center of the hall where the banquet was in full swing, people were still laughing and chatting, unaware of what had happened.

“Ibis! Cursed Ibis! Will you destroy me in the end?”

At the Empress Dowager’s desperate cry, the woman laughed. She laughed mockingly as if to say someone like her was insignificant, then turned her back. At least that’s how it appeared to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager, trying to push through the crowd, tripped over her own dress hem and fell.

“Catch her! Catch that woman! That woman… that woman!”

“Please calm down, Your Majesty!”

While nearby nobles were startled and didn’t know what to do, someone grabbed the Empress Dowager’s arm to help her up.

“Not me, catch that woman! Where did she go? That woman from just now!”

Even after being helped up, the Empress Dowager frantically looked around. But the expressions of the nobles surrounding her were strange.

Eyes bulging as if about to pop out, lips parted in shock, completely frozen, unable to even avoid the Empress Dowager’s gaze.

The most surprised person was the one who had helped the Empress Dowager up.

“…Lord Maiheller? Why…”

The person before her was Erwin. He rubbed his eyes as if unable to believe what he was seeing and examined the Empress Dowager again.

The elderly woman before Erwin’s eyes was definitely the Empress Dowager. However, she was not as he remembered her. The Empress Dowager’s eye color, which had been dark brown, had changed.

One eye was blue-green, the other golden yellow – heterochromia.