IDIBC Chapter 43

I’d Believe You Were a Phoenix

Not only was monopolizing the color burdensome, but the dress design itself was also radical.

Of course, it wasn’t cut deeply in the front and back like the previous evening dress, but it was designed to completely expose the shoulders.

As the imperial palace garden spread out in the distance and the carriage slowed down, I covered my shoulders with the shawl I had prepared in advance. It was thanks to Angela secretly packing it for me after Countess Corhena had taken it away, insisting I absolutely couldn’t wear it.

Ricardo stared at me quietly. From his perspective, I might seem somewhat unsophisticated compared to the young ladies of Dermeier’s noble families. Even so, my desire to appear less exposed in other people’s eyes was stronger at the moment.

“I’m a bit cold.”

I answered a question he hadn’t even asked, then swallowed loudly. Loudly enough for Ricardo to hear in the quiet surroundings.

“There’s no need to be nervous.”

“It’s not like nervousness stops just because you don’t want it to.”

The carriage stopped and Freddy opened the door. It seemed he still accompanied Ricardo on important occasions. As Freddy extended his hand toward me, I steeled myself and rose.

But Ricardo blocked me and got out first, giving me a bit more time to catch my breath.

When I grasped his outstretched arm for escort, Ricardo squeezed my hand firmly. It meant not to be nervous.

‘How sweet of him.’

Timidly smirking to myself, I raised my head and looked at the imperial palace.

“Wow…”

The magnificently sprawling imperial palace was dazzlingly splendid enough to make me momentarily forget my situation.

If the Rochester duchy gave a heavy and elegant impression, the imperial palace was more sleek and brilliant than that. Enough that I had to squint for a moment to adjust to the surrounding scenery.

While I was looking around stupidly with my mouth agape, palace servants swarmed toward us. I reflexively stepped back, and Ricardo pulled my hand and tucked it inside his arm. The solid pressure quickly calmed my heart.

People bowed deeply to him, but Ricardo didn’t spare them a single glance.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Though he walked slower than usual out of consideration for me, his gait was sleek and elegant without any superfluity. Even as a child, Ricardo had the talent to make his surroundings his backdrop, but I hadn’t known he could create the feeling that even the imperial palace existed for him.

I glanced at him like that a few times before entering the indoor area he was guiding me to.

My body trembled slightly in the air that was a bit cooler and colder than outside.

In fact, the trembling that started last night had even robbed me of the sweet sleep of my weary life.

‘I really don’t want to go in.’

What on earth was happening to my life, where the most important daily concerns were whether Sam from the lower neighborhood who sells milk would come today or tomorrow, and how many eggs the chickens in the coop had laid?

“Lienne.”

My gaze naturally followed Ricardo’s gentle voice. Even knowing I had to meet his expectations, looking at those eyes made resentment toward Harold surge up involuntarily.

If only Harold had told me about that wooden sword back then.

If only he had explained that the Black Forest was such a sacred place.

I wouldn’t be here doing this right now.

‘This is all Harold’s fault!’

“Harold?”

“Yes?”

“You’re calling out that man’s name again.”

Ricardo’s gaze felt momentarily cold, so I quickly lowered my head. They say he can even hear words desperately cried out in one’s heart. This time I didn’t even shout it that loudly… At this rate, shouldn’t mind-reading be included in Roches’s divine powers?

“Just who is this man?”

“A friend, I told you before.”

Actually, it wasn’t resentment directed at Harold, but the masterless resentment had headed in the wrong direction.

“But why did you call me?”

“I was going to say you don’t need to worry. You seem to be trembling a lot right now.”

The long corridor I walked through with Ricardo was lined with magnificent paintings and beautiful sculptures.

The ceiling was high, making his voice echo lower than usual.

At his genuinely concerned tone, I glanced at his face again. His eyes were fixed on the shawl covering my shoulders. With an inexplicably embarrassed feeling, I unnecessarily rubbed the shawl and cleared my throat.

“It’s because it’s a bit cool inside the building. I’m really fine. It’s unavoidable to be nervous since this is my first time at the imperial palace.”

As we reached the audience chamber, the massive doors opened heavily without a single sound.

The audience chamber was reminiscent of the size of a ballroom in any estate. However, unlike other ballrooms, it was a long rectangular shape with one extended side. At the end was a platform as tall as a person, and on that platform sat the imperial throne. The throne was entirely gold. Even the eagle sculpture symbolizing Dermeier that was decorated on the right side of the throne.

It was a sculpture of tremendous size, crafted so exquisitely that when I first entered the audience chamber, I mistook it for a real eagle.

As I approached it, my neck instinctively shrank, feeling as if the giant golden eagle might actually fly up at any moment and bite my throat.

“His Majesty will arrive shortly.”

The attendant who guided us bowed politely and soon left the audience chamber. After he left, knights in perfect ceremonial dress entered and lined up on both sides in a long row.

Just watching them made my neck stiffen involuntarily. Not long after the knights took their positions, the Emperor appeared through a door connected to the left side of the platform.

The man with splendid golden hair falling to his shoulders and eyes of a color difficult to describe precisely walked steadily to his seat and sat down.

Thump—the Emperor moved so carelessly that his clothes made a sound, and his face was strikingly similar to the Crown Prince I had seen in a wheelchair recently.

With an appearance whose age was hard to gauge and eyes whose depths were unfathomable, he exuded an indescribable sense of intimidation.

He stared down at Ricardo and me for a while without saying anything.

I tried to separate from Ricardo to properly greet the Emperor. But Ricardo didn’t relax the strength in his linked arm. It was impossible for me to escape when he wouldn’t let me go.

“I greet His Imperial Majesty.”

Ricardo paid his respects without even bowing his head. The Emperor didn’t even glance at him. He kept his gaze solely on me, then spoke as if tossing out the words.

“I’d believe you were a phoenix.”

‘Me?’

So that was directed at me. Like a phoenix that won’t die no matter how many times you try to kill it—is that what he’s saying right now? Fear rushed over me, making me dizzy.

The two men continued their conversation as if such terrible words had never been spoken or heard.

“Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

At a glance, it seemed like a quite peaceful theatrical scene, but the play rushed toward catastrophe without a moment to breathe.

It was because the Emperor simply stood up and left through the door he had entered.

And that was the end. Like he had only shown his face to repay a promised debt?

In a way, it was natural. From the Emperor’s perspective, Ricardo was a person who had entered the world branded as a traitor. There was no way the Emperor would look kindly upon someone who coveted his position for the reason that the gods had decreed it, when he couldn’t even deal with him rashly.

While I was fortunate to have seen the Emperor only briefly, my fear of him had grown even greater.

In six months, the Emperor seemed like someone who would order me killed again, if only to confirm whether a phoenix was truly mortal or not.

“Hah…”

After the Emperor left, my legs gave out and I was about to collapse when Ricardo caught my waist and supported me.

“If it’s too much, let’s just return to the estate.”

“No, no.”

Then I’d have to come here again later.

According to what I had heard before coming, the Emperor wasn’t the only person I had to meet at the imperial palace today. I had to meet the Crown Prince, Chaplin, and Young Lord Paquin, and I also had to go to the Grand Temple inside the imperial palace. When I heard that the Grand Priest, who should be at the Grand Temple on the border, was at the imperial palace, I really almost fainted.

So if I gave up and left today, it would also mean I’d have to come back to this terrifying place someday.

Only after leaving the palace with the audience chamber and facing the wide garden did I feel like my mind was returning a bit. As the surroundings overflowed with warm energy and I could even hear the sound of water flowing in the distant waterway, my trembling subsided considerably.

There were flowers everywhere my eyes could reach. As I was watching flowers swaying helplessly in the wind, Freddy, who had been waiting in front of the palace with the audience chamber, approached.

“Your Grace, the Grand Priest wishes to see you separately.”

“The Grand Priest?”

Ricardo slightly furrowed his brow and glanced at me. What was on his face was clearly annoyance, making me realize this was the first time he had shown emotion today.

“Guide Lienne to the Crown Prince’s palace. Don’t leave her to the palace servants, escort her yourself. Don’t take her inside the palace.”

“Understood.”

Ricardo gave orders to Freddy and ran his hand through his hair. His cold tone, completely different from when he spoke to me, made me tense up involuntarily. He sighed imperceptibly, then turned me to face him completely.