A Secretly Capable Child Is Seeking For Her Dad - Chapter 230
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Powerful Child Searches for Dad Episode 230
A deserted corridor.
“You! Why on earth are you doing things you’ve never done before!”
Pides shouted in a furious voice.
“Didn’t you hear Mother’s words yesterday?! She told you not to come out of your palace today! Why did you suddenly appear at a banquet you never usually attend, and why did you bring up the Association…!”
Ardiana faced Pides with an expressionless face.
After remaining silent, she finally opened her mouth.
“There seems to be an inconsistency in your words, Brother.”
“…What?”
“Today’s memorial service is an event held to pray for the good fortune of those who will depart for the Central Continent. There’s no reason I, who will be departing, cannot attend.”
“How dare you right now!”
“Also. What reason do I have to obey the Empress’s orders?”
Pides’s expression became blank.
He let out a hollow laugh as if doubting what he had just heard.
“What did you say? Just now, you called Mother the Empress?”
“Yes. I said Empress.”
Ardiana pulled up the corners of her mouth.
“The reason I’ve obediently followed the Empress’s words all this time wasn’t because those words were right. I simply wanted to avoid troublesome matters.”
“You’ve… gone mad.”
Just as Pides muttered and was about to continue speaking.
“Wh-what is all this about, Pides?”
A shocked voice came from behind the two of them.
When they turned their heads, Lavania stood there with a pale face, accompanied by as many as six maids.
She staggered forward.
Then she looked at Ardiana and spoke in a voice mixed with hollow laughter.
“…Ardiana, I must have misheard just now, right? Right?”
But Ardiana showed no sign of surprise.
She simply gazed quietly at Lavania’s face.
A face mixed with confusion, anger, and humiliation.
Below the hem of her lavishly dressed gown, Lavania’s white, delicate hands were trembling.
Ardiana answered.
“No. You heard correctly.”
“What?”
“Until now, I’ve accommodated you. I thought it was the comfortable path for both of us, and moreover, I didn’t want to create troublesome friction.”
“Ac-accommodated?! You, to me?!”
“However, the Empress seems to have mistaken my patience for powerlessness. I believe that’s why you keep crossing the line.”
“Uh, urgh…!”
“Your Majesty the Empress!”
The maids supported the swaying Lavania.
Ardiana continued coldly.
“To me, the Empress is merely Father’s concubine. Not an Empress, and certainly not a mother. So I’ll acknowledge it. If my silence until now has unnecessarily inflated the Empress’s sense of authority, then that is indeed my fault.”
“Aah, Pides-!”
Lavania turned her head sharply toward Pides.
As if telling him to say something, she grabbed her son’s sleeve.
Pides glared at Ardiana with gritted teeth.
“…I don’t know what you’ve eaten wrong to act like this, but it would be better not to create something you’ll regret. Ardiana.”
It was an authoritative and sharp tone.
However, Ardiana only let out a snicker.
“Something to regret. Brother, you also seem to be mistaken about something.”
Pides’s eyebrows twitched.
“Have you received the investiture as Crown Prince from His Majesty?”
“…What?”
“Not some favor without substance. Not just a verbal promise that he’ll pass the throne to you. What exactly has been officially bestowed upon you, Brother?”
Pides’s mouth fell open.
His complexion gradually turned bright red.
“You, right now!”
“I’ve always been curious about what Brother possesses. By what qualification does a prince born of a concubine who hasn’t even received investiture discuss hierarchy? Legitimacy isn’t obtained through words.”
Ardiana turned her gaze.
One of the maids’ dress hems was touching Ardiana’s hand as they supported the Empress.
Ardiana brought both arms forward and clasped her hands together as if brushing away something dirty.
“Just because I’ve lived quietly doesn’t mean I know nothing.”
As her blue eyes shone sharply, Lavania’s maids hesitated and stepped back.
Ardiana turned her head to Lavania.
“In that sense. It would be best if you returned from this banquet now, Empress.”
Lavania’s eyes widened greatly.
Pides stared at Ardiana as if dumbfounded.
“What are you saying! Are you trying to kick Mother out now? Right in front of the banquet hall?!”
“The one who determines the protocol of Imperial Palace banquets is the person at the pinnacle of the imperial women’s hierarchy, Brother.”
“…”
“Then, with the Empress’s position vacant now, isn’t it obvious who has the authority over this banquet?”
Ardiana smiled.
“Please make a wise judgment so as not to disturb this fine occasion.”
“What’s going on, Baron?”
In the banquet hall where the Princess and Prince had not returned.
Glancing at the Emperor who was lost in thought, the nobles whispered.
“I don’t know either. The atmosphere does seem quite strange though…”
“Has Her Majesty the Empress not arrived yet?”
“No. She’s known to enjoy making last entrances, but this is too late even for that…”
“Young master! Young master!”
Just then, another noble who had briefly stepped away to the garden came running hurriedly.
He led those gathered toward a pillar and continued with an excited face.
“Do you know what I just saw while passing in front of the banquet hall?”
His throat seemed parched as he gulped down cold water from a nearby table.
“Right in front of here, Her Highness the Princess actually ordered Her Majesty the Empress not to even come near the banquet!”
Those listening stirred.
“What are you saying? Usually it’s the other way around, isn’t it?”
“That’s what I mean, but for some reason the situation was like that! Her Majesty the Empress couldn’t say anything, and even…”
“Even?”
“Her Highness said the same to His Highness the Prince. ‘What qualification does a prince who hasn’t even received proper investiture have?'”
Several nobles reflexively looked toward the Emperor.
They lowered their voices even more.
“What kind of talk is that all of a sudden? Are you saying all this is true?”
“That’s what I’m telling you! I’m also puzzled about what’s going on! I’m still not used to mercenaries attending the banquet, and now Her Highness the Princess has suddenly changed…!”
“Come to think of it, those Empress faction nobles who had returned to their fiefdoms. Didn’t several of them recently return to Jedo?”
“I heard that news too. It seemed like their wives were also planning social activities…”
“Is it possible they were summoned?”
“Let’s stop talking.”
Just then, someone raised their palm and spoke.
“Your Majesty is present, and the seating is a bit…”
The nobles cleared their throats with awkward coughs and fell silent.
An uncomfortable stillness settled over the group.
“Your Highness the Princess!”
The banquet hall doors opened and Ardiana appeared once more.
The nobles held their breath at Pides’ invisible presence.
“Your Highness the Princess, you look beautiful today as well.”
The noble ladies standing where Ardiana passed bowed respectfully in greeting.
Even those who would normally treat her like an invisible person or ignore her did the same.
Everyone felt it instinctively.
That the flow of the atmosphere had changed.
However, Ardiana walked toward the inner area without giving any of them a glance.
Then she sat in Pides’ seat without hesitation.
The Emperor’s eyebrows twitched.
But it was such a subtle movement that only Ardiana noticed.
As the Emperor picked up his glass from the table, Ardiana spoke.
“Your Majesty.”
The Emperor didn’t even turn his head toward her.
However, Ardiana continued speaking in a small voice with a cold smile.
“I have refrained from speaking to avoid causing unnecessary worry, but now I think you should know, so I will tell you.”
“…”
“Your Majesty wouldn’t know even in your dreams, but my brother keeps sending assassins after me.”
The Emperor visibly flinched.
Only then did he turn his head stiffly.
His gaze toward Ardiana was tangled with bewilderment, anger, and anxiety about whether those around them might have heard her words.
“Speaking of which. You mentioned earlier that today’s banquet protagonists are those about to depart for battle.”
“…”
“Customarily at Memorial Services, the Emperor bestows gifts upon those departing for war.”
The Emperor set down his glass with trembling hands.
Ardiana lowered her eyebrows.
“I feel uneasy about leaving the palace having only received hatred from my brother. Therefore, I would like to make one request.”
By now her voice had returned to its normal volume.
Naturally, the nobles’ gazes focused on the two of them.
“While conquering the Royal Palace’s Mastone together, I became good friends with the Sorcerer King. Therefore, I hope the Sorcerer King can freely visit my palace until departure.”
“…”
“If the Sorcerer King’s lack of a title appears as a flaw in Your Majesty’s eyes, I would like to request that you bestow a name upon him at this opportunity.”
The Emperor took a deep breath that he had been holding.
She had clearly called it a request and said she was asking.
But he knew.
This was blackmail.
It was also the price he had to pay for all the reckless actions Pides had committed.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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