For the Lady's Wise Regression - Chapter 69

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 69
A single word.
But it carried weight.
Vanessa had used something irreplaceable as her shield—the Imperial guarantee itself.
Meanwhile, the one who would stamp the Seal already knew every detail of her childhood misadventures. It was a formidable standoff indeed.
“Quite right. Anything less would have been insufficient medicine.”
At the Emperor’s words, Vanessa swallowed dryly.
‘He’s noticed.’
His tone was not gentle, yet it carried no displeasure either.
“Clever, aren’t you? Did you inherit it from your father, or…?”
The Emperor’s gaze shifted to Ian.
Ian remained expressionless still.
Well, he had little choice.
Vanessa’s father was an Imperial advisor, so their relationship was nearly hierarchical; but to Ian, the Emperor was also a close friend’s father.
The difference in how one conducts oneself was understandable, but…
Vanessa stole a glance at Ian from the corner of her eye.
‘This isn’t quite right, is it?’
She didn’t know how often he’d walked these halls, or how frequently he’d been granted an audience with His Imperial Majesty.
“Since your marriage, have you grown distant from the Crown Prince?”
The Emperor’s attention had shifted targets.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Then?”
……
……
Vanessa’s eyes went wide, and she gripped Ian’s sleeve cuff insistently.
At the gesture, Ian’s gaze flickered briefly to her.
Through her eyes, she sent a message: ‘Are you mad? We’re going through all this torment to get the Seal, and now you’re ignoring His Imperial Majesty?’ His lips twitched slightly in response.
“…Because we’re in our newlywed state, Your Majesty.”
Propriety seemed to have been sold off entirely; it was nowhere to be found.
Vanessa turned her startled gaze between Ian and the Emperor in turn.
“Newlywed state.”
Again, that weighty voice resonated through the Audience Hall.
“The wife comes of age after marriage and gifts her father medicine, but the husband neglects his duty because he’s preoccupied with his new bride…”
Tap, tap. The rhythm of the Emperor’s index finger striking the armrest began to slow.
“Tell me what you wish for. The condition being that you supply this medicine to me every month.”
The Emperor’s golden eyes softened at last.
“It’s rather cute for something done after a marriage, so I’ll overlook it.”
“…Pardon?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened at a word that seemed impossible to fall from the Emperor’s lips.
‘Cute? Of whom?’
‘Was he always like this? No, surely not. He always carried gravitas like a weight on a scale.’
“Besides, Tesse’s mind being put in order is partly thanks to the Duke of Ruscliffe.”
Mind.
‘Did His Majesty just compress his own son and Crown Prince Tesse’s entire head into a single word?’
‘And it came from the Emperor’s mouth at that?’
Vanessa had only visited a handful of times, following her father; she mostly saw the Emperor at Imperial banquets. She could hardly be expected to know his manner in private moments.
Her gaze, unable to follow the shift in atmosphere, darted uncertainly between the two.
“I shall put it in order again soon, Your Majesty.”
“I would be grateful. Lately his meetings with the young lord of House Parbian have grown frequent.”
Kirious Parbian. At that name, Ian’s expression turned cold.
“I shall do so at once, Your Majesty.”
“Good. Clerk, bring the Seal.”
The Emperor already knew.
He knew where that medicine was ultimately intended to go.
Yet his face still held a trace of amusement.
“After tasting it, I understood. What it was designed to achieve.”
“…My deepest apologies.”
“Considering even the dignity of the Imperial House—it was a rather clever bribe.”
Clever again.
Vanessa found herself unprepared for this word to emerge one after another, something she had never heard even in her past life.
Ian, by contrast, bowed his head as though accustomed to such exchanges.
“Upon joining, I shall report immediately.”
“Forget the report. Let’s call it even over a meal.”
Tap.
Vanessa’s thoughts ground to a halt.
The Emperor—who until now had been stern and grave, shouldering solemnity like a mantle—was beginning to align in Vanessa’s mind with the image of Carefree Eccentricity her father occasionally displayed.
“You possess a business sense your father lacks, it seems.”
At the Emperor’s words, Vanessa stiffened.
She had never entertained the illusion that word of her ventures wouldn’t reach the Imperial court.
Yet at this moment, every enterprise she had invested in remained unrevealed—still dormant.
Months would pass before any of them bore fruit.
Vanessa met the Emperor’s gaze carefully.
“I mean no rebuke. Rather, it approaches praise. Even I required several moves ahead to perceive what you already saw.”
All gentleness drained from the Emperor’s voice.
“You have been given what you desired. If you prosper, then I too must receive my due.”
Not Give and Take—but ask for one and demand two.
What amounted to childish petulance became Imperial decree simply because he sat upon the throne.
“Tell me this: is it mere intuition?”
The weight of his presence bore down upon Vanessa.
This was the Emperor she had come to know.
Just as Vanessa’s lips parted—
“I assisted her.”
Ian answered in her stead, his expression unchanged.
“You?”
The shift from “you” to “you”—the very choice of address revealed how seldom the Emperor had seen Ian.
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
……
……
“The same man who would not answer even when Tesse asked?”
“Is there a difference between a companion and a wife?”
“That is……”
The Emperor’s words faltered.
The weight that had pressed upon Vanessa evaporated in an instant.
“A fair point.”
The acknowledgment came swiftly.
The Emperor’s image in Vanessa’s mind shattered further, dissipating into formlessness.
“Still, curiosity compels me. How far does this extend?”
With the weight gone, only persistence remained.
“All of it.”
“All of it.”
The Emperor turned the phrase over in his mind.
Tap, tap. His forefinger drummed steadily against the chair’s armrest.
“Even the matter of Saint Bertold Orphanage?”
Vanessa’s heart plummeted, then shot back to her chest.
“That is……”
“Yes.”
Vanessa’s gaze snapped reflexively to Ian.
“The Seal you granted—it all follows the same thread, does it not?”
House Leonard.
All three understood precisely where this was aimed, though none spoke it aloud.
But Vanessa’s shock stemmed from another cause entirely.
Ian? Why House Leonard?
And why does the Emperor react this way when a ducal house is not merely slapping a marquessate but grinding it beneath its heel?
As for herself—legacy debts aside—she’d been content to crush House Leonard underfoot, to reduce them to pulp.
Yet memory suggested that whenever Ian and House Leonard clashed, whether in court or commerce, Ian emerged victorious every time.
“I shall ensure it sells without dishonoring the House.”
Ian’s answer came with unshakable composure.
Before the Emperor.
Like a merchant haggling over wares.
‘……Insane.’
Vanessa swallowed the curse that rose to her lips.
This was an attitude that could only emerge if she hadn’t eaten with her friend’s father every time she visited the Imperial Palace.
“Leave my portion behind.”
Watching the Emperor respond to Ian’s words, she could reach only one conclusion.
Only then did Ian nod his head and flash a glance toward Vanessa.
His eyes said: we’ve seen what we came to see; let’s go now.
……So easily?
He’d barely said anything.
She’d rehearsed her counterarguments so many times, meticulously prepared for each possible objection.
Vanessa forced down her smile and bowed toward the Emperor.
“Then I shall take my leave. ……Thank you, Your Majesty. I shall not bring you shame.”
“Duke Sharoze has educated his daughter most excellently. Better manners than the father himself.”
……In this moment, Vanessa had come to understand her father’s hidden gift for carefree eccentricity.
And that this eccentricity extended even to the Emperor.
“……Thank you……very much.”
The final note wavered slightly.
In the place where her carefully constructed image had shattered, only Vanessa’s hollow laugh remained.
“I shall withdraw.”
Ian, his face still expressionless—or rather, utterly detached—bowed his head and turned his back without the slightest hesitation.
It was as if he had come to a friend’s house, discovered the friend wasn’t home, sat down across from the friend’s father, and said, “Oh, they’re not here? I understand. Farewell,” before leaving.
……Was this even acceptable?
For the first time, Vanessa found herself genuinely concerned about the future of the Decarte Empire.
Her father’s habitual muttering that “at this rate, ruin will come soon”—it wasn’t the result of external pressure, but rather stemmed from His Majesty the Emperor’s very nature.
Vanessa hesitated between the retreating figure of Ian and the Emperor, whose eyes remained creased with deep lines of contemplation, then bowed and followed after Ian.
The Emperor watched the two figures recede from view, then murmured softly to himself.
“Iron and newlywed bliss. An interesting pair indeed.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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