One thing was certain: “neatness of appearance” was among the promotion review criteria.
Yelodia imagined the Naval High Command gathered in one place, giving Baron Adrian top marks on his appearance with solemn faces, and barely managed to swallow her laughter.
It was then.
“Haa….”
A sigh came from behind Yelodia.
Even though her absurd fancy hadn’t been discovered, her heart suddenly thumped.
“Yedi?”
At Kias’s question, Yelodia hastily lowered her eyes and quickened her steps. She listened carefully, but the sigh didn’t come again.
* * *
“So you came together?”
“We ran into each other in the hallway.”
Despite Duke Savie’s somewhat brusque answer, the Emperor nodded with a pleased smile and said something no one would agree with.
“It seems the two of you are destined, after all.”
The Emperor was in an unusually excited mood. Unfortunately, the others couldn’t share his sentiment in the slightest. But he was not an Emperor who would care about that.
“You must be hungry, so come and sit.”
The Emperor leisurely took the seat of honor, Duke Savie sat to his right, and Kias, Edward, and Yelodia followed in that order.
It was precisely then that the attendants grew busy.
Appetizers of grilled cod and cheese, eggplant and tomato were placed on the table covered with white linen, along with lemon water, wine, and champagne.
When the Emperor washed his hands in a bowl of water with floating lemons, the others all did the same.
It was an incredibly awkward dinner.
As it was practically a family gathering, it was customary for the Empress to attend as hostess and gently guide the atmosphere, but the Emperor never called the Empress to such private occasions.
Empress Vivian, too, would have been awkward to the point of illness if the Emperor had invited her to dinner.
For this and that reason, most of those invited to dinner didn’t look pleased. In particular, Yelodia had been visibly stiff ever since hearing Edward’s sigh.
“Yedi, you don’t look well. Are you ill somewhere? Shall I have a bed prepared separately?”
“I am fine, Your Majesty. Rather, I worry about Your Majesty. You are sensitive to the heat.”
At Yelodia’s affectionate words, the Emperor’s golden eyes took on a gentle light.
“You are the only one in the Empire who truly worries about me, Yedi.”
“Please don’t say that. The land and sea, even the mountains and fields of the Empire will be worrying about Your Majesty.”
At Yelodia’s answer, Edward let out a faint cough. As all eyes turned to him, Edward buried his lips in his napkin as if to hide his flustered face.
The Emperor laughed as if amused and raised his wine glass.
“Come now, don’t sit there so stiffly. Everyone, have a drink. Is this not a joyous day?”
At the Emperor’s suggestion, the men, except for Yelodia, raised their gold-inlaid glasses and tasted the wine.
As the incomparably fragrant alcohol went down their throats, they slowly began to relax.
The Emperor asked Edward with a face full of curiosity.
“When do you begin reporting to the Vice Admiral’s office?”
“I was formally ordered to begin on the 1st of next month, but I go every day to acclimate myself to the atmosphere.”
The Emperor nodded as if satisfied and spoke.
“Two months should be enough to get used to the work, shouldn’t it? Then how about setting the engagement ceremony for the last day of May?”
“….”
Edward glanced at Duke Savie, who had gone rigid, and finally swallowed a sigh.
“Your Majesty, would it not be better to reconsider this marriage?”
“What are you saying now? Surely you do not find Yedi displeasing?”
The moment the Emperor finished speaking, Yelodia dropped her knife with a clack. She bit her lower lip so hard it turned pale. The others, too, wore similarly shocked faces.
At the completely unexpected reactions, Edward opened his mouth in bewilderment.
“That is… Lady Savie is so beautiful and noble that she is too good for me. It is no great fault for a noble lady to marry around the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, so how about taking time to get to know suitors before becoming engaged to a man you fancy?”
“I vowed long ago that I would choose Yedi’s husband myself. Are you saying my eyes are foolish and worthless?”
“That is not…”
Edward glanced sideways at Yelodia, whose face had flushed red, and closed his mouth. Her hands were gripping so tightly that the veal steak was being crushed beyond recognition.
This time, Duke Savie glared at Edward. It was a rare, blatant expression from a man who was always quiet and gentle.
“Do you dislike my daughter?”
“Ah, no, Your Grace.”
“My daughter is not lacking, so how could you say such dreadful words before the person herself? Knowing you are unfamiliar with noble etiquette, I shall let it pass this once, but otherwise I would have challenged you to a duel!”
Edward was dumbfounded by Duke Savie’s stern rebuke.
To Edward, Yelodia was as fresh and beautiful as a spring flower that had just bloomed, and it was clear that once she grew a little older, she would be courted by all the noble young men of Frier.
To such a woman, he was merely a soldier of unclear origins, a rough and boorish man.
And above all, the fact that Yelodia was six years younger stuck in Edward’s throat like a thorn.
At that moment, Yelodia asked with eyes that seemed to have resolved upon something.
“Do you have another woman in your heart, or a lover?”
“…I do not.”
Edward admitted with a sigh. By the time he returned after five years of military service on the battlefield, his former fiancée had already broken off their engagement and married another man.
Though they had become engaged after seeing each other’s faces but once, Edward had found the broken engagement quite sorrowful. Because it was the last connection arranged by his late father.
On the battlefield, he had struggled merely to survive each day, and after returning to the capital following the war, he had been frantically busy with post-war recovery.
He had no time to meet women, and more honestly, no interest.
Amid all this, the Emperor’s matchmaking was more shocking to Edward than a bolt from the blue.
The Emperor let out a “hm,” set down his wine glass with a cough.
“The engagement ceremony will proceed as I have said. Duke Savie will see to the preparations. I shall prepare the bridegroom’s gifts.”
“Your Majesty.”
“Don’t be too grateful. You will repay it all later.”
Edward could say no more and bowed his head deeply. He realized the Emperor could not be persuaded with words.
‘Just what the hell is going on?’
Kias, the eldest son of Duke Savie, forgot even the anger burning in his stomach and simply stared blankly at Edward. Because the dinner atmosphere had unfolded completely differently from what he had imagined.
Baron Adrian, who had been suspected of using the Ducal house for his own advancement, looked utterly awkward and burdened by the dinner; on the contrary, Yelodia was putting on a sulky expression in front of such a man.
Who was Edward Kyeri Adrian?
Was he not the peerless hero who led the Peorn-Iota War, which had dragged on for five years, to victory?
Edward was not only the savior of the Empire people’s pride, but also the benefactor who had rescued the Emperor’s authority, which had been on the verge of being trampled by the nobles.
Even if such an Edward had wanted Duke Savie’s daughter as a trophy, the Emperor wouldn’t have been able to refuse easily. Because over the past five years, no one had been more anxious and distressed under the countless censures of the nobles than the Emperor.
But Edward overturned all of Kias’s expectations. With a face that said he wanted to return the trophy that had somehow fallen to him.
‘Could it be, how dare he, despite his station, that he doesn’t like our Yedi?’
That assumption made Kias very displeased, and it soon showed on his face.
Once again, the Emperor’s display of displeasure was faster than Kias’s.
“Edward, do you not enjoy the meal? I suppose I shall have to take the royal palace chef to task myself.”
“No, Your Majesty. These are dishes of incomparable honor.”
Edward began moving his knife again. Though he looked somewhat uncomfortable, as if unaccustomed to dining etiquette, the food disappeared faster than anyone else’s.
Only then did the Emperor make a satisfied expression.
Kias gave up on his complicated thoughts.
The only winner of that day’s dinner was the Emperor.
* * *
“Welcome, Your Excellency the Vice Admiral.”
“Hern.”
When Baihern saluted formally, Edward nodded perfunctorily.
Soon, Edward let out a tired sigh and sat on the sofa.
‘Even if I told him not to call me Vice Admiral, he wouldn’t listen.’
Though his formal inauguration as Vice Admiral was still a fortnight away, he had no energy left to point that out to his aide-de-camp, who considered teasing his superior a hobby.
“Did you not sleep well last night?”
“Do I look it?”
To Edward’s indifferent question, Baihern answered with a grin.
“The whole of Frier is abuzz with news of Your Excellency’s engagement. They say you are to be united with a very great personage.”
“Is that so.”
“Is the engagement date exactly May 31st?”
“It seems so.”
Edward answered, feeling a sense of defeat. He still felt as though he had awoken from a shallow sleep.
Marriage.
Until now, Edward had vaguely thought that if His Majesty the Emperor granted him a fief, he would return there and marry one of the local daughters.
He had inwardly longed for such a peaceful life—meeting a modest and optimistic woman, having children, and building a family, nothing particularly special.
But reality had deviated perfectly from his expectations.
Baron Edward Adrian would hold an engagement ceremony in two months and a fortnight with Lady Yelodia of House Savie. Under the blessing of His Majesty the Emperor.
“What the hell is going on…”
“Was it not the victory the entire Empire desired? His Majesty must have wanted to give a definite reward to the hero of that victory.”
“Even though the person involved doesn’t want it?”