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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Elena’s footsteps heading towards Rudrick’s residence in the detached palace were lighter than ever before.
Honestly, if judged solely based on personal likes and dislikes, she wasn’t particularly pleased with the current situation where she had provided a whole four days of leeway to her rivals, and Rudrick had managed to slip away from the gamble she had orchestrated.
But at least she was satisfied that the situation hadn’t taken a turn for the worst.
And now that she had grasped the full picture of the unfolding events, Elena’s plan was also effective.
“Well then, shall we start?”
The corners of Elena’s mouth rose as she muttered.
The invitation to briefly show his face, saying she had something to discuss regarding Rudrick’s sister Serilla, was naturally rejected as it was.
More precisely, Rudrick was already absent from the Imperial Palace, so even if she wanted to convey this message, she couldn’t.
But that was just an excuse to somehow start a conversation anyway, and now that the birthday festival was about to come to an end, it didn’t matter since she knew Rudrick was in his room.
Arriving in front of Rudrick’s room door.
“…Ahem.”
Elena first tidied up her attire and voice before standing in front of the door.
In any case, wanting to show only the prettiest side of oneself in front of the person one likes was a human instinct regardless of gender.
After a final check of her appearance, Elena clenched her small fist and knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
She had already obtained information from Lorenzo that Rudrick was in his room.
This cute plan fundamentally couldn’t be established without Lorenzo’s cooperation, so although Elena didn’t know, she considered it certain that Lorenzo was involved in a significant part of the plan.
In other words, it meant that the reliability of the information provided by Lorenzo had increased dramatically.
So she deliberately didn’t use her voice and only knocked, and as expected.
With a creaking sound, the door opened, and Rudrick peeked his head out, his gaze meeting Elena’s.
“…Eh.”
“There’s no need to be that scared. I didn’t come here to particularly reprimand you.”
He had a noticeably startled expression.
In a way, seeing Rudrick, who seemed fearless in that world, looking scared made her want to hug him on the spot.
Barely suppressing that urge, Elena put on her mask again.
She already had the experience of attempting a gamble and spectacularly failing.
It wasn’t just at the level of squandering her fortune, but it was literally to the point of nearly uprooting the foundation of her family, so it was natural for her to become cautious.
With the expression she wore when facing her enemies, and the softest smile she could muster.
“I already know everything, so can I have a brief conversation with you?”
“A conversation…?”
“Didn’t I say that I didn’t particularly come here to reprimand you? In the same vein, I won’t question you for the crime of deceiving royalty either, so you can rest assured.”
“Uh, does it work like that…? Is there perhaps a clause in the Imperial law that states a crime is committed if one lies to the royalty…?”
“Well, there is. It’s almost a defunct clause though. There are few nobles who are insane enough to utter falsehoods to the royalty.”
“Eh.”
As Rudrick’s expression stiffened, Elena snickered as if everything she had said with a serious face just now was a lie.
“As I said, it’s just a simple joke. So you don’t need to be that tense.”
“That’s a relief, but…”
“Anyway, it wouldn’t have been you who orchestrated it, but others beside you who enticed you with flattery, so there’s no need to hold you accountable. In any case, it’s a bit awkward to keep talking here, so can I come in now?”
“Ah, yes. Please come in.”
Elena, who looked around once, quickly entered through the gap in the door opened by Rudrick.
In any case, to the outside world, Rudrick and Elena were merely in a relationship where she had discovered unexpected talent during an inspection and recommended him as Lorenzo’s disciple.
There was no need for the fact that their relationship was deeper than expected to be widely known.
Especially the detailed inside story that was closer to Elena’s one-sided courtship.
If a strange rumor unintentionally spread, it would only create a disadvantageous weakness in the power struggle.
Rather, it wouldn’t be bad for Elena to publicly reveal it at a formal occasion like a ball at a time of her choosing, but she didn’t want a secretive rumor to spread based on how others saw it.
Rumors tended to get exaggerated by nature.
Elena, whose thoughts reached this point, narrowed the space between her brows.
‘I need to take measures quickly.’
What she wanted was simple.
To win the competition with the crown princess as soon as possible and become the undisputed master of this empire.
And after that, to confidently offer Rudrick the position of emperor.
Rudrick, who had no way of knowing Elena’s intentions, was taking an attitude of openly guarding against her like a cat.
“This is a bit sad.”
Elena made a deliberately sad expression.
An exaggerated gesture of shrugging her shoulders was a bonus.
Of course, when she carefully reflected on it, even Elena thought there were two decisive mistakes she had made.
The first was not being able to hold back and making a proposal that wasn’t really a proposal to Rudrick, and the second was forcing Rudrick to attend the ball despite knowing he disliked it in her eagerness to get ahead in the competition.
Looking back, they were regrettable and foolish choices she made, but at least at that time, if she had succeeded, she could have taken a big lead over the other four rivals, so it wasn’t a losing deal.
For example, the point was to borrow and repay.
“Anyway, I ended up apologizing to you.”
“What? If you suddenly apologize…”
“It’s not proper for a mature man to allow a woman to enter his room like this, even if permitted.”
Elena muttered and pulled up a chair to sit on.
It was a contradictory action different from the words she uttered, but Rudrick, who had slightly relaxed his guard compared to earlier, also sat on the bed and asked.
“So why did Your Highness the Princess suddenly come to see me?”
“Actually, I had sent someone a few days ago to call you, but they said you weren’t there and couldn’t meet you. I had something to briefly discuss regarding your older sister.”
“Serilla… about my sister…?”
“Well, that was just an excuse, so it’s not that important. I’ll ask just in case though.”
“…?”
As soon as Serilla’s name came out of Elena’s mouth, Rudrick made a puzzled expression.
In fact, although Serilla had joined Elena’s Second Princess faction by making a name for herself with her academy grades, even if she was a skilled person scheduled to join the Imperial Knights in the future, she had almost no backing.
Because the Weiss County, an obscure rural county whose existence people hardly knew about, not a high-ranking noble family in the central political world that anyone would recognize just by name, had no value as a background.
It was a fact that anyone who had even a little knowledge of how the political world worked could easily understand.
So there was no reason for Serilla’s name to be mentioned now, and it was natural for Rudrick to think it was strange.
“If you want, it’s not difficult for me to fully support Serilla Weiss. Since Serilla’s skills are not lacking, even if the position of commander is difficult, if she works hard for a year or two, the position of deputy commander of the Imperial Knights should be sufficient. Do you want me to intervene?”
“No.”
Rudrick answered immediately.
No matter how much Serilla was a family member he had only corresponded with by letter for the past decade and rarely saw in person, he wouldn’t want her to become a so-called “parachute appointment.”
At least Rudrick was convinced of that.
As if she had expected it, Elena, who laughed with a smirk, continued.
“I knew you would say that. Then shall we get to the main point now?”
“Actually, I don’t really know what Your Highness the Princess came to say…”
“You can just match it and figure it out as we go. Anyway, if you cooperated with them in that way, I believe you already know everything…”
Elena trailed off her words.
And Rudrick could instinctively understand what Elena was saying.
The fact that the five of them had regressed, and that Elena was implicitly revealing in a roundabout way that she herself had also regressed now.
In fact, if Rudrick had known nothing, Elena’s regression alone could have explained most of her actions up to this point.
From a third-party perspective, Elena’s seemingly incomprehensible actions were like a key that unlocked all the hidden truths once one knew that Elena had regressed.
Knowing that fact, Rudrick didn’t show any particular reaction.
More precisely, he didn’t know what reaction to show.
Thanks to that, his ambiguous attitude itself was speaking the truth, and Elena, who noticed that fact, added.
“Do you know that today is the last day of Her Majesty’s birthday festival?”
“I know that. That’s why I had returned to the Imperial Palace today in the first place.”
“My prediction was correct. Then I’d like to make a proposal to you.”
“…A proposal?”
“Yes, a proposal.”
Elena nodded her head.
“There will be a closing ceremony for the birthday festival this evening. So here’s the thing. Last time, I didn’t have the basics down yet. The basis of a deal is that there should be a give and take between both parties.”
“A deal…?”
“What I want to receive from you is to accompany me to that event. There’s no need for a ball partner or anything like that. It’s enough for you to simply accompany me.”
Elena held out her hand.
It was the minimum requirement she proposed in consideration of Rudrick, who disliked complications.
Just by accompanying her to that event, it was obvious that others would let their imaginations run wild.
And by imprinting that fact on other nobles, what Elena could offer was clear.
“In return, I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“…Whatever?”
“Well, you probably won’t particularly need it, but…”
Elena’s outstretched hand grabbed Rudrick’s hand, and she brought Rudrick’s hand to her chest.
Rudrick, who suddenly ended up with his hand on Elena’s chest, tried to say something with a flushed face in embarrassment, but Elena was faster in adding her words nonchalantly.
“Even my life, if you want it.”
The beating of her heart could be felt from the fingertips that touched.
At least right now, Elena wasn’t uttering any lies.
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