Chapter 55: Rotten Arrogance

When it was all over, their mother was declared a martyr and a monument was erected in her honour in the main square. As for Alexander —his younger brother... he simply lost his mind and had not recovered to the point of being able to reintegrate into society until very recently, thanks to the intensive efforts of his father, who even went so far as to erase his memories of those days to alleviate his trauma and misery.

Although no one knows, and despite all his father’s attempts to conceal the matter even from everyone, he noticed at the time and afterwards that the bulk of his father’s anger was in fact directed at their mother; he therefore suspected that she might have been a spy, a traitor, or something of that sort, or perhaps part of the enemy.

He did not know, and their father did not say anything either, so he kept his suspicions to himself, even though he had more reasons to suspect his mother; he simply swallowed his doubts

He snapped out of his reverie at the butler’s voice

"Lord Ivar, the First Princess Lieselotte requests an audience."

"Let her in."

Ivar turned towards the door as princess Lieselotte entered and gave him a gentle curtsy in greeting.

"Good evening, Lord Ivar."

Yes... even after they had become an imperial family, they could not shake off their habit of curtsying, even after six centuries of rule... even if it was merely a curtsy of greeting... Tsk.

That was why he, who had been raised as a son of Korvekar, could not suppress the contempt in his heart, yet he showed no expression on his face and ignored the greeting entirely; even if it was rude, it didn’t matter.

A simple ploy like this would not, of course, force him to bow.

"Please, take your ease, Princess."

She looked at him with obvious displeasure and a touch of contempt; he could not help but curve his lips into a faint smile.

Well, this is rather amusing—for a princess from a line of impostors to show contempt towards a descendant of a true royal family such as Korvekar, simply because he did not conform to her culture of performing rituals of humiliation and bowing to just anyone

She isn’t even heir to the throne or anything of the sort; in the future, if she doesn’t marry him or the heir of Dravarius, she’ll be nothing more than a Marquise, a Countess or even a Baroness—and if she’s unlucky, she’ll be nothing more than a noblewoman without a title... —Given that it was her ex-husband’s brother who inherited the title, she received nothing; in contrast, he will become Lord of Korvekar.

That is why he did not really understand her attempts to drag him into such a ridiculous charade as this outdated greeting, which is now practised only by the nobility of the imperial capital and the sycophants and toadies of those charlatans.

He sat down on the sofa, unconcerned that she had not yet taken her seat, and then signalled to the butler to serve refreshments.

"What brings the First Princess to visit me at this late hour?"

She sat gracefully on the sofa opposite, looking at him coldly

"What a miserable future awaits the North and the West; their ruler will be a man who bows before the powerful and bullies the weak."

Was this her revenge? Was she taunting him for being a prisoner of the Emperor? Well, she’s misunderstood the situation... Although the Emperor had confined him to this palace under the pretence of hospitality, he wasn’t really angry and didn’t care whether he was staying at Korvekar’s palace or in the royal residence, as both were in this loathsome place called the Imperial Capital. And although it was the end of the year, the weather was hot, disgusting and uncomfortable; Besides, it’s not as if the Emperor could actually stop him if he wanted to leave!

But leaving that aside, she could have been more polite in her criticism of him, but she wasn’t; she attacked him in a blunt and vulgar manner unbecoming of noble society...

But since she hadn’t bothered with pleasantries or observing general decorum, he didn’t bother either

"Please get to the point. If you’ve come here to chat, I’m afraid I don’t have time for that."

The butler served him iced strawberry juice and her some tea; as for how she could drink hot tea in this sweltering heat... don’t ask him, because he’ll never understand the mindset of southerners

"We have received verbal confirmation from Lord Miroslav regarding the truth of the rumours circulating about the marriage alliance between the Imperial family and Korvekar, and my emperor father, has agreed to this alliance in order to quell the chaos and spread peace throughout our great Empire. I have come to discuss this marriage with you in my capacity as the bride and to set out my conditions – a right granted to me under Imperial law."

He nodded at her absently, with a touch of condescension, urging her to carry on whilst he was busy with his juice; so her frown deepened and her tone grew colder and more brusque

"First of all... I’m not leaving the imperial capital under any circumstances, so don’t you dare try any tricks. You may have forgotten, but I’m still the Imperial Princess..."

"All right, I have no intention of taking a spy home with me."

He cut short her empty boasting, and she fell silent for a long moment, clearly annoyed by his bluntness, his interruption, and the look of contempt and icy coldness in his eyes as he looked at her

She bit her lip in anger, then slammed her teacup down on the table, causing the tea to spill, but she didn’t care—though he certainly did, as his gaze grew colder and colder until the atmosphere became stifling and terrifying.

So she shouted at him to ease the fear and dread she felt in her heart... Not even her accursed ex-husband had been this frightening, despite all his humiliation of her and his trampling on her dignity and her body; so she felt a deep chill and shivers right to the core of her heart

"What do you damned Northerners want from this marriage? Is using women the only thing you’re good at when you’re utterly useless, after all your arrogance and bumbling about here and there? Since when, anyway, has the nonsense of marriage been enough to stop the problems between Korvekar, Dravarius and my imperial family?"

He looked at her calmly without saying a word, and her lips curled in indignation.

"Look, we princesses have no part in the war for the throne or in politics. It is because of you two grand dukes that such a law was enacted in the United Empire since the Second Emperor, and from that time until this very day, we have always been this way. We have never interfered in any of your rotten nonsense, and even the privileges we receive as princesses are negligible; we won’t even hold a noble title once one of our brothers inherits the throne. The only right we possess in our lives is the choice of our life partners—unless, of course, you and Dravarius meddle and ruin our lives, obliterating this sole right of ours."

"..."

He looked at her calmly without speaking.

In truth, even he did not like the idea of his wife being an imperial princess; for even if he set aside his personal preferences, as well as cultural differences—from the greatest matters such as religion and culture to the smallest, such as how to greet people and table manners—

Marrying a princess simply meant bringing a spy into your home.

But what could he do? That cunning woman Roxana had already dragged him into all this nonsense, and for some mad reason their father had agreed to her nonsense