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"What kind of conditions does Empress Arya want?"
"I can't show you the evidence, but I understand that the source of the money that went to Garrite Fair the overflow of a boon connected to the Panicios, a family close to Empress Arya."
Carl raised his eyebrows and asked, "So, what then?"
"The reason why Empress Arya even gave Garrite Fair money to have Count Peer go away was to prevent the marriage between you, the Crown Prince, and Duchess Fair. The time-consuming efforts of the empress would otherwise be wasted. Because you're young and she's young, it wouldn't matter if your marriage was delayed. The best way to stop you is to marry you to someone from another family. Someone who's also disconnected from her family, who would be easy to grab and twist around, because that kind of marriage wouldn't give you any political power."
Carl, who was listening to Sienna with a stiff expression, asked, "Is that what you say?"
Sienna nodded. Seeing her confident face, Carl's expression hardened even more.
"But they can't just bring any kind of girl as a marriage partner for you. Because Empress Arya won't be able to find a target to easily control and wield power over, the question is not finding someone close who can take the place of Duchess Fair. There's no one like that. Butl, there is a noble family that is by far the furthest away from the capital, and my father, who is the head of that family, is unable to leave Heidel due to the nature of the manor. Its place and position hold no political authority, but he still retains the title of duke. On the surface, his rank is even higher than Count Peer's. Even if the empress were to continue with her plans to marry me with you, even against the emperor's authority, you would still have the authority to oppose it. You could argue that you need to be married to someone of much higher rank for the honor of the Imperial Family."
"You have a point. But as you said a little while ago, I'm not in a hurry to get married, so it should be enough to refuse the marriage."
"Don't you know better than anyone that you can't do that, Your Highness?"
At Sienna's words, Carl closed his mouth.
"I was expecting that, but after attending today's banquet, I was made even more certain. The emperor's health is in critical condition right now. Debutante banquets are one of the biggest events in the empire. There's a lot of meaning behind the emperor's absence. It means he couldn't show his face for even a moment at such a big event. Since he has been absent from many of the political meetings for a long time, it has been a while since Empress Arya replaced him, so many nobles must be concerned about the emperor's well-being."
If the emperor died, then a successor had to be chosen between Carl and Valore. If so, imperial law stated that, if there were multiple, the Crown Prince who was married would inherit the throne.
Valore had held a wedding ceremony last year, but his older brother, Carl, was still unmarried. So, Carl's faction would put pressure on him to marry quickly, and Valore's faction would use that as an excuse to pressure him politically. In other words, Carl would no longer be able to postpone his marriage.
Carl nodded. In fact, he was still under pressure to marry. However, he could not proceed with his marriage with Bluebell because she had yet to hold a debutante ceremony.
Although the power of the Peers had been strong enough to delay the decision until now, like Sienna had said, if the political position of the Peers was undermined, the issue of marriage would be raised yet again.
Even Carl thought Sienna's words were quite logical. If it turned out to be like how Sienna had insisted it would be, then he was sure she would be his queen. If he opposed it, he might be able to drag the clock, but it was almost impossible to stop it at the source. Arya had both great support from her powerhouses and a good justification.
'A marriage with Sienna. '
To be honest, it didn't sound bad to him. Arya might think she'd found a pushover, but in his eyes, Sienna was anything but easy to sway.
Sienna, with that much insight into the situation, could not become Arya's puppet, to swing around in the direction she wanted. Moreover, rather than marrying a total stranger, marrying Sienna didn't sound terrible to him.
He did not have any foolish ideas of marrying a loved one, for his seat could not bear the weight. The engagement with Bluebell had been a choice to gain himself some political advantage. Of course, he had known her for a long time, so he didn't hate her.
However, Carl still couldn't understand what she had meant, even after Sienna's explanation.
"Why the divorce?"
Even if their marriage was going to happen like Sienna had stated, he couldn't understand how her wish was to get divorced from him.
"..."
She couldn't answer his question easily.
'What should I say? That I'm afraid I'm going to fall in love with you? That I'm afraid of falling in love once again, and that blinded by that foolish love, I'm afraid to bring about shockingly terrible occurrences. Or that I'm afraid I'm going to become greedy and blow away my hard-won opportunity for revenge. '
Sienna couldn't bear to open her mouth. She just looked at his warm, olive-colored eyes.
Carl's olive eyes were dark brown because of the darkened sky. The darkness could not take away all of his charm, even though his blond hair had also lost its shade and glow for there was no Sun. Every time Carl blinked, his long eyelashes moved in a flutter.
Carl was a beautiful man even with the dark shadows that formed under his eyes. It might have been natural for the eighteen-year-old, young Sienna to have fallen in love with him. It seemed more difficult not to fall in love with him now than to defy natural events.
No longer confident in facing him, she turned her back toward him.
"Is there someone you love?"
Sienna held back a laugh from Carl's wild question. Because she kept pushing for a divorce, did he think of it as an expression of dissatisfaction with an unwanted marriage because he thought she had someone else she loved? Well, she had already told a man with whom she wasn't married yet to divorce her.
"Is it because it's a love that can't be achieved with that person? Does he have someone else? Or is it because there's a wall between you two because of rank? Is he a commoner or a slave, or a priest who can't marry?"
Sienna released a disheartening laugh at his question. After hearing the smoldering laugh, Carl grabbed her arm and set her forward. She opened her eyes wide in surprise after being turned around with such force.
He grabbed her arms and asked, face-to-face, "Can't you hear me? Why don't you answer?"
Carl growled like a ferocious beast trying to bite off her neck at any moment. The hand holding Sienna's arm was so strong that she made an expression of pain.
"It hurts. Let me go, please."
It wasn't until Sienna complained about the pain that he pulled his hands off her arms. Carl's expression clouded over when he saw his handprints remained on her skin.
"I'm sorry if it hurt."
An apologetic Carl was indeed unfamiliar to her.
"You said you would fulfill my one wish. You didn't say that I had to state the reason for it."
"I didn't promise not to ask either. Answer me. Do you have someone you love?"
Sienna couldn't see why he was so insistent on that question.
"I just don't want to say. Please, keep your promise to me anyway. I'm sure you made the promise in the name of your status as prince. If you know of honor, I'm sure you'll keep that promise."
"What if your mind changes? What happens if your mind changes about that person, and you don't want a divorce?"
| ← Ch. 031 | Ch. 033 → |