But no matter how unshakable Sasha’s faith was, accepting this situation completely was asking the impossible.
Sasha met Rio’s eyes head-on—Rio was staring at him like this was absurd—and tried to signal, You and I feel the same way.
“…What is this?”
But Rio and Sasha weren’t the kind of relationship where you could communicate with nothing but a look.
“His Majesty wants me.”
It wasn’t even what I wanted, so why did I have to be treated like this?
When Sasha answered sharply, packing his irritation at Rio—who was clueless to a truly filthy degree—Rio snorted loud, “Hah!” He looked ready to sneer outright, but Edward turned and looked at the two of them.
“Do what you’re each here to do.”
Do what we’re each here to do?
Rio Grenville’s job would obviously be escort duty. But what was my job?
I’d already heard it, but I still couldn’t believe this was real, so I just stared at Edward—until he pulled out a desk chair for me.
Yes. That’s right. Sit down already.
Am I dreaming?
What kind of insane Emperor brings a noble who started a rebellion into the emperor’s study, where the Empire’s major affairs overflow every day?
But Sasha was already in the study, and the desk assigned to Sasha formed an L-shape with Edward’s desk, set right alongside it.
Leaving behind Rio—who couldn’t tell if he should stop this or if he should press Sasha for standing there ignoring the chair Edward had graciously pulled out—Sasha sauntered over to his seat.
Just looking at the same chair and desk as Edward’s made him want to believe this even less.
Because Edward looked like he wouldn’t move on until Sasha sat, Sasha had no choice but to drop into the chair Edward pushed in for him.
This looks like the kind we used at the House Ambrose marquessate. Did the same craftsman make it?
While Sasha appraised the desk like a man in denial of reality, Rio stared blankly at Edward sitting down, then snapped back to himself.
“Your Majesty? Why is Sasha Ambrose here?”
“Didn’t I tell you yesterday? That I’d keep Sasha Ambrose by my side.”
Was it because Sasha had needled him? It seemed Rio had gone to Edward yesterday and talked about Sasha.
“Of course! You did. But you didn’t say it would be like this. And the Empress’s palace, of all places!”
For the first time in his life, Sasha genuinely wanted Rio Grenville to win a clash between the two of them. The fact that only Rio could stop this—
“Isn’t it a palace where your family used to stay? If he must remain, it’s better for the Viscount to stay somewhere familiar.”
He wrapped it nicely. Very noble—no, very Emperor.
“Family…. So you’re going to insist Sasha Ambrose is Your Majesty’s family now, too?”
Surely not.
A leap like that was a disease.
And yet, when I thought about it… it didn’t sound that bad.
Edward’s family.
Sasha knew the sense of responsibility Edward carried toward people inside the fence marked family.
All through the novel, no matter how much trouble they caused and how much of a mess they were, Edward never let go of his adoptive family.
Edward didn’t accept them into the imperial line or grant them noble titles, but he supported them more generously than most minor nobles.
For adoptive parents who barely qualified as human, he provided a decent estate back in their hometown, and he deposited a monthly allowance that was slightly excessive for commoners—so they couldn’t blow through everything at once.
And his younger siblings—immature and jealous, but still young enough that he could chalk it up to that—Edward helped them live in the capital, and he didn’t spare support so each of them could develop whatever they were good at.
They weren’t nobles. They weren’t Lacarte. But they caused so many incidents that even commoners knew Edward was their backing—so in truth, they were treated almost like imperial family in everything but name.
So what Sasha meant was this:
No matter how much Edward hated you, no matter how much you made his life miserable, no matter how disappointed he became—Edward never abandoned family.
If I’m considered family…
Even if I got tangled up in something bad, wouldn’t he keep Sasha’s life intact no matter what?
His heart thumped with anticipation—and then the answer came back, cleanly severed.
“That’s not it.”
He cut it off so coldly that even Rio Grenville—who’d asked first—looked more flustered.
“Th…! Right?”
Why are you looking at me for cues?
…Even if he was the kind protagonist, he wasn’t going to treat the main villain like family.
Sasha turned toward Rio’s sidelong glance and gave him a bright, radiant smile.
“If you count it that way, wouldn’t half the Empire’s nobles be Your Majesty’s family?”
Especially since there were four Empresses—add them all up and—
What nonsense. As if Sasha wasn’t viciously devoted to his own family.
Sasha was the kind of person who would wager everything and start a rebellion for his older sister. If you really wanted to measure it, Sasha was no less of a family fool than Edward—no, worse.
If you made me family, wouldn’t I treat you so well?
There wasn’t a single noble who didn’t know about Sasha’s love for his family.
So Edward had kicked his own fortune away.
At Sasha’s glittering smile, Rio rubbed his upper arm like he’d gotten goosebumps.
“Just curse at me like you used to.”
“My goodness, Young Duke—how could I dare.”
“Either speak properly, or raise your tone properly!”
Sasha only smiled, because he hated that too, and Rio—getting heated—raised his voice.
“How is this supposed to be pretty…!”
“Rio.”
This time, it wasn’t Sasha who stepped in. It was Edward.
At Edward’s call, Rio Grenville snapped his mouth shut. But Edward didn’t stop there—he continued in a dry voice.
“If it’s uncomfortable for you to be with the Viscount, you may leave.”
“…Pardon?”
“In the first place, it never made sense for a Young Duke like you to keep serving as my personal escort.”
Rio, who’d pointed out Sasha’s behavior only to find himself about to be cut loose instead, glared resentfully at Sasha—but even that glare got scolded.
“Young Duke.”
Edward stopped using his name and called him by title instead, and Rio spoke as if he couldn’t endure any more.
“…I’ll step out for a moment.”
At Rio’s answer—that he would leave until he got his emotions under control—Edward only nodded, no attempt to stop him. Rio left the study with a chilly, cutting air.
And Sasha, left behind in the study in sudden awkward silence, couldn’t keep pouting like before.
“Is it acceptable to do that?”
Unable to bear the heavy atmosphere, Sasha asked. Edward replied in a plain, cold voice.
“My will won’t change.”
He wasn’t going to change the decision to keep Sasha by his side—so Rio either bent, or got flung away.
The bluntness was startling, and yet… if you were an Emperor, wasn’t this exactly how it should be?
Still, maybe the shock outweighed the sense, because the silence stretched. Then Edward spoke again.
“Are you acquainted with Rio?”
Acquainted? Did acquainted mean something different to Edward than it did to Sasha?
Before Edward appeared, Rio hadn’t been active in society, so they’d only recognized each other’s faces. After Edward appeared, they’d been enemies.
And even now, their positions were sharply split, weren’t they?
The future Duke—guaranteed and trusted by the Emperor—versus a fallen Viscount suspected by the Emperor.
There was nothing to tie the two of them together, no matter how you looked at it.
And why was he speaking politely again?
“If I’m acquainted with the Young Duke, then I must be best friends with Your Majesty, since we lived together and we’ll be living together from now on.”
“…You mean you’re close?”
What has he been saying this whole time?
“Generally, you don’t call it an acquaintance when you’ve tried to kill each other, Your Majesty.”
Sasha put weight on Your Majesty—a way of saying, stop asking pointless questions and remember you’re the Emperor—so thankfully Edward seemed to realize the slip.
“Couldn’t you become close?”
Sasha swallowed the Are you insane? that nearly jumped out and, in a flash of realization, pinched his own thigh.
This is a warning.
The one who’d been making mistakes until now was Sasha.
Had his senses died while he was out in his territory? Edward wasn’t close with Rio—so he was pointing out Sasha’s rude attitude, asking why Sasha behaved that way.
“It’s impossible.”
Sasha bowed his head, cutting it off—promising it wouldn’t happen again.
“If it bothers you, I’ll be careful from now on.”
The fact Edward warned Sasha privately instead of saying it in front of Rio meant Edward was already showing him plenty of consideration.
Sasha didn’t avoid Edward’s gaze on his face. He smiled—a picture-perfect smile.
To show he had no ulterior motive.
I look harmless, don’t I?
Edward’s eyes swept over every inch of his face, and Sasha tensed—still, he met those golden eyes without flinching and smiled with his eyes, softening the corners.
The prettiest smile, the one he’d practiced in the mirror.
Harmless—yet in another sense, overwhelming. Ten out of ten people who saw it ended up feeling favorably toward Sasha.
“Why….”
Edward’s lips parted as if he were about to say something—then he shut his mouth again.
Sasha tightened his body, waiting for what would follow, but Edward seemed to decide this was enough. With his usual blank face, he pointed to the stack of documents on Sasha’s desk.
“Then let’s begin.”
He really meant to make me work?
And this much?
…Is this a test, too?
To see if I’m trying to pry out information, or if I’m harboring bad intentions.
And if I show even the slightest questionable sign, then—quick and clean—off comes my head.
I hate this.
I hated working, but even more than that—was I going to spend my entire life in the Imperial Palace being suspected and tested like this?
For the first time in a long while, his neck went cold. Sasha picked up the pen without a word.
He still couldn’t fully grasp what he was doing right now, but for the moment, if he wanted to live, he needed to obey Edward.