Carlyle wiped the smile off his face and spoke to the emperor with a feigned seriousness.
"I was already thinking about the 'service to the empire' that Your Majesty mentioned, and I think this might be the beginning of it."
"You… what on earth do you mean?"
The emperor asked, unable to hide his astonishment.
"Helping my father keep the promise he made in my grandfather's name, and helping to rebuild Pervaz, which must be devastated by the war, wouldn't that also be a service to our empire?"
The emperor was seething inside at Carlyle's glib answer, but he couldn't refute it.
"But Per… no, never mind."
The emperor sighed and shook his head.
The money he had to give to Pervaz was no longer the issue.
'How many nobles can I squeeze dry with Carlyle's marriage, and yet Pervaz of all places!'
The only fortunate thing was that the imperial law recognized divorce.
'Yes, that brat is acting all high and mighty now, but once he arrives in Pervaz, he'll change his mind and get a divorce right away.'
Pervaz had been suffering from attacks by barbarians and monsters even before it was incorporated into the empire. Even without seeing it for himself, he could easily imagine that the land would be in a mess.
'That's why that woman risked her life to do this, I suppose.'
The emperor glared at Asha with displeasure and decided to get rid of her sight for now.
"It seems that there needs to be some conversation between Countess Pervaz and Carlyle. The chamberlain will prepare a place, and Countess Pervaz will step back and wait for now."
With that, the unprecedented 'selection of the crown princess' came to a temporary end.
* * *
"Your Highness! What on earth were you thinking…!"
The first person to run up to Carlyle, who had stepped away from his seat to speak to Asha alone, was Giles Raphelt, another of Carlyle's aides.
"Ah, it's been a long time, Sir Raphelt. Did you handle the funeral of the late madam well?"
"Do you feel like greeting me with a smile at a time like this?"
"Of course! In fact, this is the first time I've felt really happy since my father stripped me of my title as crown prince."
Carlyle couldn't help but chuckle again as he recalled Asha's outsmarting of his father.
However, Giles was in no mood to laugh.
"I should have been by Your Highness's side. I shouldn't have left at this time!"
He had just arrived yesterday after staying at the Raphelt estate for about a month to deal with his deceased mother's funeral, inheritance issues, and various minor matters of the estate.
He was so shocked and angry when he heard the news of Carlyle's loss of crown prince status on his way up that he thought he would collapse right there and then.
"Does it make sense for a child not to visit his mother who passed away?"
"When she has eight children. Would it be noticeable if I didn't go? But what about the consequences when I left Your Highness's side?"
He was convinced that if he had been by Carlyle's side, Carlyle would never have fallen into the empress's trap.
"That was a pity, of course, but what, let's call it a minor incident in life. After all, isn't Carlyle Evaristo the one who will become the emperor of the Chad Empire?"
"Of course. Because I'm going to make you that way."
To Giles, too, it was only natural that Carlyle would become the emperor.
Because he believed in Carlyle's and his own abilities.
"However, with so many unexpected variables, the situation has become a complete mess now that Your Highness has just declared that you will marry Countess Pervaz."
He had a rather displeased expression on his face. However, Carlyle still had a light attitude.
"What don't you like about it, my teacher? I rather think it's an opportunity given by heaven."
"No, what on earth are you talking about?"
"First of all…"
Carlyle smiled and answered the most important reason.
"It's a very good opportunity to kick my father in the back of the head."
"Your Highness! Did you come up with this idea just to get revenge on His Majesty the Emperor?"
"What else can I do if I get so angry that I do something even more stupid? …Or would it have been better to just cut off my father's and Matthias's heads?"
Giles quickly shook his head at the words that seemed to be spoken in earnest.
"Please refrain from saying such things in the palace at least! You never know where the ears that are listening might be…!"
Carlyle chuckled at the sight of the bewildered Giles. His teacher was still a man who enjoyed teasing him.
Soon he erased the smile from his face and said.
"Second, on this occasion, people will come to realize my worth."
Giles nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Everyone will come to realize how great a thing it was for Your Highness to have protected the South."
"Let's see if my father and Matthias can do a good job this time."
Although there was no immediate war, the threat of the demons still remained. Judging from the pattern so far, it was likely that the demons would attack the southern part of the capital within a year.
"Finally."
It wasn't until the third reason that Carlyle's face became serious.
"Pervaz is the perfect place to secretly grow my strength."
Gilles' eyes narrowed sharply.
"Are you sure about this?"
"The Empress' power has grown too much. She's also a dangerous woman to have near my easily swayed father."
However, he had left things alone until now because he believed his own crown prince position was secure as long as he didn't die.
Confident in his own survival, he saw no need to unnecessarily cause a stir in the imperial family. The people desired a harmonious imperial family, and the imperial family's popularity was quite an important element in ruling the people.
However, if the Empress had become powerful enough to dethrone him, things were different.
"She declared war, so I should gladly fight her. To do that, wouldn't I need to prepare some things here and there, out of the Empress' reach?"
"Indeed… Pervaz has extraterritoriality, right?"
"At this point, for Pervaz's successor to come here and try to take me away… could this be a blessing in disguise?"
Carlyle chuckled and approached the mirror. He then straightened the wrinkles of his loosely worn clothes.
"Now, I should go meet my lucky bluebird."
"Make sure the divorce clause is clear."
"Of course. Well, if she becomes bothersome, I could just make it look like an accident and get rid of her."
Carlyle spoke lightly, as if crushing a bug, and headed towards the room where he would meet Asha.
***
"Asha, this isn't right. This is…!"
"Was this even possible? No, how could the prince… with our Lord… why…?"
"I don't like this, my lord. Did you see the look in the prince's and the emperor's eyes? They could send assassins tonight!"
Decker and their companions were holding onto Asha, who had suddenly been forced to marry the prince, trying to talk her out of it.
"But it's already happened, hasn't it? It's not like I can say I won't do it now."
Asha was just as flustered by the completely unexpected outcome of the negotiations.
"Ugh, this is crazy."
Decker thumped his frustrated chest repeatedly, while Luka, Bastian, and Danilo nervously bit their lips.
After standing still for a while, lost in thought, Asha clenched her fists tightly and raised her head.
"Whatever happens, I will get supplies to save Pervaz. Even if it means risking my life, I will."
At her words, Decker thumped his chest again.
"Do you think you have multiple lives? You could have been beheaded for insulting the imperial family just now!"
"If you're surprised, I apologize. But it was the Emperor who said he would give me the choice of a marriage partner, and I was confident that someone with such keen eyes wouldn't go back on his word."
"But how…!"
"He just didn't want to involve another noble family. I didn't expect his Highness Carlyle to accept."
To be more precise, no one but the imperial family could offer the kind of compensation Asha wanted.
"His Highness Carlyle doesn't have any intention of marrying me seriously. He's just making a fuss about being stripped of his crown prince status, so I need to play along and get some money out of him."
"Ugh… why are we in the position of having to 'extort' money? We just wanted fair compensation… ."
"Right."
Asha grimaced bitterly.
Just then, a lower-ranking court official arrived and said that Carlyle was waiting.
"I'll be back."
"No. We're going too. We'll go and guard you."
Her companions, who genuinely believed that Asha might be assassinated, headed towards the drawing room where Carlyle was waiting, prepared to die together. Of course, only Asha could enter the drawing room itself.
As the door opened, a luxurious room with a red carpet appeared before Asha's eyes. The centerpiece of the luxuriousness was the red-haired handsome man sitting right in the middle.
"Ah, the brave Countess Pervaz has arrived."
He greeted Asha with a slight bow. It was unclear whether the word "brave" was meant sarcastically or mockingly, but one thing was for sure: it was definitely not meant as a compliment.
"May the imperial family be blessed with the utmost glory. I, Asha Pervaz, greet the Crown Prince."
Asha calling Carlyle "Crown Prince" was purely a slip-up. After all,
Carlyle had been the crown prince for so long.