"I'm pregnant...?"
Sovieshu nodded, and Rashta looked dazed. This surprise news was given to her as soon as she woke up. Rashta covered her belly with her hands.
"I'm pregnant..."
"It may be scary because it's your first pregnancy, but...thank you."
Sovieshu leaned down and embraced Rashta tightly. He could feel her trembling in his arms, and he rubbed her back and repeatedly murmured his gratitude for her. He had always wanted a baby, and he had always wanted to be a father. Apart from simply needing a successor to the throne, a happy family was his ideal dream. How was it that a concubine that had only been in his life for a few months made it come true?
But despite his happiness, harbored a sense of unease. The best plan was to have a child with the Empress first. A concubine's children could not be successors, but the relationship between parent and child can not be severed so easily. Clever bastard children were the seeds of many quarrels. Sovieshu never wanted that to happen among his generations. With an illegitimate child born first, he was both happy and anxious.
"Your Majesty, we have our baby here..."
But Sovieshu could not share his concerns to the mother of his baby. He placed his hand on Rashta's stomach with a smile, pushing away his unease.
"Isn't this incredible?"
"Yes, I don't feel anything yet...but it's amazing."
The palace doctor standing to the side spoke up carefully.
"Miss Rashta, were you having irregular periods?"
She nodded.
"Yes, so I never thought about getting pregnant. It was always irregular..."
"I'll prepare you medicine and healthy foods. For the time being, please focus on your prescribed diet."
The doctor left, and Sovieshu seated himself by Rashta's side.
"If there's anything you want to eat, anything you want to have, just tell me."
"Anything?"
"When a mother is happy, so will the baby."
"!"
At that moment, tears started to fill her eyes.
"Rashta?"
Sovieshu looked at her in surprise, but Rashta curled up and buried her face on her knees.
"What's wrong? Are you sick? Should I call back the doctor?"
"No, not that..."
"?"
"I've always wanted to hear that."
"Rashta?"
Sovieshu was bewildered by her reaction, and he lifted her chin. She wasn't crying cutely as usual, instead her body wracked with sobs as if she couldn't care less what she looked like. After crying hard for a long time, Rashta threw herself into Sovieshu's arms.
"You're Rashta's savior, Your Majesty. You don't know how much Rashta loves you."
However, Rashta's soaring happiness plummeted after she met with Duke Elgy the next day. She was grateful for his help, but when he spoke to her it was with a grave expression.
"I've been to Rimwell, Miss. The child that Viscount Roteschu is keeping...I think that's your baby."
Rashta's eyes grew wide. She never had words of congratulations when she had her first child, but now it was like a needle in her heart.
"Did you ask the Church for an examination?"
Rashta covered her belly with her hands. She was afraid that the eldest child, born unloved, would grab the ankle of the second child, who would live in love. Duke Elgy shook his head.
"No."
"If there's no examination..."
"It was a baby boy. He looks just like you."
"!"
The blood drained from Rashta's face. Now that it was true, there was nothing to be done except to give Viscount Roteschu money in return for his silence.
As he looked down at Rashta, Duke Elgy smiled and made a suggestion.
"As I've told you before, I can lend you the money you need, Miss."
He made it sound so easy. Rashta, who was not able to afford the money right away, was terrified.
"How much?"
In the past, she had been very cautious about borrowing money. However, things had changed. She was now carrying the Emperor's baby, and she was wildly happy. The money would be available in a few years, and she had to prevent Viscount Roteschu from entering her life no matter the cost.
"Any amount."
Rashta hesitated for a moment.
"Then is it possible to borrow a thousand krangs...?"
"I'll lend you ten thousand."
He sat down and took a piece of paper out of his pocket, then placed it on the table. It was an unsigned promissory note. He wrote his name and signature and put "10,000 krangs" on the amount.
"Here."
He then took out two 5,000 krang slips from his breast pocket. It was issued from the top credit lender on the Wol continent.
"Thank you..."
Rashta signed the promissory note from Duke Elgy and accepted the slips. This would keep Viscount Roteschu's mouth shut for at least a little while.
"You'll get worn out if you kept getting swept away, so think of a means to shake it off."
"Is there a good way...?"
"Well, in this case, I don't know."
Duke Elgy stood up a gave a word of encouragement to Rashta, who smiled at him. As he was leaving the room, his hand stopped on the doorknob and he and turned back.
"But Miss."
"What?"
"The baby in your womb now. I wonder if it's a daughter or son?"
*
*
*
"I see...she's awake."
It was evening time. After work, Laura delivered to me the news that Rashta was safe. The lady-in-waiting also added that Sovieshu gave Rashta a large armchair as a gift. I sat in front of my desk and smiled as calmly as possible, but the other ladies-in-waiting stopped playing chess and flocked to my side for more gossip. It turned out that Rashta wasn't the only news of the day.
"Duchess Tuania has decided to divorce the Duke. They couldn't agree on anything, however, so they went to court over property division."
"Viscount Langdel was exiled yesterday, Her Majesty."
But the most unexpected news was not even about them.
"Your Majesty, what do you think of Viscount Roteschu? The man who claimed Rashta was a slave."
Rashta's old master...
While the topic of him was long buried, I wasn't ignorant of him. But why suddenly bring him up now? The lady-in-waiting leaned in and whispered to the group.
"I heard that Viscount Roteschu wants to move to the capital city. He's looking for a house near the palace."
As soon as I heard those words, my mind turned to Rashta. Although Sovieshu had forced Viscount Roteschu to renounce his claim that Rashta was his slave, their past relationship would never be gone. Viscount Roteschu had even gone around manipulating information about Duchess Tuania for Rashta. And now he was moving near the palace?
'Is Rashta being blackmailed?'
As I stewed over this information, Laura cut in with her own gossip.
"I heard that he's not only looking for a house, but a nanny as well. Does he have a baby at home?"
I didn't want to say this out loud, but...I didn't want to get involved, even if Rashta was being threatened. I'll only focus on myself. It would be difficult if she asked Sovieshu for help, but she was not my job.
As I listened to the conversation on Rashta, I opened my drawer and rummaged through my items.
'Oh?'
Something rolled into my hand. When I pulled it out, it was a pretty pink bottle about the size of my palm.
"Huh? Isn't that from before?"
Laura, who had been talking about Viscount Roteschu, diverted her attention.
"Wasn't it a gift? It's a love potion, right?"
"That's right."
I didn't use it as the sender was anonymous, and left it in my drawer and completely forgot about it. After I received it, I went to the villa, and then Sovieshu got sick, and so on.
"You didn't open it at all, did you?"
"I believe it's just a joke."
Laura came near and peered at the bottle. She seemed curious about the love potion.
"Could it be real?"
"Of course not. If it were real, people would talk about it."
"But there are all kinds of things in this world, Her Majesty."
If there was a true love potion, wouldn't there at least be rumors? I looked at the bottle hesitatingly, and Laura had an encouraging expression in her eyes.
"Try it, Your Majesty."
"Even if I use this, there's no situation for me to use it for..."
I trailed off nervously. In response, Laura mouthed, 'Emperor.'
Afterwards, each of the ladies-in-waiting went to their usual business. Before I went to sleep, I lay in bed and stared at the bottle.
'What was the intent of the person who sent this?'
Did they pity me for losing my husband to Rashta? Or was it a poison?
Ah...right. Grand Duke Kapmen graduated from the magical academy, so perhaps I could ask him. Prince Heinley seemed to be good at using magic as well, but he was only a transfer, so he may be weak on magical theory...
The next day.
There were discussions about diplomacy with Rwibt to be had, so I took the bottle and went to one of the vacant rooms in the palace. I scheduled Grand Duke Kapmen and I to meet here, and he soon arrived.
"I heard you were looking for me, Your Majesty."
"Have you written the export and import prospects we talked about previously?"
"About half..."
"Let me take a look."
"..."
"What are the total number of traders crossing from Rwibt to the Wol continent?"
"I don't know if there are any traders who are really doing this."
"We need some meaningful numbers before we can create a state-led business. There needs to be a minimum guarantee of safety. We may want to make a preliminary deal first for market research purposes."
"Yes."
"Is there anything else you can trade from the Hwa continent to the rest of the world?"
At the suggestion of trading with other countries, Grand Duke Kapmen furrowed his brow.
"I don't know."
"I'd like you to find out. Trade between the two countries is good, but we can create the infrastructure where our two countries become intermediate distributors between the continents and receive commission."
"I see."
After some more discussion, we finished the conversation, and I took the chance to tell him about the love potion.
"I heard that you were at the top of the magical academy..."
"Yes."
"You don't know about magic potions, do you?"
Grand Duke Kapmen looked at me as if asking why I was talking rubbish. I suspected this man disliked me. He did recommend me as an important trade representative, and he did listen carefully to my opinions, but I could sense his opinion on other things.
'Does he hate personal relationships?'
"No."
"What?"
"...I know about potions."
"Ah. Yes."
Oh. I thought he had answered in the negative. The timing made my heart skip a beat. I pressed my hand against my chest, and then pulled out the pink bottle.
"Will you take a look at this, if you don't mind?"
"What is it?"
Grand Duke Kapmen lifted his eyebrows and took the bottle to inspect it.
"A love potion..."
"What?"
"It came in as a birthday gift, and the note said it was a love potion."
He frowned even deeper.
"I don't believe it's true. And I'm uncomfortable because it was sent anonymously."
I thought I looked foolish for keeping it, so I added that I expected no benefit from it. But there was no change in Grand Duke Kapmen's expression.
"But it's a gift, so I don't want to throw it away. If you don't mind, can you confirm whether it's harmful or not?"
With slightly dismissive look, Kapmen said something completely unexpected.
"I don't know if this is harmful, but these potions are on the black market. It works to some extent."
"I've never heard of this potion before..."
"Even if it's only distributed on the black market, it's a genuine drug."
Grand Duke Kapmen seemed quite interested, and he said "Wait" then shook the bottle. After that, he opened the lid and smelled it. After a few inspections, he spoke in a noncommittal tone.
"It seems to have some effectiveness."
"Then if someone drinks this...?"
"They will fall in love with the first person they see. Well, it's not exactly love, but it gives them the physical symptoms of love—the heart beats faster, the face turns red...hmmm, and so on."
I burst into laughter because it was so strange. Was the love potion given to me not out of malice, but out of pity that I lost Sovieshu to Rashta?
Grand Duke Kapmen briefly glanced at me before continuing.
"You can use it on Emperor Sovieshu if you wish. Just make sure that the first person he sees is you."
"!"
I was taken aback, and he shrugged as if he hadn't said anything strange. I smiled awkwardly and gave a murmured agreement.
It hurt my pride to attract Sovieshu's attention, and frankly speaking, I couldn't trust the potion itself. Grand Duke Kapmen assured me that it was alright, but there had to be a reason why I never heard of it. Besides, a simple sniff test couldn't give that much information...
Did my face show signs of disbelief? When I reached out to take the bottle back, Kapmen pulled it possessively back towards him. "You don't believe me..." he said, then opened the cap.
"I'll prove to you the results."
"No, you don't have to—"
"I have the antidote."
"The antidote?"
Before I could ask why he had something like that, Grand Duke looked at me and took a sip. My eyes met his in surprise.
The door suddenly opened and someone came in.
"Empress?"