RLQ - Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Stars Like Her
“What did you say to him?”
Kelly, the Head Maid, brought the Queen the prepared dress and happened to see Dalton leaving. As he walked away, he clutched a crumpled piece of paper tightly in his hand, looking disheveled.
“Something he needed to know.”
Adele sat back down at her desk, frowning as she began to read through a stack of documents sent by the councilors.
Kelly knelt down to pick up the scattered papers. Seeing their contents, she cursed Dalton angrily: “If you ask me, you should have just let him be impeached back then. The gallows is what he deserved.”
“I originally thought he could be an opportunity.”
Adele sighed.
What she had told Dalton wasn't entirely a lie.
The Queen had indeed been paying attention to this rare commoner general for a long time.
If, in the medieval era, nobles were the necessary shields and swords for ruling a country due to their privileged living conditions, excellent weaponry, and knightly training from a young age, then from the moment the first fireworks maker used gunpowder in warfare, the carriage of history had driven in a completely different direction.
Relying on firearms, even an undernourished commoner could kill an experienced knight on the battlefield.
Heavy armor and ancient cavalry were facing a severe challenge, and the nobles were doing everything in their power to prevent the arrival of this new change.
However, the Empire needed generals and armies capable of adapting to change.
Dalton was such a person.
“I did have expectations for him,” the Queen said, taking the documents Kelly had organized, picking them up one by one. “He is exceptional; he was born for war.”
Before the rebellion happened, she wasn't completely unaware.
This year's drought was unusual. Since May, there had been constant signs of unrest in various places, with tax resistance movements continuously emerging. Adele had a disagreement with the nobles led by Heinrich on this matter; she did not approve of the council's method of forceful suppression and believed that some concessions should be made.
To break this deadlock, Adele decided to appoint the first Imperial Marshal in the history of the Roland Empire who came from a commoner background.
Robert Dalton.
On one hand, she wanted to send a friendly signal to the common people. On the other hand, she also wanted to use Dalton to challenge the long-standing rigid system of the Empire.
Taking advantage of the opportunity presented by the military exercise before the coronation, she transferred Dalton and his guards back from Keximia Port.
The Marshal appointment letter was drafted on July 15th, and the rebellion occurred on the 16th.
Only twenty-four hours separated the two events.
“See,” Adele joked with Kelly, “things are just that unpredictable. God insisted I write a document twice.”
“You offered people roses, and they returned you bitter thorns,” Kelly said softly, unable to hide her sadness.
The Queen was silent for a moment, then shook her head slightly.
“Everything has a price,” she said, moving past the subject. “I truly wish I could replace the brains of my officials. Look at the messy things they've proposed to me.”
She picked up a document from the desk, read the first few sentences aloud, and then threw it back onto the desk.
Kelly knew her mistress well and immediately understood that these documents from various parts of the kingdom angered the Queen more than Dalton did.
“The drought is already threatening the taxes for the next two years, pushing the people to the brink of rebellion, and they're still endlessly bickering over disputes concerning a few family territories!” the Queen pointed out sharply. “They're not even as good as Dalton. At least he sent soldiers to execute a few pot-bellied monks so the farmers could draw water from the ‘holy spring’ occupied by the church.”
It was precisely this kind of Imperial system that made her determined to change things.
If justice and benevolence couldn't be achieved, then she would use conspiracy, malice, bloodshed, and everything she could employ, by any means necessary.
Outside the window, white doves and crows were startled by the sound of the exercise horns, fluttering their wings and soaring through the air.
The parade was approaching.
“My dear brother:
I have learned of everything you have done for me in Roland. I am especially grateful that you have won the heart of the fair lady for me, and also won the future Roland. I am so eager to reunite with you. When you return to Rute, I will certainly host a grand banquet for you at Savoye Palace—you cannot refuse it, no matter how displeased our mother may be…”
Prince Arthur read this letter from the Rute Empire expressionlessly.
After a moment, he let out a cold laugh.
As expected of Orsis.
He was always elegant and amiable, but if anyone ignored the warning hidden beneath his friendliness, disaster would befall them.
This letter was entirely in Orsis's style, a truly clever masterpiece, delivering a stern warning and a non-negotiable order to return as soon as possible, all in a gentle tone.
“Who visited our Count?” Prince Arthur asked softly.
The accompanying officer didn't dare to breathe, watching as Prince Arthur crumpled the letter from the Emperor into a ball and threw it into the fire to burn.
“Dalton.”
The accompanying officer answered cautiously, afraid that the unpredictable Prince Arthur might casually push him into the fire as well.
“Where is the Count?”
Prince Arthur asked. His sleeve was still stained with bright paint; before the letter from the Rute Emperor pulled him out, he had been staying in his room painting, allowing no one to approach him.
“He…” The accompanying officer trembled uncontrollably. “The Count returned to the country a few days ago.”
He had left overnight.
Clearly, the Count was also well aware of the fate that awaited him once Prince Arthur discovered he had been bribed by Dalton and reported to the Rute Emperor—the Prince would undoubtedly slit his throat with a rapier without hesitation.
“He escaped very quickly,” Prince Arthur said in a gentle tone filled with malice. “I hope he can be forever lucky from now on.”
His familiar accompanying officer immediately understood—it was likely that assassins or a subtly poisoned drink would be waiting for the Count upon his return to Rute.
Unless that fellow was utterly foolish, he would immediately seek the protection of the Emperor or the Empress Dowager.
Prince Arthur thought of this as well, pacing gloomily in the room.
If Orsis had become wary of him, things would be a bit more difficult than originally planned… but it didn't matter. The more chaotic things were, the more conducive it was to the growth of evil… A series of vicious plans flashed through Prince Arthur's mind in a brief moment, enough to make most clergy members pale with fear.
Suddenly, he stopped, his gaze falling on a corner of the room.
“Where is the original painting?”
He asked.
“The Count sent it back to the country before,” the accompanying officer answered, trembling. Prince Arthur's expression was too grim, making him swallow the latter part of the sentence, “and you were only concerned about the Queen being poisoned at the time.”
Meanwhile, in the palace of the Rute Empire.
The young ruler of the Empire walked through the corridor accompanied by his confidante.
Orsis's appearance bore some resemblance to his brother's, but his eyes were a colder silver-gray. He wore a dark coat with double rows of jeweled buttons, and the scabbard of the sword at his waist was made of gold, making it look more like an ornament than a weapon. However, those truly familiar with this young monarch knew that he was an excellent swordsman, and his blade was equally sharp.
“The Count has confirmed that he was indeed overly close to the Roland Queen,” the confidante said with deep concern. “You should be wary of His Highness the Prince.”
“I've heard similar words no less than a thousand times,” Orsis replied. “Actually, compared to that, I'm more surprised by one thing…”
He paused, revealing a somewhat subtle expression.
“I know Arthur. His pursuit of art and evil far surpasses everything else.” Sometimes, even the motive of causing trouble just to see more chaos is higher than his desire for the throne.
“What changed him? What kind of person could capture his greatest attention now?”
“It is said…” the confidante hesitated, “that the Roland Queen inherited her mother's red eyes. Haven't red eyes always been considered the embodiment of magic and evil?”
Prince Arthur happened to have an unparalleled love for “evil.”
“Let's go see the beauty who has my brother infatuated,” Orsis said half-jokingly. “Although, if you ask me, her beauty is probably due to the fact that whoever wins her wins Roland.”
As he spoke, they had already arrived at the study. The portrait of the Queen that the Count had sent back earlier was placed there.
Orsis pushed the door open casually.
Several followers couldn't control their gasps of astonishment. Everyone, including Orsis, had their gaze drawn to the same spot.
—A beauty they had never seen before stood before them.
The oil painting stood directly opposite the door in the room. The first sight for anyone stepping through the door would be completely captivated by the person in the painting. Prince Arthur's pursuit of art was well-known, but even knowing his demanding nature, they couldn't help but question the reality of this painting—could the person in this painting truly exist in the human world?
In the painting, within a dim room, a beam of light slanted down, enveloping the face of the Roland Queen who was looking sideways. Her skin was fair and radiant, the lines of her profile flawless, her lips soft as roses, and her mysterious eyes gazed at everyone through the canvas, her red dress piled on the floor…
She reminded them of roses, of midsummer, of all things intense, fragrant, hot, and captivating.
“Alright,” someone murmured. “If she is truly like the painting, then His Highness the Prince's infatuation is not difficult to understand.”
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