Lady to Queen

"I will allow any punishment. I will grant it royally. Just please spare her life."     

"Your Majesty, I cannot do that. An assassination attempt on a member of the Imperial Family or the Emperor is the severest crime above all crimes. It has been continually punished with the death penalty. The Emperor's mistress is no exception."     

"I am not saying that you should not give her the death sentence. I do not care if you make her someone who is not of this world, so save just her life."     

"…"     

"I request this, Empress. You may not understand, but she is a pretty important person to me. If you only save your life, I will live without forgetting this."     

"… Why?"     

Patrizia asked with an expression that showed she could not understand.     

"Why is she so precious to Your Majesty? Because she is Your Majesty's...!"     

"You will probably not understand."     

Lucio's expression while he spoke looked extremely sad. Patrizia instinctively noticed that this man had not told her something and that the secret was a lot bigger than she had thought. Was she ready to accept the truth?     

"Yes, Your Majesty. If you do not tell me, I will not know even if I die and live again."     

The truth, she didn't want to accept it yet. There was a conflict between wanting to know, and not wanting to know. The complex and curious feelings could not be explained. Patrizia only spoke these words with a bizarre smile.     

"You say she is such an important woman to you, so what could I do? Officially, however, she will be left as a dead person. I do not know if she really wants that kind of life."     

"After that, I do not plan to interfere with her choices either. Just… I just want to leave her minimally with a choice."     

"What a tearful love."     

Patrizia was being sarcastic, but he only smiled faintly. Patrizia once again felt a bit of anger at his reaction, and Lucio's faint smile soon was distorted, and then destroyed with a burst of violent coughs.     

"COUGH COUGH!"     

"Your Majesty!"     

Patrizia, who had an expression of irritation, grabbed him without her knowledge. It was so natural that he and she, that both of them, didn't notice. With an embarrassed face, she quickly asked him, "Are you alright? Shall we call the physician?"     

"It is fine. Something was caught in my throat for just a moment. So you do not need to worry."     

"…"     

Patrizia discreetly dropped the hand that had been holding onto his. Ah, again. She couldn't control the emotions that had boiled up again. Stupidly. She bit her lips without her knowledge. If this was the case, there was no point in changing.     

"I have kept Your Majesty for too long. I will make sure that you can return to the office immediately after a week, so please be mindful of that. Then I will..."     

Patrizia thought she should move away from him. With this man, her emotions were weirdly uncontrollable. Of course, on the negative side. Patrizia hurriedly greeted him farewell and left the room.     

She soon started walking silently again. Since the Emperor had woken up, she would soon have to step out of being Regent, and until he returned to office, she had to finish up all the little things. She instructed Mirya with a tired voice.     

"His Majesty has awakened, and I must soon retire from being the Regent. Until then, I will have to do everything that is necessary."     

"I will make sure everything proceeds without disruption, Your Majesty. Don't worry."     

"Sure… What is the next scheduled agenda?"     

"The Duke of Witherford has asked for an audience, Your Majesty. He is probably waiting in the reception room of the Empress Palace by now."     

"I must hurry then."     

Patrizia murmured shortly and soon walked away in a hurry. Out of anyone, she couldn't make Duke Witherford wait. Patrizia walked quickly without a loss of elegance and reached her palace in a short time.     

When Patrizia reached the reception room, the Duke Witherford was sitting at a gold metal table while drinking red tea- presumably, Darjeeling supposedly served to him by a maid. She smiled and greeted him.     

"I see you again, Duke."     

"Your Majesty the Regent."     

The Duke of Witherford saw her, and quickly got up, and greeted her in courtesy.     

"I greet you. Glory to the Marvinus Empire."     

"Get up. The Duke of the Empire does not have to provide such an overdone greeting."     

"Not at all."     

After he replied to her briefly, he moved immediately. The Duke Witherford, along with Patrizia, sat down again at the table. Unlike the usual discourse where one started from the beginning, he went straight to the main subject.     

"The reason that I looked for you today is because of what is being investigated."     

"… Yes. I know there has been no progress."     

"I apologize."     

He bowed his head as if he could not raise his face, and Patrizia did not change much in her expression, as if she had already known it.     

In fact, it was within her expectation that the investigation alone would not be enough to reveal the truth. However, the fact that it made her feel bad, was a separate story. Patrizia asked him with an expressionless face, "But you probably did not find me just to tell me that. Duke of Witherford, I think you have looked for me because of a different reason, or am I mistaken?"     

"Of course, Your Majesty. I came to you because I had something to discuss with you."