The Evil Empress Adores Me - Side Story 5

…Is there a need for such intense debate over something as trivial as adding decorative embroidery to the sleeves of a dress?

Charlize couldn’t hide her puzzled expression.

At the same time, the Empress and the Empress Dowager turned sharply to look at Charlize.

“So, which one do you prefer, Charlize?”

“Ah, my dear, isn’t gold thread better? Aren’t I right?”

“Ahaha… Well, um, that’s…”

With a forced smile on her face, Charlize desperately grasped her hair.

What should I do?

“Well, both silver and gold threads are beautiful, so I…”

She broke into a cold sweat, wondering how to handle the situation.

Just then, a resounding noise saved Charlize.

“Yes, come in!”

Charlize quickly stood up and hurried towards the door.

And there, the people who appeared…

“What are you doing here, Damian?”

Charlize widened her eyes and met the gaze of the two men in front of her.

“And the Duke as well?”

Damian and the Duke.

The two men, who had been growling at each other like dogs and cats due to recent political matters, had come together for some reason.

“We’ve come to discuss the order of the ceremony.”

“The order?”

“Yes.”

The Duke nodded and handed Charlize a piece of paper.

Charlize quickly scanned the densely written order of the ceremony with a bewildered expression.

Then she looked at the Duke with a puzzled face.

“Is… something different?”

It was understandable since the order of the ceremony she was familiar with was not much different.

At that moment, the Duke frowned and spoke up.

“Here, this sentence here.”

Huh?

Charlize looked down at the order of the ceremony that the Duke pointed at.

“After the Emperor enters, the one who will become the Empress enters with the head of the ancestral family she originally belonged to.”

It was a rather ordinary sentence.

But the Duke seemed to think otherwise.

“Here, the sentence ‘the one who will become the Empress enters with the head of the ancestral family she originally belonged to.”

“Why that sentence?”

Charlize tilted her head in confusion.

The order of the ceremony meant that the Empress would consolidate ties with the ancestral family and rise as a member of the imperial family.

In the case of the current Empress, Eloise, she had entered the ceremony holding hands with her father, who was a former Duke.

“Lady Charlize, you don’t have an ancestral family to belong to, do you?”

“Oh, right.”

Every time the Duke called her “Lady Charlize,” she couldn’t help but shiver…

Of course, she knew it was inevitable since she was also in the presence of the Empress.

Charlize shivered and nodded her head.

“So, we came to ask who would hold Lady Charlize’s hand and enter.”

“Well, of course, it will be me, right?”

The Empress opened her mouth with a confident voice.

There was a silence.

“I am the current empress and the person who will become empress after this ceremony.”

The Duke and Damian looked at the Empress with very surprised expressions.

But the Empress did not even raise an eyebrow.

“Furthermore, I have been with Charlize since she was very young.”

The Empress looked around with a victorious smile.

“Whether you see it as a friendship or as a position of a royal adult, is there anyone more suitable than me?”

It was truly an eloquent statement.

Just then, the Empress Dowager cleared her throat and interjected into the conversation.

“There is something that the Empress has overlooked.”

Then she extended her chest and opened her mouth.

“Am I not the most senior member of the royal family?”

The Empress stared at the Empress Dowager with a pierced expression.

The Empress Dowager was about to become the victor, but…

“No, I intend to enter side by side with Charlize.”

Damian joined in belatedly.

The Empress and the Duke became agitated and raised their voices.

“That goes against the law, Your Majesty!”

“Do you want to become a tyrant who ignores the law like the former Emperor?!”

‘Honestly, it’s not like I’m opposing them because of that issue…’

Damian became a little mischievous.

“Well, I think the law itself is flawed.”

“Flawed?”

“Yes.”

Damian nodded firmly.

“Marriage is an equal relationship, so the Emperor and Empress should be equal as well.”

With his shoulders straightened, Damian concluded his words with a victorious smile.

“So, I believe it is right to enter together.”

Those words, of course, were an impeccable argument…

The Rochester siblings frowned side by side.

“Is it really because of that reason alone that they decided to enter together?”

That was the doubt that arose.

But Charlize, wanting to firmly establish herself as an equal, couldn’t afford to oppose.

“…Yes, that’s a valid point.”

The Empress was the first to speak in an unsatisfactory tone.

“If the Crown Prince thinks so…”

The Duke also sympathized with a troubled expression.

And the Empress Dowager praised her grandson with a bright smile.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Damian.”

“Thank you, Grandmother.”

That’s how the Empress Dowager and Damian created a warm atmosphere.

The Empress and the Duke had to make great efforts to conceal their ambiguous expressions.

Strangely enough, they felt thoroughly defeated by that sly Crown Prince.

***

Thus, time passed, and before they knew it, it was the day of the coronation ceremony.

Since early morning, Charlize has had to fulfill various schedules, led by the Empress.

“Please lift your head,” said the makeup artist, delicately applying touches to Charlize’s face.

Charlize exerted extra effort to keep her eyes wide open, preventing herself from dozing off.

“Hmm, there’s something unsettling about this,” she thought.

It felt just like the victory celebration when Damian had returned…

The Empress closely supervised the process of Charlize’s makeup with a serious expression, then opened her mouth in a stern voice.

“Enhance her eyebrows a bit more distinctly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the makeup artist replied, bowing slightly and skillfully moving her hands. And so, at last…

“Our Charlize!”

With the Empress’s cheer, Charlize’s preparation finally came to an end.

“Today, you look truly, exceptionally beautiful!”

Overwhelmed by joy, the Empress was about to embrace Charlize, but she managed to stop herself just in time.

“Oh, I almost ruined my own masterpiece with my own hands.”

“Oh, please, don’t exaggerate.”

“Oh my, I’m truly sincere, you know?”

While the two of them engaged in a lively conversation, head maid Weber entered the room and widened her eyes.

“My, Lady Charlize, you look absolutely stunning today.”

“Thank you. Since it’s just the two of us, you can call me Charlize and speak freely.”

“Hehe, really? Then, I won’t refuse.”

Head maid Weber giggled and opened her mouth.

“A guest has arrived for Charlize.”

“For me?”

“Yes, the Countess Antes expressed her desire to see you before the coronation ceremony.”

‘What did you say? Sienna has come?!’

Charlize’s eyes widened in surprise. At the same time, Sienna stepped forward from behind Weber.

“May I come in?”

“Of course! Why do you need to ask such things between us?” Charlize replied with a frown.

Sienna entered the room and courteously greeted Charisse.

“Countess Antes, Sienna Antes. Greetings, future Empress.”

“…Si-Sienna?”

Charlize became slightly dazed. Wasn’t she here as a friend?

She assumed Sienna was going to treat her like before—it was just them, after all.

But then Sienna raised her gaze and playfully pursed her lips.

“The formalities between us, as friends, can be dispensed with, I suppose?”

Charlize couldn’t help but look crestfallen.

“Really, please don’t surprise people like that!”

“Did I startle you?”

Sienna burst into a melodious laughter.

Then she greeted me once again in a tender voice.

“I really missed you, Charlize.”

“Me too! How have you been?”

“Naturally well. How have you been, Charlize? I wondered if you were busy with the preparations for the coronation ceremony.”

“Well, I was fine. The Empress and the Empress Dowager helped me a lot, you see.”

Charlize put on a bright face and spoke eloquently.

“But more importantly, I thought Margrave Antes was going to represent the ceremony instead of you, Sienna.”

“Oh, I deliberately insisted on coming.”

Sienna softly closed her eyes.

“When a dear friend becomes the Empress, it’s only natural for me to come and see, isn’t it?”

“You came because of me? Damian is…”

“Oh? Does it matter if he’s the Crown Prince or otherwise?”

As soon as Damian became the topic, Sienna quickly put on a composed expression.

Then she shook her head lightly.

“All I know is that when it comes to him, he must have somehow saved the country in his previous life.”

“What…?”

Charlize’s eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Sienna.

Well…

Even if Damian didn’t save the country in his previous life, he did save humanity…

There’s no way she knows, does she?

Sienna widened her eyes and spoke.

“Something spectacular, otherwise, Lady Charlize…”

“He wouldn’t possibly have the good fortune of having someone like you as his wife, now would he?”

Phew.

Charlize inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

“You speak the truth, Countess Antes; you are truly wise.”

Just then, the Empress, who had joined their conversation, nodded fervently.

Her emerald-green eyes, resembling jade, lit up with satisfaction.

“I have a feeling that I will get along well with Countess Antes.”

“I feel the same way, Your Majesty, the Empress.”

As Charlize looked at the harmony between the Empress and Sienna, her expression became ambiguous.

Hmm.

Somehow, it seems like the Empress and Sienna have formed an alliance against their common enemy, Damian.

…Perhaps it’s just my imagination?