Chapter 07
Responsibility for the Broken Engagement
“Your Majesty, please calm yourself. That child must have had his reasons. Is that not so, Ian?”
Empress Ariadna gently spoke while holding Rodrigo’s hand. Yet Ian remained silent.
‘Th, that—!’
He would have preferred even a hint of remorse. Unlike his kneeling posture, his son’s indifferent expression only raised Rodrigo’s blood pressure.
In the end, unable to hold himself back any longer, Rodrigo shot up from his seat, ready to grab his son by the collar—
“That’s quite simple, Father and Mother.”
Ian, who had been silent as if he had water in his mouth, finally opened his lips.
“What? Simple?! You think declaring war is simple? And against the Kutan Kingdom, no less! Not just any nation!”
“Yes. It’s precisely because it’s Kutan that it’s simple.”
Ian smiled faintly as he continued.
“As you know, even if that country has military strength comparable to the Garcia Empire, it is still just a kingdom.”
He went on calmly.
“Kutan is different from the allied nations of our Empire. Being an isolated island, it has limited contact with others. And as more kingdoms align themselves with Garcia and our influence grows, they must have felt increasingly threatened.”
Indeed, the number of kingdoms on the continent forming alliances with Garcia had increased year by year.
In this era, many states—like Rodrigo himself—preferred to avoid unnecessary wars. Peace, after all, was best. More and more countries now desired stable rule within the Empire’s protection, paying a reasonable price for security.
Naturally, the distant island kingdom of Kutan had grown anxious. They had been frantically mining iron and developing new weapons while building up massive military power as proof of that anxiety. There had even been attempts to invade the continent.
Yet paradoxically, Rodrigo himself had been the one growing uneasy. Unlike past emperors who ruled through iron-fisted conquest, he was different.
‘Dozens of emperors lost their heads to war.’
And he had no intention of adding his own to that list. If war could be avoided, he wanted to avoid it.
That was why Rodrigo had extended a hand first to Kutan. But the proud kingdom had refused. Even if it was an alliance, they would not accept anything resembling vassalage.
In the end, Rodrigo had proposed the only equal form of alliance available: a marriage pact.
Well—his son had ruined it all.
“So what exactly is this ‘simple’ alternative you’re talking about?”
“Marriage.”
Ian shrugged his shoulders.
“…Are you mocking your father right now?”
“Calm down, Your Majesty. Ian, you are already married, are you not?”
The Empress intervened, restraining the red-faced Rodrigo.
“Yes, I am married. But.”
Ian replied casually.
“Erica is not.”
Silence fell.
A moment later, Rodrigo finally understood his son’s intention and shouted again, grabbing his own neck in fury.
“You little—! I allowed your reckless marriage because you said you would take responsibility! And now your solution is to sell off your sister? And to a man she is already engaged to?!”
Rodrigo pulled the golden sword from his waist and stood up.
“Don’t stop me. One of us will die today!”
“Please wait, Your Majesty! At least hear the reason first! Ian, you must have a reason for this!”
The Empress quickly stepped between them, shouting. Though equally shocked, she still retained more reason than her husband.
“Isn’t it obvious? Erica and Leo—that engagement is not normal. Rather than letting it continue, isn’t it better to cleanly break it and let them live more efficient lives?”
Ian quickly hid behind the Empress as he answered.
“You’re saying to break off the engagement?!”
“And are you suggesting we let our daughter continue provoking her uninterested fiancé just to stir scandals endlessly?”
“At this rate, Kutan won’t even accept her!”
Though father and son both cared for the troublesome princess, their conversation was strangely twisted.
“She’s my daughter, but even if she went there, she wouldn’t stay quiet! It would immediately turn into rejection—and then war!”
“In any case, breaking an imperial engagement requires His Majesty’s permission. No matter how much Erica runs wild, she cannot defy her father’s command.”
Ian continued, carefully appealing to Rodrigo’s pride while pushing his argument forward. The Emperor, still fuming, hesitated.
“Hah! Anyone can see Erica’s scandals just by reading the imperial newspapers. If I cancel the engagement now, it will look like I am acknowledging her infidelity!”
“Father. Isn’t this exactly the moment to shape public opinion?”
Ian thought to himself.
In any case, his friend Leo had sworn never to love anyone because of his father. Unlike Erica, who intentionally provoked scandals, Leo’s rumors were just that—rumors.
But one thing was certain.
Leopold Otero would do anything to escape his engagement to Princess Erica.
That was why he had delayed marriage all this time. It was a doomed relationship from the start. For both his friend and his sister, a breakup might be the best solution.
‘I’ll probably have to avoid Erica for a while though.’
Ian leaned in and whispered to Rodrigo. This was the final blow.
“Of course, I’ll need to ask Leo first… but he won’t refuse taking responsibility for the breakup. We must prevent unnecessary war.”
Rodrigo’s golden eyes flashed.
* * *
“The carriage repair will be finished tomorrow, they say.”
Leo’s aide, Raul, finished his report.
The scratching sound of a quill pen writing on documents came to a halt. At the sudden silence, Raul looked up.
He met Leopold’s gaze—his master staring blankly at him while holding the quill.
“I was told it should have been done today.”
At that chilling look, Raul shrank his shoulders.
“The new carriage lining hasn’t arrived yet. They said it was too wet to reuse what was already removed…”
Raul scratched the side of his head awkwardly.
A week ago, while inspecting the Duke’s carriage as usual, Raul had been shocked.
The interior, which should have been pristine, was soaked—down to the finest embroidered seat covers.
No carriage, especially one used for covert operations, should have been exposed to rain like that.
Even more so, every part of the carriage had been custom-made from the finest materials imported from distant lands. The seat lining alone was a masterpiece stitched by artisans over weeks.
And yet it had somehow been ruined.
No matter how many times Raul asked, his master refused to answer. Even the coachman seemed complicit in silence. He had simply ordered the repairs to be completed within a week.
Raul glanced cautiously at the Duke.
The crimson sunset pouring through the window had grown so large it seemed to swallow him whole. Backlit in red, the Duke’s piercing gaze urged an answer.
If hell had a demon, it would look like that.
Whether it was his intolerance for delays or the upcoming imperial banquet, his mood was clearly foul.
Raul swallowed hard.
“I-I will make sure it is resolved by midnight today!”
“You should have said that sooner.”
Only then did Leopold lower his gaze and resume writing. The quill moved again.
After tapping his fingers lightly on the desk, he spoke again.
“Raul.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Have you heard of the Hernandez family?”
“The Hernandez… you mean the fallen baronial house?”
Leopold nodded silently.
Raul thought for a moment before replying.
“If I recall correctly… that family was ruined after the baron and his wife were killed by victims of a railway investment fraud. The fiancé of their daughter was a suspect, but he disappeared, leaving the debts to the barony.”
Raul shook his head sadly.
Leopold placed the quill on its carved mahogany stand.
“Do we have any connection to them?”
“A connection?”
“Any debt relationship, or something like that.”
Leopold thought of the silver-haired woman who had lingered in his mind for days.
She was oddly familiar. Her face, her presence—everything about her kept irritating his thoughts.
He had assumed she was merely a useful pawn to embarrass Hugo.
But instead, she had disrupted his once orderly life.
Still, no matter how hard he tried, he could not recall where that sense of familiarity came from.
She was clearly familiar.
And yet nothing made sense.
Eventually, he had decided to forget her. After all, she had no real impact on his life. Wasting energy was unacceptable to someone who valued efficiency above all.
So he had forgotten.
Or thought he had.
But that was arrogance.
The moment Raul mentioned the carriage, the woman he had “forgotten” resurfaced in his mind again.
So Leopold had no choice but to ask.
“I do! I remember you showing me a debt enforcement document about a month ago!”
Raul clapped his hands, suddenly remembering.
