A few days later, Emilia returned to the manor feeling rather glum. Cardan had been staying at the palace almost constantly these days.
She remembered how, the last time, Tatau had woken up mortified and apologized for dozing off again. As for Cardan, when he had first seen the painting she brought home, he had frowned and asked what on earth it was. She had simply smiled and said a mage had given it to her, since Fay was, after all, a mage himself, so it was not even a lie.
He was probably swamped with work right about now. She had heard that after returning from a campaign, the paperwork piled up like a mountain.
Today the nanny also had errands to run outside, leaving Emilia alone in her room, playing with the macken.
So Emilia decided to head to the manor's library to look for books on the plant.
The moment she stepped inside, Emilia froze. Why was it so dark in here, without a single soul around?
The librarian was snoring loudly enough to startle her into stumbling backward, his sleeping posture looking exactly like Tatau's. Remembering that, Emilia decided to have a little fun teasing him.
She rang the bell, startling him awake, then asked, "Everyone else is working so hard, so why are you sleeping here all alone?"
The pink-haired young man looked at her, baffled, and asked in return, "I never expected to run into the young lady here. Hardly anyone ever comes by this place." He smiled and asked if she could forgive him just this once.
Emilia was not angry at all. She simply asked him to help her find a book about the macken.
So Emilia followed him over to the bookshelves, marveling to herself that she had assumed the manor library could not possibly compare to the royal one. Yet here it was, just as spacious and beautiful.
Still marveling, the young man handed her the only book in the entire library that mentioned the macken. It was the sole copy in existence there.
Emilia gazed happily at the book for a while, and when she turned to thank him, the pink-haired young man was nowhere to be seen. She laughed to herself, figuring he must have rushed off to the restroom.
Emilia did not dwell on it, diving into the book, but it never once mentioned the curse. Maybe the royal library would have something on it.
Touched that she was working so hard on its behalf, the macken burst into tears of gratitude.
Just then, Elvin came to find her, asking if she would like to go see the Duke. Of course Emilia wanted to. Cardan had been so busy lately that she had not seen him in days, but he was currently working at the palace. Would it bother him if she showed up there?
Seeing her hesitate, Elvin smiled and assured her the Duke would surely be thrilled to see her. "Let's go there together."
Entering the palace, Emilia was even more dazzled by its sheer opulence. Everywhere she looked, it was gold, gold, and more gold.
By tradition, the emperor currently had two princes and one princess. And one day, the three of them would fight fiercely over the throne. But for now, she had to go find Cardan first.
The moment she stepped into the room, she found a group of men with dark circles under their eyes, anxiously buried in paperwork. Watching them, Emilia could not help but marvel. Was work really that overwhelming?
Cardan came out with a stern expression and asked whether he had been letting everyone slack off too much lately.
The moment Emilia spotted him, she happily threw herself into his arms. "I missed you so much, Papa."
Everyone stared, jaws dropped. Where had the Duke's usual fiery temper gone?
Looking at the stack of papers on his desk, Emilia knew for certain it would be days before Cardan could return to the manor.
As father and daughter chatted, a sharp voice suddenly cut in. "My, aren't you hard at work today, Duke?"
Emilia turned around and immediately recognized her. This was the novel's female villain, Empress Mogi.
According to the book, before Cardan and Rainer could finally be together, they had had to overcome countless hardships, and a good seventy percent of them had been caused by none other than the wicked woman standing right in front of her. Mogi had fallen for Cardan at first sight. But he had always treated her advances with cold indifference and disdain. It left a noble woman like Mogi utterly humiliated. And now she was the empress.
She remarked that Cardan seemed rather swamped these days, and mentioned that she had a fine tea that could help him unwind.
Before she could even finish, Cardan coldly refused, saying he had no time to sit around sipping tea.
Used to being turned down, Mogi feigned surprise. "Oh my, this little lady here. There's been quite a bit of talk about her lately. She's the same age as my son, the prince, and quite the pretty little thing too."
Cardan wrapped his arms around Emilia's head, blocking her view of the woman, and asked why her majesty bothered herself with such trivial gossip. She really did have too much time on her hands.
Emilia grew a little anxious, worried whether it was really all right for Cardan to speak to the empress so bluntly.
Mogi merely smiled, unbothered, and asked if he cared at all whether she was busy or not. "I simply don't know how to express my gratitude enough. This little lady, next time. Do let me formally invite her to visit the empress's palace."
With that, Mogi smiled and left the room.
Cardan muttered irritably that the woman clung on like a leech. Sitting in his arms, Emilia had to cover her mouth in astonishment. A little worried, sure, but Papa had just been unbelievably cool.
Seeing how late it had gotten, Cardan told everyone to go home and rest. They would pick things back up tomorrow. The men nearly wept with joy, some of them getting carried off over each other's shoulders, while Emilia giggled and said, "Those men are so funny."
As silly as they looked, they were actually some of the sharpest minds, among the rare few clever enough in the entire palace.