84 – Excommunication-3
“Sister…”
“Yes, you’re drunk. Oksana. I think you’d better go to your room and sleep.”
Unsurprisingly, the Empire was offering her private rooms to distinguished guests from far away.
But even though it was long after the sun had set, Oksana did not stop rolling around next to Alexandra.
“But, making eye contact with the maid is scary.”
“There was no problem at the palace.”
“No, it’s because he was someone I used to know! It’s somehow uncomfortable, and if you make a sound just a little bit, he’ll say, ‘Do you need anything?’ And try to come find me.”
The atmosphere in the Northern Kingdom was familial to the point of being a little severe, and the relationship did not change not only with the royal family but also with the royal family’s servants.
Even maids and cooks, knights and servants. ‘We are one!’ It was a group united by the spirit of
Compared to him, the people here are overly rigid and pretentious.
Dear Alexandra, she did not understand that. The size of the empire was too large to have a personal relationship, and we wouldn’t have been able to build up the time and experience needed to trust each other.
It was natural for strict courtesy and family to fill that void. It might have been a little uncomfortable for Oksana.
“I can’t talk personally, and I can’t open my heart. If I make a mistake or do something wrong, it’s fine right now, but I think rumors will spread around the court.”
Seeing Oksana frolicking with her head on her bed, Alexandra couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Yes. I can’t help it. If there’s something I want to say, is it okay if I tell her sister?”
“Huh? Are you really okay?”
Looking at Oksana’s face, which completely changed her expression and smiled, Alexandra felt a strange uneasiness.
“Then, this is a secret, so don’t tell anyone. Okay?”
“On a case-by-case basis. I am a northern princess, and in truly unavoidable situations, I may have to inform my mother about this.”
“But, really, you can’t talk about it, okay?”
“How did he hear me…”
Alexandre shook his head, but if his brother had to say anything he wanted to hear it.
“Then, try it.”
“Okay. So… Come a little closer.”
Oksana put her face in Alexandra’s ear, then she whispered in a low voice.
“You know. Seriously… If I kidnap a man and take him to the North, will he get scolded?”
“…”
Alexandra tried to forget what she had just heard, her eyes tightly closed.
“Whoa…”
Instinctively, her defense mechanism was triggered. Alexandra let out a deep sigh and pressed lightly on Oksana’s back as she lay.
“How many will you get?”
“No, wait a minute! Isn’t this supposed to be like this? At home, ‘using violence is a barbaric act’ and talking about it countless times!”
“I think I can use it for a while now.”
“I hate it!”
Oksana struggled and ran away. Alexandra, she knew that with her brawn she could not subdue Oksana.
“Think for yourself. Do you think that should be true or not?”
“No, um. That’s… Even if it’s called kidnapping, it doesn’t mean it in the dictionary, we do it among ourselves…”
Oksana was always a troublemaker, and she loved playing with friends more than anyone else.
However, nobles from other northern kingdoms used to be afraid of it. The difference in social status is also severe, and it may cause misunderstanding that you are trying to get closer to power.
Every time that happens, Oksana ‘I kidnapped her friends’ who came out to play with her! I used to cover it.
Realistically, she couldn’t stop her if she tried to take someone with her powers. She loses her justification for scolding her son, ‘Why didn’t you resist?’
It was a story when she was younger than she is now, but Oksana still used to say that ‘her will was a little strongly expressed in an invitation’ to be kidnapped.
“But it can’t be. The reason why Evan pretended to be close to you was just because it was a request from the imperial family.”
“But…”
“You were also there when we were talking, right? That person even came out of Selam to become a gladiator.”
“I can fight.”
“Since the person you like is there, it can’t be helped.”
“Ugh…”
It was Alexandra who smiled brightly at Oksana rolling on her bed, but she was not weak enough to let her personal cuteness intervene in her reward or punishment.
“So, pick one. How many will you get?”
“No! I’m not a child…”
“Isn’t it condolences? Really? Do you want to feel what the empire will pay when someone who isn’t a child utters such words?”
“Hee, hee…”
What kind of humiliation Alexandra suffered in the empire was a well-known fact even in the north.
Rumors spread that she had been tortured, or that she had given away one of her fingers. With Alexandra’s return, though, her bullsh*t faded away.
“Well, then! Study abroad! Isn’t it okay for me to study abroad?”
“…Study abroad.”
Alexandra was also feeling stuffy. She had the idea that she needed someone familiar with the Empire.
“As for me, I’m not against it. Officially, from her point of view as the Princess of the Northern Kingdom… Yes.”
The person who will inherit her kingdom will probably be Alexandra. However, it’s hard to imagine that there won’t be anyone who is shaken by Oksana’s overwhelming force.
Right now it’s a sticky and solid empire, but after the current king falls, you never know what will happen.
If you look at her succession plan and think about it, Oksana disappearing on her own would be good for her, not bad for her.
“But… Will it be okay? I can’t stay in the Empire for the rest of my life. Being left alone in the Empire. Can you really survive?”
Upon hearing those words, Oksana trembled and clung to Alexandra.
“I-I don’t like that. But, but…”
She was lucky enough to meet her wonderful man like her Evan.
However, she has lived with her family all her life. If Alexandra and her other family members disappeared and remained in the Empire alone, she could not be sure that she would survive.
“Let’s think about it slowly. Even if you want it, you’ll have to get permission from the royal family.”
“Okay…”
Oksana was in Alexandra’s arms, and soon after she fell into a sound sleep.
Alexandra got up carefully so as not to wake her, and turned off the lamp that was shining on her table. Fortunately, the bed was wide enough for two sisters to sleep on.
/////
“Gee, are you serious?”
“Yes.”
The royal official was looking at Iris with a face of disbelief.
“I will formally go through the separation process. I will give up all the authority, titles, and benefits I received as Logan’s lover, and Logan will also have to lay down all the honors and positions that I have acquired.”
There were not a few people who looked closely at Logan. However, no one was sure that she would be able to maintain that authority and her popularity even after Iris changed men.
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“That’s… There was no discord or quarrel between the two of you? How did you make this decision so suddenly…”
“There was no discord or quarrel…”
It was a reflexive reply from the bureaucrat, but Iris had to feel miserable even there.
The reason why there was no discord or quarrel was obvious. It was because she put up with it.
Even when Logan made ridiculous demands, he blamed himself for not complying with them.
Even when he despised and criticized her princess, she blamed her own inadequacies for not becoming the woman he liked.
There was no room for discord and strife. The claps of her hands only sound when they meet her, and she has never raised her own hand to face him with her own dignity.
She thought it was distribution. She thought it was a virtue of being a woman, and she thought it was about becoming a bigger, better, more capable woman.
Instead of petty finding fault with a man, boldly admitting her deficiencies.
“That probably doesn’t matter.”
It was a mistake. No, it was her fault that she was ashamed to even call it a mistake.
I was just afraid to fight. If another woman had done what he said, he would have brought charges against her for blasphemy or persecution and brought her to court.
“Iris-sama, who was the guardian of men in the Empire… How. Many people will not see this well.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The reason she was able to shake up her investigative power and seize her power was because she saved men who had been kidnapped and were enduring misery.
She was a kind of symbol. She accepts even older men, will do any unreasonable demands as long as they don’t break the law, and wants men’s love as devotedly and submissively as possible.
Considering that men have a considerable influence on imperial politics, this breakup declaration will ruin and jeopardize her image.
Nonetheless, it must be done.
“I’ll take care of it.”
No compromise. You must not kneel.
From now on, it will be more painful. Many of her people will try to attack her, and those who took her side will blame her Iris for currying her man.
However, Iris did not bow her head. She was like he was.