“Your Majesty, this is the poetry collection that has been sorted for you . Although the hunting event ended awkwardly this time, the annual meeting was a success . ”

Castell pa.s.sed a small booklet to Elizabeth . Elizabeth sluggishly took it and saw the poem she composed when she opened it .

When will I be able to spend my days with my son,

Gazing at the snow in the North until I grow old?

It had only been a few days ago when she wrote those two lines . She was looking forward to her blissful and simple life with her son in the future . Castell was yet to be injured, Alice was still around, and her son was still sitting on her lap watching over her as she wrote a poem .

‘It hadn’t been long . It hadn’t been long ago at all… It was merely been a few days ago . Only a few days had past . My personal bodyguard, who had accompanied me for over ten years, is never coming back . ’

‘At the time, I didn’t have anything . The barbarians had taken Rosvenor, and I had lost everything . Not one person was willing to stay with me . Only Alice stayed with me the entire time . Alice smashed my throne with me and followed her conquests . I was able to be fearless and bold, precisely because I had Alice . Alice wasn’t just a bodyguard to me . Alice was a friend, a very loyal friend to me . ’

However, I beheaded her friend with her own hands . I avenged Luna and saved my son, so why was he not willing to stay? Luna is very important to him, and similarly, Alice was very important to me .

Alice didn’t revolt . Her thinking was just off-track . She killed the true rebels for me, so why, why can’t I commemorate Alice?’

‘I didn’t want to be at odds with my son . I can do anything for my only son, but I can’t bear letting somebody else savagely kill my old friend . I never expected that would happen to Luna . My son’s rage was reasonable, but can’t he be a little considerate of me?’

The Empress doesn’t have many friends . Honestly, she only had one friend she could talk to about anything, but she wouldn’t have such a friend again .

Her tears smudged the letters . Elizabeth s.p.a.ced out as she looked at the booklet before her . She softly murmured, “Castell, what exactly did I do wrong…? I’ve killed those who deserved to die . I’ve buried those who deserved to be buried, so why? Why…? Why did it still end up this way?”

“Your Majesty, I think that you may have never understood…”

Castell hesitated for a moment and then explained, “Perhaps it is precisely because you did everything which infuriated His Majesty . ”

“Castell?”

Elizabeth looked at him with a dumbfounded look . Castell hesitated then elaborated, “His Majesty’s personal servant died this time, so he is bound to want to personally get revenge, but you killed Alice . I think that will be resolved if we explain it to His Majesty . However, you did not give His Majesty the right to put Luna to rest . You placed His Majesty’s hero with our hero . His Majesty cannot accept that . ”

“But… My son’s and my… do you people not support my son?! He’s my son!”

“It is different, Your Majesty . ” Castell let out a heavy sigh . He clarified, “To be honest, I

I am reluctant to acknowledge it, as well, Your Majesty . His Majesty’s va.s.sals are not your va.s.sals . If you are always with His Majesty, then you could explain that your va.s.sals are His Majesty’s va.s.sals, and we will support His Majesty . But if he is a Prince who appears out of the blue, we will distance ourselves, while His Majesty will also maintain his distance from us, who he is not familiar with . As we are by your side, we naturally support you . Meanwhile His Majesty’s people will not be as loyal to you as we are when they see you; thereby creating a faction that supports His Majesty and another faction that supports you, in other words, those around His Majesty and those of us around you . Luna is His Majesty’s va.s.sal . She died at the hands of Alice, who is from our faction . You did what His Majesty should do on his behalf . I think that is what His Majesty is angry about . ”

“I…”

“Simply speaking, you do not have the right to put Luna to rest, and you also put her to rest here in humanity’s lands . In my opinion, His Majesty has every reason to be angry . ” Castell then sighed softly before continuing, “We interact amicably, for the reason that you and His Majesty are very close . In reality, however, we belong to two different factions . You and His Majesty are family . You are his mother . No matter how angry he gets, you are still his mother . If you wish to mend your relations.h.i.+p, then you should allow me to send Luna’s remains to Troy City . If you like, we just need to leave a crown here in her place

her place . ”

The corner of Elizabeth’s mouth twitched a few times while she was looking at Castell . She then lowered her head and softly said, “I just wanted to avoid making my son angry… So I did something I shouldn’t have? I thought it would be fine if I bestowed Luna with the t.i.tle of ‘Hero’… I never expected that my son didn’t want that… All right . It’s good for my son to have his own va.s.sals . I shall approve . Send Luna’s remains to Troy City . Luna is my son’s personal servant . Alice is my personal bodyguard .   Let’s commemorate them separately, then . ”

“Yes, Your Majesty . ”

“Elizabeth doesn’t treat her relations.h.i.+p with Alice as just any other relations.h.i.+p, but a friends.h.i.+p . Alice has served Her Majesty from the beginning .  She has been at Elizabeth’s side longer than you and Vyvyan have been together . Elizabeth is a very emotionally driven individual . She killed Alice, her only friend; therefore, she must be hurting a lot, too . Of course, the worst pain for her is that her good friend tried to kill her son . ”

“Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t justify her putting them to rest together!!”

“You’re mistaken, Your Majesty . ” Lorana sternly cut me off, “Elizabeth put them to rest together, because she holds them both in high regard . Do you know where their resting place is? They were put to rest in the royal family’s cemetery . Only members of the royal family may be put to rest there . Elizabeth didn’t mind Luna’s status and background . She allowed a personal servant, who she wasn’t even acquainted with, to be put to rest with her family and old friend with the same rights .

rights . Do you think that’s disrespectful and insulting?”

“But…”

“Your Majesty, you’re not angry about Luna being put to rest and the particulars . You’re angry, as you didn’t get to put her to rest . That’s the source of your hatred .   You’re angry that Elizabeth took your chance to get revenge away from you, and now you’re angry that she took the right to put Luna to rest from you . You’re angry, because Elizabeth decided to do things to Luna without your input, which is something that you can’t forgive . And that’s because Luna is your hero, not Elizabeth’s . You feel guilty toward Luna and want to do something to console yourself, but Elizabeth took away all of your chances to do something . That’s why you’re infuriated . ”

Lorana gave me a gentle knock on my forehead . She then stood up, “It’s not a huge issue in the first place . At most, it’s a mother and son quarrel, and then the son left . A mother took matters into her own hands without getting her son’s input first when he wanted to do something, thereby angering him, and that’s it . It’s not something unforgivable . I believe that Elizabeth will soon realise what she did wrong . When she does, go and put Luna to rest . ”

“A mother and son quarrel……”

“Yes . It’s just a minor matter . However, Luna’s death isn’t a minor matter . Your Majesty, if you can’t convince the people to obey you, this sort of thing will happen again . So hurry up and grow up, future King . Who’s going to stand up for you next time?”

“I won’t need someone to stand up for me again . In the future, I’ll stand up for myself!”