V1C11

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‘Puppet?’ She echoed. Matilda tilted her head in

thought. She heard that word back in her home country, but her kingdom’s

evaluation of Barenshiaga and Leandroth was favourable.

Matilda shook her head to indicate no

such thing had been heard. She placed her fork on her exquisite china place and

picked up her tea cup.

‘What about the rumour that my younger

brother and I are children of a mistress Princess, and not the previous

Empress?’

It was well known that the previous

Emperor and Empress could not bear children, so they adopted the children of

the Emperor’s sickly mistress; also a Princess in her own right. (Zuben: Why

are these women always sickly? If they are not, they are usually mercenary.)

Leandroth heaved a great sigh.

‘Her illness was caused by a disease,’

Matilda tilted her head, trying to

decipher his mumbling.

‘I will tell you about her1,

but it is not like you may be imagining.’ He said darkly,

The words came out as though they were

forced through him. The way he said “Her”, it was disdainful and bitter; what a

strange way to refer to his mother.

‘Also, the former emperor is not

resting from illness in the Rikyu Palace.’

Leandroth’s words were becoming too

puzzling.

‘No, there is no sickly emperor, no

concubines either. The former emperor, who everyone called the Mercenary

Emperor and the woman he loves the most, are now travelling the world as a comedian.’

Although he was only joking, the way

Matilda’s eyes rounded at the words seemed to amuse him greatly. (Zuben: What?

He was only joking? Here I was thinking that was a good way to retire one’s

self.)

‘Our mother is deceased now; only the

previous Emperor remains alive.’ Leandroth said coldly. He looked distant and a

cold aura blanketed him. (Zuben: Me no understandie)

Matilda's breath hitched at the coldness of his expression..

‘For the Emperor, the Empress let him

have a harem because she could not have children. She was in agony, not being

loved or favoured by the Emperor. But she distracted herself from her pain, by

raising us.’

His distant gaze, started to waver

slightly.

‘The former Empress was a good mother

to us. I loved her very much.’

Leandroth was very still.

‘I think that Mother-in-Law loved you

and Bartholomew.’ She said quietly.

‘Why do you think so?’ Leandroth’s

voice trembled. Matilda pretended not to notice and put her cup back on the

saucer. She spun the cup as she tried to find the words. She looked right at

him and smiled,

‘Because, Leann is an easy person to

love.’

Leandroth was someone who didn’t put

on a façade. He was true to himself and those he had dealings with. That first

night was admittedly bad behaviour, but he had been kind after. Of course there

were things she did not agree with, but overall he was a good person.

Leandroth stared back at her, his cheekbones

dyed lightly vermillion. He turned away and said,

‘Thank you, Mattie.’ The sentiment

touched Matilda deeply.

‘So,’ he continued, ‘my grandfather,

the empress’ father, Marquis Bermud currently serves as the Prime Minister. He

is just and fair. He was a fantastic knight and swordsman. Balto and I look up

to him,’

‘It’s funny how things have turned out

since my birth Mother died.’

‘The reason I do not mind even thought

of as a puppet Emperor is that whoever is ruling, the people don’t actually

care as long as there is peace, abundant food, taxes are not high and they are

able to pay. It is the same either way.’

Leann laughed mirthlessly.

‘It has been this way since the reign

of the previous emperor. Since it wasn’t troublesome, I did not say anything.

It makes life easier.’

‘Because it is easier…’ Matilda said

drumming her fingers on the table.

‘Does that bother you?’

‘If it is too troublesome to do it,

you don’t bother?’

‘I don’t want to tire myself, if I

can.’

‘If you don’t want to get tired,

shouldn't you improve efficiency?’

‘How do you think I should go about

improving efficiency?’

‘Considering the whole thing, you will

suffer at first, but it should become easier with time.’

Leandroth laughed, ‘I guess I'm going

to have to work a bit harder. You really are good...’

‘How would you overcome the possible

conflict with the Prime Minister?’ Matilda asked

‘I don’t think the Prime Minister

would be a problem, but there are those idiots who have been undermining the Prime

Minister and misusing their authority. Get rid of those, return pertinent

governing affairs to the Emperor’s Office and we go from there.’

‘That’s…’ Matilda was going to say

more but she held back. Leandroth laughed.

‘Of course, it would not be easy, but

it is worth the trouble in the long run. I will have to work harder.’ He said

with a wry smile, and continued laughingly, ‘So it is Mattie’s job to kick my

behind into gear.’

‘So, is this why you chose me?’ she

asked.

‘No.’ He said, ‘Because you are a lady

of age, you accepted my marriage proposal. Even though it will be troublesome,

I want to try hard for my people. So I can stand tall beside the Prime Minister

Princess. In short, you are the saviour of Barenshiaga.’

Matilda shrugged her shoulders; she

could not take his words seriously. However, but he was able to guess her

thoughts,

‘I am not interested in ruling. I

would rather give it all to my brother. But I made a promise with him…’

‘A promise?’ Matilda asked. Leandroth

looked at Matilda’s inquisitive expression and laughed mischievously.

‘Being the Emperor is troublesome, but

if we marry the one you love, we will do our best as royalty.’ (Zuben:

Sometimes these writers make zero sense what so ever. If someone makes better

sense of this part in the raws; let me know)

‘Using our power, we will not

compromise on who we marry. We will work hard for the government and the

people. My brother runs the military and I am a politician.’

Matilda’s mouth dropped. She would like

to use these silly brothers as an example to those to run themselves ragged

over succession.

‘Eh~ Why are you reacting to that? If

you want to react, I want you to respond to “I love you the most.”’

‘Who do you love the most?’

‘You.’ The reply was as expected.

‘And the other Princesses?’

‘There was an old woman amongst

them…?’

‘And that overly friendly one?’

‘Are you jealous?’ He asked smiling a

smile she found totally obnoxious. Matilda turned her head away from him.

She gave a long suffering sigh and

said, ‘I have been told by everyone that they are beautiful, lively and

wonderful women. Rather than being jealous, I just want to know where I stand

in your eyes.’

‘The one I love the most.’ He said

without hesitation over her.

She looked up, surprised. Leandroth

gave her a heart fluttering smile, his laughing eyes were gentle,

‘You are

attractive to me,’

Her heart thumped at his words and she

blushed. Why does this person say such embarrassing words so easily; one after

another like a babbling creek?

Matilda sealed her lips. Then, she closed her eyes and raised

her chin proudly,

‘Please apologise,’ she said as she

opened her eyes.

‘Please apologise for the first

night.’

Matilda’s face was flushed red, but

she kept her gaze steady. Leandroth looked at Matilda’s serious expression.

‘You know how intimidating coming here

was,’2

‘So please apologise for touching my

body when I was unconscious.’

Leandroth remained silent. (Zuben:

Why, bruv? Oh yeah, I think I remember him saying he wasn't going to apologise

for diddling her senseless, but I can’t be bothered to check.)

‘Now that I am sure that you love me,

I would not mind if such a thing happens again, but things were different then,

so I want a proper apology from you…for you.’

‘For me?’ Leandroth asked sweetly. But

Matilda was not tempted to back down.

‘Yes, I want an apology; I am not

asking for much, I just want to forgive the “you” then.’

‘I don’t want to have any left-over

ill feelings between us. If you will apologise, I will also apologise for

trying to take my own life with poison.’

She had no choice but to compromise.

She wanted her parents’ affection like a child, but she had become invisible to

them. She decided to die without thinking of Leandroth’s feelings, because she

thought that it was an arbitrary political marriage.

Death…was not a path she should have

chosen so easily. (Zuben: Wow! Really?)

His big hand caressed her cheek as he

said, ‘Mattie, I am sorry.’ He apologised like a child.

Yet somehow her heart ached. She

looked up and her husband looked like a big golden dog that had just been

scolded by his master. She stood up

without thinking and hugged his head to her chest.

‘I forgive you and I am sorry too. If

you truly want me, then I…’ Matilda did not finish her sentence. (Zuben: Can’t

imagine what she’d like to say *wiggles eyebrows*)

‘I'm sorry; I will be depending on you

from now on.’

She shook her head to tell him it was

okay. Because her father desired, she lived. Now Leandroth wanted her, will she

live? A cold shiver ran down her spine at her morbid thoughts.

‘Oh my! Boob jiggles~’ an easy going

voice said from between her arms. She looked down at Leandroth who had buried

his face in her cleavage and was now kneading with one hand and caressing her

buttocks with the other.

‘I am quite happy to be dependent on

you,’ he said cheekily. Although they were separated by layers of clothes,

Leandroth found her nipple easily and began to tease her. Pleasant sensations crawled

through her.

‘Ah, it’s a pity it’s not night, would

you be angry if I take you here?’

She looked down at him with her head

tilted to one side,

‘That’s sudden-Ahn~’ Her reply was cut

short because Leandroth pinched her nipple and her legs nearly turned to jelly.

How was he able to tell where her nipples were through her clothes. (Zuben:

Look at your boobies, honey. You might find you have “nerps”)

‘Did you not think it strange?’

For your life affirming needs, get

sex!

Her suffering was so great that she

needed to poison herself! It was simply ‘Wah! Daddy doesn't love me. Wah! I'm

horny but hubby don’t care! Wah! I'm a jealous type! Death becomes me!’

So many “I'm sorrys” man! What a drag.

Still, it’s a good thing she got an

apology though. That first night was just weird as fuck.

[1] This was really “that person” in

the translation, but I dislike that phrase. So I chose to say “her” instead.

You can still convey bitterness and anger.

[2] That line really is not what was

said, but the original made no sense so I changed it.

This chapter is heavily revised! If

y’all were reading ahead with Google translate or know Japanese more than I do;

my knowledge = 0, you will note that I have embellished and redesigned. I have

changed the story to match what I imagine is going on and how I feel it should

read like based on the mangled translation I got from three translating software.

It may not be fantastic. But I think its aight!

And there is no hanky-panky for the

next few chapters after this one. Colour me disappointed. And they are harder

to edit ‘cos three translating programs can’t do complicated. Le sigh.