Chapter 264: Lord Polydoro’s Guileless Sincerity

They were white lilies.

Faust von Polydoro had brought a bouquet of them.

He offered them at her father’s grave, in the cemetery to which Maxine had guided him.

I can read minds.

Maxine possessed the ability to read a small part of people’s minds.

And so, she had tried to read Faust’s.

Is this not just an attempt to curry favor? To show respect for my father’s memory in order to win the goodwill of me, the Emperor?

Did he think that by doing so, I would let my guard down around this man, this knight?

Was this not a calculated gesture, performed only to win my favor?

It was natural to think so.

In fact, it wasn’t as if such people hadn’t existed before.

But Faust.

Faust von Polydoro wasn’t thinking anything of the sort.

There was only sincerity.

It was Lord Polydoro’s guileless sincerity.

“…”

He offered the white lilies, knelt, and made the sign of the cross—forehead, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder—before clasping his hands at his chest.

He simply prayed.

But his prayer was not for the Lord.

It seemed to be for the one sleeping in the grave before him: my father.

—For him.

For the man named Faust, this was simply the right thing to do.

It was a show of respect for “a true man” who had protected me even if it meant starving to death.

That is all he wishes to show. That is all.

There is not a single lie in his heart.

There are no impurities.

He simply believed my father worthy of an offering of flowers.

He acknowledged him as a man worthy of being mourned.

This is not because he was Maxine’s father, the Emperor’s father.

If the circumstances were the same, Faust would have shown the same utmost respect even to the father of a beggar.

Maxine, who could read minds, understood this from the bottom of her heart.

That’s why, that’s why.

A strange feeling of being moved washed over her, and the words came out naturally.

“Thank you, Lord Polydoro.”

So she said.

The words of gratitude had burst from her chest.

Her voice trembled slightly.

Never before had an outsider, anyone outside her family, shown such sincerity toward her father.

Lord Polydoro completed the act of prayer.

Only then did he reply to her.

“No, I am the one who made an impertinent request. I hope I have not caused you any displeasure.”

As if I would be displeased!

If this had been an attempt to curry favor with me, with Maxine the Emperor, then tearing him limb from limb wouldn’t have been enough.

But Faust was pure through and through.

He didn’t seek even a sliver of anything in return.

From the moment it was decided he would come here, this is what he had intended to do.

In fact, had he thought her permission was not required, he surely would have paid his respects to her father without anyone ever knowing.

She could tell that much easily.

I see. So, this is the kind of man Lord Faust von Polydoro is.

“I wish to ask you something, Lord Polydoro.”

She was intrigued.

She knew that this man was strong.

She knew he was the strongest knight in the Holy Gusten Empire, having even defeated Lady Reckenber.

She had seen him fight Baumann, the strongest woman of the Landsknecht, when she was seated with Valiere at the Colosseum.

It was a tremendous battle.

So much so that, had he been an enemy, his solitary charge alone would have sent her allies into a panic.

In fact, the Elector of Mainz had lost his battle with Valiere in that very manner.

But right now, in this place, none of that mattered.

“What do you think of my father?”

That was all she wanted to know.

Why this man, Faust, showed such pure respect for her father.

She wanted to know.

To repeat, Maxine could read minds.

She could read that there was no falsehood in Faust’s sincerity.

However, she could not know why he had arrived at that sincerity.

Thus, she asked.

“What I think of him? Only that he was a ‘true man’ who desperately tried to protect you, his daughter, even if it meant starving to death.”

“Don’t you think him foolish?”

I was protected by him, desperately so.

And now I, his daughter, was denying him.

She had actually heard others, those with unkind tongues, say such things.

He should have abandoned his daughter and saved himself.

Voices like that.

“Foolish? How so?”

As if she had said something truly bizarre, Lord Polydoro’s words came back as if the notion was beyond his imagination.

“A man can always have another daughter. He should have taken his daughter’s bread to survive, then made a new child with her mother. There are those who say such things.”

It wasn’t an incorrect way of thinking.

She couldn’t deny those words.

Perhaps there was no need for my father to have died—she thinks about that.

Even now, all the time.

And as she gave voice to that thought.

“What fool uttered such a thing!”

Lord Polydoro suddenly erupted.

He made no attempt whatsoever to hide his anger.

She was slightly surprised by it—ah, so this is the “Knight of Wrath.”

She had just witnessed that famous facet of his, well-known in Anhalt—that he would fly into a passion when a point he could not concede was touched upon.

While surprised, she feigned composure.

“It is hardly an unusual way of thinking. Men are scarce. Moreover, my father was welcomed into our Gusten Empire from a maritime nation far across the sea—there was no need for him to show me an affection so great it would kill him. The idea that he could simply have another child is not, in itself, so strange.”

“Maxine-sama.”

He spoke her name.

But she continued speaking.

“Say, Lord Polydoro. If—and this is just a hypothetical—if you truly believe my father’s choice was the right one, could I hear your opinion?”

It was strange.

My father had been smiling.

Even while suffering from starvation, he smiled that he had managed to protect me.

He did it so that I, only five years old at the time, would not sense his suffering.

I still don’t understand it.

Even now, I cannot accept that I was worth such a price.

And so I ask.

What answer will Lord Polydoro give on this matter?

“A man must be that kind of creature.”

Lord Polydoro’s reply was utterly mysterious.

He must be that kind of creature?

“Even if he’s reduced to a starving wretch, he must always show a dignified face to his children. That is what it means to pass on one’s bloodline, or so I believe.”

“Even if it means sacrificing his own life?”

“This Faust has heard the saying that a child walks over the corpse of their parent, but…”

Trembling lips.

The owner of those lips was not me, but Lord Polydoro.

He declared.

“It is not that the child walks over the parent’s corpse. The parent dies to create the path their child will walk upon.”

Faust von Polydoro’s values.

To me, they seemed rather peculiar.

In the Gusten Empire, men were not such creatures.

Sometimes, they were accessories.

Other times, they were nothing more than tools for bearing children.

They were merely partners, used to show off and assert dominance over others.

“I have learned of your mother. I heard that she cast aside her own pride, bowed her head to Anhalt and Virendorf, and pleaded with every Elector to rescue you and your father, Maxine-sama.”

“—Ah, that is true.”

My mother was incompetent.

She was no superman, merely a person who was, at best, a little more capable than most.

Her actions, equivalent to begging on her hands and knees in every direction, greatly diminished her authority as Emperor.

“Maxine-sama, that is the length they went to protect you. Your father was so loved that he was willing to starve to death to protect you. To your parents, you were a child worth protecting, even if it meant throwing away everything they had.”

To Lord Polydoro, their actions were not to be looked down upon as foolish.

He saw them, simply, as acts that showed their love for me.

“A person like myself, who knows nothing of your father and mother; a person like myself, who is in no position to know anything… I do not know how much I should say. But you were loved by your parents. Yours is a life they sought to save even if it meant casting aside all their pride, their own lives, their status, and their honor.”

Lord Polydoro, as he himself said, probably knew nothing.

He didn’t know the extent to which my parents’ actions had debased the authority of the Emperor.

But.

“I, at least, consider your parents to be magnificent people. That is how a parent should be to protect their child. If there are any cowardly and vile wretches who would laugh and insult them, then I, this Faust, shall immediately strike them down for you to see.”

“—”

“I pray that you, Your Majesty Emperor Maxine, will not be ashamed of your parents. That they should have abandoned you and prepared another heir. Such—”

Here, Lord Polydoro faltered.

I read what he wanted to say and finished the thought for him.

“Such foolishness?”

“Yes. I consider it foolishness.”

Faust did not mince words.

“I simply believe that for you, Your Majesty, to honor your parents above all others and to advance on your path as Emperor would be the greatest gift of all to them.”

“—”

I was happy.

There were no words for it.

This pure man’s respect for my parents made me endlessly happy.

Faust, from the bottom of his heart, earnestly recognized my parents as honorable beings.

And he considered me, Maxine, to be the supreme ruler, the Emperor.

But.

But, Faust.

There is one thing you have wrong.

My mother’s last words were…

If it all becomes too much, just cast aside the throne and run away.

And that my father’s last will was, As long as you are saved, that is all that matters.

“…”

But I won’t say that out loud.

I didn’t want to be scorned.

Father, Mother, for some reason, I do not want this man, of all people, to scorn you.

No—

Even if I did say it.

This being named Faust von Polydoro might not deny the love of a parent.

That thought crossed my mind.

—But still, these were not words to be spoken here, in a place where Valiere, her retinue, and my own attendants were all watching.

“Heh.”

I let out an affected laugh.

It wasn’t meant to mock the unknowing Faust.

It was for my affection toward his utter, guileless sincerity.

At the same time, it was from a sense of bashfulness at his pure respect for my parents.

“I understand your conviction, Lord Faust von Polydoro. You have, for a time, soothed my heart.”

Those weren’t a lie, either.

In truth, my heart, my anguish, had softened a little.

It is not that the child walks over the parent’s corpse. The parent dies to create the path their child will walk upon.

Lord Polydoro’s words felt right.

Yes, surely my beloved parents had acted with that in mind.

I was loved, endlessly and boundlessly.

“…”

That is why I must live.

Even if…

Even if I become a traitor who sells out this country.

My heart remains unmoved.

But, yes.

“Lord Polydoro, for mourning my father, and for answering my question, you have my gratitude.”

It seems, at the very least, that my judgment is sound.

I was not wrong to have chosen this man as a candidate to be my mate and bear my child.

Convinced of that much, I ended the conversation.

Somehow, I must become pregnant with this man’s child.

It seemed I could not yet speak of such a secret plan to him.