Chapter 171 – Sovieshu’s Shock (2)
I wondered what to pack, but I excluded anything that could be bought in the Western Kingdom. Instead, I chose items that were hard to buy and had sentimental value. There were ways to have my other belongings moved later, so I packed only a minimum number of things.
When I finished, I stopped by my parents to inform them about Duke Elgy, then went to the back entrance. I looked through the window pane on the door.
‘Did Duke Elgy come out yet?’
He was not visible, but his black carriage was there. There was already a driver sitting in the front seat as if he were ready to leave. Was the Duke going to smuggle me out in that carriage?
A short moment later, Duke Elgy and Heinley appeared. Heinley didn’t carry much in his hands.
“Queen!”
He had seen me only a couple of hours ago, but he smiled and raced towards me as if we had been parted for years. Duke Elgy grinned knowingly, but Heinley didn’t seem to care. As I smiled and looked at him, Heinley looked around and raised his eyebrows.
“What about Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law?”
As we were about to leave, he seemed to wonder why my parents weren’t here.
“Perhaps…”
“I spoke to them already.”
“Ah.”
“The necessary people are here. I told my parents to go out for a walk and behave as usual, just in case.”
“I see…”
Heinley nodded in admiration, but Duke Elgy’s expression was strange.
“I wondered who you resembled, and you look like your parents.”
“Isn’t it natural for people to take after their parents?”
“I don’t know. I don’t look like my parents at all.”
He shrugged his shoulders and then opened the door. The guards did not look inwards at the mansion, perhaps as a last courtesy for the former empress. Because of that, the carriage was able to park by the back entrance without drawing suspicion.
I boarded the carriage swiftly just in case. Duke Elgy came in next, but he shut the door before Heinley got on. I wondered why, and Duke Elgy said “Excuse me”, before reaching diagonally upwards at the carriage roof.
“?”
“The Emperor only commanded that Heinley be released.”
His fingers pressed down on something, and there was a click from the carriage bench I was sitting on. Surprised, I moved myself to the other side, and Duke Elgy smiled and removed the cushion. He grabbed the edge of the bench and lifted it up, revealing a large empty space inside. The bench was lined in thick leather, so it was difficult to know there was an empty space even if one tapped on it.
“This is…”
I looked down in amazement, and Duke Elgy pointed at the secret box with his hand.
“Sorry, but you have to go in there.”
***
The knights inspected the inside of Duke Elgy’s carriage before it left. It was wide and there was not much luggage, so there was little to check. Duke Elgy had his cane and King Heinley had a brown leather bag, but it was not large enough to hide a person. The only other person was the carriage driver.
When the Emperor’s knights stepped back and signaled that they could pass, Duke Elgy smiled and nodded at them. Once the door closed, his expression turned into a frown.
The knights did not notice that the former empress had escaped until a full two days later.
Sovieshu didn’t realize either, and during that time he only kept pushing his secretaries to find a way to cancel her remarriage. They scrutinized through all existing records from available emperors, reviewed cases from other countries, and scoured law books from the first page. However, only the High Priest had authority over royal marriages, and no matter how much material was searched, no other alternatives manifested.
“There has to be a case like this. Among the many empresses of history, there had to be one that remarried!”
He needed just one. Sovieshu kept pressuring his men for answers, but no matter how competent they were, they couldn’t make up the past. Even if they tried to manipulate history, there were a hundred more historians to correct them. In the end, Sovieshu’s secretaries had to rely on more liberal interpretations.
“There is no way to undo it, Your Majesty.”
“Even if the High Priest comes in person, the remarriage cannot be canceled unilaterally.”
“There was an incident twenty years ago. It wasn’t a remarriage, but the king of the Southern Kingdom called the High Priest to cancel his marriage within three days.”
“What happened?”
“The High Priest refused to cancel the marriage.”
Sovieshu’s expression only darkened, and the secretaries hurriedly put their heads together to find another solution.
“But there is precedent of canceling a divorce, Your Majesty.”
“Canceling a divorce?”
Sovieshu had seen several nobles request a cancellation of their divorce. Oftentimes nobles fought and split over concubines or family politics, but when they reconciled again, they would ask their divorce to be canceled.
Sovieshu’s secretaries continued to explain.
“Yes, it’s not widely used, but surely there must be precedent of an emperor canceling divorce.”
“Canceling a divorce would lead to a double marriage, and the second marriage would naturally be annulled, Your Majesty.”
“!”
Sovieshu’s eyes widened at this unexpected boon.
“Divorce…is canceled?”
He tapped a finger nervously on the throne, and the men nodded.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Thus, the remarriage will be canceled.”
Sovieshu let out a laugh. Him, canceling a divorce now.
“Is there any other way?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
Sovieshu closed his heavy eyelids.
Cancel the divorce…cancel the divorce…
But why did he get divorced in the first place? It was because the Empress was infertile and he needed a successor. If the divorce was canceled and he had no successor, the plan was useless.
“…”
He thought on it for some time, then decided to go to the Troby mansion. He wanted to see Navier. Seeing her would help make up his mind.
To Sovieshu’s shock, however, she was not there.
“Where’s Navier?”
He turned on Duchess Troby angrily, but she claimed she did not know. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
Duke Elgy had stolen the Empress! It must have been when he sent him to take King Heinley. Sovieshu stormed furiously out of the mansion and roared his orders.
“The Empress has escaped! Find her! Send men to every gateway and seize every woman who looks like the Empress!”
