The Abandoned Empress

Chapter 142: Chapter 142

Was it because of my unexpected challenge? The participants began to whisper about me.

As I looked around them, turning up my mouth slightly, I saw them making mixed expressions on their faces. Nobles were murmuring, the emperor was smiling, the crown prince remained still with a poker face and the two dukes were looking at me with a warm smile.

When I saw Duke Verita in a white civilian official uniform, I suddenly recalled his son Allendis.

But I couldn’t afford to be sentimental about him because I was stunned by Duke Jena’s angry shouting.

“What the heck are you talking about here? How can a mere marquis’s daughter without any title raise an objection?”

“That’s why I’m raising the objection, Duke Jenna.”

In order to get my message clearly to him amid the noise, I raised my voice calmly. I never thought I would be acting like this after my return from the past.

The conference hall suddenly became quiet at my resistance.

Everybody looked at me with unusual interest. But I straightened up and said clearly, looking straight into his eyes, “Didn’t you say I’m a mere marquis’s daughter? That’s why I’m disputing my seating. ”

“What the heck are you babbling about?”

“I am not a commoner or a lifetime only nobleman or a lower-rank nobleman. I’m the daughter of the great noble Marquis Monique family, called the Spear of the Empire. As you know, you can never question a great noble family without the emperor’s approval under the imperial law.”

“So?”

I continued to speak out, staring at the duke and the members of the noble faction following him.

“The emperor confirmed that I am not attending this meeting as a criminal defendant. If so, you cannot question me under the relevant law of the empire. I can’t sit in this seat reserved for the defendant.”

“How arrogant!”

“Stop it, Duke Jenna. She has a point,” said the emperor, while the crown prince was watching me closely as if he found my argument interesting.

A protocol officer hurriedly came and showed me to a different seat.

I sighed at that. Obviously, the noble faction must have arranged my seating before I came,

but this time the emperor was testing my patience as my new seat was not much different from the previous one. I was agonized for a moment about what to do. But as I put on a formal dress for this meeting, I could not step back. Given my father’s intention in the message, he seemed to want me to hold my own.

“… Let me repeat. I am here as the eldest daughter of the Monique family. So, I can’t accept my new seating, either.”

“Are you now insisting that you should sit at the head table as a mere apprentice knight?”

Somebody shouted at me.

What the heck is he talking about?

I chuckled in spite of myself. When I looked in the direction of the voice, I saw a man with reddish brown hair sitting among the noble faction members.

Who is he? Nobles often slander each other, but they usually watch their language because any slip of the tongue could lead to a family dispute. So, nobody is stupid enough to put his foot in it in an important place like this.

When I looked closely at him, straining my eyes, I noticed a brooch on that man’s collar.

Amaranthine, an immortal flower blooming only in the desert.

‘I wonder which family uses this crest. Ronière? Lunière? Larnier? Um, I think it’s the Earl Larnier family that uses it.’

I deliberately tilted my head and said with a puzzled expression, “Is the current seating arrangement in the hierarchy of rank? Well, I thought that the seating here was arranged in terms of the hierarchy of nobles because the successor of Duke Jena, who doesn’t have any title, although he is the vice-chairman of the noble council, Marquis Mirwa’s son who doesn’t belong to either the Knights division or the government, and Earl Hamel’s son who just joined the government were sitting at the head table.”

“… Well, they are sitting here as the formal successor or the representative of their families, so they are clearly different from you who are only the marquis’s eldest daughter…”

“It looks like you didn’t notice it as you are far from me, Lord. Don’t you see the brooch of the collar or the tassel on my dress?”

Everybody focused their attention to my dress. Navy blue dress embroidered with silver thread. What was special about this dress, which might just look plain, was the embroidery on its chest and hem, and the brooch on the collar. Four spears and the silver shield intersecting them.

It was the crest of the Marquis Monique family, the Spear of the Empire.

The only one who could wear a dress with the crest of the family embroidered and the crest brooch was the head of the family, its successor, or the one who had the authority to handle the family’s matters on behalf of the head of the family in contingencies.

Therefore, what I said to the earl meant that I, too, did not attend here as a mere daughter of the marquis family.

Earl Lanier, who looked at my dress, stuttered, “Hey, how ridiculous… ”

“Stop it. She is right. Protocol officer, take her to the seat suitable for her position,” said the emperor with a satisfied smile.

The protocol officer approached me cautiously and showed me to another seat.

My seat now was right next to my father’s at the head table.

‘Okay, all done?’ I sat down with a sigh.

‘The meeting hasn’t started yet, but I’m already so tired.’

“Hello, Lady Monique. It’s been a while.”

“Oh, hello, Marquis Enesil. I heard that you just took over the title. I would like to express my condolences for your late father.”

“Thank you.”

The golden-haired young man sitting on my father’s right replied, bowing to me.

He was the young marquis who inherited the title due to his father’s recent death.

‘Marquis Ensil…’

Before I returned from the past, his family was not influential, but since the young man inherited the title, he intended to move into central politics to increase his power.

Maybe he was trying to seize the chance since the noble faction was showing signs of losing power recently.

‘There are rumors about the creation of the 3rd Knights Division. Is he aiming for the position of its captain?’

“Okay, as the parties involved are all here, let’s resume the meeting. Prime Minister, announce the agenda. ”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Our agenda is about God’s prophecy. Yesterday evening… ”

While Duke Verita got up and explained God’ prophecy yesterday, I smiled brightly at Duke Jenna and Earl Larnier, who were staring at me in terror. I smiled sarcastically at the earl who immediately frowned, unlike the expressionless Duke Jenna.

‘How pitiable you are!’

After clicking my tongue, I turned my head toward Jun, who was left alone in the place where I was originally supposed to sit next to her.

When did she start looking at me? Her dark eyes seemed to have been fixed on me for a while.

When her eyes met mine, she smiled, a smile that seemed to be the same as hers in the past, but somewhat different this time. When I saw it, I recalled the old Jiun, who used to smile brightly at me whenever she met me.

“Tia.”

While I was lost in idle thought, I turned my head when my father whispered to me. It seemed that Duke Verita gave a brief explanation about what happened last night. A lot of participants now cast their glance at me.

“Let me ask again. There was a rumor that you heard God’s prophecy directly. Is that true? ”

“…Yes, that’s true.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, the priests and the high priest present at the temple verified it.”

“Hmm, good. Let me double check when the high priest appears.”

Earl Lanier, who swept his reddish brown hair back nervously, replied to Duke Verita’s words, “How can a young daughter of a marquis hear God’s prophecy, let alone His token? I think she made up her story.”

“It was none other than the high priest who verified her testimony. How can she fabricate it? He said he confirmed it in the name of the divine power,” said Duke Lars.

“Well, what about this assumption? She herself might be God’s token, right?” said the emperor.

As the emperor joined the fray, there was a growing mumbling among the participants. Looking at them for a moment, the emperor raised his right hand, ordered them to be quiet and looked at me.