Route 1: The Unexpected Visitor

I am already outside of the house, waiting for the imperial carriage to stop and for whoever is inside it to finally reveal himself. And I am kind of amazed on how fast the servants of the duchy was able to prepare, it took them only about a few minutes to be able to get the hall to be prepared, and right now I suppose that the cooks are already preparing the refreshments that I asked them to do so and they will serve it on time - well, I believe that they will.

While I am lost in my thoughts, that is the moment that I have seen the carriage stop and its door opened and then I waited for the person inside the carriage to finally reveal himself and when he finally did, my jaw almost dropped because I didn’t expect that he will be the visitor but even if I am shocked I still didn’t forget to show my respects because.

“Welcome to the Elvoi duchy, your majesty” that is what I said while my head is bowed down and I am holding the hem of my dress. Well, of course I will bow down - it is the emperor that is right in front of me.

*

I am already here in the living room with the emperor of the Ixtal Empire, the father of Helios and the friend of Scar - no, my parents. Honestly, I am still in state of shock when I saw him the moment that he got of his carriage. I cannot believe that he is here and the thing is he didn’t even sent a letter to inform my parents that he will be visiting because if he did then my parents would have rescheduled their meeting with the other nobles of our territory.

Also, I am quite curious of his purpose why he suddenly visited - from what I remember in the original story and from the actions of my parents the emperor, since he became the emperor not once visited the Elvoi duchy but rather it is my parents who visited him. And there is one main reason for that and that is to ensure that the other nobilities will not actually see it as the emperor greatly favors the Elvois and so that both will avoid controversies and that the Elvois will continue to live its secret and peaceful live with the only task of protecting their territory and people from monsters.

And in the game, despite the duke and duchess dying in the hands of the male leads - especially his son, he didn’t care - he didn’t stopped his son nor even visited the Elvois wake or graves. He just stayed silent and grieved secretly. I know because in the ending of the first route, the route of the crown prince, Helios, the emperor had his own dialogue and he said a lot of things especially the fact that he still mourn for the Elvois and he knew that all of those things happened for a reason and that they relaly didn’t plan for a treason or anything but of course, he needs to support his son more than anything so he wasn’t able to prevent the tragedy that happened to the Elvois.

Well, although that happened in the game, I am going to make sure that it is not going to happen in the present - if I am going to change the whole plot of the story then so be it. As long as everything will stay as they are right now then I don’t care.

“You have grown to be a fine lady, Scarlet Aubrielle” I suddenly heard him say which instantly made me look at him and I cannot help but to be curious,

He said such a thing, when in fact I don’t really remember anything in the plot of the game that reveals that Scarlet have met with the emperor of the Ixtal Empire.
“Well, of course it is natural that you will grow into such a fine lady because Selene and Claude surely takes care of you well. So tell me, how was your parents these few days? Are they still busy fixing the barrier?” he continued and I let out a sigh on my mind before I actually answered him well honestly, I don’t know how will I actually answer him but anyways.

“Mother and Father are doing fine, they have successfully restored the barrier and that they are now in a meeting with the other noblemen to talk about what happened. Most of the times they are just here in the duchy but there are also times that they went out to check out the dungeons around the place. My brother on the other hand is assigned on making sure that the safe zone will continuously be the safe zone as long as he is here.” that is what I said and he nod his head twice.

Well, I do think that it is impossible for him to not know directly what is happening and I am sure enough that my parents, especially my father has been exchanging letters with him to inform him about the recent events around our territory and I know that he is also secretly asking favor from my favor to help him regarding the monsters not only in our territory but other parts of the empire as well even if it is not entirely the job of our family.

“That is good that they were able to still handle it. Well, that is enough chitchat and that I am now going to go straight to the point with you Scarlet, as the daughter of my friends” that is what he said and I controlled myself not to frown because I thought that it will surely be a disrespect if I did.

Well, he is the friend of my parents and he is here in our house but that is also not enough reason for me to act awfully and I am quite curious on what he is about to say which is obviously the reason why he went here rather than just sending a letter.

However, the next thing that he said literally made me froze on my seat and I cannot help but to frown even if I controlled myself not to.

“I want you to back out from exploring the dungeon yourself, I also want to not let the Elvois be involved in this further so I hope that you will just let the imperial knights do it.”

*

What the emperor said continued to ring inside my head even if it has already been about two minutes. I cannot believe that he is asking me to back out from exploring the dungeon, and not only that but he is directly telling me that the Elvois should no longer pry on the dungeon anymore and we should just mind our own business.

Well, I would love to do as what he is suggesting me to do and that I can easily agree to him because it is the order already of the emperor. Of course if the crown prince knew that I am no longer going to explore the dungeon with the order of the emperor of course, he will have no reason to complain. However, the thing is that I am not a person that would do such a thing - I have my word and when I said that I am going to do something then I will really do it.

Not to mention the fact that I have already made the knights train to be able to comply with the things needed before they could enter the dungeon. Lastly, if I backed down then what happened in the original story plot will surely happen again - the dungeon will not be explored and there will be a lot of lives will be wasted and I cannot let that happen. Also, Lucas is also here and I am sure that if I agreed to what the emperor had told me to do then he will surely follow what he originally did in the game - that he will leave the duchy and that he will pursue being an Imperial Knight. It is not that I am preventing it from happening but rather what I am preventing from happening is the possibility that my credibility will be destroyed,

I then heave a sigh and I looked straight at the emperor with a serious expression plastered on my face.

“I appreciate your concern but I will have to strongly decline with what you are asking me to do, your majesty”