Chapter: 15
Kaizen continued without any sign of sadness.
“You know, my grandmother was heir to Duke Mileen, the Southern Lord.”
Kaizen’s grandmother was originally a young heiress who inherited a large southern territory.
Kaizen’s grandfather, the late emperor, wedded her as his queen, and as if he had robbed her, he took the entire southern territories for the imperial family.
The southern lands then belonged to the royal family, but as long as the empress was alive, they were legally owned by the empress.
Upon her death, the land would then become legally owned by the imperial family.
Even when Astelle left the palace, the empress dowager had to lie in her room for most of the day due to her poor health.
“At the occurrence of her death, the southern territories were to be given to the royal family. But after my grandmother passed away, her will came out, and there was a strange condition.”
“A condition?”
“I cannot disclose her will without your permission. That was the condition my grandmother had set.”
“……”
Why did she add such a condition?
Astelle could not say anything to the unexpected story.
“The old minister insisted that it was the empress’ last wish, and he would never reveal it to the public. He said that he would never give it up, even when they forced him so they could take the land. The content in it was even more laughable. It stated that ‘Nothing can be decided about the southern territory without the consent of the former Empress Astelle von Reston’.”
“Why me……”
Kaizen gazed carefully at the bewildered Astelle.
Complex emotions were revealed in his eyes.
“My grandmother must have wanted me to find you and take care of you. She asked me to do that several times before her death. I guess she wanted to use her will to force me because I wouldn’t listen to her otherwise.”
“……”
Astelle understood what empress dowager thought.
The empress probably thought that with such conditions, Kaizen would find Astelle and give her some territory on the condition that he will obtain consent to the will.
And if that happened, it would help her pitiful grandson and her granddaughter-in-law, who she did not know the whereabouts of.
If she had written in her will that she was giving away her property directly to Astelle, Kaizen would have ignored it and said that Astelle could not be found, not letting her receive even a single penny.
The empress dowager came up with such an idea, but this only embarrassed Astelle.
These days, the land did not matter to Astelle.