DYNASTY ── the remarried empress

𝟎𝟏𝟒. the taste of love.

           THE NEXT DAY. there were discussions about diplomacy with luipt to be had, so astrid arrived at the small study in the western palace. as she and navier sat together, grand duke kaufman came "i heard you were looking for me, your majesty and your imperial highness,"

navier nodded "have you written the export and import prospects we talked about previously?"

"about half..."

"let me take a look."

"what are the total number of traders crossing from luipt to the wol continent?" astrid asked

"i don't know if there are any traders who are really doing this." the grand duke shrugged

"we need some meaningful numbers before we can create a state-led business. there needs to be a minimum guarantee of safety. we may want to make a preliminary deal first for market research purposes." reyna said

"yes."

"is there anything else you can trade from the hwa continent to the rest of the world?" the empress asked

at the suggestion of trading with other countries, grand duke kaufman furrowed his brow. "i don't know."

"i'd like you both to find out. trade between the two countries is good, but we can create the infrastructure where our two countries become intermediate distributors between the continents and receive commission." navier said, both people bowed. 

"of course,"

"i see,"

after some more discussion, they finished the conversation, and navier suddenly told them about the love potion. "i heard that you were at the top of the magical academy..." she begun

"yes."

"you don't know about magic potions, do you?"

grand duke kaufman looked at navier as if asking why she was talking rubbish. reyna suspected this man disliked the empress. he did recommend her as an important trade representative, and he did listen carefully to navier's opinions, but astrid could sense his opinion on other things.

"no."

"what?"

"...i know about potions."

"ah. yes." navier pressed her hand against her chest, and then pulled out the pink bottle. "will you take a look at this, if you don't mind?"

"what is it?" grand duke kaufman lifted his eyebrows and took the bottle to inspect it.

"a love potion..."

"what?"

"it came in as a birthday gift, and the note said it was a love potion." he frowned even deeper. "i don't believe it's true. and i'm uncomfortable because it was sent anonymously. but it's a gift, so i don't want to throw it away. if you don't mind, can you confirm whether it's harmful or not?"

with a slightly dismissive look, kaufman said something completely unexpected. "i don't know if this is harmful, but these potions are on the black market. it works to some extent."

finally, reyna interjected into the conversation "i've never heard of this potion before..." and she wanted to continue on, but the grand duke spoke

"even if it's only distributed on the black market, it's a genuine drug." grand duke kaufman seemed quite interested, and he said "wait" then shook the bottle. after that, he opened the lid and smelled it. after a few inspections, he spoke in a noncommittal tone. "it seems to have some effectiveness."

"then if someone drinks this...?" astrid asked

"they will fall in love with the first person they see. well, it's not exactly love, but it gives them the physical symptoms of love—the heart beats faster, the face turns red...hmmm, and so on."

astrid burst into laughter because it was so strange. was the love potion given to naiver not out of malice, but out of pity that she lost sovieshu to rashta?

grand duke kaufman briefly glanced at her before continuing. "you can use it on emperor sovieshu if you wish. just make sure that the first person he sees is you."

navier looked taken aback, and he shrugged as if he hadn't said anything strange. she smiled awkwardly and gave a murmured agreement. grand duke kaufman assured them that it was alright, but there had to be a reason why reyna never heard of it. besides, a simple sniff test couldn't give that much information...

their faces must've shown disbelief because when navier reached out to take the bottle back, kaufman pulled it possessively back towards him. "you don't believe me..." he said, then opened the cap. "i'll prove to you the results."

"no, you don't have to—"

"i have the antidote."

the antidote? before reyna could ask why he had something like that, grand duke looked at her and took a sip. her eyes met his in surprise.

the door suddenly opened and someone came in. "empress? sister?" the person who came in was sovieshu. "i heard you were with grand duke kaufman—" he was holding a thick stack of files, but he frowned as soon as he saw kaufman. astrid looked back and saw the duke was standing with his body facing away.

astrid thought their eyes had met. he must have turned around as soon as he drank the potion, and so hadn't yet taken effect. did it matter that he was looking at her right before he drank it? regardless, from this point on, it seemed that he would fall victim to whomever he faced next.

"grand duke kaufman."

sovieshu, unaware of what was happening, frowned and stepped between reyna and grand duke kaufman. he didn't look surprised the duke was there, but he seemed displeased that he kept showing his back. "hello." grand duke kaufman still didn't turn to greet him, and sovieshu's frown deepened. "where are you looking at? i'm here."

"...there's a situation." grand duke kaufman seemed to believe in the effectiveness of elixir and was desperately trying not to look at sovieshu. by now astrid wondered if the potion was real. if it was...ah. that might complicate the situation.

"grand duke kaufman, i said look here."

"brother, what brings you here?" astrid quickly interrupted. sovieshu turned to her, and she indicated the files he was holding. "are you here to deliver these?" sovieshu only narrowed his eyes and did not heed her words. on the contrary, he gave a sardonic laugh when he realized that she was deliberately covering for the duke.

"what were you doing? why is one trying to hide his face and the other trying to protect him?" he asked, he turned tp the empress, "empress, is something going on between them?" the empress stayed silent.  sovieshu's lips twisted as he looked alternately between grand duke kaufman and her. "was he kissing you, sister? are his lips swollen?"

he grabbed grand duke kaufman by the shoulder and forced him to turn around. oh....sovieshu stumbled back unexpectedly, dazed at the sight in front of him. "nnng." as soon as sovieshu touched him, kaufman made a small noise with his eyes closed. that short groan...evoked the imagination in a strange way.

sovieshu quickly withdrew his hand and stared at him in shock. astrid's and navier's mouths also dropped in amazement, as kaufman stared at sovieshu with shining eyes. the grand duke. the blunt and arrogant grand duke. the grand duke who openly ignored navier as empress. his gaze was completely fixed on sovieshu, as if astrid and navier had disappeared from the earth. the potion seemed to work, and now grand duke kaufman was in love with sovieshu. the normally brusque-mannered man was now staring at the emperor with a misty-eyed expression.