Chapter 449 --449
Chapter 449: Chapter-449
Forcing his professional composure, Mahir lowered his head, his voice tight. "Greetings, Empress Regent. Greetings to the Regent’s fiancé.""Yeah, yeah," Julian muttered, completely bypassing the formal pleasantries. He didn’t even slow his stride, pulling Elara right past them. "Let’s go."
Mahir instantly stepped sideways, his broad shoulder cutting off their path as he came directly between them. "Wait. Where exactly are you taking the Regent?"
Normally, Julian would have snapped or shouted in annoyance at Mahir’s overbearing presence. But this time, he didn’t raise his voice. He stopped, holding Elara’s arm tightly, and pointed his other hand directly at her completely expressionless face.
He looked Mahir dead in the eye and said with absolute, frantic gravity, "Elara—this woman does not even know how to laugh. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
Mahir and Ken stood in absolute, stunned silence.
The truth was, they already knew. In all the years they had served her, they had never once seen Elara laugh wholeheartedly. In the beginning, they had actually tried to fix it. But because neither of them knew how to laugh genuinely either—being lethal commanders raised for war—the task had been a complete disaster. Ken was a man of iron and shadows; you would never catch him laughing heartily. At most, he might share a hidden, private smile when no one was looking, but never in front of others. They had once even tried a ridiculous "bunny play" routine from the rabbit tribe out of sheer desperation, but Elara had just stared at them like a ledger waiting to be balanced. It was of no use.
Mahir paused, his eyes flicking down to Elara. She looked perfectly calm, but a tiny, uncharacteristic bead of sweat was forming near her temple from the sheer, unoptimized chaos of the situation. Then he looked at Julian, whose face was a picture of absolute, unyielding determination.
Mahir cleared his throat, adjusting his stance. "Going outside without your personal guard is an unacceptable security breach. Therefore... we are coming too."
Julian flashed them a bright, triumphant smile. "Definitely. Let’s go."
Instead of heading for the grand palace gates, Julian suddenly pivoted and dragged her toward the imperial cloakroom. Elara stopped her boots, her brow furrowing in a minor cognitive delay. "Why are we altering our trajectory? We are not exiting the building."
All three men stopped dead in their tracks, turning to look at her as if she had asked why water was wet.
"If you walk into the capital wearing a royal velvet gown," Ken muttered, his deep voice deadpan, "the entire empire will know the Regent is on the streets. You’ll start a riot."
"We need to change your appearance," Mahir added.
Elara looked down at her immaculate dark blue sleeves. "What is structurally wrong with my attire? It is perfectly functional."
Julian let out an exhausted sigh, refusing to waste another single word on her literalism. He turned toward the corridor and clapped his hands. "Maids!"
Within seconds, a flurry of handmaidens rushed into the cloakroom, bowing low. Julian pointed a firm finger at Elara. "Change her into a normal human dress for a day out. No noble fabrics, no imperial embroidery. Make her look like a servant girl heading to the market. A total commoner. Do you understand?"
The maids blinked in shock, looking at the terrifying Empress Regent, but Julian’s fierce determination won out. "Yes, Your Highness!" they squeaked.
Julian then spun around, crossing his arms as he glared at Mahir and Ken, who were still standing by the wardrobe like two massive, brooding statues. "And what the hell are you two still standing there for? Do I need to issue an official imperial decree or throw a celebration to get you to move? Change yourselves!"