Bon Appétit

The head of the Rusti family has changed to Sir Albert. He cut off his relationship with the former marquis, and the power that dared to poison the emperor’s candidate and declare himself a new marquis. Then, he welcomed the princess of the fallen kingdom as an adopted daughter. The whole thing flowed like water. People didn’t say anything, but they knew what was behind it.

“Times are changing.”

“To be exact, the imperial family will change.”

The person who holds power will change. He had to be more careful at times like this. If he could beat out the former marquis, it meant he could do more than what people thought. Even those who held power held their breath and crouched down.

***

Bang!

Fireworks exploded with a huge sound. At the same time, the light appeared and scattered in the sky. Thousands of people’s shouts could be heard along with the music under the continuously exploding fireworks.

Yes, today was the coronation ceremony of the emperor.

Ba-dum Ba-dum

Her heart was pounding intensely that it seemed it would pop out at this rate. She tried pressing her chest with her hands, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

“Are you alright?”

Legion asked Luana. Indeed, he seemed quite relaxed as the main character in today’s coronation ceremony. He patted Luana on the back to calm her down.

“Is Legion nervous?”

“Very much.”

He was not nervous, but he expected that things would get more troublesome in the future. There used to be many people who stuck up to him, but now he was afraid. The emperor’s position wasn’t comfortable, He thought, it could have been easier to live with Luana as a duke. However, the situation has already changed, and now that they’ve come to this, it cannot be stopped.

Knock knock

Then a voice came from outside with a polite knock.

“It’s time.”

A loud bell rang outside. It was the bell of the temple that only rings on national anniversaries.

“Then shall we go?”

Legion held out his hand to Luana. When she saw him smiling and holding out his hand, her heart raced differently this time. Legion always wore a dark uniform, but for the first time, he put on a white outfit and colorful accessories. It also suited him well. Luana’s heart raced like crazy when she saw this new look for the first time. She would have hugged him earlier if she hadn’t worried about the clothes getting wrinkled.

‘Can I hug you after the coronation is over?’

Her greed was inflated like a balloon. Luana, staring blankly at Legion, reached out to his hand a beat late.

‘Hmm.’

Looking at Luana like that, Legion smiled in his heart. On the outside, he looked indifferent from usual, but he could read her thoughts with her moment of hesitation. He tickled her palm with his finger, holding her hand. Then Luana looked at Legion, startled.

Luana has always made Legion positive. Even he, who is called a slayer by others, seemed to shine brightly even more. Looking at the expression he made while looking at himself, he felt like he had become a great person. And although he might feel a bit childish, he didn’t hate the feeling.

“Can I hug you after this is over?”

In the end, the emotions she had been holding back seemed to burst. Legion smiled and asked back at Luana’s cute question.

“Why not now?”

“Your clothes will wrinkle.”

“I don’t mind getting a little wrinkled.”

“No. Do you know how cool you are now? You have to show your look to others like this!”

Luana spoke sternly and held his hands tightly. Although it was unlikely that others would look at him like how Luana does, but Legion decided to protect her fantasy.

“Then wait until it’s over.”

Luana nodded with a big smile at those words. The two held hands and walked out side by side of the long corridor covered with red velvet carpet. And they parted at the entrance. Although she was a potential empress candidate, she hadn’t even had a proper engagement ceremony yet. It was unreasonable to walk the same way at Legion’s coronation.

“I’ll be rooting for you!”

Luana smiled again,waving her clenched fists. And from then on, Legion walked alone. As soon as he stepped out of the building, a shout exploded. The people who came out to see the coronation welcomed the new emperor. Even him who were called a slayer, looked reliable to them. In addition, he had worked with some of the people before, so no one showed a negative reaction.

“Long live the new emperor!”

He slowly walked towards the temple under the shouts that exploded. When he turned his head, he saw a familiar face. It was the Great Witch, Sarah. She unilaterally promised that she would come to the coronation, and it seemed that she kept her promise. Legion bowed lightly and turned around and headed for the temple.

Inside, an elderly high priest was waiting for Legion at the peak of the temple. For such a difficult position to attain, the process for the coronation was easy. After reading the article about the emperor’s attitude from the high priest, and receiving a blessing from him, that was the end of the coronation. After finishing the simple procedure among the few people, the high priest took a deep breath and said,

“Congratulations, Your Majesty The Emperor.”

It was the moment when the status of the duke that he had all along changed. It was the birth of a new emperor.

***

The banquett followed immediately after the coronation. Legion naturally reached out his hand to Luana and asked her to dance, and Luana agreed. She has been practice dancing so hard for this day! However, the amount of practice she did, did not seem on-par to his skills.

Luana made her mistake in the first step she took. The more she try to do well, the harder it seems. Looking at her eyes become teary, Legion stopped on the spot and rested his forehead against hers.

“Luana, relax.”

“But!”

“Think like you’re cooking.”

“Cooking?”

It meant that she should relax, but how can he put dance and cooking on the same line? The tension never went away.

‘I- is this the end?’

Her fingertips became cold at the tension. Not knowing what to do with her, suddenly a firm fingertips touched her waist and lifted her. People’s attention was focused on the sudden rise of Luana. Just as she was about to panic, she heard a gentle voice.

“Just look at me.”

It was Legion’s voice. Why as soon as she heard that, her stiff body suddenly relaxed. Then, she took Legion’s hand that gently lowered her to the ground, and she moved her body naturally. As she relaxed, her body moved as she practiced.

“You’re doing good.”

Legion smiled softly at Luana. Several nobles exclaimed at the rare sight.

“Oh, my God, he’s even smiling? I thought he didn’t know how to smile.”

“I know, right? I can’t believe he knew how to smile so gently. I heard he loved that princess, I guess it must have been true.”

“Love is great.”

Vyan, who was eavesdropping on the sound of words coming and going from behind, smirked at the positive story. He didn’t want to be bound by power, but as the time they spent together grew longer, it seemed that he became more affectionate. By the way, what will happen to the duke now? Legion became emperor, and the Marquis Rusti adopted Luana. Legion could absorb all the powers and eliminate the duchy as he was the only duke in the empire. Someone had to keep the position.

‘Is it because of that? Recently, I heard that you are looking for a person from the other side.’

Perhaps, until the two children are born, that person from the side will protect the duke’s family. And if you have one child, you will inherit the throne of the emperor, and if you have two, one will go to the duke. Neither was a bad story.

Vyan took a cocktail glass from a passing servant and drank it slowly. In the meantime, the dance was coming to an end. After finishing the dance with a natural greeting, the two suddenly disappeared. With the disappearance of the supreme, people started talking more comfortably and enjoying the party.

***

“Wow!”

Luana looked up at the sky with a bright expression. The starry sky looked exceptionally beautiful today. But that was only for a moment. Now, someone was more eye-catching than the sky, so her gaze fell to him again.

“Do you like this outfit that much?”

Legion asked with a grumpy look.

“It’s nice that Legion wears it!”

There Luana gave him a brilliantly correct answer.

“It’s okay to wrinkle it a little, right?”

“Of course.”

As soon as he answered, Luana immediately hugged Legion. It felt like her fatigue due wearing a dress and moving all day was relieved. Legion hugged Luana back. The two leaned on each other and whispered as they sat on a chair in front of a fountain in the garden.

They were talking about their daily life, from what they ate yesterday to trivial stories that have been going around. Even though the story wasn’t particularly interesting or strange, they didn’t stop talking.

How long did they talk? At some point, Luana realized that Legion was stopped talking. She looked at him in wonder and saw deep red eyes looking down her.

“Legion?”

“Luana.”

With Luana sitting on the bench, Legion knelt down on his knee at the garden. He then grabbed the back of Luana’s hand and kissed it.