Episode 47

Yvonne closed her eyes tightly at his words. He found her action cute and couldn’t help but chuckle.

So, instead of kissing her lips, he kissed her cheek. When his warm lips touched and then left her cheek, Yvonne felt something strange in her heart.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me on the lips?”

“I don’t remember saying I would.”

Yvonne sensed that he was in a better mood than usual, but she remained cautious.

Hildebrandt, strangely, did not crave the aftereffects despite not having drunk much. Normally, he would have needed to drink several times more than he did yesterday to feel calm.

Now, just by touching Yvonne, he felt almost no aftereffects, and his magical powers were settled.

Maybe.

“Yvonne.”

“Yes.”

“When we announce our partnership, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll tell you after I return.”

Hildebrandt withheld his suspicion that Yvonne might be a guide. He wasn’t sure if this was a sealed memory he had from the past.

For now, it was more important for him to complete the tour quickly and return to make her his partner.

“This is a bit disappointing.”

He lifted her hair and kissed it. Then, as he stroked her radiant silver hair, he thought.

Yvonne’s original hair color.

Platinum blonde.

“As long as you love me, I love everything.”

“Then should I leave it as it is?”

“Yes.”

Yvonne still thought she might not be of imperial blood. She had been the daughter of the previous emperor, Hildebrandt’s uncle.

So, she might not be a direct imperial descendant. Although it wasn’t clearly mentioned, she had sometimes wondered if she was a child of a collateral branch of the imperial family.

But since there were those who could change appearances, her current radiant silver hair might be artificially created. However, creating the silver hair of the imperial family would be the work of a high-level ability user.

“It’s not good if a couple looks too similar.”

“We were originally family and are being bound as family again, so it doesn’t matter.”

Hildebrandt laughed at her words. From his perspective, it was like she was agreeing to marry her biological father. It felt as if she was breaking down the high wall he had built all at once.

If her love was strong enough to understand even that.

He thought she would forgive him even if he revealed that he was not her biological father and that he was her fiancé whose memories had been erased.

Yet, he had no intention of revealing that.

Hildebrandt liked the current Yvonne. He wouldn’t be able to endure if she regained her memories and returned to her former crazy self.

Moreover, he foolishly, even while holding onto those memories, had chosen Yvonne again.

He didn’t have the confidence to face that Yvonne again. He had trusted her, been betrayed, and kept giving her chances.

But she had abandoned him miserably and become his uncle’s partner.

TL/N: WTF!!!!

The bond of partnership is broken if one partner dies. There was no way Hildebrandt wouldn’t have killed his uncle after having given his heart to Yvonne.

He had so many questions for the Yvonne of that time. Why did you abandon me? It was you who whispered love to me, who claimed to love me first.

When he rejected and pushed her away, she had been so sincere, wanting to become everything to him. But when he abandoned everything to choose her, she gave her heart to his uncle.

Despite sharing countless moments of love with him, she used the excuse of the wedding to avoid forming the bond of partnership.

His uncle, who already had numerous concubines and a queen, took Yvonne away from Hildebrandt, who had only her. No, it was more accurate to say that Yvonne, driven mad, gave everything to his uncle.

He wanted to ask her why she did it.

So, even knowing she didn’t remember, he asked her accusingly. Every time he saw her eyes well up with tears and her gaze drop sadly, he had to muster all his will to maintain his own composure.

Despite that, everything seemed fine now. Even the past, where she tried to abandon him through death, was tolerable.

Even if she had been mad back then, the current her seemed like a different person.

Or perhaps it was because he had brought her back.

“Thank you for forgiving me.”

Yvonne suddenly said. She recalled how he had promised to stop being spiteful towards her. The forgiveness she thought of and the forgiveness Hildebrandt had in mind were clearly different.

But Hildebrandt understood that.

“It’s fine. As long as I forgive, everything will be resolved.”

“I like you, Hilde. I like you more than anyone in the world.”

She said this to appease Hildebrandt, who still tested and doubted her, so that he could leave for his tour with peace of mind.

* * *

The departure for the tour went smoothly.

Because Hildebrandt had already informed Francis and the chamberlain had conveyed the instructions to the ministers, all preparations were made. They had been postponing the departure, so it was just a matter of the emperor deciding to leave.

“Can’t you stay?”

“Should I not go?”

“…No. It might be better if you go quickly and come back.”

Yvonne pouted as she adjusted Hildebrandt’s clothes. She had already prepared to see him off and had come to his room.

“By the way, didn’t you wash? How did you get to my room so quickly?”

“I washed quickly. I thought you might leave without seeing me.”

Hildebrandt smiled brightly as he watched her tie his cravat. He had planned to send her his favorite hydrangea-scented perfume, but even before he could, she already smelled sweet.

It was undoubtedly the scent that came from a guide.

“Dad, the truth is, I didn’t feel like washing, so I just did a quick rinse.”

“Puhuhuh.”

Hildebrandt couldn’t help but laugh out loud at her words. He understood what she meant.

He felt a bit regretful that, due to the other servants, she had gone back to calling him “Dad.”

Hildebrandt felt happy again as he watched her take a breath, seemingly enjoying his scent.

“Do you like my scent?”

“I like you, Dad.”

She said this while straightening the cravat she had tied. Then she gestured to Ebony, who opened a blue box and handed it to Yvonne.

Yvonne showed the box to Hildebrandt.

“What is this?”

“Cufflinks. So you can think of me even when you’re far away.”

“Oh.”

He thought of the five amethyst earrings hanging from his ear and found it cute that she brought him more amethyst cufflinks.

“Are your ears okay?”

“They hurt, but I like them.”

“Good.”

Hildebrandt smiled as he looked at the sapphire earrings dangling from her ears. It seemed Yvonne didn’t know the magic those earrings held, but he had no intention of telling her.

“Dad, I heard that some items allow communication over long distances, like telepathy.”

“I was planning to make something like that.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Hildebrandt planned to give her a communication device that would allow them to hear each other’s voices when he returned.

“Dad, I’m so happy that you’re smiling a lot today.”

Her words left him momentarily dazed. Yvonne worried that something might be wrong with his behavior.

“Ugh…”

“Everyone, turn around.”

Hildebrandt said this and then buried his nose in Yvonne’s hair, hugging her tightly. The sound of his large, anxious heartbeat and breathing reached her, and her own nervous heartbeat reached him.

“You don’t need the throne?”

“I never wanted it.”

Her words reassured him again.

He liked the sound of her heartbeat, which mirrored his own.

“Alright.”

He then stroked her hair and let her go.

He pushed away the thought of kissing her.

* * *

“You have to come back quickly, okay?”

“Yes.”

The ministers, lined up in formation, stood ready, with Hildebrandt at the front. Before entering the gate, he glanced at Yvonne.

He gave her one last look, smiled, and entered the gate.

Yvonne felt a sense of relief as he disappeared, but also a strange emptiness in her chest. She stood there, looking down, trying to steady her breathing.

She was startled by a shadow in front of her and looked up.

“You didn’t say goodbye.”

Hildebrandt had come back and kissed her cheek.

“This time, I’m really going.”

“Okay…”

She touched the warm spot on her cheek as she watched the Emperor disappear through the gate. Francis followed after him.

Once all the ministers had gone, the only person left by Yvonne’s side was Marquis Rohan. He looked at Yvonne, surprised at how affectionate she had become with the Emperor. He opened his mouth several times before speaking with a pained expression.

“Are you alright today?”

“Tonight.”

“…Yes.”

Marquis Rohan asked for confirmation. Yvonne removed her hand from her cheek and looked at Marquis Rohan with a cold voice.

“Kes, that too. You haven’t forgotten, right?”

“…Yes.”

Marquis Rohan somehow felt reassured by Yvonne’s indifferent face.