“Episode 27”
“I greet Your Majesty, the Emperor.”
The Duke of Martins quickly regained his composure and nodded courteously to Lionel before me. I couldn’t move my body, overwhelmed by Lionel’s aura of anger. His cold eyes, as if freezing the entire council chamber, shifted between me and the Duke of Martins, who seemed bewildered.
“Is there anything about the two of us that I shouldn’t know?”
I had to come up with some excuse. My lips stiffened even more at his chillingly indifferent voice. I had no choice but to rely on the Duke of Martins, who was smarter than me. I waited for the Duke to come up with a plausible excuse, but he seemed to be at a loss in terms of quick wit.
“Empress.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Were you… so close with the Duke that you referred to him as ‘we’?”
“Not… to that extent.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Lionel began to smile from this moment on.
“In that case, would it matter to you if I killed the Duke?”
I, who had been staring at the marble floor, was startled by his words and lifted my head.
“What do you think?”
What a provocative suggestion, right? I almost clapped my hands in approval. Instead of speaking, I sent a positive signal to Lionel with my eyes. He probably wouldn’t notice my affirmative signal.
“It’s not a bad idea, but…”
After I spoke up to this point, I glanced briefly at the Duke of Martins. He was watching me with a rather hurt expression.
“If you were to kill the Duke, even stranger nobles might come to the Shatonil Kingdom.”
“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that. Ha, hahaha.”
Lionel laughed, shaking his head. Wasn’t it just a polite laugh? He swept his glossy black hair back and spoke again.
“Right, there’s merit in what the Empress says. It would be more of a headache for me too, wouldn’t it?”
“Too much talk is nagging, Your Majesty.”
I responded with a smirk, ignoring the Duke of Martins’ warm gaze on my left side. Even the Duke, as the protagonist of the conversation between the Emperor and the Empress, reluctantly began to smile. Of course, the Duke’s eyes looked incredibly sad. His appearance was somewhat pitiful, but the feeling of satisfaction outweighed it. Thanks to him, the tense atmosphere from earlier had slightly eased. It was a pity to let go of the opportunity to easily dispose of the Duke, but I still didn’t dislike him enough to kill him. Of course, I might regret today’s events later.
“Duke, congratulations on being able to leave the Imperial Palace alive,” Lionel said, clapping his hands a few times.
“Um…yes?”
“It’s better to leave it at that. If my laughter disappears, I don’t know what I’ll do either,” Lionel said, stepping aside from the council chamber door where he had been blocking. When the Duke hesitated, Lionel shot him a look that seemed to ask why he wasn’t leaving. The Duke pretended to bid farewell to me and whispered to me as he left.
“Tonight, Your Majesty should return to the harem.”
“Hmm?”
“So that Your Majesty can stay comfortably without being attacked by the deputies while the Empress is here.”
The Duke’s advice sent my mood back into darkness. I have to send him back after he came to visit me? To the harem’s chambers?
“Duke, do you still have something to discuss with the Empress?”
Lionel’s annoyed voice could be heard. He slowly walked towards where the Duke and I were standing. Before the Duke could make any excuses,
“Shall we go?”
Lionel cut off the Duke’s words. As a result, the Duke hesitated, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, then bowed his head and discreetly disappeared from the council chamber.
“Let’s go to the bedroom.”
As soon as the Duke left, Lionel grabbed my hand and spoke.
***As we walked from the council chamber to the bedroom, he remained silent. He opened the bedroom door and gently pushed me inside. It was a strange situation where I found myself being more cautious than my husband, who had just returned from attending ceremonies with the concubines in the afternoon. I felt somewhat deflated for no apparent reason. Oh, right, my very existence is a sin.
“Forbidden from now on,” Lionel said, turning me around to face him as the bedroom door closed.
“What do you mean?”
“That word.”
“What word?”
“‘We.'”
“Ah, you mean the conversation with the Duke? That’s a misunderstanding…”
“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not, it’s forbidden.”
“That’s not…”
“Misunderstanding or not! I said I don’t want to hear it. The ‘we’ you use with other men.”
“…Yes.”
As I nodded and obediently replied, Lionel’s tense expression gradually softened.
“No matter how much there’s only the Duke of Martins from the Shatonyl Kingdom here, isn’t it strange for us to be alone at this hour?”
“I’ll be more careful from now on,” I assured him. I was about to explain that the Duke had come uninvited, but I refrained. I didn’t feel like explaining everything to him, especially after receiving four concubines today.
“Care should be taken by the one who comes,” Lionel remarked.
Fortunately, Lionel thought that the Duke had come to see me unilaterally.
“This saved the Duke’s life,” he said, touching the silk shawl draped over my shoulders.
“What do you mean? Why this shawl… Oh!”
Suddenly, he pulled the shawl down, causing me to flinch involuntarily.
“If you hadn’t been wearing this shawl, I would’ve thrown one of the Duke’s eyes out of the window.”
“You’re more generous than I thought. Saving one eye.”
“Me? Not likely. I was thinking of sending the other one to the kingdom.”
Wow, the Duke should’ve heard this conversation! Too bad.
“It’s okay during the day, but I don’t like the idea of another man seeing you… No, seeing the Empress’s sturdy shoulder.”
“What are you saying? My shoulder looks sturdy? That’s the first time I’ve heard such a thing.”
I furrowed my brows, alternatingly looking at both of my shoulders.
No, I mentioned the wrong body part. It’s not the shoulder, but… Where was it again? Ah, right. It was about not liking other men seeing your delicate collarbone.
Lionel’s words were gradually taking a strange turn.
“But what kind of man is the Duke of Martins?”
I asked him while stroking my collarbone line with my hand.
“If he’s not a man, then what is he? Should I dress up the Duke and bring him in front of me? Then will you admit it?”
“…Just the thought of it is terrible.”
“Ahem, anyway…”
He coughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
“Seeing the Duke coming to the Empress’s quarters at this late hour, do the Shatonyl nobles usually disregard etiquette towards the royal family?”
“I’ve heard that as long as it’s not bedtime for the Raphion Royal Family, it’s not a big deal for a substitute or a noble to visit the council. Did I hear it wrong?”
As far as I knew, that was true. It was something I heard from Rafael, the Emperor’s personal secretary, so there was no doubt.
“Well…”
“What do you mean by ‘well’?”
“Oh, well, maybe you didn’t know because it’s a different country. But in my country, it’s something that can’t happen.”
For some reason, he was lying right now. His eyes started to flicker left and right, as if he was slightly uncomfortable. He’s not good at lying.
“Is it… mandated by law?”
I pretended not to know about his lie and asked.
“Law? Uh, yeah.”
“I see, is it a law that has been around for a long time?”
“Starting from tomorrow.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Yeah, it’s a law that will be enforced from tomorrow, so the Duke hasn’t committed any wrongdoing. Congratulations.”
“He almost became a sinner by just a day’s difference.”
I laughed while countering his nonsense. Then he proudly declared himself as an Emperor who strictly follows the law.
“By the way, why are you here at this hour, Your Majesty? Today you should be going to the concubine’s bedroom, right?”
“Yeah, but I ended up coming to the Empress’s quarters.”
“Why…”
“Wow, you’re saying the same thing as me.”
Lionel chuckled briefly, murmuring to himself.
“Huh?”
“The words I’ve been silently thinking about all the way to the Empress’s quarters were those. ‘Why…'”
Lionel’s gaze seemed shy for some reason.
“But… By the way, during the night with the concubines, do the priests also come into the bedroom and sing blessings?”
“You were curious about that?”
“A little.”
I already knew that the night with the remarried Empress didn’t involve priests. But the situation might be different with the concubines, so I was slightly curious. Lionel raised one corner of his lips in a sly manner.
“If you must know… I’ve been preoccupied with that issue all day long, you know?”
“What difference does it make if you say that?”
I asked him a somewhat provocative question.
“Everything.”
There was strength in Lionel’s voice. Everything would change? Is it really…? I felt curious. Could it mean that they might not hold the night with the concubines? No way, right? What would it mean to cancel the concubines? It wouldn’t mean bringing in four concubines just to dine together, take walks, and sit on the bed holding hands while having a conversation, would it?
“I’ve been preoccupied with it.”
He suddenly said.
“…”
All day today, the fact that he would be with another woman tonight had been tormenting my mind. That was an undeniable fact. But I remained silent.
“You’re silent. How embarrassing for the Emperor.”
He smiled faintly. I just looked at him. If he said he was preoccupied, if he said it really was, it felt like many things would change, just like Lionel said. That’s why I was afraid. Suddenly, I became scared. I shouldn’t… But I wanted to hold him. I wanted to. My contradictory feelings kept changing multiple times in a second. My heart kept leading me down a difficult path. What should I do? Lionel approached me closely. I stepped back as if waiting for him. Then his eyes narrowed slightly, and his lips parted.
“Say ‘don’t go.'”
“Your Majesty!”
This time, I moved first, stepping back to create some distance between us. However, my efforts were in vain as he approached me again, closing the gap between us. We repeated this dance of getting closer and then pulling away. As I tried to escape, my body hit the bedpost. There was nowhere else to retreat. He leisurely leaned forward as if enjoying cornering his prey, his perfect face almost unbearable to behold. I held my breath, arching my waist backward. His eyes widened slightly as he observed my flexible waist bending like a bow.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Is that difficult? Saying that I don’t want you to spend the night with the concubines?”
He asked, pressing on.
“Lionel.”
“I said I don’t want it. If you say no, then I’ll…”
As I called out his name without further explanation, he grabbed my shoulders and shook me. In that moment, my left slipper slipped on the marble floor, causing me to lose my balance. He seemed as if he would support my waist, but then he withdrew his hands, watching me fall onto the bed. Instead of catching me, Lionel fell onto the bed with me. As I tried to get up, he quickly took control over me.
“Where are you going?”
Lionel held my wrists above my head, looking down at me.
“You haven’t answered yet.”
He looked like a hungry beast driven by desire.
