“Episode 28”
I couldn’t move my body under Lionel’s gaze, filled with longing.
I opened my eyes, feeling regretful for the fleeting sensation of his royal touch.
“Ah, alright,” I replied. He pursed his lips again, seeming on the verge of bursting with excitement. Without realizing it, I found myself pulling his broad, sturdy back close with both arms. My contradictory actions felt both amusing and exhilarating. He let out a deep sigh of patience.
“Ah… Here, where you move me as you please, why do your words keep pushing me away?” he whispered, his fingers touching my lips.
“It’s a request, Zelda. If you have nothing to say to me, please keep your lips sealed,” he murmured, his cheek against mine.
“I keep getting annoyed and want to shut you out,” Lionel whispered, his blue eyes sparkling like the warm sunlight on the Mediterranean Sea.
“Tell me again…” he said, burying his face in my neck.
“….What?”
He lifted his head abruptly, looking down at me with a shocked expression. Disappointment. Hurt eyes. Lips sealed, lost for words. His beautiful body slowly moving away from me. Watching Lionel’s forlorn expression, I cursed the words I had just uttered. But it was an inevitable choice. Unable to meet his gaze, I turned my head to the side.
“Did I just say I didn’t want to be with you today? Was that what I said just now?” Lionel’s hand gently guided my head back to face him, questioning like a poke. I knew. If I answered yes, he would leave without asking twice, and perhaps he wouldn’t come to the palace anymore. Fear and anxiety mixed, coursing through my veins to my heart.
“Zelda, do you dislike looking at me and answering me?” Lionel fully sat up. A cold breeze blew over my body where he had been.
“Are you angry because I interrupted your pleasant conversation with Duke Martins?” He surprisingly found the reason for my rejection in the wrong place. Maybe it was better that way? No, I didn’t want that.
“That’s not it, Your Majesty. You know better,” I replied, rising to my feet along with him.
“But I didn’t say don’t leave, did I? Isn’t that right?” Instead of answering, I reached out to his shoulder. He sidestepped, avoiding my touch. It hurt. Lionel stared at me for a moment with a pensive expression, silently sending a plea to be stopped. As my gaze fell from his face downwards, he turned away. Opening the bedroom door wide, he looked back at me and spoke.
“Good job.”
Until Princess Lyselia remarried him, as the Empress of the Shatonil Kingdom, I had to avoid any friction with the officials of Laphion. But my decision not to stop him last night wasn’t for Princess Lyselia or for the Shatonil Kingdom. It was solely for Lionel Gideon Edpah, the Emperor. While my choice last night avoided friction with the officials, Lionel’s wounded heart remained unresolved. It might never be resolved. Even if I leave this place, I want to get along with him until then. His wounded face last night was truly dreadful.
“Sharon, what do you think Her Majesty is doing right now?”
I asked weakly as I received the final touches in front of the dressing table.
“At this time, Her Majesty is probably not in the office or the council chamber. It might be time for tea.”
“Right…”
“Um, Your Majesty?”
Sharon, Sully, Theresa, and I exchanged glances, and Sharon cautiously spoke up as their representative.
“Yes? Do you have something to say?”
“Well… we know it’s overstepping, but we heard from a close maid working in the main palace a while ago that Her Majesty is currently alone in her office.”
“Just a moment, Your Majesty!”
This time, Theresa, who was in charge of makeup, grabbed me as I was about to leave the bedroom and hastily applied a pink lipstick matching the color of my iris before shouting, “You can go now!”
With the eager maids, we walked quickly to the main palace. As soon as we entered the palace lobby, I slowed my pace and took deep breaths.
“Announce the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress.”
Upon reaching the office, Sharon spoke to Raphael, the Emperor’s personal secretary, in a formal tone. Raphael was visibly flustered by my sudden appearance.
“I, I present Her Majesty the Empress! J-Just a moment… I-I apologize! She’s currently inside the office…”
“Ah, are you meeting with the officials?”
During my journey to the main palace, someone might have informed Lionel about my arrival beforehand.
“N-No, not with the officials. It’s Her Highness Consort Catherine Mama who entered a while ago.”
Raphael replied with a puzzled expression, glancing nervously at me. Unlike my composed demeanor, the three maids beside me placed their hands on their waists and stared sharply at Raphael. Poor Raphael felt overwhelmed by their intense gazes.
“I heard you visited Catherine’s quarters last night. What business do you have in the office today?”
Starting calmly, my voice unintentionally grew louder as I spoke.
“I have conveyed my message to Your Majesty sufficiently, so I shall take my leave now, Your Majesty,” Catherine said with a sharper tone than before. In that moment, I almost raised my hand to give her a firm slap across her cheek. Now I noticed that Catherine’s eyes were as bloodshot as mine, if not more so.
“How little sleep did the Emperor give her last night to make her eyes so bloodshot?” My inner demon mocked, spewing heat from within since dawn. Catherine, like a proud bird, gracefully walked out of the office. Her back seemed to be covered in thorns as she exited. As the thorns departed, sharper glares awaited me.
“Empress, what’s the matter?”
“Your Majesty, about last night…”
“It wasn’t bad.”
“!”
Lionel interrupted before I could finish my question. It was an answer I neither wanted nor needed to hear.
“Weren’t you curious about that?”
