“Episode 17”
“Oh, Empress… You’ve come. By the way, it seems the Duchess has mistakenly entered the waiting room.”
“…!”
Surprised by his words, Eraina turned around.
Although the Duchess couldn’t enter the waiting room unlike the Empress, Yuliana, who had already revealed herself enough with her presence, was waiting for the Emperor’s summons.
“The Duchess’s waiting room is on the opposite side, Your Majesty.”
“I suppose the Duchess must be upset. She’s the one who volunteered to take a stab in the shoulder for the Lady’s sake.”
The Emperor, Lucian, chuckled in a low tone. Eraina was taken aback by Lucian’s unfamiliar manner of speaking. He had always spoken politely and coldly, drawing a clear line as if he were setting boundaries.
A year into marriage, Eraina couldn’t help but feel unsure about Lucian’s comfortable attitude towards her, the Duchess. Tears welled up in her eyes for a different reason.
‘No. The Empress dislikes seeing me cry.’
Who would know the tender feelings brimming with tears just by seeing this new side of someone who didn’t look back at her? Eraina clasped her hands together, feeling lost. Did Lucian know or understand those feelings? Nonetheless, he ushered the Duchess inside without a second thought.
The Duchess who entered appeared extremely pale, as if she had run a long way. Come to think of it, Yuliana Oben, known as the Imperial Blue Rose, the most beautiful woman in the world, was said to be delicate.
‘Would she collapse like that after a little run?’
As a slight curiosity passed through Eraina’s mind, Lucian, seeming intrigued by the Duchess’s complexion, touched his chin as if in interest.
In his hand, the blood had dried up and hardened without notice. Sensing it in a brief moment, Eraina instructed the attendants nearby to bring something to wipe it. Promptly, a servant rushed over with a handkerchief.
“Just a moment…”
Eraina steadied her trembling heart and carefully took Lucian’s hand, gently wiping away the blood with the warm water-soaked handkerchief.
Even as she attended to her, Lucian didn’t shift his gaze towards Eraina. That made her inwardly dejected.
‘How could you be hurt like this? Why am I feeling…’
Suppressing the urge to burst into tears, Eraina watched as Lucian changed the subject.
“It seems the renowned magician has finally displayed his skills after a long time.”
“My skills were lacking, so there was only this method available.”
“What did you do?”
Lucian smiled brightly. Of course, to Yuliana, that smile looked nothing short of devilish.
Internally sighing, Yuliana gathered her thoughts. Just like when she was about to dismiss a high school student whining about buying alcohol and cigarettes in her previous life, her heart hardened.
‘At that moment, I should’ve quickly called the boss— Wait, no. Am I the boss now?’
Finishing her thoughts, Yuliana parted her lips.
“…You must have seen the gift I sent to the royal side.”
Noticing a familiar horse casually nibbling on grass next to the waiting room, Yuliana couldn’t help but curse the emperor inwardly, of course. She worried that her husband might be seriously injured and dashed into the waiting room, although the Empress, who was preoccupied with caring for the baby, probably didn’t see it.
Upon seeing the baby Empress wiping the emperor’s hand, Yuliana heaved a silent sigh.
‘Well, what’s wrong with you? You were the one who fell for him first.’
Boldly addressing the emperor, who pretended not to notice her, Yuliana said, “I heard that Your Majesty personally received the letter I sent. Yet, despite that, you participated in the final match to humiliate my husband.”
Even in the face of Yuliana’s sharp inquiry, the emperor didn’t lose his smirk and responded cheerfully, “Oh, perhaps you didn’t hear from the Duke. He said it didn’t matter if he wanted to determine the visible outcome. So, I agreed to the Duke’s bet. By any chance, Your Majesty… Did our acting seem too obvious?”
“Uh, yes?”
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Eraina visibly flustered. It was natural since she hadn’t watched the match.
Unconcerned by the young Empress’s teary confusion, Lucian continued. In response, Yuliana calmly asked, “So, my foolish husband agreed to Your Majesty’s bet. But Evan said Your Majesty wouldn’t win… What does that mean?”
“It seems the Duchess didn’t read fairy tales when she was young.”
‘Why do I have to listen to this!’
Internally sighing deeply, Yuliana held back.
‘…Endure, endure! Think of the customer who used to shout for a warm ice Americano!’
Recalling her experience from working part-time during high school, Yuliana forced a strained smile.
“It seems I was too focused on studying magic to read fairy tales.”
“Isn’t that a common theme in fairy tales? The brave knight receives a reward from the merciful emperor.”
‘…I see. Is he trying to end this game like that?’
In a moment of lapse in her facial expression control, Yuliana couldn’t hide her surprise. It was just a fleeting moment, but Lucian, who seemed to have devoured a hundred grasshoppers, noticed it.
With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he said, “Were you surprised by the rather insignificant reward, Duchess?”
Responding to the emperor’s cunning remark, Yuliana shot back as if she had never been taken aback, “If one can take anything away from Your Majesty, even just one thing, wouldn’t that be remarkable enough?”
Looking at the weak Duchess, who seemed ready to collapse at any moment, while beads of sweat formed on her forehead, Lucian smiled slyly.
The Duchess was quite an amusing woman. The woman who openly ignored her husband was now proposing audacious methods to play with the emperor in order to save her husband in the best way possible.
Lucian continued with a smirk, “Fairy tales always have happy endings. When two people, stripped of their status and nobility, finally end their conflict through a fight, the winner bestows a reward.”
“Of course, that winner would be Your Majesty, right?”
“Isn’t that a conclusion everyone here knows?”
With a shrug, Lucian chuckled. Eraina, who was still wiping his hands, observed them subtly. At the same time, she glanced at both of them and suddenly felt a sense of loneliness.
Even though they were in the same room, they couldn’t engage in conversation. The “blue rose” she had given to herself was just a pretext, and knowing the emperor’s mischievous intentions, and even knowing that she had become a pawn in his game.
On their wedding night, the emperor had smiled warmly, saying that his bride was too fragile and delicate.
It must have been out of pity. Because he liked her, but she wouldn’t like him back. He must have been sorry. He must have said those kind words out of guilt for being kind and polite.
“Empress Mama.”
“Y-yes?”
Caught off guard by Yuliana’s voice, Eraina, who was once consumed by inferiority and trapped in the past, raised her head.
Although her hands were already clean after wiping away the blood, it was Lucian, who had been receiving the Empress’s touch, that looked down at Eraina instead of Yuliana.
Lucian, who had always seemed to sparkle like a mischievous fairy, was now looking at Eraina intently.
She looked up at Lucian rather than addressing Yuliana first. Her heart raced. For the first time, he seemed to be paying attention to her. Well, why?
“P-please, go on.”
“As I mentioned before, I’ve heard that Empress Mama is very skilled in horseback riding.”
“Uh, compared to noble ladies…”
Eraina blurted out her inner thoughts, then immediately shut her mouth, feeling embarrassed. She had foolishly revealed her inferiority complex. Her face flushed red, and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from Lucian, who was twinkling his eyes.
Realizing his interest, Eraina pulled herself together. Even though it might just be a fleeting interest, she felt a sense of courage growing inside her.
She changed her response.
“Y-yes. It’s a specialty of mine…”
And just as if waiting for her response, Yuliana smiled and brought up the main point.
“In the past, our ancestors didn’t neglect the cultivation of equestrian skills as a virtue. Just like men, women also competed with each other in equestrian and spear skills.”
What did that mean?
As Eraina blinked her large eyes, still not understanding, Yuliana finally got to the point.
“If Empress Mama has taken the trouble to come here, how happy would it be if you were encouraged to learn equestrian skills? It would be fitting for today’s event, which aims to continue the culture of our ancestors.”
“Y-yes…?”
Eraina’s innocent brown eyes welled up with fear.
In the capital, she was taught to abandon the customs of the rural northern regions. She had to appear as a city person and pretend to be good at things she had never learned as the emperor’s wife. Yet, for a year as empress, she hadn’t shown her presence.
To be precise, she hadn’t. It was because she suspected the emperor wouldn’t want it.
“I-I…”
“Empress, do you want to?”
Unexpectedly, Lucian smiled faintly. Then, as if testing her, he reached out and took Eraina’s small hand.
It was a first.
“Are you okay with whatever I’m good at?”
Days went by where she simply lay flat, breathing and loving the emperor, keeping her mouth shut. She had been silently suffering, believing that being good at and enjoying something was of no use to Lucian Bue Ariacne, the emperor.
But maybe not.
Emperor Lucian Bue Ariacne was a cunning ruler who enjoyed testing others. As someone trying to win the love of a ruler, Eraina’s heart raced for the first time.
Eraina exclaimed as if vomiting out her words, “I-I want to!”
Looking at his intriguing wife, Lucian addressed the flushed Duchess.
“Hmm. Since I’ve stirred up the empress’s competitive spirit, how about taking responsibility for this, Duchess? As her opponent?”
“T-the Duchess as my… opponent?”
Eraina looked at the pale Duchess standing there, feeling overwhelmed. Riding wasn’t something one became good at after just one or two tries. There were plenty who broke their necks trying to ride untrained horses. Despite her obvious frailty, Yuliana smiled.
“Even though it’s a pity to disrupt the nobles’ match, wouldn’t it be part of the fun of the competition to offer the Duchess a rose personally if she can’t beat you, Your Grace?”
Whistle—
Yuliana whistled. Then, with a familiar sound of whistling, a horse neighed and kicked the ground.
Eraina was startled and looked at the emperor. Lucian nodded, gently stroking the bruise on his cheek.
“I heard the Duchess put quite an effort into bringing the horse the empress usually rides. It’s a gift that arrived at the palace just yesterday, but I wanted to present it to the empress as a gift today.”
“I-I’m so happy!”
Eraina’s cheeks flushed with excitement as she jumped up.
Then, even as a few hair ornaments fell and her clothes became disheveled, she dashed out of the tent and tightly embraced the beautiful brown-furred horse’s neck.
“Kendal!”
The horse neighed happily, as if delighted to see an old friend after a long time. Eraina held onto the horse’s neck affectionately, despite her disheveled appearance.
While the two friends reunited, Yuliana was still wiping sweat and catching her breath, not yet taking her seat in the authority position.
Observing this, Lucian erased his kind smile and adopted a haughty attitude, crossing his legs as he spoke.
“The empress’s homeland is in the far north. If you hadn’t kindly mentioned in your letter that you used teleportation several times to transport a horse from there, I would have been none the wiser.”
“I presumed that since the empress’s happiness is the emperor’s happiness, you would acknowledge my efforts as well.”
“…Your Majesty.”
Yuliana slightly lowered her head.
‘The subordinate male lead has a lot to say. How dare he be swayed by the heroine’s affection? It’s just as well that the heroine hasn’t appeared yet—’
She grumbled inwardly, trying not to show any signs of her frustration as she calmly responded, “The empress has every right to be an idol to the nobles. It is an honor for me to lay the groundwork for that.”
That’s when it happened.
“I have a question.”
“Yes?”
Intentionally, Yuliana blinked rapidly, as if she were about to ask a difficult question, hoping to appear innocent.
However, unlike Yuliana’s calculated gesture, the emperor showed no particular reaction. Instead, his golden eyes, resembling those of a fairy, cooled down, and mischief filled his cheeks.
He brought up the topic.
“Could it be that the Countess, who was cheering enthusiastically for her husband’s departure, suddenly changed her attitude? Before Evan Hillen, the Count, goes a step further and proposes a hundred-year truce with the Countess, how about fleeing?”
Wondering what he meant, Yuliana took a deep breath inwardly and calmly responded to maintain her composure.
“Lord Evan and the Hillen Countess have long been engaged in a betrothal. I thought the alliance of two strong families would be satisfactory even in the imperial court.”
“That’s the Countess’s opinion.”
As Yuliana abandoned her pretense of innocence and spoke cunningly, Lucian immediately responded.
A fiery exchange of glances ensued between the two.
Yuliana was the first to avert her gaze. Stepping back, she left behind the words and arguments between the capital and the empress she was currently serving.
“Then, instead of Your Majesty and the Count’s fencing competition, I will withdraw and determine the outcome with the empress’s horsemanship and my own equestrian skills.”
“And who do you think will win?”
‘Who do you think will win? The baby empress, who has been riding up and down the mountains in the north since she could walk!’
Suppressing her urge to retaliate, Yuliana forced a smile.
