“You’ve arrived?”
Arundel was so hungry she felt like she could die. She hadn’t eaten for just a day, but she was this hungry.
The doctor said that she had lost quite a bit of blood and needed to eat well, but it seemed like it was because she couldn’t consume nutrients.
“What are you doing!”
Zion yelled at Arundel.
That energy is indeed unfamiliar. She had lived as an archangel for about 500 years, but she had definitely never seen a human like that. It wasn’t human energy.
His eyes were so fierce that she couldn’t dare to look at Zion.
Feeling his gaze was like being on fire, after finally barely looking at Zion, she saw Emperor Zion with a ferocious look.
It seemed like he was showing that he could burn people with just his eyes.
“What are you saying?”
Arundel barely opened her mouth. In the same situation as yesterday, Arundel prayed that this operation would work.
“Didn’t you hear the doctor telling you to rest? Do you want to die now!”
She thought a smiling face was scary, but seeing him get angry with such a scary expression, she thought it was better to smile.
Sweat broke out at Zion’s attitude, which seemed very angry, but Arundel tried to speak calmly.
“Please give me freedom.”
“…I clearly refused yesterday.”
“Then just leave me alone.”
Arundel turned away from Zion and spoke, gritting her teeth.
“You’re getting better at it because you’re hurt, but you don’t know your place and you’re climbing up.”
“I guess so. I’m going to live like this and die, so go back.”
Arundel lay down and spoke without looking at Zion.
“If you’re done talking, go quickly. I’m a patient, I need to rest.”
Arundel had her back turned, so she couldn’t see his expression, but Zion, who had been standing for a while, closed the door and left fiercely.
Arundel was rather angry at Zion who just left.
How could he just leave like this!
She had to try until tomorrow, and if he still didn’t turn around, she had to give up this operation.
If she really dies, the return to heaven and the mission will be over.
Hoping that Zion would change his mind, Arundel closed her eyes to forget her hunger.
****
“Go back to the palace.”
The aide hurriedly opened the carriage door at the sight of Emperor Zion, who came out faster than expected.
Seeing Zion’s surrounding temperature that seemed low, the aide felt like he was recalling the nightmare of the past.
He didn’t know what happened, but it was clear that something bad had happened with the empress.
Otherwise, how could his mood change like that in the short time he went in and came out.
Thinking that a shrimp’s back would break in a whale fight, the aide quietly started the carriage.
‘How dare you threaten me.’
Zion gritted his teeth.
He wasn’t in a bad mood until he saw Empress Irina. It had been a long time, that kind of feeling. It was a similar feeling to the excitement of going to eat something delicious in childhood.
But that feeling was crushed in an instant.
When he saw the empress lying on the bed with a pale face, anger surged up.
The doctor clearly said that she needed to eat well and rest, but her condition looked worse than yesterday.
Now, Empress Irina was threatening him by taking her health hostage.
It’s true that he has been much gentler to her lately, but seeing her like that, a flame rose in his heart again.
What was even more absurd was her attitude.
Last time she was like a loving wife, sometimes she looked like a tender woman, but today she was like a stubborn child again.
With the attitude that she would not face him until the end, he could no longer say anything else and stride out of the Empress’s Palace.
If she insists on fasting to the end, she should be fed by force if necessary.
He will never let her have her way.
Zion hardened his thoughts coldly.
****
That night.
In a wide and splendid room, luxurious decorations were harmoniously placed. The bed in the middle was a large size that matched the room.
The man lying alone there looked lonely and desolate. The beautiful man seemed to be having a nightmare, his eyelashes trembling.
[Mom, wake up. The duke has come to pick us up!]
A pretty boy with platinum hair shook the body of a woman lying coldly.
The woman’s arm fell weakly under the bed. As the palm of her hand holding it loosened, pills fell from her hand.
[Mom, mom!]
No matter how much he shook her, the woman did not wake up. The boy kept shaking the woman who would not wake up no matter how much he shook her.
The child knew that the woman would not wake up, but he did not stop his actions.
Tears fell down his fair skin.
[Mom! Don’t leave me alone!]
He shook the woman’s body for a long time. At some point, the woman who was on the bed disappeared.
The boy cried in front of the bed for a long time. The woman was nowhere to be seen.
Only pitch-black darkness remained there.
“…Mother!”
Zion woke up from his dream, drenched in sweat.
It was a dream about his mother that he had after a long time. It was the memory he most wanted to erase in his life, but it suddenly appeared in his dreams.
Today, it was particularly vivid. And as soon as he woke up, he thought of someone.
‘…She must be hungry.’
Ridiculously, the image of his mother lying on the bed in his dream overlapped with that of Empress Irina.
Then, he was a little worried about her condition. She must not have eaten anything since then.
The thought led to ominous imaginations.
In fact, because she lost a lot of blood, if she can’t consume nutrients, it can lead to severe anemia.
She had been starving so far, so she had nothing to take as nutrients. In such a state, fasting, it was not strange to collapse again.
Thinking so, Zion kicked the bed and got up. He had to go to the Empress’s Palace right now.
As he suddenly opened the door and came out, the guards guarding the bedroom were startled and asked.
“Where are you going! Your Majesty the Emperor?”
“You don’t have to follow.”
Zion headed towards his horse. At the sudden visit of its owner, the horse raised its front legs and jumped.
As Zion stroked it a few times, it seemed to calm down. Zion, who skillfully mounted the calm horse, headed for the Empress’s Palace at a fast speed.
Arundel woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes at the disturbing noise outside.
‘What’s going on…?’
When she looked at the clock, it was dawn. Has the Empress’s Palace ever been noisy at this time?
Feeling that the outside situation was not trivial, Arundel sat up.
Bang-!
Arundel rubbed her eyes, thinking she had seen it wrong. No matter how she looked, it was Emperor Zion.
She thought it was a dream for a moment, but the terrible hunger told her that this was reality.
Zion, who walked up to Arundel with a scary momentum, sat down on the bed.
The emperor who came late at dawn, the head maid followed him in a fluster.
“Bring some nutritious food.”
“…Pardon?”
When Zion looked at her coldly at her question again, she ran out of the bedroom like an arrow.
Zion stared at Arundel’s face without saying a word.
“You’ve lost weight.”
For a moment, it seemed like the Zion in front of her was someone else.
He was making a pitiful expression that he had never shown before.
Arundel blinked her eyes, as this moment didn’t feel real.
After this awkward time passed a bit, fortunately, the head maid quickly made a delicious soup with steam rising.
“Eat.”
At Zion’s words, Arundel became guarded against him like a wild cat.
‘Why is he suddenly like this?’
Unable to understand Zion’s attitude, Arundel hardly moved.
The smell of the delicious soup was tempting, but she needed to be sure not to let the day’s fasting go to waste.
“I will give you freedom.”
Whether he understood Arundel’s defensive attitude or not, Zion spoke first.
“…What?”
“I will do as you wish. So eat now.”
At Zion’s words, Arundel’s eyes widened.
“Wow-! Thank you!”
Arundel, who lost her mind in joy, hugged Zion’s neck.
She was lost in joy for a while. When she came back, she realized that she was hugging Zion at the moment.
Embarrassed, Arundel slowly let go of her hand.
“Ah, I’m sorry. You didn’t like being touched, do you?”
In case Zion, who might be angry, would cancel his words, Arundel apologized politely.
But Zion seemed a bit stiff, not moving at all.
Anyway, she was so hungry that she wanted to eat the soup quickly.
Was the soup she usually ate this delicious? This was a heavenly taste that she had never felt even in heaven.
Although she was on an empty stomach, the soft soup went into her stomach without any problem.
The head maid felt professional again with the sensible menu selection.
While slurping the soup, she felt the Emperor Zion staring at her.
Then she thought of something she definitely had to do.
“How far is freedom?”
“Outside the Empress’s Palace. But you can’t go outside the Imperial Palace.”
“I don’t like it!”
At Arundel’s reaction, Zion frowned. He seemed to want to say something but held back.
“Fine. But when you go outside the Imperial Palace, you must be with me.”
Arundel didn’t like the condition, but she had to back down here. If she overdid it, she could lose everything.
“Okay! No bargaining.”
Arundel smiled happily. Then, as she looked at Zion, who seemed to be staring at her, she tilted her head, but then he got up from his seat.
“I have to go now.”
As Zion got up and was about to leave, Arundel grabbed his wrist. Fortunately, he didn’t say anything harsh like ‘don’t touch me’ as he did last time.
“Thank you. You ran all the way here at dawn because you were worried about me, right?”
“Don’t make me laugh. It’s just because it’s tiring if a woman with the title of Empress dies.”
Zion said, laughing.
It seemed like a long time since she had seen his smiling face. Since the birthday party, his face had been constantly stern or close to angry.
In the past, his smiling face was scary and distasteful, but now it seemed a little pretty.
In fact, when looking at the face alone, there was no other man of such beauty.
As Zion left, the morning dawned.
He really ran like that at dawn because he was worried about herself. The process was not easy, but seeing his changing attitude, it felt like heaven was shouting for her to come soon.
Hope is sprouting again.
And above all.
“It’s freedom-!”
Finally, she was officially able to escape from this stifling Empress’s Palace.
Of course, she had sneaked out, but every time she did, she felt like her life was shortening, wondering if someone might catch her.
Now that she has gained freedom, she will go out confidently, meet people, and enjoy human culture.
Not only did she gain freedom, but Zion’s changed attitude also came pleasantly. She didn’t know what changed his mind, but granting freedom was definitely a positive signal.
Feeling closer to returning to heaven, Arundel smiled brightly.
Bonding time!