“Nice to see you here…”
As if they were conducting a reconnaissance, Arundel was the first to speak to Zion. However, he only hardened his expression and gave no response.
Arundel, feeling stubborn, called him again.
“Zion.”
“There was a guest, we’ll talk next time.”
But, instead of answering,
Zion tried to ignore Arundel and turn his back. At this sight, Arundel felt both hurt and anger welling up.
‘Isn’t this typical trash behavior?’
Sometimes he acted as if he would take out his liver and gallbladder for you, and now he ignores you like this?
Arundel quickly stood up and approached Zion. She pulled his arm and stopped him.
“Stop.”
His back, which had turned around, flinched. And then he turned around with a shamelessly expressionless face.
Now he shows his face.
“Why are you avoiding me!”
“…I haven’t avoided you.”
He hesitated. He definitely hesitated.
Had Zion ever spoken so uncertainly? But he had a conscience, denying the fact that he had avoided her.
“You did avoid me, even now!”
Arundel’s eyes were burning fiercely.
As she stared at him and demanded an explanation, she noticed that his expression was somewhat strange.
His expression was like that of a teenage boy caught doing something wrong.
His eyes were so red and his breathing was so irregular that it seemed as if he might have a fever.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Arundel, who had been filled with anger, asked cautiously in a lowered voice.
Yes, perhaps she had been too hasty. She should listen to his opinion without getting angry first.
But his tightly closed mouth did not open. She was really worried about him, who seemed to have something going on.
She thought he had spent quite a long time with Zion, but it was impossible to understand a person 100%.
If Zion was suffering from something she didn’t know, she wanted to listen to him.
However,
“Nothing.”
He refused.
Arundel squinted her eyes and scanned his face. His white face was blushing. No, it was getting hotter.
While Arundel’s gaze lingered, it was turning red in real-time.
“Do you have a fever?”
Seeing Zion’s unusual condition, she reached out to his forehead.
It was indeed hot.
“If you’re sick, you should say…”
Thud-!
Arundel couldn’t finish her sentence. Because Zion fiercely slapped Arundel’s hand away.
Arundel looked at her slapped hand with a devastated face.
It wasn’t a very hard slap, but it was a huge psychological shock.
‘Did he… slap me…?’
Arundel clenched her lips and glared at Zion.
“What?”
“…Don’t touch me casually.”
“I’m doing it because you seem to have a fever!”
Arundel exhaled a sigh. And she glared at Zion.
“It seems our noble Emperor has changed his mind again.”
“…”
“When were you kind? Okay, I don’t want someone who doesn’t like me either.”
Arundel turned around swiftly. And she passed Zion, ignoring him.
‘He doesn’t hold on till the end.’
Arundel, who had distanced herself from Zion, thought. Only Arundel’s angry footsteps echoed in the lobby.
Zion couldn’t move for a while even after Arundel left.
“Why did you do that?”
The Prime Minister approached Zion, who was frozen like an ice statue, and asked. He looked like he would shatter if tapped.
‘I’ve seen this side of him.’
The Prime Minister thought to himself.
He only showed a side of him that manipulated people like a snake, and now he was seeing the Emperor being swayed like this.
The Prime Minister was startled by Zion’s appearance, which he had unintentionally seen.
“Prime Minister. No, Duke Richard.”
“Yes, tell me.”
“I’m curious.”
“Ask.”
Even if he didn’t ask, the Prime Minister pretended not to know. And the words he expected flowed from Zion’s mouth.
“What should I do when I fall in love?”
****
Zion hadn’t been able to sleep properly for several days.
Today was no different,
He stared blankly outside, feeling the cool autumn air. The crescent moon, emitting a cold light, resembled Arundel’s folded eyes, adding to his worries.
‘Damn, I think of her no matter what I see.’
It was a mystery how he could find all the common points in whatever he saw and think of her.
He had often had these symptoms before.
At that time, he just saw a maid with black hair and thought of Arundel, ‘What is she doing now?’
Now it was beyond that level, it was hard to live a daily life.
No matter what he saw, he thought of her and felt like he was going crazy. Along with a heart that was pounding like a sick person.
Zion knew that she was special to him.
Possessiveness, jealousy, affection, sadness, joy, all these emotions were amplified when he was with her.
Along with these colorful emotions, there was one more thing that appeared to Zion.
That was, ‘desire’.
I wanted to run my fingers through her shiny hair, kiss her bright red lips, and touch her smooth skin.
But the problem didn’t end there.
Just thinking about her made my body boil with desire.
I gradually became more and more attracted to her.
There was a time when a similar atmosphere was created before. It was the day when I fought with that damn crown prince.
Of course, I didn’t go all the way.
Arundel wasn’t feeling well at the time, and I didn’t really intend to.
Well, to be precise, I did have some desire back then, but it wasn’t as intense as it is now. I just wanted to make Arundel, who had made things difficult for me, feel uncomfortable and suffer a bit.
But now it was different.
“I’m tired.”
It wasn’t physical fatigue. It was mental fatigue. The confusion and thirst for an unresolved emotion couldn’t be resolved no matter what.
The trigger was what Arundel said.
[People in love look good, don’t they?]
It was a remark directed at Cain.
Zion felt an immense discomfort at the word “love” that came out of Arundel’s mouth.
And something was strange in his heart. His stomach churned, and his vision became dizzy for a moment.
The decisive blow was Cain’s words.
[Since you two are in love with each other, I believe you will understand my feelings.]
At that moment, Zion couldn’t control his expression.
Love…
The word ‘love’ was very unfamiliar, yet it struck him powerfully as if it had come crashing down.
‘Love…’
He thought of Arundel.
Since when? She was just the prettiest, loveliest, and most precious in the world.
But he had never recognized this feeling as love.
For a moment, Zion found it hard to even stand in his place.
Looking at Arundel’s face, Zion felt a heat surge through him like a person with a fever.
So he didn’t even have time to worry about what she thought, and he fled the scene immediately.
From then on, Zion’s suffering began.
During the day, he couldn’t concentrate on his work, and at night, he couldn’t sleep.
Zion suffered every day with physical symptoms he had never experienced even during his teenage years.
In his life, he had never shared his worries or difficulties with anyone and received help, except when he was very young.
But Zion didn’t dare to solve this situation on his own.
Feeling like he would explode if he continued to live like this, he asked Cain one day.
[Cain.]
[Yes?]
[Tell me about the lady you’re seeing.]
[All of a sudden?]
Cain, who was busily signing documents, was startled. Thanks to that, he scratched an important document.
[Well… specifically what.]
[Anything.]
Because Zion’s mood had been strange lately, Cain decided it would be best not to provoke him and obediently explained.
[Well, she has a very nice voice. And she’s very affectionate. The fatigue I’ve experienced here washes away when I meet her…]
[Stop.]
Cain’s bragging about his fiancée was cut off. Zion waved his hand as if to deny it.
[Tell me about the feelings you have for her.]
Faced with a very abstract question, Cain first spoke of the emotion that came to mind.
[She’s lovely. Her scolding voice, the way she rolls her eyes, even the way she falls.]
[…Again.]
[I get jealous too. Especially when she’s talking to a man, I want to tear them apart right away.]
[…Keep talking.]
[I miss her, always, constantly. If only time allows, I want to be with her all day long.]
Cain glanced at Zion, wondering if he should say more. Zion had his eyes closed, making it hard to gauge his emotions.
Wondering what kind of words he wanted, Cain wanted to wrap up the situation with a slightly strong statement.
[More than anything, it’s physical contact.]
[…Physical contact?]
[When you fall in love, you desire the other person. You want to touch them, hold them, kiss them, and even more…You know what I mean, right?]
Cain thought that was enough and focused back on his documents.
But it was strange. The emperor had never asked such a personal question before.
While he was thinking about it, Zion suddenly got up from his seat and left the office.
[What the…]
Cain looked dumbfounded at where Zion had gone and turned his head back to the documents.
****
Zion, who had left the office, looked for a place with water. The bathroom was too far away. He wanted to splash cold water on his face right away.
Zion eventually headed outside. Before long, he arrived at a beautifully decorated lakeside.
He knelt down by the lake, sat down, and roughly washed his face.
If he didn’t do that, it would be hard to handle this heat.
By the time his pounding heart calmed down, the water also regained its calm surface.
Zion approached the lake and quietly looked at his face.
And there,
There was a man with a face of being in love.
****
“I see.”
The duke calmly took a breath and responded after hearing Zion’s confusing story.
It was definitely a very personal and potentially embarrassing story, but Zion showed no signs of embarrassment.
Instead, the duke who was listening to the story almost dropped his teacup several times.
“So…what exactly do you want to ask…”
“I don’t know how to control my feelings.”
Zion’s dark expression made the duke shake his head inwardly.
‘I heard the late wind is scary.’ (TL: It means that people who find fun in something late are more immersed in it.)
That cold-blooded emperor, suffering from such a severe fever of love.
It was a bit regrettable that Zion and Royden had a falling out, but that didn’t mean he resented Zion.
In fact, he acknowledged that Royden had his shortcomings, and it was Royden’s fault for continually touching on the issue related to the empress.
Rather, to the duke, Zion often felt like a distant son. A son who does well on his own, lacks sensitivity, and is tough.
Of course, it was his own thought.
Seeing Zion suffering like that, he felt like he should help.
“So, you’re saying you don’t know how to control your impulses when you think of Her Majesty the Empress.”
The duke finally summarized the reason for Zion’s suffering in a softened way.
Zion’s head slowly dropped and came up.
“That’s right.”
The look in his eyes as he answered was utterly serious.
“When I think of her, my body heats up.”
