“Doesn’t it smell like me?”
Evelina smiled as if what he said was because of when she had previously sent him to the bathroom.
“Kaiden smells like the sun. It’s like the smell of dried cloth in the sun for a long time.”
“I see. Are you not offended?”
“Yes, I like it. I’m used to this scent now, so it’s nice.”
She leaned back, conscious of his thick arms, which had been carefully stretched out behind her. Then his arm touched her back very carefully as a butterfly falling.
She could feel the weight, but she didn’t find his arms heavy, perhaps because he was flexing.
But it’ll be heavy when she wakes up in the morning.
She thought so and looked up at him, giving her an arm pillow.
“The music box…”
He looked at her and then at the music box in the drawer next to his bed, which was behind his head.
“Kaiden.”
But when she called him, he immediately turned his eyes to her. Then her eyes bent a half-moon shape, and she began to act with a cold heart as she heard him reply affectionately.
“I want to hear more about Kaiden. Did you have a first love?”
“There is.”
At his reply, she looked up at him with an interested look and laughed.
“Tell me that story.”
“Can I talk with the music box on?”
“Yes.”
When he tried to reach out his arm, Evelina turned her back first and touched the music box. After winding the spring, it was put down when the music came out. Then she dug into his arms. He smiled and hugged her softly.
“I met my first love when I was 14.”
“At that time, as a mercenary…”
“Yes, at that time.”
Evelina looked at him, recalling that they were four years apart.
“That’s when you got these burn marks, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
She asked, groping at the burn marks on his shoulder. At her touch, he sighed and hugged Evelina. She moved because she felt a little threatened by him hugging her. Then the arm was soon relaxed from binding on her.
She looked at him playfully and laughed, and as soon as he made eye contact with her, he folded his eyes and laughed.
“Why are you curious about my first love?”
“I was just curious.”
When Evelina spoke, he turned around hugging her. She suddenly laid on him, crushing him, which she felt ashamed of, but she didn’t hate it.
Because he felt insignificant under her body. Even so, she remembered that he was a beast that could never be caught off guard.
“What made you fall in love?”
“They treated me.”
“Oh, my God.”
“They also made the burn on my shoulder. If I hadn’t been set by fire then, I would have died.”
His words made Evelina’s strange dream last night creepy. He didn’t elaborate that much, but she dreamt it up. She was so nervous that it must have been dramatized in her head and appeared as a dream.
“And they kept looking after me. Even when they were not in a situation to take care of me.”
“I see.”
Evelina had her ears right above his chest. His heart was always loud, but now it seemed to be louder.
“I think she must have been a pretty person.”
“She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”
“What’s about personality?”
“It was cute.”
“What about height?”
“It was tall for a woman.”
She laughed at the words. Because it’s obvious that she was the woman he was meeting secretly, as Princess Elsius said.
She felt like he was saying this to hurt her. If she fell in love with him, she would get hurt and cling to him if he told her about another woman.
She couldn’t be his first woman. The kiss he gave her, and the touch that touched her was like someone who knew how to react.
It was impossible that it was the first time with a woman for a person like that.
She thought so and again acted in a sulky voice.
“Where is she now?”
“Somewhere.”
Evelina felt strange for him to answer vaguely.
“Is she dead?”
“Now.”
“What do you mean? Now she’s dead?”
When Evelina looked at him as if she couldn’t understand him, he smiled again and said.
“You’ll find out when the time comes. I can’t tell you right now.”
At his words, she tried to pretend to be sulky, but soon she did not seem to be in such a situation, so she put her ears back to his chest.
“Kaiden, can I take this off?”
At her words, he took off his thin shirt and threw it to the floor. Then Evelina pressed his chest and touched his ear again.
“It’s nice to hear because your heart is loud.”
She felt his breath tremble every time her hair touched his chest. How funny that was.
Every time she closed her eyes, she felt his breath on her cheek. She spoke to him, feeling the movement up and down.
“I’m fine with her coming back and becoming the empress.”
“I have no intention of having anyone as empress except Lina.”
She looked into his eyes to confirm his true feelings.
He was talking with a smile as if he were serious about what would have been a lie. So she couldn’t believe him anymore.
“What will you do if your first love comes back?”
“I hope they come back. But coming back doesn’t change my mind.”
She tried to understand the vague words, but she couldn’t. She thought he just said it in consideration of her death. It was such a strange feeling while she was on top of him, not knowing that the sound of her music box had stopped.
So the two slept for the night, and surprisingly, Evelina couldn’t fall asleep because he didn’t do her any harm.
In the morning, she took care of him like yesterday.
He headed for the morning meeting, smiling like a herbivore hiding his predatory nature.
~~~~
“I got a call from the Minister of Finance yesterday.”
Evelina sighed, recalling that the Minister of Finance was politically neutral.
“What did he say?”
“He received two documents, but they were different, so he asked for confirmation.”
Evelina smiled, thinking that she finally caught the criminal.
“Did you find out who sent the documents behind you?”
“Yes, we’re already monitoring it.”
“Good job. Who is it?”
At her words, the senior aide looked around as if to confirm that there was no one else around, and said in a low voice that could not leak out.
“It was Baroness Elias.”
“Not the Countess of Elbain?”
“Yeah? Yes. There was no problem with all the documents she sent to the envoys. He also sends out invitations.”
The chief aide was also suspicious of Count Elbain’s wife, so he looked closely. On the contrary, Countess Elbain seemed to be trying to make up for the past, showing no suspicious behavior.
“I can’t believe it was Baroness Elias.”
Evelina frowned at the words.
Come to think of it, Baroness Elias was also in a suitable position to give her advice when Countess Elbain offered her tea.
“Was Baroness Elias that poor?”
“Yes… rather than that…”
Evelina knew she wasn’t very rich. But now she was ostensibly the most favored concubine of the imperial family. The emperor pretended to trust her even if she committed a fallout.
But did it make sense to betray her at a time like this? Was there a reason to take that risk?
“I think it’s hostility to the family.”
At the words of David, the chief aide, Evelina had an idea that flashed across her head.
“Come to think of it, it could be hostility toward my father.”
A long time ago, around the time she made her social debut. When Baron Elias was promoted to baronet. At that time, it was vaguely remembered that her father had stopped it.
“Did the Marquis of Logias ever interfere with the promotion of Baron Elias?”
When Evelina asked for confirmation, the senior aide nodded.
“What’s the reason?”
“He…”
David frowned as if to say something he shouldn’t have said, but he looked at her with an effort.
“Let’s keep it a secret between us.”
“Well…”
It seemed difficult for him to say so.
“I’ll wait until you tell me.”
She said so and stared at him. David scratched his ears and lowered his head when his eyes met.
Soon he said with a sigh.
“I’ve heard about it, so it’s not accurate.”
“I’m listening.”
“I heard it was Baroness Elias who made a strange rumor when Your Majesty was a young girl.”
“Strange rumors?”
Evelina looked at him because it was strange to hear rumors she didn’t know about most of the gossip in society. Then he said in a cold sweat.
“Why… do I have to tell you?”
“Yes.”
David sighed and spoke in a very small voice as she spoke stubbornly.
“It was rumored that Your Majesty is not the real daughter of the Marquis of Logias.”
At the words, Evelina closed her mouth in a straight line.
“The real daughter of Marquis of Logias is hiding in Tenesi…”
Her head throbbed at the words.
‘Is it true? The daughter of Marquis of Logias is a fake.’
‘You wouldn’t lie like that, would you?’
‘I’m sure Baroness Elias is talking nonsense because she wants attention again.’
‘I’ve known the Marquis since I was 10. He couldn’t have lied.’
In an instant, a memory of hers, which she had completely forgotten, came to her mind.
“What?”
It was strange. If it’s her memory, she shouldn’t be recalling it that way, but rather she should recall what she knew as if she were seeing it again. However, her memories of the moment came to her mind in an instant, as if she had lifted a black veil.
‘I’m telling you, I will come to see you again. I will take you as my wife.’
In the aftermath, other memories came to mind together. One of the deeply hidden memories beyond the veil.
She remembered the owner of the voice in her memory that she had never seen before.
Black hair and red eyes like blood.
‘My name is Kaiden.’
And even his young face.
